STATE OF THE 'E: Get Excited About The "New" Era

Posted By: Robert Woodward Jr.

I've been following the world that VKM created (Because lets face it, the one his father made was WAY different.) since about 1986. I was two years old and I was exposed to the likes of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and so many others that I was hooked indefinitely.

Then a few stars left and an influx of more came... Now we're into 1987-1988 and my world of following professional wrestling expanded around this time and I started knowing of NWA (Which would soon be WCW.) and the joys of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, the rest of the Horsemen and many, many others as well. A lot of people came to WWF from NWA and of course, the other way as well.

1993 hits, Hogan just won the Championship again but is getting ready to jump ship to the full on WCW and the World of professional wrestling is in a friggin' uproar. Many insane things happened in the 1993-1995 area, Monday Night Raw, Nitro, "THE WAR"... everything was fresh, new and exciting. Stories were really developing into something more than "personal" feuds. Although, that is still the basis of damn near every feud in existence.

And then we hit the nWo in 1996 and "The Montreal Screwjob" in 1997... mainstream media is picking up on wrestling again much like it did in the 80's during "The Rock + Wrestling Connection"... my world was great. It's around this time I discovered Japanese Wrestling promotions and Mexican ones as well. SO many to choose from and many things to keep me busy.

1999 now and we're full on into the best period of the MNW and we're seeing the emergence of Smackdown! and Thunder, more shows having more talent and more storylines, continuing from Raw and Nitro. So many things to choose from... 2001 comes and WWF officially won the MNW and the landscape was settling. WCW stars were integrating, no new talent was really needed to fill any gaps, 2003 came and "The Attitude Era" was done. "Ruthless Aggression" took its place and the product started to falter. WWE became its name and now it's nowhere near what it used to be and people started falling away from watching, ratings were lowering, people were looking for something different and around this time a little company owned by Panda Energy started making noise... TNA had started up fully and we all thought things might go back to the way they've been for the last 6 or 7 years.

We were not so lucky. THE 'E fell down farther than before due to not creating many new talents to follow all of the "mega" stars from the 80's and 90's. TNA wasn't making as much of an... iMPACT! (Sorry, had to.) as we hoped it would and things just got quiet. 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 passed without a true nod. In 2008 THE 'E became PG again like in the 80's and only the hardcore fans really noticed.

Flash forward to 2011 and here we are with the lowest ratings in years, BUT we have a new generation starting to rise up and get out there with all of the new media generating. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter are all places that these new stars can cut their teeth at promos, making the most out of their characters and get time to shine. THE 'E hasn't fully accepted the internet and everything that it can do but, it's trying. It's trying to stay viable in a market that has a different feel to it than it did 5, 10 or even 20 years ago.

With the advent of DVR's, pirating, free streams, cable ratings are horrible and yes, there can be a few more things to add to why they're not doing well too. Maybe the lack of stars created in the last few years, maybe the way they've handled themselves since the world of Wrestling hasn't been the main focus like it was when it was on TV Guide.

Then came last Monday, June 27th, 2011. THE 'E did something they haven't done in many years... they stirred up enough controversy to get people talking again. CM Punk took the stage and began a whole "worked-shoot" promo that turned the world of wrestling on its head and it was a breath of fresh air in a very stale environment. No one can truly predict where THE 'E is headed with this or how they plan to capitolize on the current push. With their name in the tops of the Twitter feeds, and YouTube racking up views, with all of this newfound attention and a much needed "attitude"... THE 'E seem to be up to something.

Have they finally found their way of staying viable in an over saturated market where you're only as good as the attention you can keep for more than 5 minutes of our over caffeinated brains and multitasking ways of life? MTV isn't the only way to get through like it was in the 80's, being edgy on cable isn't the way through like it was in the 90's. Social media is the new wave of marketability and THE 'E seem to be finally utilizing some of it. Now all they have to do is find a way to combat the dwindling cable views but in all reality, in a world where the computer is more dominant, they should be recording that traffic as well and I'm sure they finally are.

Zack Ryder recently defended his "Internet Championship" at a house show in Australia. Maybe that's a new way to go. No other company has such a thing and in reality, that could be something ineresting to tap into. Ryder is mainly on Superstars which in many parts of the World can only be seen online. You could have Ryder come out and taunt the crowd about the only way to see this belt defended is by going online to watch Superstars, or any of the other wrestlers who have it at that point. This all could be a very exciting time for THE 'E... a new era could be coming into play. With the writers seeming to have gained balls and the appearance of VKM apparently liking some of the capabilities of the Internet, you can't help but feel that a new era may finally be happening.

One where the stars might have a little more freedom within their promos but obviously stratling that PG line and not to mention you can get away with a little more on the Internet. All they have to do is combine the two in a major way and the explosion we could get would be amazing. Monday Nights could possibly live up the the RAW name again.

It's also a way to prove that blood and chair shots aren't needed, especially if you read my last blog, you'll understand why. The world is changing and everything needs to stay viable. THE 'E may have just found its position and lets hope that they reign it in and master it. Because we all know when THE 'E puts their mind to something, they dominate it.

Whew... sorry about that, just had a lot on my mind. Lets hope for some good convos and also a lot of input here. Thanks for reading and like always, I'll see ya' soon!