wait wait wait...you think the '97 writing was good? The year/era that brought us the infamous battles of DOA v. Los Boriquas? The incredible talents of Marvelous Marc Mero v. Butterbean and the horsefaced Debra as WWE Women's champ? The age that brought the downfall of the Hart Foundation in WWE, the rise of Chyna and the "Mr. Macmahon" character?
I (obviously) must disagree. Granted, what we've got now sucks, but I credit that just as much with lack of prep time as bad writing. The previous age had some time to build and got a good crop of ready-made upper midcarders handed to them by WCW (Benoit, Guerrero, Big Show, Jericho, etc...pre-buyout). Then they all got hurt/retired/died in the span of a year or two, and we got stuck with guys like Carlito, Lashley, Orton, and Batista to pick up the slack. Say what ya want about the bad writing now, its justified, but lets not make the dingleberry of 1997 into some sort of golden butt-nugget. It sucked back then too.