3. The Critics Were Sub-Diverted
Not literal critics; the people who would stand over your shoulder and snort the derivative "It's all fake you know!" as he walks off hands in pockets and nose higher than forehead. By this time people were starting to all realise that wrestling was not as 'genuine' as it was made out to be, the solution? Go over the top with everything then! Attitude blended the right amount of Fantasy and Realism almost at comic-book level (which I talk about next), the matches and shows felt grittier and realistic; when you watched a Last Man Standing match you could almost get behind and believe that the two guys genuinely hated each other that much that they wanted to literally wanted to beat each other until one could not stand on his own two feet anymore. At the same time though you had Undertaker rallying a cult of followers and getting struck by lightning on the stage of an indoor arena whilst Paul Bearer and Kane drag the caskets of Undertaker's dead parents (bodies still inside I might add) on stage to screw with him, fairly certain in reality they would have been stopped at the door by the men holding the white duffle coats. Yet at the time when I watched it I was hooked and did not go through the logistics of digging up a body, to me that was something out of a good horror movie, all they had to do next was re-animate them! However now that I am sadly older, even looking back on that memory and realising how ridiculous that little Greek-esk drama was; I don't care. It didn't take away from the drama of the episode and certainly doesn't taint my memories of this time in wrestling. Mae Young giving birth to a human hand though? Jury is still out on that one...