WWF Attitude vs WWE

[BasicThuganomics]

I've been reading alot about how much the WWE sucks lately and i'm wondering why people are saying that? IMO the WWE has been on the right track the past couple of months. Most shows have been above average, with a couple that i thought have been great at times. I think one of the reasons that people still say the WWE sucks (besides being stupid, ignorant, and impossible to please) is because some people think nothing will compare to the product WWF (and in some people's opinions) WCW or ECW was putting out a few years ago. I do not know much about WCW or ECW I'll admit, so I'm gonna stick with comparing WWE now to the WWF Attitude era. I apologize in advance for how long this is gonna be...


WWF Attitude:
Obviously at the time with very tough competition, the WWF was under pressure to pull out all stops necessary in order to get attention. They were willing to try anything, and it worked for them.
They had gimmicks and characters that were new and very controversial:
a porn star: Val Venis
Pimp: Godfather
Guy who talked to his voices and a head: Al Snow
a group that encouraged immature behavoir and told everyone to Suck It: D-Generation X
and of course the beer drinking, foul mouthed, SOB who stood up to his boss: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Now as far as character development, I'll admit that the current product isn't quite as good as a few years ago. But at the time, all of these characters were very new and different. Wrestling fans had really never seen gimmicks this shocking and outrageous before (while many have good arguments that ECW did first, WWF was obviously to a much larger audience) So to judge what the WWE is doing now compared to back then is kinda unfair, because the WWF pretty much changed their entire direction during that time.

Storylines were just as controversial, just as new and exciting as the characters that they revolved around:
Godfather fought in order to make certain divas become one of his Ho's
Val Venis nearly got his dick chopped off, and was able to get several divas to appear in his films
DX getting girls to flash, and "invading WCW"
Sable getting nearly naked several times, and eventually appearing in Playboy
Undertaker's almost satanic rituals of sacrificing victims and opponents (I know he always was kinda that character but he never took it to that extreme before did he? Correct me if I'm wrong on him)
The guy with more charisma and trash talking ability than anyone had ever seen before in the Rock
Stone Cold's quest for the title that led to confrontations with Mike Tyson, pulling a gun on his boss, and causing chaos with many different types of motor vehicles and ALOT of beer and middle fingers.

Now at the time, nearly every character was involved in storylines, and most storylines made more sense at the time. This is due to the fact that WWF didn't have nearly as much talent as the WWE does now. It is definately easier to make stories based around 20-25 wrestlers than the 40-50 or more that are around now. Plus, something else to consider is that the angles that were being produced were different than most wrestling fans had ever seen before. WWF was trying new things at the time that were controversial. And one thing that the WWE lacks is a solid main-event storyline that they can base their shows around. Back then, the main players were usually Stone Cold, Rock, HHH, and Mankind with Vince of course always interfering. Pretty much the entire product was built around them, and fans were always looking forward to seeing what would happen next. Yes, midcard storylines were good too, but the show was obviously built around them.

Matches started to get more exciting with Hardcore matches, Hell in a Cell, TLC, and ladder matches being more common. But great wrestling wasn't nearly as good as it is now. Spotfests were more common back then IMO.


WWE now:
Character development is something that is somewhat lacking now definately. But there are definately certain bright spots on each show:
Newer characters such as John Cena: There is definately no one like him on WWE right now. From his t-shirts, to his promo's and his attitude... He's great (I'm obviously a big fan! \mm/ ) his gimmick started out as a joke, but he has turned it into something serious and entertaining. Some people even envision him as the man to help get the WWE out of its current ratings slump and to become the next HUGE SUPERSTAR similar to Rock or Austin
Legend Killer Randy Orton: this guy has definately got the looks and personality to be something huge. While i'm wondering what will happen when he runs out of legends to kill, he definately has the charisma to draw attention to himself. His in-ring skills are somewhat green at times, but there is no denying his potential if he continues to improve.
Brock Lesnar: He's got the in-ring ability (maybe not the best ever, but he's still VERY good) along with a great look that makes people believe he is the best. He's got sort of a natural charisma to him, and his promo skills are FINALLY improving so that he can stand out on his own.
Certain veteran characters are definately improving as well:
Eddie Guerreo: He lies, He cheats, He steals, He's ****ing awesome. Eddie has definately turned into someone capable of holding his own in the main event. He's quite frankly one of the best in the world right now. He's even more impressive considering the personal battles he has overcome in his life.
Big Show: I know i will get shit for this, but certainly anyone can admit that he has definately improved since he came to smackdown. He was thrust into the main event scene, and he did a damn good job while he was up there. He's definately improved in my book.
Matt Hardy: The Sensei of Mattitude was definately a pleasant surprise to me. I, along with many others, thought that Matt would be buried in Jeff's spotlight. He was obviously written off when the Hardys split, by writers and fans alike. Almost no one knew how much talent and charisma that Matt had when he went to Smackdown. But Matt has definately shown that he is the more talented of the two Hardys (IMO) Matt definately has the ability to advance towards the top sometime down the road. Mattitude RULES!!
Quite frankly, the amount of pure talent the WWE has right now makes the WWF look shitty: Chris Benoit, Jericho, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, Goldberg, RVD, Booker T, Christian, Rob Conway (can't wait to see what he does as a singles star) World's Greatest Tag Team, Shawn Micheals, Tajiri, Chavo, Hurricane, Test, and so many others that are world class talents.

Wrestling matches have been great the last couple of years:
Matches have developed beyond the spotfests that were common in the WWF. Nowadays, certain matches on TV are just as good as some of the Match of the year candidates from the Attitude Era. WWE is really putting on some great matches with good action, good psychology, and definately still the occassional "HOLY SHIT!" moments that we all love to see.

The Women's division is 10x better then it ever has been:
Some people seem to think women's wrestling isn't important, and I can understand if the only reason people like girls are because of T&A. However, nowadays, we still have some freaking incredibly hot divas:
Stacy, Torrie, Trish, Sable, and Victoria to name a few...
but these girls have definately become good athletes as well. Nowadays, a women's match is often somewhat entertaining (with the Trish/Victoria fued being my favorite)


Overall I think the Attitude Era was probably more exciting to watch, because the WWF was doing whatever necessary to get fans to watch the program immediately. The writers seemed more concerned with what was gonna happen in the next few weeks or months, rather than looking ahead to the next few years. Many wrestlers have been injured because of unnecessary risks during that time.

The WWE now seems to be a product that is looking toward the future. Wrestlers aren't taking too many risks, and the WWE is constantly trying out new stars to see who the fans react to. The shows are steadily getting better, and so are the wrestlers themselves. I believe that ratings aren't dropping that much anymore, but are at least staying somewhat constant.

So I can understand that people may have enjoyed the Attitude Era better, but i don't think its fair to say WWE sucks right now. I also don't think it's fair to compare WWE to that time. Attitude was about a totally new direction for WWF. WWE is not necessarily going in a new direction but trying to build on the direction they started a few years ago. Its hard to get to the level that the WWF rose to a few years ago, but it's even harder to stay at that level like the WWE is trying to do now.

once again I apologize for this being long, but i honestly had nothing to do at 2 in the morning so this is how i wasted my time.

Anyone feel free to agree or disagree, or to add in their own opinions....