Replacing those of the past easier said than done.
The Rock versus Stone Cold Steve Austin was arguably the biggest rivalry in the Attitude Era, with the exception of Austin versus McMahon. Two charismatic characters who were over with the fans and brought in streams of revenue. The Rock as the people’s champion and Stone Cold as the Texas beer drinking redneck who defied authority.
Others like Kurt Angle, Triple H, Undertaker, Kane, Mick Foley, and even all four McMahons were integral parts of what made the Attitude Era great. If you didn’t have one top wrestler, you had the other. This also applied to tag teams and stables.
While the Dudley Boyz and New Age Outlaws returned in recent times, not allowing tables to be used effectively made the Dudley Boyz not who they were then. This also applied to the New Age Outlaws not allowed to curse in the PG Era. While John Cena held the face of WWE for a while, eventually the torch had to be passed on to someone else. John Cena is up there with those in the Attitude Era in terms of charisma and talent, but the talent depth disappeared as WWE cut costs.
Their eight-year relationship with development territory Ohio Valley Wrestling ended, they trimmed their roster size, and completely changed the philosophy of the company. This had an initial shock to all wrestling fans, especially those who grew up with the Attitude Era. Without replacing the talent of the past, ratings inevitably declined.
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