I was watching a match from the latter days of WCW between
Sting and Bret Hart on Monday Nitro back in 1998. I use the term match very loosely. According to the commentary team, the backstage area had been fought in multiple times during the course of the night, and that being hit by a rubbish bin is a "brutal assault" and that this is hardcore wrestling. While that may be a ridiculous statement, I was struck by the two men in the match, Sting and Bret Hart. Sting was the face, although he was representing the "heel" NWO Wolfpack, while Hart, who was representing WCW, was the villain of the match. Confused? If I didn't grow up with this stuff I would be too. I am not making this up. This was the state of WCW in its death throes. Painful stuff! While over in the WWE (WWF at this point), it was going through the fabled Renaissance and according to most former fans, "the best time in wrestling". People today still long for this stuff and wish "that wrestling was like that today". I'll admit that I loved it: Austin, Mankind, multiple hardcore matches and the childish actions of D-X...what was there not to love? Bear in mind that I was 10 in 1998, so I didn't know better. Try watching Naked Mideon, D-X or the list of poor and embarrassing material from the Attitude Era as an adult. That, my friends, is an experience. What made this interesting was the sense that this was "edgy" or "cool", that it was socially relevant or in some cases a response to the culture of the late 1990's, or that this could be over soon. WCW or the WWF could end each other, they could go out of business because of the Monday Night Wars. This was compounded by the outside element of ECW as a feeding ground for new talent that could give the edge to either company. Then again, I was 10 in 1998 so this didn't factor into my mindset. It seemed "more real" or "more like a sport". These are often presented as virtues of this epoch by former fans, anything to make it more acceptable for the current late teen/early twenties male UFC demographic. Again, this is supported thanks to the mythmakers at WWE HQ. Most people believe that this was the way that it was, and that everything in the Attitude Era was awesome, or that WCW/NWO was the greatest thing ever. This just is not true. In fact, if you want to see a company that practices the style of the late-90's booking and its storyline trends in 2013, just watch TNA. http://youtu.be/Lo0yoANKenk At one point - 2002-2007 - this made TNA good or interesting. Why? Well, not since the fall of ECW had we seen something that felt so unlike the WWE. This almost felt like an alternative, a new rival company. A "mainstream ECW" but with the star power and money of WCW. It seemed like a viable company, something worthwhile and the beginning of something great. Fast forward to 2013, and we have a shadowy group with an obscene number of members. This group, introduced as a heel faction is now pushed as faces and nobody cares. The nW...I mean Aces & Eights are an example of the antithesis of what killed WCW creatively. It is the problem with factions like D-X, The Nation and The Corporation. They get too big and swallow everything else. Remember when most of WWF in 1999 was taken up by the development of the Corporate Ministry? It consumed the show! The Rock was the "Corporate Champion", there was a feud with "The Union" and then some quasi-Satanism in there for good measure, to revamp The Undertaker. Yet, unlike the nWo and Aces & Eights, there were other things going on at the same time in the WWF and the reboot button was hit later in that year. The WWF/E knew that the time was over for this type of booking. WCW did not. http://youtu.be/SJPkRSfZST8 The fact is that one storyline is not strong enough to build your company around, unless it is a very, very strong story! John Cena, as much as I hate to say it, is strong enough for this booking. He is the center of the company. He has never wavered, thus it makes sense. Building 2013 WWE around The Shield would kill the group in weeks. This is because when you build around a heel group, it gives you nowhere to go, nobody to believe in and ultimately you don't care what happens and stop watching. Factions can be awesome and they're a great idea, although in small doses. There is a line and if it becomes the whole show people will stop caring. TNA need to learn this. History has a way of repeating itself and that never ends well. Let me know what you guys think, or what your favourite faction was in the comments below.