WWE Star Says Attitude Era Doesn’t Come Close To Today’s Product

For most long time WWE fans, the Attitude Era holds a sacred place in their wrestling memories. The farther away we get from the late 90s, the more we romanticize just how good of a product WWE was kicking out every Monday night during Stone Cold and The Rock’s heyday. Our blind nostalgic love for the bygone era of crotch chopping and beer drinking might even make it hard for us to learn to fully appreciate the WWE’s New Era.

Former WWE Champion, Sheamus, was recently interviewed by The Sun Newspaper and talked about wrestling today versus the hugely popular Attitude Era of the 90s. He was asked which era does he feel is better, to which he responded:

“The level of athleticism has evolved so much since we watched as kids. The athletes that WWE has now are far superior to anything that we had the 1980s or the 1990s. You look back at the Attitude Era and the level of entertainment we put in the ring now. The Attitude Era doesn’t even come close. I’m not afraid to say that either. You watch some of the stuff Cesaro does in the ring; with his size, the way he moves around the ring, the moves he hits, the way he picks up guys twice his size. It’s just a different level.”

It’s hard to argue with Sheamus on the in-ring product. The evolution of modern athletes and what they can do in the ring is far superior to anything we’ve ever seen before in the WWE. But I believe what most defenders of the Attitude Era would tell you is missing from the New Era is the investment in characters who made Raw must-watch TV as well as the feeling that anything could happen.

For the most part, today’s stars are not allowed to cut unscripted promos, which often makes them come off as stale and unrelatable. In the Attitude Era, the top stars were able to connect with the audience with their off the cuff promos that didn’t feel like they had been written on cue cards.

Not only the promos, but the stars themselves were encouraged to take a chance and become a character with an easily definable gimmick. Today, most stars go by a fairly regular sounding name and are given little time to develop a personality that the audience can latch on to.

Stone Cold even said this was the biggest problem with Seth Rollins, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest in ring performers on the New Era roster.

Where do you stand? Is it fair to compare the eras? Is one far superior to the other? Could we possibly get to a point where we take the best of both and create a new New Era?

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