Wrestling Smarks Round-table Episode 1

[Petty]

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Hello all, my name is Franchise as you can see. And, this will be the first edition of the official wrestling smarks roundtable. The discussions will be a month long to make sure we are all sure we are getting what we need to say out considering we have normally three topics each edition. So, here is what is gonna happen. The contents of this edition will be:

1. The Attitude Era
2. The 80's Wrestling boom.

The third subject won't be discussed this time from the poll for two reasons. One, the ties was not broken and three I believe these two subjects will be more than enough. The previously tied poll options will be included in the next month's poll. So, without further ado, here we go.



The Attitude Era was a period in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, known now as WWE) and professional wrestling history that, according to WWE, began some time in the latter half of the 1990s. The company ceased usage of the official "WWF Attitude" logo – first used in November 1997 - in May 2002. The era was marked by a shift to more adult-oriented programming content, which was accomplished in a number of different ways; including an increase in the level of depicted violence and the incorporation of horrific, or otherwise politically incorrect characters and storylines created for shock value. Similar to the 1980s professional wrestling boom, the Attitude Era was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States as television ratings and pay-per-view buy-rates saw record highs.

The era saw several wrestlers rise to stardom, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind, Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Kane; established star The Undertaker continued his main event prominence, as did fellow veterans Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Vader, Sycho Sidand Ron Simmons in the early stages of the era. Wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Big Show, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero – who were unhappy with their employment in rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) – jumped ship to WWF to ultimately become headliners for the company (Big Show and Benoit having previously been world champions in WCW). Other prominent Attitude Era performers who later became world champions in the WWE were Edge, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bradshaw, Christian and Mark Henry.

Distinguished stables were established in this era, such as D-Generation X, The Nation of Domination, The Corporation, and The Corporate Ministry who all developed major rivalries among each other during the time period. The era saw a resurgence and boom period in tag team wrestling with prominent teams like The New Age Outlaws, The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, Edge and Christian, Too Cool and The APA achieving superstardom and being featured in prominent storylines and matches during this time period. In particular, The Dudleys, The Hardys and Edge and Christian featured in several Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches which were also introduced during this era. Top female stars such as Sable and Chyna achieved mainstream notoriety and even competed against male performers. While other prominent female stars saw their beginning during the era such as Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, etc. The era also saw an increase in the McMahon family's on-screen presence, starting with Chairman Vince McMahon's 'Mr. McMahon' character, a heel persona of himself following the Montreal Screwjob, with his son anddaughter too eventually being introduced into WWF storylines as fictionalized villainous versions of themselves.


So, I wanna open the following discussion with the following question for everyone :

1. What defined the attitude era to you and made you realize you were apart of watching something special and why?

 

[Drew]

The "in your face" storylines.

It seemed more real. Just look at the Pillman/Stone Cold feud.

The darkness of characters. Undertaker was there already...but mankind and Kane coming and being huge from the start.

Even Goldust pushing the envelope more than anyone before him ever did...leading to Val Venus and The GodFather.

It was almost the time where wrestling switched from a things kids, and their parents, liked to a product that High Schoolers, College kids and adults could be proud to say they were in it.