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The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) stands as a unique product that has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry and achieved iconic status in pop culture. It continues to thrive today, drawing massive audiences and global attention worldwide.
Yet the pinnacle of WWE’s success came during the late 90s-mid 2000s, a period now famously called The Attitude Era. This represents the company’s commercial, creative, and cultural zenith. While WWE has always maintained popularity within pop culture, during the early 2000s it captured the zeitgeist in a way that remains unmatched by itself or any other entertainment entity since.
We all grew up watching it, quoting it, and discussing it during school lunch breaks (or office water coolers, depending on who you were at the time). It created so many stars, memorable moments, and pop culture icons.
And most notably, it made professional wrestling (or ‘sports entertainment’) a part of the global landscape. Every other country had its own version of WWE (and probably still does). Professional wrestlers became as big as any movie star, rock star, or A-list celebrity. In fact, a lot of them went on to become actual movie stars. Some even politicians (yes).
In the modern landscape where everything is ‘content’; most form of entertainment is neutered or politicized. And nothing new is being made apart from reboots, remakes, and sequels–not to mention a general sense of apathy in both the audience and entertainers: It’s safe to say, we could use another Attitude Era.
Let’s take a few moments to recount why it was so special.
Why It Was Called ‘The Attitude Era’
The answer is simple: It capitalized on the mainstream’s shift (at the time) towards edgier, riskier, more boundary-pushing content. The late 90s/early 2000s was a prime period for ‘edgy’ movies, TV, and public personalities. With censorship being much more lax than it is now. You could see it with the rise of nu-metal music, movies like Fight Club and Requiem for a Dream; and raunchy comedies and sitcoms, Monster energy drinks, etc.
And no format suited that vibe better than a contact sport with hyped-up, half-naked egomaniacs who wrestled each other for gratification. All of them led by an the biggest, most ruthless egomaniac of them all: the company’s CEO, a certain Mr. Vince McMahon.
In Vince McMahon’s fully self-confessional words; he wanted to make it ‘entertainment’.
While a lot of wrestling fans debate over the timelines; it is most commonly accepted that the period between November 9, 1997, to May 6, 2002 makes the official tenure of The Attitude Era. After years of stagnation and lagging behind WCW, Vince McMahon’s drastic rebrand of his own company would not only change the face of professional wrestling but have a profound impact on the entertainment and pop culture arena.
It can be easily said that no one has been able to achieve anything close since. It was the definition of must-watch TV, with the entire world waiting with bated breath for every weekly RAW/Smackdown telecast; eventually leading to the massive blockbuster pay-per-view events like Wrestlemania, No mercy, Summer Slam, etc., etc.
It featured high-budget, glossy productions; world-class showmanship, and an overall over-the-top vibe; that was often self-aware and made fun of how ridiculous it was (more on that later). Shock value was occasionally present, but that wasn’t the whole point. The main goal was quality entertainment that provides the viewer with tremendous excitement.
In short, it was a very serious business that didn’t take itself too seriously. In Vince’s own words, he was a ‘responsible television producer’. A far cry from the toxic, politicized form of entertainment we see the world over today.
Mainstreaming Long-Form Storytelling
It’s hilarious that people who love to salivate over Game of Thrones and the MCU often look down on WWE as the ‘lowest common denominator’. As without it, those franchises wouldn’t even exist the way they did for the last decade-and-a-half or so.
Those critics can happily stand in line for the next Barbie sequel or Avengers: Doomsday. The rest of us, however, will happily watch ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin ‘stunner’ the entire McMahon family on YouTube.
In fact, WWE was one of the first mainstream entertainment outlets to nail long-term storytelling. With long-term mysteries, epic sagas, plot twists, foreshadowing, betrayals, heel turns. All mixed with actual physical artistry. To succeed in the WWE, you not only had to be a world-class wrestler, but an actor, comedian, and performer as well.
To say that this era birthed an entire generation of stars has to be the understatement of the century. These are all global icons who still remain a presence in pop culture today. Most people around the world know them by name. A lot of them (with the notable exception of a few shitheels) also are pretty openly nice, sweet, intelligent guys in real life who took the business of entertaining people very, very seriously.
Think of it like this: The Attitude Era had The Rock, Stone Cold, HHH, The Undertaker, Kane, Edge, Mankind, Chyna, Chris Jericho, Goldust, The Hardy Boys, The Big Show, Kurt Angle and many, many other elite superstars competing for attention at the same time. How the company was able to manage so many different expectations for so long has to be studied in management classes all over the globe. I mean just look at this lineup:
Combined, these people not gave 110% to the audience, but 200%. They created one classic moment, after another, after another, after another. Maybe they do deserve more respect from culture snobs than they are given.
No one is going to confuse WWE as being Lord of the Rings; but in its own way, it’s a masterful exercise in world-building that creates its own universe like few other things ever do (or did).
Vulgar…But Never Toxic
The current entertainment and media landscape is built to thrive off your negativity and outrage to get viewership and attention. Often, it is harmful content that has negatively affected so many people across the globe. The WWE was the exact opposite of that. It was built to make you laugh and release some of that tension.
As loud, crass, and silly as it was; it was never malicious, or hateful. It often regularly lampooned the hyper ‘alpha-male’ stereotype most people spend glamorizing these days. While it had its share of casual raunchiness and sexism, it was done in a highly cartoonish, satirical way that was all built in the storyline’s context.
To put it short, it was funny, not offensive. And everyone was in on the joke. Which is a far cry from MMA-focused, dudebro-filled online hellscape that we currently live in. The WWE was all about having fun. It wasn’t about insulting certain groups or insulting their sensibilities.
It celebrated diversity. The roster was filled with wrestlers from all across various ethnicities and countries, and the women got as much spotlight as their male counterparts. A lot of them also became just as big stars as them, and are known to people all across the globe.
Great Music
Music snobs no doubt giggled at WWE’s “X-treme” soundtracks and went and bought the latest, overpriced Ryuchi Sakamoto vinyl instead. Which ironically would rot in their music shelves for months to come.
All of us on other hand, happily took 40-minute brisk walks with Edge’ original intro song “You think you know me?” blasting over our headphones.
Now jokes aside, yes, the WWE soundtrack probably won’t land high on any audiophile’s top 10 list. With that said, they chose the right song to fit each wrestler’s personality type, brand, and persona. They pretty much encouraged wrestlers to get creative and take calls on their own personal music and aesthetic choices.
As a result, we got a lot of popular songs that became part of the soundtrack of our lives. From the McMahon’s “No Chance in Hell”; to the infamous “Degeneration X” theme‘ to the iconic themes for Stone Cold, The Rock, The Undertaker. To finally, the awesome gothic-tinged intro for The Brood. You probably know a lot of these songs by heart to this day.
But the surprise is just how well it meshed with each individual wrestler. The songs, ironically, became more popular in association with the wrestler, than they ever would when they were playing on the radio or TV.
World-Class Branding
There’s a lot of crappy cash-in merchandise that brands put out; trying to sucker-bait customers into buying their shitty products. Not so with WWE; which always had top-class merch. The clothing, action figures, and video games have been historically of a very high quality.
In the case of video games specifically, they have really produced some historic titles that are often regarded as some of the best games ever made. From the NES era to the PS2 one; WWE produced several groundbreaking wrestling games; like WWF Attitude, Day of Reckoning, and Here Comes the Pain.
Not to mention, they regularly hosted celebrity guest stars and often made them part of the ongoing storylines in a seamless way. They have had everyone from Arnold Schwarzenneger to (yes) Jose Mourinho. Believe it or not.
It was The Attitude Era when the WWE really ramped up on its branding and took it to world-class levels.
The WWE also seemed more than happy about engaging their fans across the globe. Going the extra length to engage their fans worldwide. In fact, they have toured India many times, first time though exclusively in the 1990s: where it became a legitimate cultural event.
They did some cool cross-promotion with Bollywood at one point; with the Undertaker making an appearance in an Akshay Kumar film.
Safe to say, no one can accuse these people of being lazy. Overall, the company has exhibited extremely strong brand management and protection of their global image. And all of it first took a gigantic leap in The Attitude Era.
Waiting For The (Mc) Mahon
At the centre of it all was…well, you know who we’re talking about.
Vince McMahon himself. Love him or hate him (in fact I guess everyone hates him); it’s impossible to ignore him.
Since he’s been outed as a notorious, vile predator and opportunist who routinely violated power dynamics; and behind his obvious success for years; it’s impossible to defend him on a human level. In fact, he’s even copped up to all of it himself.
On the other hand, he is one of the most innovative, creative entrepreneurs of the last 50 years. One who turned a popular pastime into a zeitgeist-capturing phenomenon. In ways that are creative, innovative, and more focused on adding value to the lives of his customers and employees; rather than cutting corners. He also built a familial atmosphere that made people feel like they were part of a community (even though sometimes they wanted to punch him in the face).
Vince McMahon never tried to play nice or was ever a nice person. But was willing to ruthlessly make himself the main villain and the butt of many jokes in order to entertain his audience. You can’t help but…admire at least that side of his personality. He was a grade-A showman who often worked harder than his employees (can you imagine any boss doing that these days?).
This is definitely a case of ‘separate the art from the artist’. Most people won’t be able to, and that’s OK.
Maybe that’s what McMahon would argue was his justification: he was doing all of it for the company.
However, we do hope that some decent individual somewhere learns from his ceaseless showmanship, creativity, and business acumen. And creates something new and unique. Because love him or hate him…there’s a lot to him.
How The ‘Attitude’ Era Wound Down
The explanation is simple. It would wind down just naturally.
Times change. Tastes evolve. Old Superstars leave. New stars are born. Things become more mainstream and broad and lose their edge. People grow up and move on to more adult pursuits like getting a job and building a family. Nothing happened to it. It’s time just ended naturally. The cycle of life.
At this point the WWE was so strong that nothing could compete with it; and since Vince had pretty much bought out his key competitors; there really was no one to challenge him. It became a publicly traded company and a global brand. So well known that its once unique, ribald, unpredictable antics became comfort food for most people. Everything became familiar.
The WWE to be fair, remained excellent for many, many years after that and is still going strong. It is hardly a stagnant company. However, there is no doubt that The Attitude Era was just lightning in a bottle. You can’t capture it twice.
You can however catch a lot of the excellent podcasts where you will find so many figures from that era waxing lyrical about a very special time in their lives. And a very special time in the fans’ lives as well. A lot of short clips from the WWE have become suddenly popular online in the world of ‘insta humour’; which may lead to younger people discovering it. And they should.
Want to know why? To quote the man himself:
What are your favorite Attitude Era memories?
The glass-shattering pop of Stone Cold Steve Austin? The Rock’s legendary mic work? The madness of the Monday Night Wars, when you never knew who might jump ship next? Maybe it was the sheer chaos of Hell in a Cell, TLC matches, or DX pushing the boundaries every week?
Drop your favorite moments in the comments! And if you’ve got a passion for wrestling and a voice to share, MindBrews is always looking for new writers.
Write to us here: [email protected]—let’s talk.
