Post by S on Mar 20, 2009 10:37:29 GMT -5
First of all, let me just say, I’m not an Attitude preacher… this isn’t filled with me saying I want the era back, its just my view on one of the reasons as to why it isn’t back
On this forum there is alot of talk on how amazing the Attitude era was, but not on whether an Attitude era would have worked in ECW or WCW (or today’s TNA / WWE).. Personally I believe it wouldn't have had as much impact with anyone else other than WWF at the time.
Looking at WWF from '89ish-'95, it was very cartoony, flamboyant and over-exaggerated... alot of gimmicks were based around people of other professions also being wrestlers (a wrestling tax man, a wrestling hockey player, a wrestling dentist... hell even a wrestling undertaker) and whilst this had happened before with endless gimmicks like cowboy gimmicks, it was never on this scale. Professions were not the only gimmicks, we had gimmicks such as Bastion Booger and Mantaur... yes, arguably horrible and unbelievable gimmicks, but they fitted with the cartoony, comic book style of WWF
In 96' though, there was a shift in not only the main eventers... not only the entire roster, but the entire product, and the business went from cartoony and colorful to adult and rebellious which is pretty much the opposite of what had been seen in the business before.
That what made it work in my opinion. The easiest way (and often best way) to get a reaction is to do the opposite of what you did before...
Think about it like color, a white circle on a black background looks brighter than a white circle on a grey background.
This is why I don't think an attitude era in WCW would have been as impactful, they weren't as gimmicky and cartoony as WWF in the early 90's (I think, I don't have the best WCW memory), they were much more old school in there approach, so doing something like an attitude era wouldn't have been as contrasting.
You could argue that Extreme Championship Wrestling was always in a sort of attitude era… but several factors stopped them being as successful as WWF with it… first the think they had to contrast it with (Eastern Championship Wrestling) was pretty much forgotten, secondly, they were appealing to a niche audience at the time, and finally they were just too low budget to compete.
This is why TNA couldn’t do a sort of start an attitude era… much like WCW, they aren’t so different now that it would make much if an impact and if they did, like ECW, they aren’t big enough for it to really change the wrestling business.
Then we come to today’s WWE… you could argue that going PG and catering to a younger audience means that having another Attitude era would be a bigger contrast and I would agree that I believe WWE trying to go back to an attitude era now would have the most likely amount of success when compared… I still don’t think it would work as early 90’s WWF was completely different, where as current WWE is more ‘watered down’… let me put it this way, would many of the overly cartoony gimmicks in the early 90’s WWF worked in the attitude era… gimmicks like Bastion Booger, Adam Bomb, Kamala, Mantaur, The Godwin’s? No… you may say someone like Undertaker was a cartoony gimmick that lasted, but his gimmick adapted… those who didn’t really change are people like HBK and Bret Hart, people who’s gimmicks weren’t really that cartoony to begin with… now look at WWE today, could you imagine The Miz and Morrison, Cryme Time, TBK, Hornswoggle, working in an Attitude era? I can, sure there would need to be character tweaks and they may go in slightly different direction that now, but I think today’s gimmicks would have worked in the Attitude era.
Like I said, early 90’s WWF and the Attitude era were polar opposites and while the current WWE and the Attitude era are dissimilar, they aren’t different enough.
Of course there are probably more reasons than this as to why the Attitude era worked and may not now, but I feel this is one of the big ones.
Anyway, that’s my opinion... if you agree or have any comment, post it.
On this forum there is alot of talk on how amazing the Attitude era was, but not on whether an Attitude era would have worked in ECW or WCW (or today’s TNA / WWE).. Personally I believe it wouldn't have had as much impact with anyone else other than WWF at the time.
Looking at WWF from '89ish-'95, it was very cartoony, flamboyant and over-exaggerated... alot of gimmicks were based around people of other professions also being wrestlers (a wrestling tax man, a wrestling hockey player, a wrestling dentist... hell even a wrestling undertaker) and whilst this had happened before with endless gimmicks like cowboy gimmicks, it was never on this scale. Professions were not the only gimmicks, we had gimmicks such as Bastion Booger and Mantaur... yes, arguably horrible and unbelievable gimmicks, but they fitted with the cartoony, comic book style of WWF
In 96' though, there was a shift in not only the main eventers... not only the entire roster, but the entire product, and the business went from cartoony and colorful to adult and rebellious which is pretty much the opposite of what had been seen in the business before.
That what made it work in my opinion. The easiest way (and often best way) to get a reaction is to do the opposite of what you did before...
Think about it like color, a white circle on a black background looks brighter than a white circle on a grey background.
This is why I don't think an attitude era in WCW would have been as impactful, they weren't as gimmicky and cartoony as WWF in the early 90's (I think, I don't have the best WCW memory), they were much more old school in there approach, so doing something like an attitude era wouldn't have been as contrasting.
You could argue that Extreme Championship Wrestling was always in a sort of attitude era… but several factors stopped them being as successful as WWF with it… first the think they had to contrast it with (Eastern Championship Wrestling) was pretty much forgotten, secondly, they were appealing to a niche audience at the time, and finally they were just too low budget to compete.
This is why TNA couldn’t do a sort of start an attitude era… much like WCW, they aren’t so different now that it would make much if an impact and if they did, like ECW, they aren’t big enough for it to really change the wrestling business.
Then we come to today’s WWE… you could argue that going PG and catering to a younger audience means that having another Attitude era would be a bigger contrast and I would agree that I believe WWE trying to go back to an attitude era now would have the most likely amount of success when compared… I still don’t think it would work as early 90’s WWF was completely different, where as current WWE is more ‘watered down’… let me put it this way, would many of the overly cartoony gimmicks in the early 90’s WWF worked in the attitude era… gimmicks like Bastion Booger, Adam Bomb, Kamala, Mantaur, The Godwin’s? No… you may say someone like Undertaker was a cartoony gimmick that lasted, but his gimmick adapted… those who didn’t really change are people like HBK and Bret Hart, people who’s gimmicks weren’t really that cartoony to begin with… now look at WWE today, could you imagine The Miz and Morrison, Cryme Time, TBK, Hornswoggle, working in an Attitude era? I can, sure there would need to be character tweaks and they may go in slightly different direction that now, but I think today’s gimmicks would have worked in the Attitude era.
Like I said, early 90’s WWF and the Attitude era were polar opposites and while the current WWE and the Attitude era are dissimilar, they aren’t different enough.
Of course there are probably more reasons than this as to why the Attitude era worked and may not now, but I feel this is one of the big ones.
Anyway, that’s my opinion... if you agree or have any comment, post it.
