For Those That Lived Through Both Boom Periods...

[Limity (BLM)]

Getting all nostalgic about the Monday Night Wars in another thread got me thinking. There are a handful of posters on here, at least I think, that lived through the Hulkamania and the Attitude era.

For those that did, how do they compare?

[The Thread Barbi]

For me, Hulkamania was magical.

Attitude Era was logical, but I didn't like it at the time, and tuned into WCW. When I watched wrestling, I wanted wrestling, not the suits feuding with the wrestlers or old women giving birth to hands. The luchadores, Benoit, Eddie, Jericho, DDP and the mid-carders, Sting and Goldberg etc more than made up for what WWE lacked.

I can watch the Hulkamania era all day long, but have little to no desire to watch anything Attitude Era related, yet can sit through prime Mysterio or Goldberg's streak happily.

[Deleted]

I was real young during Hulkamania and I grew tired of Hulk quickly and gravitated towards Savage and Warrior.
as a young kid after a few years of that product I tired of how goofy,cartoony and kiddy it was but the good stuff still holds up.During this era nobody I knew talked about wrestling even kids at school.By 92/93 I watched but other than HBK,Bret,Perfect,Razor,Kid,Taker I had no interest in anyone else.

By the time the attitude era started it was the perfect thing at the perfect time I was going into my teens and it felt like wrestling was growing up with me and that I shouldn’t be allowed to watch this whereas the prior period felt like a kiddy show.Going back and watching alot hasn’t aged well but it was a product of its time and the great stuff is still great.During this era everyone I knew seemed to be watching WWF and I miss the passion for the product as the loudest crowd reactions I’ve ever heard on tv or at live events was during this period.

[Chuck Conry]

I was born in 83 so what I remember of the '80s really captures that young imagination of heroes and villains. It was like a live-action comic book in a lot of ways with larger than life characters. When the Attitude Era hit I was in high school and that type of product really hit the nail on the head with the rebellious stage all teenagers go through. During both times it felt like you couldn't miss a week. That's a big thing missing today.

[atgnatpodcast]

Hulkamania era will always be my favorite. I loved attitude era, but most of that is hard to watch now.

[Citizen Snips]

The Attitude Era was probably more exciting on a week to week basis, but Hulkamania is still my all-time favorite era. Larger than life characters, simple yet compelling storylines, crowds that lost their mind for a sleeperhold, PPVs and SNME's that felt like contests of the gods because you hadn't seen the matches 45 times on TV already, etc. I've gone back and watched to make sure it's not just childhood nostalgia and while the in-ring action isn't on par with Attitude or today, it's still what I'd choose to watch between the three.

[Mid-Carder]

Hulkamania Era has aged better in my opinion. The Attitude Era was very much of its time.

[JoDaNa1281]

I loved them both. As far as week to week goes, the Attitude Era was more engaging, but Rock 'n' Wrestling was so much fun & probably told better stories. It helped that I was the right age for each period (a young kid during R 'n' W, in high school during the AE).

[Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley]

Mar 2, 2019 4:13:41 GMT -5 Chuck Conry said:

I was born in 83 so what I remember of the '80s really captures that young imagination of heroes and villains. It was like a live-action comic book in a lot of ways with larger than life characters. When the Attitude Era hit I was in high school and that type of product really hit the nail on the head with the rebellious stage all teenagers go through. During both times it felt like you couldn't miss a week. That's a big thing missing today.

Ditto. This is spot-on.

[Garyspivey]

Being born in 82 I was lucky enough to grow up to have the best of all 3 worlds. I’ll rubber stamp younger me being fascinated by the over the top ness of the hulkamania era, moved down south in around 92-93 so at that point I discovered WCW and the muthaship if you will, plus I was lucky enough to stumble across ECW at its peak as well (I distinctly remember the 1st show I watched being the 4 way dance with Jericho)

[chronocross]

Growing up in the Hulkamania era was my favorite by far, watching Superstars/Wrestling Challenge and the occasional SNME was fun and have fond memories of those. Also, the Coliseum Video tapes were something me and my brother could not get enough of as we didn't have cable back then to watch the PPVs.

As for the Attitude Era, it was great and I found it entertaining but I was more into WCW at the time at least until 1999.

[Nickybojelais]

I those of us who were children during the cartoony, super hero filled Hulkamania period and then hitting our teenage years during the attitude era hit the jackpot as wrestling fans.

The downside is that I had it too good, and since 2002 WWF/E just hasn't felt the same.

[Dub H]

Mar 2, 2019 7:14:57 GMT -5 Citizen Snips said:

The Attitude Era was probably more exciting on a week to week basis, but Hulkamania is still my all-time favorite era. Larger than life characters, simple yet compelling storylines, crowds that lost their mind for a sleeperhold, PPVs and SNME's that felt like contests of the gods because you hadn't seen the matches 45 times on TV already, etc. I've gone back and watched to make sure it's not just childhood nostalgia and while the in-ring action isn't on par with Attitude or today, it's still what I'd choose to watch between the three.

Thats a big thing when people say that Vince is out of touch.

He is trying to mass appeal casuals with things that Vince thinks are bad-asses or names he THINKS attract casuals(Wrestling and Celebrities wise).But he does not consider what appeals to today culture and fanbases.

[Citizen Snips]

Mar 2, 2019 9:48:14 GMT -5 Garyspivey said:

Being born in 82 I was lucky enough to grow up to have the best of all 3 worlds. I’ll rubber stamp younger me being fascinated by the over the top ness of the hulkamania era, moved down south in around 92-93 so at that point I discovered WCW and the muthaship if you will, plus I was lucky enough to stumble across ECW at its peak as well (I distinctly remember the 1st show I watched being the 4 way dance with Jericho)

Slight digression but the 4 way with Jericho/Pit Bull 2/Scorpio/Shane Douglas for the TV Title that took up like the whole hour? MAN, that one was a classic. 1994-96 ECW is a close second behind the Hulkamania Years in my favorite eras.

[Guacamole Anderson]

I became a fan (AWA) in 1983. I was ten years old.

The 80's: At least in my peer group, NWA-Crockett was viewed as the "cool" wrestling, while WWF was viewed as "kids" wrestling. The older I got, the more I gravitated towards NWA, although I followed both. I could also follow Mid-South/UWF, Continental and World Class sporadically because my grandparents had one of those big satellite dishes where you could get channels from all over the country.

I started college in 1990 and remember coming home for winter break and seeing Undertaker - pretty much killed any interest I had in WWF for a number of years. So corny. I didn't really start following the business regularly again until 1995ish.

The 90's: Great time to be a fan. Once the Attitude Era was underway, there were many Mondays I'd watch Raw live, then watch the Nitro replay directly after. Plus I was very into tape trading, following ECW and the major Japan promotions that way. This was also as the internet was starting to emerge, so there was a window into the whole backstage world. Probably the single greatest timeframe to be a fan, from a sheer variety standpoint. In my opinion.

Once WCW and ECW tanked, New Japan went down their weird MMA path, All Japan became less of a force, and real life (marriage, career, kids) started taking over, I stopped following WWE. Now I just catch RoH and New Japan when I can, but I mostly just watch random 80's territory stuff on YouTube now.

[Deleted]

I was young in the Hulkamania era, but it was truly larger than life. The weird thing was that I think that the Attitude era fans were just the kids from the Hulkamania era that had drifted away and came back because wrestling was cool again and it spoke them on some level. The WWE has never really been able to bring the new fans in once the Attitude fizzled out at least partly due to that.

[Deleted]

the Feb. 5 1988 Saturday Night's Main Event had 33 million viewers it was huge from a cultural perspective

[Garyspivey]

Mar 2, 2019 11:17:03 GMT -5 Citizen Snips said:

Mar 2, 2019 9:48:14 GMT -5 Garyspivey said:

Being born in 82 I was lucky enough to grow up to have the best of all 3 worlds. I’ll rubber stamp younger me being fascinated by the over the top ness of the hulkamania era, moved down south in around 92-93 so at that point I discovered WCW and the muthaship if you will, plus I was lucky enough to stumble across ECW at its peak as well (I distinctly remember the 1st show I watched being the 4 way dance with Jericho)

Slight digression but the 4 way with Jericho/Pit Bull 2/Scorpio/Shane Douglas for the TV Title that took up like the whole hour? MAN, that one was a classic. 1994-96 ECW is a close second behind the Hulkamania Years in my favorite eras.

That was the one, I think it was sunshine network we had and I stumbled across it at like 1-2am. I was hooked on ecw and that got me into finding the old tapes when another friend of mine that watched wrestling had a bunch of ecw and Japanese stuff that I started broadening my horizons beyond wcw/wwf

[Deleted]

OP makes it sound like people who lived through both boom periods are a dwindling number like WW2 vets. I'm still in my 30's bro.

I've heard people say that booms are cyclical but I really don't think they are. I think they were unique, and really it's just one boom with a brief intermission. Rock & Wrestling was Part 1 and Monday Night Wars were Part 2. Hulk Hogan is the leading man in both parts, with Hulkamania kicking off Rock & Wrestling and the formation of the NWO sparking Part 2.

I am one of the legions who became an avid fan during Rock & Wrestling, found my interest wavering in the early half of the 90's, only to become an addict again when Hogan betrayed his Hulkamaniacs. People can talk about Austin and Attitude Era all they want, but WCW was growing the audience and bringing wrestling's lost fans back into the fold before Vince figured out wtf was happening and capitalized.

The difference between the two periods for me is that the first was innocent fun and I can watch it over and over without it ever losing that sense of nostalgia. The second definitely had more emotional highs and lows, was intense almost to the point of being stressful at times, and I don't think it holds up nearly as well to repeat viewing. The WWF portion of the second boom is especially horrible, while the WCW portion is a lot like rewatching The Walking Dead when you know how all the cliffhangers will turn out and finding that there's not much else to it.

[arrogantmodel]

Mar 2, 2019 8:42:49 GMT -5 Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley said:

Mar 2, 2019 4:13:41 GMT -5 Chuck Conry said:

I was born in 83 so what I remember of the '80s really captures that young imagination of heroes and villains. It was like a live-action comic book in a lot of ways with larger than life characters. When the Attitude Era hit I was in high school and that type of product really hit the nail on the head with the rebellious stage all teenagers go through. During both times it felt like you couldn't miss a week. That's a big thing missing today.

Ditto. This is spot-on.

Exact same for me.