8 Ways We Didn't Realise WWE Has Been Re-Living The New Generation

3. No Megastars

WWE NEW GENERATION
WWE

Back in the early 1990s, the then-WWF was forced to create news stars due to the huge gap left by some of the company’s biggest names jumping ship to the money pits of World Championship Wrestling.

Seemingly in the blink of an eye, names such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, Jake Roberts and Roddy Piper had all left WWF for one reason or another. As such, the company had no other choice but to hand the ball to Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, et al to lead the promotion forward.

Right now, WWE is in a similar spot. Due to an over-reliance of turning to the stars of the Attitude Era, the past decade has seen WWE neglect the notion of creating new stars for when those Attitude names are done and dusted.

Bar John Cena – who himself is now edging ever-closer to hanging up his boots – a large focus of WWE’s past 15 years or more of WrestleManias has been on aging or part-time names like Brock Lesnar, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Big Show, Kane, or even the McMahon family.

That’s not to say that the current WWE product doesn’t have stars – Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, Charlotte Flair, to name but a few – but the habit of reverting back to spotlighting the stars of yesteryear means that the stars of today are nowhere near the household names that they could and should be.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.