The following article was submitted by loyal O-ster, The Notorious D.J.B. (who is paying tribute to The Notorious T.I.D.). Tha O Show thanks him for his contribution. Enjoy.O-sters, I think that in order for the Attitude Era to return, certain things would have to be set in motion. One of those things already has: Randy Orton is a legit bad boy. He has that image, he lives and apparently parties like a rock star. With his undeniable dirt sheet fame, why not capitalize on it?
Vince McMahon doesn’t want him in TNA, so damn it, capitalize! Orton put this idea into motion with his destroying the hotel room, so start, maybe even slowly start, marketing him as a rock star/bad boy who will pitch a temper tantrum at the drop of a hat.
You could even take it to the level of The Million Dollar Man, and let him throw money around like there’s nothing to it. Let him rip stuff up, throw around money, and take advantage of his um...numerous lady friends.
I know Fronte bashed on him about the bitches he was screwing, but hey, take advantage of this too. ESPECIALLY, since the E has a new office out around Hollywood, since they want a presence. Tell me Orton’s adolescent attitude wouldn’t sell out there. Orton is a heel in every sense of the word. He has so many people legitimately hating him...mostly of an older generation mind you, but they do.
About that older generation thing...remember what one of the biggest factors of the Attitude Era was? DX. Not this new watered down bullshit comedy act with Shawn Michaels and Mr. Stephanie, but two, and then later four guys with chips on their shoulders. And a bad ass woman going around backing them up. Guys who didn’t mind telling the world to "Suck It".
I remember Triple H saying "parents, get your kid’s permission". I remember him also saying "viewer discretion is advised, but is completely 'fffff...ha-ha' ignored". They blatantly made sex jokes, and that pissed the older generation off. What Vince McMahon has either missed, or sadly only Vince Russo knew, was that if you’re pissing somebody off, you’re making a whole lot more people happy. So why not use that information and market Randy Orton as that bad boy today?
I’m somewhat surprised myself by this, but I came to the realization that the heels who inevitably turned face basically what made the Attitude Era. It wasn’t really the normal heels and faces...it was either the extreme heel or face.
Edge is a guy who has that type of heat as well. Face it, he screwed Matt Hardy’s woman, and Matt Hardy is one of the most over guys with the fans, although, not so much with the office. Edge still has that heat although he gets it a little more of it down here in the south because this is Flair (as well as Hardy) country.Edge has a unique look, is absolute GOLD on the mic, and can work one hell of a match. Market Edge almost in the same way, but don’t necessarily give him Orton’s full gimmick...oh wait, WHY THE FUCK DID YOU BREAK THEM UP AS A TEAM? Tell me Team Rated RKO wouldn’t make money if they continued as a unit?
Vince doesn’t think they can stay hot, Vince isn’t a creative genius after all. A team with two heels that are believable, and have looks to them, one that’s gold on the mic, and in the ring, and the other one that is gold in the ring and passable on the mic. What a moron, but anyway the point of this article isn’t to steal Frank’s gimmick...it’s to put this idea out there.
Want proof of another great heel? E-mail me and I'll send you some Ring Of Honor DVDs so you can see CM Punk in action. CM Punk is king promo...just ask Colt Cabana. The E should call up Steel and Cabana and bring back the Second City Saints as a top heel faction in the E. Another thing about the Attitude Era was its factions. It had several and they all worked in their own way.
Back to Punk...he starts preaching "Straight Edge", not as a cool thing, or as a thing that he likes you for...but like the old days of Punk, "Straight Edge" should mean "I’m better than you.” There once was a CM Punk that only straight edge fans liked. Trust, there aren’t many straight edge individuals out there who are completely straight edge, so in some way Punk would have a good 90% of the population resenting him. I call it "insta-heat man". That way, everywhere he goes he can bash them, especially if the arena sells beer. God, just imagine the promos.Have somebody replay the Raven and Dreamer thing (hell, I bet Tommy would be game especially considering that they currently have a possible feud anyway) and tie him up in the ropes and douse him with beer. I just hope the WWE fans would catch on and berate Punk with chants of "Alcoholic" clap, clap, triple clap, "Alcoholic". Anyway, I’m getting caught up in the Punk nostalgia, but seriously with the E’s marketing machine, it wouldn’t take much to make this a reality. Onto the next segment of this friggin' book...
Screw the fact that there is no need to try and push out the best TV, do it anyway. Basically, by not trying to put out the best product, the E is saying (as Dan-e-o has said), "FUCK YOU!".
There should always be a need or want to put out the best product they possibly can. Have we as fans given WWE consistently high enough ratings to be happy? Bring back the cutting edge, brink of insanity TV. I don’t necessarily mean the T&A cutting edge, with nipple after nipple coming off the screen, I just mean stuff that makes you say "O".
Another thing about the Attitude Era that may benefit the business now would be hardcore matches. Not a great volume of those matches by any means, but a sprinkle of them when needed to further, or end a feud. TNA overbooks the hell out of their shows, and the E doesn’t really add much in the form of stipulations except for 3 on 1, or the yearly Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber. They don’t really need to rest on their laurels and give us the same shit every year, or month, just change it up and keep us guessing.
ECW has gone in the right direction, and maybe it IS just a difference in the talent of the writers, but Michael Hayes has written ECW week after week lately with a cliff hanger, which used to be every week. You’d have to go to bed Monday night after "Raw" wondering what Stone Cold would do to get back at Vince, or The Rock. Or what Rock would do to get back at The Undertaker, or who the higher power was, or what drug Russo was taking when Taker sacrificed Dennis Knight and had his fat ass levitating off a table and becoming Mideon.
The Rock and Mick Foley would tear the house down next. Who was going to get run over by DX? Was HHH really going to stick with trunks after being a pants guy so long? Were Road Dogg’s legs really that white? Was The Corporation finally going to crumble? Was Stephanie really interested in Test? Why was HHH so interested in Stephanie?
Holy shit! They’re married? What happens next? Is Foley really going to retire, can HHH beat him one more time? How many McMahons can get involved in WrestleMania 2000, and that’s about where it ended.
I know I left out a lot, but those were some of the things I personally liked and remember waiting to see back in the Attitude Era. With Orton and Edge as current top heels on two different shows (since they aren’t a tag team anymore), and Punk holding it down on ECW, are there any real faces out there?Sure, why not? I think with proper adjustments and Vince shoving his ego up his ass, he could push a smaller, younger guy as an underdog, and even bring a work-shoot factor into it and have him against Vince or Shane. Or hell, why not go ahead and announce that Hunter is going to be the next one in power...NOT Shane and have a Hunter-Shane match?
Wow, got sidetracked...back to the face thing...to push a guy as a major face, don’t shove him, let him work in as a light heel, or tweener, and let him gradually turn himself face, or a mega-heel with the qualities all red blooded Amerinadians love. (You know...as in a person who is from Canada or America, not a person who is about to be thrown on the grill for a cookout).
Are there really that many potential babyfaces on the E roster? I personally don’t know, I think it’s harder to find a babyface than it is a heel. It’s incredibly hard to find someone capable of being great at either though. Mr. Kennedy, I believe could be a very Austin-like face, or even Rock like. MVP, I don’t believe could be a believable face, I could be wrong, but he ain't getting cheers in that fucking bulshit power ranger suit.
With all that being said, I think it would be quite possible to reach a larger audience, and gain back your older audience by creating the bastard heels, and giving the fans something to wait for next week. Maybe I’m wrong, but usually, I’m right.
7 comments: on "Can WWE Return To Tha Attitude Era?"
I like some of your ideas. I think the problem with Orton is that you don't want to encourage that kind of behavior and make it seem like unprofessional conduct will get you over.
I do however like the idea of building around heels that are representative of how other professional athletes act. I like MVP for that reason and think a company built around him, Edge, Orton, and Punk might work.
Some great ideas. I do see alot of similarities between the current new gen rising stars and the Attitude stars. MVP I just love. He could be a Terrell Owens meets wrestling type of uber heel.
With Punk, you can already tell he's over. I've never seen him in ROH but I can imagine him being a star. ECW needs a big timer and Punk, RVD, and Lashley can be those. Imagine them having after a feud having a triple threat for the ECW title.
The Orton gimmick you suggested could work but how many other guys would try the same thing to push themselves too? Might encourage bad behavior.
Great article though. Way too many points for me to touch on all of them. Good job.
I understand what you're all saying about Orton and encouraging bad behavior, but all I'm saying is use what he's done in the past but, NOW publicizing it, not telling him to do it anymore. That move could shoot him to the moon, but with the doublestandard in wrestling already, hell they could say not to do it for everyone else, there are guys in the WWE who wouldn't get fired for anything.
MVP could be an uberheel, but while I do see alot in him, I just don't think he could be a company carrying kind of guy with this current gimmick. Change his gimmick though, and he'd be GOLD.
Punk in ROH was amazing, youtube it, or hell hit me on myspace www.myspace.com/djstylesclash and I have some ROH vids on there. Or spend a few bucks on Roh's website and buy any of his 3 Samoa Joe classics.
lol my friend thinks roh and punk sucks i nearly tore him an asshole. if they market punk right he could be huge not big as the rock or stone cold but still pretty big.I aslo think the attitude era is dead just like the haydays with hogan.every couple years theres guys the bring millions of fans back or to the company. in the 80s-90s it was hogan piper warrior savage hart. then in the attitude era it was foley,taker,hbk,the rock and austin. i think in a few years maybe wrestling will be big again if they get good writters. right now they are in a rebuilding stage just like teams in everything sport
I'm watching the ROH vids on your Myspace D.J.B. Dude, ROH is out cold! This shit is sweet! Btw I sent you a friend request from my regular page and my music one.
I think it's all in Vince's hands if there could be another " attitdude era". He was the stars that could do it but I think the first "attitdue era" started becuase he lost so much talent to WCW and the ratings were going down so he had to do something so he had to make new stars and push the envelope. I think without really competition form another promoton there won't be another era like it.
I somewhat agree, although, I think that if Vince truly gave a fuck, like I mentioned in my article, he would continue to push the best product.
Wrestling has evolved, and no matter how much we would like to see the return of old-school wrestling, it won't happen. Even us the ones that want to see it would be unhappy. Vince needs to push that envelope, hell he needs to burn it. He needs to take a step back look at what he's got get rid of half it and drop this brand shit. It's already gone, so formally drop it. It would eliminate alot of financial burden, it would eliminate dead weight, and it would replinish the indies, and make way for more competition.
The competition thing brings me to another thing, does Vince really want competition? Or is he deathly scared of it? He doesn't want anybody going to TNA. He isn't a creative genious. He has in the past surrounded himself with excellent writers, and no matter how hard we bash him, for a while Russo was the shit. Now he's the shitS. Vince needs to have the balls to tell Stephanie and her shadow to step the fuck aside, fire or demote Brian Gerwitz, keep Hayes, Dusty and whoever is doing smackdown, and consilidate that team, and have them write for RAW and SMACKDOWN. I'll retract the statement that I want somebody on the ECW brand. AFter Backlash, I want it gone. I'll still watch it, but I can't believe that Vince is that much of a bastard and did that to ECW and it's true fans.
WWE should go back to running 2 shows, and well, they could keep it two seperate brands, but let certain guys work both shows to further themselves.
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