The Piledriver Report 08.19.09: Attitude Era - Even the Bad Was Good

Posted by Ronny Sarnecky on 08.19.2009

Watching Monday Night RAW over the last several weeks got me thinking about the WWF Attitude Era. While the WWF “Attitude” had it’s share of “wrestle crap,” it was still entertaining to watch due to the high quality of the rest of the show. The Piledriver Report takes a look at how today’s “wrestle crap” on RAW makes the show awful, when the same segments, if during the “Monday Night Wars” would not have had any affect on the quality of the show.

Before I begin this week's column, I would like to apologize to the loyal readers of "The Piledriver Report" due to the lack of articles during the past two weeks. My grandfather had terminal cancer, and passed away last week. I'm doing okay, and am back to write my weekly column.

Recently, many of my columns have consisted of two themes; I either sing the praises of WWE's SmackDown! program, or I wax poetic about the pro wrestling from my youth in the mid-eighties. While watching Monday Night RAW over the last several weeks, I have started to think back to the WWF's "Attitude Era."

I didn't start thinking about the "Attitude Era" because of how great RAW has been lately. Quite the contrary. RAW has been, how can I say this nicely? RAW has been awful lately. The WWE should thank their lucky stars for having SmackDown! on their schedule.



QUIT WATCHING ALREADY!

Now, I know what many of you are thinking. If you hate RAW so much, then don't watch it. However, any diehard fan knows this is an impossible task. Sure, I could stop watching the show. The Mets usually play on Monday nights (what can I say, I like to torture myself). Monday Night Football is back in less then a month, so is "Two and a Half Men" and "Big Bang Theory." There are plenty of things to distract me away from wrestling. Despite these many choices, I have to stick by RAW. Why? It's because I'm a lifer. It's because I know that even though I have to sit through "RAW is Bore," there are those few times each year when magic will happen. It's moments like the 45 minute Shawn Michaels/John Cena match, Eric Bischoff's debut, the Nitro/RAW joint show after Vince purchased WCW, or the heel turn of Chris Jericho from last year that makes all of the bullshit worth while. That's why I continue to watch. If I stopped watching, and heard about the "once in a lifetime" moment that I missed, I wouldn't forgive myself.

For me, the eighties were the best. With Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and Randy Savage in their primes, every match seemed like a "must see" contest. However, the memories from my childhood would be topped in the late nineties by the wrestling wars between WCW, the WWF, and ECW. Man, was wrestling awesome back then. Steve Austin, the Rock, Bret Hart, DeGeneration X, the New World Order, Sting, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Sabu, Taz, Shane Douglas, Raven, Tommy Dreamer, and Cactus Jack/Mick Foley. The angles and matches came at you fast and furious. It was a great time to be a fan.

EVEN THE BAD WAS GOOD



If wrestling was so great during the "Monday Night Wars," and wrestling, particularly RAW and TNA Impact are so bad, how come I have been thinking about that time period while watching RAW lately? The reason is this, for every great Austin/Rock angle back then, there were also some horrible things that made the air as well. Remember Mae Young giving birth to a hand? How about the group Kaientai chopping off Val Venis' "member?" Don't forget Al Snow being fed his dead dog by the Big Boss Man.

Sure, we cringed at these segments. After all, this wasn't wrestling. However, the product was so hot, that these angles were barely a blip on the map, and sometimes these dumb storylines actually entertained us.

While watching the skit between Shawn Michaels and Triple H a couple of weeks ago, where Hunter was trying to convince Shawn to reform DX, I thought back to the "Attitude" days. Today, RAW is filled with juvenile DX skits, the awful John Cena promos where he gets cheap laughs from five year old kids, and "guest host" segments where Shaq gets the fans to chant "Christina" at Chris Jericho. These skits are no longer just blips. They are as Rob Van Dam would say, "the whole F'n Show!" The WWE doesn't fill RAW with much else. It's all toilet humor, five minute matches, and wrestlers being given false pushes to the point that you don't trust the WWE enough to get behind any non-main event wrestler.

Like I said, RAW in the late nineties had their share of bad skits, and juvenile behavior. However, you didn't mind sitting through it, because you knew that you would be blown away by an Austin/Mr. McMahon segment, or DeGeneration X would break new barriers like trying to invade WCW's Nitro. On the 2009 version of RAW, after you strip away the awful writing and acting, what are you left with? A main event that features some combination of the same wrestlers that you have been seeing on the show for years. How many times can I see John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista or the Big Show?

DEEP ROSTERS FOR WAR



There was so much depth during the "Attitude Era" for all three companies. When you blinked your eyes, another star was born. OK, the WCW's case, every new star that got "over" wouldn't be elevated. Unless your name was Bill Goldberg or Diamond Dallas Page. In the WWF, Vince seemed to distribute the wealth. Just look back during the years of 1996 until the beginning of 2001.

Despite Monday Nitro debuting on September 4th, 1995, the WCW-WWF Monday night wrestling war did not officially begin until May 6th, 1996. On that day, Scott Hall returned to WCW after an almost four year run with the WWF. He was not alone. He brought along his good friend Kevin Nash. Once WCW brought in Hulk Hogan in 1994 and started hiring many of Hogan's former friends and rivals, the WWF created a marketing campaign against World Championship Wrestling. They made a parody of these "older" wrestlers, and proclaimed the WWF as the "New Generation." Kevin Nash, in the role of "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel was the poster boy for the WWF's next generation of superstars. Now, he was with the competitors.

WCW was no longer going after the top WWF stars of the 80s. They were now going after the top stars in professional wrestling. Not only did Hall and Nash leave, but Bret Hart even flirted with the idea of going to Ted Turner's wrestling company. The WWF wasn't the only company affected by WCW's spending spree, as Extreme Championship Wrestling lost its share of wrestlers to WCW. Public Enemy, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio Jr., Psychosis, Konnan, Raven, and Stevie Richards all left the bingo hall for WCW.

Because of their mind boggling spending spree, and their stubbornness in not elevating the younger, better workers, WCW had the best undercard performers in the business. However, it's the main event that people pay to see. Throughout the Monday Night Wars, the WWE had the best main event workers in the business. With most of their past stars now in WCW, the WWE had to build their own stars. For the most part, these performers were young, and worked as a team, for the greater good. I remember reading several articles during this time period. Each article talked about the politics in WCW, where everybody in the main events were clinging on to their spots.

Whereas, in the WWF, most of their roster was littered with young, hungry wrestlers. The veterans in the WWF were smart enough to know that the more stars that move up to the main event scene, the more opponents they will be fed, the more money they will make. Of course, this attitude came after the "I lay down for no man," Shawn Michaels was forced into semi-retirement due to a back injury. It's amazing to look at today's WWE main event scene, and how it compares with WCW's main eventers in the late nineties. Both have the same old stale guys on top, and only a couple of new performers sneak in to get a small piece of the spotlight.

During the 1996-2001 run in the WWF, they featured Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Kane, Mick Foley, the Rock, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, The Big Show, and Mr. McMahon as their top performers. Not to mention the upper mid-card wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Degeneration X, the Nation of Domination, Ken Shamrock, the Hart Foundation, the New Age Outlaws, the Dudleys, the Hardy Boys, Edge, and Christian, who were all promenient players in the WWF. They would all, occasionally, get a chance in the spotlight.

PLEASE RELEASE THE HANDCUFFS

The WWF, at the time, allowed their performers to show off what skills they had. Were they give scripts? Sure, but their promos weren't written out for them word for word, like many of the performers dialogue is today. It's a shame too, because today, wrestlers are just puppets reading off lines. Even some of the top stars follow the scripts today. You can see that Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho didn't during their feud last year. Same thing with Shawn and the Undertaker this year. Is it any wonder that those were the two best feuds during the past two years? Coincidence? I think not.

Sure, Chirs Jericho, the Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels are three of the best promo guys in the business over the last fifteen years. However, I have to believe that John Cena can do better then the garbage he has been spewing ever? Coincidence? I think not.

Sure, Chirs Jericho, the Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels are three of the best promo guys in the business over the last fifteen years. However, I have to believe that John Cena can do better then the garbage he has been spewing ever Monday night. Maybe if they actually let him use his own mind and voice, John Cena might surprise the WWE and the die hard fans might actually like him. Scary thought, I know.

Not to totally kill RAW, but I can't help but miss the product that they put out during the war wit WCW. Every week was a roller coaster ride of excitement. The WWE has lost that spark. During the "Monday Night Wars" Era, when RAW ended, I couldn't wait for seven days to be erased from the calendar, so I could watch next week's show. I can't tell you the last time I had that same feeling during the post-Attitude Era. Can you?