For those of you who don’t know, the Attitude Era in WWE (WWF at the time) was one of the most thrilling, exciting and hardcore period is wrestling history. It began shortly after the event called “The Montreal Screwjob” and ended shortly after the “invasion” event.
People who like betting on wrestling were rocking point spreads because you never knew what was going to happen. For those brief 15 years, the Attitude Era placed World Wrestling Entertainment formally Federation on the global map. People all over the world would watch events unfold as things got pretty heated as time went by.
Back then, you’d have to wake up in the middle of the night to watch the matches on TV due to different time zones across the world or you’d use your VCR to record while you’ve slept. But what was it about this era that people loved so much? Let’s find out.
Hardcore content
Back when the Attitude Era began, there were no PG restrictions we have today. Therefore, wrestlers were engaged in hardcore duels and fights that often resulted in serious injuries. The most notable injury was Mick Foley’s injuries he got from Mankind vs. The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell, a 16 feet (4.9 m) match during the King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 28, 1998.
After being chokeslammed by the Undertaker through the roof of the cell, Foley received quite the injuries but he continued on until his injuries got even more severe. The result was his early retirement in 2000. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The introduction of Hardcore Championship belt and Tables, Ladders and Chairs (TLC) matches added more excitement to the already exciting matches.
Austin 3:16
One of the most notable characters throughout the Attitude Era was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin’s beef with Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWE franchise, was one of the most entertaining series of events in the history of the WWE.
Moreover, Austin had a beef with pretty much everyone including Mike Tyson who made a guest appearance as a “Special Guest Enforcer” referee for the Wrestlemania XIV. This beer-drinking rebel who “flipped off” everyone in his way easily won the hearts and minds of every WWE fan.
Awesome storytelling
After the backlash WWE received for its hardcore content, it was time to tone evreything down. However, storytellers in the industry went out with a bang. The end of the Attitude Era also started the merger of WWF, WCW and ECW but it was made to be entertaining, not a backroom corporate deal.
Hence the so-called “Invasion” began where wrestlers from WCW and ECW would attack wrestlers from WWF at the time. The drama, the violence and unexpected turn of events marked this period as both the end of one era and the beginning of the new one.
As you might imagine, WWF won in the end, which resulted in WCW and ECW wrestlers joining the franchise for SmackDown and RAW. WWF changed their name to WWE after a dispute with World Wildlife Federation and PG-13 criteria was enforced from that moment on.
Closing Words
Let’s be completely honest. People love hardcore content with plenty of violence, even though everyone knows that everything is heavily scripted. Despite all that, it was very entertaining and exciting to follow through the Attitude Era.
WWE content today still provides some of the best entertainment the world has to offer but it’s not the same. But life moves on as so does everyone else. Those who remember the Attitude Era are always going to be slightly disappointed that it ended in the first place.
