Trust Me

[King Coconut]

Am I alone in thinking the blindfold match with Martel was a classic? As far as I'm concerned, his place in history was sealed on that day.

[Magnum]

One way of looking at it is the Attitude Era was the worst thing that could have happened to Wrestling, long term.

 

It's the period of wrestling that's aged worst as well for my money.

 

I think a lot depends on what period you categorise as Attitude. I certainly agree as far as '98 is concerned, watching all those wrestlers incongruously dressed in South Park t-shirts and shouting 'SUCK IT!' for a reaction does seem horribly dated now. I still think there were some great angles in '99, though, and the first half of 2000 remains the most perfect period of wrestling TV in history for my money. Still, I find myself often wanting to revisit that period, which is not something I've found myself feeling about any wrestling after about 2002.

 

A fad that ran off the sponsors, made people think wrestling was vulgar and shot their load in terms of angles and matches. The business has suffered from it ever since.

 

It's that bold part that I agree most with. It's no accident that the quality of WWF TV burned out about 18 months after Smackdown first appeared, and hasn't recovered since. They threw so much into the shows in late '99/2000 that there really weren't too many original ideas left to use in wrestling after that. It's a matter of extremes - there was almost too much happening in a 2hr show in those days, whereas now you can see the stuff that's worth watching from a 3hr broadcast in 10 minutes (on a good week) on youtube.

[King Pitcos]

Magnum's right on that score. No matter what anyone thinks of Russo, him and feirrara wrote far more for a two hour show than a much bigger team do now for five hours. A lot of it was crap, but four oddball segments with the JOB Squad is preferable to just writing 'Gabriel vs Swagger - 10 minutes' on a format sheet. It's lazy as fuck. It's partly understandable - with business down, the main guys are the ones selling tickets/ppvs/merchandise so there's massive focus on making them draw as much as possible. But still, they could assign a couple of lower writers or interns (or get Jake in) to script shit for the rest of the card to do.

[ColinBollocks]

I remember a few writers telling stories of times they would pitch ideas for midcarders, only to hear the higher ups say "lets save/use that for something/somebody that matters". If that's true, it must be really discouraging, after a while, to even contemplate a decent idea for the midcard.

[ShortOrderCook]

I agree that elements of the Attitude era being too much at once made any era after that suffer by not being of the same frenetic pace and seeming dull in contrast or clinging to times gone by trying to replicate it. I hate this notion though that 'everything that can be done in wrestling has been done' that's such ridiculous bollocks. I do believe wrestling works better long term on the less is more approach, one of the things that has hurt WWE is they now have to pump out so many hours of TV and so many PPVs when I think the product would improve drastically if both of those were reduced. But even if they was, the issue in the post above by Pitcos would still certainly need to be addressed, your main cast of characters should be busy and involved in something substantial if they're going to be on regularly, not just killing time. There's a thread here fondly remembering the C and D shows from the attitude era and beyond here and it's amazing to think how much fun story and clear characters and driven motives the guys on Heat would receive back then. Most of the guys on Raw and Smackdown must be desperate for that kind of stuff.

[bAzTNM#1]

I seem to recall seeing a picture of Jake completely bald, sans 'tache too, in an early 90s edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Where did that happen? His hair must have grown back damn quick. Thanks!

[martyngnr]

I seem to recall seeing a picture of Jake completely bald, sans 'tache too, in an early 90s edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Where did that happen? His hair must have grown back damn quick.

He lost a Hair vs Hair match to Konnan back in 1994 when he worked for AAA.

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

any pics of the bald Jake??

 

On the subject of the attitude era, at the time i think it was necessary as WWE was coming off that 'business down' mind 90's era and WCW had just upped the ante with the nWo and its edgier product. Without it i think WWE (then F) would have gone under.

 

To be honest i think the bad state of wrestling in general is that its in an almost 'post war' like depression and hangover. WWE won the war (aginst WCW) and with TNA still very much 'behind' in every aspect it has become tired, and repetitive and doesn't have the marque names that it did even 10 years ago. I think going PG was a wise idea as although i hate it, it is putting some distance from the previous era, so in theory if WWE goes 'violent' again in 5-10 years time it will feel fresh and different to the kids watching today.

 

Personally i don't think WWE and wrestling in general will really re-ignite until TNA closes the gap and wins ratings against them and forces them to up there game, and puts there back against the wall? can they do it? i don't know. I would imagine if TNA got 'mega' funding and signed guys away from WWE it could, but the world economy isn't what it was in 96

[IANdrewDiceClay]

He got paid five figures for it. He spent it all in a strip club that very night.

[Keith Houchen]

Am I alone in thinking the blindfold match with Martel was a classic? As far as I'm concerned, his place in history was sealed on that day.

Yeah, I loved it. Martel was brilliant in that.

[iamthedoctor]

One way of looking at it is the Attitude Era was the worst thing that could have happened to Wrestling, long term.

 

It's the period of wrestling that's aged worst as well for my money.

 

I think a lot depends on what period you categorise as Attitude. I certainly agree as far as '98 is concerned, watching all those wrestlers incongruously dressed in South Park t-shirts and shouting 'SUCK IT!' for a reaction does seem horribly dated now. I still think there were some great angles in '99, though, and the first half of 2000 remains the most perfect period of wrestling TV in history for my money. Still, I find myself often wanting to revisit that period, which is not something I've found myself feeling about any wrestling after about 2002.

 

A fad that ran off the sponsors, made people think wrestling was vulgar and shot their load in terms of angles and matches. The business has suffered from it ever since.

 

It's that bold part that I agree most with. It's no accident that the quality of WWF TV burned out about 18 months after Smackdown first appeared, and hasn't recovered since. They threw so much into the shows in late '99/2000 that there really weren't too many original ideas left to use in wrestling after that. It's a matter of extremes - there was almost too much happening in a 2hr show in those days, whereas now you can see the stuff that's worth watching from a 3hr broadcast in 10 minutes (on a good week) on youtube.

 

Interesting point about Attitude era around this time. Would love for you to do the other half and cover the WCW era around this time.

[aaron]

I genuinely think that JR's Tuesday night in Texas pre match Liz promo is one of the top 3 promos of all time, if not the best. So intense and believable.

 

It's superb. I love how at the end he hears Snake's promo in the arena... and runs out to bash him during his entrance. It's a fucking classic.