Is The Attitude Era Of The WWE Overrated?

[scrubadam]

What things were being done by Foley that were so disgusting? As was already pointed out to you the second big bump in that hell in a cell match was a botch. The first bump was quite bad sure, but it was not typical of the era. Thumbtacks are a good "hardcore" visual but are far less dangerous than pretty much any big bump. Honestly the next most dangerous thing that Foley did was take chair shots from The Rock in their I Quit match, and the fault was not with Foley as Rock went beyond what was anticipated.

Even with the botches it was gross, but after the second bumb watch Foley. He can barely stand. The guy was clearly concussed and out of it yet he still continues on the match. That is gross to me.

And the thumbtack thing just goes to show how far Foley will go. He missed the tacks, but still decided to roll around in them for the visual and the crowed. Thats how much he would put his body on the line that on a botch he decided he need tacks all over his body so might as well roll in them.

If you don't have issues with it so be it, everyone has a different opinion, but seeing a guy who is clearly out of it and can barely stand continue for another 15 or so minutes punishing his body and brain even more is disgusting to me. Everyone is up in arms over Brie Bella and Liv, which is like a smack with a pillow compared to Foley's HIAC.

 

[JackSlater]

Even with the botches it was gross, but after the second bumb watch Foley. He can barely stand. The guy was clearly concussed and out of it yet he still continues on the match. That is gross to me.

And the thumbtack thing just goes to show how far Foley will go. He missed the tacks, but still decided to roll around in them for the visual and the crowed. Thats how much he would put his body on the line that on a botch he decided he need tacks all over his body so might as well roll in them.

If you don't have issues with it so be it, everyone has a different opinion, but seeing a guy who is clearly out of it and can barely stand continue for another 15 or so minutes punishing his body and brain even more is disgusting to me. Everyone is up in arms over Brie Bella and Liv, which is like a smack with a pillow compared to Foley's HIAC.

Sure, I agree that what went down with Foley in that one match is beyond what was necessary or in good taste. That match was not typical of the era or even of Foley though. It's a pretty isolated incident and I don't see what things Foley did wrong other than stupidly continue the match while nearly out of his mind.

 

[scrubadam]

Sure, I agree that what went down with Foley in that one match is beyond what was necessary or in good taste. That match was not typical of the era or even of Foley though. It's a pretty isolated incident and I don't see what things Foley did wrong other than stupidly continue the match while nearly out of his mind.

Ill be honest watching old wrestling and seeing head shots disgusts me. I cannot watch things from that era where their are chair shots to the head, it just makes me ask why?

I agree what you said originally that the Rock/Mankind match at the Rumble was probably even worse with all those chair shots. But watch any WCW, ECW, or WWE show from that era and guys are just stupidly taking repeat shots to the head, full force.

Most of the rest of the stuff I am ok with, but a shot to the head and I get sick.

 

[Android 16]

Not at all.

I watch old raws from 1997-2003 to replace 3 hours of the lowest form of wrestling/entertainment ever created.

 

[c9777666]

Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

Ratings are as well.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I would say a big no, but I'm surely biased. I consider myself an almost Attitude Era encyclopedia... I was never into wrestling until I was flipping through channels on a weekend morning in January 1999 and caught the tail end of Foleys first title win (against the Rock on Raw) on some recap show. For some reason I was hooked and felt compelled to tune into the next Raw and watched whenever I could every Monday, Sunday and eventually Thursday nights. My interests in it started to wane after the Invasion angle, especially when they unified the Hardcore belt, brought in the nWo and all the other old has beens from WCW and then seemingly had a brand re-draft every 2 weeks. I think I finally pulled the plug around 2005. To me it always seemed like WWF/E ended up buying out WCW and then becoming WCW. IE forced pushes of guys like Lesnar, Cena, Batista, etc. and constantly bringing in old guys that were once big draws or had actually retired, etc. etc.

My GF is a fan of todays WWE because of the diva whatever reality shows. I've watched some SD and Raw with her and I find it to be complete garbage. I ended up signing up for the WWE Network so she could watch some of the newer stuff on there. I had no idea you could watch EVERY past Raw/SD/PPV, so I decided to re-live the AE starting in January 1999.

Maybe I'm old school, but I find the matches from the AE to be more entertaining and hard hitting compared to today. While the story lines and angles seem wild and raunchy, I still find them entertaining and funny as an adult. Sure, their were some dumb ones, like the Bossman vs Al Snow and then Big Show feuds, Vince as the higher power, etc. etc., but there were a lot of great ones too. "Big shot" Hardcore and Crash Holly angle, Crash and Steve Blackman's Hardcore title runs, Al Snow representing different European countries as the European champ, and just about anything relating to Edge and Christian/Too Cool/Dudleys/The Hardyz/Jericho/Angle/APA.

When I watch today's wrestling, I feel like I would've tuned out after my 11th birthday. I remember seeing some of the newer HHH/HBK DX and Kane and Daniel Bryan stuff and just almost feeling embarrassed for how bad awful it's gotten.

 

[Shoalzie]

Not at all.

I watch old raws from 1997-2003 to replace 3 hours of the lowest form of wrestling/entertainment ever created.

I'm continuing through '97...just got through IYH Canadian Stampede. It's been so long since I watched this stuff, it's almost new again. I can put the app in one half of my second screen while I work or just fart around online and I don't feel any desire to skip any segments or skip an episode. It's like watching your favorite shows again on Hulu or Netflix or DVD. You liked the shows then and you still like them now.

I'm just bored with the product now because you just know every key part of the roster will get their chunk of the 3 hours. With NXT being an hour, you only get certain parts of the roster each night. If Raw today actually went back to 2 hours or 90 minutes and they didn't feature everyone each week...would they see a variety of ratings based on who is going to be the main attractions in the episode? It's almost like the networks need the stars on every episode. Could the WWE even get away with going without Ronda or the Shield or Strowman?

It does seem like the 2 hour Raws in '97 was able to feature everything that was relevant from week-to-week but granted, there was no women's division. The guys ruled the air with the occasional Sunny in a WWE t-shirt promo.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I think my favorite era of wrestling is probably the 80s, but I dont find Attitude era overrated at all.
-Every era of wrestling has had "filler"
-Just look at the crowds every week night in and night out, more SIGNS than people, just pure excitement. The WWE is lacking excitement on its own product currently, they'd kill to have those types of crowds right now.
-That excitement resonates through the entire show, even the filler "bad" parts.
And there was definitely more than just SCSA, Rock, Austin, even thoughs guys shadowed everything because they were larger than life characters.

 

[Pilky01]

The New Age Outlaws, even before joining DX, had the entire crowd eating out of the palm of their hand, yelling their entire intro verbatim, in perfect time with Road Dogg.

The closest equivalent to that today is what? The audience joining Paul Heyman when he says "My name is Paul Heyman".

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

The New Age Outlaws, even before joining DX, had the entire crowd eating out of the palm of their hand, yelling their entire intro verbatim, in perfect time with Road Dogg.

The closest equivalent to that today is what? The audience joining Paul Heyman when he says "My name is Paul Heyman".

Or chanting along with the heel as the fans want to Walk With Elias.

I know Elias generates good heat, but not sure why he lets the fans chant with him, he should mess with that to piss people off IMO.

 

[JackSlater]

Or chanting along with the heel as the fans want to Walk With Elias.

I know Elias generates good heat, but not sure why he lets the fans chant with him, he should mess with that to piss people off IMO.

Yeah I like Elias but he's like most wrestlers in recent times in that he doesn't seem like he really wants to be a genuine heel. I'm not sure that his employer wants that either.

 

[ManofSteel55]

The Attitude Era was great at the time, but where it falls is in its rewatchability. It was shock TV, so if you know what the shocks are already, it is disappointing. I preferred WCW at the time because I liked the wrestling they offered up more than the wrestling WWE was giving at the time.

 

[ShelbyZ]

One thing about the AE that was great... No commercial breaks between matches... I watched some of last nights Smackdown and all I could think was that tons of people change the channel and never turn back when they interrupt a boring match...

Oh and what's the average age of the guys qualifying for this World Cup thing? 55? That was another thing that was nice about the AE. Unlike WCW at the time of the AE and WWE today, the WWF wasn't surviving on continually pushing guys that practically had one foot in a retirement home...

 

[Scandale du Jour]

One thing about the AE that was great... No commercial breaks between matches... I watched some of last nights Smackdown and all I could think was that tons of people change the channel and never turn back when they interrupt a boring match...

Oh and what's the average age of the guys qualifying for this World Cup thing? 55? That was another thing that was nice about the AE. Unlike WCW at the time of the AE and WWE today, the WWF wasn't surviving on continually pushing guys that practically had one foot in a retirement home...

AE TV matches were like 3 minutes though.

 

[Shoalzie]

It's getting really good with '97. I'm up to SummerSlam. The Hart Foundation vs. American angle is red hot and the Vince vs. Bret feud is boiling. Such a great card when you push Austin into an IC match with Owen and what a combustible situation with Bret/Taker/Shawn in the main event.

The funny thing is being reminded how many 3/4 man factions revolving around an ethnicity or race there were at this time. The Truth Commission (South Africans) debuted in the go-home Raw before (The) SummerSlam. And you've got Nation of Domination, DOA and Savio's Puerto Rican faction.

Maybe it was just not having the jaded fans back then but what made all these feuds so great was the hot crowds. You didn't "good wrestling fan" cities. They had shows in Canada and the States and Hart Foundation brought out the patriotism of Canadians and Americans. Those shows were fun to watch because crowds were invested.

Funny thing with wanting to re-watch this era was that I wanted to also watch WCW and ECW but I'm just not interested in flipping away from WWF. This was just a fun time for the company we've not gotten into peak Austin vs. Vince, the forming of DX or the rise of The Rock or the reveal of Kane.

 

[scrubadam]

Can we have a reverse thread and talk about the Dungeon of Doom era is underrated?

Yea the DOD was scholcy cheese meant to put Hogan over. But WCW was starting to come into its own and set the foundation for when it was going to take over the wrestling world.

You had the beginings of the Lucha/JR invasion. You had basically an all star collection of wrestling talent. You got all the big WCW guys like Sting/Vader/Flair+horsemen, and then you throw in the WWE guys like Hogan/Savage/Luger etc... It was essentially a late 80's early 90's wrestling fans dream.

Top it off with Nitro making its debut, and WCW adding more PPV's and you had WCW at the forefront of transforming the business.

And as crappy as the DOD stuff was, its now very enetertaining in an ironic way. Hogan's horrible acting in the vignettes. Sumo Monster truck fight with Hogan "killing" the Giant. The YETI!. And then there is Uncensored 96 with one of the worst cage matches ever. It goes full circle from stupid to entertaining.

 

[Natey]

The early Attitude era was incredible. But then we moved into multiple 2-3 minute matches on RAW and PPV. And booking made little sense. You'd have guys losing weekly in 1 1/2 minutes on RAW and then having the same matches on PPV and going 10-15 minutes sometimes.

I liked the transition from late 96 and most of 97/98. 99 till 2001 were not so great (with some obviously great moments/matches).

 

[Dr Pepper]

I still wish they could bring back the 24/7 Hardcore title.

Remember those impromptu backstage matches, sometimes 3-4 pinfalls in 2 minutes?

 

[Scandale du Jour]

The early Attitude era was incredible. But then we moved into multiple 2-3 minute matches on RAW and PPV. And booking made little sense. You'd have guys losing weekly in 1 1/2 minutes on RAW and then having the same matches on PPV and going 10-15 minutes sometimes.

I liked the transition from late 96 and most of 97/98. 99 till 2001 were not so great (with some obviously great moments/matches).

97 was the best, IMO. It was still wrestling with a dose of reality and controversy. They jumped the shark in 2000, I think. There was some bad stuff in 98 and 99, but the main storyline, even when trashy, were fairly entertaining.