the introduction to the Attitude Era

[Hazardous]

i came across this Video of Vince Mcmahon doing an interview, introducing the start of "The Attitude Era"
[YOUTUBE]
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looking at it NOW it seems ironic with whats going on with the 'E these days.
almost as if he has gone back on it now, and reverted to the way he had it before. now before you start, NO this is not another Bitch about the PG era. or saying "Go back to Attitude" this was just a video i found, and wanted to get people's views on, whether they remember it, forgot about it, or never seen it before now. So Chill.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

HA! Thank you so much for that video, never seen it before.

Everything about WWE seems ironic and even hypocritical most of the time. I'm a basher of the PG Era simply because I don't like it, but here's a question.

- Why does he need it?

Let's face it, the WWE can push the creative envelope, produce an entertaining product and exciting matches while not being PG. The PG rating affects very little of their product. No sexual content, no profanities. That's about it. Plus blood, but blood is allowed from time to time, it's a sport, you can't stop the men and women from bleeding.

The way I see it, Vince has lost his touch. He couldn't please an adult audience which can identify a good wrestler and a good storyline, so he reached toward the children and the children only - the people who don't know what good wrestling is, the people who don't give a damn about mic skills, inring prowess, promo cutting abilities and overall quality of the show. The people who are easy to manipulate. If you make Cena seem like Superman they'll think he is - we on the other hand see a good performer, but not good enough to be the end all be all of WWE, their face, heart and soul.

I personally hate the PG era because I believe it's just lazy work from the entire company. No intriguing storylines, no good wrestling. The storylines are usually "You attack me, I attack you, then we fight at the PPV". The characters are dull, the fans are dull, nothing seems to be 'entertaining' about it anymore, aside from the Nexus storyline which will end tragically at Summerslam.

Don't curse, don't have half-naked girls running around, hell, don't even have blood, but fix your damn company, or at least RAW, Smackdown is pretty awesome. Make the belts mean something, have a STRONG mid-card full of people who are just an inch away from becoming Main Eventers, push the talented ones, have storylines for 80% of your brand's roster, not just John Cena. This is World Wrestling Entertainment, the 'best' company in the world. They're supposed to be nearly flawless.

 

[Reddannihilation]

I certainly don't remember this. But it's hilarious, when you consider the total backflip that Vince did with this deal. I like the video, as he addresses everything that made wrestling so entertaining. I do wonder if he remembers doing this himself.

 

[djpsyco52la25]

im watching most of the clips of the attitude era compare watching the pg era and boy you can tell the difference from the fans from the attitude era vs today with the kids screaming all the time. im a big wwe fan and still watching it but man you can tell the dfference i even get goose bumps from watching it cause the attitude era was great when i was in high school that was program to watch and all my buddies from high school would always talk about it all the time and coulnt wait every monday night to watch (for the record it was tv 14 at the time). and now yes im still watching you can say wwe raw only cause im not a big fan of smackdown ever since eddie g past away. same time im trying to keep up with tna but i don't know about the rest of you people but im sitting here scratching my head and thinking is there anything new they can come up. i read some of these forums and i find it that alot of you guys are adult fans that some grew up in the 80s and most of you in the 90s. i have to admit this im begining to join you folks cause well what can you say but this is lame or so. i stop buying ppv execpt royal rumble and wm and i have record on DVR but fast foward some of the matches and stop watching smackdown since eddie g past away. the other small one like nxt and superstars don't draw me interest at all i bet some of you folks agree with this one but what can you say other than that i miss the attitude era and lets see what happens

 

[bringitback]

I think what a large chunk of the anti-PG brigade miss out on either through romaticised nostalgia or pure need to criticise, is that the "attitude era" burnt out. The highs of 99/00 where ratings tipped the 6.0 scale had died long before the PG era came in. It was time for a change. It has to be remembered, the public and media backlash that hit the WWF/E bduring the attitude era, be it through "backyard wrestling" injuries and fatalities, premature wrestler deaths, kids at school mimicking guys like SCSA and The Rock, and at the height of the success, it paid to create his controvesy. But as things began to slow down, and as the 16-24 demographic of that time grew out of wrestling, there was a need to re-structure. To bring a new generation of wrestling fans into the equation, and it came time to re-focus the product on kids.

This combined with the political ambitions of Linda McMahon made the switch the PG the most viable and profitable solution. WWE is still a billion dollar industry, it is a muti-national success and by going with this angle of business, they are guaranteeing that success for another 10-20 years.

I hate it as much as the next guy, but I was there through the genuinely horrific days of 93-97, I was 11 years old as Doink and Dink ran about the place tripping people up, and yes, it was ridiculous, but I was 11, and it was aimed at me. As I grew older with the product, it catered for that, it matured with it's audience, much like it will do again with the current generation.

History repeats itself, and in my opinion, as much as wrestling does not cater for my viewing needs anymore, I'm hooked, and am happy to wait around for the company to re-evolve and progress with this set of fans.

 

[Buster]

I could understand calling it ironic if it wasn’t for one simple sentence "As the times have changed, so have we".

WWE, despite the product changes, have kept in line with the general ideas, popularities and contemporary themes of today.

Social networks are probably the most popular fast growing service today, WWE have their own and reference it in show.

NXT is a reality themed show in which selected hopefuls try out for WWE, as with usual WWE programming its scripted, but very much follows in line with entertainment reality shows such as American Idol or even more so the UK's X-factor in which contestants have mentors.

If you had gone back to the 90's and told kids and teenagers about American Idol and High school Musical they probably would of laughed in your face.

In general TV is a lot less edgy today than in the mid-late 90's, TV struggles to maintain a large audience due entertainment and other forms of media that you can find on the internet.

Even so WWE has just released a YouTube channel.

In a time when a lot of American's are struggling, WWE's biggest face is someone who stands up and struggles against his hardships (Cena).

Even those other shows that Vince references have changed, ended or receive lower audiences, it's because the times have changed and more importantly so has the mood of viewers.

Basically WWE is still doing what Vince tells us about in this video.

 

[closet_fan]

to me, catering to the kids was just an easy way out after all the attitude guys got too old to wrestler or quit.

vince will never be able to capture the attitude era again. but the big thing he will never be able to do is bring back what the had happened in the 80's.

i was a huge wrestling fan back then and this was when there really weren't big storylines. one guy would call out another guy. mean gene would tell the other guy what the first guy said. then they would wrestle. people still ate it up because the characters were larger than life. comic book characters pulled right from the pages.

heck, they didn't even have live shows back then, but people didn't care. it was a mish mash of a bunch of different events, but it was still watchable.

i think the big problem is that fans now are more intelligent and want more than the "a wrestler calls out another out of the blue....blah blah blah."

the storylines aren't all that great. most of the guys all look the same. would it kill cena to grow some hair? and it's the same guys over and over and over again.

but with wrestling now geared towards kids, vince can get away with it. once the kids of today grow up and out of wrestling, he will have probably have to make a decision on whether he wants to keep it PG or go back to what made the attitude era great.

and for those thinking the PG rating will be gone if/when linda loses her campaign run, don't hold your breath.

 

[CanadianCrippler12]

I agree with closet, catering to kids is the easy way out for the E. Thee fact is you can make a kid believe anything. I started watching wrestling in january 2001 so I at least got to see a little bit of the attitude era, and that was the best time, great storylines, great matches up and down the card, and you know what the storylines were believable and you could relate to them.

Now it seems their not even trying anymore. I was watching some of my old WWF tapes and early WWE tapes and you know what it wa smostly all adults with maybe a few kids and now it's the exact opposite. Years ago wrestlers were heel and face by what the fans wanted, just look at Stone Cold Steve Austin. It wasn't Vinmce's decision to turn him face it was the FANS. Now Vince is shoving guys down people's throats and the fans don't choose anymore, why? because it's catered to kids and at the drop of a hat you can make Sheamus a face with the kids if you really wanted to.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

I could understand calling it ironic if it wasn&#8217;t for one simple sentence "As the times have changed, so have we".

WWE, despite the product changes, have kept in line with the general ideas, popularities and contemporary themes of today.

Exactly who wanted the PG Era to begin with? Did the fans demand less sexual content, violence, exciting storylines and overall great product, or did Vinnie Mac shit his pants after Benoit died and became over-protective of his 'talent', because of business and not any humane feelings towards 'his boys'?

Let's face it, the PG Era was his creation because he was not able to produce the exciting product he used to some 5 to 8 years ago. Why? Simple. It's both his fault and his wrestler's fault.

When WCW and ECW went down in flames, WWE was the only big pro wrestling company in North America. WWE's biggest stars were ex-WCW and ex-ECW guys who made the transition to WWF. Before going to WCW and ECW most of them wrestled around the world and learned about the business and how to get things done, I.E Chris Jericho. Foley, Jericho, Triple H, Stone Cold - all of these guys were in WCW and ECW at some point in their career.

Now that WCW and ECW were done for, wrestlers would go to the WWE/F by simply attending wrestling schools and wrestling for about a year before going big time. That's a bunch of young greenhorns who don't know squat about wrestling or cutting a promo for that matter, so they rely on the old ass veterans to carry them in storylines and matches. Have you noticed that, for example, Cena/Orton/Batista's best matches are with the likes of 'Taker, HHH or Michaels? They're not as talented as we all think. As a matter of fact, they're all dreadful.

All of that results in a crappy product. Crappy roster - crappy product. It's harder for Vinnie Mac now. You can't make a delicious meal with shitty products.

So, instead of trying to be innovative and make something out of these guys, he goes the easy route and sell the half-wits to the little children who don't have the slightest clue about anything pro-wrestling related. It's not even his choice, he was forced to do it simply because the adults were smart enough to realize that Vince's product and his talent base stinks, so they/we all moved on and forgot about wrestling.

Now he's trying desperately to create new stars and the process is too slow. All they have is Cena and Orton, that's it. One of which isn't even a star, you can figure out who that is. It took Orton around 7-8 years to get to the level he is now, and he still needs to develop. Cena's a done deal, the guy's bromidic heel or face.

Vince killed the WWE with the PG Era. Kids grow up in 5-6 years. Adult fans are fans for life.

People say that the Attitude Era was immature and all of that, the hit MTV show 'Jackass' was too, even more disgusting but it was a blast to watch it The A.A was darn entertaining, it drew money, it drew crowds. It felt 'real'. We saw eachother in these characters, or at least what we aspired to be. The WWE was a place to enjoy some good ass TV and see something you've never seen before. Now people watch it not because they enjoy it, but because it's a habit. Hell, I enjoy TNA like I enjoyed the A.A and I hate WWE, and I still catch myself watching it every Monday for whatever reason. Not even liking it, but watching it. Go figure.

 

[El Rev sXe]

"As the times have changed, so have we". read closely, it says "as the times HAVE CHANGED, so HAVE we". not "as the times have changed, we go back to a formula used 20 years ago". 20 people! T W E N T Y freaking years ago!. I'm not against the PG era in a way that the E finally cares about the health of their wrestlers, but c'mon, a deal with Mattel?....why they can't be innovative. I know in wrestling everything is recycled, but I mean the way you do business. in music you don't hear disco all over again because it was a success 30 years ago! btw yes the AE was great, it was great back then! I don't want again another AE, however the E needs to calm down with all these PG things. fire someone because he choked someone with his own tie?! "OMG! that totally got me thinking about the murder/suicide of Benoit!" pffff please....

 

[Miss Flawless]

Don't curse, don't have half-naked girls running around, hell, don't even have blood, but fix your damn company, or at least RAW, Smackdown is pretty awesome. Make the belts mean something, have a STRONG mid-card full of people who are just an inch away from becoming Main Eventers, push the talented ones, have storylines for 80% of your brand's roster, not just John Cena. This is World Wrestling Entertainment, the 'best' company in the world. They're supposed to be nearly flawless.

Exactly. Fix the damn story lines. Make them more interesting. (Except for the Nexus thing, that's good.) You don't need to make it exactly like the attitude era. But, you need to fix your best brand, RAW.

 

[Dwayne_Jason]

Exactly who wanted the PG Era to begin with? Did the fans demand less sexual content, violence, exciting storylines and overall great product, or did Vinnie Mac shit his pants after Benoit died and became over-protective of his 'talent', because of business and not any humane feelings towards 'his boys'?

It wasn't us, it was the conservatives.

Let's face it, the PG Era was his creation because he was not able to produce the exciting product he used to some 5 to 8 years ago. Why? Simple. It's both his fault and his wrestler's fault.

Of course it was his creation, he owns the company. It was not his wrestler's fault and it was not his fault either. Times change. Vince kept it going even after WM 19, Cena was great as a rapper and a badass, he was the next tweener on his way to become the face of the company. The problem was not with him or creative but the Attitude Era was not edgy since it was running out of fuel. SCSA was gone, Goldberg was gone, Lesnar was gone, Rock was gone. They needed a new pack of fans because the shoes of the Attitude Era were so hard to fill. Cena was going to be a face but not SCSA or the Rock.

When WCW and ECW went down in flames, WWE was the only big pro wrestling company in North America. WWE's biggest stars were ex-WCW and ex-ECW guys who made the transition to WWF. Before going to WCW and ECW most of them wrestled around the world and learned about the business and how to get things done, I.E Chris Jericho. Foley, Jericho, Triple H, Stone Cold - all of these guys were in WCW and ECW at some point in their career.

Yes, however, WWE was still doing good without the competition and the overall monopoly. It still had intriguing story lines, still had the great promos and still had memorable feuds and matches (Rock v Hogan, Rock v Lesnar, HBK v HHH, Rock v SCSA, etc.)

Now that WCW and ECW were done for, wrestlers would go to the WWE/F by simply attending wrestling schools and wrestling for about a year before going big time. That's a bunch of young greenhorns who don't know squat about wrestling or cutting a promo for that matter, so they rely on the old ass veterans to carry them in storylines and matches. Have you noticed that, for example, Cena/Orton/Batista's best matches are with the likes of 'Taker, HHH or Michaels? They're not as talented as we all think. As a matter of fact, they're all dreadful.

Tell that to Daniel Bryan or the NXT guys, you're view is very hasty and generalized. Getting into WWE is like getting into Harvard, it's tough and the good get in. And the formula you just mentioned it's called putting someone over. As I recall, Cena's rise started with JBL. Ultimate Warrior's rise started with Hogan. Taker rose with Hogan, it's a formula that has been used quite a lot. By the way, they're not dreadful. Cena's a hard worker and Orton's easy to hate and love at the same time. In terms of wrestling AA was the WORST time in wrestling. The top faces were two guys: One who knew very few moves wrestling wise and had only one memorable move (Austin) and there was another who spoke well but oversold his moves and had a simple elbow drop as a finisher. The young guys look more advanced then the Rock and Austin wrestling wise. It's called "Sports Entertainment" because WWE is not about takedowns it's about flashy "You Can't see Me" and pounding on the mat and slamming them with a cutter.

All of that results in a crappy product. Crappy roster - crappy product. It's harder for Vinnie Mac now. You can't make a delicious meal with shitty products.

What you're saying is that the producers of Teletubbies need to make a quality show. It is a quality show. For kids. Spongebob is a quality show. For kids. Jerry Springer is entertaining for us, not for kids. Kids like superman vs Lex Luthor. This "crappy" product was the golden age of wrestling in the 80's. This is a cycle. When the PG is burnt out and a fan base is properly built, they'll just turn Cena heel, make Maryse strip, and let jerry lawler put Cole through a table. (Though, I'm hoping the Cole part comes soon ) And you actually can make a delicious meal with crappy products. Case in point: The Big Mac. All Vinny has to do, is to say "Fuck you" to the kids and we'll hail him for that.

So, instead of trying to be innovative and make something out of these guys, he goes the easy route and sell the half-wits to the little children who don't have the slightest clue about anything pro-wrestling related. It's not even his choice, he was forced to do it simply because the adults were smart enough to realize that Vince's product and his talent base stinks, so they/we all moved on and forgot about wrestling.

Right that is why we cheer for Orton, and boo for Cena and shit talk on Youtube and on WrestleZone. Adults are as much hooked to wrestling as Kids. Things are just not going their way. Besides, Cena and Orton now have to work even more since swearing on promos don't get you cheered anymore. Their vocabulary changes, and they're forced to make something complex rather than the old shit that was in the AA. Storylines will always be the same--just recycled. As I said earlier, the quality is the kids' decision, we're the minority. Think as a kid: If you did your homework, listened to your parents and watched wrestling, would you care about how Cena's wrestling or how Cena's winning? They want to have a good time and be intriguied in the storyline that is FOR THEM. It's predictable for us, because we're smart enough. Kids find grade 7 math hard, we find it easy. Is it automatically easy? No, for some it's a goal for others it's a start.

Now he's trying desperately to create new stars and the process is too slow. All they have is Cena and Orton, that's it. One of which isn't even a star, you can figure out who that is. It took Orton around 7-8 years to get to the level he is now, and he still needs to develop. Cena's a done deal, the guy's bromidic heel or face.

Desperate? No, that's a wrong word. He's doing his best. And he did come up with stars: Orton, Cena, Miz, and Sheamus, Punk, Swagger, Drew, Kofi are all young, able and willing. Orton and Cena are guaranteed future HOF inductions. The rest are garunteed (somewhat) Main Events. Orton and Cena have 10-20 years ATLEAST, then come the others. So, trust me, Vince is set.

Vince killed the WWE with the PG Era. Kids grow up in 5-6 years. Adult fans are fans for life.
People say that the Attitude Era was immature and all of that, the hit MTV show 'Jackass' was too, even more disgusting but it was a blast to watch it The A.A was darn entertaining, it drew money, it drew crowds. It felt 'real'. We saw eachother in these characters, or at least what we aspired to be. The WWE was a place to enjoy some good ass TV and see something you've never seen before. Now people watch it not because they enjoy it, but because it's a habit. Hell, I enjoy TNA like I enjoyed the A.A and I hate WWE, and I still catch myself watching it every Monday for whatever reason. Not even liking it, but watching it. Go figure.

Kids are kids, and hen they're not kids anymore Vince as to play the rewind button and play that video again and everything is jolly. PG Era is that. An Era. It's not permanent. When Kids grow up, they'll want an edgier show and that's what Vince will deliver. This process has been going on ever since the 80's. Regardless, I look forward to your response. Please don't swear at me and call me an idiot. Well, fine but please back it up

 

[Hazardous]

It wasn't us, it was the conservatives.

more like his wife's new "political" life.

Tell that to Daniel Bryan or the NXT guys, you're view is very hasty and generalized. Getting into WWE is like getting into Harvard, it's tough and the good get in. And the formula you just mentioned it's called putting someone over. As I recall, Cena's rise started with JBL. Ultimate Warrior's rise started with Hogan. Taker rose with Hogan, it's a formula that has been used quite a lot. By the way, they're not dreadful. Cena's a hard worker and Orton's easy to hate and love at the same time. In terms of wrestling AA was the WORST time in wrestling. The top faces were two guys: One who knew very few moves wrestling wise and had only one memorable move (Austin) and there was another who spoke well but oversold his moves and had a simple elbow drop as a finisher. The young guys look more advanced then the Rock and Austin wrestling wise. It's called "Sports Entertainment" because WWE is not about takedowns it's about flashy "You Can't see Me" and pounding on the mat and slamming them with a cutter.

i agree fully, it IS hard to get into the WWE, have a better shot at TNA, or any of the "minor leagues" but just because they are there, doesnt mean they are garunteed to last. if their gimmick doesnt work, then they get canned, either repackaged (gallows) or they are just released (insert ECW name here) but Cena's rise started before JBL actually. he had an amazing feud with the Undertaker, as well as a great one with Brock Lesnar (where he first called his finisher the F-U), and Kurt Angle to jump him into the "fans hearts" and to say the attitude Era was "run by 2 guys" is bull too, you forgot HBK, HHH, Mr.Mcmahon, Y2J, shall i name more?

but the point of this thread wasnt to bitch about PG or attitude, it really was to give people an understanding of how and WHY WWF went from PG of the 80's and early 90's to what has been called by some the "best years" of wrestling. and this speech was Vince's way of telling people. just found some of the points to be a little funny, because of where we are today.

 

[Hazardous]

and to say "as the kids grow and mature, so will the company" might not be fully true, remember as kids get older, new kids come along that they can pander to. new ones to brainwash into "do right, go to school" ect.

but thank you to those who stayed on topic about the video it's self. i thought it was really well done on Vince's part, to actually take the time to explain it all, and say how we see through the comic characters, and want more real ones, even to this day that stands true, and he has delivered.. mostly. some of the things he expressed in there are still going on, others he has gone back on, but that is his call to make. follow the yellow brick road (or green road in this case?), no matter where it takes you.