YMMV / WWE New Generation Era

• Audience-Alienating Era: 1994-1995 is widely seen as the nadir of WWF/WWE, creatively and commercially. A large amount of this has to do with Vince McMahon's insistence on trying to push Lex Luger or Diesel as Suspiciously Similar Substitute replacements for Hulk Hogan (ignoring that both were doing just fine as Heels), when Bret Hart was a massive fan favourite and the guy most fans wanted to be the face of the company.
• Common Knowledge: Many fans incorrectly lump the bulk of 1997 in with the Attitude Era for how fondly remembered it is now, and how much more serious and less goofy it was than the earlier part of the New Generation Era. In reality, the Attitude Era didn't start until after Bret Hart left the company following the Montreal Screwjob in November of '97.
• Growing the Beard: The submission match between Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIII, resulting in a Face/Heel Double-Turn which saw the Hart Foundation become the Anti-Villain top Heels of the company and Stone Cold become an Anti-Hero underdog who the crowd loved to cheer as he feuded with everyone in sight. The remainder of 1997 would see the company transition into all-out gang warfare with multiple rival factions, while the main event scene became more intense and morally grey than what had been seen previously in the WWF. There was also the formation of D-Generation X and the first Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and HBK which heralded the arrival of Kane, in addition to Mankind getting over as a Face.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Similarly to the Attitude Era, the New Generation Era had some great main event level stars in Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Yokozuna, The Undertaker, Diesel, and Sycho Sid, and a handful of terrific upper-midcard stars in Razor Ramon, The 1-2-3 Kid, and Owen Hart, plus Mick Foley and a pre-neck injury "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in the latter half of the era. The lower-midcard and undercard, on the other hand, had an abundance of lame and overly-cartoony gimmicks that threatened to sink the WWF altogether.
• Too Good to Last:
  • The Hart Foundation's run was cut short by Bret Hart leaving for WCW. They were in the process of turning Face by virtue of being A Lighter Shade of Black compared to the reviled D-Generation X, which could have led to an insane blowoff... but the remaining members of the Hart Foundation would get squashed on Raw in the weeks following Bret's departure, before all of them bar Owen jumped ship to WCW.
  • "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Dude Love had insane levels of chemistry as tag-team partners, with The Dude being one of the very few people that Stone Cold ever showed respect to. They were together for less than three weeks before Austin's neck injury at SummerSlam '97, and never regrouped following his recovery.
• Star Trek Movie Curse: Wrestlemania X and XII are widely seen as pretty decent, with the former having the classic Bret vs Owen Hart and the first PPV ladder match with HBK vs Razor Ramon, and the latter having solid matches like the brawl between Goldust & Roddy Piper, Taker vs Diesel, and the 60 minute Iron Man match between HBK & Bret Hart. Wrestlemania XI and XIII are considered two of the absolute worst Wrestlemania events, with the former plagued by technical issues and awkward B-tier celebrity appearances, and the latter's only redeeming quality being the classic submission match between Hart & Austin.
• Vindicated by History: The early-middle portions of the New Generation Era were a major commercial flop, but with the benefit of hindsight and easier access to matches through streaming and home releases, this era of WWE gets credit for having some superb individual matches (most featuring Bret Hart or HBK, who were both in their prime during this era), even if the overall product was weak.