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The Attitude Era


Sexy Dad

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I've recently been watching a few WWF shows from the 1999-2000 period, particularly the main events. As this was the period I started watching wrestling it will always be 'wrestling at its best', it was the talk of school and I collected the figures and stickers etc so to me it will always have a fond nostalgia factor too.

 

However, rewatching some of the stuff with Triple H and The Rock now which featured frequent interruptions from the star studded cast of Vince, Shane, Stephanie, Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, Chyna, British Bulldog, DX and even Stone Cold and Undertaker at Backlash and Judgment Day it all felt a bit too much.

 

At the time I was enamored by all of this as I was hanging on every move, but how did the likes of you that grew up in a simpler time of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior feel about these chaotic, mass of bodies, steel chair filled screwy finishes at the time?

 

Obviously, WWE themselves often hark back to the great days of this era as the companies best but does everybody have as fond memories of it? It'd be interesting to hear the views of those longing for the days of Bret and HBK or Hogan and Macho Man and wondered when this lunacy would end!

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For the most part, anyone young enough to have gotten into wrestling in the days of Hogan, Warrior, Bret, Bulldog were about the perfect age for the attitude era. Anyone in their mid teens with a bit of a mental disorder couldn't have asked for anything more. Gore, swearing, wrestlers being sociopathic moody arseholes, women with big tits and no clothes, a million things happening a second, the big names on every week and doing stuff. It was a huge step up from watching Rick Martel vs Ross Greenberg closing the show.

 

You could even buy wrestling magazines and not have to hide them at the bottom of your bag in case everyone at school saw and took the piss. The only two things I ever did in P.E. that got praise from the other kids was the one week I won the "hit the crossbar" challenge in football, and the time I wore a Rock t-shirt for circuit training.

 

Most of the attitude era stuff doesn't stand up to repeat viewing. Part of that's down to WWE's frequent repeats of it since. Part of it's down to wrestling being disposable trash that generally shouldn't be watched more than once anyway, like soaps and reality TV. Part of it's down to cringing at myself walking around spouting The Rock's catchphrases, doing Wolfpack signs and looking like Mideon's trampy little brother. Part of it's down to just being older than fifteen now and seeing The Rock's routine for the cringeworthy shit that it usually was. I find the innocent earlier era a lot more tolerable to go back and watch than the attitude era now, but there's no doubt that at the time, that sea change was extremely exciting.

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As a still youngish viewer at the time who still caught the end of the 'rock n wrestling' era I have very fond memories of the attitude era, although they are being watered down the more it is shoved down our throats. As far as the chaotic manner of the booking and run ins as you mention it all just became the norm really and I dont remember really thinking much of it. It was just a hetic, crazy time and I remember going into every PPV expecting a big return or turn and it quite often happened in one way or another.

 

Whilst some look back on it now and try to paint it as a trash TV era that is overly hyped due to nostalgia it genuinely was the most exciting time for a wrestling fan. You had the initial excitement of two excellent shows competing with and trying to out do each other every week to the tail off from the WWF becoming far superior and producing generally 100mph TV shows for a few years after the war hit its peak.

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It must be hard for fans who didn't watch pre-1997 to comprehend the idea of going from squash matches and simple built feuds each month to all of a sudden having two promotions putting out PPV quality names on TV weekly. That's the big thing around that time period. How WCW and WWF for firing shit out weekly. The novelty of it was pretty mind blowing. WWF and WCW had a formula for years and a unwritten set of rules that rarely strayed from the norm. From 1996-2000 everything got chucked out of the window. It was a magic time period. But it was also just that. It was of its time. You can't go back.

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Started watching in 1991, so I was a teenager when Attitude era rolled around. I question if I would have continued to watch wrestling in those testosterone fueled years if it remained cartoony, but alas wrestling kind of grew up with me, it was perfect timing. Even the internet rolled around for me in 1999 to slowly download photos of Debra and listen to midi wrestling themes (which is surely a thread in itself!) and generally explore other mature content such as ECW.

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I grew up on the stuff from 89 into the New Generation period. I never warmed to the Attitude era personally. Raw seemed to hit a peak in 1997 and went downhill after that. Too much edginess for the sake of edginess and lot of embarrassing shite. Even as a teen I didn't want my wrestling to be this grubby, I missed the pomp and the flashy colours, the goofy innocence. I missed Bret and Shawn. The Rock was a bit annoying and HHH was boring.

 

I enjoy going back to that period though and intend to go through the Raws from 1998 onwards if I can find 'em. Some of that stuff - the pops, the characters, the theme tunes, good commentary - I could do with in my wrestling today.

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Personally, having grown up watching Hogan, Savage, Sting, Steiners, LOD, Warrior, etc, then riding the rapids of the attitude era and through to the current day, I have appreciation for each era.

 

The attitude era was new and exciting and probably the most talked about era in mainstream due to it's unpredictability. We have the attitude era to thank for Stone Cold Steve Austin, for that I'll forever be grateful. Also, Mae Young gave birth to a hand, Triple H performed sexual activity on a dead girl and Mark Henry groped a tranny, so some of the attitude era is better best forgotten (credit Steps for the poor song). On the whole though, a lot of great stuff came out of the attitude era.

 

BRING BACK SQUASH MATCHES!!!!

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I had been watching from 86. And although i watch old superstars/challenge from that era with so much fondness nothing can top the attitude era for me. It's like everything in my life came together within the space of a few years. I discovered drink, ecstacsy, speed, coke, the odd bit of acid and girls, real girls, not someone you would finger at school but a real tasty sort who you met in a club and pulled then banged them. Blur oasis, britpop- sorry keith h.

 

The attitude era really started for me the night bret pushed vince. Thats when the wwf really fought back. They went to 2 hours, had the ramp etc...that for me as a fan at the height of my enthusiasm was like watching 2 supercards every week between that and nitro. Greatest years of my life.

I was on a lads holiday in 98 wernt magaluf but somewhere similiar and i remember a load of the locals arguing with a bunch of 18-30 crowd and both sides doing the dx crotch chop or gangstas crotch chop to each other. Unbelevable.

 

Everyone just seemed to peak at the same point. Lawler, ross, austin, rock, foley, vince, shane, loads more. If i wernt typing on my phone and half cut i would write more. But overall. Best time ever.

I imagine like being a boxing fan fron the early 70s-mid 80s but encompessed in 3 yrs.

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I wouldn't be sat here now as a 30 year old sad bastard grown man chatting to other sad bastard grown men about wrestling if it wasn't for the Attitude Era. Although that sounds resentful, I'm actually extremely thankful for it (or at least I try to convince myself that I am). Seriously though, I love the business now. It could all have been so different, though. Almost as quickly as I got interested in wrestling as a child, I was growing out of it again and moving onto other fads of the time and getting more and more interested in football. The wrestling I had enjoyed as a ten year old would never have pulled me back in like the Attitude Era did. Like so many others have said, I was the perfect age for it. So much of the material has aged horribly, but that shouldn't be used as a criticism against it. It's a perfect reflection of the age.

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One of the things I remember most from this period is how everyone at school was into it for a bit. Back in say, 1996 or 97 you could go to school on the Monday after a PPV and hear nothing about it. Maybe one or two mates would make a comment in passing. I used to set the video to record the PPVs and watch them, usually spoiler free, after school on Monday.

 

From 1998-2000 though, forget it. Every twat and his brother and his dog seemed to be watching and you'd have the whole PPV spoiled before morning registration was over.

 

So yeah, my big memory of the Attitude era is getting up at 5am to watch so some div at school didn't ruin it for me. It's a weird memory but I vividly remember watching stuff like the Taker vs Mankind Hell In A Cell at about 7am on a Monday morning. All that stuff, Vince firing Austin at Judgement Day, Vince winning the Rumble, Kat getting her tits out. I was watching that shit while getting ready for school. No wonder my grades were shite.

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One of the things I remember most from this period is how everyone at school was into it for a bit. Back in say, 1996 or 97 you could go to school on the Monday after a PPV and hear nothing about it. Maybe one or two mates would make a comment in passing. I used to set the video to record the PPVs and watch them, usually spoiler free, after school on Monday.

 

From 1998-2000 though, forget it. Every twat and his brother and his dog seemed to be watching and you'd have the whole PPV spoiled before morning registration was over.

 

So yeah, my big memory of the Attitude era is getting up at 5am to watch so some div at school didn't ruin it for me. It's a weird memory but I vividly remember watching stuff like the Taker vs Mankind Hell In A Cell at about 7am on a Monday morning. All that stuff, Vince firing Austin at Judgement Day, Vince winning the Rumble, Kat getting her tits out. I was watching that shit while getting ready for school. No wonder my grades were shite.

 

Haha, this times a million.

 

I always had some level of bitterness towards the people who'd give me shit in 94 and 95 for being into wrestling still after everyone else had grown out of it, after first boom period ended. Then moving into 98 and 99, all those same cunts became wrestling fans. They weren't as good as me though, they hadn't sat through Sparky Plug, King Mable and Tekno Team 2000. Fuck them.

 

Even now, as a grown adult, when I find out someone got into wrestling in that 98-00 period, I still can't help but think they're a cunt.

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Even now, as a grown adult, when I find out someone got into wrestling in that 98-00 period, I still can't help but think they're a cunt.

I still find it hard to believe there are people that got into wrestling after the attitude era. Or in between Hogan and Austin. I know that there are fans who got into wrestling when Bret Hart, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Batista, John Cena and CM Punk were champions, I just can't imagine why or how. I feel like all the fans in the New Generation era were just the hardcore who got into it when Hogan was there and didn't leave when he did. And I feel like all current fans have been watching since at least 2000, and moaning since at least 2002. I can only fathom people getting into wrestling in either the Hogan or Austin eras. But that isn't the case.

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