10 Things About The New Generation Era That Made No Sense

The New Generation Era of WWE was the time that the company wanted to improve its future by building new stars. WWE said farewell to Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage with the hopes of younger talent changing the game to help the company evolve. There were many classic moments involving the likes of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, but it wasn’t always perfect.

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Some of the ideas, scenarios, and general results made little sense watching it back today. Vince McMahon is not a perfect creative mind despite WWE finding such long-term success in the industry. Without further ado, let's find out what caused plenty of fans to scratch their heads watching the product. These moments and concepts from the New Generation Era made no sense.

10 Mabel Winning King Of The Ring

WWE started to embrace a newer style of wrestling with better workers like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, 1-2-3 Kid, and others having better matches. However, the progress was slowed down when Mabel randomly received a huge push.

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Vince McMahon still loved the appeal of the monster heel and had Mabel win the King of the Ring in 1995. Mabel struggled in his push having a horrible SummerSlam main event vs Diesel and injuring The Undertaker in their feud. So many better talents could have used the tournament win.

9 Burying Vader

Vader seemed like the prototypical wrestler Vince McMahon loved with his incredible success as a monster heel. WCW and New Japan each pushed Vader as a world champion and main eventer before WWE signed him.

Vince seemingly gave up on Vader relatively quickly into the run with later reports coming out that he came to view The Mastodon as lazy and sloppy in the ring. Vader was buried in the mid-card picture after losing his WWE Championship match to Shawn Michaels.

8 Fake Razor Ramon & Diesel

The departure of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall from WWE played a massive role in WCW taking over the Monday Night Wars due to their importance in the New World Order. WWE had fans interested when hyping up the returns of Diesel and Razor Ramon.

The reveal was other lesser known wrestlers at the time playing new versions of the gimmick. WWE wanted to flex that they owned the gimmicks, but it just backfired to upset fans. The foolish move saw Vince McMahon not understanding viewers would be upset with the lying.

7 Not Using Flash Funk

Flash Funk was a huge signing for WWE to the diehard fans when he made the move following his ECW time. The incredible matches during his time as 2 Cold Scorpio made fans excited about him moving to the bigger promotion.

WWE introduced him as Flash Funk in the mid-card picture, but they never committed to pushing him. Funk could have been a solid Intercontinental Champion reign and added to the much-needed mid-card depth. WWE signed him without really believing in his value.

6 Jerry Lawler & "Rowdy" Roddy Piper Main-Eventing A PPV

WWE’s rebranding of a new era was meant to showcase the younger stars of the future. King of the Ring 1994 featured a main event that defeated that process. Jerry Lawler and Roddy Piper faced off in the later stages of their career in a terrible match.

The better main event would have been Owen Hart vs Razor Ramon in the King of the Ring tournament finals. The lackluster main event with minimal interest made fans think twice about the era.

5 Fans Turning On Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels was made the face of WWE in 1996 when defeating Bret Hart for the WWE Championship. The incredible matches of Michaels made him a superb performer, but diehard markets started to turn on him.

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New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago booed Michaels in his title defenses despite having the style of match they typically preferred. The generic face gimmick likely caused them to turn on him in shocking fashion. Many of the diehard fans also preferred Bret and held some resentment towards Michaels beating him.

4 Ahmed Johnson's Short Time In The Nation Of Domination

Ahmed Johnson was one of the top rivals for the Nation of Domination when WWE wanted to push him as at top star. The hope was that Johnson would become one of the faces of the company with Vince McMahon viewing him as a top star.

Johnson lost all his momentum following a few disappointing performances and injuries. WWE made the big swerve of having him join the Nation by turning on The Undertaker. Another injury saw Ahmed missing a few weeks and getting kicked out of the faction to make his run utterly pointless.

3 Sycho Sid Winning WWE Championship

WWE established a higher caliber of in-ring skills when having Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker in top spots. Sycho Sid getting pushed to join that level just made things confusing by regressing the skill set.

The title reigns of Sid only saw his good matches coming against elite workers like Michaels and Hart. WWE regretted running with the WrestleMania 13 main event of Sid and Undertaker having a stinker. Sid is almost never mentioned today to show how much WWE cares for his run looking back.

2 Bob Backlund Beating Bret Hart

Bob Backlund winning the WWE Championship was among the strangest moments in WWE history. The prior title reign of Backlund ended in 1983 before he defeated Bret Hart in controversial fashion to win it back at Survivor Series 1994.

WWE ran the angle to have Backlund drop the belt to Diesel a few days later at a Madison Square Garden house show. Diesel winning came off well, but Backlund winning the top prize on PPV over Bret in any context felt strange for the New Generation Era.

1 Slowing Down Ken Shamrock's Push

Ken Shamrock signing with WWE provided the first major instance of a UFC fighter coming to WWE. The fans loved Shamrock with his huge debut coming as a referee in the infamous Steve Austin vs Bret HartWrestleMania 13 classic.

Shamrock taking down Bret after the match made him a fan favorite. WWE utilized Shamrock well for the early months of his career, but they randomly just slowed down the push. Shamrock was in the mid-card by the time the Attitude Era started.

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