“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

I disagree Mr. Santayana. Who could forget the attitude era? Even wrestling fans who barely alive have heard the stories, seen the YouTube clips, and even played through Attitude Era mode on “WWE ’13”. But we are still finding ourselves repeating the archetypes and character roles we saw play out in the greatest era of professional wrestling history. With that in mind, I’ll make some comparisons (some of which are fairly obvious) between today’s stars and those of the Attitude Era… it’s Serious vs Fun!

Serious Comparisons

John Cena : The Rock

Like him or not, John Cena is the face of the WWE. And in my opinion he’s a damn good one. While Rocky is his prime could wrestle circles around John, Cena has the charisma, passion, and talent to transcend wrestling. He is a great person to represent WWE (and wrestling in general), as is the Rock.

And if history tells us anything, we will get a Cena heel turn before he steps away from wrestling full time.

CM Punk : Stone Cold

The consummate anti-hero. Both men could make you hate them or love them on almost Pavlovian command, so much so that a lot of people forget that Austin even functioned as a heel through various parts of his career.

Dolph Ziggler : Triple H

Dolph Ziggler is THAT. DAMN. GOOD. Even as a bad guy, Dolph is cool. People like him. People want to be him. Ziggler shirts sell. Triple H was the same way. He would walk out to “My Time” or “The Game”, and you would on some level admire the guy. I believe we will see Dolph rise to prominence in this era, much as we saw Trips do in the Attitude Era.

Daniel Bryan : Chris Jericho

Daniel Bryan is easily one of the most versatile wrestlers in WWE. He has aerial ability, agility, technical skill, and brawling aptitude. He can do pretty much anything in the ring, much as Jericho could in his prime. In the short time we’ve seen Bryan, his character evolution and psychology  is so reminiscent of Jericho’s post-attitude era characters.

Fun Comparisons

The SHIELD : New Age Outlaws and X-Pac

Especially if these guys are doing Trips’ bidding. “Hey, SHIELD guys!”

Fandango : D’Lo Brown

A crazy dancing man with mediocre dance moves and a turnbuckle finisher (leg drop / lo down frog splash). You’re looking at the real deal now… WHOOOOOOP!

3MB : A Crappy Version of Too Cool.

If 3MB came out in yellow sunglasses they would get a lot bigger pop!

So what are some of your serious and fun equivalencies from todays WWE and the attitude era? Let me know here or on Twitter – twitter.com/sswtom .  And be sure to follow our Podcast Account – twitter.com/sideslamtalk – and check back here for updates on new content.

-Tom Lahdnuh