The Decline Of WWE - What Happened?
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
- Did PG kill WWE? It's a question that many wrestling fans bring up on a continuous basis. In 2008 WWE shifted all its programming to a parental guidance rating. It was because of that rating that the programming was very different. Instead of the adult themes, coarse language, and sexual nature of programming wrestling fans were used to, the WWE gave fans a more toned-down approach to programming. Characters such as John Cena, Randy Orton & Triple H were much different in their delivery as they had to adhere to the company's new stance on programming. The decision came into effect after WWE CEO Linda McMahon ran for senate, a double homicide & the death of fan-favorite wrestler Eddie Guerrero. The company had a litany of allegations against them from previous years as well. Many wrestlers were dying before the age of 60 due to suspected steroid use & CTE. So the decision was made to go PG and bring an appeal to WWE overall. This time frame followed an extremely beloved timeframe known as the attitude era, the absolute apex of the professional wrestling boom. Fans have been turned away due to WWE's new kid-friendly and "boring" approach to network television. But was it PG that killed the product or was the drop an inevitable one that was on the horizon regardless?.
The decline of wrestling is a huge mystery to solve? Why did it happen? How? Where did the fans go?
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#WWEPG #WWEPGEra #WWEDecline
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0:00 Intro
2:17 History
5:52 Ratings
9:20 Booking
12:23 Attendance
13:25 Media Presence
15:23 Big Time Numbers
17:18 Sale?
19:06 Conclusion
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Twitter: / suprkickstudios
Instagram: / superkickstudiosytb
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This video is created with the purpose to educate and review works within professional wrestling. Images have been used to assist with the purposes outlined.
Images are used with section 107 of the copyright act of 1987 in mind. This section states allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, reporting, teaching, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. - Zábava
this video is so badly voiced, wish i could do it over.
but eh, growth i guess.
Still a great video lots of information
Another Monday war’s with AEW will probably help PG WWE ratings currently?
Ive heard a lot worse man. I'm an asshole, so if I really don't like it I unsubscribe and "don't reccommend channel," and I'm not hitting you with that so you can't be that bad :) i even thumbed up
it’s fine, you make awesome vids
JASTAWWE
I remember the days where you could go to school and have a full conversation with your friends about WWF/E during lunch break. It was pretty cool.
Chris Benoit was the cause of the decline
You forgot the rise of MMA that's why the situation is now.
@@MrBrandonStar the shield ruined wwe and undertaker getting his streak broken
@@JordanAWEsomeProduct I don't think MMA is one reason of their decline. Here in french, we do not watch a lot of MMA and i it is not really broadcasted and we don't have any alternative of fighting sport.
I think that one of their decline, is the quality of the writing that degraded first of all. And that decline of writing is the mainly reason of the inability to create exciting programs.
And when you cannot create credible superstars and by extension, any credible show like before.
Tha'ts why i can watch the newest shows in my case in all cases. Even if can watch some 2000-2009 shows it'll never be the same.
@@MrBrandonStar not even close
“They are not a wrestling company. They are a a media company.” That one line sums up everything with the WWE over the last 10 or 15 years. Vince never considered what himself a wrestling guy he’s always been an entertainment guy “we make movies”.
@The Joe King Show hey I don’t hate the WWE or Vince for that matter. Haven’t been happy with the direction they’ve taken but in no means do I ever want to see them fail. It’s just mind boggling to me that their tv product is wrestling based but he insists to turn away from it rather then saying, “yeah we’re wrestling but we do much more then what’s traditional.”
Not good movies
Makes sense considering if you look at McMahon's past you'd see many failed ventures into the movie industry, and I'm not just talking about the WWE movie studio flophouse.
@@sneakysnake7695 I saw the WWE studio publishing on a Netflix film that had no content matter related to the business at all lol I'd say they're still around doing things. Just not as big as most film publishers.
It’s been the best ever in the last 2 years.
Attitude era sucked
2 years later and we’re so fucking back
As a mid 30s adult male who absolutely loved WWF I can say confidently that when WCW and ECW got bought out and the monday night wars were over that's where my friends and I, and family members, all pretty much stopped watching.
The brand split was also a downfall. Too many titles with not enough superstars.
Ruthless agression era (2002-2008) was great as well.
Agreed….once Austin started hugging McMahon , No more Rock, DDP was not even DDP, I went outside to enjoy my summer and never cared as much as I did anymore
Sheesh 💯 💯 💯 🔥 🔥 🔥 very true… very big downfall ..
I got in late. I remember my 1st episode of was was when HHH returned in his Jean jacket. I made it a point to watch raw and smack down. And even Sunday night heat and begged my parents to order the ppv shows. But around 07 I lost interest. I saw raw on a TV at work last year and it was too pg for me and sort of lame. The wwe today seems like all they care about is Roman reigns. I see aew being the new wwe in the next decade or so
@@konastuff603 strongly agree 💯… WWE just looks sad now
Turning PG might have never been the issue, it's just the writing was weak and cookie cutter, no legendary superstars' void had been filled, they are too corporate, and the way their product had been presented for years was far below average. It did not feel the same anymore. It felt too goofy and slapstick, and all the "lapsed diehard WWE fans turned AEW fans" couldn't take it anymore, and why it vanished from the mainstream media.
So sad.
Turning PG definitely was A issue but it isnt and never was THE issue, i truly think they missed out on Making The Miz a HUUUUUUUUUUGE Heel
@@xgray2012 PG is what caused weak writing
PG may have killed the product but whether you wanna admit it or not it saved the company.
They had to.in the world where feminists and the me too movement have a loud influence , words like "puppies" and topeless women would no longer cut it. Yes
PG definitely played a role but it was more than one thing.
The internet made tonnes of people know too much about wrestling from a backstage perspective. So alot of the main stream audience decide to either stop watching, because they can't believe anymore, or they become wrestling nerds and keep watching and pretend to believe anything.
straight up facts.
For real
Dang, that's starting to happen to me
I mean, you pretend to believe movies when you're into them right? Just long enough for it to be enjoyable? Let people like things.
@@KevinLuper99 Movies were always established as acting. In movies there are no commentators and referees as if its real.
A big part of the issue is the complete disregard for kayfabe. The company breaks it's over 4th wall far too often. You have wrestlers in active feuds being buddy buddy on social media and thanking each other on twitter for putting on a great show. Yes, everyone knows it's a show and it's fake. But, the company constantly reminding people of this breaks the suspension of disbelief and keeps folks from getting emotionally invested in the show. This is even so for the kids who watch to the show. When even the kids know that the two characters are in cahoots, then they have no real reason to worry about their favorite hero. Their hero didn't overcome the big baddy and all the odds to win. They are a performer who was given a reward by the company for their hard. Once everyone became a "smart fan", then there is little reason to get invested in the storylines as you are always on about "what makes story sense".
Social media kind of hurt the WWE in a way. We hear more details and leaks about storyline and outcomes plus like you said these guys are buddy buddy on Social media which makes it feel less authentic. We all knew it was fake but it doesn't feel jarring when you don't actually see the guys being all friendly on social media.
If WWE would ban their wrestlers and employees in general from using social media, you'd see a change in the product almost overnight. I'd love to see that.
This is the main issue
People dont care about "that was an insane feud" and more care about "if you watch these statistics, CoComelon has more subs and views so they are more worth watching than WWE" I'd love even ONE feud that doesn't get screwed by fans because it doesn't make fully sense.
It declined because the attitude era was a flash in the pan. It was able to get a ridiculously large audience of people who wanted boobs, violence and the cool factor. After the AE it went back to being less edgy and stale and only fans of professional wrestling stayed.
Bingo
WWF/WWE was never a wrestlers ng promotional n since Vince Jr. acquired it from had s father. In the words of July m Cornette. "Vince McMahon has single yandedly ruined the wrestling business" and Jim couldn't have been more correct. Jom Cornette went on to say that Vince hates wrestling. Which is obvious and it's a personal thing to shove up Vince Sr's ass "hey dad i ruined your business and made more money than you doing it.
Lol professional wrestling. Lmao nothing pro about it now.
Or viewership declined after Stone Cold and The Rock left? That's always the excuse why those quit viewing.
I'm a fan of pro wrestling and I started to leave until Punk showed up in ECW. I had no idea what straight edge even meant and after learning the meaning of straight edge, I thought "how boring. Sobriety sucks". But they made it work. Phil made it work. The gut is still over like hell.
When you think about it, wrestling really used to hit different when we were all naive little children that didnt know wrestling was fake and predetermined.
"it's not fake" we all went through that denial stage lmao
Trueeeeeee
I see that said a lot but I don't think it's true. Knowing wrestling is a performance as opposed to a legit athletic competition didn't stop all the little Hulkamaniacs from the 80s loving the Attitude Era.
That's when we all really believed Undertaker had superpowers
Being naïve children was part of it I think. That's why I don't fully get the criticisms that WWE are only appealing to kids - our peak enjoyment of wrestling was almost always during our childhoods.
Worked my ass off on this one, drop a like it’ll help more people see it👀
When is the face reveal?
I think what they are doing is they are trying to make them like marvel or dc where you have larger than life characters but i guess they are forgetting characters like spidey and Batman are for lifetime anyone can play them as they are not real but if someone plays stone cold in wwe i will not buy that.Product has become stale and we fans know it leave your opinions in reply
@@danielborgman4308 100K or if this video gets 20K likes
Happy New year
@@SuperkickStudios just liked the video
One of the biggest factors in WWE’s decline was that UFC happened to blow up at the perfect time which would actually be around the same time WWE went PG. People grow up and wrestling never gave many people a reason to stay. PG wasn’t the issue at first cause when you look at the ratings from mid 2008-2011, right before most of the attitude era and ruthless aggression veterans were all starting part time roles or leaving, ratings were still going through the roof. But eventually a lot of us grow out of it and it didn’t help our favorite just weren’t around anymore. Why watch fake wrestling with guys you genuinely don’t care about wrestling in a way that looks more fake by the day to the point it’s kind of embarrassing and looks like a circus when you watch two actually beat the living shit out of each other on Spike. Vince Russo for all his faults had a great philosophy on wrestling: if you want wrestling to be popular among the masses, you gotta give someone who doesn’t care about wrestling in any way a reason to watch.
I stopped watching around 2011 it was lame after that. 🤦🏽♂️and your right we grew up and the storylines fell flat
💯 🔥
yeah i definitely stopped watching WWE when they no longer had bikini contest or bra & panties match for the divas, plus once I first saw UFC, why would I want some scripted fake wrestling? UFC is 1000x better
@@ldope3904 I stopped watching after 2011 it was dead
Amen! I stopped watching WWE back in 2005 because the story lines became old and outdated. Then I started watching Manny Pacquaio and boxing because i love the entertainment more. I started taking UCF seriously in 2007 and was definitely impressed and keep watching all the way to now. Since the fights were all real and not scripted, it gave you excitement in every round unless the fight was boring of course. Back then with WWE, i used to wish for dream matches like HBK vs. The Rock, Hulk Hogan vs. Stone Cold, Kurt Angle vs. Bret Hart, etc., but today I don't even care about those matches anymore since they're are scripted and fake. Rather just watch real fights now and pay for real fights. After that, I actually prefer to watch local wrestling events now because you get better seats for the your tickets. Then you get to meet the wrestlers too so nieces and nephews gets to shake their hands and pose pictures with them. Just a much better experience overall..
Tbh our whole culture became pg. If you put one adult scene on TV, 1000 Karen's would be firing firs against wwe.
this right here deserves all the likes. its completely true.
You're not wrong 💯
Fuck them Karen’s they just don’t need to watch it than because why the hell would they want to shoot at wwe if it’s a adult oriented tv show like damn ok so what pornhub have half naked and nude women doing sexual acts and girls like stratus and Wilson half nude are walking around with their bras and panties on so what’s the deal
These Karen’s must have not heard of pornhub tbh like these social justice warriors,Karen’s,and snowflakes if you don’t like what you see on wwe than don’t watch it simple let people who love seeing this type of stuff instead of boring shit
@@rsaraswat5883 I stg
It wasn t PG that "killed" WWE but the staleness and complicency,for some aspects the pg helped wrestlers too but they Just keep wastin talento and stories justcause they can,they don t Need the audience anymore so Just do what they want
That's sad.
But PG took away creative freedom
@@jumpman2326 surely It wasn t the pg,i Agree u have more limitations but if u r creative u can find ideas anyway,the problem Is vince disregardin creative imputs
@@jumpman2326 Still it didn't matter if it took there freedom PG era gave moments that were nostalgia
@@jordanperdomo73 It does matter because you can’t do any creative stuff when you have a PG rating causing strictly politics
You cannot compare attitude era wrestling to modern day wrestling because we consume our media totally different. Back in 2000 I had to find a VHS, set the recorder, make sure the sky channel was set and on. Now I wake up turn on my phone, click CZcams and watch the raw highlights in 4 minutes, then click on the Network to catch up on the PPV matches.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this. The biggest issue with WWE isn’t that they went to PG, it’s that they started caring about the E instead of the W in WWE (also the $$$). A wrestling storyline or a tv storyline in general doesn’t need to have a TV-14 rating to be well-written and logical. It’s just they don’t feel the need or the passion to.
I think Attitude Era is all the evidence you need to know that the E is more important than the W, sure it wasn't WWE at the time it was WWF but my point is you have to entertain the fans, it was NEVER about wrestling
The wrestling is fine they always have good matches. it’s the characters, booking and storytelling that’s lacking
IT IS IRONIC THAT UNDERTAKER IS IN EVERY ERA!
GOLDEN ERA, ATTITUDE ERA, RUTHLESS AGGRESSION & PG ERA.
Facts!
Dont forget New Generation era
(Even if that era blew)
That's a true legend
Hbk also my friend
Taker is the foundation on which WWE was based for so many years. After his retirement, the ratings retired from WWE as well.
In terms of money, the last few years have been the most profitable for the WWE. However, the quality since the PG era has pretty much collapsed. So while they have over 1 billion fans in social media and are more over the place than they have ever been, generally most of the fans don't care much about the product as they used to. I grew up with the ruthless aggression era, those guys like Eddie, Angle, Mysterio, Cena, Batista and Taker were inspirational to me, while nowadays you cannot see someone who can inspire in the WWE. At least that's how i feel.
But at the same time it got stale by 2014 because of WWE perspective
i agree w u 1000%
yep they actually have more fans then ever before and make more money then ever before. But fans really dont care as much as they used to and it is 100% WWE's own fault.
@@lexkanyima2195 a lot of good things went stale in 2014
@@DmonDhaBoss after Summerslam 2014
When John Cena came in and was forced down everyone's throats regardless of everyone booing him, that was the start of the wrestling dystopia. When the show is no longer about what the people like and don't like.. it's now about what corporate wants us to like. Attitude Era was the literal pinnacle, the top of the mountain cause the show was completely for the people.
Wrestling was starting to decline in ratings before the ae even ended in 2001…even when cena was just in the midcard and Eddie and Kurt and Brock was the top guys. Cena had the kids and families behind him
True. But Cena won my respect after ECW One Night Stand. Never seen a man booed so much and be able to perform like he did.
Actually, original Cena was hilarious. Look up his rap battle with big show. Once his gangster persona ended was when he became lame.
@@LuchadorEMC Cena was absolutely forced down people's throats but I think that makes people forget that he's actually a really good all-around performer. A lot of times I'd find myself thinking "Oh great. More Cena." but as I was watching I'd find myself enjoying it. One of the most perfect illustrations of that I saw was him coming out to cut a promo during one of the post-Wrestlemania crowds that seem like they'd be hostile to him, and they were at first. But after a couple of minutes he had completely turned them. It was actually impressive and showed how good he really is.
The guy that was really forced down everyone's throat and pissed people off was Roman Reigns.
@@BiggieTrismegistus no people left when Cena was on top
A lot of it had to do with the collapse of WCW and how it made the WWF stale (no competition means no motivation to get better). Not enough good talent was being groomed to take over as the Attitude stars were slowing down, and were being pushed on TV way before they were ready (that can be attributed to the true end of the territories where guys learned how to work before going big time). And it didn't help that Vince (and especially Stephanie) hired Hollywood writers to book the shows instead of former wrestlers or writers who happened to be wrestling fans.
Oh man, I remember all of these events so fondly. They definitely changed everything and it was very hard to get used to. While there were some awesome events and moments during the initial PG years (2008-2013), it wasn’t the same as the awesome, unpredictable, and memorable stuff shown in the TV-14 era. Characters, booking, show names, presentation and all of that, was much better back then, it’s a shame we can’t get it back. At least there’s AEW for some of us who stopped watching WWE for a while now, and while it has its issues, yes, at least, it truly is great stuff for us who missed TV-14. Happy New Year, homie, I can’t wait to see what you have for us this year.
Awesome pic bro!!
I still remember being afraid for Shawn Michaels after The Elimination Chamber sledgehammer incident.
@Why The Hell Was I In Star Trek 6? you really love him
2008-2013? Nah man it’s still pg. 2008-2022.
The attitude era was absolute chaos and could never ever be replicated. I stopped watching in roughly 2003 ISH I think, I simply grew out of it to be honest. Still enjoy nostalgic videos on wrestling though even though the modern product doesn't interest me in the slightest.
Same. Exactly the same sentiment
Man you missed out on the ruthless aggression era
We just grew up, and some of our wrestlers prolly left or retired which made us detach from wrestling. For me it was the new faces that made me stop watching the wwe
The company was never the same after Stone Cold and The Rock left. The PG era. The same predictable storylines again and again. Killing the Undertaker’s streak and made his retirement look awful. I could go on and on….
Indeed! I agree with you. To me, the day WWE truly went down was the day the streak died.
You don't need to be edgy to produce a great product, WWE are just lazy
spit facts
Well Aew are lazy also
@@SuperkickStudios I don't think so but ok
@@jordanperdomo73 Bruh, no
@@galaxystar9847 Bruh, yes
It's not about turning PG, it's about the booking, WWE doesn't care about the storylines as much as they used to, but when they do care they can put on a product that you can compare with the attitude era, look at Undertaker's feud with Shaun & Triple H, Daniel Bryan's feud with the authority, all of Edge's feuds after his return, Roman Reigns' title reign, Kofimania, i could go on and on, sure all of these storylines didn't have a lot of blood and all the things that you'd see in the attitude era but these feuds told amazing stories and built characters that we can get behind.
and remember early attitude era was pg lol
PG is that caused crappy booking tho
@@jumpman2326 no no it’s not
Don't forget that cm punk's pipe bomb helped WWE prepelld again at that time
I agree and PG didn't have anything to do with Super Cena going over on The Nexus. Such a bad call for Cena to go over and they way he went over as well was just overkill.
The main problems with WWE, is the constant Reminder inside the Program that wrestling is fake, everything from hearing the terms sports entertainer/entertainment can be a turn off for wrestling fans as it makes wwe less believable. WWE has no respect for the ARTFORM of Professional Wrestling, as it feels the need to constantly remind viewers that pro wrestling is fake. WWE constantly puts the Championship on the same 4 wrestlers, and when they do decide to push any new talent they over do it, the scripts are all the same now "I want a wwe title shot" "Gets title shot" "loses or wins" rinse and repeat. Storylines feel the same, characters feel forced onto fans. I find it hard to like/hate Roman Reigns when his matches are predictable, he gets beat up bad then somehow even though he should be gassed and tired he pulls off his finisher a superman punch that often does not look like it connects because wwe wants to keep changing camera angles. There are too many commentators on commentary, so any play by play commentary is drowned out by the color commentator's worship of the heel, now when I watch wrestling I want to hear about the action inside the ring not anything else I want play by play calling and maybe a line of concern or enthusiasm. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are a perfect example of a great commentary team. AEW has more than two commentators but they got the formula right They have Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone on play by play, and Taz as Color commentator , Schiavone tends to act as as a jack of all trades on commentary and a Interviewer. Big commentary teams can work you just cant drown out the play by play commentary. WWE biggest problem is too many rematches, you loose the title oh you are guaranteed an instant rematch even with the rematch clause being gone, then you see the same match for three or four weeks before a pay per view just to watch the same match again at the pay per view. WWE also has no clear ranking system so championship bouts are basically open challenges, in the wwe all you have to say is you want a championship match and you got it unless the champ says no. So in conclussion WWE is in decline because it is overly reliant on the same 4 wrestlers, championship bouts do not feel special, major titles are usually only dropped at major ppv's, #1 contender matches make no sense as nothing says why it is these two or four people fighting over the title shot, Title Reigns are drawn out way to long, and most importantly no mater if someone is truly over with the fans if they are not over with Vince they do not see the light of day. Sorry for rambling there is so much wrong with WWE.... might be time for a rebrand when ownership changes
To sum it up.
WWE wants to be a theatre-act about a sport, but their sport seems more fake than their supernatural-performers.
Title shots make no sense and seem to be given out to anyone. The authority seems to not actual have power unless it does, most wrestlers barely seem interested in any titles around 300 days of the year and titles don't even seem to mean anything.
Best example at the moment is everything around Seth Rollins.
Seth loses is feud against Edge -> swaps brands -> immediately is in a #1 contender match -> gets title shot -> loser from the contender match is added to the match -> person who has not been invovled until then gets added hours before match -> Seth loses match -> Seth is now #1 for the title of a brand he is not part off.
How does that makes sense in any sense? How does that resemble a sport?
Brock Lesnar is also fun.
Romans GiVES him a title shot, fair enough -> Brock loses title match -> gets suspended -> pays 1 mil dollar -> gets anotehr title shot.
So you can just BUY title matches now?
Of course stuff like The Rock and John Cena walking in to just set themself up for title matches on specific events like they own the company also is just garbage.
Vince ruined the business by turning the business into a monopoly, and then going corporate and bringing on a board of directors. As soon as he did that and also had to change the name it was downhill. They limited what the wrestlers could do and was just overall a horrible idea. After the ruthless era ended so did wwf and wrestling in general. Also they didn't go pg because of Benoit. They did it because of Linda and them going corporate. 🙄
From a financial standpoint PG Era worked wonders for The WWE.
WWE good as dead
Bloodmoney does wonders for The WWE
Saudi money is doing that
No it didn't these loss about half there audience last decade and getting revenue elsewhere
Chris Benoit was the reason they turned PG. So many Karens especially had it out for WWE and tried cancelling them.
cancelling wasn’t even a thing back then
@@kai.417 NAw i remember they almost went out of business because of Benoit
@@kai.417 yes it was, Foxy.
@@Kevooo lmfao they didn’t almost go out of business, because if that was the case that would’ve been a widely known thing
@@ThaTruth223 that May be the case but i do remember they were some talks about around that time. The benoit situation really brought the wwe down bad
Like you mentioned in the video, SmackDown was PG for years and still had more entertainment than the current WWE product. I often find myself wanting to watch WWE again, but once I start watching the promos, I want to throw up at how terrible they are. Modern day WWE wrestlers aren’t as good on the microphone as the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression Era wrestlers were.
AEW is basically a rebirth of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era with a hint of the Attitude Era. That’s why fans are turning away from WWE and watching AEW.
I wouldn’t be surprised if AEW became the number one pro wrestling company in the world within the next 15-20 years. What they’re producing now is clearly what wrestling fans want to see.
WWE has Brock Lesnar, Edge, and occasionally John Cena and The Rock, which brings their ratings up higher, but it’s hard to be a fan of the full time stars when the promos they cut are as bad as Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Roman Reigns has gotten better at being on the mic, but it seems like the best WWE stars retire once they’re in their mid-40s. Sometimes sooner due to injury.
I doubt we will ever see another TV-14 run in the WWE, especially since they’re currently doing well financially, but one can dream.
Aew isn't comparable to attitude or RA.
It's just the Indy wrestlers who don't even look intimidating enough.
All they do is flip flop.
It's not going to take 15-20 years, they've already beaten NXT head to head and main roster shows in the most important demos. I think they'll beat Raw in total viewership this year. WWE has become unwatchable incompetence
@@jansmitowiczauthor78 fact
@@rightlibertarian8355 AEW is TNA with a bigger budget that’s all
@@rightlibertarian8355
"All they do is flip flop."
*laughs in MJF, Eddie Kingston, etc.*
My relationship with wrestling for each decade I been alive:
80s- the ending of the UK world of sport era.
90s- the WWF/WCW ratings wars. Must see tv.
00s- WCW buy-out, WWF name change and the start of the decline. Occasionally dipped in and out of watching wrestling.
10s- decline is well entrenched and November 2019 is the last episode of Raw that I see live. Occasionally subscribe to WWE Network.
20s- practically done with wrestling altogether. Just listen to a couple of weekly podcasts and review shows on CZcams. Will dig out a tape from my VHS/DVD collection to watch for old times sake.
How did you carry on watching until 2019 Lol. There was hardly a decline in the early 2000’s, it was still great. So if you weren’t enjoying it as much during that time then i’m shocked that you carried on watching beyond 2010 when it really started to fall off
2019 is possibly the worst year for WWE
@@Shockkings0714 there was still some good things even i nthe early 10s, but yeah it was just not the same. When I was a kid I rarely got to watch it since it was shown very late in my country when I was a teenager and had a computer I watched religiously Raw and Smackdown every Tuesday and Saturday (as that is when they were aired where I was). I watched a bit when I was 6-8 around the end of the 90s and then again when I was about 15 at 2005 and that was around the time Randy Orton vs the Undertaker feud was going on. I came back to wrestling right as their casket match was about to happen at no mercy. For me it was still pretty solid TV and I really liked it.
The UFC is also a major factor into it especially now a days when it started hitting the wider mainstream with fighters like Conor Mcgregor and Ronda Rousey who brought it to the next level since it’s pro wrestling but if it was real.
If MMA ever adapts the promos and storytelling of wrestling, its a wrap. Wrestling will have nothing left to compete.
Ufc is boring y'all .
@@baikeiast5255 not for people who prefer real fighting with non predetermined winners
@@summonerbraddysg51 there should be atleast some stories and drama leading up to the fight
@@baikeiast5255 that's true. I guess that's why I am not attracted to MMA although I love seeing different combat styles (boxing and muay thai are my favorite). The trash talking is pretty fun to read though
People seem to forget that WWF was PG before 1998. The attitude era was a phase, a product of its time. It may have been when viewership was at an all time high, but it wasn't the company's wheelhouse necessarily. They were dragged kicking and screaming into an edgier product after the success of WCW and other edgy late 90s shows like Jerry Springer and South Park. It wasn't just Linda's failed senate run and the Benoit murder suicides that turned WWE PG, Vince wanted to go back to selling toys to kids because that's what he always wanted to do - he wants to be Walt Disney.
It was a gradual thing.
1. The end of the Monday night wars was the first nail. The only reason why the attitude era existed was to beat WCW.
2. The squandering of talent after the WWF/ WCW merger.
3. The changing media landscape. The attitude era was birthed in the '90s. That was the era of tv that brought you Trash tv like Jerry Springer, Beavis, and Butthead, Family Guy, etc. When positioned next to stuff like that, The Attitude era doesn't seem all that out of place. but you fast forward only a few years later and the whole media environment had changed.
4. People forget that the WWF was PG for most of its history prior to the Attitude era. WWF was essentially forced to go edgy to survive against WCW. The Benoit incident was the final nail in the coffin, that essentially gave them the opportunity to go back to being a PG program.
Basically it lost its “coolness”… the storyline was amazing back in the 90s early 2000s.. it will never get back to that
The production in this video is unbelievable. January 1st and this guy already released one of the videos of the year🔥
The Benoit and Eddie incident, imo, were the most monumental in all of WWE and wrestling
I remember when my cousin used to come over every Friday night to watch SmackDown together. And even though I don't watch wrestling anymore, it will always have a place in my heart for playing a big role in my childhood.
Me to
Really loved the video! Grew up with a family that loved wrestling, so I'd hear the older people talk about the 70s/80s of wrestling, and watch the 90s - early 2000s. I think you really hit the nail on the head with the entire video. In my opinion WWE simply doesn't need to produce good content because of the times we're in, and the fact they're worth 1 Billion dollars with deep ties to the Saudis and TV networks. WWE will always be around the same way the NBA and NFL will be around. I really do miss the old content, and while I still tune in I can acknowledge they have their moments, and at the very least kids viewership, which are worth exponentially more money than the 17-21 demographic that purists argue over. Their roster is INCREDIBLE just like the older generations but like you said, saturated, cookie cutterish, very corporate. The last live event I went to you can literally see camera men/producers DOING EVERYTHING for them, like literally when Orton walks to the ring he has a cameraman timing him step by step. The wreslters no longer get a say in their characters, and it sucks. That's what a billion dollars does to ya though I guess!
Oh trust me , some wrestlers have a say - just it’s only their favorites.
@@TinasLastFriday Yes and no
Sum wrestler that make massive $$$ for the company like cena and rock have say in thier characters cuz they have massive audiences to apeal to, however if vince feels there ideas aren't good he will simply just denie them that ex cena and his heel turn
Wwe biggest problem is that the last mega star they created was cena and now he is a part timer that appears 1-3 times a year to fill seets in sum paper views
Tbh Roman has all the building and resources to be a mega star but he just can't get on that lvl
He isn't iconic there isn't anything special about him
Currently the closest thing to him is seth wich is worse off than him
He has less puches less build but stil gets over with fans more or less the same as Roman
But as i said there isn't anything special about them
Lesnar is getting washed out
Goldberg and taker are not enjoyable to watch anymore
HHH and Shawn Michaels are corporate heads now...
And every good character they build up ( fin balor , braun, fiend and keeth lee) they mess up
@@stfu5013 if Cena return with this theme song czcams.com/video/MZtH3dgwGUs/video.html and a chinese gimmick itll create so much buzz and wud save the wwe cuz alot will turn upto watch again even the non wrestling fans cuz its one of the most popular memes out there
@@stfu5013 IF WWE DOES NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKE THEN I GENUINELY BELIEVE THAT THEY CAN TURN ROMAN INTO A MEGA-STAR. I FEEL HE HAS WHAT IT TAKES.
@@moneymaker4028 To every kid rn cena and rock are stil stars today
The only problem with Roman is he is boring
Cena got boring 2 but how long did he last before getting hate
The answer is years longer then Roman
I hope wwe gets there shit together and makes great stars and moments once again
The awful booking killed WWE
PG era was pretty solid between 2008-2013. The rivalry between Cena and Orton, Punk's legendary WWE title reign, the rise of Daniel Bryan and the formation of The Shield. Sure it wasn't the ruthless aggression era but it had some moments. After Wrestlemania 31 that's when WWE really decline. Nonsensical bookings, wasting talents, horrible repackaging and poor writing. WWE had no choice to tone down the suggestive themes and language after the Benoit incident and the death of Eddie Gerrero two years prior. With AEW having suggestive themes and language and giving wrestlers creative freedom to build their characters and unscripted promos. WWE could possibly bring back the ruthless aggression era if they improve on the writing, booking and repackage wrestlers correctly.
Pg era was bad. That's when the product was getting really stale and it was the John Cena ,Randy Orton ,and triple h show. Just because it had a few good moments doesn't make it good at all. It doesn't sniff the attitude era or even ruthless agression
@@thesegafan4472 Batista Edge and Jeff Hardy were just as relevant as those guys in 2008-9. Wrestling got stale because everything was already done before
Although tbh 2016 was a great year for WWE
@@KnucklesWTD Plus, finishers aren't as protected anymore and fewer and fewer people understand the art of selling.
Lack of storylines has been the major issue. Matches between some of the biggest names. Cena vs Roman, Brock vs Orton, Brock vs Bobby, Cody vs Rollins they all came without proper storylines. Bloodline has been a tremendous success because of its storylines but even for that one storyline WWE buried the rest of the roster. These things were perfectly managed during the Attitude Era.
Changing the world Wrestling Federation name helped kill the company faster. Vince got punked by a panda and forced their name change. gotta say wwe does sound weak and Vince could of paid the panda off for the name. The ruthless aggression Era was killed after 2008 and that was a big tragedy
Pro wrestling is still formatted for a cable television audience. That's a dying medium.
It's crazy that if Benoit incident didn't happen we would have a completely different wrestling world(maybe cancel culture would have turned it PG either way)
it wouldve been a very niche product & wouldn't have had as much media opportunities.
Cancel culture didn’t exist back in 08 & 09…when wwe turned it PG….
Also when the Benoit incident happen the people when got mad the most were boomers & conservatives who thought wwe was causing school fights, gangs, and other bs. Just like what they did to gta San Andreas when it released
@Loveme Hateme but it has a influence.
@@nateclipps "Canceling" has always been a thing, just without a title. Sinead O' Conner was "cancelled" for ripping up a picture of the Pope on SNL in the early 90s. The Dixie Chicks were "cancelled" for sharing their feelings about George Bush in 2003. Ppl being outraged about media or ppl's opinions have always existed, it just hasn't always been something like social media to instigate it further. Rap Music, Heavy Metal, Janet Jackson all survived attempted cancellings.
I personally never saw WWE not PG as I just started watching in 2016 but I think I know enough to say yes WWE PG is so terrible
This is hard pill to swallow for younger wrestling fans, but the decline began in 2001, when WCW and ECW went out of business.
We can talk about how great the Ruthless Aggression Era was, and how zoomers love the early PG Era, but the Attitude Era was the company's peak. Prior to March 2001, the WWF was *_the_* hottest thing going on. Everything that came after was part of a slow domino effect that led us to where WWE is today. The Benoit tragedy accelerated the decline, and the change to PG even further accelerated it.
And with almost all of the big wrestling stars of our childhood gone, it's hard to invest in the product.
I don't think we'll ever see another wrestling boom period again, let alone another WWE boom. Even with the rise of AEW.
Younger fans admit that not really a tough pill to swallow lol. Older fans that just hate on everything after 2001 are the worst
The problem is that if a kid at 12 watches wwe and its pg13 the same kid won´t be entertained by the same product when he is 18.
@@moneymaker4028 I left when I found out that The Undertaker was just a gimmick :(
@@moneymaker4028 that’s what happened to kids in the ruthless aggression era also I’m sure most of them don’t even watch TV anymore
For me, what "killed" WWE is the death of Chris Benoit and the booking of the superstars whatever the year is.
Great video as usual, SuperkickStudios. 👏👏👏
Whenever the year is ?
I don't think that was it they were already going into the direction of Cena being a hulk hogan. As guy said in the video edge and. Orton was his generation both weren't really draws, hbk undertaker hhh plus Cena being big is what got those guys over. Think wwe failed with not putting more guys over during that time.
I think wwe went from being must see to oh ok after 07 before pg.
@@JohnSmith-gk7cw why ?
@@lexkanyima2195 They were already going into John Cena being hogan. The new dx was more tamed because of hbk was born again Christian and didnt want do certain things. Don't think Benoit situation changed the plans to much. Only thing it made sport more clean.
The basic premise of WWE which was two people beating up each other obviously did not match the PG rating. However, I agree with the other comments that the creative writing is the biggest to blame. Also, the focus on pushing Roman Reigns from 2015-2018 really stunted their growth too.
I stopped watching after Roman Reigns won the title off Triple H at Wrestlemania 32. The fans had been rejecting Roman for over a year at that point but they kept pushing him. What's the point in watching if you're just going to end up annoyed?
I don’t think PG was the down fall of WWE, I grew up during the pg era and we had stars like cm punk Jeff hardy undertaker edge Shawn Michaels triple h they had so many stars but when these stars get older and start to retire WWE has failed to make stars to replace them, hence the down fall nobody is as interested
Yeah I did too. The thing is every star except cm punk was in their prime in the 90’s and 2000’s
I feel it as a combination of things. It starts with going public, then it starts by focusing monetization on the TV rights and ad revenue. Doing this meant the product had to be significantly more controlled so they don't jeopardize those 2 revenue streams. As a result, you have people that don't sound, look or act real. Everything seems fake. They don't talk or act how real people would in similar circumstances. If you don't have people you believe in and care about, it's only a matter of time.
I dont think PG killed WWE, I think it was their ignorance to the talent and they have basically wasted every opportunity, examples are Keith Lee, Braun Strowman, Adam Cole and many other that could have been Main Eventer’s and maybe even multi time world champions.
Adam Cole left
I didn't really care for Strowman and Keith Lee. I mean I understand getting good talent, but no wrestler these days will bring up ratings
@@jordannewsom3606 i can apply what you said to strowman but in my opinion i think if pulled the trigger on Keith lee the right way they could have made Keith lee a main eventer
@@noorthebuilder Lol they were going to until he got injured. In my opinion he gained too much weight which cost him in the ring.
@@jordannewsom3606 WHAT?! COLE IS GONE?!
In my honest opinion, I don't think PG affected WWE, it was bad writing due to the obstacle. By the amount people stress on the fact that a wrestling show to be TV-14, you might expect women running nude 24 hours on a non-PG show.
PG is what caused bad writing
After the attitude era how could you top that that's why it's like this know there is no shock value it's all be done..
@@jumpman2326 NXT is PG but it did pretty good
Pg didn't kill the company many great and legendary feuds/matches came from the Pg era it's the fact Wwe doesn't respect half of their talent and only care for a good 6 of them at a time and one moment a superstar can be pushed to the moon the next completely off TV
WWE spent too much time on guys like rock and Austin and did not build for a day when these guys move on WWE just stopped caring about the product when they became the only player they deserve everything they get now for abandoning the fan
Berore 1985: Ughh... Bruno Sammartino has been the champion for far too long! He's gonna be the death of the WWWF!
1985: Ugh... Hulk Hogan is making a mockery of pro wrestling by turning it into a circus show! He's gonna be the end of the WWF!
1995: WWF is getting stale! I'm sure this WCW will run WWF out of town!
1996: Stone Cold Steve Austin is so trashy! WWF will go down the tubes for sure!
2002: John Cena blows! He's gonna kill the WWE!
2011: Super Cena is getting boring! The WWE is losing viewers!
2015: Roman Reigns sucks! The WWE is gonna go out of business any day now! I swear!
2019: AEW? Look at that! A new wrestling promotion! They're gonna wipe the floor with WWE's existence!
WWE in 2022: "I can do this all day!"
PG Wasnt bad in 2008-2014
Everything after Mania 31 has sucked on the main roster
30*
I disagree, there have been pretty good years since 2014, and come on, 2011 was one of the worst WWE years ever.
@@nano8453 no sir that would go to 2016 and up
Benoit death really killed WWE on a whole new level
i was young when it happened but what he done was disgraceful asf
Wrestling was never the same after that. If he was still alive or just died from drug overdose himself then wwe would still be decent.
@@60wwediva eddie passing away fucked up his head differently, he clearly wasn’t the same after that happened.
It was already declining, in terms of the actual quality of the entertainment, by the time that the Benoit incident happened. I've tried to give WWE another chance a few times in the past 15 years but It's just unwatchable compared to the late 90's and early 2000's: everything is just so bland.
Benoit death has nothing to do with the absolute garbage creatively wwe has. People just get sick of the same shit every week with matches and storylines that make no sense at all.
5 years ago people were of Roman reigns being pushed down their throats. Five years later, same stuff. It’s so predictable that they have the USO’s in there every week getting their assets handed to them.
Nothing against Brock, but he’s one of their centerpieces and he’s been in and out for like 22 years.
They have no direction at all.
In 99, and 2000 I didn't miss a second of WWF. By the end of 2001 I was a part time viewer, and by the end of 2002 I had stopped watching all together.
The product dropped off fast. Some people just stuck it out longer than others.
2003 was such a great time to be a wrestling fan. You missed out Sir
I agree. I had the same exact timeline. Except in 2004-2006 I would watch it on again, off again. Before not watching anymore. So I gave it one last chance and saw the decline. It got corny and redundant. Less violent and mature.
The Bloodline storyline is proof that the PG rating isn't the issue. The real issue is the poor, lazy writing and the lack of quality control or planning by management. People used to tune into WWE for characters and storylines, and WWE has slowly watered down the product in favor of flashy spectacle that lacks substance.
WWE is where it’s at now because of the lack of stars on their roster, listening to smarks on Twitter, pushing workrate over characters and entertainment and pandering to pc culture. I’ve always said this…wrestling truly died in 2014. 2008-2013 (especially the early years of the PG era) were the last good years of WWE…were they getting Attitude Era type numbers?…no but were they getting respectable numbers?…yes. By 2014-2015…Triple H decided to remix NXT basically making it ROH with a bigger budget with uncharismatic undersized Indy darlings flooding the company, more emphasis was put on wrestling and not characters and drama filled storylines, WWE started catering to the hardcore audience (smarks) and WWE started their women’s revolution sjw bs. So no…PG didn’t ruin WWE because from 08’ to ‘13…WWE was watchable…why?…because they still had stars on their roster. The problem is WWE doesn’t have no stars, they listen to the wrong type of fans and their scared of what Twitter cancel culture is gonna say about them
you're not wrong, I just disagree with your timeline. Wrestling used to be gritty and have some balls to it. It hasn't felt that way consistently since 2006ish. Anything from 2008 on feels very sterile. modern wrestlers don't work crowds the way the previous generation of guys knew how to. Even today, all the best guys at cutting promos are from that generation (Heyman, Jericho, Cena, Edge, Orton) etc.. I like MJF but he has yet to show he can be a babyface. The great ones can do it all. As far as promos go, Enzo Amore is the last guy they had who could cut a top level promo. CM Punk is a great promo as well but I think the way he has booked himself is foolish. He's overrated and not as big of a star as he thinks he is but he is good on the mic
@@waynetables6414 I mean yeah the vulgar language, bra and panties matches and stuff of that nature went away but that doesn’t change the fact that WWE was getting 4 to 5 million viewers weekly with 6 on occasion. Why?…cause the stories were still good and the biggest one of all…they had stars on the roster…Triple H, Cena, Taker, Jeff, Batista, Edge, Randy, Kane etc. Especially Rock and Cena’s year long feud going into WrestleMania 28. Every WM from 23 to 29 did 800k to 1 million buys. And of course they don’t know how to work crowds…WWE’s roster is filled with workrate jobbers…AEW as well…which is a shame cause they could’ve brought the competition back to wrestling but they decided to be like WWE and go the smark route. MJF shouldn’t be nothing but a heel…there’s some guys that’s just naturally a certain role and he’s a natural heel. And I like how you brought up Enzo…WWE needs to bring back Enzo & Cass…dudes were a breath of fresh air for the tag division and just WWE as a whole😂. And as far as Punk…I like Punk…I just don’t overrate his ass like a god like his fans do. To wrap this up…if I had to pick a era of wrestling to watch…I’d pick the Attitude Era but 2008-2013 was good shit
@@DADON99 It is a subjective thing to rank eras. I stopped watching somewhere between Eddie Guerrero dying and the Benoit murders. 2008-2013 Had some good feuds from what I can see but to me from the outside looking in, it felt like the show had completely stagnated to the point that the guys from the attitude/post-attitude era were still having great feuds and matches, but the show as a whole was not cohesive. Much in the same way Edge can have a good feud with Miz today; it's isolated in its own bubble and most everything around it sucks. If you watch Raws from the 90's, 2000, even as late as 2003/2005, there is a narrative thread to the show and the roster is interconnected. Top guys interacted with lower tier guys back then and it served everyone well. The locker room dynamic where whatever is happening backstage determines the matches that end up in the ring was lost at some point. Everything now is segregated. They tried to give cruiserweights their own show called 205 live. It wasn't just about bra and panties matches and swear words and the TV 14 rating that made the show good back then, it was the feeling that anything could happen, including all those things. The idea that you can have a Hell in a Cell match with no blood is absurd. Heels used to be able to leave people in a pool of blood and make it look extremely legit. Now, I feel sympathy for modern heels because every beatdown looks the same and everything looks too safe and choreographed. The matches look like gymnastics with high spots that mean nothing because no one is invested in the characters. The only thing that made the era you're talking about good is the presence of guys from previous eras. Just my rambling opinion.
WWF/E built their audience around hardcore wrestling fans looking to be entertained in TV-14 fashion. Teenagers and young adults were the target and main source of income. What happened is simple. WWE shifted their target towards a younger audience and kids looking up to their favorite top stars became their main source of income, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It just became a more kid friendly show, and the "hardcore" fans looking for blood and action slowly stopped watching, which then resulted in their ratings going from 6 Million weekly viewers to an average of 2 Million. The mainstream appeal gradually lost its touch, but people who are there for the entertainment such as myself, still know how to enjoy the product.
It was the edgy product to be exciting and you can't keep that pace forever.
Wwe is going to die they gonna need blood edgy shit soon if they wanna keep going
@@Acedegenerate07 how ?
This is the most accurate reason in this whole comment section 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
@@Acedegenerate07 shut up
After The Rock and Austin nothing was the same. Superman Cena was forced to be the face and Roman ultra forced LMAO.
Let’s face it wrestling isn’t cool anymore
No one/nothing is to blame
No it is cool but the content is shit
I grew up in the 90s
When we had 3 real Wrestling companies it’s was crazy, the Monday night wars was a wild time
After wwe went pg, fans stop watching wwe, and watching the Indy wrestling scene and the mma
Poker blew up in 2003 and the UFC exploded in 2006. Follow the demographic trends and ratings.
It's 2022 let's be real social media killed WWE nothing is kept secret anymore.And the internet just keeps exposing more & more.The real fun & excitement is gone just upfront spoilers now.
This is one of the most in depth and complete videos about WWE out there. I will always defend the decision of WWE going PG cause yeah since 08 the company has done a shit ton of money. I just want the product to have better quality that's it. Happy New Year Fam
Well they can’t since its PG they can’t expand
@@moneymaker4028 it was hella good and more entertaining
Honestly, it was the Eddie and Benoit situation and when they bought out their competition. The Benoit situation was horrible press at a time when WWE was popular amongst many age groups.
When they bought their competitors, they had to many wrestlers and not knowing how to book.
The brand split was also bad. Yes opportunity for other wrestlers but what made the attitude era so great was that the titans of the business would should up every show. With the brand split, I believe they couldn’t build talent because there just wasn’t many good stars. My opinion. Triple H, stone cold, the rock, Jericho could carry the entire show. There is probably more but those were the best in ring and mic skills during that time.
Now they can’t build a character right and if they have a “star” they need a manager to push them. Story lines are not great, and the last true star they had was John Cena. Yes, Brock is the dude in the company but he was part time. He got his fame through WWE and UFC. And Roman Reigns is just not marketable outside a few things.
There multiple reason why but these are just some. Sorry for the ramble
ur right about everything other than reigns. he does have a lot of marketability and has been on talk shows like the tonight show twice and has been other shows on youtube like sneaker shopping with complex
WWF was kid friendly in the early 90s and we look back on that with nostalgia. It’s more about how bland and boring it is in general now, and how the culture has changed in a direction where it just doesn’t work any more.
The internet is killing wrestling. Fans are too focused on what’s happening back stage and finding out who the company is going to push. Or looking up the results of pre taped shows instead of watching the actual show. The internet is changing the world and making everyone sensitive
You really don't have too look up anything to figure most things out.
Stuff like the Universal title match at Bloodmoney was so obvious and predictable because of very lazy and formulaic booking.
The problem with PG is that it was a total let down from the things that made WWE ultra famous in the first place. The bar was raised so high that toning down the edginess meant abandoning most of the things from the heyday. This eventually caused frustration in fans who stopped watching the product and who never came back again.
Let's face facts Wrestling is better when it's edgy! It has consequences no doubt but the outlaw lifestyle will always draw more loyalty even if the mainstream may draw more money...so to me PG KIILED WWE!
Wwe was pg in the 80s and was a lot more entertaining than today
@Ok Gix Official - Exactly. That along with them becoming a public traded company in 1999, buying WCW, plus the lousy "McMahon-Helmsley" era in the early 2000s is what ultimately led to the slow agonizing downfall of WWF/E if you ask me.
@@keshawn888 I totally agree!
Everything was already done, it wouldn’t have mattered honestly. Wrestling was like jerry springer nu metal or tony hawk games just lost interest after it’s era people started watching mma online gaming and doing other newer things
@@ikgixofficial1985 Thank you!
WWE hasn't declined it's just evolved you have to remember in the '90s early 2000s. The only competition they really had was Monday night football and WCW.
Now it's streaming CZcams tik Tok Facebook Monday night football Netflix Hulu Disney class Pluto and plus not everyone watches television anymore
It Declined By Far. Since This INDY Era, Years After Social Media Began, Ratings Dropped Faster In Period Of Time. In The Early/Mid 2010's, Not As Many People Watched Wrestling On The Streaming Services. Also Attendances Are Low. Noone Can Blame Social Media.
The biggest problem with CZcams is the shadowban filters that never specifies what needs to be changed! I'm so sick and tired of wasting HOURS of my life trying to figure out why my messages won't show up! Sometimes it's the word Iike. Othertimes it's the word you. Etc.
This site has gone downhill since Google took over!
2001 is the beginning of the down fall. because without the competition from WCW WWE started doing the minimum. by 2007 PG era had to come into effect for obvious reasons
I'll tell you. I wasn't alive when Eddie and Benoit tragically passed away, but I know that if they didn't pass, I bet the PG Era never would've happened. Eddie was Benoit's best friend. He was what kept Benoit from finally breaking, and once he was gone, nobody had Benoit glued together like Eddie. Then thats when Benoit snapped and sadly that murder suicide happened. After he died they found CTE etc. In my opinion, if these events never happened, the Ruthless Aggression era would continue, but thats my personal opinion. I wish I was alive to see both of these men do what they were born to do. Rest in peace guys.
Another thing was drugs. Thats how Eddie died, no doubt about it. If Vince actually payed any attention to this then we also never would've gotten the PG Era.
@@bigboy1700 They would have gone PG sooner
I was a kid when both of them passed away, and it definitely left a stain in WWE. Eddie's death was something kids my age mourned over in 2005.
@@jordannewsom3606 i doubt it. besides linda doing the mayor shit, i bet they would’ve continued not being pg.
The pg era was from 2008 to 2014, 2014 to 2020 was the smark era.
Going PG didn't kill WWE. The writing and booking killed it.
I honestly think the falling numbers are it's true numbers. I believe the only reason it got such high numbers in the attitude era was because it was a fad, people are quick to jump on to the popularity bandwagon and fall out of it just as quickly.
That’s exactly what it is not all these nonsense excuses
WWE can become popular again and reach the heights of the attitude era. They just need to simply create must see stars, great and shocking story lines and etc. Anything is possible.
Might see that with the new nxt
@@allstar2260 lol! Nxt sucks.
@@hornetsting7646have u see the new crop of talent they have on there
What’s up man! I’m 15, and I just want to tell you that you’re the person that got me back into wrestling. I started watching back when in December 2014 on a Raw episode that my brother was watching in December, and Daniel Bryan was like my childhood hero. However, I stopped watching in 2017, because I got bored with it. Recently, I got back into watching wrestling videos on CZcams just this year. With your videos, and CM Punk’s return coming at just the right time, I’m an official AEW fan. So, I just wanted to say thank you for getting back into wrestling with your amazing vids.
that means a ton to me. thank you and welcome back to wrestling!
I feel sad for you. You missed the attitude era and ruthless agression
@@thesegafan4472 What was the point of that comment? Let him enjoy wrestling. Stick to your vhs tapes.
I think the inclusion of political correctness/cancel culture in the analysis was pointless because it's something all wrestling feds are prone to equally, so trying to make it out as a symptom of WWE's failures is a red herring at best. Plenty of wrestling feds are surviving and even thriving these days in this new cultural awareness, WWE can't create compelling characters and stories for a multitude of other reasons.
Yeah that was a jarring take that was kind of non sequitur. It's not about being PC per se, it's simply about not alienating advertisers.
Well not really, WWE can not afford itself to do Ruthless Aggression era's segments and storyline for example (not Attitude era, but even just Ruthless one), otherwise they will lose sponsors and they will be subjected by a process of cancellation made by media and in particolar social media. Which Is really dangerous for them, especially now that they are a listed company. The fact is, as shown by the esplosion of UFC, in which they do not care very much about these things, fans and teenagers still want this type of entertainment. But we can not say "WWE can Just Do what UFC does" because they are not the same Company, the entertainment Is different and structured in a different way.
@@jansmitowiczauthor78 Hm, maybe you just don't want to see the truth that PC attitudes has ruined entertainment.
That's not it at all lol
WWE isn't going to be sold, Vince just wants more money.
Also most people don't look to be offended. Most people who are offended was because the USA is being wussified. Moat people are learning to be in their feelings more instead of being rational.
Finally, the attitude era was destined to fail. Its was a spike in the frustration in the country and wouldn't be able to be sustained.
What made the attitude era so special was that it worked like any other sucessfull tv series. It was great characters involved engaging story lines. It hasn't been that way since. There's too many characters and almost no story lines anymore.
Great video… I like how you broke it down!
Here’s my opinion. It’s definitely a yes & No type of thing, the company was already on the decline as you said even before the PG switch… that definitely added to it tho. I grew up during the attitude era literally started watching as a 6 year old in 98 😂 and watched pretty much every single episode/PPV till about 2009. I still tune in from time to time and love talking wrestling ( still have some interest) but it’s mainly talking about the “ good old days”
The problem is WWE got wayyy to complacent! The early 90s were really bad days for WWF once hogan took off & the steroid scandals. Vince was still young HUNGRY ASF and trying to rebuild his company. The writing was much better, better booking and everything was so much more thought out. When they started to change in 97 toward the attitude era it also matched with how society was at the time and all that put together you had a really solid product. And it’s true “ was a cool factor” yeah as a kid it’s even better because you think it’s all real but I don’t think that really matters… I still was watching when I knew it was scripted and most humans with half a brain understood it was scripted in the 80s/90s so I don’t think people knowing what goes on behind the scenes matters lol.
It’s more of how the product has been treated, the “ cool factor” did exist in those days. WWF was pop culture in every way, you had rappers, athletes EVERYONE embraced it. You don’t see that now AT ALL. John Cena was probably the last guy that had real cultural influence. Stone Cold & The rock we’re the 2 coolest most bad ass dudes on the planet. Who WANTED to be the champion and treated it like so.
And that’s why Wrestling needs to be developed a certain way, this is why people are tuning into AEW. Most things they do at WWE are just cheesy sure if you’re a kid that’s fine ! But what made WWF so successful in the hay day in terms of viewership and overall influence was that it was RELATABLE, and felt authentic. Everyone has known it’s scripted for a long time. No you don’t need chair shots every night or sexual angles but everyone already knows it’s a fix ?
What brought people in was those relatable story lines, the matches that had a certain intensity with a bit of blood in the aftermath of those rivalries! That’s wrestling to me ! It didn’t feel like they were “ acting” even when I go back and watch stone cold or the rock be their authentic self. Nowadays everything feels like a forced acting job. It was so much better man 😂 like I said I still go back n re watch some of the stuff they made and compare it to now and it blows my mind. ( major EX Jan 4th 1999 Raw) that was PERFECT everything writing/timing/perfect tittle exchange. That was PEAK WWF
Also yes this was a very long rant 😂 this is a topic I love to talk on. As WWF/E has a special place in my heart and at one point was the best thing on television
Well the fact there's UFC and other fighting promotions as well as keeping it PG. You can even argue the fans themselves are a huge part of why wrestling is mainly for those in their late 50s
Pro Wrestling is dead for one simple reason : The business has been openly exposed as a "work."
Wrestlers used to protect "kayfabe" with their lives, and now they go on podcasts and openly discuss trade secrets.
General audiences used to believe pro wrestling was "real sport" and now we all know it's not.
Former fans like me have transitioned to MMA to see real, uncensored violence and not the soft wussy product we see in wrestling today.
The Rock vs stone cold at Wm 17 had the best promo in history
It’s no coincidence that the product changed after the Benoit incident.
The Ruthless Aggression Era was saved by 4 Wrestlers:
1. John Cena
2. Batista
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Randy Orton
Even in the PG Era they are still keeping the WWE afloat, after them no more stars.
Smackdown during Batistas reign even outsells TNA Impact
Personally i Think the PG era helped introduce WWE to newer generations at such a young age. I was 6 when i started watching wrestling (2009) and i think it’s because my pop felt more okay with his kid watching something he enjoyed too
It did,so did the ruthless aggression era. WWE realized those old fans were gonna leave so they tried to pass it on to new generations of kids who would hopefully still be fans as adults
2008 and 2009 weren't any different from tv 14 era.
Ruthless agression era stars like Cena, Orton, Batista, hhh etc continued to shine.
Remember there was a storyline between hhh and Orton in 2009 which was quite far from pg.
Even in a pg environment, the company can make the product look good.
The real problem started in 2010 when they decided to make the product kid friendly, but the reality TV is that even kids don't like that kind of programming.
After that they started recruiting these Indy guys wh ok don't even look the part and are not so good on mic.
Same goes for other wrestling promotions.
Honestly as I grew up my interests changed. Also a lot of the younger kids have more options than what we had as kids.
As a writer, I despise the idea that cancel culture and political correctness are the issue (the latter term is used far too often as a poor excuse for being an asshole anyway). There are plenty of stories out there that aren't inherently offensive that are still enthralling, and isn't why the Attitude Era was ultimately so successful, in part because the Ruthless Aggression era would've been just as popular since some of its more offensive angles were just as bad if not arguably worse. If I were teaching a writing course and I gave an assignment that I wanted done within certain perameters (which happens all the time not only in school but in real life), if a student refused because of "censorship" or insisted they just couldn't do it, I'd fail them on the spot for not being creative enough to work around the limitations. That's kind of the whole point of being a good writer is being able to tell an effective story regardless of the box you're packed into.
Not that it matters when Vince is gonna Vince anyway. Especially when it is clearly, and unsurprisingly, the business and finance side of things that are the ultimate culprit, what a surprise...
Speaking of the WWE not being able to create top stars: the Royal Rumble last night. The WWE has two main men's championships and somehow Brock Lesnar is in both title pictures at the same time. That's just ridiculous. I know Lesnar is a star but having to rely on him so much is an indication that the company has completely failed to create and sustain main eventers.
The WWE will *never* go back to the good old days and when Disney finally buys the WWE, that will truly be the end of the WWE.
They need to get rid of the Neilson rating system. AEW sells more tickets and merch, but they don't get the ratings WWE do? That is highly suspect.
WWE will always be around, and I have no problem with the PG rating, it is the bad writing and storytelling I have a problem with.
I wish you had mentioned AEW more. They are getting new audiences into wrestling, and that bodes well for the future.
u can say tickets but merch..nah!!wwe sells merch way more than aew does..not being a mark,but saying the truth..
@@nisargkasturiwale3877 No. According to data, AEW stars sell more.
@@michelletackett9489 can u send me beacuse I watched a video it showed wwe was way too ahead from aew in selling of merch
@@nisargkasturiwale3877 Which video? Show me the proof.
@@michelletackett9489 ok wait...
The very day I heard they were going public, IIRC 99, I was 15 or 16 and knew it was the beginning of the end. Can't get ratings, can't sell at the gate. Only question is who will buy it?
Imo. They’re failing to adjust ever since the internet blew up and kinda killed kayfabe completely.
Imo the first step to fixing them is killing the babyface/Heel dynamic. Most superstars best run is as a heel, while the fans turn on them 90% of the time when they’re face. They need to create complex characters that make us question their decisions and try to resonate with. But the writers can’t even tell a decent story at a week by week basis so that won’t ever help.
As far as my knowledge goes, the beginning of WWE's decline really was when the Benoit Tragedy happened.