Memories you have growing up in the Attitude Era?

[joeman]

Looking back, I didn't realize how much the Attitude Era influence people outside of wrestling. I was 13 or 14 then, but I remember all my friends did the Stone Cold Stunner to everyone, Mick Foley and Owen Hart tribute videos in classrooms, and almost everybody wearing a DX shirt and doing "suck it" as an insult. What memories do you have when you grow up in the Attitude Era?

[Next Level was WRONG]

I remember some dude wearing a D-X shirt in a music shop and a bunch of kids from my school year "Stevie-kicking" each other while laughing about one of them wearing white socks.


Stevie was so over.

[GuyOfOwnage]

I was 10 years old in 1998, so the influence may not have been as pronounced. I remember that for the first time ever, my friends were starting to get into the product too. I'd been a closet wrestling fan most of my life (and looking at the early-to-mid 90s, can you really blame me?), so it seemed like a fitting reward. I remember I was in a Catholic elementary/middle school, so most of Steve Austin's merchandise was pretty much forbidden. Hell, I remember I even got in trouble for wearing an Undertaker shirt that said "To Die For". By 1999 when I was 11, even my parents were really getting weary of the racy product, considering my age. I was completely forbidden from watching any Undertaker segments or matches during the whole Satanist/Ministry angle. After the sex stuff really started to get out of control during that year, I actually got banned from watching at all for a couple of weeks, which probably produced one of the most profanity-laced rants you've ever heard from an 11 year old. All in all, I really enjoyed the Attitude era, because it was a great boom period where I felt proud to be a wrestling fan again. Then again, like I said, I came under fire from parents and teachers countless times because of the material, so that time period was sort of bittersweet for me as a fan.

[Legion]

I was 14-15 and one of the biggest memories i have is Undertaker in the limo abducting Steph and the unveiling of Vince as the higher power. Brilliant stuff

[molson5]

This thread making anyone else feel old?

[Lancers]

The Attitude Era picked up for me my senior year in high school/freshman year in college. I remember Tuesday mornings at lunch where everybody would be talking about RAW or Nitro and then when I was in college, how half the people in my dorm would go into the break room and flip back and forth between RAW and Nitro. My the end of my freshman year, I don't think we would ever turn on Nitro.

[thesunbeast]

The Kat grinding her ass on Terri's face.

Seriously, this was the state of wrestling during the attitude era. It was pure anti-establishment, and not that I have anything against some things that are anti-establishment, but I didn't really like the attitude era because all it was, for the most part, was shock TV due to anti-establishment. I'll never forget the boose after the National anthem?America the beutifull rendition at Wrestlemania 14.

[tarheelfan]

molson5 said:

This thread making anyone else feel old?

It sure makes me feel old because I started watching wrestling way before Hulkamania even started. As far as the Attitude Era IMHO it was like an earlier poster stated "shock tv". Yes, it had its great moments but unfortunately the Attitude Era reminds me of the end of WCW and the opportunity to watch a legitimate competitor to WWE if WWE was getting stale. (Although the last few years of WCW was terrible). The problem with the Attitude Era was that it attracted teenage rebellious fans who were never into wrestling. This demographic did boost the ratings but once the Attitude Era was ever many(not all) left the bandwagon because they never truly cared about wrestling.
Now we are left with a subpar product and no legitimate competition outside of maybe TNA. Many older fans quit watching during the Attitude Era and I truly feel that in the longrun the Attitude Era hurt wrestling.

[molson5]

tarheelfan said:

Many older fans quit watching during the Attitude Era and I truly feel that in the longrun the Attitude Era hurt wrestling.

That'd be an interesting discussion in it's own right.

I don't think it hurt wrestling in the long-run because the WWE made a ridiculous amount of money, went public, and are now incredibly stable. I mean, just before the attitude era, there was actually a good chance the WWF was going to go out of business. I don't think that WCW, financed through Turner, was ever going to be around long term, even if the competition had been vanquished.

So if it weren't for the attitude era, we might be looking at a handful or regional start-ups begging for TV time.

And that era truly did give us great moments, great superstars that will be remembered.

Though on the downside, it did kill that "shock factor" that has always been a part of wrestling. After the craziness of that era, I don't think there's much left that could legitimately surprise us.

[jobber2thestars]

My whole 5th grade class wearing home made black arm-bands the day after Owen Hart died. Maybe not the happiest memory, but still a memory.

[Mr Captain Falcon]

I'd say the attitude era began with Stone Cold Steve Austin winning the King of the Ring in 1996. That's when the language started to change a lot. So I have lots of memories. I remember a lot about Kane. Probably my favorite memory is the build-up video to the Undertaker/Kane match at Wrestlemania 14. Simply amazing.

[Bob Schlapowitz]

molson5 said:

This thread making anyone else feel old?

Yeah man! I was in my early 20's during the Attitude Era. Sad part is we still did most of the stuff these young whipper-snappers are talking about! ;D

[Jam]

The Godfather. That dude was awesome. Also the D-X impersonation of The Nation. Awesome stuff. So many good moments. Like the time Austin took McMahon hostage for a show and it ended with Vince pissing himself. But by far the moment I remember above all is the Hell In A Cell match at the 98 King of The Ring. I really, truly thought Mankind had been killed on my T.V. Good times.

[Deleted]

bobschlapowitz said:

molson5 said:

This thread making anyone else feel old?

Yeah man! I was in my early 20's during the Attitude Era. Sad part is we still did most of the stuff these young whipper-snappers are talking about! ;D

Yeah, I was in college during the Attitude era and didn't have cable. So I only got the Cliff's Notes version through recap shows on syndication. But I also got ECW through syndication, so I can't complain too much. It's a good thing my cousin taped it(yes, the whole thing) so I manged to catch up in recent years.

I actually grew up marking for the Four Horsemen, The Road Warriors, The Freebirds, The Road warriors....

[Bob Schlapowitz]

devolution said:

bobschlapowitz said:

Yeah man! I was in my early 20's during the Attitude Era. Sad part is we still did most of the stuff these young whipper-snappers are talking about! ;D

Yeah, I was in college during the Attitude era and didn't have cable. So I only got the Cliff's Notes version through recap shows on syndication. But I also got ECW through syndication, so I can't complain too much. It's a good thing my cousin taped it(yes, the whole thing) so I manged to catch up in recent years.

I actually grew up marking for the Four Horsemen, The Road Warriors, The Freebirds, The Road warriors....

I was in the Army during most of the Attitude Era, And every Monday and Thursday night a group of us would take over the TV room in the barracks to watch Raw or Smackdown. And the Enlisted Club would show all of the PPVs and charge $3 at the door. When my unit was deployed to Bosnia, (Sept. 1998 to March 1999) A buddy's wife would tape all of the PPV's and mail them to us. Those were good times!

[Jake, The Jake, Jake]

Watching Scott Hall show up on Nitro.

If I may steal a line from Everybody Loves Raymond---I was only five but I still think I said "What the hell?"

[molson5]

devondragon said:

s. (I don't care how unpopular my opinion belief is, but I just cannot stand sticking to kayfabe so strict that Nick Dinsmore had to act mentally challanged

Do you think the Undertaker is breaking kayfabe because he's not really dead? Or if you're referring to that "rumor" that Dinsmore had to act retarded in his real life - that wasn't true, with the exception of WWE events, or when he was recognized by a group of WWE fans. Otherwise, it was BS - he wasn't going through the airports acting like a retard.

[tarheelfan]

molson5 said:

tarheelfan said:

Many older fans quit watching during the Attitude Era and I truly feel that in the longrun the Attitude Era hurt wrestling.

That'd be an interesting discussion in it's own right.

I don't think it hurt wrestling in the long-run because the WWE made a ridiculous amount of money, went public, and are now incredibly stable. I mean, just before the attitude era, there was actually a good chance the WWF was going to go out of business. I don't think that WCW, financed through Turner, was ever going to be around long term, even if the competition had been vanquished.

So if it weren't for the attitude era, we might be looking at a handful or regional start-ups begging for TV time.

And that era truly did give us great moments, great superstars that will be remembered.

Though on the downside, it did kill that "shock factor" that has always been a part of wrestling. After the craziness of that era, I don't think there's much left that could legitimately surprise us.

I would say a lot of older fans quit watching wrestling during the Attitude Era when kayfabe was thrown out the door. I am actually a proponent that kayfabe was a good thing and I don't think anyone can really blame a lot of the older fans for quit watching during the Attitude Era and for a lesser extent the last couple of years of the Monday Night Wars. I know my father had watched wrestling religiously since the late 1950s and he just gave up during the Attitude Era. What may have been must see tv for teenage or young adult fans was something alien and different to a lot of older fans.

As far as WCW there is no doubt in my mind that they would still be going today if they had beat the WWE. You have to remember that WCW attracted a fanbase of diehard old school wrestling fans. And don't forget the WCW had solid direct NWA roots from southern territories of diehard fans. I happen to believe that wrestling may have been in better shape if WCW had survived and not the WWE.

I do agree that the Attitude Era gave us great icons like the Rock and Austin but ultimately that doesn't help us today when we turn on the tv and see a lousy product with no storylines, no meaningful lasting fueds and no charisma among a bunch of featherweights who could not begin to fill the shoes of the great wrestlers of the past.

I do think you make an outstanding point that the shock of the Attitude Era has left nothing to surprise us.

[molson5]

tarheelfan said:

I would say a lot of older fans quit watching wrestling during the Attitude Era when kayfabe was thrown out the door. I am actually a proponent that kayfabe was a good thing and I don't think anyone can really blame a lot of the older fans for quit watching during the Attitude Era and for a lesser extent the last couple of years of the Monday Night Wars. I know my father had watched wrestling religiously since the late 1950s and he just gave up during the Attitude Era. What may have been must see tv for teenage or young adult fans was something alien and different to a lot of older fans.

It's clear that a lot of fans left post-WCW - I think WWF was expecting to basically double their ratings, and it didn't happen. The WCW viewers simply stopped watching any wrestling. But eventually, Ted Turner was forced out of Turner Broadcasting, and one of the first things they did was dump wrestling. I don't see how WCW would get out of that inevitability.

[tarheelfan]

molson5 said:

tarheelfan said:

I would say a lot of older fans quit watching wrestling during the Attitude Era when kayfabe was thrown out the door. I am actually a proponent that kayfabe was a good thing and I don't think anyone can really blame a lot of the older fans for quit watching during the Attitude Era and for a lesser extent the last couple of years of the Monday Night Wars. I know my father had watched wrestling religiously since the late 1950s and he just gave up during the Attitude Era. What may have been must see tv for teenage or young adult fans was something alien and different to a lot of older fans.

It's clear that a lot of fans left post-WCW - I think WWF was expecting to basically double their ratings, and it didn't happen. The WCW viewers simply stopped watching any wrestling. But eventually, Ted Turner was forced out of Turner Broadcasting, and one of the first things they did was dump wrestling. I don't see how WCW would get out of that inevitability.

And of course the WWE didn't help with making WCW looking weak during the Invasion. But although I preferred WCW, to be fair one really can't blame Vince for trying IMHO to make WCW look weak since not too long ago they almost forced him out of business. It was a tough adjustment for me to watch the WWE after not having a NWA or WCW alternative all my life. It was like someone had taking my birthday away(well maybe not that bad So although to be fair the Attitude Era had great moments to me and many others it was the ultimate symbol of the end of wrestling as we had always knew it.