Last thread has well over 10,000 replies. Its body is breaking down like The Undertaker's. Seeing as we might have crossed the threshold into a new era in the business, here's a fresh new thread.
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
If you actually go back and watch the wrestling in the Attitude Era it doesn't hold up very well--too reliant on swerves and foreign objects with a lot of bloated stiffs. Wrestlemania XIV-XVI were really shitty cards. There were a lot of awful, awful storylines, too. However, when they did hit, they often hit it out of the park. The best period for the in-ring aspect was the post-Attitude, pre-Cena era; it was probably the most balanced the wrestling product ever was.
Today's matches are just spot-to-spot with very little selling or psychology, which makes it more like a crossfit workout than a wrestling match.
The Smackdown 6 period is a bit cringeworthy now, considering the bumps Benoit took and the endgame from it.
Originally Posted by BryanBusby:
The Smackdown 6 period is a bit cringeworthy now, considering the bumps Benoit took and the endgame from it.
There were definitely times when the gore went too far (JBL vs. Guerrero, 2005) and the spots were too dangerous (all those early Elimination Chamber matches). [Reply]
The DIY storyline in NXT right now so goddamn good....Gargano and Ciampa both rule. It was awesome Saturday, Gargano had Dark Phoenix themed gear and Ciampa went with the old school Wolverine gear.
It may not mean much but if you've been following it since the start it totally does and hit the nerd nerve with me lol...it's the little touches that matter. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jerm:
The DIY storyline in NXT right now so goddamn good....Gargano and Ciampa both rule. It was awesome Saturday, Gargano had Dark Phoenix themed gear and Ciampa went with the old school Wolverine gear.
It may not mean much but if you've been following it since the start it totally does and hit the nerd nerve with me lol...it's the little touches that matter.
The Ciampa match had some good limb work with Black's knee and it played into the end where he couldn't hit Black Mass. NXT has a great group of guys vying for the belt right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
Also, Attitude Era is hilariously overrated. Go back and try to watch a full episide. Horrendous.
Yes it is! I could hardly stand to watch RAW back then (of course, during some of that time WCW was hitting on all cylinders and was the better show (and I did watch that until it, too, went off the rails). [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
If you actually go back and watch the wrestling in the Attitude Era it doesn't hold up very well--too reliant on swerves and foreign objects with a lot of bloated stiffs. Wrestlemania XIV-XVI were really shitty cards. There were a lot of awful, awful storylines, too. However, when they did hit, they often hit it out of the park. The best period for the in-ring aspect was the post-Attitude, pre-Cena era; it was probably the most balanced the wrestling product ever was.
Today's matches are just spot-to-spot with very little selling or psychology, which makes it more like a crossfit workout than a wrestling match.
The Vince Russo stuff got REALLY silly towards the end.
But it's still 100x better than anything they write today. I remember when Smackdown was just as good as Raw, and better than any PPV WWE puts on today. I remember going to the very first Smackdown ever, taped in KC at Kemper, it was on my 16th bday. Rock was sweet chin music'd by HBK during a People's Elbow, who was special guest ref during title match vs HHH. Also was at the Owen Hart show Over the Edge PPV, and I'll never forget that. I had floor seats and he fell not too far away from where I was sitting.
And the guys are smaller and more athletic now...but they all look like a bunch of metro-sexuals who are getting ready for a night out on the town. Characters aren't believable anymore. The mystique factor is gone, too many cameras behind the curtain, reality shows etc etc.
With exception to Stroman and a couple others, gone are the days of the big powerful wrestler that wow'd everyone. And that's partly due to WWE wellness policy and their overall direction they chose to go in. [Reply]
Originally Posted by CoMoChief:
The Vince Russo stuff got REALLY silly towards the end.
But it's still 100x better than anything they write today. I remember when Smackdown was just as good as Raw, and better than any PPV WWE puts on today. I remember going to the very first Smackdown ever, taped in KC at Kemper, it was on my 16th bday. Rock was sweet chin music'd by HBK during a People's Elbow, who was special guest ref during title match vs HHH. Also was at the Owen Hart show Over the Edge PPV, and I'll never forget that. I had floor seats and he fell not too far away from where I was sitting.
And the guys are smaller and more athletic now...but they all look like a bunch of metro-sexuals who are getting ready for a night out on the town. Characters aren't believable anymore. The mystique factor is gone, too many cameras behind the curtain, reality shows etc etc.
With exception to Stroman and a couple others, gone are the days of the big powerful wrestler that wow'd everyone. And that's partly due to WWE wellness policy and their overall direction they chose to go in.
There are plenty of things that are wrong with thr WWE today. Wrestlers no longer doing steroids and ****ing up their bodies for the rest of their lives isn't one of them. The 3 guys you mentioned above were all smaller and more athletic anyway. Hell, Rock didn't swell up until after he had left WWE. Good god, the characters? Seriously, go back and watch a full episode of either RAW or Nitro, and come back and say the characters are less believable today. They're scripted horrendously in modern day WWE, but the shit back then was just fucking stupid. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
There were definitely times when the gore went too far (JBL vs. Guerrero, 2005) and the spots were too dangerous (all those early Elimination Chamber matches).
I enjoyed ECW back in the day, but good riddance it's now a dead company.
Originally Posted by CoMoChief:
The Vince Russo stuff got REALLY silly towards the end.
But it's still 100x better than anything they write today. I remember when Smackdown was just as good as Raw, and better than any PPV WWE puts on today. I remember going to the very first Smackdown ever, taped in KC at Kemper, it was on my 16th bday. Rock was sweet chin music'd by HBK during a People's Elbow, who was special guest ref during title match vs HHH. Also was at the Owen Hart show Over the Edge PPV, and I'll never forget that. I had floor seats and he fell not too far away from where I was sitting.
And the guys are smaller and more athletic now...but they all look like a bunch of metro-sexuals who are getting ready for a night out on the town. Characters aren't believable anymore. The mystique factor is gone, too many cameras behind the curtain, reality shows etc etc.
With exception to Stroman and a couple others, gone are the days of the big powerful wrestler that wow'd everyone. And that's partly due to WWE wellness policy and their overall direction they chose to go in.
No way. This isn't even the worst period for WWE, and the worst period for them (diva search) was still better than Russo and his viagra on a pole match. [Reply]
We view a lot of things through the lens of nostalgia because it was our youth. We remember things like Jericho's "Man of 1004 Holds" and Ralphus, but we also forget them running out actual fucking ripoffs from Mortal Kombat at the same time. We reminisce about skits like Austin hitting McMahon with the bedpan, but forget about Mae Young giving birth to a hand or "We choppy choppy your peepee." And the sexualization of worn out women with fried hair, no athleticism, and bad saline implants at that time is just pathetic now. [Reply]
