Ladies and gentlemen of the wrestling world let me go against everything we, the Internet Wrestling Community, believes and tell you why I believe what the title says.
I want to start this off with the 1996 King of the Ring as my staring point to wrestling’s ultimate downfall. At King of the Ring 1996 the biggest star in wrestling history was born; ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin catapulted himself to the top with his “Austin 3:16″ promo. As he rose to the top, wrestling grew more and more popular. 1996 was a crazy year for wrestling: Austin 3:16, nWo was born, Buried Alive match was born, HBK won his 2nd straight Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania XII with the Ironman Match, etc. This year may have been crazy but it was the calm before the storm.
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear ‘Pro Wrestling History of 1997′. Well, you’d be wrong if you said anything other than one of these two things: Starrcade 1997 and Survivor Series 1997. Those two shows ALONE are, in my opinion, the start of the downfall of wrestling.
We all know the tired story of the Montreal Screwjob. Was it a work? Was it a shoot? Those are two questions that wrestling fans will always wonder. If you don’t know what the Montreal Screwjob is and call yourself a wrestling fan: Kindly get the fuck out.
At WCW’s Starrcade event, you had an incredible story of Sting vs. nWo. An incredible Good vs. Evil battle, one of the best of all time actually.
The main event was between Hollywood Hogan (nWo) and Sting (WCW) for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Nick Patrick, who had favored the nWo before, was chosen as the referee through a random drawing. The match started with Hogan delivering attacks. Sting fought back with dropkicks, and applied the side headlock. Hogan sent Sting out of the ring, and attacked him with the ringpost and guard rail. Hogan performed a big boot, and pinned Sting after a leg drop. However, Bret Hart claimed Patrick counted the pinfall fast, and restarted the match with himself as the referee. Sting performed a Stinger splash, and applied the Scorpion Deathlock. Hogan submitted, and Sting won the match and the title.
What the fuck kind of shit is that?! No one wants that kind of finish. Way to fuck up, WCW. You should have put the title on Sting clean and not through some schmoz (As Bret Hart puts it). I know Hogan’s ego wouldn’t have allowed it but you shot yourselves in the foot giving that egomaniac creative control on his fucking contract.
As the Attitude Era went on, WWF and WCW went on to steal a ton of shit (and talent) from a cult-like company by the name of ECW. They were the renegades, doing stuff never seen before in wrestling. The put a twist on the Japanese deathmatch style by putting actual stories into their bloody and controversial battles instead of just being insane bastards. So what does this lead to? I’ll tell you…
The rapid decline of professional wrestling.
In 1998 shit got real. The Ministry of Darkness, DX, Nation of Domination, DOA, Los Boriquas, The Corporation, The Union, KAIENTAI, and the list goes on. All these factions were beneficial for one reason only: Gave practically everyone on the roster something to do storyline wise. Other than that, it was shit.
WCW had 90% of their roster alone in some carnation of the NWO whether it was the Wolfpack, Hollywood, Black and White, Japan, LWO … and again, the list goes on. And again, it did nothing but put somebody in a tired storyline.
But all during this time new limits were reached with how far you could push the envelope. Setting people on fire. Throwing them from 16 feet in the air. Blood. Boobs. Swearing. Thumbtacks. Inferno matches. Kidnappings. Satanic rituals. I’m pretty sure the majority of those were strictly WWE related (Minus swearing and blood … which was used minimally in WCW).
Why do you think people are so bored with the product today? It’s not the storylines or the workrate that they’re upset with. No, it’s the fact that they’re not being fed trash TV on a weekly basis that was “entertaining”.
Sure the Attitude Era was an exciting time to be fan with the ratings war as well as the larger than life characters (which we desperately need more of today). But it ruined wrestling. We became so accustomed to the drivel that we were fed during the Attitude Era that it’s not “cool” to be a wrestling fan.
So can we move past the Attitude Era and leave it in the ashes as the most despicable era in wrestling? The current character of Dean Ambrose hits it right on the head with his promos blaming Mick Foley for the loss of a generation of wrestlers because they spent their time trying to top the ridiculous acts that were brought about during the Attitude Era’s peak.
It’s time you set your greed aside as wrestling fans and think of the business’ well-being. Do me a favor and rewatch the Attitude Era and tell me how the business we all love is supposed to recover from that trash. With Vince having a deathgrip on the business, it’s impossible. Simply impossible. And it’s that way because there is no one that is willing to push the limits quite like Vince McMahon has shown in the past. Especially with the science we have now and are seeing the severe effects that era had on people (Benoit, namely). With the inability to create competition within the wrestling world, it’ll never be as good as it was storyline wise pre-Attitude Era. The only way wrestling can succeed is if the fans will quit dwelling on the past and comparing every this, that and what-have-you to the Attitude Era.
The Attitude Era isn’t as great as we make it out to be. Let that Era be buried in the past as we grow older. Either evolve and change with the business or get out of love with it. Look back and watch some of the most memorable moments from that time. Ask yourself if you’d be willing to do those exact spots for 15 minutes of fame and a lifetime of pain after doing it. The things those people did were unnecessary and stupid.
I’m the biggest Mick Foley fan you’ve probably come across but that’s not because he was willing to put his body on the line. He won my attention with his ability to captivate the audience with his words almost more so than his death defying actions and I’m as anti-Attitude Era as it gets.
Future generations of wrestlers (myself included) have it harder than anyone in the history of the business. We have to figure out ways to captivate audiences in a way that we can keep each other safe and healthy enough to go to the next show while collecting $20 bucks for gas each night if we’re lucky. And on top of that, there’s really only one place that you can really earn a living in this business and that’s with the very company that ruined it for all future wrestlers.
So Vince, thank you for not only giving wrestling a “boom” period in the 90′s but thank you for making it 500 times harder for any potential wrestler to get hired into the WWE. And thank you for monopolizing the business as well. We, the independent wrestlers of North America, thank you.