When did the New Generation end?

[SAJ Forth]

Jul 19, 2014 17:32:59 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Wrestlmania 13.
Then a year of transition between the old and new guard.
Then the crowning of a new era at WM 14.

Sums it up perfectly.

[Deleted]

Wrestlemania 14. Michaels being gone, allowed teh newer stars to take the top spots and shine.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

I'd say Survivor Series 1996, they acknowledged Austin getting cheers against a returning Bret, and the crowd went nuts for Sid beating Shawn. I'd say that was the beginning of the company phasing out of New Generation, and then you had Austin screwing Bret at Royal Rumble, and later on Bret's tirade. Actually, you could probably say the company was getting rid of the New Generation Era with the start of Austin vs Bret. Austin got more vicious before the first match, injured his best friend, called Bret "Shitman", and even at the beginning of the Survivor Series match JR takes a shot at the gimmicks the company had prior.

[Manute Bol]

The moment Bret and Austin did their double turn at WrestleMania 13. Bret went anti-America, Sable started wearing less and less clothing, the Nation became something of a black power group, and Austin's rebellious, anti-establishment act became the focal point of the show. While some things were already moving in an edgy direction (Goldust being the most common example), I always think this moment at WM13 is very symbolic of the changes that were underway.

[Milkman Norm]

Jul 19, 2014 21:21:18 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Jul 19, 2014 19:18:40 GMT -5 Milkman Norm said:

The 3:16 promo is one of the most overhyped events in WWE history as it did nothing to get the product over and did some to elevate Austin to a solid guy. It was the Hart program that got Austin over first as a main event heel than as a main event face. But the promo itself did none of that. Nor did it do anything to improve Raw or start WWE comeback against WCW.

It was the start of the transition. WWE's resurgence was a gradual process. An instant change was never likely to happen.

Only in retrospect. The Hogan heel turn a few weeks later at Bash at the Beach was much,much,much bigger than Austin's promo in 1996. It is impossible to say whether or not the promo started turning WWE around but given that WCW big angle had barely began at the time I find that possibility not to be plausible. Even if the argument is that it turned around the WWE product and it just took them time to build back up a following remember that crap like the Fake Razor and Diesel,Jerry Lawler vs Jake Roberts, heel JR and the awesome awesome Karate Fighters tournament all happened after the promo. So the crap continued unabated for at least another 6 months.

[Deleted]

Jul 20, 2014 9:55:08 GMT -5 Milkman Norm said:

Jul 19, 2014 21:21:18 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

It was the start of the transition. WWE's resurgence was a gradual process. An instant change was never likely to happen.

Only in retrospect. The Hogan heel turn a few weeks later at Bash at the Beach was much,much,much bigger than Austin's promo in 1996. It is impossible to say whether or not the promo started turning WWE around but given that WCW big angle had barely began at the time I find that possibility not to be plausible. Even if the argument is that it turned around the WWE product and it just took them time to build back up a following remember that crap like the Fake Razor and Diesel,Jerry Lawler vs Jake Roberts, heel JR and the awesome awesome Karate Fighters tournament all happened after the promo. So the crap continued unabated for at least another 6 months.

WCW was responsible for WWE turning around more so than Austin or any of the stuff they were doing pre-98.  The nWo storyline brought so many new fans into wrestling, and WWE benefited in the long run from what they did.  Beginning with the launch of Nitro in '95, you can practically plot out every significant innovation WCW made was countered with a variation by Vince.  In the end, Vince just had more staying power than WCW.  But, the bottom line is that Monday Nitro killed the New Generation era.  It may have limped along for another year or two, but it was effectively dead when WCW started innovating with edgier programming.

[auph10imitated]

There is deffo an overlap, I always say the seeds of the Attitude Era were planted way back at SS 95 when Diesel became a tweener and chucked Bret through a table then began mentioning a lot of inside stuff I'm interviews including alluding to Vince as the boss.

Of course the NG continued through 1996 with a lot of that typical cartoony stuff but still had smatterings of what it was it was to become. Austin 316, Goldust,Taker and Mankind, the gun incident etc...

But I personally see the switch over in early 1997 with the introduction of Shotgun Saturday Night and then a couple of weeks later the ramp and the Titan tron arrived and it felt like a whole new show. That to me is where I officially acknowledge the change.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Jul 19, 2014 20:44:54 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

By WWE '13, they consider Summerslam 1997 to be the end of the New Generation pretty much.

Honestly it goes back for than that. King of the Ring 96 is a good call. Austin speech really was the moment of the change or the first noticeable phasing out of the New Generation. That when the language got more foul if you will. Then you act the stuff with Mankind and Taker who had some extreme matches. By the Royal Rumble 97 you had the NOD in affect. You had during the rumble match Funk and Mankind getting more out of control. The four way in Feb where Vader bleed was a first in a long time. you also had the ECW stuff starting up with invasion stuff. Austin been cruising more and more. It was phased in really but that Austin Promo was really the first shoot of the end I believe.

[Crappler El 0 M]

I think there were still some small traces as late as winter/spring 1998, as you still saw some logos and gimmicks which seem to fit more with the New Generation. Summer of 1998 is when things REALLY started getting Attitude, though I agree that there was an overall period of transition and it wasn't like one day it suddenly became the Attitude Era.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

When did they change the set and get rid of the American flag rope colours? Because I'd say that was the point when they were admitting 'we're done with this shit'.

[TGM]

Jul 19, 2014 22:35:59 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

I would actually put it much further back. I think once Bret beat Diesel at Survivor Series 1995 the product started changing. I don't remember if they still aired the New Generation crap vignettes or not, but the NG was essentially over. I identify Diesel as the main guy of that horrible era. In truth I think the next couple of years were confused transition years. But even in late 1995 they were starting to go in a more adult direction, with the Bret/Bulldog blood bath match, Goldust's wacky antics, the debut of Mankind, and later 1996 wild angles like the Pillman/Austin thing.

This makes the most sense.

[wildojinx]

Whats kind of odd is that the majority of the Attitude era guys were repackaged NG wrestlers (HHH, X-Pac, Austin, Mankind, Rock, to say nothing of lesser lights like Mideon, Viscera, Holly, etc).

[Hit Girl]

Jul 20, 2014 9:55:08 GMT -5 Milkman Norm said:

Jul 19, 2014 21:21:18 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

It was the start of the transition. WWE's resurgence was a gradual process. An instant change was never likely to happen.

Only in retrospect. The Hogan heel turn a few weeks later at Bash at the Beach was much,much,much bigger than Austin's promo in 1996. It is impossible to say whether or not the promo started turning WWE around but given that WCW big angle had barely began at the time I find that possibility not to be plausible. Even if the argument is that it turned around the WWE product and it just took them time to build back up a following remember that crap like the Fake Razor and Diesel,Jerry Lawler vs Jake Roberts, heel JR and the awesome awesome Karate Fighters tournament all happened after the promo. So the crap continued unabated for at least another 6 months.

It was the start of the change because Austin's win led up to his feud with Bret, which caused Bret to turn heel, oppose America, feud with DX, and that's where the Attitude Era began.

[cabbageboy]

I dunno, I thought Bret just wanted to feud with Austin anyway and viewed him as the best wrestler he could feud with. Winning KOTR historically doesn't mean much, it is what they do with the guy afterwards.