Is The Attitude Era Of The WWE Overrated?

[GlitchMarner]

One thing that is disappointing about the ruthless aggression era is the usage of Jericho. He was huge in 1999 and 2000 and really should have become the Champion earlier than he did. I liked him when he was the Undisputed Champion, but he wasn't booked to look particularly credible as Champion, and then after the feud with HHH he was basically just a mid-carder or tag team guy until his program with Cena soon before his departure in 2005 IIRC.

He should have been a top guy during the RA era, much like Angle, Guerrero, Benoit and friggen Bradshaw.

 

[scrubadam]

Of course the cage was shoddy. Go back and watch that match. It doesn't look good at all. The NEW HIAC looked shoddy when Ambrose was suplexing Noble and Mercury on top of it, and this one is much better constructed to ensure no one can fall through. The Undertaker and Mick Foley were a combined 700 pounds on top of that. It was shoddy and gave way under Foley's weight.

They should have stopped it. Foley apparently didn't want to. Undertaker was buying time by going after Funk and he wanted the match to be finished and didn't want to go on.

I'm not sure how the match would have progressed to where they returned from on top of the cell, but there are enough accounts from Foley AND Undertaker saying the second bump was never supposed to happen and Undertaker didn't want to continue after the first bump, and Vince didn't even want the first bump to happen in the first place. I remember Mick telling a story where after the match, Vince told him "you have no idea how much I appreciate you for what you've done for this company, but I never want to see anything like that again."

From what I've read, the top of the cage was only supposed to break a little bit so Foley would be "dangling" and Taker would have pushed him down and Foley could have rolled and landed on his knees, but the weight was too much and the bump ended up being horribly botched to the point where a chair even flew down on top of Foley and knocked his tooth through his lip and into his nostril.

Makes sense.

It still makes me a bit sick to watch the match today. Its a spectacle but those two bumps planned or not were just so dangerous and the fact that Mick was on spaghetti legs for real should of been enough to just end the match.

Vince was right to not want him to take the 1st bump. It worked out but looking back at it its insane. God Bless Mick Foley to be willing to put his body and life on the line to entertain the fans but its a painful match to watch.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

@scrubadam Foley spoke of the big bump, I put it in my previous post. He was supposed to be dangling from the top of the cell before Taker pushed him down. Only thing is Foley would have been dangling upside down and when Taker finally pushed him, Foley would roll and land on his knees. That'd be the big image. It buckled under the weight though. I've read of the match also finishing on top of the Cell to change it up in the past, too.

Foley himself said he regretted even suggesting the bump when he first stepped on top of the HIAC structure. He said that his day was full of lies leading up to the HIAC and the bump. Taker even asked him if he was sure and if he had ever been on top of the Cell (Taker had been up there the year earlier).

Taker clearly wanted nothing to do with it, but Foley was adamant leading up to the match until he actually got up to the top and it was too late to not do the bump.

 

[JackSlater]

What was the planned bump BTW?

I think this match actually is a good representation of the Attitude Era in a nutshell and it is one of the most if not most iconic moments/matchs.

I know that extreme wrestling was around before, but the match and bump became so historic and iconic that it essentially inspired a whole slew of wrestlers to try and do the same. It raised the stakes, and made the idea of a star making "bump". There have been so many attempts to recreate the moment and anyone who falls off a high place after that was thinking about being the next Mick Foley.

And I 100% agree chair shots to the head are even more cringe worthy. I cannot watch old matches with those. I just ask myself why? And so many times the wrestlers don't even put their hands up.

But ya wrestling in the attitude era was a lot of smoke and mirrors, brawling, over the top violence and sick bumps. There wasn't much great technical wrestling until the end of the Era and you got all the WCW and ECW guys coming in like RVD, Benoit, Jerhico, Dean, Gurrero, etc...

From what I understand the bump was supposed to be a pretty stupid one. The panel of the cage was supposed to partially give way and Foley would basically roll down it and Undertaker would kick or push him through the hole. It would be a controlled drop from the top into the ring, probably safer than a ladder drop. I really don't see how this was indicative of the era though. Vince didn't like the bumps, no one has really replicated them since. They're very famous obviously but nothing that brutal has happened in 20 years. Move escalation itself was already coming and it precedes the attitude era. The worst thing from a brutality point in that era I would say was the chair shots that Rock gave Foley in the I quit match. Those were brutal and even beyond what Foley agreed to.

One thing that is disappointing about the ruthless aggression era is the usage of Jericho. He was huge in 1999 and 2000 and really should have become the Champion earlier than he did. I liked him when he was the Undisputed Champion, but he wasn't booked to look particularly credible as Champion, and then after the feud with HHH he was basically just a mid-carder or tag team guy until his program with Cena soon before his departure in 2005 IIRC.

He should have been a top guy during the RA era, much like Angle, Guerrero, Benoit and friggen Bradshaw.

Very frustrating at the time. Still is in retrospect too. I think another blonde, long haired fellow wouldn't have been too happy to see Jericho be at the level his talent deserved though.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Arguably the 2 top stars in history? Rock + Austin check
Arguably the best storyline in history? Austin vs. McMahon check
Arguably the peak of tag team wrestling in WWE and the best tag division in WWE history? E&C, Hardys, Dudleys etc check
Arguably the best car crash matches in WWE history? Too many too name and bars were set that still have not been surpassed. Check.
Arguably the best technical wrestling ever assembled for a WWE roster? Benoit, Angle, Jericho, Guerrero, Regal etc etc etc all in their prime check

January 2000 to WM17 is peak WWE. Yes, WWE 97-98 is still IT and hits a lot of chords because of Austin and Co, but it also was lacking in a lot of areas. WWE 2000-01 had it all. Great top stars. Great upper midcard. Great tag division. Greta midcard. Great workers. Great matches. It had everything.

It used to be better. Much, much, much better.

Since it happened, nobody talks about any other Era that has come after it the way the AE is still talked about. People that are in their early 20's right now should be talking up the Ruthless Aggression Era and how awesome it was because that is what they grew up with and they never lived thru the Attitude Era. Not many people want to talk about Ruthless Aggression era.

Even WWE knows it used to be better, but there's a reason why they don't do Ruthless Aggression exposé and would rather rehash the AE for the 1000th time. They will still talk about the AE in 15-years rather than the Ruthless Aggression Era, PG Era, Reality Era or Network Era or whatever else they're onto by then, and people will eat it up.

To demonstrate how firing on cylinders and what a time it was, The Brood AKA a lower midcard faction that was together for roughly 9-months is still talked about to this day and you have UFC fighters using their music etc etc. Edge & Christian say they get asked about The Brood almost as much as anything else they've done. You consider all that guys like Edge & Christian accomplished in their careers and The Brood was such a blip in the grand scheme, but to a lot of people that moment in time sticks out the most along with their tag work.

This. Fully agree.

Plus one thing that's not debatable is ratings.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

I agree that Taker/Mankind Hell in a Cell is brutal. I don't agree that it's indicative of the era. The era was more crude than flat out offensive to me. Any random episode of Raw from that era would be a better representation. Even The Oddities is a better representation. Wacky low-card gimmick that worked at first, fizzled quick. There was a lot of that going around.
The Attitude Era was violent and had foul language and sex appeal ramped to the nth degree. People weren't killing themselves, not even Foley, night in and night out.
Compare that to the RA era that featured a terrorist attack, a disabled person bloodied, Snitsky/Lita, rapey Kurt Angle and rapey Heidenreich, The Mexicools, Kirwin White, etc. I found Attitude wanted to shock, RA wanted to be topical and offend. Very strange eras.
Plus with Flair, Triple H and HBK's constant blading I'd say Attitude can't even claim the blood crown.

There's a difference, to me, between shock TV filled with potty humour and over the top characters that might offend, and TV stories grounded in hot topic issues for the sake of offending and making headlines.
Then again, offense is subjective.

 

[Hypernova]

Yes, i looked forward to Monday's every week. It hasn't been like that since WCW was killed. Now the biggest thing to happen on Monday is Roman getting another title shot and maybe Braun flips something.

 

[Edge]

The challenge for the attitude era is that, like comedy, it doesn't always age well.

It's very topical and timely, and so the further out you get from that time period, the less relevant it feels.

Having said that, living through it was awesome. You had two companies pushing each other and you rarely knew what to expect from week to week.

I think the unexpected, and everyone having a purpose, more than the language or adult-oriented angles, is what made the era interesting.

I'd also argue that anticipation helped. One of my biggest problems with today's product is over-saturation. Instead of leaving the audience wanting more, a large portion of the audience is looking at the clock and figuring out how much is left.

 

[Sheppy]

Give me basically any era of wrestling over the trash we have now (minus NXT)

 

[scrubadam]

Just watch WCW under Russo and you can see what the attitude era looks like without the Rock/Austin/VKM/Foley/UT.

Those guys made it bearable, take them away and the attitude era would of sucked big time. But put those guys in their prime in any era and they would be hugely popular and do the same for the business.

 

[scrubadam]

I agree that Taker/Mankind Hell in a Cell is brutal. I don't agree that it's indicative of the era. The era was more crude than flat out offensive to me. Any random episode of Raw from that era would be a better representation. Even The Oddities is a better representation. Wacky low-card gimmick that worked at first, fizzled quick. There was a lot of that going around.
The Attitude Era was violent and had foul language and sex appeal ramped to the nth degree. People weren't killing themselves, not even Foley, night in and night out.
Compare that to the RA era that featured a terrorist attack, a disabled person bloodied, Snitsky/Lita, rapey Kurt Angle and rapey Heidenreich, The Mexicools, Kirwin White, etc. I found Attitude wanted to shock, RA wanted to be topical and offend. Very strange eras.
Plus with Flair, Triple H and HBK's constant blading I'd say Attitude can't even claim the blood crown.

There's a difference, to me, between shock TV filled with potty humour and over the top characters that might offend, and TV stories grounded in hot topic issues for the sake of offending and making headlines.
Then again, offense is subjective.

I think its not so much indicitave but encapsulates the era. Car crash specatcle with over the top violence that forces you to watch, but when you peel it back it was masking crappy wrestling and looking back on it it makes you a bit sick to watch.

I was watching some classic reviews at wrestling with wregret and if you take out the Rock/Austin/Mankind the rest of the card/show is not any better than what we have now or any other time. For some it may be even worse because the wrestling was pretty bland back then.

Attitude Era accentuated the positives and hid the negatives by hiding behind shock TV, T n A and violence. Take that away and your attitude era midcarders are no different than guys today or guys in 1994 or 95. They just got to swear more, show more boobage, and hit each other in the head more.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

I think its not so much indicitave but encapsulates the era. Car crash specatcle with over the top violence that forces you to watch, but when you peel it back it was masking crappy wrestling and looking back on it it makes you a bit sick to watch.

I was watching some classic reviews at wrestling with wregret and if you take out the Rock/Austin/Mankind the rest of the card/show is not any better than what we have now or any other time. For some it may be even worse because the wrestling was pretty bland back then.

Attitude Era accentuated the positives and hid the negatives by hiding behind shock TV, T n A and violence. Take that away and your attitude era midcarders are no different than guys today or guys in 1994 or 95. They just got to swear more, show more boobage, and hit each other in the head more.

Take away the top stars of any time or era and yes, the product overall suffers.
I don't think it's fair to say the wrestling is "crappy". It might be less athletic than now and feature more brawling, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's different and from a different time, but it doesn't make it automatically worse. You can say the same of just about any era of any form of entertainment.
The promos were almost always better than they are today, even outside of the headliners.
You seem really hung up on this one match. I absolutely do not agree that WCW under Russo in 99/00 is the same thing as the Attitude Era. Russo benefitted from having Vince as a filter so a lot of his nonsense from WCW (constant "on a pole" matches, putting the belt on Arquette, himself) didn't make it into the Attitude Era.

I think it's fair to say it hasn't aged well, I don't think it's fair to call it outright "crappy" based on a single match and repeating the same description over and over that's not entirely accurate.
Last summer I went through a large chunk of 97/98 Raw and outside of a few suspect segments here or there, it's still an entertaining and watchable show. More watchable than any Raw of the past 2-3 years, anyway (though that isn't saying much). Very little of that has to do with the violence and foul language. It's the fact that things mattered and there were stakes instead of repeating the same matches every week at bloated lengths these days. The T&A aspect actually got worse following the Attitude Era, in my opinion. It was pretty disgraceful from 02-08.

Wrestling as an athletic display has clearly improved and hindsight is 20/20. Storytelling, booking and even championships have all gotten worse, sadly. Especially considering the current WWE roster is arguably the deepest and has the most talent top to bottom they've ever had. The wrestling is good but it's repeated so often that it's almost rendered moot.

 

[scrubadam]

Take away the top stars of any time or era and yes, the product overall suffers.
I don't think it's fair to say the wrestling is "crappy". It might be less athletic than now and feature more brawling, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's different and from a different time, but it doesn't make it automatically worse. You can say the same of just about any era of any form of entertainment.
The promos were almost always better than they are today, even outside of the headliners.
You seem really hung up on this one match. I absolutely do not agree that WCW under Russo in 99/00 is the same thing as the Attitude Era. Russo benefitted from having Vince as a filter so a lot of his nonsense from WCW (constant "on a pole" matches, putting the belt on Arquette, himself) didn't make it into the Attitude Era.

I think it's fair to say it hasn't aged well, I don't think it's fair to call it outright "crappy" based on a single match and repeating the same description over and over that's not entirely accurate.
Last summer I went through a large chunk of 97/98 Raw and outside of a few suspect segments here or there, it's still an entertaining and watchable show. More watchable than any Raw of the past 2-3 years, anyway (though that isn't saying much). Very little of that has to do with the violence and foul language. It's the fact that things mattered and there were stakes instead of repeating the same matches every week at bloated lengths these days. The T&A aspect actually got worse following the Attitude Era, in my opinion. It was pretty disgraceful from 02-08.

Wrestling as an athletic display has clearly improved and hindsight is 20/20. Storytelling, booking and even championships have all gotten worse, sadly. Especially considering the current WWE roster is arguably the deepest and has the most talent top to bottom they've ever had. The wrestling is good but it's repeated so often that it's almost rendered moot.

The only thing that was "crappy" was the ring work. Even back then it was not as good as WCW/ECW unless of course you liked brawling.

Its not that I am saying it worse, I am saying its not different except for the top stars. If Roman Reigns was Austin or the Rock whatever storyline he is in would be super over. DOA/Truth Commision/DX/NOD/LOD/NAO/NWA invasion/Jeff Jarret/Val Venis etc... aren't really that much better than what is on TV today. The crowds were just into it more and they were being raised by the tides of Austin/VKM/Rock.

Look at Fully Loaded 99. ME is Austin vs VKM in a cage match that ends with Big Show looking like a goober throwing Austin out of the cage. Then we can add in the no finish in the title match only to have the title change hands the following night. If that type of story/match took place today it would be shat on. Why no finish on the PPV just to change the title the next night? What a stupid finish to have the big show throw Austin to win the cage match. Why have a huge payoff to VKM vs Austin at a B PPV before WM etc... But at the time it was the greatest thing since slice bread because you wanted to see Austin kick VKM's ass and it was more exciting to see the title change hands on TV than at a PPV.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

The only thing that was "crappy" was the ring work. Even back then it was not as good as WCW/ECW unless of course you liked brawling.

Its not that I am saying it worse, I am saying its not different except for the top stars. If Roman Reigns was Austin or the Rock whatever storyline he is in would be super over. DOA/Truth Commision/DX/NOD/LOD/NAO/NWA invasion/Jeff Jarret/Val Venis etc... aren't really that much better than what is on TV today. The crowds were just into it more and they were being raised by the tides of Austin/VKM/Rock.

Look at Fully Loaded 99. ME is Austin vs VKM in a cage match that ends with Big Show looking like a goober throwing Austin out of the cage. Then we can add in the no finish in the title match only to have the title change hands the following night. If that type of story/match took place today it would be shat on. Why no finish on the PPV just to change the title the next night? What a stupid finish to have the big show throw Austin to win the cage match. Why have a huge payoff to VKM vs Austin at a B PPV before WM etc... But at the time it was the greatest thing since slice bread because you wanted to see Austin kick VKM's ass and it was more exciting to see the title change hands on TV than at a PPV.

We just had pretty much the same finish with Braun tossing Owens out of the cage, except on purpose. Big Show was also a hot free agent at the time. So it's definitely a memorable moment.

DQ finishes were often used to protect people, unlike today where nothing ends and no one is booked to have momentum. Just constant matches. It was also worth saving big moments for TV back then because they were having their highest ratings yet. PPV wasn't as easily accessible as it is today so TV and house shows were their bread and butter. It was certainly less formulaic and predictable than today. Also, keep in mind we aren't talking just another era here, we're talking easily the most popular time in wrestling nationally.
I also don't understand your Roman argument. If he was someone who was over and one of the best ever, then yes, things he'd do would be over. The Rock and Austin weren't just anyone, if that's what you mean.

The Attitude Era also benefitted from the cat not being entirely out of the bag yet. A good chunk of viewers bought in and thought it was real. Harder to do that today when they've embraced the scripted aspect so much.

Today would go something like "Hashtag Austin 3:16 says I just made you look like a fool, guy". Very hard to buy into that. It isn't the foulness of the language, it's the obviously much more fake delivery and much less scripting that's the difference.

We could always agree to disagree.

 

[scrubadam]

We just had pretty much the same finish with Braun tossing Owens out of the cage, except on purpose. Big Show was also a hot free agent at the time. So it's definitely a memorable moment.

DQ finishes were often used to protect people, unlike today where nothing ends and no one is booked to have momentum. Just constant matches. It was also worth saving big moments for TV back then because they were having their highest ratings yet. PPV wasn't as easily accessible as it is today so TV and house shows were their bread and butter. It was certainly less formulaic and predictable than today. Also, keep in mind we aren't talking just another era here, we're talking easily the most popular time in wrestling nationally.
I also don't understand your Roman argument. If he was someone who was over and one of the best ever, then yes, things he'd do would be over. The Rock and Austin weren't just anyone, if that's what you mean.

The Attitude Era also benefitted from the cat not being entirely out of the bag yet. A good chunk of viewers bought in and thought it was real. Harder to do that today when they've embraced the scripted aspect so much.

Today would go something like "Hashtag Austin 3:16 says I just made you look like a fool, guy". Very hard to buy into that. It isn't the foulness of the language, it's the obviously much more fake delivery and much less scripting that's the difference.

We could always agree to dieagree.

All your points you are making is why I am saying the Era was overated and carried by its big stars. Without Austin/Rock/VKM/Foley the attitude era would be no different that RA and the New Generation.

It was hugely popular, but that doesn't mean we can't look back at it and realize it wasn't as great as we thought it was.

I am not going to dispute that at the time it was more fresh,nor that wrestling wasn't at its hottest either. I just am arguing that it was overrated. It wasn't as good as we remember. Thats the question the OP asked was it overrated and to me it was.

In the end its entertainment and we are all entertained by diffent things so there will be times that we won't agree. Some might think Star Wars is the greatest thing ever and others will say its overrated. Entertainment is subjective so at the end we can agree to disagree. I think this thread shows a good divide on those who see it as overrated and those who don't and it just shows that we all have different views on what entertains us.

 

[Edge]

I will see that with rare exception, there always seems to be a yearning for past eras.

People look back fondly at the RA era now, but were complaining about it and pining for the Attitude Era at the time.

Now everyone is complaining about the current era, and lamenting their memories of the RA era.

Someday people will yearn for the athleticism of this roster, and hate whatever their current product is.

Typically when you have a "boom" period, it's because enough elements are coming together at the right time --- storytelling, interesting characters, entertaining enough matches, etc.

Personally, there are a lot of things I like from the current era. There are some things I don't, but that's true for any era.

I guess having lived through legit "down" periods in wrestling, the current period really doesn't seem anywhere near that.

I tend to roll with the punches.

 

[JackSlater]

I can only imagine peak Austin in 2018 and how over he would be.

"Hashtag Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your butt!"

"If you, the WWE UNIVERSE, want STONE COLD to kick his butt give me a heck yeah!"

Proceed to catch bottles of water thrown into the ring by the ring announcer.

Austin not responding to Stephanie in any way other than eventually acquiescing to her demand.

That would of course be followed by Cole recounting the event and throwing buzz words at us for 20 minutes, and of course showing us some reaction tweets.



The key difference between the eras is how everything is presented. It isn't curses, less gimmicked stunts or loads of fake breasts all around.

 

[scrubadam]

I will see that with rare exception, there always seems to be a yearning for past eras.

People look back fondly at the RA era now, but were complaining about it and pining for the Attitude Era at the time.

Now everyone is complaining about the current era, and lamenting their memories of the RA era.

Someday people will yearn for the athleticism of this roster, and hate whatever their current product is.

Typically when you have a "boom" period, it's because enough elements are coming together at the right time --- storytelling, interesting characters, entertaining enough matches, etc.

Personally, there are a lot of things I like from the current era. There are some things I don't, but that's true for any era.

I guess having lived through legit "down" periods in wrestling, the current period really doesn't seem anywhere near that.

I tend to roll with the punches.

True dat. If fans today were around for 93-95 oh my god. Dungeon of Doom, King Mabel, Diesels unending run, gimmicks galore. That was truely the darkest, but most neon era of Wrestling. I mean f'n Beefcake main evented a Starcade! The Beefer at the biggest show of the year for WCW in the main event.

 

[Edge]

True dat. If fans today were around for 93-95 oh my god. Dungeon of Doom, King Mabel, Diesels unending run, gimmicks galore. That was truely the darkest, but most neon era of Wrestling. I mean f'n Beefcake main evented a Starcade! The Beefer at the biggest show of the year for WCW in the main event.

93-95 was definitely a down time.

One of the few eras that I struggle to watch today. I can usually find at least a decent amount of good from other eras.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

93-95 Bret Hart is always worth watching.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

The wrestling of the Attitude Era was over-rated without a doubt. Lots of short matches, on both PPVs and TV shows with little in the way of actually wrestling. It was highly entertaining though with consistently good promos and build-up to matches that have not been matched in any following era. I will say that some (or many?) of these segments that I found entertaining at the time have not aged particularly well. Could be because I am getting older, changing tastes or those things were topical at the time.

Attitude era started in 1997 and ended in 2002 according to WWE, but Ruthless Aggression era (2002-2008) was just an extension of it imo. Also, we saw signs of the upcoming Attitude era starting in mid-1996 with the emergence of a new-look Austin culminating with his win and speech at King of the Ring. If the King of the Ring didn't plant the seeds for the Attitude Era, then surely Austin's breaking and entering into Brian Pillman's home - which was the main storyline of a particular episode of RAW in 1996 - certainly did.

I only saw part of this episode some time after, but I believe Austin promised Pillman that he was going to "get him" even if it meant coming to his home and breaking in. I think this all culminated with Austin keeping his word and breaking into Brian's home, only for Pillman to brandish a gun and fire a shot (not seen on tv, only heard) while his wife screamed in the background. Thankfully no one was injured .

If I recall correctly, the WWE got in a little bit of trouble for this incident from the censors. I think their defense may have been that even though the gun was actually seen on TV, it was not actually fired (or at least fired while a tv camera was trained on the gun. Anyways, this particular episode ushered in more of a reality tv-type atmosphere that followed for the forseeable future on RAW and later Smackdown, and Nitro.

 

[Emperoreddy]

RA era was definitely way worse then the Attitude era in a lot of ways in just being gross and offensive. My guess it is a result from trying to top the attitude era by dialing things up to 11. More blood, more offensive gimmicks, more T&A.

It was real easy to take a long break from wrestling during that period.

The attitude era was the perfect blend of the juvenile raunchy humor that was all over the place in the 90s with true larger then life characters helping keep it glued together.

Week to week if you do a rewatch, a lot of the shows flat out sucked. Dumb storylines, and flash in the pan gimmicks that got overplayed. The main event and upper mid card was just so strong that it made up for it in spades.

It was the perfect thing to appeal to teenagers at the time though.

 

[scrubadam]

The wrestling of the Attitude Era was over-rated without a doubt. Lots of short matches, on both PPVs and TV shows with little in the way of actually wrestling. It was highly entertaining though with consistently good promos and build-up to matches that have not been matched in any following era. I will say that some (or many?) of these segments that I found entertaining at the time have not aged particularly well. Could be because I am getting older, changing tastes or those things were topical at the time.

Attitude era started in 1997 and ended in 2002 according to WWE, but Ruthless Aggression era (2002-2008) was just an extension of it imo. Also, we saw signs of the upcoming Attitude era starting in mid-1996 with the emergence of a new-look Austin culminating with his win and speech at King of the Ring. If the King of the Ring didn't plant the seeds for the Attitude Era, then surely Austin's breaking and entering into Brian Pillman's home - which was the main storyline of a particular episode of RAW in 1996 - certainly did.

I only saw part of this episode some time after, but I believe Austin promised Pillman that he was going to "get him" even if it meant coming to his home and breaking in. I think this all culminated with Austin keeping his word and breaking into Brian's home, only for Pillman to brandish a gun and fire a shot (not seen on tv, only heard) while his wife screamed in the background. Thankfully no one was injured .

If I recall correctly, the WWE got in a little bit of trouble for this incident from the censors. I think their defense may have been that even though the gun was actually seen on TV, it was not actually fired (or at least fired while a tv camera was trained on the gun. Anyways, this particular episode ushered in more of a reality tv-type atmosphere that followed for the forseeable future on RAW and later Smackdown, and Nitro.

96 - 97 and 2000-2002ish were better parts of WWE than the main attitude era of 98-2001ish.

96-97 was rise of Austin, evil Bret Hart, Micheals/HHH DX, Taker/Foley/Kane feud. Also the rise of Goldust which was IMO the first Attitude Era "gimmick". 2000 and after we saw Jericho/Radicals/Angel/Reagl/ECW guys(raven, RVD, Dudleys) along with E&C and Hardeyz. The wrestling was getting better with longer matches. Rock and HHH were at their peak. Russo was gone from WWF and stinking up WCW.

 

[The Shadow]

In 1998/99 I literally had 20 people in my basement watching RAW when Stone Cold was it his peak. We were seniors in high school and it was half men and half women in the room.

Everyone was loving it

I don't even watch it anymore but that was an insane time to be a wrestling fan and I think it's gone down hill since that time period

 

[Jets4Life]

The thing is most of the WWF stars from the attitude era perfected their craft from the regional territories. Steve Austin and the Undertaker started off in the WCCW (based out of Texas). The Rock trained with the Harts during his one season in the CFL, then spend a year or so in the USWA. Mankind was one of the most well-known wrestlers in the Independent promotions of the 80s. Shawn Michaels started off in the AWA (Minneapolis). Jericho wrestled in Japan. Mexico, and the ECW.

Now days the WWE territorial system is fine for actual wrestling moves, but it is horrible in teaching in-ring psychology. Too much talk and no real buildup to the storylines. It's just not very realistic. Back in the 80s and 90s you had so many characters gel in feuds. Rock vs Mankind, Austin vs Rock, Undertaker vs Kane, HHH vs Jericho, etc.