The Attitude Era - Retrospective Thread!

[isrs4life]

Put all my failed threads about 1997, 1998&1999 to past and make this thread even better because it's all about the
Attitude Era, not just 1997, not just 1998 and of course 1999 dicuss anything related to the Attitude Era and that's
the bottom line because Isrs4life said so.

[isrs4life]

Stone Cold Steve Austin
The Rock
Triple H
The Undertaker
Mick Foley
Chyna
X-Pac
Al Snow, lol.

I know dicussing the Attitude era is a bit boring and we went over it a bunch of times but I
still like talking about it to myself and watching old matches from guys I said.

I'm not sure about the title I choosed of my thread well I thought it sounded good at first to keep
this thread a live but there hasn't been any replies back and I asked for it to be deleted but if you
care to make this thread fun dicuss anything between 1997-2002 I would much appriciate the post
in here.

[TheLyontamer]

Isrs, I think this thread hasn't gotten any replies mainly due to the vagueness of your posts. Instead of just telling people to discuss the Attitude Era, maybe you could suggest a topic to start off with? Or give your own thoughts on the time period to generate some discussion?

I have some general thoughts on the 1997-1999 time period. I grew up with the Attitude Era, and it was the time when I really started getting into wrestling. It tends to get a lot of crap around here but it was certainly a fun time. I think what I really liked about it that seems to be somewhat lacking in WWE nowadays is the abundance of colourful characters. What really drew me into wrestling in the late 90s as an impressionable young kid were the many super hero-like characters. You had Kane, with his red suit, mask and terrifyingly scary entrance (at least it was to me at the time). Undertaker was just the same. There was Mankind, who was a fat, dumpy guy with a mask that didn't quite cover his face, a dirty white shirt and purple trousers. Goldust, who was a less scary version of Kane, but just as enthralling. DX and The Rock, who were just hilarious to listen to. As a child, those were the guys who made me want to watch, more than Austin and McMahon did. I found both of them quite plain at the time. It's only as I've gotten older that I've been able to look back and appreciate how good they were. Now that WWE is aimed at kids more than ever before, I think they should look at trying to have as many crazy-looking, eccentric characters as possible. To children under the age of 10, wrestlers are real-life superheroes. At least they were to me. That's why it doesn't bother me when Cena acts like Superman. His fanbase eats that sort of stuff up. The reason why most kids love Rey Mysterio is his mask and the mystery and ambiguity that goes with it. That's what I loved most about the Attitude Era. It entertained me a hell of a lot more than the blood and the swearing (although I did like that sort of stuff too).

As far as matches go, there were a lot. My favourite would have to be the Rock-Mankind I Quit match from Royal Rumble 1999. That was an incredible match, one of the best I've ever seen.

Those are my general opinions on the Attitude Era. I think 1997-1999 and 2000-2002 could really be distinguished as two separate periods, as they were very different in many ways. It would be nice to hear what others thought of it and to get some good discussion going because I do love to talk about this topic. Don't delete this thread!

[Aussie_Wolf]

I know dicussing the Attitude era is a bit boring but I
still like talking about it to myself

I just had to quote this, isrs, just for the sheer epicness. Love your work isrs! Keep it up!

Personally, the attitude era is the only time in the last 30 years that I haven't watched wrestling. So I shall stay out of this thread

[RatedRBitch]

Personnally , I think the Attitude Era is a little bit overrated by fans. Yes , TV Shows had great ratings , PPV great buyrates , the shows were nearly always sold out ... But the main events were almost the same every time with brawls outside the ring , in the crowd ... Some of the storylines were so stupid it was indecent ... Blood was everywhere & even when it wasn't needed ... PPVs had non interesting filler matches with little to none story around because creative was concentrating on the Main Event.
Speaking of the Main Events , i always find it funny when people say "Cena is always in the main events ..." when Austin from January of 1998 to October 1999 was in nearly every single one (The only one he wasn't was Survivor Series 1998)
So yay , the Attitude Era was good in terms of popularity for wrestling , ratings , buyrates , & yes it had some very good moments but honestly , i didn't like it that much. And i don't think it was the best era of wrestling.

[isrs4life]

^
Yeah, I do like the new gen of Bret Hart era a lil bit better but sometimes I like them
as a tie now. Well the action was much better during the new gen but the attitude era
was a lot more enjoyable when you were watching a match in between the show.

Still today there is an attitude feel to the characters and they still have a look upon
an attitude which is nice instead of having characters so monitoned.

[Big slim]

My favorite match of The Attitude Era has to be Stone Cold vs Undertaker from Summerslam '98. The build to this feud was amazing!

[isrs4life]

I've been trying to dive into some mid-card matches from Attitude Era and found a few.
X-Pac vs. Gangrel


Billy Gunn vs. Kane


Ken Shamrock vs. Vader

[isrs4life]

WWE Raw, Fall 1998
WWE Championship Match
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Ken Shamrock


and if you want to see more this is a similar fall out to the previous match above.
With a winner!

[isrs4life]

No-love for Classic WWE forum talk. It has died down over the past couple months. Has anybody watched
anything from the Attitude Era or what not before hand?

[NightWatchman]

I was late making the transition from WCW to WWE. The attitude era was in decline when I began watching. However, like 'tamer said, it was the shock and awe of the wrestlers of the era that kept me tuning back to WWE and leave the WCW product. I loved the costumes and personalities of wrestlers like Kane, Undertaker, Mankind and Goldust. It seemed like the heels were more over the top. Big Show-Big Boss Man feud pops into mind.

I watched more divas matches during the Attitude Era than I do now, mind you I could have skipped them because even then I watched recordings of the show, never watched live, then, either.

The Brood was one of the things that intrigued me the most. Gangrel, Edge, and to a lesser extant Christian were fantastic as sudo Gothic Vampires. When the Hardy Boyz took Edge-Christian's place that was awesome, too.

Actually enjoyed Attitude era tag matches, seemed like the 'E actually cared about the tag devision then.

Hardcore matches were what got me interested in ECW. Speaking of which, when WWECW came out I was excited because I saw glints of what was great in the Attitude Era, but of course that was quickly squandered.

#BitchBitchBitch

[Big slim]

Mankind vs The Rock, that whole feud was a very fun feud.

[isrs4life]

When I think about it X-Pac and Billy Gunn were quite the mid-carders back in 98 and 99
and Shane was wrestling a bit plus Steve Blackmen wasn't much and there was the former UFC guy
Ken Shamrock who had decent matches but I don't consider watching him much but he wasn't to bad
but he is very easy to ignore or pass.

But does anyone look at Ken Shamrock when they look at the WWE Attitude mid card list?

Jericho is easley the best for 2000 standards.

Val Venis wasn't near Jerichos ladder but his RTC work wasn't to bad when they made him heel.

Edge&Christian feud from 2001 is sure up there and wish they released one or two of the matches on the new
edge dvd but hope to see it on a Christian one well hopefully have the two matches that i'm thinking of.

[yerktekredneck]

I think the biggest thing that stands out about the attitude era was not just the edginess of the program, but even more-so the top to bottom depth of the roster. The main event scene was loaded. You had Austin, Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Mankind, Vader (earlier half), Angle (later half). Upper mid-card you had Goldust, Godfather, Jericho, Beniot, Eddie, X-pac, Bossman. Lower mid-card had D-Lo, Mark Henry, Viscera, Test, Albert. The hardcore division was a whole world on its own too. There was Al Snow, Blackman, Mean Street Posse, Raven, definitely can't forget Crash "elroy" Holly. Same with the tag division. It was probably the most loaded division on the card. E&C, Hardys, Dudleys, Head Bangers, Kaientai, APA.

Taking a look at today's superstars, the entire current roster doesn't have as many stand out guys from to bottom as the AE had in a single division.