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Why the attitude era of wrestling was so good

WWE – The Attitude era of wrestling gave fans some of the best entertainment the sport has offered. The period ran from 1996 to 2001, a time when wrestling’s TV ratings were through the roof. This mattered as pay per view and streaming were not a thing yet and this high appreciation meant that wrestling fans could always find high-quality entertainment from their favourite wrestling competitions. This all sits differently now with programs like Monday Night Raw offering a different entertainment experience to the best days of the attitude era.

A Change in Look and Attitude

The look and feel of the sport took on an attitude during this time, losing the somewhat cartoon-like image that had become WWF in the eighties. The stars changed too with great names like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage being replaced by names that were to become legends of wrestling like Steve Austin and the Rock.

The battle of babyfaces and heels became harder to call. The Rock flipped sides more often than a coin. Gone was a pure good or bad character and in their place an exciting volatile melting pot where you just couldn’t call who would have beef and who would be on the receiving end. This kept wrestling so exciting and provided fantastic entertainment for the grateful fans. All so far from today’s John Cena’s good boy acts for the crowd.

The Biggest Names in Wrestling

The biggest names of the attitude era stayed fighting; constantly battling for a title or just some other guy who’d wronged them. The wrestlers who took gold in this era fought hard to retain it. This brought a need to survive to be felt by every wrestler, all of them would have learned a thing or two by watching the 1988 Royal Rumble where Hacksaw Jim Duggan came away victorious with some interesting advice for wrestlers wanting to succeed. Some advice he gave was to stay away from wrestlers while in the ring – “Try to stay away from people,” says Hacksaw Jim Duggan. “The less time you’re in contact with people, the longer you’re in the ring.”

This wasn’t so much a coincidence as a necessity; the attitude era was brought on by a need to change and evolve to keep its fans. The game was raised by Eric Bischoff changing the way wrestling was televised. WCW’s Monday Nitro gave the greatest reason for WWE to bring the fight back when it rivalled Monday Night Raw.

Fans of the Attitude Era were fans of the storylines played out both inside and outside of the ring. Every match told a story like Vince’s daughter being pursued by DX to gain leverage against the CEO and Steve Austin’s obsession over beating Rock for the WWE title gave the depth and interest to keep fans wanting more. Steve Austin flipping off fans and drinking beer showed this new edge leading to some outlandish entertainment to come. It became not unknown for wrestlers to be thrown off staging and hit by vehicles was to become almost commonplace. WWE was changing, no longer the family-friendly entertainment it once tried to be, it was on the rise with a new attitude.

This worked so well as wrestling fans turned out to not be the mainstream audience they once were thought to be. Wrestling isn’t for conservative parents with the sport garnering a younger more vibrant fan base. During The Attitude era WWE got the content the viewers wanted a spot on, parents may not have liked it, but the fans couldn’t get enough.

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