Attitude Era

[Tommy Smith]

I've been looking up a lot of stuff about the Attitude Era lately, and the start and end points of this amazing era seem to be vague.

Every site or article I read has somewhat differing opinions.

And so I was just wondering what the experts on here thought were the defining BEGINNING and END moments of the Attitude era... if they can indeed be simplified into specific moments/PPVs...

Also would you consider it by far the most entertaining era of wrestling you've ever seen?

 

[afinalsin666]

Montreal screwjob kicked it off, Wrestlemania 17 ended it i reckon. But then again you'll hear ten different versions :lol:

 

[Big Pete]

Good question.

You can trace the seeds back to Goldust's debut in '95. Not long after that you had Nash playing a prototypical Austin character and Sunny dressing very provocatively. A lot of the players of the Attitude Era debuted through out the year and then they came up with Shotgun Saturday which was basically the original WWECW.

The tone of the show ended around the brand split in 2002. Unsure what happened but the style of presentation and the pacing seemed to slow down.

The Attitude Era mode in WWE 13 had it beginning with SummerSlam 1997 and going to Wrestlemania X-7.

Personally, I feel the Attitude Era lasted from King of the Ring 1996 to Survivor Series 1999 when Austin got injured at which point it transitioned into the McMahon-Helmsly era. I think the product changed quite noticeably around that time.

 

[pennywisealfie]

I can't think of a real start or an end, it just got gradually phased in and eventually phased out. My very uneducated view of why it was phased out was at the time, many sponsors were pulling out of doing business with WWE due to the uprising of certain influential groups that lobbied against WWE threatening to boycott sponsors and such. It hurt McMahon's bottom line so he had to change things up.

 

[Valheru]

I would probably go with King of the Ring 1996 until WM17.

 

[Big Pete]

I don't think that's necessarily true PWA considering the company remained M until mid 2008 and featured some of their most risque storylines during that 2002-08 period.

Like with any era ending, there were a lot of factors at play.

Changes in the roster probably being the biggest one. Within a quick span, Austin, Rock & Foley were all gone and a lot of gimmicks had evolved over time too giving the roster a different feel.

You also had the emergence of a lot of WCW & ECW talent both in the ring and as agents. I believe the likes of Arn Anderson and John Lauranaitis had a big impact on the promotion and the show started feeling more like WCW.

Creatively, things changed too. With Russo gone, his vision began evaporating and the shock humour and television style soon became passe. In the late 90s, shows like Springer and South Park were at their peak but things started to turn and it became about Reality TV shows and lighter situational comedy which I believe the product began catering towards.

 

[Bulldog Force]

I've been looking up a lot of stuff about the Attitude Era lately, and the start and end points of this amazing era seem to be vague.

Every site or article I read has somewhat differing opinions.

And so I was just wondering what the experts on here thought were the defining BEGINNING and END moments of the Attitude era... if they can indeed be simplified into specific moments/PPVs...

Also would you consider it by far the most entertaining era of wrestling you've ever seen?

I can't really tell, but basically from times you heard the wrestlers swearing off etc... and it basically ended when they stopped doing all that and turned it into a comedy act.

Basically anything before the show was related PG was considered Attitude Era, and you'll need to go back to mid-late 90s to find out when it had an M15 rating to know when it started. I'm pretty sure before the Attitude Era it was PG too... so to be exact, it'll be that bracket in between.

 

[Jack_Napier]

Managed to score episodes of every Monday night Raw from 98-99, what I believe was the best period of the Attitude era.

 

[Utey]

Managed to score episodes of every Monday night Raw from 98-99, what I believe was the best period of the Attitude era.

I have all of 98, need 99!

 

[madunit]

Doesn't the WWE loosely suggest it started with Shawn Michaels "You're either with me, or against me" speech. (around 96?)

That lead to HHH aligning with him and was the beginning of the formation of DX. Montreal Screwjob and Austin winning KOTR all happened shortly after that and then it was on.

If anything, i'd suggeste that the Attitude Era kicked off then, as said by Big Pete, the roots of it go back further obviously.

I think the era ended when the battle with WCW died after Vince bought them out.

I would love to have every episode of RAW/Smackdown and PPV's from 1996 to 2001

 

[madunit]

Managed to score episodes of every Monday night Raw from 98-99, what I believe was the best period of the Attitude era.

The storylines were so much better, and fueds lasted a shitload longer than PPV to PPV.

That helped to make it truly engaging, and every PPV took the story to a whole new level.

WWE c**k teased their audience for ages before they finally let Austin have Vince in a cage (St Valentines Day Massacre). They were great at that back then.

 

[Jack_Napier]

I have all of 98, need 99!

Sure I could help you out mate. Shoot us a PM if your keen for 99.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Sure I could help you out mate. Shoot us a PM if your keen for 99.

In-coming

 

[Big Pete]

Doesn't the WWE loosely suggest it started with Shawn Michaels "You're either with me, or against me" speech. (around 96?)

If it was close to the birth of D-X then that would be around July/August of 1997 because the unofficial formation of D-X occurred on the August 11th, 1997 edition of Raw (thanks Wiki). That's pretty close to the time frame the WWE used in their video game as the starting point of the Attitude Era so it definitely can be considered.

Did anybody check out the documentary WWE did? Did they come up with an official starting point then?

I would love to have every episode of RAW/Smackdown and PPV's from 1996 to 2001

Might have to talk to Jack about that.

Or wait until the WWE Network is launched in Australia and they start uploading all the old episodes.

Personally, if you want to follow Raw, I recommend skipping to 1997. Raw didn't become a consistent show until it went to two hours in February of 1997. Before then, it had the odd match or moment but nothing too exciting.

 

[madunit]

I only started watching it in very late 97, still, it'd be great to relive it all again. Was a phenomonal time

 

[Big Pete]

A lot of it holds up well but 1999 was ridiculous.

 

[Jack_Napier]

I only started watching it in very late 97, still, it'd be great to relive it all again. Was a phenomonal time

Dude, even now some of the real memorable episodes/feuds are just so freaking enjoyable. Watching the re-emergence of foley after he lost the early momentum he had when he first hit the WWE is as good as I remember it. Also get a tad teary watching the Owen Hart tribute episode, man that was a full on episode, seeing the whole roster literally in tears was and still is a toughie.

Te quality of the DVDs I've got aren't the best as they were clearly recorded off foxtel every Tuesday night back in the day but its still enjoyable as hell.

I had planned to try and get the PPV's for 98-99 as well but never got around to it.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Attitude era was hands down the best period. Once it ended so did my interest in wwe unfortunately. Today's wwe is almost like watching the wiggles, pretty much targeted to 5-12 year olds I'd say. Love watching the old promos (not that there are many of them) on YouTube.

 

[Jack_Napier]

If it was close to the birth of D-X then that would be around July/August of 1997 because the unofficial formation of D-X occurred on the August 11th, 1997 edition of Raw (thanks Wiki). That's pretty close to the time frame the WWE used in their video game as the starting point of the Attitude Era so it definitely can be considered.

Did anybody check out the documentary WWE did? Did they come up with an official starting point then?



Might have to talk to Jack about that.

Or wait until the WWE Network is launched in Australia and they start uploading all the old episodes.

Personally, if you want to follow Raw, I recommend skipping to 1997. Raw didn't become a consistent show until it went to two hours in February of 1997. Before then, it had the odd match or moment but nothing too exciting.

Just re watched the doco again and there isn't mention of an actual starting date. The change in production and arena happened like you said around Feb/March 97. Probably say there was the starting point of it all. Could probably workout a definitive starting point watching the Monday Night wars DVD as well.

Foley mentions the starting point for him was Vince addressing the entire roster and telling them to step it up so to speak but no actual mention of when that was either.

 

[bileduct]

This was by far the most entertaining era of wrestling. I used to be part of a massive group of people who would go down to the club every Tuesday night to watch RAW. I had all the PPVs from around 1995 onwards on VHS.

I stopped watching regularly sometime around 2002/2003. Being a huge Kane fan I was completely put off by the stupid Katie Vick storyline, as well as the increased prominence of Triple H and the rest of the McMahon family. The departures (at the time) of Mick Foley and Austin also made WWE a hell of a lot less interesting.

These days I couldn't care less about WWE. I have on occasion (when bored) flicked it on to see what's going on and there is nothing about it that holds my interest.