Chris Jericho is one of the last Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era veterans active today. Despite taking a brief hiatus to focus on his band, Fozzy, Jericho has experienced every subsequent era of pro wrestling since his debut, and believes he can identify what’s set the 90s and early 2000s apart from today’s product.
“When I got to the WWE, there was legit, I’d say, 12 legit top-drawing main event stars. Not just guys who worked the main event, top draws,” he claimed during an interview with The Sportster. “Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, Mankind, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and that’s just off the top of – Kane – there’s nine right there off the top of my head without even really thinking too much about it [and] there’s probably three or four more others that I can throw in there – The Big Show – that’s ten right there.”
Jericho then stated that while there are many great and talented wrestlers in the industry today, they don’t compare to the main event stars and draws of the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras, who are still popular today.
“If you look at the main event names then, they can’t be touched,” he explained. “So that’s probably why that era is so critically acclaimed and positively remembered, because of just the name value of those stars that were all there at the same time.”
In the past, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque also attempted to explain the difference between the modern day stars compared to his day, opining that today’s wrestlers don’t take their fan base for granted. He further pointed out that wrestlers today grew up as fans and therefore have a more pure love for the fans and the sport as a result.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “TheSportster” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Read the full article here
