Did the attitude era turn off older fans?

[wildojinx]

I was on another forum and they were reminiscing about seeing old ladies in the front row of shows and wondered what happened to them, and the response was that the attitude era caused them to disappear. Was there any truth to this?

[Deleted]

I remember back then when some people without internet access were upset they couldn't get good tickets by waiting in line anymore because they were being sold on the internet

[Kevin Hamilton]

The old ladies died eventually.

[thecrusherwi]

Not speaking for all fans obviously, but my dad had been a fan since the 1960s and he still liked the Attitude Era. He really liked Steve Austin and The Rock and most of the main event stuff. However he’d roll his eyes at a lot of the silly things. And any time Sable or Val Venis or DX came out for a promo, he’d usually switch to Nitro. We followed both companies equally, but he had little time for the “raunchy” stuff, as he’d say.

[Jake, The Jake, Jake]

They watched WCW instead. Then when WCW died, the ensuing shit years of WWE turned off older fans.

[Joe Neglia]

Mar 2, 2019 13:12:48 GMT -5 Jake, The Jake, Jake said:

They watched WCW instead. Then when WCW died, the ensuing shit years of WWE turned off older fans.

Not really. A lot of WWF fans just left entirely.

[Zombie Mod]

if that one tv documentary taught me anything, they all went for pizza after the show.

I guess they're all still waiting to get served considering the queue for pizza in that one place.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

The stunt granny market really dried up in the Attitude Era.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

Mar 2, 2019 13:05:04 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

The old ladies died eventually.

I'd like to book you for my Great Gram Gram's 99th birthday party, what are your rates?

[EyeofTyr]

Yeah, there were people that were turned off by the Attitude Era, but that teen to 30's male demo was so valuable for the WWE at the time that it was a necessary sacrifice in their eyes.

My family growing up was a WCW household, going back to my grandpa and his love for a lot of the NWA promotions. He couldn't stand Hogan and the WWF, and the Attitude Era only made it worse for him. On both accounts really, because he hated the Attitude Era WWE was doing and he'd switch off whenever Hogan waltzed out on Nitro or go make himself a snack or use the bathroom.

[vinnie245]

I'd say the boring stale product over the past several years has turned more people off than the Attitude Era ever did.

[Pushed to the Moon]

They're all watching the indies in bingo halls (cos they get to play bingo at the same time).

[Perd]

Enough about what turns off old ladies. Let’s talk about what turns on old ladies.


It’s for a school project.

["Trickster Dogg" James Jesse]

I think audiences of that era were really complicated.

I could definitely see older WWF fans tuning out when Attitude became a thing. But I think the WWF made enough in-roads with younger people at the time that the losses of older fans wouldn't matter. And let's not forget, the children of the 80s and early 90s years when Hulkamania reigned supreme were also the teenagers and adults who wholeheartedly got into Attitude.

By the time the bloom was off the rose, many of those fans moved on. Maybe they aged out of the product. Maybe there were fairweather fans who jumped into wrestling when it was a fad. Maybe they moved on to watching MMA and other real sports--football, hockey, baseball, and basketball. The WWF was able to hit the highest of highs during 1997-2001, but in no way was that sustainable in terms of keeping fans, making money, and maintaining the health of wrestlers.

It's interesting to think about WCW as a counterpoint to the WWF's Attitude, because a) WCW fans supposedly represent an 'older' mentality of wrestling fans, but b) WCW also tried to change with the times and as trashy as the WWF's worst TV content of the time. I guess what I find so fascinating is whether WCW fans were 'WCW fans' first and 'pro wrestling fans' second. When WCW closed in 2001, it's not like the WWF had a huge injection of new fans from WCW's product that it sustained over the period in which WCW guys came into WWE--Booker T, DDP, Ric Flair, the NWO, Rey Mysterio, Scott Steiner, and ultimately, and many years later, Sting. Many of those WCW fans, too, also disappeared.

Here is where I think someone like Jim Cornette is basically correct: if your top acts, like Austin and the Rock are super hot, then all the raunchy and racy stuff is much more easier to palate (or ignore). During the Attitude Era, the WWF could get away with Mark Henry covered in cream, getting whipped by women, and with a C-clamp on his penis. A couple of years later, Hot Lesbian Action was really crass and crappy to watch. So was the Mark Henry example, but fewer people remember that than Austin kicking major amounts of ass. The bad raunchy and racy stuff post-2002, like Katie Vick, for example, stands out that much more when there isn't a hot act at the top to make us forget about it.

To answer the OP, probably, but I think the natural conclusion of the Attitude Era was always going to be fan burnout. Even if the Attitude Era hadn't happened, I still can't imagine old women in the front row of a televised wrestling show in 2000 buying into the kayfabe of it all. That era of wrestling had passed. The Attitude Era probably just accelerated the process.

[Perfect Timing]

[gts]

It turned me off. I was in HS at the time, had grown up a fan in the new generation era,and was turned off by all the sleaze. I'm not easily offended, but don't watch wrestling to see softcore porn.

[prichardmark]

I think WWE buying WCW basically turned off an entire generation. I tuned off after WM 17.  Ever since then, Ive mainly watched periodically (Mainly RAW and a bigger PPV worth watching) .  I haven't watched an entire WWE episode from beginning to end since 2001. 

Not necessarily the attitude. BUT.  The attitude era was pretty crappy looking back. It was Rock/Austin/Foley/Inital Bret Hart/DX feud that made it work. If not for that , it wouldn't have drawn a dime.  I think people look back  with too many rosey tinted glasses. 

The 80s Rock N Wrestling connection  was far superior to the attitude era from top to bottom 

[Kevin Hamilton]

Mar 2, 2019 13:55:15 GMT -5 The Heartbreak TWERK said:

Mar 2, 2019 13:05:04 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

The old ladies died eventually.

I'd like to book you for my Great Gram Gram's 99th birthday party, what are your rates?

Depends. Are we talking balloon animals or Backstreet Boys karaoke? There are different price points.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

Mar 2, 2019 19:02:47 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Mar 2, 2019 13:55:15 GMT -5 The Heartbreak TWERK said:

I'd like to book you for my Great Gram Gram's 99th birthday party, what are your rates?

Depends. Are we talking balloon animals or Backstreet Boys karaoke? There are different price points.

How much to tell Gram Gram to kick the bucket before she spends all my inheritance on caramels?

[Kevin Hamilton]

Mar 2, 2019 19:03:45 GMT -5 The Heartbreak TWERK said:

Mar 2, 2019 19:02:47 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Depends. Are we talking balloon animals or Backstreet Boys karaoke? There are different price points.

How much to tell Gram Gram to kick the bucket before she spends all my inheritance on caramels?

She's not spending it all on caramels. There are some Werther's Originals in there too.