The Attitude Era was a major era of professional wrestling within the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), succeeding the New Generation Era. The Attitude Era was characterized by adult-oriented content, which included increased depicted violence, profanity, and sexual content, as well as disregarding the "good guys versus bad guys" formula in favor of unpredictable and shocking storylines, in a significant shift from the "traditional" and family-friendly output that the WWF had produced up until that point. The Attitude branding officially lasted from November 9, 1997 (Survivor Series 1997) to May 6, 2002 (renaming of WWF to WWE), and was succeeded by the Ruthless Aggression Era.
The era was spearheaded during the Monday Night War when WWF's Raw went head-to-head with rival World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Nitro in a weekly battle for television ratings. As part of the change, the WWF also rebranded its flagship show (which became Raw Is War), redesigned the arena setups, and later introduced the "scratch" logo and officially referred to and promoted the "Attitude" name. The Attitude Era was a highly successful boom period for the company with television ratings, merchandise sales, and pay-per-view buy rates for the WWF reaching record highs and it also came at a time of a general shift in American television moving away from family-friendly to "edgier" content, with the WWF pushing the limits of what was deemed acceptable for television. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid and Stone Cold Steve Austin were among the wrestlers that ushered in the Attitude Era, with events such as Hart's explicit rant, the formation of D-Generation X and the Montreal Screwjob being key points of evolution to the Attitude format.7 Best New Generation Era Matches in WWE History (Ranked) However, Hart and Sid both left the WWF at the dawn of the era, and Michaels retired soon after.
Steve Austin would go on to become a major superstar of the Attitude Era and was joined by many new stars including The Rock, Triple H, Kane, Mick Foley (in various personas), Chyna and Kurt Angle, whereas The Undertaker continued to be popular as a veteran, and the company's chairman Vince McMahon would form a villainous persona out of himself, involving his real-life family in storylines. The Austin–McMahon feud was one of the longest-running and most prominent rivalries of the era. WWF also signed a number of wrestlers who left WCW during this boom period, including Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and the Big Show. In addition, the WWF Women's Championship was reactivated in September 1998 after years of dormancy, and most of the company's female talent, such as Sable, Sunny and Stacy Keibler during this time period were marketed as sex symbols booked in sexually provocative gimmick matches (e.g., "bra and panties", bikini, lingerie, etc.), whereas prominent female stars such as Chyna, Lita, and Trish Stratus were presented as serious wrestlers. The era also saw the resurgence of tag team wrestling, namely The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge & Christian, who were featured in several destructive, physical and stunt-filled Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches during this era. Distinguished stables that were established in this era include D-Generation X, Nation of Domination, The Corporation, Ministry of Darkness, Corporate Ministry and The Brood, and had developed major rivalries among each other. Also, the Hardcore Championship was established in November 1998, a chaotic division involving no disqualification, falls count anywhere matches that would start ringside and then would be taken outside, with blunt weapons involved.
Initiation The actual start of the Attitude Era itself is often debated among fans; Vince McMahon's promo on the December 15, 1997 episode of Raw about not being "passé" is usually the latest point in time. The WWE themselves retrospectively claim that the start of the era is hard to pinpoint, and have used inconsistent events to categorize the era. In 2017 and 2021 respectively, the WWE released DVD and Blu-ray compilations named 1997 - Dawn of the Attitude and 1996 - Prelude to Attitude, signifying that the era was, in yearly terms, beginning in 1997.
It is generally considered that the start of the Attitude era was gradual rather than immediate, based on different elements: the year 1996 saw the WWF increasing graphic violence and selling sex among its female talent, while the year 1997 saw the major aesthetic makeover, the normalisation of crude language and behavior, and the beginning of dramatised plots. General consensus is that the era (incorporating all these elements) had fully begun during the second half of 1997. In the years following, the Attitude era continued to evolve and experiment with ever more violent and crude content.
Context and concept
During the New Generation Era of the mid-1990s, the World Wrestling Federation was at a difficult point following the steroid scandal against its chairman Vince McMahon, the loss of some of its stars to rival WCW, and a difficult financial situation. In the Monday Night War, a television ratings battle between WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, the WCW had the upper hand. The former WWF megastar, Hulk Hogan, had also been enjoying success at WCW as part of the nWo with its distinctly "edgy" nature. This also coincided with societal acceptance of racier television content occurring in the latter half of the 1990s, strongly influenced by NYPD Blue and amplified by The Jerry Springer Show, which had become exceptionally popular in 1997. Kevin Eck wrote in a The Baltimore Sun column in 1997:
In an effort to revamp itself, the company began to transition from the "traditional way" wrestling had long been presented, instead opting for a product which "pushed the envelope" according to then-head writer Vince Russo. The creative side of the product during the era's early stages in 1997 was spearheaded by Russo, who drastically changed the way WWF television was written. Ed Ferrara would later join Russo in June 1998, when he was hired by the WWF. Russo's and Ferrara's booking style has been described as "Crash TV", where they contributed edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, profanity, swerves, unexpected heel turns, and worked shoots, as well as short matches, backstage vignettes, shocking angles and levels of depicted violence. Vince McMahon commented in a May 1997 interview that the "taste of the American public changes from time to time" and "If their tastes change, so too will the direction of our company." McMahon had already started a working relationship with hardcore wrestling promotion ECW as early as September 1996, which influenced the Attitude era.
Beginnings Several on-screen moments have been credited with helping WWF transition into the Attitude Era.
Sex appeal and Goldust In his book, Vince Russo mentions the debut of the character Goldust on October 22, 1995 as a pivotal turning point, due to Goldust's controversial homoerotic undertones. The WWF then begun playing up female sexuality with Sunny, who appeared in sexualized skimpy outfits on and off the ring, including at Royal Rumble, and began to be pushed in other WWF media and suggestive Raw segments. WrestleMania XII also saw the debut on-screen appearances of Sable, who often dressed in suggestive leather outfits, and Marlena (who was also the manager of Goldust). Rather than being serious wrestlers, all three were normally ringside valets and personas, used for sex appeal. Both Sunny and Sable also appeared in Playboy-like suggestive shots for the official RAW Magazine (marketed to "Mature Readers" as opposed to the WWF Magazine) published by the WWF through 1996. Also in that year's SummerSlam pay-per-view, all three of them featured in a bikini contest. Sexualization was also pushed in comedic stunts by Sunny and Marlena in the first couple of episodes of Shotgun Saturday Night.
Birth of Austin 3:16 After "Stone Cold" Steve Austin debuted at the WWF, he would go on to win the 1996 King of the Ring tournament by defeating Jake "The Snake" Roberts. In his post-win ad-libbed speech, Austin mocked Roberts' recital of the biblical passage John 3:16 by saying, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" Austin's rebellious, anti-hero attitude and delivery was well received by crowds, signifying a change in public taste (this was also evident by Sycho Sid's reception as a heel at Survivor Series). The speech is referenced by some fans as being the actual start of the Attitude era, both because of the nature of the speech (which was uncharacteristic for its time) and the fact that Austin would eventually become the biggest star at the peak of the Attitude era, with "Austin 3:16" becoming the major marketing tool for WWF during the era.
Pillman and match violence Brian Pillman, who joined the WWF in June 1996, carried over his "Loose Cannon" persona from ECW as a deranged, unpredictable character, and provided segments that would later define the Attitude era. The infamous "Pillman's got a gun" segment on Raw on November 4, 1996, was an uncharacteristically dark angle, and has also been viewed as a key moment of change within the company, although Pillman and the WWF did issue a public apology after the segment, with McMahon admitting at the time that they went too far. Another new uncanny gimmick introduced that year was Mankind (himself also formerly of ECW), who feuded with The Undertaker and fought physically fierce matches with such as the Boiler Room Brawl at SummerSlam, the earliest example of the sort of backstage brawls and hardcore matches that would later become fundamental to the Attitude era. Mankind also used his disturbed persona to invoke unusual violent tactics in his main event match against Shawn Michaels at In Your House 10: Mind Games.
Raw arena rework and Bret's tirade
The WWF also refreshed branding and visual production. The March 10, 1997 episode of Raw debuted a new look and theme centered solely around the colors red and black, along with the renaming of Monday Night Raw to Raw Is War (suggested to signify that the WWF was waging "war" with WCW's Monday Nitro) and being extended to two hours, with the second hour dubbed the "War Zone". Production within the arenas also changed significantly: pyrotechnics were utilized for everyone and at the start of every show and lighting effects were altered. The ring rope colors were changed from red, white and blue to monocolor (and the turnbuckles changed from blue to black), and the wrestlers' entrance was redesigned to one featuring a long ramp, while the Titantron video display appeared for the first time, with Sycho Sid being the first wrestler to enter using it. These aesthetic changes would make their way onto other WWF events as well.
One week later, on the March 17 episode (and the week before WrestleMania 13), after losing a steel cage match against Sycho Sid in an attempt to win back the WWF Championship, Bret Hart angrily shoved Vince McMahon to the mat during a post-match interview and went into a profanity-laced tirade. Both the WWF and the USA Network apologized for the language, which included the words "goddamn" and "bullshit", including commentator Jim Ross while on air, and it led to the USA Network introducing a seven-second delay in order to bleep out offensive language.Wrestling Observer Newsletter, March 31, 1997 Some fans have referenced Hart's uncensored tirade and marking the start of the Attitude era.
Consolidation