The Monday Night War Review: Episode Three – ‘Embracing Attitude’

The Monday Night War (Episode Three): Embracing Attitude
-Cold opening from voice over guy talks about how the WWF had to launch a new era to turn the tide in their favor after weeks and weeks of getting their asses handed to them in the ratings. This era would simply be known as The Attitude Era.

-The usual opening video package is next.

-Show mentions that when he was in WCW they wanted to run the WWF out of business and they did so with an unlimited bank account. Again they make sure to point out that WCW took the lead on the backs of former WWF stars (mainly Hall and Nash). That is getting kind of old to keep harping on, but again history written by the victors and such.

-Daniel Bryan mentions that in 96 when WCW started smashing things, Vince started bringing in new and younger guys that in a few years would be a big deal. Foley talks about how WCW was more reality based while the WWF was still stuck in the past with over the top characters (Duke “The Dumpster” Droese targeted specifically). Same thing we heard on the first 2 parts of this series.

-The n.W.o once again gets a lot of credit for the rise of WCW and Cole mentions that the group revolutionized the business. Vince Russo pops up and says he knew WWF was dead in the water because of how hip they were. Hayes says he thought RAW had a better show, but people had changed their viewing habits and went with WCW. After spending minutes discussing how the WWF was out of touch with things, Hayes thinks they still had the better show? Maybe in 97 with the rise of Austin vs. The Hart Foundation, but definitely not in 1996.

-Briscoe talks about how it sucked getting your ass kicked for 30 straight weeks (oh, it was a lot longer than that). Heyman says Vince was nearly out of business and then he had to make a distract decision in the 11th hour. Bischoff tells the story of how he laughed off getting a phone call telling him that the WWF was moving in a more adult direction.

-Now we get to the leader of this Attitude Era: The Ring Master! Oh wait, it’s the guy they let loose and let get away from the stupid Ring Master gimmick. Austin was of course awesome when they let him take the gloves off and we get some great moments including the Invasion of Pillman’s house! Hell Yeah! This is still one of the greatest things I have ever seen on wrestling television. CM Punk covers the rivalry (though they don’t mention they were former WCW stars and started their rivalry there because only WCW uses other companies former stars to create storylines).

-Anyway, Pillman pulls out a 9 mm on live television and threatens to shoot Austin if he tries to break into his house. Austin beats the piss out of Pillman’s friends and then breaks into the house as Pillman has a gun pulled, but the feed goes out before any shots could be fired. Kevin Kelly makes sure to point out that there were explosions and doesn’t say shots were fired. Just awesome stuff!

-CM Punk again and he knows a line was crossed even as he watched it, but it was memorable. The stunt got the WWF a crap load of attention and Vince had to apologize on WWF Livewire because USA was legit pissed. They show some clips from Live Wire and we get JR reading some e-mails in favor of the angle and a woman calling in complaining about the angle.

-Austin mentions he got on a plane the next day and ran into some WCW guys and they were shocked by what happened. McMahon once again apologized the following week on RAW, but things didn’t change too much as the WWF was just getting started.

-Shawn mentions that their roster had a ton of rebels and that the Attitude Era was years in the making and just needed Vince to give them the ok. Heyman says the world was changing and wanted anti-heroes and nobody was a bigger one than Austin and nobody defied authority more than DX. Cole mentions that the key audience was no longer children and was now the college crowd and males in their 20s and 30s.

-Tim White brings up that not everyone in the office was happy as they weren’t sure this was the best direction to go. Vince Russo of course was all for it as you would expect. On Dec 15, 1997 Vince addresses cuts his famous promo where he says the fans in the WWF are tired of having their intelligence insulted and the days of good guys vs. bad guys was dead. Basically it was a proclamation that they were going on the offensive and were going to push the envelope. HHH puts over the statement made by Vince and Heyman calls it a definite risk as the advertisers and network could rebel with any little mistake.

-They show the scratch logo being raised to the top of Titan Towers and then play the Super Bowl commercial the WWF produced (WWF Attitude: Get It!). We get some great moments from the Attitude Era and voice over guy mentions that the shift didn’t immediately put the WWF in the lead. The graphic shows that RAW was closing the gap and by January Nitro was sitting at 4.5 and RAW was hitting 4.0. Think about those numbers for a second and makes me wonder where all those fans went.

-Things get raunchier as the WWF introduces Val Venis (porn star) and The Godfather (wrestling pimp). CM Punk buries Papa Shango, but mentions you make the guy a pimp and put hot women with him and he gets over. In a funny moment, Lawler mentions he was the biggest fan of the Ho Train. No kidding!

-Now we move onto Sunny as Vince also used hot women as managers and used their sex appeal to bring even more viewers. Sunny actually pops up as a talking head and talks about how when she started it was PG and she had to watch what she wore with the Body Donnas. Steph mentions the females went from lady wrestlers that were more classy to Divas that used their sexual prowess to be strong women.

-Bischoff brings up the Cowboys had their cheerleaders, so he figured the Nitro Girls would be a good move. The Big Show mentions that the Nitro Girls were a good start, but nothing was done with them. Case in point to what was happening in the WWF at the time: Bra and Panty matches, etc.

-The talk of the women continues and Punk mentions he can remember Lawler screaming about puppies a lot. Fantastic! Lawler laughs at himself and talks about how he came across as a pervert and how that really isn’t the case (as he winks to the camera). Never change Uncle Jerry, never change!

-There was a growing concern that Vince was letting things go too far and even X-Pac mentions he didn’t think they would go as far as they did with some things (Mae Young and Mark Henry). Jericho brings up that Bischoff had meetings telling everyone Vince was going to lose his sponsors and be out of business in 6 months. Dustin talks about how there were parents that wouldn’t let their kids watch, but again, they weren’t targeting them anyways.

-Now we talk about Sable as she is called the most popular Diva of all time. Nash brings up that Sable was a ratings jackpot and anytime she was on it was killing what WCW had on at the same time. Personally I was never a Sable guy as I was on Team Sunny if I had to choose between the two of them. Nash again, as he says on Nitro they had Standards and Practices talk about things they couldn’t do while on RAW they had Val Venis in a tub with Jenna Jameson. What show would you be watching? It’s funny because it’s true!

-Vince tells a hilarious story about getting a call from Ted Turner after WCW started losing in the ratings. He tells Vince that WCW is losing because the WWF was “showing the tit.” Awesome! That upset Vince as Ted wouldn’t give him credit for having the better product.

-Wow, they actually talk about ECW and I can’t believe they may actually give them credit. CM Punk talks about how ECW felt like an outlaw promotion. Ambrose calls it cutting edge and how they did things you never saw. They actually do give them credit, but only a little as they focus on how the WWF took the hardcore style in their matches from ECW. Vince makes a key point as he says they took the style from ECW but made sure to put in a way that kept them on TV and their sponsors happy.

-They bring up the match innovations: The Inferno Match and Hardcore matches that went outside the ring and outside the arena. This style was perfect for Mick Foley as he is called the King of Hardcore and yes, we finally get Foley flying of the Cell at King of the Ring 1998. Have been waiting to see how long it would take and I am kind of shocked they didn’t do a full feature on it. Instead they talk about the introduction of the Hardcore Title and how it evolved into the 24/7 rule. Some of the 24/7 stuff was hilarious (especially during Crash’s reign), but like anything else they beat that thing to death to the point it became a joke.

-WCW tried to do the same with their own Hardcore Title and results weren’t as successful. They show the Junkyard Invitational Match and that shit was horrible and just hard to watch. Now they discuss the Viagra on a Pole, and Judy Bagwell on a forklift matches. Man, we are just jumping all over the place here as this was during Russo’s run in WCW and yet he isn’t getting the blame for any of it.

-Back in the WWF 6 young guys were tearing down the house with Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. The TLC matches were amazing and it helped bring about a new golden age of tag wrestling with The Hardyz, Dudleyz, and Edge/Christian leading the way. Jeff Hardy was one crazy bastard and I have no clue how he didn’t cripple himself with some of the shit he did.

-Now talk about how the interviews revolutionized during the Attitude Era and while DX and Austin brought the fans into their promos, nobody could touch The Rock. Yes! This will be entertaining as hell as we get some great Rock promos including him talking trash in his sleep. The Rock mentions he was flying by the seat of his pants and just going with things as they came to him. “Well it’s the Big Slow,” and “I’m going to take a leak, this guy sucks.” Awesome!

-They guys were given freedom on the mic and it made everyone step their game up as they didn’t want to get embarrassed. I wish they still had that philosophy today.

-Back on Nitro they had aging stars and were still running n.W.o stuff that wasn’t as cutting edge as it was a few years ago. Heyman says WCW kind of spent too much time enjoying their success instead of defending it. Great point!

-Finally the Mr. McMahon character is brought up and how behind the scenes Vince McMahon was running things while on camera Mr. McMahon was the greatest heel character of all time. They gloss over “Bret screwed Bret” as I expect they may have a more detailed Montreal episode in the coming weeks. I miss this Vince with the giant balls that wasn’t afraid to take chances and wish he was back instead of Grandpa Simpson McMahon that is mad at the world and out of touch with the pop culture. Again, I am not asking for full blown Attitude Era V2.0, but again “don’t insult my intelligence.”

-After nearly 2 years (April 13, 1998) the WWF finally tops Nitro in the ratings thanks to the first one on one match between Austin and McMahon that was built to perfectly throughout the 2 hour show. The final numbers were in at it was RAW: 4.6, Nitro 4.2. Shockwaves were sent throughout the wrestling world and both Nash and Booker T mention that the McMahon/Austin storyline was great and they had nothing to touch it in WCW.

-Their feud becomes the most profitable in the history of the company and with the money flowing in, the production budget shot up. Russo mentions they wrote the show each week with a mindset to top what they did the previous week. With more money to throw around we get things like: McMahon’s corvette meeting a cement truck, Austin using a monster truck to run over’s Rock’s Cadillac, the DX Express getting blown up, etc. Won’t be seeing that stuff anytime soon with all the budget cuts.

-WCW tried to do the same apparently and WCW’s former stunt director pops up to talk about the things they were trying. They show “Sting” getting set on fire against Vampiro and falling off the WCW Tron into the “stage.” Harvey Schiller mentions they had to do something to keep their sponsors happy, but in the end those in charge of Turner didn’t have a love for pro-wrestling. Flair says that after years they finally shut down the ATM and that was it. Bischoff says the WWF was doing everything right and they were doing everything wrong in trying to get back their audience.

-The talking heads discuss how awesome The Attitude Era was as we wrap things up. The WWF would go on to win the War in 2001 and it was all thanks to the greatest Era in Wrestling History: The Attitude Era.

Extra Thoughts: That wrapped up rather quickly and they just breezed through years of noteworthy Attitude Era stuff. The way it ended it seemed like that was it for the series but there were reports this thing is going to be 20 episodes long, so I suspect they have to go more into detail with a lot of the stuff they glossed over: Sting, Goldberg, Finger poke of Doom on the WCW side of things and Tyson, Rise of Austin, and Fall of Bret on the WWF side of things.