The Rock’s Return and the revival of the Attitude Era / The Rock teased Stone Cold to get in the head of DX / King Booker revived the Crown / DiBiase, Jr. revived the Million Dollar Belt

This strategy does not deal with victory on the battlefield itself. Rather, it focuses on how the resurrection of older and forgotten ideas and institutions can be reinvented, adapted to modern times, and shaped by the people of today to help them accomplish their goals.

Tomorrow night on RAW, The Rock makes his glorious return to RAW prior to his in-ring return at Survivor Series next Sunday. It’s pretty safe to say that the Rock’s return is universally considered to be a good thing. The WWE bringing the Rock back…and also bringing back Stone Cold to host Tough Enough last summer, are examples of the WWE acknowledging the success of the Attitude Era. In order to revive the Attitude Era, the WWE needed to “raise the corpses” of two of the Attitude Era’s most dominant superstars…both as faces and as heels.

Current WWE programming often gets knocked by viewers who remember the Attitude Era, whose Attitude Era favorites will Always be their favorites, and who have grown to dislike the kid-centric cartoonishness of some of the current superstars and the PG-ness of current programming. The John Cena-haters sometimes seem to outnumber his fans in the crowd at WWE events, and many fans have accepted CM Punk as a fan-favorite because he reminds the fans in many ways of Attitude Era superstars.

Having said that, nothing recreates the feeling of the Attitude Era like bringing back the kings of the Attitude Era—Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Presently, the focus is on The Rock…the most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment. The Rock is slated to face John Cena at Wrestlemania XXVIII, and their upcoming Survivor Series partnership will undoubtedly factor into the storyline leading up to their match at Wrestlemania.

And all of this will hopefully make older fans forget that they are living in a PG era. When Stone Cold and The Rock are around, they don’t seem to be bound by the PG rules in the same way that current superstars are bound. By having Attitude Era superstars return as edgy as they were a decade ago, the WWE is recreating the feeling that it IS a decade ago and that the WWE is in the midst of an Attitude Era revival. Ultimately, we will see what kind of success the strategy has. Part of the reason for the success of the Attitude Era was because the conditions were ripe for it, and most of the fans wanted that sort of programming. Superimposing a new Attitude Era every once-in-a-while on top of PG programming may be pushing the bar too high for younger viewers while annoying older viewers of what they’re really missing out on. Or, it could all go swimmingly well for everybody.

Currently, the Rock is the object being raised to revive the spirit of the Attitude Era, but the Rock himself has revived ideas to help him gain an advantage over opponents. In mid-2000, The Rock was constantly at war with HHH, the rest of D-Generation X, and the McMahon family. In order to gain a psychological advantage over his enemies, The Rock threatened the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had been absent from WWE programming after (if I recall correctly) a neck surgery. The Rock hinted at the Stone Cold return in a manner that got into the heads of his adversaries. Steve Austin dice were mysteriously found in DX’s mirror. A life-sized cut-out of Austin startled and scared members of DX. Beer cans were found in a closet, suggesting Stone Cold’s presence. A radio in the closet played the Stone Cold Steve Austin theme song. There was an Austin look-alike in the bathroom, and DX was already terrified at this point. A cement delivery was brought to the arena, reminding everybody about what Austin had done to McMahon’s corvette. Finally, an actual Texas Rattlesnake was in the building. All of these omens, by totally freaking out HHH, D-X, and the McMahons, gave the Rock a decided advantage against his arch-enemies. At Backlash in April, 2000, Austin did return and interfered and attacked both HHH and Vince McMahon, enabling the Rock to retain the WWE Championship. So the Rock’s use of “borrowing a corpse to raise the spirit” succeeded.

Booker T successfully used this strategy in 2006, but in his case, the “borrowed corpse” was the institution called King of the Ring. On May 21, 2006, Booker T won the King of the Ring Tournament and became known as King Booker. Throughout WWE history, some Kings of the Ring (Harley Race, Macho King, King Haku) have worn the crown better than others (Stone Cold, William Regal, and Sheamus). In the case of the former, the King persona really added to their wrestling character and brought them success. In the case of the latter, the King title did nothing to augment their wrestling character. The way Booker T revived the role of King of the Ring was so effective in its hilarity that it resurrected Booker T’s career and led directly to him earning the World Heavyweight Championship at the Great American Bash in July, 2006. At the time of the 2006 tournament, there had not been a King of the Ring in four years, since 2002. King Booker dressed like a king, treated people as if he was their king, anointed his wife Sharmel as Queen, looked off into the distance with a calm austerity befitting of royalty, spoke with an attempted British accent, and drank with his pinky raised. All of these royal additions to his character “raised the spirit” of Booker T’s career. Granted, Booker T employed some devious tactics to secure victories on occasion and used numerous other strategies…but his initial use of “Borrowing the corpse to Raise the Spirit” is what set the table for all of his success in 2006.

Ted DiBiase, Jr. attempted a similar revival of the Million Dollar Championship but met with failure. His father, the Million Dollar Man, was one of the first famous obnoxiously rich characters in the WWE, and he fashioned a diamond-encrusted gold championship belt that he could wear. In the mid-1990s, the Ringmaster Steve Austin basically lost a strap match to Savio Vega on purpose so that DiBiase would be kicked out of the WWE and Austin would not have to wear the Million Dollar Belt. DiBiase, Jr. brought it back into prominence on April 5, 2010. However, DiBiase did not do anything creative with the title. DiBiase’s character was a bit flat, and he does not have the kind of charisma that his father had. DiBiase, who had been expected to get a big push and possibly challenge The Undertaker with the Wrestlemania streak on the line, ended up watching his career stagnate while he wore his father’s championship belt. When the championship was stolen from DiBiase Jr, returned to DiBiase Sr, and then offered again to Junior, Junior refused the title, thus unceremoniously ending…at least for now…any talk about the Million Dollar Championship. DiBiase Jr’s attempt to “borrow the corpse” of the Million Dollar Championship to bring success met with failure. His time with the artificial title was lasted almost a year, yet having this championship had no long term positive benefits for DiBiase.

In conclusion, every time an old concept / superstar / event / championship is resurrected, the person doing the resurrecting is “borrowing the corpse to raise the spirit.” As with all strategies, the execution must be flawless and the person using the strategy must be capable of carrying it off. The Undertaker’s career is littered with examples of his resurrection, and it would have been too easy to discuss him in this article. The Rock and King Booker succeeded. Ted DiBiase Jr failed. The WWE overall, in its attempt to revive the Attitude Era, can succeed if the writers provide superstars with the right game-plan within the current PG framework and if the wrestlers can convincingly pull it off.

Follow me on Twitter @VanillaMandarin

Source: wrestlingtruth.com