WWE’s Attitude Era Unfairly Overshadows Current Generation

Depending on your perspective, the WWE’s Attitude Era started in 1997 and lasted until 2001. It gave a platform to wrestlers to become icons in professional wrestling like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, D-Generation X, Sable, Sunny, and dozens more.

It is common practice for sports fans, yes professional wrestling is a sport, to wish things were how it was back in their day. “I wish WWE would go back to how it was when Stone Cold was kicking ass and The Godfather had the Ho Trainnnnnnn!! I miss the Monday Night Wars!” We miss the days where Michael Jordan dominated the NBA, or when Ronnie Lott would blow up a Wide Receiver on a crossing pattern, or when The Rock would call for the People’s Elbow.

As a fan, we all have memories of rushing home to get in front of USA Network to watch RAW is WAR. The Attitude Era signaled a meteoric rise of popularity for WWE. Professional wrestling was on the cover of TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and other media outlets. Back then, WWE was the wild west of television where anything could happen within that two hour time frame.

WWE does not have one general trait. When wrestling is at its best, it is a buffet line of entertainment. WWE fans can enjoy the over the top characters like The Ultimate Warrior, the storytelling of  Bret Hart, the athletic ability of Ricochet, and the aggressive nature of a Becky Lynch.

If you pay attention to wrestling fans or former wrestlers, The Attitude Era is spoken about with a strange reverence. Every current WWE wrestler, male or female, is wrestling against the shadows of an era that ended 18 years ago.

This generation of WWE talent has arguably the deepest talent roster in the history of the company. The biggest criticism of this generation of WWE talent, from a character standpoint, tends to be “everything seems too contrived or over produced”.

Fans clamor for Roman Reigns to let “his natural persona” shine through instead of interviews where it feels as if Reigns is reading a script and not speaking from the heart. The difficult part is after Reigns cuts a promo that fans pick apart, Reigns then goes out and has a match with Buddy Murphy that fans state is one of the best matches of the year

Fans want Roman Reigns and the rest of the roster to cut promos like it is 1999 and then have matches like it is 2019. WWE has evolved to where this is not realistic in 2019.

Take a trip down memory lane for longer than two Rock promos and land in Jul. 5, 1999. Take a look at that RAW’s card. Are wrestling characters on that card memorable? Absolutely. Does the memory of them all age well? Not a chance.

Can you imagine the “internet explosion” in 2019 if Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles on a recent episode of WWE Monday Night RAW was followed by Test vs Joey Abs or Mr. Ass Billy Gunn? This is not meant to disparage the wrestlers that performed in The Attitude Era. What this should explain is that as great as the characters were in The Attitude Era, the wrestling was well below the bar that the wrestlers in 2019 are consistently raising.

WWE has always been a company that yearns for mainstream acceptance. In 2019, they finally have achieved it. WWE is covered by major sports outlets such as ESPN. Due to The Attitude Era and other generations in WWE, WWE has grown to the level it is now. Do fans have a burning desire for Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, or Daniel Bryan to go down to the ring and cut the same style promo for WWE that is symbolic with The Attitude Era?

Good luck trying to keep the partnership with WWE and Susan G Komen strong as The OC cuts a promo in Blackface the same way D-X did on the Nation of Domination in 1998.

WrestleMania has gone from an event that during The Attitude Era, averaged 31,751.25 fans in attendance to an event that averaged 83,029.25 fans from WrestleMania 31 to WrestleMania 34.

Aside from fans frustration with overproduced and inauthentic characters on TV, the additional frustration is the inconsistent booking and lack of main event characters. No one in 2019 seems like the top dog in the company, it just feels as if you are watching a ton of above average wrestlers with directionless storylines.

This is where decades of previous WWE television had a leg up on the current regime. It can be argued that this inconsistent booking can be tied to the lack of pay per views and the financial commitment that pay per view commanded. In 1999, every week of WWE television was a promotion to have the fan pay $34.99 for WWE’s monthly pay per view.  That Pay-Per-View lasted 3 hours and that was all you received for your $34.99 investment.

With the rise of the WWE Network, now fans pay $9.99 a month for unlimited access to WWE, WCW, ECW, and so much more pro wrestling. WWE does not HAVE to develop characters that sell a Pay-Per-View the way it did in 1999. This is due to the theory that WWE has your $9.99 a month regardless of if AJ Styles cuts an amazing promo or has an amazing wrestling match.

It is my belief that the top characters in The Attitude Era were some of the best in WWE history. WWE could allow them to make mistakes, find their voice, and take chances. For every Rock there were characters like Meat, Chaz, The Artist Formally Known as Goldust, or The Oddities. Keep that in mind the next time you compare a wrestler to Brian Pillman, Terry Funk, or Jake Roberts, those wrestlers had the leeway to get away with almost anything. While this generation can’t.

Sometimes it helps to take off the rose colored glasses wrestling fans wear and enjoy the current era of pro wrestling that we are living in.

Is the next Stone Cold Steve Austin on the WWE roster? No.

If you look at how adults interact in 2019, from dating, ordering food, shopping for a car, finding a relationship, and everything in between. Nothing is the same, so why should professional wrestling?