Was The New Generation of WWE Underrated?

[King Kamala]

FUCK YOU!

 

[Baby Shoes]

Kamala, you act angry but this is basically how I picture your stand up shows to go

 

[King Kamala]

I am angry cause you're right with that assessment. :'(

 

[King Kamala]

the todd pettingill hate is as ridciulous as the patriots hate.

 

[BruiserBrody]

1994 was a good rebound from 93, then 95 was a long car accident, made even worse by the switch to monthly PPVs exposing an already limited roster even more. 96 was a solid year for rebuilding talent, but syndication died and RAW was still a slog for much of Shawn's first reign. Once Bret came back and he and Austin revved things up, that story arch was able to cover for a LOT of wretched 1997 RAW angles and matches.

 

[geniusMoment]

I consider the black and white Austin vignettes building up Survivor Series 96 as the end of "the new generation". It wasn't quite yet Attitude Era, but I consider it some type of in-between period. To me, that was Austin (and the company) spitting on the last few cartoon years.

 

[snuffbox]

The New Generation era would probably look better in hindsight is Diesel's reign had been better booked. It also would've helped if Macho Man had been a part of it.

 

[strummer]

Yeah 96 is kinda strange. They flirt with a more adult direction in parts of 96 but then obviously get scared and go back to the old approach. Iirc the summer of 96 is pretty terrible. As are the last few months of the year. Actually Jan 97-March 97 aren't that great either. But then things really heat up in Spring and .Summer with Austin and Hart and Shawn back in the mix.

 

[geniusMoment]

I just think even more than after Austin 3:16 at KOTR this represented a tone change in the company, because back then you still had Ultimate Warrior pegged as being "the guy" in the future (maybe even more than HBK). And even after the Austin promo I still felt the overall tone and feel of the programs that summer were much more New Generation.

But, I really feel the tone and feel of the program changed with these (you then had the gun angle a few weeks later, you had Bret ripping on HBK in what he wanted as some type of worked-shoot leading to mania 13, you had HBK getting booed out of the building at Survivor Series, you had fans chanting "die rocky die" a few weeks after his debut). Not sure who produced them, but they were excellent.

 

[King Kamala]

The Ultimate Warrior's presentation in '96 is weird is cause he's very much presented as a top guy but they're very deliberate about not having him in any title feuds. Like his 2nd feud is with Lawler, which is a very prototypical "We think this guy is important but we don't want him beating our top heels so let's stick him with the heel color commentator". I genuinely wonder if there was a long term plan with him. Maybe an eventual HBK-Warrior match? A man can dream of how dramatically HBK would oversell Warrior's clotheslines!

I'd say to breakdown New Generation more.

post WrestleMania VIII to King of the Ring '93 is New Generation ascending
LEX EXPRESS to King of the Ring '96 is what we imagine us New Generation in full strength
Summer of '96 to Survivor Series '97 is New Generation waning/Attitude Era ascending. I think '97 is marginally more Attitude than New Generation but there's enough corny mid '90s WWF stuff there where I think the eras share the year.

 

[snuffbox]

The 1997 as New Generation waning/Attitude Era ascending might be best exemplified by the Godwinns morphing from cartoon Rafe Hollister characters to angry Deliverance types.

 

[King Kamala]

THE GANG WARZ storyline is another one that I think epitomizes how transitional that era was done. Attitude Era edge done with dopey New Generation era style storytelling.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Yeah the TV right after Austin 3:16 was born saw the last batch of New Generation goof gimmicks debut. Who, Grimms, Freddie Joe Floyd, Sal Sincere, TL Hopper....etc...etc....

 

[tekcop]

When I watched all the WWF PPV's up to '98 a few years ago, '95 was the biggest slog to get through.

 

[Valeyard]

The Bikini Beach Blastoff before Summerslam in 1996 was the best. First time the women of the era wore skimpy outfits, TL Hopper doing the Caddyshack "turd in the pool" gag, Who playing volleyball, and Austin walking by and just telling Todd he was going to kick Yokozuna's fat ass. Symbolically everything 1996.

 

[King Kamala]

Man, I wish those Free For Alls were on the WWE Network. They talked about it on a recent STWW and speculated that whoever the hell owns the old TV Guide Channel content might own access and that's why it's not there.

Yeah the TV right after Austin 3:16 was born saw the last batch of New Generation goof gimmicks debut. Who, Grimms, Freddie Joe Floyd, Sal Sincere, TL Hopper....etc...etc....

There were still a few dopey New Generation style gimmicks popping up in '97 like ROCKABILLY and a few others I feel like I'm forgetting. Flash Funk was end of '96 too. I consider him a New Generation era gimmick even though it was definitely precursor to Godfather (and he spent as much time in the Attitude era)

And during said weird transition period in late '96/early '97, it seems like creative went back to the pre-Hogan era WWF for their style of characters. Lot of generic white meat babyfaces (Rocky Maivia, Furnas & Lafon) and evil foreigners (The Sultan, Salvatore Sincere). Plus BLATANT callbacks to the Pre Hogan era (The New Blackjacks, Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson helping Rocky's son out, Backlund & Iron Sheik coming back as managers for the Sultan

 

[Valeyard]

 

[BruiserBrody]

ROCKABILLY was serious business!

I legit loved the idea of Sheik and Backlund training a new monster to win the World title so I dug the Sultan for a while. I had no idea it was Fatu.

Early 97 Raws are also fun for the random guys who got air time.... The one segment for the Head Hunters, the brief babyface pushes of Miguel Perez Jr (out to get newly turned Savio) and Tiger Jeet Singh, USWA and ECW talent, plus a number of luchas who Vince didn't even pretend to care about on commentary, and eventually one off Light heavys like Eric Shelly, Devon Storm, the Fantastics (Tommy Rogers worked 2 matches as I believe he wrestled Brian Christopher on Shotgun.) etc etc

I still love how they brought in Hector Garza with a big push in WWF magazine as the "Mexican" HBK and then on Superstars he worked with Lucha Legend....TL Hopper....

 

[King Kamala]

Yeah. I had no idea The Sultan was Fatu until IIRC it was brought up in WOW Magazine in the early '00s.

 

[snuffbox]

When I watched all the WWF PPV's up to '98 a few years ago, '95 was the biggest slog to get through.

Hopefully watching the '95 Survivor Series helped. That was a real good ppv.

 

[Brocklock]

I've been going through every WWE PPV on a month by month basis and honestly some of the 95 stuff is easier to get through than the last 10 years or so because even a bad IYH card only runs for around 2 hours instead of 3. I think Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series are all very good shows and there are some good matches on the IYH shows.

 

[Gary]

The Ultimate Warrior's presentation in '96 is weird is cause he's very much presented as a top guy but they're very deliberate about not having him in any title feuds.

I think he feuded with Golddust for the IC title.

It's funny when you compare some of the New Generation gimmicks to someone like Disco Inferno. The latter is goofy as hell, but there's always a self awareness, and he's actually good on the mic. Someone like TL Hopper is...well, he's a plumber, and that's it. The gimmicks are dumb, but the guys behind them aren't allowed to play around with it.

 

[King Kamala]

I think the Goldust match was non title but if not, the title was a peripheral part of the feud and not the main focus.

Also worth pointing out that ‘96 Warrior was proto Attitude era with him swearing and be homophobic (art imitates life)

 

[snuffbox]

The IYH match was for the title but the belt was an afterthought to babyface homophobia. Even though Goldust was injured at the time, they just did a clusterfuck instead of a match and did a countout finish.

 

[Valeyard]

Speaking for myself alone, the Raw with Taker/Shawn/Diesel vs Camp Cornette in fall of 1995 was perfect booking. I wish Bill Watts had more time booking.

 

[BruiserBrody]

I subjected my coworkers to the Warrior/Goldust RAW promo/ IYH match yesterday while drinking at my house. My coworker (a lapsed fan from the 90s-Attitude era) has been subjected to all forms of wrestlecrap from me over the past 8+ years and he declared the PPV segment '"the worst thing you've had us watch".

Dean Douglas's in ring WWF TV return occured on this date in 1995. He worked the 1-2-3 Kid in an effort to program him up the card fast with Razor. Seeing the clip on Twitter, I have to say I had forgotten the large ! on his singlet. I think Dean Douglas could have had some legs with some tweaking, and a little agreement from the Clique. Maybe Shane "the Dean" Douglas, who could flout his brains and mock the gutter trash upbringings of Savio and Razor. Then with Shawn he could taunt him by calling himself "the Dean of Wrestling" or some such. He could even use his WCW and ECW past to further push how his talents were long and varied. Once his schtick got stale, he could find a valet in a year or so and dress her as a school girl, fitting right into the carnal attitude era.

Instead of the Body Donnas forming in 1996, Skip could out himself as Candito and maybe Dr Tom could tweak his gimmick a bit and find a niche with them as a upper mid-card "Triple Threat" type of team to tangle with the Meros, Savios, Flash Funks etc

 

[BruiserBrody]

More random New Generation thoughts....

1) IIRC Goldust was actually BANNED from appearing on Superstars in the Green Bay market by the station manager for his homosexual antics. When RAW came to town in June 1996, Michael Hayes actually mentioned on Superstars during the live event plug that Goldust was going to have a sit down with station manager __________, From what I recall he was then back on the air until syndication was canceled in September.

That was the first time in my 14 years of life that the WWF was not on my TV. (Obv. I don't recall my first 2 years or so which predated Vince's expansion, but from 3 onward I was HULKAMANIA all the way.) I went to my neighbor's to watch Nitro, but their big satellite somehow did not get USA. Then in December I found out my 50 some year old cousin bought all the PPVs and taped RAW for her adult son. So every Wednesday I would walk 3 miles up the country road to get to her house and procure the tape.

2) I struggle to see a fit for Diesel in 1996 after the HBK feud. With the WWF trying to build new talent, I see Nash not really working properly in his heel/tweener role. Ahmed would have had awful matches with him, and both would likely wind up injured. Marc Mero was too low on the card to mess with. The Warrior would have been a political nightmare to book w/ Nash and the match would have stunk. Barry Windham was not booked to be a serious enough contender to make a feud work....so then its back to retreads with Sid, Razor, Bret, Taker and Shawn?

As a face, Nash feuding with Goldust might have worked a little, if Nash was willing to play ball. Crush, Farooq? Maybe a one off when the Sultan is brand new....? Austin and Diesel as badasses clashing could work, but again you run into Nash actually trying as well as being willing to lose to make a star. Vader would be neutered and would not be able to be hit with the powerbomb. Foley would probably make a feud work. HHH and Nash would certainly be willing to work a long program to force Hunter up the card. Maybe even a meta-feud with Lawler, where Lawler brings in Glenn Jacobs as Faker Diesel for a PPV. Oye.

3> Razor on the other hand could have certainly worked with the new batch of mid-carders. Pretty much anyone on the upper mid card roster could works in my head. Here's a quick fantasy booking..... If Razor stays and agrees to work with Goldie at Mania, GD can screw him out of the title there once more. Then on RAW, they can build up Ted Dibiase sensing Razor's frustrations. After a few weeks of teasing, he can flat out offer Razor a title match if he'll sign on with the Million $ Corp. Razor turns this down, but cheeses off Dibiase's Ringmaster in the process. (Austin has a thing with Razor's buddy Savio anyway) That leads to a PPV match with Razor vs Austin. Dibiase botches the interference at the end, but Austin manages to stun and pin Razor instead anyway. Then the Ringmaster fires Dibiase for offering a title match to Razor when he hadn't procured one for his ace (Austin) first.

 

[King Kamala]

Shane Douglas is one of few wrestlers I legitimately dislike and I haven’t even been able to stomach going back through a lot of his ECW work when he was actually good.

 

[geniusMoment]

I feel if Shane Douglas had stuck it out another 8 months he would've been in a much better spot. He had a good friend in Foley coming in, and Austin mentioned years ago how he loved working with Shane in WCW. I feel by 97 Vince would've let him be The Franchise, especially since JR was a fan of his from WCW and Russo was an ECW fan.

My guess is by 97 he would've been in the main event scene, and in 98 would've been a challenger for Austin.

 

[Epic Springs]

Shane Douglas being a main eventer during the Attitude Era is hilarious in many ways.