10 Ways WWE Could Revive The Attitude Era (Even With A PG Rating)
4. Considerably Less Wrestling
Watch virtually any modern RAW match in or around the 15 minute range, and most follow the same tropes.
By the final five minutes, every signature move is deployed purely for a cheap kickout pop. A wrestler creates separation and builds momentum. Then their opponent creates separation and builds momentum. The finishers are next to die. Whomever wins does so by a very narrow margin, having given their opponent everything. And on the dance goes. Essentially, every name wrestler on the roster is virtually on the same level as everybody else. Everything is homogenised: ring style, match structure, performer ability. The notion that these matches mean nothing is often impossible to escape, and the effect ripples through to pay-per-view, on which the matches no longer feel as special as they once did because matches of similar length, fought between the same performers, are so commonplace. In 2018 alone, every single episode of RAW has featured at least one, in many cases two, matches exceeding 15 minutes in length. There is too much wrestling on television. There is too much of the same wrestling on television.
Roman Reigns Vs. The Miz, on the January 29 RAW, lasted a full 18:07. Beyond the usual hot finish, what was truly memorable about it?