The Attitude Era Thread Vol 1

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Idk if they did high school gyms still during the Attitude Era (maybe for house shows) but they did do the Lowell Memorial Auditorium for the RAW before Christmas ‘97 when Austin stuns SantaDust. That fits 2,800 according to Wikipedia and having been there for ROH/NJPW shows seems right.

They also did the Cape Cod music tents in the summer of ‘99 (same weekend as the Warwick shows!). Those are similar. 2K seat theaters in the round that are usually used for Gallagher or the Oak Ridge Boys. Foley talks about those venues in his first book and he says they were actually really fun shows but the payoffs were the shits cause it was a small venue.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1729827161345847561

Should they have pushed the Vince match back and tried to give Test the Dec PPV slot?

 

[Fall of Epic]

Test got done dirty in that angle. HHH punked him out on TV and he's tagging with Albert 2 months later.

 

[Valeyard]

That was so fucking funny. It was the most wrestling thing ever and HHH's performance is hilarious. I was so psyched at the time since HHH was my favorite and I really liked Test so I assumed Test was gonna kill him good but nah.

 

[treble]

Are we supposed to think that Stephanie was in on it from the beginning or that she decided to join HHH after the fact.

Its also nice that their kids can go back and watch this and see their dad imply that he raped their unconscious mother and everybody cheered.

 

[Valeyard]

It was always apparent to me that she was in on it with anything said to Vince after being clearly designed to hurt him. But wrestling.

That trash can Bulldog hucked at her cause brain damage.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I WANT MAH TITLE SHOT!

 

[treble]

Makes sense. As a dumb teenager when it happened, I'm not sure I really put too much into thinking about the ins and outs of it all so when she turned on Vince at Armageddon I probably figured she changed her mind at some point and never really thought too much about it again.

 

[Valeyard]

I guess even for the time the notion of Steph just suddenly going along with it for whatever reason is too out there.

When did Kreski take over? If he didn't take over immediately from Russo, who was booking in the interim? That period from September to the start of the McMahon-Helmsley Era feels different than everything before or after.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Russo left the first weekend of October. Everyone showed up to the 10/4/99 RAW to find out the news that he left for WCW.

I think difference in storytelling style IMO can be attributed to Smackdown! premiering in late August and Vince Russo not being able to do his crash TV style the same way on national TV. Russo was also super burnt out and seemed to handle the pressure and stress poorly (see, uh, the rest of his career in wrestling).

 

[Valeyard]

I think the end of his time has aged well, really. It's still Russo bullshit but you can see it's a great reset in a lot of ways at the same time.

So who was running things in between Russo and Kreski, then? Just Vince?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Tommy Blacha and Brian Gewirtz both claim that they were hired when Russo was fired. They were supplementing Vince, Pat, Bruce and the rest of the stooges.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

View this content on Instagram

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Another possible CXFCon location but Ibthink we will try and request hitting the giant bong with PAPA SHANGO.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Dirtbag Era Barry Windham Concludes; Dirtbag Era Vader Commencing?

Barry Windham vs. Vader WWF Raw 5/11/98 ER: You wanna talk dirtbags, kid, then you're going to want to talk about this match. Barry Windham ...

segundacaida.blogspot.com

Sounds like me and @BruiserBrody’s bar room brawl at CXFCon

 

[alfdogg]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1733214865630605561

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

That was the moment that Russo hampered the belt, really. We still had plenty of great moments and matches with it, but it lost most of its luster once it was seen full-on as a runner-up belt.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

That was the moment that Russo hampered the belt, really. We still had plenty of great moments and matches with it, but it lost most of its luster once it was seen full-on as a runner-up belt.

Even as a kid it was never gonna be the WWF/World Title so I saw it as a "runner up" belt in that sense. I sort of saw it as a stepping stone title to the World Title but it's not like making a D'Lo Brown or '99-'01 Goldust as IC Title champion would cement them as "WWF Title caliber next" in my eyes.

People forget that a lot of the IC Title holders had an IT factor during their runs that carried over to their pushes into the main event picture. A guy like Val Venis or even Goldust never struck me as, "Okay they are IC Champion. Next step should be the WWF Title scene."

 

[Valeyard]

It was the workrate belt at its core and a springboard at best. Epitome of the champion makes the championship. Razor was the biggest star in the company for a while and never left the IC title hunt.

The oval belt was the end of the good times. No one looked good with that trash and it didn't feel prestigious.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Hot take: I prefer the oval belt.

I'm not saying that the IC title was on the same level as the WWF Championship, but it felt strong enough to headline cards on its own before this. Russo cemented it as the midcard belt and this angle, as entertaining as it was, was how. I wish they'd had some sort of shifty finish the week before where Austin KO'd a ref, because this wouldn't have felt so cheap.

Honestly, it is what it is, because Austin dropping the IC belt and running full steam ahead toward WM14 and Rock running wild with the IC title made both of them superstars.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Smark in September of ‘99: Taz is smaller than the typical WWF star but he has the charisma and tenacity to make it to the top.
One year later…

Smark in September of ‘00: Aw heck.

 

[Fall of Epic]

I do think Tazz's in-ring career was done dirty (still think his treatment at Royal Rumble '01 was some bullshit) in WWE. I think we can all agree that he shouldn't have been a top guy but going from ending Angle's street to feuding with Jerry Lawler in just 8 months just wasn't right. Having him and Benoit feud over the IC title was optimal use for him.

Tazz becoming a commentator and extending his career in pro wrestling was a smart move.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It was just coming in the wxact wrong time. If the Radicalz don’t suddenly become available at the same time he debuts, I assume the plans for Tazz during WrestleMania season are A LOT bigger than Hardcore division stuff and a 50/50 feud with Big Bossman.

Also Tazz not physically being able to work anymore right as WWE was heading into the era when guys his size and with his moveset is also awful timing. His heart wasn’t in it much though by that point so I think becoming a personality outside of the ring was a blessing in disguise .

 

[Valeyard]

And no top guys wanted to take his moves. He was just dead by February for tons of reasons.

Once they changed his gear to Halloween gardener it was all over

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah that jumpsuit isn’t mentioned enough when it comes to worst ring gear ever discussions.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1734992407521812717

What the hell? Did this lead to something I've completely forgotten about?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Tazz got hurt right away too IIRC

 

[Valeyard]

Tazz got hurt after Wrestlemania, I think. I wanna say he just disappeared until showing up to get involved with Rikishi/Venis but that didn't go anywhere, so we got Lawler instead. But I liked the stuff he did with Bossman and Albert.

He was never the same after the Lawler shit, anyway. Put on weight, started wearing the sunglasses too small for his head while dressing like a mainentence man, and I don't think actually had anything to do until the Invasion and the aborted Austin TV feud. The Mike Awesome mess too took some time away from being a productive WWF guy, too, looking back.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Tracy did a lot of WWF C/D Show appearances in ‘99/‘00. He was one of Rikishi’s early opponents too.

In ‘00, Tracy Smothers made appearances in WWF, WCW, XPW and FMW (still around). What a career.

I'll be dog gone. Monsoon must still be lurking here cause he just posted another Tracy Smothers doing job duty in '00 WWF video here. Against WWF Tazz, who we were also just talking about!

Also who decided face Jonathan Coachman and generic Corporate heel Michael Hayes would be a decent commentary team. If they were gonna have Hayes be a kiss ass, they should've at least called him Dok Hendrix.

Dok as one of Vince's stooges might have actually be kind of funny now that I think of it.

 

[Valeyard]

Stoogebirds getting a title run and some trash matches with the Mean Street Posse would be something

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]