WWF then and now

I think fan reaction is the biggest difference between WWE/WWF and the WWE of today.

I was watching the first few episodes (ever) of Smackdown yesterday and the atmosphere in the crowd was amazing yet, when I muted the video to watch the match, it really wasn't that dissimilar from a modern match. Maybe slightly better than most matches now but not by much but the difference is that the match was so much more enjoyable because of the crowd.

I don't know how much of that crowd noise was piped in because I'm pretty sure they used to do that but I do know that there have been precious few times in recent years where you could honestly say that the crowd was immense but those shows were by far the best of recent years, I'm thinking Chicago during the Summer of Punk, Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2012 (especially the 6 man tag match) and the night after Wrestlemania when Lesnar returned.

I think the problem with WWE today is that they've stopped playing to the crowd as much. Like you said, back then there was The Rock, Taker, Stone Cold, Triple H, even Mankind and the Road Dogg who were so brilliant at capturing a crowd, fast forward to today, how many are there? Maybe Jericho, Punk, The Rock and Lesnar when they appear and Cena (say what you want about him, the Let's Go Cena/Cena suck chant battles are great, in my opinion).

What I would suggest is for WWE to move away from this "Variety Show" act they have now ie Tensai in lingerie, and remember that the crowd can make or break a show.

Anyway, that was my long and incoherent opinion, make of it what you will.

I like it, thanks!

It's by no means the root of the problem but that's a very vaild point - the crowd and the commentary 10 years ago put their equivalents today to shame, and the importance of both can't be underestimated.

But one of the biggest failures of WWE in the last 10 years is their complete and utter inability to produce any cross demographic megastars. The creation of Cena, and the shoving of him through our gullets as if he was the answer to this caused a divide in the fanbase which today WWE are playing up too as almost their main selling point - almost all the contests which had the big match feel since 05 involved WWE playing up to this divided within their audience. But the problem with engineering an environment like that is it keeps WWE in it's own little bubble which the mainstream can't penetrate, and consquently until someone breaks through this divide WWE will never rake in the volume of fans they did during the Attitude Era.

All the more frustrating is many chances to create this figure have come and gone like a swallow breeze. Hell with a few minor adjustments to his character, it could've been bloody Ryback

Take Cena out of the equation and you will see a much finer product. John Cena the on screen character just overshadows everything else,holds it back of you will.
You knew punks run with the title would just lead back to Cena.

Could have had punk v Rock at mania in a I quit match for the wwe title but instead Cena is going over. What's the point?

Still think the john Cena character has held back the majority of gimmicks,actually wrestling matches and other wrestlers getting over.

the problem is simple wwe likes to train everyone the same way and stop create control.they own everything about the wrestlers name ,image and so on.the same name's on PPV .short story lines,there must be about 20 wrestler's on every PPV but 80 wrestler's on roster..

Over the last 2 weeks there have been 2 good matches and both of them featured Chris Jerico. The rest of the locker are just to boring and predictable. Cena, Ryback and Sheamus put you to during their matches.

I've always thought that the problem with WWE now, compared to in the past, is that it's so overproduced. There's no edge to the product (and by that I don't mean blood or swearing), there's little chance for a wrestler to make themselves interesting because everything's set out for them by the writers. Guys like Austin, Rock, etc were interesting because there was so much of them in the character, in contrast John Cena's so wooden it's often like he's reading off a teleprompter.

I think that's why Punks pipe bomb from two years ago went over so strong, it gave an edge to the product that wasn't there, and it was believable, that's another thing that's been lost, the suspension of disbelief. Part of that is because pro-wrestling has been so exposed but also just the way the product is written and presented make it so jarring and unbelievable.

There are other issues, but I think those are the main ones.

"But one of the biggest failures of WWE in the last 10 years is their complete and utter inability to produce any cross demographic megastars" I agree but ill also counter that argument and say, apathy is one of the biggest human "emotions" this day and age, long gone are the days where we were truly subjective, we now live within Adam and Eve paradigm where the fruit has been tasted and we can think outside the entertainment box. To allow ourselves to be as immersed into entity of pro wrestling, we have to be less arrogant and cynical as a species and allow ourselves to be truly lucid in the moment. Think back to Canadian stampede raw, Shawn Michaels announcing he is the special ref at Summerslam, he could barely be heard...to me that was the single greatest achievement of the WWF and us fans.