Sign of the times

By Scott Keith on 11 February 2018

I remember watching the Rise & Fall of ECW DVD and Heyman’s statement about WWF/WCW being behind the times in the early-/mid-90s (similar to hair bands – > grunge in rock music) is so so accurate and important.
Instead of using more realistic storylines (good positive example being the timeless brother vs brother jealousy story with Bret & Owen) they rely on a giant in a ridiculous costume attacking a deadman to sell tickets
Instead of a modern updated look (see Nirvana, Gangster Rap etc as inspirations), guys still had their mullets and buttugly 80s trunks
Instead of fresh timely rough-edged gimmicks we get clowns, fatass King Kongs and dentists
Instead of a more extreme, realistic, fastpaced approach to the inring product (highflying cruiserweights, streetfights and blood feuds) we get casket matches, strap matches and oldschool slowmotion ironman matches (sorry I really don’t get the love for the WM12 main event)
And they wondered why the product stank and business was in the toilet for many years?
Your take on this?

By the same token, although the Attitude direction made them millions in one sense, you could also argue that without Rock and Austin it was just going to be second rate ECW. Rock and Austin at their peak interacting with Vince didn’t need blood and swearing and boobs to get over and draw money. And in fact the TV14 stuff drove off so many advertisers that it took nearly a decade of PG programming to recover.

So that era isn’t all great is what I’m saying.