Worst And Best Things About The Attitude Era

The Attitude Era is looked back on with rose-tinted glasses. While that’s fair at times, not all WWE programming from this time was good. Yes, this era captured WWE and wrestling in general at its most popular, but maybe not its best.

Much of this red-hot era still holds up over two decades later while some… doesn’t. The current era of WWE and professional wrestling isn’t perfect, but after looking back on the business 20 years ago, maybe it has improved in some ways.

10 Worst: Over-Reliance On Stables

When readers think of Attitude Era and stables, they likely will think of D-Generation X, The New Hart Foundation, The Nation of Domination, and The Corporation. These were all massive successes, but looking back on this era, there were far too many stables populating WWE’s roster.

WWE didn’t know what to do with a mid-card star? Into a stable they went. With every DX there are The Oddities and DOA to follow. WWE still struggles with this problem today, instead turning to tag teams rather than stables.

9 Best: Edgy TV

With a TV-14 rating, WWE could produce edgy content, and the times, when they got it right, produced some of the best WWE TV ever. Stone Cold Steve Austin is synonymous with beer, but viewers wouldn’t get that pairing if Austin came up in 2022.

The same goes for some of The Rock’s best promos. As readers will soon see, not all edgy TV is good, and arguably this made for more bad than good, but it's something not seen anymore. It captured WWE’s target audience of young men and ensured they kept watching.

8 Worst: InVasion Angle

It feels unfair to include a specific angle on this list, but the entire situation once WWE bought out WCW was such a flop it would be a glaring omission not to include it. In 2001, WWE bought their competition and squashed WCW. The company tried to revive the brand with its own segment on Raw with a match between Booker T and Buff Bagwell, which was a disaster.

The disaster would continue throughout the year, resulting in one of the biggest dropped balls in the history of the company. With hardly any of WCW’s top stars, WWE rushed the Invasion storyline, and the product suffered for it.

7 Best: Unmatched Top Stars

WCW had Goldberg, Sting, Hulk Hogan, and other main event players, but nothing compared to Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, and Triple H. These are names that are constantly mentioned in the all-time great discussion.

While Hogan is one of the most recognizable names in the history of professional wrestling, Steve Austin is arguably the most popular wrestler ever. The Rock is now the biggest star in Hollywood. No disrespect to the WCW stars, but they simply couldn’t compete with the incredible main event scene of WWE during the Attitude Era.

6 Worst: Edgy TV

Beaver Cleavage Attitude Era — via wwe.com

Now, not all edgy TV is good. Many of the segments WWE ran on weekly TV or even PPV would not fly today, and for good reason. Things like sexism and even racism were present. One positive of current WWE programming is these elements of TV are rarely present.

See Kai En Tai and figures like Sable who were clearly on TV to make distasteful jokes or for people to look at. This is the part of the Attitude Era that ages poorly.

5 Best: Competition

WWE has historically produced better TV and greater results when under pressure. In the late 1990s, this was most evident. WWE was losing the Monday Night War for 83 weeks, but once Steve Austin truly rose to the top, everything was uphill from there. Each star grew bigger, each crowd hotter, and the PPVs and TV became must-watch.

Competition is what keeps wrestling healthy. While some may say WWE is producing some of their worst TV ever with the rise of AEW, remember that during the rise of WCW the same was said about WWE programming.

4 Worst: Titles Flip-Flopping

Yes, title changes can make for exciting TV and make weekly television feel like a worthwhile watch. However, these frequent changes that came during the Attitude Era can diminish the title’s value, as was seen with the Intercontinental Championship.

In 2002, the year the Attitude Era ended, the Intercontinental Championship was abolished for about half a year, something WWE likely wouldn’t have done if not for the belt’s stripped value due to the constant changes. If someone had mentioned Roman Reigns' 500+ day World Championship reign back in 1999, Vince Russo would’ve fallen out of his chair.

3 Best: Hot Crowds

There is nothing in professional wrestling quite as good as a hot crowd, and the Attitude Era had one practically every night. With the emergence of an entire roster that had personalities, the era was exciting to watch and the crowds showed their excitement tenfold.

Some great crowd reactions came from this time. A hot crowd can make a lame show decent and a good show great, and these crowds from the Attitude Era did just that. Think about if every Monday Night Raw nowadays had raucous crowds.

2 Worst: Women’s “Wrestling”

The worst thing about the Attitude Era was the company's treatment of women. They were placed in specific segments, and when it came time for them to wrestle, WWE didn't present them as serious competitors. Many nights, whether on Raw or SmackDown, or even PPV, the card didn’t feature a women’s match.

To make matters worse, when they did wrestle, it was usually in a gimmick match like a Bra and Panties encounter. Although professional wrestling is not perfect now with the treatment of women’s wrestling, it is a true accomplishment how far the business, and WWE in particular, has come.

1 Best: Characters Top To Bottom

Every single wrestler on staff in the Attitude Era had a character. From the main-eventers all the way down to those who weren’t even featured weekly, every person had a defined character and storyline that the audience could identify them with.

This made for engaging programming, and fans wanted to tune in to see their favorite characters. The result? Matches with stories and character work to back them up, which audiences appreciated. This is something WWE so sorely misses in 2022, and it’s not like the company doesn’t have the roster to do so.