Do YOU Consider The Attitude Era Overrated?

[lightning116]

I grew up through ALL of the eras. The Golden Age which I love to this day and would also defend it. Then there's the New Generation Era which, as many people whine about the 'PG' era being sucky, I'll bet half of them never went through the likes of Doink The Clown, Men on a Mission, Aldo Montoya, Well Dunn, Smoking Gunns, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, Isaac Yankem (better known today as Kane), Triple H's Blue Blood gimmick, KING MABEL, The Godwinns, Bodydonnas......I could go ON and ON but if not for ECW, they would not BE an Attitude Era.

 

Then there's people who rave all over Austin and Rock. Sure they were awesome, but do they remember Austin back in WCW as "Stunning" Steve Austin, the cowardly heel alongside Colonel Rob Parker who would get his ass kicked by a lot of the faces? Or how he was the "Ringmaster" Steve Austin before he went 'kiss my ass, WWF creative team, this gimmick sucks' and came up with the Austin 3:16 thing. And The Rock. All I'm gonna say is 'Rocky Maivia' and that should be enough for those to remember. What I'm getting to is: not many people talk about how they know so much about them yet they don't know jack s**t (my sister only knows Austin loves to drink beer....yeah).

 

In regards to the Attitude Era being overrated? Yes it is. It was good for its time with WCW around. Other than that, it was crash TV at its finest. I mean seriously, the Light Heavyweight title was useless (Gillberg), the Hardcore title was worthless as all hell, the European title was unnecessary, a MAN becoming the Women's champion. Chyna being in the Royal Rumble, King of the Ring AND holding the Intercontinental title. At the same time they had some good moments behind it: the midcarders were pushed, no one felt left out, WCW forced the WWF to really pull out all the stops to stay on top for as long as they did. In a way, from how I look at it: if not for WCW (and ECW), the precious Attitude Era that everyone loves so damn much that they can't seem to get go would not be so awesome back then if not for those 2 companies.

 

Which is sad really. No one is around to challenge Vince McMahon anymore. TNA aren't gonna do it anytime soon and from the looks of things, they're too busy trying to regain their identity again as being the alternate to the WWE and not be a parody OF the WWE. So until someone can come along and make Vince piss his pants like what WCW did, they won't change their ways anytime soon.

 

P.S: keep the 'PG' and remove the garbage those writers produce. The letters aren't the problem, the creative staff is.

[The D]

To add to the comments people have already made, the ones who grew up in the Attitude Era probably thought it was real until they were a little older. Also, the main event guys were already established. We've watched all the main eventers of today go from the bottom to the top, all the while coming on message boards and discussing the backstage news etc. We've seen these guys rise to the top non-kayfabe. When I was 10, I thought that Triple H smacking someone in the head with a sledgehammer was real and therefore I wouldn't question it. If a midcard guy like Edge pinned Angle who was a former champion, I didn't say "that's bad booking" I accepted it as Edge being good enough to beat him.

 

When we watch a guy like The Miz who we all thought would be Mr. Future Endeavoured at any given moment and see him in the ring with Cena, with The Rock.. It's hard to believe. However, the younger wrestling fans don't complain that it's "stupid that The Miz beat up Cena every week leading into WrestleMania" they just accept that The Miz was capable of doing that and therefore has a chance against Cena or whatever. This is where watching wrestling in a non-kayfabe way can be lame, because you criticise everything because it's not how you could have done it, rather than accept it as if it were real.

 

Secondly, and most importantly, the characters were better. We had guys like The Rock, Stone Cold, Kane, Undertaker, Triple H, Mankind, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart etc all in that era, and all in their prime. Sure, they were interchangable, but these guys are some of the guys who are regarded as the greatest of all time, all in one era. Who do we have now? Orton and Cena, sure, they're on that level. Punk is almost there. Guys like The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Christian.. They aren't on that same level. If they were the midcard but we had bigger stars than that again then it would be more like the Attitude Era. I think it's a mix.. Every era has good and bad. Attitude Era had a lot of shit, but because of the popularity at the time it was easy to get into and the backbone of the company was so strong with so many credible names.

[thexfactorct]

Still growing up with the PG era. But I do go back and watch things from time to time. I seem to enjoy it more than I do the PG era. However the current program is getting better.

[#BestForBusiness]

There was so much shit like the brawl for all, Hawk being on drugs, Marc Mero Vs Sable, DX,DOD,LOD and the nation having the same brawl every week for the first four months of 98 but through all that there was so much gold the stars of the era have got too be obviously Austin and Vince but give credit to Patterson and Brisco for being the perfect corportate kiss asses. Other stars include Owen Hart NUGGET, The Rock being the second top heel in the company but slowly making himself a face with the crowd just by playing his natural chracter exposing Shamrock for the boring ass he was the chants changed from "Rocky Sucks" to "Shamrock Sucks", Mick Foley put out his best mic work and best everything during that year and no point going into details what made Kane and Undertaker so awesome.

[CheeseHead.]

The Attitude Era is overrated in the sense that many people remember it as being absolutely perfect and flawless in every aspect, which is far from the truth. The era had just as many gaffes as any other period in wrestling history. I will say, however, that the Attitude Era is my personal favorite time period in the WWF/E and it deserves much of the hype. It was the most relevant and commercially successful time in WWE history and I doubt WWE or wrestling in general will ever see those heights again.

[GODstandard]

No. And it looks to me like most people are just jumping on the bandwagon saying it is. It's not exactly underrated either, but that's because it gets all the lovin' it deserves. It really pisses me off though when I'm watching old clips on YouTube and people in the comments are just whining about how WWE sucks now and everything, rather than just accepting what it is and discussing the time period at hand. Nostalgia obviously has a big part to play in it and those people are just ignorant of the new generation because it's not what they grew up with.

[Vapor]

Attitude Era was awesome and by no means overated.

[.hb]

The Attitude Era is definitely one of the most important and memorable chapters in the history of professional wrestling. However, I do think it can be a little overrated. Even if there was some great moments, the poor moments were really cringe-worthy and trashy which makes you happy about the whole PG rating we have today.

[Rockstar™]

Honestly, I think many of the people who call it overrated never watched it either.

 

Hit the nail on the head. And everyone else that said that also.

[kreay fufu]

It's only overrated by nostalgia-driven fanboys who refuse to even give the current product a chance because they are so overflown with emotions from the past. It was a very good era, possible the best within the WWE and it. The only thing I can really flaw it on was that it's wrestling wasn't exactly up to scratch.

That's very debatable.

Most Attitude era TV shows contained short matches with mostly non-finishes. It wasn't that great.

Such a hugely generalised statement, and wrong too. I wouldn't even say there was 50% non-finishes, let alone 'mostly'. The wrestling was better. Reasons being that moves weren't as regulated, meaning we saw much more spectacular feats of athleticism, and much more intense matches. Look at undercard matches. Guys like Perry Saturn would hit powerbombs as regular moves, then move onto a DVD or Rings of Saturn to finish, and the other guy would do the same back with his own moves. You had lost of near falls and generally you go a better product from the match, even if it was a little shorter. This isn't just limited to Perry either; it was the entire roster that would be like this - save for the women.

 

I would also point out that in terms of the workers at that point, they were some of the very best in the business. Guys knew how to make a match hold a certain emotion, and transmitted that to the audience. I mean, even small matches like Eddie Guerrero vs Road Dogg had a well knitted undertone to them, and nothing was just glossed over (for example Road Dogg and Chyna being friends leading to a tough decision whether to interfere, which wasn't even a part of any angle). Basic psychology of the matches was far superior on the whole, simply down to the experience of the guys working the matches. Right now, there's few to no-one who can work a well plotted match in current WWE, outside of the main event.

[Mr. JustMe]

Another fan of the Attitude Era over here, growing up watching greats like The Rock, Steve Austin, Mr. McMahon, Hardys/Dudleys/E&C, Kurt Angle, Y2J among others. It was definitely a fun time back then witnessing situations that makes you talk about this with your friends in school the next day or the next week. Can I say that the Attitude Era is overrated? I can't because I grew up on it and loved it...but I do have to agree that the Attitude Era is being made a big deal nowadays because of WWE's current product and less-respectable competition...

 

"OH MAN I HATE PG, I WANT ATTITUDE ERA!!!" Even though I felt like this not too long ago, it's getting pretty stale. It is said that all of the Attitude Era fans gave up on WWE and watched TNA or ROH or UFC for a replacement. Me, I don't care, I've been a wrestling fanatic since I was 5 years old and still am, so I don't mind watching wrestling these days and shedding my input...but I do proudly admit the fact that wrestling back then at its peak was amazing.

[Cena Hateh']

forgot to mention - people saying that the AE is overrated in a sense that the fans keep bashing the current PG product, saying how "PG SUCKS, ATTITUDE ERA WAS AWESOME", this is completely justified in my opinion, and this isn't overrating anything. This is a fighting show. If you make it edgy, its badass and awesome all of a sudden, but if you make it PG, it ultimately becomes tasteless, a kid's version of a fighting show. That just doesn't go together...

[Brunton Rocks!]

The Attitude Era was good for certain reasons but it wasn't for stuff like Mae Young giving birth to a hand, Terri Runnels' miscarriage, or Mark Henry & "Sammy". When people make the Attitude Era sound so great, they're only talking about the stars....Other than that, nobody can say they enjoyed what I listed.

[LEGION]

I grew up during the AE, but back then I wasn't really interested with the WWF and just watched WCW. I don't think that the AE is really overrated (just from everything-else-haters), I more think that other eras are underrated. For example the current product. A lot people says that this isn't wrestling anymore. I think it's currently more wrestling then it ever was. Now they don't have matches with 10 litres of blood and tones of weapons to end a match (or to make it good), so the Superstars have to perform entertaining and good matches.

 

During 2011 the WWE had some of my favourite feuds and matches of all the time and even when Raw doesn't care about their midcarders, I enjoyed the Barreta/Hawkins matches on Superstars or the minor feud between JTG and Kozlov on NXT. It shows me that the WWE is looking forward and stop using all the stone-olds Triple Hs, Undertakers, Stunning Austins etc..

[Retired]

Attitude Era is the worst era ever. Todays Era is better. John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton 1000000x better than Stone Cold Woman Beater Steve Austin, Big nose spotlight stealer Triple H, and that Sellout The Rock. *censored* the Attitude Era overrated piece of crap. We have better tag teams, midcards, and champions. Wrestlemania headlined by JOHN CENA got 1 million buyrates and it makes millions of cash every year. Get over it. 2011 > late 90s.

[Guitar]

Say what you want about the attitude era,but it's a fact the attitude era>PG era. That's not debatable at all.

[TNFNS]

Attitude Era is the worst era ever. Todays Era is better. John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton 1000000x better than Stone Cold Woman Beater Steve Austin, Big nose spotlight stealer Triple H, and that Sellout The Rock. *censored* the Attitude Era overrated piece of crap. We have better tag teams, midcards, and champions. Wrestlemania headlined by JOHN CENA got 1 million buyrate#s and it makes millions of cash every year. Get over it. 2011 > late 90s.

#SARCASM

[elgato]

Attitude Era is the worst era ever. Todays Era is better. John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton 1000000x better than Stone Cold Woman Beater Steve Austin, Big nose spotlight stealer Triple H, and that Sellout The Rock. *censored* the Attitude Era overrated piece of crap. We have better tag teams, midcards, and champions. Wrestlemania headlined by JOHN CENA got 1 million buyrates and it makes millions of cash every year. Get over it. 2011 > late 90s.

 

OMFG dude youre the biggest troll ever and you either need to lay off the drugs or stay away from the board because youre only posting major BS anyway....

youre just provocating

[Guitar]

Attitude Era is the worst era ever. Todays Era is better. John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton 1000000x better than Stone Cold Woman Beater Steve Austin, Big nose spotlight stealer Triple H, and that Sellout The Rock. *censored* the Attitude Era overrated piece of crap. We have better tag teams, midcards, and champions. Wrestlemania headlined by JOHN CENA got 1 million buyrates and it makes millions of cash every year. Get over it. 2011 > late 90s.

 

OMFG dude youre the biggest troll ever and you either need to lay off the drugs or stay away from the board because youre only posting major BS anyway....

youre just provocating

[Dee Da Punisha]

Attitude Era was awesome and by no means overated.

[Porkchop]

Attitude Era is the worst era ever. Todays Era is better. John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton 1000000x better than Stone Cold Woman Beater Steve Austin, Big nose spotlight stealer Triple H, and that Sellout The Rock. *censored* the Attitude Era overrated piece of crap. We have better tag teams, midcards, and champions. Wrestlemania headlined by JOHN CENA got 1 million buyrates and it makes millions of cash every year. Get over it. 2011 > late 90s.

 

wcool would hunt you down if he read that.

[Axel Mulligan]

Not at all over rated. The face of the company at the time, Stone Cold Steve Austin, only needed to get his name mentioned to get the kind of pop John Cena could only dream about. They had rivalry's which are legendary such as Stone Cold vs The Rock, Mankind vs Undertaker, Kane vs Undertaker, Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels, DX vs The Corporation and of course, Stone Cold vs Vince McMahon.

 

 

Today, there are no lasting rivalry's. Maybe Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton will be one which lasts, but I can't think of any others that could.

[Oliber.]

I have mix feelings about this era, but I enjoyed it along with the Nitro/nWo era.

Main event scene= a little overrated.

Midcard and Tag Team scene= Underrated and overrated.

Light Heavyweights/Openers= underrated/treated as a joke.

Womens division= 50/50

 

Attitude era is great, I watched that period. The thing that made it a phenomenon though is the use of profanity, edgier storylines and darker gimmicks, something that ECW and to some extent , FMW did before them. But because WWF is mainstream, it quickly spread and thus was viewed as the pioneer of the 'attitude' in wrestling.

 

Cruiserweights in this period started out as great, until Great Sasuke ruined the initial plans of reinventing the division. The Plan B was fine though, with TAKA Michinoku being capable of a great Inaugural champion, welcoming all challengers from all over the world. That made the Light Heavyweight title so prestigious during his reign, he defended it internationally. Essa Rios/Aguila could have been a good choice for champion early in his career, but they go with Gillberg. Gillberg's reign, though hilarious, done much damage that the title was not viewed important until that X Pac/Tajiri unification feud.

 

The midcard in that era is a mix. Overrated because of the likes of Ahmed Johnson, early Rock and Triple H, Jeff Jarrett and Val Venis, etc. Guys from WCW and ECW that jump shipped was obviously paying the dues, but stayed on those positions for too long. Old timer Barry Windham was given a second chance but was not made relevant, though it helped Bradshaw early in his career. Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart was in line for world title reigns before the 'attitude era' began, but the Montreal Screwjob ruined it.

 

Womens division at that time was more considerable than what we have now. The good thing about that era, is the division being organized. On the glamour and eye candy side, we have Terri Runnels, Kat and Debra leading the pack. Torrie and Stacy would come in later. On the wrestling side, we have an Lita, Sable, Ivory, Tori, Jacquelyn etc. Women who looks good but knows how to wrestle.

 

On the main event scene, Stone Cold's gimmick at the time was a brawler, so I can't argue about his moveset being watered down. He is one of the most important person in this era, along with Vince. He's good at playing his role as the 'hunter' for the title, and represented all employees who wants revenge on their bosses. I can go on and on, but to sum it up, the main event scene at that time is entertaining. Mostly mediocre matches and sometimes great matches if done right with the right wrestlers (Angle, Taker, Rock,Jericho) that is overshadowed by Storylines. But that's how the main event in WWF supposed to be, we can't argue with the wrestling quality.

 

Well that's only my opinion.