Wrestling Perceptions That Changed Over Time

[LiamMcDuggle]

Was thinking about the nWo vs nWo: Wolfpac feud was going on that everyone i knew loved it and they all bought another nWo shirt. Over time, it has not been remembered well at all. 

[legendkiller1985]

You could argue parts of the Attitude Era have aged badly due to general sexism, real life tragedies, and overall shock value and crash tv becoming the standard for a few years.

[Bo Rida]

Almost everything? Die a hero or live long enough to become a villain.

There was a time a submission would get a boring chant, now mat technicians are lauded above other styles.

The attitude towards blows to the head, taking a chair shot full-on without putting hands up was a badge of honour. Now it's widely seen as stupid.

[tafkaga]

I used to hate Eric Bischoff and want to see Vince kick his ass, literally and figuratively, but for many years I've wished that history had swung the other way.

[XIII]

Vince McMahon is/was a genius. He definitely had the foresight and acumen to meld wrestling with MTV/cable/PPV and for that he should be lauded, but he has only ever been a good Booker when he has a veritable all star team on camera and behind the scenes to do the heavy lifting, A ruthless and thus great businessman…a not so great booker…. And a terrible human overall.

[SneakMan]

X-Pac was seen in the late 90's/early 2000's as a solid-but-unspectacular worker with an incredibly stale and obnoxious presentation, to the point where his name became synonymous with crowds being utterly apathetic about a wrestler. Today Sean Waltman is viewed as an underrated talent in an era largely not known for workrate, and is probably the least problematic Kliq member.

[XIII]

Jan 11, 2023 14:23:08 GMT -5 SneakMan said:

X-Pac was seen in the late 90's/early 2000's as a solid-but-unspectacular worker with an incredibly stale and obnoxious presentation, to the point where his name became synonymous with crowds being utterly apathetic about a wrestler. Today Sean Waltman is viewed as an underrated talent in an era largely not known for workrate, and is probably the least problematic Kliq member.

I still remember seeing the Lightning Kid and Jerry Lynn having proto-cruiser matches in Global. Dude was blowing my mind back then, especially in comparison to the other lumbering oafs like Tug Taylor that were hanging around Texas then and guys like Dino Bravo stinking up WWE rings. Waltman is no joke one of the most important people in US wrestling, few were wrestling like him at that point and he was just a skinny kid from Minnesota. He should definitely get more credit.

[kingoftheindies]

poster boy seems to be Kevin Nash. Hated by the wrestling community for years (in part due to how he was portrayed in Death of WCW and stories about the Kliq) but between Paparazzi Production and the PCS in TNA, his different shoot interviews, and his podcast harder to find a guy more beloved now.

If we're talking wrestling wise? I feel like ECW has gone from being glorified to villified for various reasons.

[Red Mage Riot]

You could say the NWO Wolfpac in general. Looking back at this, these late 30's-early 40's white guys spitting out already played out rap slang was cringey as f***, but for some reason, it just hit in 1998. Weird days.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

I was just thinking of Batista earlier, back during his run he was thought of as kind of a douche by the fanbase, a womaniser, living meme and Triple H's buddy but he's been revealed as a pretty cool guy with much the same complaints as the fandom itself and everyone's warmed on him.

[coleslaw]

I feel like beating on rookies/enhancement talent is largely frowned upon nowadays, and rightfully so

Like, the physicality of wrestling is still around but it's more of an agreed upon "yeah let's kick the shit out of each other" versus "I'm gonna beat the shit out of this guy whether he likes it or not"

[ANuclearError]

There was a time when Taichi was the "Local man ruins everything" in Japan. Now he's quite beloved.

[Aceorton]

I feel like Dynamite Kid had more defenders than detractors until like 10 or 15 years ago because of his contributions to the business and his status as a pioneer. But as the details of who he really was and the abusive things he did have come out and become more common knowledge, it has become very much a widespread, "Yeah, F that guy."

Another big one in this area is Flair. Ten years ago, there was not this much eye-rolling and disgust for the man.

[James Fabiano]

Gedo was one of the "public enemies" as far as Japanese wrestling went in the 90s. His booking improved his reputation.

Chris Benoit, duh.

[James Fabiano]

Jan 11, 2023 17:50:56 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Another big one in this area is Flair. Ten years ago, there was not this much eye-rolling and disgust for the man.

Yep. His antics with his "last" match and such didn't help. Being reminded of the Plane Ride antics too (Tommy Dreamer, on the other hand, laid low after that DSOTR episode and seemed to have said nothing stupid since, so his beef tends to be forgotten...)

[BorneAgain]

DDP got a lot of flack for being a supposed nepotism talent who overly planned out his matches, however his genuinely amazing work with DDP Yoga and the changing attitudes on the merits of how lay out a match have turned him into a genuinely admired figure in the business.

While the perception of Cornette has definitely become very divided within the past few years, the shift really began with the ROH booking run. Once people got a taste of his style of wrestling beyond hypotheticals in shoot interviews and rants about Russo, a lot the attitudes started shifting.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Jan 11, 2023 18:06:10 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Gedo was one of the "public enemies" as far as Japanese wrestling went in the 90s. His booking improved his reputation.

That's a major reason why I get frustrated when it feels like the same six people get prominent booking jobs in the big promotions. If you keep playing the increasingly worn out hits, you won't discover that the junior tag team veteran that nobody bothers to pirate the matches of is a pretty excellent booker.

[fw91]

John Cena.

[Psicofreak667]

There's a few people who were well regarded for something at the time that managed to tank their reputations and, regardless of the fact that it's usually well-deserved, those individuals then aren't given the credit for what they did do.

Two good examples of this are Hugh Morrus and Johnny Ace. The former was seen as an underrated and mistreated midcarder who was good in the ring and deserved a lot better, and the latter nearly turned WCW around by taking over the head road agent duties and sending the quality of WCW's matches skyrocketing. Of course, now they're known better for bullying trainees and black couch casting divas respectively.

Al Snow's another one who gets undercredited because he's so bitter and vitriolic today, but he was a perpetually over upper-midcarder during the peak years of the Attitude Era and the 90s Boom. Honestly, I think were he breaking onto the scene now he'd do even better today, since he was solidly above-average across the board, even if he didn't have any one thing he did spectacularly well.

I've said before I think breaking up the Wolfpac was just as bad as ending Goldberg's streak. Reminder that during the Nash/Goldberg match, there were Wolfpac fans audibly chanting "Goldberg sucks" and you go from Nash being that popular to being a sidekick for that dweeb Hogan?

[Deleted]

Well, the fans used to go crazy for bikini contests and lingerie pillow fights. Now the general consensus seems to be "That was all sexist and I'm glad it's gone"

I wonder how one of those segments would go down today. Would the crowd still pop? Would the women get even MORE over due to the sex appeal? It will never happen but I'm curious.