The Attitude Era could not exist in today's WWE

Attitude Era – The most profitable era in WWE history

There is no doubt the Attitude Era of WWE spoiled wrestling fans who had become accustomed to the “shock and awe” style Vince McMahon made famous after the decline of Hulkamania. So many times, I have heard fans complain that the reason wrestling is failing to keep them interested is because the premise of “what will happen next” has been taken away from television because of politically correct sensibilities.

Today’s WWE is a mishmash of lackluster matches, programs and poor interviews. All with the intent of making us long for the days of DX, The Nation of Domination and the smell of what The Rock is cooking.

It’s an era that will never live another day in WWE or any other major wrestling promotion. Part of the agony we all feel is reason we watch night after night – we hope the past will recreate itself. We want Vince McMahon to rehash these types of storylines, give us a “thrill” and make us tell everyone we have two words for them – Forget It!

The Attitude Era was a period in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, known now as WWE) and professional wrestling history that, according to WWE, began sometime in the latter half of the 1990s. The company ceased usage of the official "WWF Attitude" logo – first introduced in December 1997 – in May 2002. The era was marked by a shift to more adult-oriented programming content, which was accomplished in a number of different ways; including an increase in the level of depicted violence and the incorporation of sexually suggestive, horrific, or otherwise politically incorrect characters and story lines created for shock value. Similar to the 1980s professional wrestling boom, the Attitude Era was a surge in the popularity of sports entertainment in the United States as television ratings and pay-per-view buy-rates saw record highs. The Attitude Era is widely regarded as the most recent professional wrestling 'boom'.

The era saw several wrestlers rise to stardom, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind, Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Kane; established star The Undertaker continued his main event prominence, as did fellow veterans Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Vader, Sycho Sid and Ron Simmons in the early stages of the era. Wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Big Show, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero – who were unhappy with their employment in rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) – jumped ship to WWF to ultimately become headliners for the company (Big Show and Benoit having previously been world champions in WCW). Other prominent Attitude Era performers who later became world champions in WWE were Edge, Jeff Hardy, Bradshaw, Christian and Mark Henry.

This imagery would never happen in the PG era of today’s WWE

For five years, which doesn’t seem that long, wrestling was part of the subculture of entertainment in such a way, we all were repeating dialogue and wearing merchandise our parents wouldn’t have allowed us to be seen in when we were younger (my mother was appalled at some of the things I wore). Variety made wrestling cool. Options made us love it more. Entertainment is what Vince McMahon promised, and that is exactly what he gave us.

What is on television now is an out of whack fabrication like someone threw a bunch of ideas on a wall, just to see what stuck and what fell to the floor. The Attitude Era not only defined McMahon’s second chapter of brilliance, it helped define all of us as fans and what we really wanted to see on television.

Could another Attitude Era exist in today’s professional wrestling? Probably not. Too many questions, too many protests, too many issues with social media. If the troubles with Hulk Hogan, comments made by Paige, continual gripping by Bret Hart and growing issue of fans coming over the rails to be part of the action wasn’t enough, the idea of crotch grabbing, thong-wearing women and softcore porn antics would break the Internet. It’s catchy and it would boost ratings – until the morality police got involved. I wonder if this is something Donald Trump approves of.

Another reason to stay the hell away from it.

History in professional wrestling cannot repeat itself. No matter how hard it has been attempted and very few succeed (Flair-Steamboat, Rock-Austin, ‘Taker-Michaels), it cannot capture an audience like it did before. That is why it’s called history. That’s why it pains us to watch what we see now because it does not compare. Brining back superstars of that generation only upset us more. They aren’t who they used to be, they aren’t as magnanimous. Wrestling fans want their cake, their superstars and a Shawn Michaels-Razor Ramon ladder match all in one helping.

So we have to live with what we are stuck with. We have to take the good (Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens) with the bad (Kane, The Ascension) and accept it. Maybe another Attitude Era will evolve. But nothing like it was almost 20 years ago. That would be asking too much. It would also be asking us to forget there is a reason it is called history in the first place.