Attitude Era embraced the Jerry Springer trash TV aspect well and it's still entertaining because of it. Most of the matches sucked and some of the segments were corny, but overall it was entertaining to watch. Unlike the slog we get on raw now for three hours a week.
Yeah, too many DQ/No contest matches back then, but I'm not going to act like this past era's seemingly endless 6 man tag main events and champion losing with no championship on the line matches is any better.
I'll still take Attitude Era WWF over most other eras of WWE. Rock N' Wrestling had great shit too but does suffer from a lack of good in ring workers aside from Jake The Snake and others. I've seen some make the argument that we have a better number of in ring workers now than before but they also lack charisma, character, psychology and booking. So it's all a wash.
And I'm not one of those Wrestling's good old days folks either. I just find that the Attitude Era's highs outweighs it's lows, but I do get not liking it as much as others because it was clearly aimed at teenage dudes.
I guess I lack the sophistication to appreciate wrestling the way Stro and Sunflower do. I can see the difference between 'good' and 'bad' wrestling, but I also don't care nearly as much as either of those guys. In any case I appreciate the passion, and I trust and even will differ to both of their opinions as these are clearly two nerds who have dedicated way more time and thought on the subject than I ever will.
Eh, you grow up at different times, you attach yourself to different things.
The beginning of the Attitude Era was so fucking hot and wonderful. Right before Bret left. Felt like a powder keg - crowds kept getting wilder and wilder for it and the action kept ramping up. Felt like a legit fight was going to happen.
I'm down on a lot of the AE because I remember the little things and they really sour me. For every hot segment with Austin/McMahon (which Vince never gets enough credit for because of who he is and what he does, but he's absolutely half of the genius between him and Austin, both were perfect) there's a shitty segment with Al Snow, who has always sucked (imho)
I mean you had the fucking Brood! Do I remember any awesome matches with them? Not...really. But that's fine, because they were dope theme music and a hot entrance. Now only if my boys the Ascension would be remembered as fondly for having great music and a great entrance... I'm getting off on a tangent, not literally, but I'm derailed.
I'm trying to say the AE is great, but spending time watching old shit has been really rewarding and I recommend everyone to try it, usually because you feel really cool when you see something done in the early 80s that was done later in the 90s or later, but it had this kind of heart to it that you don't see as often. Like, I could watch WCCW in its heyday ALL DAY because they did some hot shit, but there's also Al Snow-tier shit going on there. Get that trash Bugsy McGraw off of my TV. But Kerry Von Erich? Goddamn did he have potential. RIP.
Yeah that post really meandered, I guess what I mean is you can still like the shallow shit, but it's definitely worth your time to grab an episode out of WWE Network's vault, FFWD through the boring shit and watch some of the dope shit out there, because it is legitimately pretty amazing. Great personalities. Like this gem:
Jimmy Garvin is David Von Erich's Valet for a Day:
Really goddamned good and was the pinnacle of a feud between those two, and it was sweet justice. Really great to watch, even better if you get to watch the backstory. Jimmy Garvin is absolutely one of my favorite dudes.
