WWF. Especially during the attitude era. It was like 1998 through 2000 that nearly everyone was into wrestling, especially with what the WWF was doing and some of what WCW was doing with NWO. But, as the years piled on, it seemed like the flaws became more apparent. I look back at that period now and was like “…why did we like this again? and what from it did people want?”. Because some people want swearing back, they want buckets of blood back, they want sex appeal back .etc
That was just car-crash television and I learned later that what both promotions were doing back then, were doing whats called hot-shotting. It’s a wrestling term where you’re booking things in a seemingly appealing matter that audiences want to see. That’s what they were doing and it did honestly work for a long time.
If there was anything I’d want out of wrestling anymore these days, is competent booking and for matches to feel like and be big-fight moments. The cat is out of the bag for what wrestling really is, it’s just about characters, smoke and mirrors and highly choreographed moves that when they look routine, stand out.
At least some of the video games were still fun.
I was a big WWF fan during the early 90s through to the early 2000s.
In hindsight, i’m less enthusiastic about the attitude era. Yeah, the swearing, the extreme matches. It was all cool as a kid, but doesnt really hold up as an adult when you consider the harms from the drugs and traumatic brain injury
The early 90s still hold up for me. Hulk hogan vs. Warrior, old-school undertaker, sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron sheik… the over the top characters are what really make it “sports entertainment” for me
and yes, i’m aware a lot of guys from that era turned out to be huge shitheads. I was devastated when i found out warrior went off the deep end.
I really avoid looking up the latest news about my childhood heroes these days… (please god, dont let undertaker or stone cold turn out bad…)
If it’s any consolation, I have some friends who worked in close proximity to Undertaker’s podcast location and said when they ran into him he was still cool.