While the peak of the WWE, known as the Attitude Era has come and gone, most who grew up during that period relive and watch the era that produced The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, D-Generation X, and more. These days, ratings have dropped and changes have been implemented to solve these ailing woes.
Changes in the New Era included the brand split, Smackdown broadcasting live, and the cruiserweight division returning to name a few. Shane McMahon has also returned to be the Smackdown commissioner while his sister Stephanie McMahon takes up the role as the Raw commissioner.
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Listed below are reasons why I believe the ratings dipped to uncharted levels.
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Replacing those of the past easier said than done.
The Rock versus Stone Cold Steve Austin was arguably the biggest rivalry in the Attitude Era, with the exception of Austin versus McMahon. Two charismatic characters who were over with the fans and brought in streams of revenue. The Rock as the people’s champion and Stone Cold as the Texas beer drinking redneck who defied authority.
Others like Kurt Angle, Triple H, Undertaker, Kane, Mick Foley, and even all four McMahons were integral parts of what made the Attitude Era great. If you didn’t have one top wrestler, you had the other. This also applied to tag teams and stables.
While the Dudley Boyz and New Age Outlaws returned in recent times, not allowing tables to be used effectively made the Dudley Boyz not who they were then. This also applied to the New Age Outlaws not allowed to curse in the PG Era. While John Cena held the face of WWE for a while, eventually the torch had to be passed on to someone else. John Cena is up there with those in the Attitude Era in terms of charisma and talent, but the talent depth disappeared as WWE cut costs.
Their eight-year relationship with development territory Ohio Valley Wrestling ended, they trimmed their roster size, and completely changed the philosophy of the company. This had an initial shock to all wrestling fans, especially those who grew up with the Attitude Era. Without replacing the talent of the past, ratings inevitably declined.
PG Era
I fully acknowledge that shock value and edgy programming doesn’t have the same impact now as it did during the Attitude Era. Knee-jerk reactions over wrestling flared up when CEO Linda McMahon decided to run for US Congress. Political opponents would use examples from the Attitude Era to impact Linda’s campaign negatively.
When Linda announced in September 2009 that she would run for US Congress, the PG Era began. The idea was to target a younger audience and go into a market that had previous been untouched. While they gained a younger audience, mainly of those who grew up with the Attitude Era felt alienated by the changes.
A big part of why people resonated with the Attitude Era was that the Era pushed the envelope and produced shock value entertainment. Once the process began, it could not be reversed. It kept going when Linda announced she would run again in 2012.
The end result was two 55-43% losses in both elections. The decision to go PG ended up burying characters from the past, as they weren’t allowed to do what made them great. Only time will tell if going PG will be sustainable in the long run for WWE as the ratings clearly state it is not.
Eventually, the transition from Vince McMahon was bound to happen
The torch was going to be passed on after Vince McMahon becomes less involved with the day-to-day operations. Although he is still quite involved, his 71st birthday not long from now signifies that Triple H and Stephanie’s commands are the way to go and any attempts to go back to the past are now over. He still makes occasional appearances promoting events like WrestleMania or being a part of storylines.
After the steroid scandal, Vince McMahon brought the WWE from the bottom to the top of the wrestling world with the Attitude Era, highlighted by an iconic match between Stone Cold and the Rock.
Despite age catching up to Vince, his tenacity and dedication to the business he built should be admired as most people his age would take a backseat and retire. The character Mr McMahon was such an integral part of wrestling even after the Attitude Era, not seeing the character on TV leaves an empty spot that hasn’t been filled by anyone on the roster to this day.
Vince McMahon took the WWE to the top, and the ratings show that it may never reach the top again.
Competition
With ECW and WCW defunct and bought out by WWE, the only other competitor in WWE’s main market of the United States is TNA Wrestling. Although TNA has a plethora of talent who have wrestled at various organisations, their show currently airs on Thursday nights in the US.
As a result, they technically don’t compete with WWE. The international presence WWE has in markets like the United Kingdom and Asia are unmatched by TNA, although they do have a decent following in the UK.
No competition means that WWE doesn’t have a real incentive to be the best it can be other than make more money. The launch of the WWE Network was messy, with delays in the United Kingdom and Ireland and lagging subscription numbers. There were many roster cuts and even cuts to pyrotechnic fireworks at shows and WrestleMania. However, once they got through it, the network launched in other countries including India.
Targeting markets by using a wrestler as the face of that country is what WWE did with Rey Mysterio in Mexico and Great Khali in India. As a result, competitors were left in the dust while WWE continued to bring in revenue. With no competing wrestling brand on the same day or time slot, it’s game over for the competition.
Change
This resonates with everyone. Change is something some people don’t like and don’t want to happen. For instance, the Golden Age lasted for 11 years and then the WWE moved onto the New Generation for 4 years and then the Attitude Era for 5 years. Since the turn of the century, times have changed. Knee-jerk reactions about edgy ideas and gimmicks are more common and the image of WWE has to be played carefully as the steroid scandal tarnished the image for a little while.
Despite the WWE being scripted and a form of entertainment, it has its fair share of critics, especially when Linda ran for US Congress.
In order for any type of venture to be successful over a lengthy period of time, they need to be up-to-date and with all of the trends that are going on at that particular moment. As a business, if the money is getting a younger audience involved, which leads to making more money, then that’s what should be done.
Needless to say, anyone who invested a lot of time, emotion, and money in the Attitude Era knows how hard it is to say goodbye to something you cared a lot about. People from that Era just aren’t as emotionally involved with wrestling as they were in the past.
