![]() ![]() But you have to dig past fathoms of Jerry Springer-inspired grime and cardboard “AUSTIN 420:69” signs to even approach that. And, to be sure, the modern WWE-in what the company tries to push as the “New Era”-could learn a bit from Attitude, especially its unpredictable, take-no-prisoners booking style. Thus, it’s important to recognize the Attitude Era for what it was-an aberration, a last-ditch attempt at relevance that happened to pay higher dividends than anybody could have imagined. But, when the resulting boom finally ran its course in late 2001, after fumbling for a new formula for the better part of a decade, in recent years WWE has revived the larger-than-life Hulk Hogan-branded superheroics that first catapulted the company above the other “territories” in the 1980s. As any hopeless wrestling dweeb will tell you-probably at a social gathering, with or without your consent-the WWF’s love affair with concussive chairshots and broken tables first came during the lowest ebb of Vince McMahon’s titanic empire, when arch-rival WCW’s innovative booking, top-notch production values and massive payroll forced McMahon to take a risk on a bold new direction, fueled largely by talent new to WWE and ideas lifted from ECW. Of course, one could say the same thing about the Attitude Era itself, especially compared to the largely-dismal stretch that preceded it. Looking back today, the regrettable haircuts and ass-heavy histrionics of the Attitude Era seem as far from the flailing tube-men of kid-favorite contemporary wrestler Bayley’s entrance as one can possibly imagine. Simply put, it’s not at all clear that a shift towards what used to be called “adult-oriented” programming-while vanishingly improbable-would actually fix any of the prickly issues that continue to plague today’s version of the WWE. Even faced with the gaping chasm between the anything-goes tenor of the late ‘90s and the more restrained culture of today, some fans still desperately yearn for that vanished sliver of years when wrestling fandom was more than just an easy punchline for your friends to resort to.īut while few can debate the as-yet-unprecedented commercial success of the spawn of the Monday Night Wars, the reputation of the Attitude Era as a golden age for creativity remains controversial, especially among aficionados of the squared circle. While Vince McMahon and the rest of the creative staff behind the WWE of 2017 aren’t above invoking the ghosts of Attitude past in order to draw more eyeballs to the weekly shows, be it in the form of yet another pseudo-”screwjob” or other Russo-esque swervery, the zeitgeist zoomed past the likes of Limp Bizkit and three-minute evening gown matches a long time ago. The real answer, as most rational megafans recognize, is almost certainly never. But it all boils down to one basic thought: when the fuck is the Attitude Era coming back? ![]() It comes in response to almost any event-the return of an old favorite, a particularly brutal beatdown, or even the perceived tone of a throwaway promo. Sure, it takes many forms: the inquisitive, the exclamatory, the exaggerated. It’s a hallowed sentence, issued from the lips of smarks everywhere, adorning hundred-page forums and Reddit threads the Internet over for more than a decade now. ![]()
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