WWE‘s Attitude Era is one of the most beloved time periods for all pro wrestling fans, with an incredible roster full of legends, all-time great storylines, and some of the best PPVs in the midst of Monday Night Wars against wcw. However, not everything was what it seems.
There are myths and falsehoods that fans are telling themselves and each other about WWE’s Attitude Era. Whether looking back through rose-tinted glasses, or just being prejudiced because it’s a nice time, there are several misconceptions about what many believe to be the boom period of professional wrestling.
10 Quality of work in the ring
The Attitude Era put together a variety of classic matches, including those for Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, and more, but when it comes to the in-ring work for some of these matches, they don’t hold up in comparison to the quality of today.
Back then, matches were more about fights, guns, shenanigans and more, rather than smooth in-ring work. Of course, this was the style of the time and it fit well with the way the company was and what the crowd wanted, but sometimes some of the in-ring work was lackluster, to say the least. On shows like Raw, most matches were under five minutes with quick sprints and he also didn’t finish anything, which wasn’t good quality.
9 best narration
There were some gems of stories in the Attitude Era, but it seems many fans overlook some of the utter horrors that took place in that period. Big Boss Man stole Big Show’s deceased father to set up a WWE PPV title match, the entire hit-and-run angle with Steve Austin, Vince McMahon being revealed as the Higher Power, and so much more, it was all completely bewildering and crazed book .
Heel and face turns often happened on a whim, particularly with the McMahon family, who dominated storylines during this time. Not everything was necessarily better than any other period in WWE history.
8 Factors for Winning the Monday Night Wars
A huge misconception is the view that WWE put WCW out of business, and that was because it won Monday Night Wars. While this was a factor in the bigger picture, WCW’s downfall was not due to the quality of WWE in the Attitude Era, but WCW itself.
Horrendous creative calls, incredibly overloaded madness, and terrible decisions by everyone behind the scenes led to its steep decline. The quality of WWE programming did improve from what it was just before the Attitude Era, but it wasn’t good enough to put anyone else out of business.
7 Influence of D-Generation X
WWE presents D-Generation X as a figurehead of the Attitude Era, sometimes even giving them credit for this change in WWE’s ‘attitude’. This was not the case. DX was never a consistent headlining act, and the likes of Triple H also parted ways with the group throughout this era.
The whole “invasion of WCW” segment and skit was funny, but it wasn’t a game-changing moment by any means.
6 Age of “big” stables and factions
WWE’s recent use of factions and stables has been something fans have been looking forward to for some time, with many again calling out the Attitude Era’s use of groups as a hugely positive thing.
However, it must be said that it was nothing special, and many factions were a mess. The Ministry of Darkness and the Corporation started off strong, but got very silly after a while and eventually it was hard to keep track of the whole angle of the invasion and the shifting of allegiances.
5 Women’s wrestling stars
Some of the legends and Hall of Famers of the WWE women’s division come straight out of the Attitude Era. However, it was a really bad time for women’s wrestling in general. Sure, there were some household names, but the era was sexist and targeted for WWE.
No time was given to the matches, the focus was more on his appearance, and listening to the comments at that time will make fans tear their ears off. The ‘legends’ that WWE refers to today have since become huge names for all the wrong reasons.
4 Sired of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Many wrestling fans attribute the Attitude Era to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. There’s no denying the importance of him, but the Attitude Era didn’t start with him. There were a wide variety of factors, one of which was the Montreal Screwjob, for example, which Austin had nothing to do with.
He was the biggest star in WWE, but he started it all.
3 ECW influence
ECW was booming during WWE’s Attitude Era period, and due to the risky nature of its content, with the extreme matches and 18+ style of shows, some fans claim that WWE was directly influenced.
Knowing Vince McMahon, there’s no way anything he did was influenced by a promotion like ECW. WWE’s change of style was something that was always going to happen at the time, with or without the existence of ECW.
2 Significant midcard championships
Fans talk about the “glory” days of the Intercontinental Championship, and the champions are sometimes referred to during the Attitude Era. However, this was not a good time for midcard titles in WWE.
The whole concept of ‘hot-potato’ seemed to come from the Attitude Era, with the Intercontinental, European and Hardcore belts passing around like a toy. There were no long reigns, memorable fights were few and far between, and fans would be kidding themselves that it was a great time for these titles.
1 Boom for tag team wrestling
Similarly to the previous point, Tag Team titles were also not treated with much importance at this time. A big reason for this misconception is the TLC matches between the Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz, and Edge & Christian.
Outside of these classics, much of tag team wrestling was treated as an afterthought, as it has been in every other era of WWE.