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I judge any era primarily on two factors:the quality of the TV shows and quality of the Pay-Per-Views. The Rock and Steve Austin were great on the mic so it made for great television, but Austin was good in the ring(not great) while the Rock has John Cena's wrestling ability. The New Age Outlaws were the most popular tag team of that era but were average in the ring. Jericho, the Radicals, and Kurt Angle had come in by 2000, the tag team division had improved, and Triple H was wrestling the best matches of his career. You could argue the Pay-Per-Views were much better in the latter half of the attitude era, but for the first two years they were average at best. In that way, I would argue the attitude era was overrated. Does anyone else feel this way?

when are we deciding when exactly the attitude era started and ended, tell me that and perhaps i'll come up with a response.

Not even close. The attitude era kills anything, tie that in with the WCW/NWO timeline and that was one of the best times to be a wrestling fan.

I'm sorry, but no era had you glued to your tv, week after week, day after day talking wrestling like that era.

The Rock, corporate version and face. Austin. DX at the beginning when they were threatening to go to WCW headquarters. Bret Hart, the Canadian face/American Heel, Kurt Angle, it was the best.

Attitude era overrated?

Ansolutley not

Also got to mention, Mick Foley/Mankind, the first Hell in a Cell match.

and E&C, Hardyz, Dudleyz.

I think people tend to mean the Austin era as the attitude era, whether that's what it actually is or not. I tend to think it starts with Bret-Stone Cold and ends with WCW folding personally.

The term overrated really has no meaning when it comes to things like this, especially on the internet. It's almost impossible to determine how an overall group of people 'rate' certain things, and this is no different.

What does happen though is what happens with all things nostalgic; people tend to remember the good and ignore the crap. I'm sure the same thing happened in the attitude era with 80's fans, and in the 80's with 70s fans and so on.

But the fact is, SCSA and the Rock are two of the biggest draws of all time, and if it were just those two plus the current roster it still would have been a hell of a time for wrestling. The fact that it also had Taker, HBK, Triple H and Foley puts it in a good spot in history.

Golden Age was better for the WWF fan. Attitude Era was better for the wrestling fan when you tie in the Monday Night Wars.

What was good about the attitude era was
1. Main Events
SCSA, Rock, Mankind, Undertaker, HHH, Jericho, Angle, Kane..all of these men could cut a good to a great promo at any given moment and were just on another level compared to the product now for the main events
2. Hardcore Titles - Self-explanatory
3. Cruiserweight Division

But I agree with Stanford, people tend to remember all the good things about the attitude era, and the amazing main events and promos and cut out the bad. Just re-watch some of the matches from then, and its pretty easy to point out some of the negatives ie...having Mid-carders being Crash Holly, Big Bossman, Midian, Gangrel and the likes of Val Venis, Road Dogg...And if you think the womens division is bad right now....just some of the matches before LIta/Trish really came onto the scene..is beyond terrible..although there is some nice eye-candy.

whysoserious wrote:Not even close. The attitude era kills anything, tie that in with the WCW/NWO timeline and that was one of the best times to be a wrestling fan.

I'm sorry, but no era had you glued to your tv, week after week, day after day talking wrestling like that era.

The Rock, corporate version and face. Austin. DX at the beginning when they were threatening to go to WCW headquarters. Bret Hart, the Canadian face/American Heel, Kurt Angle, it was the best.

I'm only talking about the World Wrestling Federation. Watching a lot of Pay-Per-Views from around 1998 and 1999 lately, I'd say Summerslam 1998 was the best of those two years. Most of the others are forgettable. Reviews I've read show I'm not the only one who feels this way. Mediocre Pay-Per-Views usually means your house shows are mediocre as well. Great television shows, mediocre Pay-Per-Views, and mediocre house shows doesn't make a great era.

Celtsfan1980 wrote:

whysoserious wrote:Not even close. The attitude era kills anything, tie that in with the WCW/NWO timeline and that was one of the best times to be a wrestling fan.

I'm sorry, but no era had you glued to your tv, week after week, day after day talking wrestling like that era.

The Rock, corporate version and face. Austin. DX at the beginning when they were threatening to go to WCW headquarters. Bret Hart, the Canadian face/American Heel, Kurt Angle, it was the best.

I'm only talking about the World Wrestling Federation. Watching a lot of Pay-Per-Views from around 1998 and 1999 lately, I'd say Summerslam 1998 was the best of those two years. Most of the others are forgettable. Reviews I've read show I'm not the only one who feels this way. Mediocre Pay-Per-Views usually means your house shows are mediocre as well. Great television shows, mediocre Pay-Per-Views, and mediocre house shows doesn't make a great era.

Don't tell that to Vince who made a fortune during their "mediocre" house shows and ppvs which single handily turned the company around.

The main event/storyline defines the show. And arguably the best storyline in history was going on during that time. (Austin vs Mcmahon) was definitely compelling television. Much better than "John Cena vs. Generic chicken **** heel #85" we have now.

Wrestling is pretty **** now, i don't even watch. The attitude era was fantastic, and ever since they went PG, i tuned out.

I think people tend to see the era they started watching in with rose coloured glasses, whether it's wrestling, basketball, politics, pretty much anything, I am partial to the Hogan era probably for that reason. However, I did watch all of the attitude era and while I did enjoy it a lot (mostly for the HOT main events and atmosphere of the Monday Night War) there was some crappy stuff (early DX, hardcore title, Mae Young, abortion angles, etc. etc.)

SummerSLam 1998 was a great show (although Austin/Taker didn't really deliver IMO), but there were plenty of good PPVs that year, WrestleMania, Over the Edge, King of the Ring, Fully Loaded, Break Down, Survivor Series, Rock Bottom were all solid, memorable shows IMO.

RaptorFan_Drew wrote:What was good about the attitude era was
1. Main Events
SCSA, Rock, Mankind, Undertaker, HHH, Jericho, Angle, Kane..all of these men could cut a good to a great promo at any given moment and were just on another level compared to the product now for the main events
2. Hardcore Titles - Self-explanatory
3. Cruiserweight Division

But I agree with Stanford, people tend to remember all the good things about the attitude era, and the amazing main events and promos and cut out the bad. Just re-watch some of the matches from then, and its pretty easy to point out some of the negatives ie...having Mid-carders being Crash Holly, Big Bossman, Midian, Gangrel and the likes of Val Venis, Road Dogg...And if you think the womens division is bad right now....just some of the matches before LIta/Trish really came onto the scene..is beyond terrible..although there is some nice eye-candy.

Those guys were actually over with the crowd.