I’m going to have to binge on this guy’s writing.
I’m going to have to binge on this guy’s writing. He nails why the Austin/Dude Love feud, and the Austin/McMahon feud worked so well – and it had nothing to do with TV-PG or TV-14. It’s what the booker in the picture Nathan posted the other day was talking about – the difference between cheap heat and earned heat, and Austin, Foley, McMahon, JR and even Lawler earned the hell out of this heat.
Having lived through and watched the Attitude Era, nothing makes me angrier than people pretending Crash TV, nudity, blood and swearing was what made the era. It wasn’t. It was beautifully crafted storytelling. Austin was so, so much more than driving in on increasingly absurd vehicles and randomly Stunning people, which you wouldn’t know from Attitude Era promos. It’s not why he caught on. It’s why Dean Ambrose comes off as a very pale imitation to me – they’re trying to get him across with “wacky hijinx” reminiscent of clips-montage Stone Cold without giving him the very real character grounding, motivation and holistic character worldview Austin had that gave context to all of that mayhem. It’s just mayhem for mayhem’s sake, because he’s a “loose cannon” (hi there, Flyin’ Brian)…just, I dunno, because? Creative’s made him into a cartoon version of Austin, and that he has become that has nothing to do with the lack of cursing, beer drinking or blood.
TL;DR next time I play WWWRGP in a group I’m going to keep these goddamned principles of character and story arc in mind, and that’s the bottom line.
http://www.workofwrestling.com/wowblog/architects-of-the-attitude-era
