WWF Attitude Era
Best era is wrestling history.
Hey guys(and by guys I mean everyone including girls),
Eddie here with another article called "WWF Attitude Era"
Ahh,It's good to see the WWF logo again without it being covered up in censor bars.
What can I say,the WWF Attitude Era was one of the most unpredictable,awesome,hectic times in wrestling history.The official date of the Attitude Era was between March 29, 1998 when Stone Cold Steve Austin became the WWF Champion at WrestleMania XIV to April 1, 2001 at WrestleMania X-Seven, days after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was bought out by the WWF.
GIVE ME A HELL YEAH!
However, the Attitude Era's origin is attributed to events that took place in the mid 1990s. One of these notable dates was the 1996 King of the Ring when Stone Cold uttered the famous catchphase of "Austin 3:16" and began the WWF's transition to an edgier product. Leading up to the event, Jake Roberts was as a fan favorite and considered the probable winner of the event as his character had successfully defeated alcoholism and drug addiction and was now trying to live life as a constructive member of society. Roberts was defeated by Stone Cold Steve Austin, whose character was that of a heel redneck. With an upset victory over Roberts, Austin mocked his opponent for constantly referencing John 3:16, culminating in the phrase, "Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!" Austin's defiance of authority and social mores proved to be popular amongst the fans, and "Austin 3:16" became a marketing juggernaut for the WWF
Used to have this shirt.
The Attitude Era proved to be a huge marketing success for the WWF, drawing in a previously unaccounted for young adult demographic that allowed them to successfully cripple competitor WCW by defeating them in the ratings wars. Within two years, WCW had become so unsuccessful that it lost its primetime television deal. During this same period, the WWF had become so financially powerful, that McMahon was able to buy the company from AOL Time Warner at a dramatically reduced valuation. The Attitude Era effectively ended on the March 26, 2001 edition of WWF's flagship program, Raw is War, during which McMahon announced in-and-out of character that he had purchased WCW. On the same night, WCW aired its final independent program, WCW Monday Nitro. From that point, the sexualized and controversial stories that had defined the Attitude Era were deemphasized in favor of a complex "corporate intrigue" story during which the real-life politics behind the acquisition of the WCW played out onscreen, and wrestlers competed in drafts to determine the fate of their careers
I miss WCW :'(
In the midst of the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between the WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, which WCW was winning, the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult orientated product. This era was spearheaded by Vince McMahon along with head writer Vince Russo, who drastically changed the way professional wrestling television was written. Russo's booking style was often referred to as Crash TV - short matches, backstage vignettes, and shocking television. Vince McMahon would also use the real-life controversial events of the Montreal Screwjob to flesh out his character of the selfish, manipulative, and self-centered "Mr. McMahon", an evil-owner caricature who would routinely "screw" faces in order to ensure the dominance of his hand-picked heel champions. This in turn led Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon to enter a feud that would launch the WWF into prominence.
Fire Russo.
In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania XIV, McMahon announced that former boxing champion Mike Tyson would be the special guest enforcer in the WWF Championship main event at WrestleMania. Austin entered and won the 1998 Royal Rumble, lastly eliminating The Rock.[1] The next night on Raw, Austin interrupted McMahon in his presentation of Mike Tyson over the objection of McMahon referring to Tyson as "the baddest man on the planet." Austin flipped off Tyson, which led to Tyson shoving Austin and the two fighting until being separated and subdued by Tyson's and McMahon's security. This resulted in an irrate McMahon to publicly disapprove of the prospect of Austin as his WWF Champion. For the following weeks, Tyson aligned himself with D-Generation X, a group led by Austin's opponent at WrestleMania, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. It was only after WrestleMania that Tyson's intentions would be revealed. Throughout the WWF Championship match, Tyson bickered with both Austin and Michaels, who was upset that Tyson wasn't doing everything possible to ensure that Austin would be unsuccessful. In the closing moments of the match Austin countered Michaels' finishing Sweet Chin Music and executed his finisher, the Stone Cold Stunner. Austin then covered Michaels, which was followed by Tyson himself counting the pin-fall. With this, Tyson turned on Michaels and D-Generation X as Austin became the new WWF Champion. Following the victory, a distraught Michaels confronted Tyson, who then knocked out Michaels with a right-handed punch as Austin celebrated and the Attitude Era was officially ushered in.
Hey,I'm Mike Tyson and I like to bite off people's ears.
On the Raw after Austin won the WWF Championship, Mr. McMahon presented him with the newly designed WWF Championship belt and informed Austin that he did not approve of his rebellious nature and that if he didn't conform to society and become his image of what a WWF Champion should be, Austin would face severe consequences. Austin gave his answer in the form of a Stone Cold Stunner to McMahon. This led to a segment a week later where Austin had pledged a few days prior in a meeting to agree to McMahon's terms, appearing in a suit and tie, with a beaming McMahon taking a picture of himself and Austin, his new corporate champion. The entire thing was a ruse by Austin who in the course of the segment proceeded to tear off the suit, telling McMahon it was the last time he'd ever be seen dressed like this. Austin punched McMahon in the "corporate grapefruits", and took another picture with McMahon grieving in pain.
The following week on April 13, 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no contest when Dude Love interrupted the entire thing. On that night Raw defeated Nitro in the ratings for the first time since June 10, 1996. Meanwhile, several popular characters emerged on Monday Night Raw that would establish consistently high viewing from fans: The Rock, after not winning over the fans as the face Rocky Maivia, was making a new name for himself as a member of the Nation of Domination, and later as a singles performer, and Triple H, who after Shawn Michaels left due to back injuries, took control of D-Generation X and recruited The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac, who had just returned to the WWF after his two years tenure with WCW as a member of the nWo, into his new "D-Generation X Army".
Best feud in wrestling history.PERIOD.
Eddie here with another article called "WWF Attitude Era"
Ahh,It's good to see the WWF logo again without it being covered up in censor bars.
What can I say,the WWF Attitude Era was one of the most unpredictable,awesome,hectic times in wrestling history.The official date of the Attitude Era was between March 29, 1998 when Stone Cold Steve Austin became the WWF Champion at WrestleMania XIV to April 1, 2001 at WrestleMania X-Seven, days after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was bought out by the WWF.
GIVE ME A HELL YEAH!
However, the Attitude Era's origin is attributed to events that took place in the mid 1990s. One of these notable dates was the 1996 King of the Ring when Stone Cold uttered the famous catchphase of "Austin 3:16" and began the WWF's transition to an edgier product. Leading up to the event, Jake Roberts was as a fan favorite and considered the probable winner of the event as his character had successfully defeated alcoholism and drug addiction and was now trying to live life as a constructive member of society. Roberts was defeated by Stone Cold Steve Austin, whose character was that of a heel redneck. With an upset victory over Roberts, Austin mocked his opponent for constantly referencing John 3:16, culminating in the phrase, "Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!" Austin's defiance of authority and social mores proved to be popular amongst the fans, and "Austin 3:16" became a marketing juggernaut for the WWF
Used to have this shirt.
The Attitude Era proved to be a huge marketing success for the WWF, drawing in a previously unaccounted for young adult demographic that allowed them to successfully cripple competitor WCW by defeating them in the ratings wars. Within two years, WCW had become so unsuccessful that it lost its primetime television deal. During this same period, the WWF had become so financially powerful, that McMahon was able to buy the company from AOL Time Warner at a dramatically reduced valuation. The Attitude Era effectively ended on the March 26, 2001 edition of WWF's flagship program, Raw is War, during which McMahon announced in-and-out of character that he had purchased WCW. On the same night, WCW aired its final independent program, WCW Monday Nitro. From that point, the sexualized and controversial stories that had defined the Attitude Era were deemphasized in favor of a complex "corporate intrigue" story during which the real-life politics behind the acquisition of the WCW played out onscreen, and wrestlers competed in drafts to determine the fate of their careers
I miss WCW :'(
In the midst of the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between the WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, which WCW was winning, the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult orientated product. This era was spearheaded by Vince McMahon along with head writer Vince Russo, who drastically changed the way professional wrestling television was written. Russo's booking style was often referred to as Crash TV - short matches, backstage vignettes, and shocking television. Vince McMahon would also use the real-life controversial events of the Montreal Screwjob to flesh out his character of the selfish, manipulative, and self-centered "Mr. McMahon", an evil-owner caricature who would routinely "screw" faces in order to ensure the dominance of his hand-picked heel champions. This in turn led Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon to enter a feud that would launch the WWF into prominence.
Fire Russo.
In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania XIV, McMahon announced that former boxing champion Mike Tyson would be the special guest enforcer in the WWF Championship main event at WrestleMania. Austin entered and won the 1998 Royal Rumble, lastly eliminating The Rock.[1] The next night on Raw, Austin interrupted McMahon in his presentation of Mike Tyson over the objection of McMahon referring to Tyson as "the baddest man on the planet." Austin flipped off Tyson, which led to Tyson shoving Austin and the two fighting until being separated and subdued by Tyson's and McMahon's security. This resulted in an irrate McMahon to publicly disapprove of the prospect of Austin as his WWF Champion. For the following weeks, Tyson aligned himself with D-Generation X, a group led by Austin's opponent at WrestleMania, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. It was only after WrestleMania that Tyson's intentions would be revealed. Throughout the WWF Championship match, Tyson bickered with both Austin and Michaels, who was upset that Tyson wasn't doing everything possible to ensure that Austin would be unsuccessful. In the closing moments of the match Austin countered Michaels' finishing Sweet Chin Music and executed his finisher, the Stone Cold Stunner. Austin then covered Michaels, which was followed by Tyson himself counting the pin-fall. With this, Tyson turned on Michaels and D-Generation X as Austin became the new WWF Champion. Following the victory, a distraught Michaels confronted Tyson, who then knocked out Michaels with a right-handed punch as Austin celebrated and the Attitude Era was officially ushered in.
Hey,I'm Mike Tyson and I like to bite off people's ears.
On the Raw after Austin won the WWF Championship, Mr. McMahon presented him with the newly designed WWF Championship belt and informed Austin that he did not approve of his rebellious nature and that if he didn't conform to society and become his image of what a WWF Champion should be, Austin would face severe consequences. Austin gave his answer in the form of a Stone Cold Stunner to McMahon. This led to a segment a week later where Austin had pledged a few days prior in a meeting to agree to McMahon's terms, appearing in a suit and tie, with a beaming McMahon taking a picture of himself and Austin, his new corporate champion. The entire thing was a ruse by Austin who in the course of the segment proceeded to tear off the suit, telling McMahon it was the last time he'd ever be seen dressed like this. Austin punched McMahon in the "corporate grapefruits", and took another picture with McMahon grieving in pain.
The following week on April 13, 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no contest when Dude Love interrupted the entire thing. On that night Raw defeated Nitro in the ratings for the first time since June 10, 1996. Meanwhile, several popular characters emerged on Monday Night Raw that would establish consistently high viewing from fans: The Rock, after not winning over the fans as the face Rocky Maivia, was making a new name for himself as a member of the Nation of Domination, and later as a singles performer, and Triple H, who after Shawn Michaels left due to back injuries, took control of D-Generation X and recruited The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac, who had just returned to the WWF after his two years tenure with WCW as a member of the nWo, into his new "D-Generation X Army".
Best feud in wrestling history.PERIOD.
With the newly formed "DX Army", D-Generation X participated in numerous segments causing chaos and leaving wreckage wherever they went. On April 27, 1998 Nitro was held at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, while Raw was held nearby at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. With the ongoing war between the WWF and WCW, the DX Army decided to initiate an immediate "invasion" of Nitro. The DX Army drove to the Norfolk Scope in an army Jeep, challenging WCW head Eric Bischoff to come out and face them or to let them in. The fans outside the arena for the show began chanting "DX" as they joined the DX Army, helping them attempt to enter the arena and invade the Nitro broadcast. Soon after, the DX Army even appeared at CNN Towers to call out WCW owner Ted Turner. Like Austin, D-Generation X were embraced by fans, with their mischievous antics and defiant attitude, as their popularity continued to grow.
SUCKKK ITTT!!
Perhaps the only individual to rival Steve Austin in popularity during this time was The Rock, a third-generation star who was originally introduced to fans as Rocky Maivia and pushed as a major face upon his debut. The fans began to turn against Maivia, as they didn't appreciate him being constantly overemphasized as a good guy and forced into the role. Aggravated by the fans' extreme dislike for him and feeling under appreciated and underestimated, Rocky himself turned against the fans and began to verbally insult them on a weekly basis with various trash-talking promos while referring to himself in the third person.
Before.
Through his in-ring abilities and tremendous skills on the microphone, The Rock gained a huge fan base as he continued to grow immensely popular despite every attempt The Rock made to be a heel, even interrupting fans as they chanted The Rock's catch phrases in unison with him, reiterating "This isn't sing-a-long with The Rock!" With his engrossing and funny promos, The Rock became one of the most popular WWF superstars of all time.
AFTER.
Many new wrestlers came into the WWF such as Chris Jericho, The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko) and the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, and Mick Foley (as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love) were successfully re-invented to compete at the main event level. This era also saw the evolution of more brutal matches with different stipulations to increase viewership, mainly the furthering of Hell in a Cell (notably its second appearance featuring The Undertaker vs. Mankind) and the Inferno match (introduced by Kane against The Undertaker).
2 of the most respected wrestlers to ever step in the ring.
On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television by launching a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday-night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999.
SMACKDOWN!
On the back of the success of the Attitude Era, on October 19, 1999 the WWF's parent company, Titan Sports (by this time renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc.) became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each.WWF announced its desire to diversify, including creating a nightclub in Times Square, producing feature films, and book publishing. ‎ In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional football league that debuted in 2001.The league had surprisingly high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated primetime show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach a deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL.
FAIL.
In 2000, the World Wide Fund for Nature (also WWF), an environmental organization, sued the World Wrestling Federation. The Law Lords agreed that Titan Sports had violated a 1994 agreement which had limited the permissible use of the WWF initials overseas, particularly in merchandising. Both companies used the initials since March 1979.On May 5, 2002, the company quietly changed all references on its website from "WWF" to "WWE", while switching the URL from WWF.com to WWE.com. The next day, a press release announced the official name change from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of Monday Night Raw, which emanated from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. For a short time, WWE used the slogan "Get The 'F' Out."The company had also been ordered by the Lords to stop using the old WWF Attitude logo on any of its properties and to censor all past references to WWF, as they no longer owned the trademark to the initials WWF in 'specified circumstances'.Despite litigation, WWE is still permitted use of the original WWF logo, which was used from 1984 through 1997, as well as the "New WWF Generation" logo, which was used from 1994 through 1998. Furthermore, the company may still make use of the full "World Wrestling Federation" and "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment" names without consequence.
Really WWE?You got sued by this?
April 1, 2001 – The Undertaker beats Triple H at WrestleMania X-Seven, making him the ninth opponent Taker had beaten at WrestleMania. Stone Cold Steve Austin turned heel by defeating The Rock with the help of Vince McMahon. This event is considered by many to be the last day of the Attitude Era.
Well that's all for me.Hope you enjoy!Thanks!
SUCKKK ITTT!!
Perhaps the only individual to rival Steve Austin in popularity during this time was The Rock, a third-generation star who was originally introduced to fans as Rocky Maivia and pushed as a major face upon his debut. The fans began to turn against Maivia, as they didn't appreciate him being constantly overemphasized as a good guy and forced into the role. Aggravated by the fans' extreme dislike for him and feeling under appreciated and underestimated, Rocky himself turned against the fans and began to verbally insult them on a weekly basis with various trash-talking promos while referring to himself in the third person.
Before.
Through his in-ring abilities and tremendous skills on the microphone, The Rock gained a huge fan base as he continued to grow immensely popular despite every attempt The Rock made to be a heel, even interrupting fans as they chanted The Rock's catch phrases in unison with him, reiterating "This isn't sing-a-long with The Rock!" With his engrossing and funny promos, The Rock became one of the most popular WWF superstars of all time.
AFTER.
Many new wrestlers came into the WWF such as Chris Jericho, The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko) and the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, and Mick Foley (as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love) were successfully re-invented to compete at the main event level. This era also saw the evolution of more brutal matches with different stipulations to increase viewership, mainly the furthering of Hell in a Cell (notably its second appearance featuring The Undertaker vs. Mankind) and the Inferno match (introduced by Kane against The Undertaker).
2 of the most respected wrestlers to ever step in the ring.
On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television by launching a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday-night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999.
SMACKDOWN!
On the back of the success of the Attitude Era, on October 19, 1999 the WWF's parent company, Titan Sports (by this time renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc.) became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each.WWF announced its desire to diversify, including creating a nightclub in Times Square, producing feature films, and book publishing. ‎ In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional football league that debuted in 2001.The league had surprisingly high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated primetime show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach a deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL.
FAIL.
In 2000, the World Wide Fund for Nature (also WWF), an environmental organization, sued the World Wrestling Federation. The Law Lords agreed that Titan Sports had violated a 1994 agreement which had limited the permissible use of the WWF initials overseas, particularly in merchandising. Both companies used the initials since March 1979.On May 5, 2002, the company quietly changed all references on its website from "WWF" to "WWE", while switching the URL from WWF.com to WWE.com. The next day, a press release announced the official name change from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of Monday Night Raw, which emanated from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. For a short time, WWE used the slogan "Get The 'F' Out."The company had also been ordered by the Lords to stop using the old WWF Attitude logo on any of its properties and to censor all past references to WWF, as they no longer owned the trademark to the initials WWF in 'specified circumstances'.Despite litigation, WWE is still permitted use of the original WWF logo, which was used from 1984 through 1997, as well as the "New WWF Generation" logo, which was used from 1994 through 1998. Furthermore, the company may still make use of the full "World Wrestling Federation" and "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment" names without consequence.
Really WWE?You got sued by this?
April 1, 2001 – The Undertaker beats Triple H at WrestleMania X-Seven, making him the ninth opponent Taker had beaten at WrestleMania. Stone Cold Steve Austin turned heel by defeating The Rock with the help of Vince McMahon. This event is considered by many to be the last day of the Attitude Era.
Well that's all for me.Hope you enjoy!Thanks!
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