So since WWE is going for the young demo, is it something you would have liked as a kid?
I liked a lot of stupid things in wrestling back then, that I would roll my eyes at now. I love the Warrior, and all the goofy Undertaker angles. Liked Brutus Beefcake because he cut people's hair.
But I think I wouldn't watch the current WWE product. I was bored with Hogan pretty quickly and Cena is a watered down version of that gimmick. Plus I really liked the weird gimmicks, and WWE has become a cookie cutter with their guys.
The product is so different today from how it was produced and marketed in the 80's that I just can't say for sure. Even the current "PG" product is edgier and more realistic than it ever was in the 80's or early 90's.
Knowing how I used to watch as a kid, I would fawn over John Cena. More important, my family would be more likely to watch the less cartoony midcard (Santino excepted). No barbarians, missing links, exaggerated fey homosexuals, rednecks, or escaped mental patients.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
I have two sons, ages 17 and 12. When my husband and I started watching WWE again about two years ago after a long hiatus, the boys instantly latched on to it. Although they usually prefer video games to TV and aren't sports fans in general, they love WWE wrestling and look forward to it every week. We've taken them to one WWE taping and one local indy show. They beg us to buy the PPVs, and about half the time we do.
Having been an active wrestling fan in the early to mid '00s, I can tell you I would not even be allowing my kids to watch WWE if it were still as raunchy and sleazy as it was back then. That was adult entertainment -- and the sleaze element (Kiss My Ass Club, ad nauseum) eventually got to the burnout point for us, so we quit watching.
So PG works for us at the moment -- though I did buy the kids some DVDs for Christmas to show them some of the 'old school', specifically Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. They were suitably impressed by the blade jobs.
Maybe. Of course, I got sick of Hogan around Wrestlemania IV, so I might have found Cena awesome a few years ago and now jumped on the Orton bandwagon like everyone did this summer. I was a WWF kid, yet I liked Piper, Savage, Steamboat, the tag teams and so on. I am thinking if I was raised on NWA/WCW with the Horsemen, I would probably loath WWE as being too cartoony. I loved the cartoon, but I was more interested in the storylines of Savage/Liz, Hogan/Andre, Piper's Pit and so on. The kid in me would have liked the Nexus storyline, but I am sure someone at school would point who ridiculous it is for Cena to destroy them almost single handily. Taker is around, it might not be that considering he was around when I was a kid and I love that character.
Originally posted by PaulKTFThe product is so different today from how it was produced and marketed in the 80's that I just can't say for sure. Even the current "PG" product is edgier and more realistic than it ever was in the 80's or early 90's.
And yet, I still would rather watch matches from twenty years ago--with all the style, Event Centers, interview platforms, Brother Love Shows, meaningful championships and vendettas, and Gorilla/Ventura commentary--than the current product.
I would be a fan of Cena the same way I was a fan of Hogan. (That is, until Cena tattooed himself up and stopped being John Cena.) And if some Earthquake-like guy put Cena out for the summer, I would write a "Get Well" card for him, too. That said, "Ravishing" Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect were my personal favorites as a kid. Also, Brutus Beefcake was over.
Also+1, here was my card for WrestleFest '91, which took place in the back seat of our van during a family road trip:
WWF Championship Brutus Beefcake (c) v. Marty Jannetty
WWF Tag Team Championship Sid Justice (Barricade from C.O.P.S.)/Michelangelo (c) v. Roddy Piper/Jim Duggan
Hulk Hogan v. Ric Flair (re-commissioned Greg Valentine)
Randy Savage v. Lex Luger
Toxie the Toxic Crusader (akin to Bret Hart) v. Casey Jones
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