Do y’all think the AE is head and shoulders better than the product today?

[Nero Christ]

Production part of why it’s hard to get into a little bit

Screens everywhere, on the ring, post behind turnbuckle, shyt be bright as hell

I kno I sound like a mark but the house show vibe back then made that shyt look like hell or sumn

All the lights and screens make it feel overproduced and counter to ultimately what you're trying to sell with a wrestling show.

shyt needs to have a dark alley/fight club feel to add that extra layer to help people buy into what they're watching.

Go watch old titantrons from the late 90s....they used a lot of footage from underground clubs/strip clubs & big city streets like this

 

[StatUS]

Raw in 2000 is better than now except in-ring.

1997 is better all around.

1998-1999 is worse than now and is truly a product of it's time. But the Taker/Kane and Austin/McMahon Storyline is basically like having two Bloodline stories going at once.

Overall, who knows. It's hard to argue against Austin and Rock wilding out every week tho.

 

[Ripp]

I think its better because everyone had a storyline/character... at one point raw was an hour and some matches were less than 3min but they managed to keep us invested.

Al Snow, Val Venis, Kai en Tai, Dlo Brown, Scott 2 Hotty, Big Boss Man

This look at me wrestle/I can do flips era is lowkey boring... Velveteen Dream was that nikka on NXT because he got "IT" there has to be some level of entertainment to this shyt. There's a reason Richocet neve really gets pushed, he's boring.

 

[Paper Boi]

yes

it was more entertaining top to bottom, idgaf if a lot of the midcard stuff was goofy as hell.

 

[BlackAchilles]

There are ways that I think wrestling has pretty tangibly fell off since then, ie I feel like they were more committed to fleshing out the gimmicks, and the product seemed less forced and more spontaneous

And I understand them fazing out the blood/really violent matches but I can't pretend I don't miss them

With that said:

The in-ring standards are are almost undeniably higher

A lot of millennial fans just can't accept that WWE hasn't fell way off so much as they're just older and more jaded now

Much of the AE's popularity was because it was a fad to watch and it perfectly capitalized on the larger 90's Trash TV wave

 

[My Girl is Bow Legged]

sidebar why does every wrestling fan call shows "the product" now and why? who started that shyt?

 

[KFBF]

More entertaining and that's primarily what I care about.

 

[BlackAchilles]

sidebar why does every wrestling fan call shows "the product" now and why? who started that shyt?

It's cause this wrasslin shyt is a drug

 

[SpacelySprockets]

Back then had bigger stars and bigger personalities and more epic/memorable moments whereas in 2023 this wrestling shyt been going on for so long that there’s so many unique concepts u can present that we haven’t already seen. I think it comes down to your preference, if u liked the crash tv style of the late 90s where shyt was edgy and vulgar with no filter versus what’s now a more family friendly show then you’d prefer the attitude era, if u prefer a superior in ring product and guys who are more relatable character wise, you’d probably like todays era better

Personally, I don’t have an issue with the show being bright and shiny these days because it gives a big time feel, also it’s 2023 so they aren’t gonna look like they did in the 90s production wise the same way espn doesn’t look like it did in the 90s

 

[Dipsey Doo]

Attitude Era was a product of it's time and in reality a higher budget, watered down ECW.

I enjoy today's product for what it is.

I was in junior high and high school for the height of the AE. The violence, goofiness and lack of political correctness where right in my wheelhouse during that time.

 

[Batsute]

I stopped at the beginning of the Ruthless Aggression era and the rise of MC Cena, and Orton. Now I watch clips here and will catch big PPV payoffs, and as someone who came back this era sucks. I’m big on characters and personalities and this era just doesn’t have it.

- Samey themes
- Overly safe promos
- Generic looking wrestlers
- Terrible matches, baby face busts out saving moves both wrestlers are down forever
- The Superkicks, my god, the superkicks

I know I’ll get flamed for this but Roman Reigns is trash, the Bloodline story is good, but his in ring work is boring, the Superman punch is some weak shyt, & Acknowledge Me. “You wouldn’t see the saying, “Look at me” on some