The Attitude Era was a time in professional wrestling that was primarily built on energy and moments. As much as the era was predicated upon great matches driving box office success, the company was also built on great moments in those matches and on those television programs where talents decided each and every night that they would elevate their work to a place where they decided to go above and beyond the call of duty. A match on even Main Event can't just be seen as a match on Main Event. A spot commentating on Raw can't be seen as just a spot commentating on Raw. It has to be made into much more than that, which creates the ability for a talent to be elevated. As an example, every WWE wrestler should look at the performance of Damien Sandow and realize that he's the blueprint for the level of hustle and desire the whole company should have at-present insofar as making the "Attitude"-style moments occur that ultimately make a wrestler of value to the company. Sandow's currently one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions after just six months prior being a man whose gimmick was dressing up like other people. For a lesser man-as-wrestler, it's the kind of role that spells doom and ultimately release. In focusing on everything but wrestling and also in possibly being personally demeaning, it could be a spirit crusher. However, for Sandow, he saw the potential to be on screen every week in a memorable role as something special and unique and made it his own. Thus, when The Miz was immediately floundering when back from filming The Marine, it's the partnership with Sandow (with Sandow having the defined role and heat) that allowed top-card player Miz the ability to again re-connect with the crowd via the well-established (and entertaining) Sandow's aid.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
