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| Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan |
Before World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) came to be known as what it is today, it also had its beginnings. It started off with wrestlers like Harley Race and Bruno Sammartino (not that well known I suppose) and they paved the way for the company’s golden era during the 80s which includes legendary wrestling figures such as Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Andre the Giant and Bret “The Hitman” Hart. These men paved the way to what wrestling and the WWE is today. Before the WWE was actually called the WWE, it was called the WWF which stood for the World Wrestling Federation. And before it became what it is today, it passed through a magical era in wrestling during the 90s and it is what people call, “The Attitude Era.”
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| The Attitude Era |
The Attitude Era changed the world of wrestling entertainment drastically. Instead of the fans rooting for the wrestlers who were the good guys, they bought into the characters that did not play by the rules and used every tactic to win, in short, the bad guys. This era was all about in-your-face, brash, edgy, smash-mouth fighting which the fans ate up. They didn’t care about the good guys winning. All they wanted was to be entertained and the wrestlers during that era were the very best in their craft. This was an era wherein every piece of equipment would be used in a match like steel chairs, tables, ladders and even plastic mannequin heads and it was totally different to the state the WWE is in right now called the “PG Era” and this era is basically a majorly less violent and offensive version of the Attitude Era.
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| Steve Austin decking The Rock |
What actually made the Attitude Era so exciting was not the type of matches they employed but it was actually the wrestlers of the era that captivated audiences. The wrestlers at that time had the mentality of just wanting to win and get to the top of the business and they did not care what would stop them. They did not care for the fans, their other competitors or their boss, Vince McMahon. Some great wrestlers in this era included The Rock, Triple H and the man who actually headed the attitude era and became the face of the company, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
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| Steve Austin |
Steve Austin can easily be called the head of the Atittude Era because of everything he represented. He was very controversial to say the least because he was a foul-mouthed, beer-drinking S.O.B. who did not care who he went up against but just as long as he had a chance to kick someone’s a**. His biggest enemy was actually the man who ran the company, Vince McMahon. In a way, Austin represented an ideal to many people. Here was a man who was not afraid in facing the big guy. He stood up for what he believed in and fought to get whatever he wanted and I guess that was why he was the leader of the company in those times and why so many people were behind him whether he played a Heel (bad guy) or a Face (good guy).
Suffice to say, the Attitude Era contains too many subjects of praise to contain in this one blog entry. There is no imaginable way to include all the blood lost, all the broken necks and all the careers ended during this era and it was done all for the WWE fans of that time. For those who keep on saying, “Wrestling is fake,” and all that, I tell you this: The Wrestling is not fake, it is the personas created that are fake, the wrestling moves and injuries are all 100% real.
Here's a video just to show you the lengths of what these superstars went through to entertain people:
"Edge spears Jeff Hardy off a Ladder"
So those who are down with the Attitude Era and Wrestling in general, GIVE ME A HELL YEAH!!! And if you’re not down with that, I’ve got two words for you…SUCK IT!!!
Before I sign out, here’s some wrestling lingo to help out all of those non-smarks out there who are reading this blog J
Wrestling Terms:
1. ANGLE: A wrestling Storyline, the reason behind a feud or a turn.
2. BOOK: To schedule a wrestler for a show.
3. BRASS: Management.
4. CARD: The series of matches in one location at one time.
5. FINISH: The event, or sequence of events, which leads to the ultimate outcome of a match.
6. HEEL: A bad guy. He breaks all the rules
7. FACE: A good guy.
8. KAYFABE: Related to, inside information about the business, especially by fans. such as "fake."
9. PUSH: When a wrestler is promoted on TV and through other means.
10. SCREW JOB: A match or ending which is not clean ... outside the "rules" of wrestling.
11. MARK: A member of the audience, presumed to be gullible.
12. SMART: Person who knows what's actually going on in wrestling.
13. SMARK: A fan who belives he is smart due to a certain amount of inside knowledge he has. Percieved by someone less informed.
So anyway, this has been your man Mark Javellana. Keep on reading "Brother!"
Sources:
BALESTERI, . (2004, July). Wrestling terms. Retrieved from http://www.wrestling-caricatures.com/id97.html
WWE. (2009, March 11). Edge spears Jeff Hardy off ladder at Wrestlemania 27 [Video File] [Pay-Per-View Broadcast]. In WWE Wrestlemania 17. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfujWSabik
SportyDesktops (2011). Wrestlemania Hogan Andre The Giant [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.sportydesktops.com/WrestlemaniaHulk-Hogan-Andre-The-Giant/53032/
Wikia. (n.d.). "Stone Cold" Steve Austin [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://prowrestling.wikia.com/wiki/Steve_Austin
The Phantom. (2010). WWF Attitude [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/394232-the-weekly-top-ten-10-reasons-why-fans-love-wwes-attitude-era
AtotheZeem. (2010). Stone Cold versus the Rock [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.audioleak.co.uk/?p=886
AtotheZeem. (2010). Bang 3:16 [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.audioleak.co.uk/?p=886
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