After viewings of many Attitude Era PPVs, I've made a list of the things I find tolerable about the Attitude Era. It is not a very long list. Since there is no 'official' starting point, I've gone with Montreal as the beginning of the Attitude Era due to Bret's exit and the spotlight completely centering on Stone Cold(despite Shawn's protests) so sadly too late for Jim Ross's heel announcer table, Canadian Hero Bret Hart and too soon for Kurt Angle coming into his own and real ass Undertaker
• Stone Cold Steve Austin. As one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, this was an easy one to pick. However, I feel this was when Stone Cold became more and more of an edgy comic book character and less of a charismatic rebel that he was prior. He definitely had his moments, but he never felt as raw as he did when he was a heel getting cheered even when they gave him such raw material to work with.
• Vince McMahon. Your favorite 90s villain. I loved Vince especially when he was wrestling. He was like the boss from Def Jam Vendetta before Def Jam Vendetta. It was a perfect villain archetype that this evil man also booked himself to wrestle and was completely jacked underneath the blazer. You could see Vince McMahon as the bad guy in a Crow movie or something like that where he takes off his jacket and fights the hero on a rainy rooftop before begging for his life at the end.
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• Undertaker's ministry theme. The idea behind the Ministry as well especially when combined with the Corporation is incredible. I just wish it was executed with a better roster. The Brood has the exact same issue(and failure to book them properly after their debut)
• Kane for the first two or three months. I'm no fan of Kane's, but I can see why people dug him back when he was first getting pushed. Gimmicky-ness aside, which fits in this era, he was just booked so strongly. I hadn't seen someone booked that strongly since Vader in WCW. I wish his matches were more entertaining however.
• Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker. It's a great match though I do find it a little overrated. Or I'll just say that it's not Undertaker's best match.
• The Radicalz debut. And the first month or so after they were around. They were booked way stronger than I would have expected only to be
• Eddie Guerrero storming the playboy mansion
• Shane McMahon is awesome. As perfect as his dad was as the 90s villain, Shane is perfect as the shitheel son who thinks he's owed the world. He's hilarious on commentary and in the ring, and it's a sad thing that he isn't regularly on TV still. One of my favorites in that era as a kid and he still holds up.
• Big Bossman clowning on Big Show
A lot of stuff might be Attitude Era that I personally don't consider. Timelines are a weird thing, but I always consider the Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, and those sorts to be more 'Ruthless Aggression' era than Attitude. I feel like they didn't get to shine as much until then.
It's just a mess, and it's hard to watch. Maybe it's because I was watching WCW at the time, but I still struggle to get through most Attitude Era raws. The only thing that keeps me going is how hyped the crowds are, Stone Cold, and the McMahons(Shane and vince. NOT Stephanie or Linda.). Sure, they didn't have the Golden Era or modern era problem of focusing on one person above all others and Russo did try to get a little spotlight for everyone, but there's just so many people that get highlighted that are in these feuds no one cares about. Like Ken Shamrock has an amazing look, is hilarious screaming STEPHANIE, and has some surprisingly solid moves that translate to professional wrestling, but you keep giving him television time and it never builds him up. It's like he never went up in WWE with his popularity, he was always just there. Same with a lot of members of their roster, like Edge even back then. Despite Undertaker being over, I also felt he never got a truly great angle or the great angle never paid off. Every DX skit has me wanting to fast forward and Owen is doing nothing.
It just makes me wish I'd be in 2002 already.
