History ValuesDissonance / ProfessionalWrestling

* "Badass" characters in wrestling are often seen drinking beer as part of their gimmick (Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, Wrestling/TheAPA, and [[Wrestling/JimFullington The Sandman]] spring to mind). This is because in the US drinking is supposed to be an "adult" thing and the young audience will assume this indicates the character is rebellious. However, said wrestler is usually drinking Budweiser, which to people in the UK is considered quite a weak beer and would have very little effect on one's personality. This would certainly not be enough to turn you into the fighting machine writers would have you believe it does. Coupled with the fact that many people in the UK (and Europe) start drinking at home when they are around 13 or 14, the overall effect is of the character trying too hard to be cool.

* The big issue in recent years has been the furor over unprotected chairshots. Knowing what it's known now about they can cause concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), any new fans to professional wrestling will probably wince when they go back to look at hardcore matches from the WWF's Wrestling/AttitudeEra or, God forbid, Wrestling/{{ECW}}. (Ironically, the wrestlers in much more violent promotions that proceeded them such as Wrestling/{{FMW}} and W*ING, still knew to protect their heads and nobody thought less of Kanemura for it.)

** The idea of matches being won with what are now exceptionally basic moves extended well into the 1980's in the United Kingdom wrestling scene. One of Wrestling/WilliamRegal's earliest televised matches, as a teenager on British network ITV ended when his opponent landed a single drop kick that knocked him down for a 10 count.

** The idea of matches being won with what are now exceptionally basic extended well into the 1980's in the United Kingdom wrestling scene. One of Wrestling/WilliamRegal's earliest televised matches, as a teenager on British network ITV ended when his opponent landed a single drop kick that knocked him down for a 10 count.

* Certainly the case with racial segments WWE have done. There was once a group called Wrestling/TheNationOfDomination, which consisted of black supremacists with rotating roster. When [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] was in charge, he has his goons hold down Wrestling/{{Chyna}} (a white woman) and tells Wrestling/MarkHenry to force himself on her, which he would've done had Wrestling/ShawnMichaels not saved her.

* Pro Wrestling around the world varies according to perception and style, and wrestlers who work in multiple countries tend to adapt their style to the local brand. It also varies with time. In America, during television's infancy in the 1950s, wrestling matches were mostly just wrestling and if they weren't it involved mostly punching. In the 1980s, it began to be considered an addictive, but cheesy, soap opera. In the 1990s, talking, entrances and promos greatly outpaced matches themselves, which also tended to have even more brawling and use of weapons than actual wrestling. At its lowest point's worst, American wrestling is treated as a sideshow, at times, literally for concerts and such. Big time wrestling (read: Wrestling/{{WWE}} and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]) has become increasingly scripted, with emphasis on storyline and "high spots" (big stunts and {{signature move}}s). Terminology too, as calling a pro wrestling angle a "storyline" would be considered an insult prior to 1989, when the belief that wrestling wasn't predetermined was still enforced(and still is an insult depending on how much one wants to separate professional wrestling from other types of television).

* Pro Wrestling around the world varies according to perception and style, and wrestlers who work in multiple countries tend to adapt their style to the local brand. It also varies with time. In America, during television's infancy in the 1950s, wrestling matches were mostly just wrestling and if they weren't it involved mostly punching. In the 1980s, it began to be considered an addictive, but cheesy soap opera. In the 1990s, talking, entrances and promos greatly outpaced matches themselves, which also tended to have even more brawling and use of weapons than actual wrestling. At its lowest point's worst, American wrestling is treated as a sideshow, at times, literally for concerts and such. Big time wrestling (read: Wrestling/{{WWE}} and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]) has become increasingly scripted, with emphasis on storyline and "high spots" (big stunts and {{signature move}}s). Terminology too, as calling a pro wrestling angle a "storyline" would be considered an insult prior to 1989, when the belief that wrestling wasn't predetermined was still enforced(and still is an insult depending on how much one wants to separate professional wrestling from a other types of television).

* In America, working stiff or [[NoSell No-Selling]] your opponents offence is considered extremely unprofessional unless done for a good reason, e.g. to build up some "hardcore" credit or put someone over as a [[WrestlingMonster monster]], and is to be done only with your opponent's consent and/or instructions from management. In Japan, where wrestlers have a more relaxed schedule and more time to recover between matches, working stiff is not only allowed but encouraged by many promotions, and many wrestling schools teach students not to sell for anyone who isn't legitimately beating them up. This can lead to problems when wrestlers trained in one country cross over to the other.

* This is arguably the basis of Jim Cornette's loathing of Wrestling/KennyOmega for wrestling a match with a nine-year old girl in the Japanese based World Wonder Ring STARDOM. Even if Japanese audiences might have enjoyed the match, most Americans would find a grown man wrestling a little girl to be ''extremely'' weird, if not creepy (not to mention completely kayfabe-destroying when the kid successfully pulls off a pro wrestling move on the grown man). World Wonder Ring STARDOM, for whatever reason, thought a "{{satire}}" of grade school angle that also started off a parodying [[Wrestling/SatoruSayama Tiger Mask]]'s KidAppealCharacter status by having the school kid being beaten up by Yuziki Aikawa, otherwise a {{face}} wrestler, wearing a replica of the tiger's mask until the kid survived via time limit draw, was an appropriate cool down match. But this didn't ''completely'' destroy kayfabe because the crowds considered previous matches where was Aikawa beaten to a swollen and bloody, particularly her "[[PayingTheirDues due paying]]" [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown experience]] from Nanae Takahashi, allowance for a little fun before more such matches, not to mention having a celebrity like Aikawa in the ring at all was something of a DancingBear. Omega agreeing to participate in this angle may or may not have been looked at as sympathetically, but the live crowd did little more than laugh at him when the kid still got a time limit draw. It's not like Omega's has to worry about getting over in what's usually an all women company anyway and the male companies didn't seem to hold it against him. In the US ''[[CausticCritic The World Famous Flee Market]]'' castigated Omega for participating even before Cornette became aware and even more sympathetic parties like ROH used Omega's ''Kid's Fight'' participation as fodder for angles, such as Omega's feud with Wrestling/AdamCole.

* Pro Wrestling around the world varies according to perception and style, and wrestlers who work in multiple countries tend to adapt their style to the local brand. It also varies with time. In America, during television's infancy in the 1950s, wrestling matches were mostly just wrestling and if they weren't it involved mostly punching. In the 1980s, it began to be considered an addictive, but cheesy soap opera. In the 1990s, talking, entrances and promos greatly outpaced matches themselves, which also tended to have even more brawling and use of weapons than actual wrestling. At its lowest point's worst, American wrestling is treated as a sideshow, at times, literally for concerts and such. Big time wrestling (read: Wrestling/{{WWE}} and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]) has become increasingly scripted, with emphasis on storyline and "high spots" (big stunts and {{signature move}}s). Terminology too, as calling a pro wrestling angle a "storyline" would be considered an insult prior to 1989, when the belief that wrestling wasn't predetermined was still enforced.

** During the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was common to see men beating up women. Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was known to give the [[FinishingMove Stunner]] to multiple women, including Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon, Linda [=McMahon=], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Wrestling/StacyKeibler, all to loud cheers of the audience. But when both Wrestling/KurtAngle and Wrestling/{{Umaga}} brutally beat up Wrestling/{{Maria|Kanellis}} during two different matches, and later, when the 7-foot-3 Great Khali began choking the life out of Wrestling/AshleyMassaro and shaking her like a rag doll to the point where she began [[BloodFromTheMouth bleeding from the mouth]], the fans were outraged. Between this and their attempt to clean up the product post-Wrestling/ChrisBenoit led to all man-on-woman violence being banned. With feminism having a resurgence in support throughout the 2010s and far greater social awareness of issues like domestic violence and sexual assault, this would no longer fly today.[[note]]Complicating matters in Steve Austin's case is that he was once involved in a domestic abuse case.[[/note]]

* WWE was often quite fond of Divas using SlutShaming in promos against each other. This isn't a problem when it's heels doing it, since they're meant to be in the wrong - but having faces do it too definitely looks uncomfortable from today's perspective. Case in point - in Nikki Bella's feuds with Carmella and Natalya respectively, both of them were heels and attacked Nikki over her relationship with John Cena. Nikki's part in the angle was to prove that she earned her achievements on her own. Fast forward to 2018 when Ronda Rousey slut shames Nikki for being in a relationship with John Cena - and she was meant to be the face, yet came across as a DesignatedHero because of it. The only difference between Ronda's comments and the previous two was that the crowd was expected to cheer them.
* Japanese wrestling is a lot more lenient with its rules than Western wrestling. American fans who are used to an instant disqualification upon the use of a weapon and a strict ten-count as soon as a wrestler leaves the ring are often shocked when [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling NJPW]] wrestlers hit each other with chairs and fight for ''minutes'' outside the ring without even a stern word from the referee. Japanese promotions consider a disqualification or countout [[JapaneseSpirit a dishonorable way to win]], so almost anything goes outside the ring and countouts don't begin until a wrestler is incapacitated outside the ring. Even in the case where a wrestler brings a foreign object into the ring, the ref will do everything in his power to get it away from the offender instead of disqualifying him.

* This is what cost Jim Cornette his job for the ''NWA Powerrr'' show in 2019. The show had been building up some attention online for its throwback presentation of modern stars in a 1980s-style studio wrestling setting. Sadly, Cornette took that too far in the eighth episode where he tried to make Trevor Murdoch sound tough by bringing up a line on "He's the only man who can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia." It didn't seem to occur to Cornette that a joke that may have sounded funny in the 1980s or '90s wouldn't go over as well in 2019. A massive backlash on social media forced the show to be taken off Website/YouTube to edit the line out. Cornette resigned within a day and many wrestling blogs stopped covering the series.
* This is arguably the basis of Jim Cornette's loathing of Wrestling/KennyOmega for wrestling a Japanese match with a nine-year old girl. Even if Japanese audiences might have enjoyed the match, most Americans would find a grown man wrestling a little girl to be ''extremely'' weird, if not creepy (not to mention completely kayfabe-destroying).

** During the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was common to see men beating up women. Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was known to give the [[FinishingMove Stunner]] to multiple women, including Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon, Linda [=McMahon=], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Wrestling/StacyKeibler, all to loud cheers of the audience. But when both Wrestling/KurtAngle and Wrestling/{{Umaga}} brutally beat up Wrestling/{{Maria|Kanellis}} during two different matches, and later, when the 7-foot-3 Great Khali began choking the life out of Wrestling/AshleyMassaro and shaking her like a rag doll to the point where she began [[BloodFromTheMouth bleeding from the mouth]], the fans were outraged. Between this and their attempt to clean up the product post-Wrestling/ChrisBenoit led to all man-on-woman violence being banned. With feminism having a resurgence in support throughout the 2010s and far greater social awareness of issues like domestic violence and sexual assault, this would no longer fly today.

** Similarly, when Wrestling/TheUndertaker joined Wrestling/LexLuger's team of {{All American Face}}s for ''Survivor Series 1993'', he unveiled a thirteen-star "Betsy Ross" flag. In {{Kayfabe}}, Undertaker was an undead zombie from [[TheWildWest the Old West]], meaning that was the flag of the USA when he was "alive".[[note]]This was something of ArtisticLicenseHistory, as the Old West era is usually believed to have begun in the 1850s, while the Betsy Ross flag started to decline in use in the 1790s. However, between 1861 and 1890 it was an acceptable alternative to depict the stars on the flag in a circular pattern similar to the Betsy Ross flag.[[/note]] In the present day, the Betsy Ross flag has been [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment associated by some]] with American extremist groups.[[note]]It is worth noting, though, that U.S. presidential inaugurations uses a large Betsy Ross flag alongside the modern flag to represent the history of the nation, and since the 1980s, this display also includes a U.S. flag design symbolizing the year the president's home state was admitted to the union.[[/note]]

* Mocked during Wrestling/JeffJarrett's heel phase in the late '90s, where he became outrageously sexist and kept shouting at women to literally StayInTheKitchen, "barefoot and pregnant." It eventually led to a Crowning Moment Of Awesome when the entire female roster ran out and kicked his ass.

* Pro Wrestling around the world varies according to perception and style, and wrestlers who work in multiple countries tend to adapt their style to the local brand. It also varies with time. In America, during television's infancy in the 1950s, wrestling matches were mostly just wrestling and if they weren't it involved mostly punching. In the 1980s, it began to be considered an addictive, but cheesy soap opera. In the 1990s, talking, entrances and promos greatly outpaced matches themselves, which also tended to have even more brawling and use of weapons than actual wrestling. At its lowest points worst, American wrestling is treated as a sideshow, at times, literally for concerts and such. Big time wrestling (read: Wrestling/{{WWE}} and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]) has become increasingly scripted, with emphasis on storyline and "high spots" (big stunts and {{signature move}}s). Terminology too, as calling a pro wrestling angle a "storyline" would be considered an insult prior to 1989.

* Certainly the case with racial segments they have done. Their was once a group called The Nation of Domination, which consisted of black supremacists with rotating roster. When the Rock was in charge, he has his goons hold down Chyna (a white woman) and tells Mark Henry to force himself on her which he would've done had Shawn Michaels not saved her.
** Even more controversial examples come from Triple H, where he and DX mock The Nation and come out in blackface. Followed years later by his feud with Booker T. where he says people like him don't win championships. It follows weeks of him degrading Booker T. by calling him "nappy head", flicking money at him to fish out of the toilet, telling him to clean his shoes, and even saying he's not a wrestler but an entertainer to people like him -telling him to dance for him. This story-line was controversial at the time, even making the news, and it's looked upon even worse in present day.
* In the 1950s, wrestling matches were commonly won by moves that modern viewers would find incredibly boring, such as the Head Vice, the Abdominal Stretch, and the Airplane Spin. One wrestling gimmick on the MTV series ''Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX'' {{lampshade|Hanging}}d this: Matt Classic (better known as Wrestling/ColtCabana) who'd been in suspended animation for five decades and used all three of the above moves as his finishers.

* Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield ran afoul of this while performing at a WWE show in Germany in 2004. He jokingly made a Nazi salute (arm pointed diagonally forward with palm rigid), then goose-step marched down the ring apron. In the United States it's just bog standard CheapHeat; in Germany, it's ''illegal'' (see more at NoSwastikas). WWE came under fire for this incident, and they promptly disciplined Bradshaw by.... booking him to win the WWE Championship at ''The Great American Bash''. On the other hand, Bradshaw did legitimately lose a job he had as a TV stock analyst over the incident.
* It can be pretty offensive watching WWE's heel Divas go about their slutty antics. But older or conservative viewers are liable to get a dissonant feeling while watching ''face'' Divas behave the exact same way. Wrestling/CandiceMichelle was particularly guilty of this: even as a face, she would sometimes plant a pseudo-lesbian kiss on other face Divas such as Wrestling/TorrieWilson, deeply troubling some viewers [[GirlOnGirlIsHot while inevitably delighting others]]. Wrestling/MickieJames's PsychoLesbian also almost completely failed to get over anyway that wasn't positive, as she was never booed for an extended amount of time despite quickly dropping all her previous sympathetic traits.
* Up until the 1980s, it was taboo for a man to even so much as threaten a woman, be she a fan, a wrestler or a valet. While comedian Creator/AndyKaufman once had an act where he would wrestle a woman, the objective was never to injure the woman; this was more for showmanship and to sell his act to a male audience. The changes came in the late 1980s, when Wrestling/MissElizabeth – the valet (and real-life wife) of Wrestling/RandySavage – was shoved by the Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan, had her wrist and ankle broken by various heels, was slapped by Wrestling/JakeRoberts (after being made to beg for Savage's well-being), had her name sullied by [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown]], and was constantly threatened, all to the outrage of the face-leaning announcers; at one time, Wrestling/AndreTheGiant grabbed Elizabeth's hair and was planning to brutally injure her, but Roberts -- several years before he himself slapped Elizabeth -- stopped the whole thing. While Elizabeth was a face, the face-leaning announcers would invariably cheer when the heel [[Wrestling/SherriMartel Sensational Sherri]] was knocked around, usually by the Wrestling/UltimateWarrior[!]. At the same time, heelish announcer Wrestling/JesseVentura condemned Sherri being beaten up but blamed Elizabeth when she was in danger. (Even Wrestling/BobbyHeenan, during "Tuesday in Texas," was shocked when Roberts slapped Elizabeth, sure that a [=DDT=] was coming.)
** During the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was common to see men beating up women. Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was known to give "stunners" to multiple women, including Stephanie [=McMahon=] Linda [=McMahon=], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Wrestling/StacyKeibler, all to loud cheers of the audience. But when both Wrestling/KurtAngle and Wrestling/{{Umaga}} brutally beat super-hot WWE diva [[Wrestling/MariaKanellis Maria]] during two different matches, and later, when the 7-foot-3 Great Khali began choking the life and shaking like a rag doll super-sexy diva Wrestling/AshleyMassaro to the point where she began [[BloodFromTheMouth bleeding from the mouth]], the fans were outraged. Between this and their attempt to clean up the product post-Wrestling/ChrisBenoit led to all man-on-woman violence being banned. With feminism having a resurgence in support throughout the 2010s and far greater social awareness of issues like domestic violence and sexual assault, this would no longer fly today.

* A well-known incident happened between Wrestling/JimmySnuka and Wrestling/RoddyPiper during one of the latter's "Piper's Pit" segments, where Piper tried to make Snuka "feel at home" by offering him coconuts and bananas (Snuka, born James Reiher, is of mixed Melanesian and European descent) and calling him a "monkey." It's been referenced many times over the years to the point where the WWE can now comfortably parody it without causing any offense.
* The big issue in recent years has been the furor over unprotected chairshots. Knowing what we know now, any new fans to professional wrestling will probably wince when they go back to look at hardcore matches from the WWF's Wrestling/AttitudeEra or, God forbid, Wrestling/{{ECW}}. (ironically, the wrestlers in much more violent promotions that proceeded them such as Wrestling/{{FMW}} and W*ING, still knew to protect their heads and nobody thought less of Kanemura for it)

* Back in the old days, throwing another wrestler over the top rope was an automatic DQ. Wrestling/{{WCW}} actually made an angle out of it, when main eventer Wrestling/LexLuger threw midcarder Wrestling/BuffBagwell over the top rope - and Bagwell immediately [[RulesLawyer demanded his win via DQ]]. He got it, and the rule was afterwards officially removed from the rulebook due to being antiquated.

* 'Badass' characters in wrestling are often seen drinking beer as part of their gimmick (Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, the [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield A]]P[[Wrestling/RonSimmons A]], and [[Wrestling/JimFullington The Sandman]] spring to mind). This is because in the US drinking is supposed to be an 'adult' thing and the young audience will assume this indicates the character is rebellious. However, said wrestler is usually drinking Budweiser, which to people in the UK is considered quite a weak beer and would have very little effect on one's personality. This would certainly not be enough to turn you into the fighting machine writers would have you believe it does. Coupled with the fact that many people in the UK (and Europe) start drinking at home when they are around 13 or 14, the overall effect is of the character trying too hard to be cool.
* Really, the Attitude Era in general (roughly 1998 to 2001) compared to today's WWE, which is still edgy but comes ''nowhere'' near the gleeful subversiveness of the Attitude years. Satanic rituals, race angles (including D-Generation X coming out in {{Blackface}}), heels (or [[WhatTheHellHero even faces]]!) [[WouldHitAGirl hitting women]] ''on purpose'' and getting cheered for it, etc.
** Which makes sense, considering that everything on television these days has to be politically correct, especially since WWE has been funding Linda [=McMahon's=] senate campaign and is thus trying to pretend that the more... offensive bits of the Attitude Era never happened.
*** One of the worst side effects of the Attitude Era was how almost EVERYONE got turned into a DracoInLeatherPants, and you had to be ''truly'' evil, despicable or, in the case of Jarrett, physically incapable of getting over in the first place, not to become "cool."
* Vince [=McMahon=] is a fairly hardcore conservative, and whenever a feud even touches politics (which, admittedly, happens only rarely), he books the conservative as the face. Problem is, his target audience has shifted left politically since the 80s and now skews fairly liberal (being primarily middle-class Americans ages 15 to 25), which makes things put things like [[http://www.wrestlecrap.com/classic40.html this in-ring debate]] on the Iraq war seem, well, silly.
** Somewhat subverted with Wrestling/JackSwagger's heel run, which took popular conservative idealogies and turned them into cartoonishly exaggerated villainous versions. However to some people, [[StrawmanHasAPoint he and Zeb were right.]] See also, JBL's 2004 feud with Wrestling/EddieGuerrero.
* Foreign wrestlers (or [[FakeNationality American wrestlers billed as foreigners]]) are [[ForeignWrestlingHeel usually booked as the heel]], and nationality was usually played up as part of the gimmick until very recently. Villainous nationalities included [[ThoseWackyNazis German]], [[DirtyCommunists Russian]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese]], and - somewhat ironically, as the best technical wrestlers in the world have come from there - Canadian, particularly ''[[FrenchJerk French]]''-Canadian. However, when these characters would wrestle before crowds in their homelands (or supposed homelands), they would as often as not be booked to win the match, and gain wild applause from the audience despite still being heels! (Wrestling/JerryLawler referred to these incidents as [[Franchise/{{Superman}} "Bizarro World."]])

** The Curtain Call Incident where the members of the Kliq broke Kayfabe at a house show to hug (before two members went off to WCW) resulted in Triple H getting ''punished''. These days the attitude is that house shows are CanonDiscontinuity and something only counts if it happens on TV. It's not uncommon for workers to wrestle in a different role (as in a face works heel) if WWE wants to test them for a potential turn - or if they don't have anyone else to work with.

** Similarly, when Wrestling/TheUndertaker joined Wrestling/LexLuger’s team of {{All American Face}}s for ''Survivor Series 1993'', he unveiled a thirteen-star “Betsy Ross” flag. In {{Kayfabe}}, Undertaker was an undead zombie from the Old West, meaning that was the flag of the USA when he was “alive”. In the present day, the Betsy Ross flag has been [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment associated by some]] with American extremist groups (though it is worth noting that the BR flag flew at the inauguration of UsefulNotes/BarackObama).

* Wrestling promotions in the current age that refuse to book women are often looked upon with hostility and viewed as sexist (just look at how much shit Wrestling/RingOfHonor got during the years it was male-only). The same doesn't apply to Japan, where promotions are either male-only (''puroresu'') or female-only (''joshi puroresu''), and female promotions have outdrawn male promotions in the past (Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling was a bigger draw than [[Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling its male counterpart]] in TheEighties). In fact, when Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling toured America in 2018 and a petition popped up demanding they book female wrestlers, said petition faced backlash not only from other wrestling fans who thought they were being disrespectful to puroresu tradition, but from ''joshi promotions themselves''.
* At Royal Rumble 2005, ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'' winner Daniel Puder was subjected to a legit beating during the Rumble match at the hands of notorious backstage enforcers Wrestling/BobHolly, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit. This was a punishment for Puder daring to actually fight back against Wrestling/KurtAngle in a shoot match, with many backstage believing the rookie had ideas above his station. Essentially, WWE aired a public hazing live on PPV in front of millions of people worldwide. In the "Be A Star" era, that would never happen, as WWE have worked hard to bury their long history of backstage bullying and hazing.
* This is what cost Jim Cornett his job for the ''NWA Powerr" show in 2019. The show had been building up some attention online for its throwback presentation of modern stars in a 1980s-style studio wrestling setting. Sadly, Cornette took that too far in the eighth episode where he tried to make Trevor Murdoch sound tough by bringing up a line on "He's the only man who can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia.” It didn't seem to occur to Cornette that a joke that may have sounded funny in the 1980s or '90s wouldn't go over as well in 2019. A massive backlash on social media forced the show to be taken off You Tube to edit the line out. Cornette resigned within a day and many wrestling blogs stopped covering the series.
* This is arguably the basis of Wrestling/JimCornette's loathing of Wrestling/KennyOmega for wrestling a Japanese match with a nine-year old girl. Even if Japanese audiences might have enjoyed the match, most Americans would find a grown man wrestling a little girl to be ''extremely'' weird, if not creepy.

* Certain tactics during matches today would earn a DQ from the ref while during the Wrestling/AttitudeEra or Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra they would only get a small warning. As such, older fans may find these tactics weak finishes to a match. Examples include:
** Wrestling/{{Layla}} El got [[Wrestling/MichelleMcCool her partner]] disqualified by throwing a shoe into the ring. Wrestling/TeddyLong did this in a match between [[Wrestling/CarleneMoore Jazz]] and Wrestling/TrishStratus in 2003. All he got was a stern word from the ref.
** A manager attacking a wrestler during a match today is enough to get a DQ while in the past they would either get a warning or ejected from the match.
** Physically touching the referee at all.
** Attacking your opponent ''after'' the match (resulting in a "reversed decision" if the heel was the victor, which is just silly).

* This is what cost Jim Cornett his job for the ''NWA Powerr" show in 2019. The show had been building up some attention online for its throwback presentation of modern stars in a 1980s-style studio wrestling setting. Sadly, Cornette took that too far in the eighth episode where he tried to make Trevor Murdoch sound tough by bringing up a line on "He's the only man who can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia.” It didn't seem to occur to Cornette that a joke that may have sounded funny in the 1980s or '90s wouldn't go over as well in 2019. A massive backlash on social media forced the show to be taken off You Tube to edit the line out. Cornette resigned within a day and many wrestling blogs stopped covering the series.

** Similarly, when Wrestling/TheUndertaker joined Wrestling/LexLuger’s team of {{All American Face}}s for ''Survivor Series 1993'', he unveiled a thirteen-star “Betsy Ross” flag. In {{Kayfabe}}, Undertaker was an undead zombie from the Old West, meaning that was the flag of the USA when he was “alive”. In the present day, the Betsy Ross flag has likewise been co-opted by white supremacists, and fallen out of favour with the mainstream.

** This gimmick might not work anymore in the US either, since a wrestler well known for ''never'' drinking alcohol is Wrestling/CMPunk, and he is ''incredibly'' cool.

* At Royal Rumble 2005, ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'' winner Daniel Puder was subjected to a legit beating during the Rumble match at the hands of notorious backstage enforcers Wrestling/BobHolly, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit. This was a punishment for Puder daring to actually fight back against Wrestling/KurtAngle in a shoot match, with many backstage believing the rookie had ideas above his station. Essentially, WWE aired a public hazing live on PPV in front of millions of people worldwide. In the "Be A Star" era, that would never happen, as WWE have worked hard to bury their long history of backstage bullying and hazing.

** Similarly, when Wrestling/TheUndertaker joined Wrestling/LexLuger’s team of {{All American Face}}|s for ''Survivor Series 1993'', he unveiled a thirteen-star “Betsy Ross” flag. In {{Kayfabe}}, Undertaker was an undead zombie from the Old West, meaning that was the flag of the USA when he was “alive”. In the present day, the Betsy Ross flag has likewise been co-opted by white supremacists, and fallen out of favour with the mainstream.

* Foreign wrestlers (or [[FakeNationality American wrestlers billed as foreigners]]) are [[ForeignWrestlingHeel usually booked as the heels]], and nationality was usually played up as part of the gimmick until very recently. Villainous nationalities included [[ThoseWackyNazis German]], [[DirtyCommunists Russian]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese]], and - somewhat ironically, as the best technical wrestlers in the world have come from there - Canadian, particularly ''[[FrenchJerk French]]''-Canadian. However, when these characters would wrestle before crowds in their homelands (or supposed homelands), they would as often as not be booked to win the match, and gain wild applause from the audience despite still being heels! (Wrestling/JerryLawler referred to these incidents as [[Franchise/{{Superman}} "Bizarro World."]])

** Similarly, when Wrestling/TheUndertaker joined Wrestling/LexLuger’s team of AllAmericanFaces for ''Survivor Series 1993'', he unveiled a thirteen-star “Betsy Ross” flag. In {{Kayfabe}}, Undertaker was an undead zombie from the Old West, meaning that was the flag of the USA when he was “alive”. In the present day, the Betsy Ross flag has likewise been co-opted by white supremacists, and fallen out of favour with the mainstream.

* In the old days of wrestling, extending even early into the WWF's "Federation Years" in TheEighties, most wrestling matches consisted of {{Jobber}} [[SquashMatch squashes]], while matches between name talents would typically end in a time limit draw to protect both stars. In fact, a series of time limit draws was the standard build to a final decisive blow-off match, either to estabish that two wrestlers were evenly matched; or to have a {{Face}} make a good showing against a {{Heel}}, only to have the bad guy saved by the bell just before he could get the pin. Nowadays, any wrestlers who finish on a time limit draw will be booed out of the buiding.

* At Royal Rumble 2005, ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'' winner Daniel Puder was subjected to a legit beating during the Rumble match at the hands of Wrestling/BobHolly, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit. This was a punishment for Puder daring to actually fight back against Wrestling/KurtAngle in a shoot match, with many backstage believing the rookie had ideas above his station. Essentially, WWE aired a public hazing live on PPV in front of millions of people worldwide. In the "Be A Star" era, that would never happen, as WWE have worked hard to bury their long history of backstage bullying and hazing.

* Wrestling promotions in the current age that refuse to book women are often looked upon with hostility and viewed as sexist (just look at how much shit Wrestling/RingOfHonor got during the years it was male-only). The same doesn't apply to Japan, where promotions are either male-only (''puroresu'') or female-only (''joshi puroresu''), and female promotions have outdrawn male promotions in the past (Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling was a bigger draw than [[Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling its male counterpart]] in TheEighties). In fact, when Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling toured America in 2018 and a petition popped up demanding they book female wrestlers, said petition faced backlash not only from other wrestling fans who thought they were being disrespectful to puroresu tradition, but from ''joshi promotions themselves''.

* In the 1950s, wrestling matches were commonly won by moves that modern viewers would find incredibly boring, such as the Head Vice, the Abdominal Stretch, and the Airplane Spin. One wrestling gimmick on the recent MTV series ''Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX'' {{lampshade|Hanging}}d this: Matt Classic (better known as Wrestling/ColtCabana) who'd been in suspended animation for five decades and used all three of the above moves as his finishers.