WWE: How Attitude Era Nostalgia Diminishes Years of Hard Work

The Attitude Era.

It is revered on the internet as a golden age of wrestling, a consistent and never-ending talking point when referring to the "good old days."  Constant cries are made for a return to it.  Today's product is criticized and maligned for not being up to the standards of it. 

I am tired of it.

Wrestling has been a part of me for as long as I can remember being able to write in cursive.  I was a fan long before it became "cool" during the late '90s, and I apologize for nearly sounding like a hipster in this sentence.  I stayed with it when the new millennium started, and my passion for it grew so much that I trained to become one myself.  While the veil was lifted and I learned the ins and outs of what goes into the art of wrestling (I think I owe Colt Cabana a dollar for that,) I stayed a fan first and a student second.  There have been many eras, so to speak, during my lifetime.

If I were to rank each of them, I don't know if the Attitude Era would be on top.

Each and every fan of wrestling has one thing they always look for in terms of quality.  Some want great storylines.  Others want bloody brawls with weapons.  For me, Kurt Angle summed up my feelings during a segment building up to his Wrestlemania XIX match with Brock Lesnar:

"The name of the game is wrestling."

For decades, hundreds of men and women have given us just that.  Wrestling.  Human beings, usually two of them, grapple for position in a ring while a referee waits to call for the bell after a pinfall or submission.  It is a showcase of athleticism and an exhibition of art all at once.  No matter what happens outside of the ring, the core experience for me is what happens inside it.

So, when I see people constantly whine and moan about how today's WWE wrestling is "crap," "boring," "not as good as it used to be" or any other term that inevitably leads to an Attitude Era comparison, I begin to question what the hell would actually please this vocal lynch mob.

Let me clarify: I am not claiming everything about the late '90s period was not incredible.  Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley and a slew of others that I'm sure someone will tell me I forgot to mention helped to transform a national wrestling company into a global media franchise that regularly tours the world, performing for fans in every inhabitable continent.  Today's wrestlers have that opportunity because of yesterday's wrestlers.

The thing is, they are just that—yesterday's wrestlers, and although I do not know them personally, I would be shocked if they did not say the same thing (save maybe The Rock, but that's for another article.)  Any time I want, I can get a DVD or Blu-Ray, stream something from Netflix or search Youtube and relive those moments that live in history.  I enjoy doing that in some of my spare time.  That said, there is nothing I enjoy more than watching today's wrestlers live on Monday and spoiler-free on Friday. 

I don't understand why people continuously feel the need to bring up the past when so much incredible wrestling is happening right before your very eyes.  I know there are fans who see my point and even agree, but too often they get buried underneath the ones who beg for a return to the supposed glory days.  Are wrestling fans so masochistic that they will continue subjecting themselves to content they claim to dislike?  CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have been putting on clinics all year long.  Dolph Ziggler is on the verge of exploding.  Wade Barrett will be returning soon.  John Cena and Randy Orton, once in the same position, are now industry veterans.

I would love to get one of the men I mentioned in a room alone and hear their uncensored, unabridged thoughts on this pocket of wrestling fans.  I realize this sort of entitled criticism exists in every form of entertainment, from comic books and movies to video games, music, television and stand-up comedy.  The fans I highlight in this article, though, always strike me as more venomous than other industries and sound as if their demands must be met above all else.

The Attitude Era is done. Read about it, relive it in the upcoming WWE '13 video game and watch matches that already happened. 

Don't make the guys today feel like their work is for nothing.