For those that lived through it, WWE's 'New Generation' period was one of great change and - on select occasions - great shame.
However, much of the supposed fan tumult is a touch overstated by hindsight reflections. Though the organisation lacked Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and most of the other over-inflated bodies and personas that once defined the product entirely, a maturation process had begun thanks to the vastly superior in-ring work of stalwarts Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon and The 1-2-3 Kid.
Arenas and men were smaller, but like the audience itself they were becoming perfectly formed. Some of the finest matches of the decade took place with the smallest audience watching, including the Bret Hart/Stone Cold Steve Austin WrestleMania 13 match that transformed an industry in front of a catastrophically small pay-per-view audience.
These were the complex contradictions that defined the New Generation. 'The Rattlesnake' was a 'Ringmaster' before his tea's temperature dropped, whilst Triple H's start in life as a Greenwich Snob was a far cry from 'The Game' he became. Future icons were signed with inadvertently fatalistic intent.
Stars were goobers, and one was very nearly a Goon.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
