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Would the Attitude Era work today?

5K views 44 replies 32 participants last post by  HBK 3:16 
#1 ·
Do you think the Attitude Era would work in todays WWE?, WWE needs an target audience to cater to and i think that male teenagers is the way to go with the current time slot of Monday Night Raw on USA Network as most little kids should be in bed sometime during the show if WWE want's to cater to kids then they should be on Saturday and Sunday mornings on a channel like Nickelodeon.

It is possible to do a Attitude Era type show in a PG enviroment, there are sometimes on Raw some intense violence like the Triple H beatdown on Daniel Bryan that could of worked into a TV-14 rating, and shows like The Big Bang Theory that are rated PG do have a fair bit of sexual references mixed in the show. So WWE could spice up the sexual nature a bit more.

I do think that the casual male teenager would love to see an Attitude Era type show with the popularity of shows like South Park ,Family Guy, Youtube and Video gaming. teenagers these days have a sick sense of humor just like the ones growing up in the 90's.

There is value to another Attitude Era type show, It would bring back the millions of lost veiwers during the Attitude Era and make new ones out of the casual male teenager and male Adults.

I woudn't call it the Attitude Era as it is a past era i would just incorperate it into the current Universe Era.
 
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#2 ·
Yes it would and if anybody says otherwise isn't watching much tv.

Look at most of the top rated shows all types of shit going on violence...nudity...blood...swearing....fighting. ..
 
#3 ·
They need to give us ECW back and just let out eyes nerd out there. Problem solved. They could stay PG and have Cena give sweatbands to children every night on WWE and put actual talent, hardcore wrestlers, Michinoku and lucha libre on ECW.
 
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#5 ·
No No No ECW would not work in mainstream today, ECW type hardcore workers are seen as retards by todays teenagers and community teenager's today are a lot smarter and more pussy than the idiots of the 90s that used to copy what they saw on ECW in their own backyard and record it on home video.
 
#6 ·
I feel certain attitude era references would add to the atmosphere.

i.e blood, more swearing, more shoot promos, hardcore title return, and most important a revamped cena that isn't superman anymore, a cena that actually gets beaten clean.
 
#9 ·
I feel certain attitude era references would add to the atmosphere.

i.e blood, more swearing, more shoot promos, hardcore title return, and most important a revamped cena that isn't superman anymore, a cena that actually gets beaten clean.
Top guys do not get beaten clean. Austin didn't, Rock didn't (during the AE). It's always going to be like that.
 
#8 ·
It wouldn't work in the sense that it wouldn't not gather the attention it did back in the 90's. The attitude era happened when society was going through its crash tv phase so it worked incredibly well. It was perfect for that time but it wouldn't work again. It's why the ruthless aggression era received declining ratings despite the fact that they were still adult themed. Violent tv shows today are usually critically acclaimed so the comparison is not applicable
 
#15 ·
Leave out the stupid stuff, while going more edgy and darker would do well, imo. You cant, and shouldnt try to copy something, though. The attitude era worked because it mirrored society at that time. Today is different, but if they want another boom periode, then they have to mirror todays society, not a periode 15-20 years ago.
 
#16 ·
As Vince would say not a chance in Hell.

You can't have the AE then you get to the matches and it's today's mat based wrestling style that looks like a dance more so than a fight. AE's style was reckless then but knowing what we know now is just completely unacceptable.

They can go with a more adult based programming without destroying lives and careers chasing after a rating.
 
#17 ·
Man to anyone who says it would not CLEARLY never watched sons of anarchy. And sons of anarchy gets very high ratings that blow RAW away.

I don't even blame the political correct world for this bullshit,I blame WWE themselves for wanting the political correct image.

Plenty of others shows as well that are very popular not just sons of anarchy, but there have been plenty of other shows such as breaking bad, the shield, rescue me, nip tuck, walking dead, and more, those are just a few that come to mind.
 
#19 ·
Political correctness is just a bullshit myth that WWE bought into. As long as something is legal, it's politically correct. WWE have placed themselves into a very tiny niche, and they're not even good at being a niche product. No wonder they are suffocating.
 
#23 ·
People act like WWE didn't try to recreate AE before. They tried it with RA era and while it produced good tv as well it also brought about a whole set of issues for WWE. Lawsuits, lack of sponsors, fines. It is one thing to say violence and sex sells in a fictional tv show, it is another to have wrestlers acting this out in a 'selling it as real' tv show. Reality tv shows do the same edgy scripted bullshit AE marks claim is good for tv, are these marks a fan of those shows? How do non-fans of those shows view said shows?

Complain all you want about edgy content being viable on television, having a more politically correct product helped WWE's bottomline more which is why they went that route. WWE are usually on sports networks internationally. Sports networks do not want to contend with parents threatening to pull the content they pay for off the air.

Also for every sons of anarchy or walking dead, there is a juggernaut called NCIS or CSI to counter with. For every 'edgy' show in the past that you liked that drew decent ratings, there were equally 'not as edgy' and equally dumb PG show that drew 2x as much locally and probably 5x as much overseas.
 
#24 ·
By mentioning shows like TWD people aren't saying that there aren't more family friendly shows out there that are hugely popular, we are just saying that its not unusual or impossible for there to be a more edgy popular TV show in this era, and btw TWD breaks records worldwide and topped NCIS ratings with DVR included
 
#25 ·
There are only a couple of things from the attitude era that wouldn't work today. This being one of them.



That said, I personally remember the attitude era for its intensity, particularly the promos and not the stuff they did for shock value. In a way the WWF back then seemed like a land of outlaws, a place where ANYTHING could happen. Today it's too polished, too scripted, and comes off as trite most of the time.

Orton's promo tonight reminded me of days gone by. Where guys were legit pissed off about things and there were consequences for actions to one another.
 
#29 ·
thats what makes me shake my head

john cena gets shit on for stuff that rock and austin constantly did in the attitude era

rock constantly buried people on the mic but cena does it and he is burying talent

i remember during the invasion angle austin came out and destroyed like 20 guys with stunners left and right

but if cena clears a ring of talent by himself he is burying talent
 
#28 ·
It would work for me, but I don't about everyone else.

The fans that attend WWE today is certainly not your 90s wrassling attending fan. I'm afraid that demographic evaporated between 2001-2003 which WWE helped contribute.

Also about 65%-70% of this forum would also probably have a temper tantrum if that were to happen, they are far more sensitive to anything remotely non PG/Reality shown.
 
#30 · (Edited)
No.

TNA would have been a much bigger success if it did. There's been a lot of attitude era type booking in the last 6 or so years with TNA.

That's why I I don't think Russo is the solution to current WWE.

WWE was still doing the attitude era stuff into the Ruthless Aggression era and they could not get back the attitude era buzz.

That does not mean a more adult orientated wrestling product today would not work but it would have to be different than the attitude era. Attitude era was a product of the 90's. We need a product for this era and decade now.

To capture an adult audience you would have change the focus and probably the rating which WWE is not doing any time soon.

In all honesty, WWE had the right idea to an extent with a team of writers as they should be able to translate what works in pop culture and translate that to whatever this era of wrestling is going to be and catch the right context with the wrestling minds steering towards the right direction. They just seem to have so many restrictions and a very narrow focus, hence Cena being so pivotal all the time.
 
#31 ·
Yes, easily.

Why did it work in 90's but not not as much now?, No Rock, No Stone Cold, No Undertaker ect ..

Why is no one on their level, or given the chance nowadays :cena2

AE was a great platform, with legendary talent; even if WWE had legendary talent at it's finger tips, we'd never know about it now.
 
#32 ·
They had great talent in Ruthless Aggression era with Angle, Lesnar, Taker, Jericho, Orton, HHH, Micheals, Benoit, Edge and plenty of others and could not get back that buzz.

I think if you took the filters off Ambrose, Bryan, Reigns, Orton, Wyatt, Cesaro, Rollins, Steen, you would get some really good stuff but it probably would never hit the attitude era heights again.

Attitude era just would not work today. A different approach catered towards adults may well do.
 
#33 ·
No. The Attitude Era was a small period in wrestling that could have only been successful in the late 90s. Like someone mentioned earlier, the AE became big because it mimicked the crash tv style that was also gaining traction during the time. Shows like Jerry Springer, South Park, Howard Stern and etc were all getting huge during that late 90s because they were implementing that style. However around 2001/2002 that type of entertainment slowly began to fade away and people start to venture out for other things to be entertained by. This is why those shows, that I listed above gets nowhere close to the ratings or media attention that they received during the 90s .

When the AE ended, and begin to transition into the RA, the WWE was still dishing out AE like material, and guess what happen, ratings decline, merch sells was nearly nonexistent, arenas weren't getting filled to capacity, they barely had any big time sponsors and money wasn't coming in. When this decline in business occurred during 2001-2004, that was when it became clear that society changed, and that the things that were once cool weren't any longer (hell even rock music was slowly being faded out and R&B was slowly taking over). Just because something worked extremely well back in 1999 doesn't mean it will work just as well in 2014. Theres just too many changes in society that has occurred during those 16 years.

Also using fictional based shows as evidence that the AE would work in today world, is flawed, because even though those shows are more matured based, they are still based on fiction which all its viewer knows. The Walking Dead and Breaking bad don't go around claiming or hinting that their show is real. The WWE on the other hand is a form of entertainment that bases itself off of being real. There's a reason why Bryan Cranston can get away with producing and selling meth on the tv show Breaking Bad and face no problem in the outside world, but if John Cena were to do the same thing during WWE tv where he sells meth to Randy Orton, you can expect a huge backlash and many threats from sponsors and TV networks towards the WWE.
 
#34 ·
They could if they want to be sued and lose their shareholders. We enjoy good, safe family TV, not that vile NON- PG, pornographic garbage! My enjoyment for the show comes from the fact that it is PG programming. "Violence is bad, respect the women and do not cuss" Nazareth 5:23
 
#38 ·
No, there's no way anyone could recapture them years i do think however that you could use elements like a junior heavyweight division and more importance on mid cards and more creative freedom
 
#39 ·
yes it could work but the wwe is a public company now and with the pg rating, they would need to go back to tv-14.

they have the talents to do it, the real problem would be mcmahon and dunn. and bring back VINCE RUSSO.

Right now the only talents they gives me shades of the attitude era are Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Paige.
 
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