10 Ways WWE Could Revive The Attitude Era (Even With A PG Rating)
3. Be More Creative
What, other than wrestling, can WWE do to fill out episodic wrestling television? As a frame of reference, we fired up the Network and watched an episode of retro RAW from 19 years ago: March 1, 1999.
On it, no one match exceeded 15 minutes in length. Naturally, only the main event between Steve Austin and Kane approached it. Michael Cole introduced us to the show, reminding everybody at home that evil company owner Mr. McMahon was facing a two-front battle against Steve Austin and the Undertaker. Flanked by the Corporation - providing several performers with a raison d'être beyond turning up and collecting a 50/50 win/loss record - McMahon fired Kane for failing to solve his Undertaker problem. In a character-defining moment, Kane kicked the sh*t out of several orderlies despatched to commit him. Chyna suggested that Kane save his spot by challenging Steve Austin in the main event. Two overarching storylines intersected across two successive storyline developments. Mankind interrupted, pleaded his credentials as a referee for the 'Mania XV main event, and was told to show them in the main event of that week's show. Chyna, meanwhile, had her own sinister motivation: manipulation. That would manifest weeks later.
Later, the Rock commentated, hilariously, over his own ass-kicking of Road Dogg. Road Dogg lost that short match after showing not too much - he wasn't a main event talent, so how he could go for a main event duration? - before he was attacked by Al Snow and Hardcore Holly, leading to an impromptu backstage fight. He was no main event act, but he was no geek. And they say Vince Russo couldn't do nuance. This, as a reminder, wasn't even the best of the Attitude Era. Not even close. But even at the low point of quality, creativity was high. The Big Boss Man fed Al Snow his dead dog. That storyline is used as a stick with which to beat Russo, but we write about it nearly two decades later. Randy Orton's crack at Bobby Roode's US Title? It's hard to remember that is even happening right now.
This was typical stuff; everything moved forward in service of the present and future. In 2018, the focus is myopic in the extreme. Wrestlers tend to feud with just one rival at one time. Wrestlers possess little in the way of motivation, not being aligned to a particular cause - which manifests as a bunch of guys all within the orbit of various titles. When they are removed from that orbit, there is nowhere else to go.
What if Titus Worldwide expanded from a tag team to an army of disillusioned midcard acts intent on shattering the status quo? What if Stephanie McMahon's Authority was used as a vehicle to get an act other than Stephanie McMahon's Authority over? What if Stephanie McMahon's Authority, like Vince McMahon's corporation, was used to get two acts over simultaneously? Couldn't she play those two men off one another, introducing another subplot?
With a structure and a shared universe in place, we may even avoid hearing Michael Cole drive the words "Championship Opportunity" into the ground.