7 Reasons Why WWE's Attitude Era Was Actually Over-Rated
4. It Pulled the Curtain Back Too Far
One of the things that made the Attitude Era so successful was the blurring of the line between reality and fiction. When Vince McMahon screwed Bret Hart out of the WWE title at Survivor Series and it was discussed openly on television, everything changed. There was no real or fake anymore; everything just was. This created a new storytelling structure that became rampant in both WWE and WCW in the 90s. What was real? What was scripted? Was that a worked shoot or was it genuine? It created the allure of real life drama that didnt exist in wrestling at the time, but instead of creating a maybe its all real mindset, it became so rampant that it actually created an its all fake mentality. The majority of wrestling fans know that wrestling isnt real. Its not the big secret that it used to be. But fans want to believe that its real, even if its just for a few hours. When Kanes pyro shoots from the ring posts, we want to believe that he has firestarter powers that make him do that. We want to trust that Bray Wyatt is actually a psychopathic cult leader from the bayou and not the son of Irwin R. Schyster. The suspension of disbelief is important to wrestling fans, but when you abuse it and mess with the audiences sense of wonder too much, it dilutes it and makes it all seem less important. The Attitude Era took this method of storytelling to the edge week in and week out, but everything has a shelf life, including the audiences patience. Nothing gold can stay, but the damage the Attitude Era made with making break the fourth wall synonymous with cool is something WWE fans still have to deal with today.
Andrew is a self-proclaimed humorist/facepuncher, and is one of the last of his kind. He was dragged from the debris in war-torn Poland and plays a piano most beautifully. In closing, he likes pickles. Follow him on Twitter @TheAEJohnson
