Eras

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Added by October 15, 2014

I’ve been discussing this with someone else and thought it would be a good discussion topic. Or it’ll dissolve into name-calling and RKO Vines. Either/Or.

WWE in Eras

Pre-1984: Grainy Era
Stars Made: Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund.
Sounds like a hell of a time to be a wrestling fan in the New York era. Shame I’ll have to take their word for it due to the lack of access to footage.

1984-1990: Golden Era
Stars Made: Er, all of them.
Vince gambles on Hulk Hogan and wins. Then does the same for Wrestlemania. Then does the same for Wrestlemania II. Then does the same for Wrestlemania III etc. Everything is great and filled with cocaine.

1991-1994: Hangover After The Eighties Era
Stars Made: Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Razor Ramon.
WWF wakes up after the eighties party and before it wakes up properly with some coffee, decides exploiting the Iraq-Kuwait Conflict for Wrestlemania VII is a really good idea. It then stumbles around looking for the next Hogan but realises after protecting him for years, their only option is Hogan. Who then leaves for WCW.

1995-1997: Confused Old Man Throwing Darts At Sticky Notes Era.
Stars Made: Barry Horowitz.
WWF is attacked from both sides, grossly unprepared for a pincer attack from WCW and it’s own creative team. Makes every wrong move, somehow survives due to European support.

1998-2001: Shit Fuck Money Era.
Stars Made: Steve Austin, Kane, The Rock, Mankind, etc.
Vince digs into the XTREMEEEEEE era that all media was degenerating into and finds oil, baby. Millions of stupid kids embrace it, company turns into T-shirt production. Considered by many as the best ever time for WWE because all segments were aimed at one demographic.

2000-2001: Shit, This Is Fucking Good Era.
Stars Made: Triple H,  Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho.
Maturing like most of the audience from the last era, the childish stuff went away but were replaced by great story-telling and awesome characters. Everything made sense on a week-to-week basis and the match quality shot way, way up.

2002-2004: We’ve Shit All We Can Fuck era.
Stars Made: Brock Lesnar, Eddy Guerrero, Kurt Angle.
The point where the company officially decided they know best, rather than the audience. People become disgruntled with the passive-aggressive approach to Booker T, RVD and others and so attempts at shock value (Katie Vick, Vince wrestles Steph etc.) are ignored by most. Old WCW stars are brought in to headline because it’s easier to do that than create new ones.

2005-2006: New Stars, Old Jokes era.
Stars Made: John Cena, Batista, Edge, Randy Orton.
WWE decides to make new stars, does so very well. But spoils a lot of it by treating it like The Attitude Era Part 3 and so for every good match there’s The Spirit Squad or Eddiesploitation.

2007-2008: Better Stars, Better TV era.
Stars Made:Jeff Hardy, Bobby Lashley.
Just like the last two years but the good wrestling and characters is emphasised rather than SHITTY SHITTY POOP POOP angles. Everything is great and well-organised on all fronts. Pretty much exactly the same way 2000-2001 was great.

2009-2012: ALL GLORY TO CENA era.
Stars Made: CM Punk, Daniel Bryan.
One by one, all the stars made during the last two eras leave except for Cena and Orton. Instead of making new talent…the company decides to focus on Cena and Orton. Punk & Bryan rise to the top, kicking and screaming.

2013-2014: Post-Punk era.
The one we’re currently in. Sure, Orton and Cena will be locked to each other until the end of time but if you ignore them there’s Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose, Sandow, Wyatts and a little show called NXT to love.

Perspective-wise, we’ve got it good right now.

What are your thoughts? Agree/Disagree?

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