What would WWE have to do or what would have to happen to return WWE to their glory days of the ATTITUDE ERA?

Answer 1

Until the WWE listens to their fans, nothing will change. Like a previous answer, the WWE does not consider TNA, nor ROH or any other "independant" wrestling alliance a threat. TNA is coming close, now due to their Scheduling change on Spike, to a Prime Time broadcast spot.

WWE is full of McMahons. They own it, why not, I'd do the same. However, as case in point, when the original ECW was around, Paul Heyman legitamately was a business threat to both the WCW & WWE. Both organizations ripped wrestlers from him, including Steve Austin, Eddie Guererro, Tazz, the Dudley's, among others. Neither McMahon nor Bischoff understood the ECW's brand of entertainment. They considered them reckless high fliers who couldn't tell a story.

As it turns out, when the ECW went bankrupt, Paul Heyman owed a TON of money to none other then Vince McMahon. Paul ends up working for Vince, as the Lead Writer for the SmackDown Brand. SmackDown ratings were horrendous at the time, well behind the Flagship, Raw is War. Paul turned that Brand around in a matter of weeks, with well thought out story lines, and protecting Wrestlers weaknesses, while projecting their strengths - which IS why the ECW worked. Even Tazz & Rob Van Dam who were owed money kept working with Paul at the end of ECW.

Vince can't tolerate someone's ideas working better then his, so his daughter, Stephanie (now Mrs. Paul Levesque AKA Triple H), was given the position of Creative Control for both Raw & SmackDown, unceremoniously dumping Heyman (which will happen more then once) from the Creative department, and made him just a character on the show.

IF TNA wants to challenge for the title, they could do a LOT worse then hiring Paul Heyman. After all, did you see their rating when they hired Kurt Angle???

To answer the question - the McMahons would have to give up creative control - which isn't going to happen.

Answer 2

It was better when Ted Turner owned WCW, as Vince had some competition. For me, the glory days are about the time Stone Cold took the title from HBK. I have actually not watched it much since the Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, etc. aren't the big names anymore. When the whole WWE/ECW/WCW thing all came together, it just sort of lost it.

That was the only time the RAW ever got better ratings than Monday Night Football. That was a big deal.

I doubt we will see those days again.

Answer 3

90% of the problem is with the storylines. K-Fed, Rosie vs. Trump: those have nothing to do with the current roster of wrestlers. Who is writing this stuff? More importantly than that, who is approving it? I'm a firm believer that things look good on paper sometimes and then can be a total dissaster on TV. But come on! These storylines are rediculous! The other 10% can be improved with just 3 simple steps: Logical recruitment on the part of WWE Management, Mic skill Improvements (nothing worse than a guy who can't work the mic.), and Longer training requirements before signing contracts. WWE is signing guys right and left, without a second thought. Then these new guys get here and look/act completely out of place, because guys like DX, Rated RKO and the Hardy's make them look terrible! Just my thoughts..

Answer 4

The past is gone and will never come back.

The veil of realism the sport used to have has been lifted, people no longer believe like they once did.

With the quality of the current wrestlers it is no wonder the sport has lost its luster.

Although i hope one day we will see great wrestlers again i fear the sport is moving in other directions.

You ask a difficult question and i believe the directors of the WWE have lost there bearings.

I was taught as a young man that if i lose my way its best to go back to where i started to find the right path forward.

This still seems to be good advice.

Answer 5

well its simple actually. if TNA would start doing a better job at creating competition for WWE then Vince would have no other option but you make up better story lines in order to beat TNA. the reason the attitude era was great is because WCW created worthy competition forcing WWE to do a better job with stories out of fear of going out of business. right now WWE has no real competition since impact is on thursdays. so vince feels he can do any kind of story line he wants to, regardless of how stupid they may seem.

Answer 6

In reference to what williams said in a prior post...you can't blame TNA for WWE's failure to be successful. Sure competition helps, but there's a lot more to it than just competition. Vince McMahon should see that what he's doing is NOT working. That itself should be enough motivation to do something!! Fans are not interested and as time goes on less and less people are tuning in. This is because WWE is being very repetative. Having three brands of wrestling shows gives each show less opportunity and therefore each show becomes stale. WWE needs to shrink back down to two brands or even one brand. Then we can see Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker or Triple H vs. Lashley.

Also, WWE needs to focus on WRESTLING and not ENTERTAINMENT. Fans in this decade tune in for wrestling, not skits. TNA is at a huge advantage with lots of opportunity right now. With the star power of Kurt Angle, Sting, Christian, Dudleys (Team 3D) and talent like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, etc they are honestly putting on the BETTER show of the two companies. Notice one thing about TNA? Their focus is wrestling and not entertainment. And yes, they are giving WWE a run for their money and yes, Vince is paying close attention to them because they are a threat. TNA's growth has been unimaginable. More and more fans are tuning in each week. Word has it Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho could be next in TNA. Benoit has also expressed his interest in TNA.

The WWF Attitude era was not exactly the glory days for Vince McMahon. Maybe for the fans it was, but the Attitude era was a HUGE low point for WWF. 1995-1997 were three of Vince McMahon's toughest years which almost drove him and WWF out of business thanks to the rise and success of WCW during those years. WCW was #1 from 95-98. WWF/E was never at a lower point than in 95-97. Shawn Michaels and McMahon have both spoken about how close WWF was to going under during that time. I guess it was very very close.

FINAL ANSWER: Focus on WRESTLING and not entertainment. Increase the possability of matches by combining brands (Raw, Smackdown, ECW) into 2 or 1.

You can't blame WWE's decline on lack of compeition like another user mentioned. The decline itself should be enough motivation to do something.

Remember...TNA is putting on the better wrestling show. Although more people tune into WWE, it's only because WWE has been established for over 50 years. TNA has only been around for about 5. The progress they have made is unbelievable and it will only increase from here. TNA is on the rise, WWE is on the decline.

Answer 7

Less Cena.

More Blood.

Better Story Lines.

Answer 8

i really don't think that can happen.'

wwe has turned really fake and you can tell it's fake and they're acting.

they need to quit being worried about their faces and actually hit each other a lil more.

Answer 9

good question!!!!! They will have to bring back the (Vampire) version of Viscera,get the dudley boyz, APA(faarooq and jbl),
the hardy boyz, the entire group of DX, get edge and christian,
the rock, tazz, and stone cold.

Answer 10

Get rid of the soap opra acting.