Va-Va-Voom wrote:Chris Benoit fvcked it up for everyone the mad bastard.
It was just a trigger. The Attitude Era officially ended with Austin's heel-turn at WrestleMania X-Seven. The post-era was called the Ruthless Aggression era, which lasted until Cena's rise and WWE turning PG.
To understand the success of the Attitude Era, you have to look at its preceding eras. WWE was filled with cartoon characters. Babyfaces were bland. Heels were simply jerks. The lines weren't blurred. Then, Attitude Era truly kicked off with Bret turning heel; Austin/Bret rivalry that culminated with an epic match at WrestleMania 13, and the rise of DX. 1997 was a chaotic year. So, from 1997 - 2001, the line between a heel and face was totally blurred. Matches were extreme, edgy. The product treaded on rated R materials. You had some of the biggest bad-asses of all time - Austin, Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels (at the start), the Undertaker - who were later joined by technical marvels like Benoit, Angle, and Jericho. All of this reached a climax in 2000, which considered the greatest year in North American wrestling history. The storyline and matches ranged from great to legendary almost every week.
By 2001, it was, however, clear that WWE wouldn't be able to handle this chaotic, high-octane programming for much longer, which is what led to Austin's heel turn at WrestleMania X-Seven. That WM is also considered the greatest WM of all time and arguably one of the greatest PPVs ever. It's arguably as SummerSlam 2002, WM X, and WM XIX are right up there too.
2002 was pretty much a transitional year for WWE and WrestleMania XIX holds special significance as it's the last time the three stars of the Attitude Era wrestled in the same event (Rock, Austin, Triple H). So, they moved away from the Attitude Era because Rock had left for Hollywood, Austin retired, and only Triple H was left as a full-timer.
Even before 2007, WWE were already planning to go PG because that was how it was originally before the Attitude Era. They knew they had to cater to the younger audiences because the ones who grew up during the Attitude Era/were kids then were slowly turning away from WWE. They needed a new fanbase because the older one - of the Attitude Era - would rarely be able to see anyone else replace their idea of perfection. This was especially triggered after the Chris Benoit incident, so WWE also were now in charge of an image makeover where they had to make sure that wrestling as a whole didn't lose value on the face of such disaster. This did shape WWE's long-term plans in creating generic products, which is why the wrestlers today don't have the edge. The ones who do like Punk, Daniel Bryan, and AJ Style all come from indie backgrounds.
So, the wheels were in motion long before Benoit. John Cena as Superman Cena for the kids is what WWE wanted to adopt as their model, which they did. The Benoit incident only hastened the process.
WWE today does make more money that it used to before because of the global franchising and the world shrinking thanks to the digital revolution. That doesn't, however, mean that the product matches up. But with these social fads, I think human psychology is also very important. Every generation has his or her own version of "good," which is why for those of the 80s, it might be Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. For those of the 1990s, it's Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. For those who watched the Attitude Era, it's Austin, Rock, and Triple H. For the latter folks, it's Cena, Batista, Undertaker (he's a strange one as he could claim to be of any generation), etc.
Va-Va-Voom wrote:If hell is real Benoit is 100% there.
Can't blame the man, tbh. Post-mortem scans revealed that he had a brain of an 87-year-old with Alzheimer's. He destroyed his body to become the best and by God, I've not seen a better pure wrestler in my life. Sad how it all went down.