Why WWE Needs to Combine The Attitude Era With The WWF 1980's Era For Success

I wrote this article in response to the article about how WWE needs some attitude.

I enjoyed the article and agreed with it all. The only thing though is not only does WWE need some attitude again, it needs some vintage 80's style back in there as well.

This is my take on it.

WWE right now is neither like The Attitude Era or like WWF in the 80's and that's why the current product is suffering and going through a downturn in interest.

Sure wrestling has up swings and down swings and "the experts" say every 10 years wrestling has a big boom again.

Well folks, that was 1996-2000. and it's been all downhill since. Before that it was 1984-1990

So, here we are with almost 10 years with no reinvention and popularity boom.

Now, I am a die hard fan and will watch wrestling and WWE no matter what and I resent the fans who come and go when it gets popular, but I'll tell you, WWE needs to do something to get people talking again. And do it soon.

Not to garner fairweather fans and passer bys, but the die hard fans too.

The reason WWE is boring and Raw is boring is because they don't have storylines, promo's like the attitude area and they dont have the colorful characters, who could also cut a promo as well like WWF in the 80's.

Does anyone remember WWF in the 80's?

My god, the interviews/promo's alone were capitvating. Same with the "attitude" era.

Now you have about 65 percent or more of the wrestlers who dont cut promo's and couldn't if there career depended it on it.

Have you ever heard Ted Dibiase cut a promo back in the day? This is what WWE needs to get back to.

They need to combine the atttiude area with the golden era of the 80's.

When you have that with a tweak or two, WWE and wrestling will be huge again.
In the meantime we die hard fans must endore more humbrum RAW's and poor ratings.

I wrote a comment a while back that CM Punk should turn on Kofi Kingston. As a team Kofi could had offered CM some ganja (herb) and some jamacian rum. CM Punk would become angered because he is "Straight Edge" and they would loose the tag titles and Punk would blame Kofi for not focusing and indulging in life.

Now while I respectfully agree with the responses I got, some pointed out that wouldnt fly with WWE because they are now PG and with the wellness policy they wouldnt do a storyline like that.

And also having Kofi do herb and rum would be a sterotype on jamacians.

My reponse to this is isnt Hornswoggle and Finlay "Irish" sterotypes?

If WWE would had done this proposed Kofi/CM Punk storyline, it would make them into even bigger stars.

The fans would empathazise with Kofi for being a fun guy who likes to have a goodtime if CM Punk turned on him. CM Punk could have introduced his ROH era heel character. That "being the 'Straight Edge' I'm better then you all because I dont drink or do drugs" CM Punk.

You'd would instantly have a new era Anti-Austin, who could as a heel shove it in everyone faces every week how he's better then everyone because he's straight edge, and then have Kofi who the fans would get behind because he is honest about his habits and isnt embarrased by them.

See more shades of gray characters, yet, still colorful and developed.

Now let Kofi cut some promo's tell everyone to relax and life is too short to worry. Show segments with Kofi hanging with the fans. I'm telling you Kofi would be as big as Hogan in the 80's.

Now have CM Punk knock beer out of a "planted" fan's hands and yell at him for being weakminded and pathetic.

Imagine the heat Punk would get.

Remember when people cared so much that when they hated a wrestler they actually threw stuff into the ring? That's interest and passion. CM Punk would have people throwing stuff at him if he acted like a complete A-hole and told every every week thier pathetic for drinking and doing drugs.

Now imagine bringing back stables.

Not a stable called Legacy that can't cut a promo unless Randy Orton talks for them.

A real stable that fans like, a group that are all equal and have unique personalites. Not all wear black trunks and look a like. Now imagine swerve storylines.

Imagine instead of Ted Jr and Orton turning on Manu and Snuka, instead John Cena had been the one who came out and turned on Orton and joined with Rhodes. Manu, Snuka and Dibiase.

Now imagine his explaination when he says he's finally getting back at Orton from last year. Then the announcer questions how Cena could join when he's not a second generation wrestler, then he brings out John Cena Sr., and they reveal Cena has had his own promotion and has been involved in wrestling for years. Then John Cena reveals he got back at Orton for Orton attacking his dad over a year ago. Cena turns NWO Hogan heel with his new stable and Orton turns face. John Sr. is the manager of the stable.

Imagine bringing back managers. People like Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart helped wrestlers who had little mic skill. WWE is desperately needing these type of people back. Whether people realize it or not, Bobby Heenan should go down in history as one of the most influential people in WWE and should be noted in the annals of wrestling as a major reason WWF was so big back in the 80's. He was absolutely brilliant on the mic.

Matt Striker has great potential but I'm afraid WWE is not proberly using him either. he should be on RAW as a manager to a main event star. Or be manging a stable.

Imagine making Matt Hardy a mainevent star on Smackdown on Raw and reinvent his character and have him dress like he did in the brood with his hair over his face and all black with that purplish/blue accented shirt. Now imagine he is renamed "The Darkness" and he appears out of nowhere circa Sting in the 90's to avenge people.

They could start the storyline to counter Christian being revealed to be the "assilant" behind the Jeff Hardy accidents as of late.

Think about it the older brother protecting his brother and taking his new gimmick because he is tired of management and GM's screwing him over. He lives for avenging wrong doings in The WWE. Matt Hardy Version 3.0

Not that would be riveting televison.

Cryme Tyme is another example of talent being wasted. They should be getting interview time, and more should be said then "Money Money." If this was the 80's, they would be huge. Bigger then they are now anyway.

I also wrote a article on how when the Stock Market crashed in October, WWE should had made JBL loose all his money. JBL could had then went into hiding. and WWE could have had Charlie Haas be a reporter searching for him (doing different chracters every week on location) searching for JBL.

They could eventually find JBL working in a Bar with his cowboy hat on being down and out and broke. He could had then returned to WWE, and cut a promo amisting money is the root of all evil and he was wrong. He could had turned face and represent the middle man and then have Vince McMahon come out, still rich and blame JBL.

This could had set up a fued between Vince and JBL. With Vince representing the corporate greed that survived the crash agaisnt the swlf made millionare who lost everything. It would had been a modern version of Austin vs. McMahon. How many people would had related to JBL then, having to work for his boss while he has nothing.

This will never happen though and this is why casual fans have a problem investing care for any of the current wrestlers.

If you dont invest time building a wrestlers character and personality why would fans care about them. They have great stars but they are wilting on the vine. Young guys who have pontential but will turn out to be average humdrum stars and guys like Matt Hardy who should had been a world champ on Raw or Smackdown by now. So much talent, yet so many wrestlers are being wasted.

Some of the current wrestlers dont even talk at all, they quite frankly have no personality.

It's not that the stars are bad, they just need a little help.

Help with the writers working with them.

I'm sure they arent even told to develop their own character.

That's another thing that's different then the past.

I cant tell you how many stories I've read in books about how certain wrestlers wrote idea's for their own persona's.

Roddy Piper used to carry a notebook around with him while travling with Ric Flair in the early 80's in the NWA and was writing his own promo's and one liners.

There needs to be more incentive for wrestler to develop their own personalities.

Jake The Snake is another example. If he would had come about on the scene today he would be known for having a snake and that's about it. But Jake took it upon himself and took the time to study the physchology of wrestling and that is why even though he never won a title in WWE he is remembered.

They guy has had a difficult personal life, but people still remember the guy and love him. Why? Because he created a character people could relate to, they invested their time into him and he invested his time and career into building a unique persona. Jake never screamed in an interview, but I'll be damned if i dont remember when Jake talked back in the day people listened. His interviews were brilliant.

Brian Pillman was another wrestler who took it upon himself to create a character for himself and when he did he went from the mid card "Flying Brian" to the most talked about man in wrestling. He singlehandly had WCW, ECW and WWE fans all talking at the same time. Why? Because he created the "Loose Cannon" gimmick.

Some even say it was Brian's "Loose Cannon" gimmick and idea and then his untimely death in Oct 1997 that gave Vince the idea for the Attitude era the following year. No doubt had Brian lived and knowing his friendship and past with Steve Austin he would had been main eventing with Austin in 1998.

The wrestlers themselves need to step up and create better persona's and work on mic skills. WWE needs to work with them more. More time developing down in Florida perhaps. WWE needs to ditch this PG tv only and combine the Attitude Era with the WWF of the 80's. If they combined the character development of the 80's with the edge of the 90's WWE would go on to much bigger ratings.

I hate to say it but WWE is wrestling in the mid 70's.
And we all know how bad wrestling was then.

Sure they had people like Superstar Billy Graham, but they werent even a blip on the popular culture radar.

It's time WWE looked to their sucessful past and reinvent themselves once again with the talent they currently have for the next explosion.