History Wrestling / AttitudeEra

The official start of the Attitude Era, as marked by WWE's official timeline, is March 29, 1998, the date of ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} XIV'', where Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin defeated Wrestling/ShawnMichaels for the WWF Championship in what would be Shawn's last match for four years, due to an injured back -- indeed, Michaels was said to be fighting through extreme pain during the match. However, the transition wasn't immediate, and the tone of the product had been shifting for the previous 18 months; Austin's famous "[[EstablishingCharacterMoment Austin 3:16]]" speech at ''[[Wrestling/KingOfTheRing King of the Ring 1996]]'' (as well as his submission match with Wrestling/BretHart at ''[=WrestleMania=] 13'') elevated the Texas Rattlesnake to superstardom, whereas Michaels' involvement in the "Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob" at ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series 1997]]'' and his role in the formation of Wrestling/DGenerationX helped build the atmosphere that fostered the Attitude Era (a notable assist also goes to the aforementioned Hart and his match with Austin, and to [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]], whose feud with Wrestling/TheUndertaker brought more extreme matches into the WWF).

However, without a certain event, the Attitude Era may not have occurred. There was Wrestling/TheKliq. Wrestling/KevinNash and Wrestling/ScottHall signed with WCW. A legendary event, known as the "MSG Incident" or "The Curtain Call" happened at their last scheduled WWF appearance. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall embraced in a group hug before Nash and Hall went to WCW. This was a '''major''' break in {{Kayfabe}} since the people involved were enemies at the time. Hall and Nash could not be punished since they were leaving the company. Michaels could not be punished since he was WWF Champion at the time. This left Triple H who was [[TheScapegoat the only one who could be punished]]. Triple H was supposed to win the King of the Ring in 1996 but was punished for his involvement in the incident. Therefore, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was made the winner at the event where he gave the infamous "Austin 3:16" speech.

The WWF also licensed a video game by Creator/{{Acclaim}} called ''WWF Attitude'', released in 1999 to much fanfare after the popular ''WWF War Zone''. Rather than sprites, the visuals were photo-realistic (for the time) 3D, there was tons of speech and voice samples, many wrestlers and outfits to unlock, and a great, in-depth "create-a-wrestler" mode. When it was released, it was considered the best wrestling game on the market, with Creator/{{THQ}} being the only ones close enough to touch it with their WCW entry. ''WWF Attitude'' managed to capture much of the spirit of a ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' episode or [=PPV=] broadcast during the Attitude Era, hence the name, and at the time it was praised by many. However, the gameplay was considered stiff in its time, as well as the date of release. Though it included many of the {{face}} and {{heel}} wrestlers accurately, there was no Wrestling/TheBigShow and not many match types (for one, there was no "Hell in a Cell"). Arena customization was exclusively locked from the years 1997 to 1998. When Acclaim's license ran out, THQ picked it up and made the popular ''Wrestlemania 2000'' and ''No Mercy'' games, also based on the Attitude Era, to which the latter was considered one of the greatest wrestling games in the medium. They would also produce ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackdown SmackDown!]]'', which would later become ''Smackdown VS Raw''. ''WWE '13'' features the Attitude Era heavily as the main focus, with ''2K16'' also having a decent focus.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was considered the Face of the Attitude Era, with The Rock later becoming co-protagonists with Austin, taking over as the company's Face when Austin took a year off to recover from neck surgery in late 1999. Though Vince [=McMahon=] was the BigBad, Triple H allied with Vince to became the TheDragon and the biggest wrestling heel in the business; so it was that Austin, The Rock, and Triple H formed the "big three" of the Attitude Era, with ample support from Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Kane.

The WWF took a few pages out of the ECW playbook and injected [[DarkerAndEdgier extreme violence, overt sexuality, general vulgarity]] and even, [[BloodierAndGorier shockingly bloody]] (albeit in a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed case]]) moments into its programming. The move offended and shocked the [[MoralGuardians parents' groups]] who had grown used to the company's family-friendly programming during the days of Wrestling/HulkHogan and Wrestling/AndreTheGiant -- but the edgier content also drew in viewers in numbers the WWF had never seen before (and hasn't equalled since). Pay-per-view buyrates shot through the roof and TV ratings rose well above the ratings for WCW; the WWF had reclaimed its throne.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was considered the Face of the Attitude Era, with The Rock later becoming co-protagonists with Austin, taking over as the company's Face when Austin took a year off to recover from neck surgery in late 1999. Though Vince [=McMahon=] was the BigBad, Triple H allied with Vince to became the TheDragon and the biggest wrestling heel in the business; so it was that Austin, The Rock, and Triple H formed the "big three" of the Attitude Era, with ample support from Wrestling/MickFoley, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, and Wrestling/{{Kane}}.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was considered the Face of the Attitude Era, with The Rock later becoming co-protagonists with Austin, taking over as the company's face when Austin took a year off to recover from neck surgery in late 1999. Though Vince Mcmahon was the BigBad, Triple H allied with Vince to became the TheDragon and the biggest wrestling heel in the business; so it was that Austin, The Rock, and Triple H formed the "big three" of the Attitude Era, with ample support from Wrestling/MickFoley, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, and Wrestling/Kane.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was considered the Face of the Attitude Era, with The Rock later becoming co-protagonists with Austin, taking over as the company's face when Austin took a year off to recover from neck surgery in late 1999. Though Vince Mcmahon was the BigBad, Triple H allied with Vince to became the TheDragon and the biggest wrestling heel in the business; so it was that Austin, The Rock, and Triple H formed the "big three" of the Attitude Era, with ample support from Wrestling/MickyFoley, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, and Wrestling/Kane.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was considered the Face of the Attitude Era, with The Rock later becoming co-protagonists with Austin, and might have even eclipsed him after 2000. Though Vince Mcmahon was the BigBad, Triple H allied with Vince to became the TheDragon and the biggest wrestling heel in the business; so it was that Austin, The Rock, and Triple H formed the "big three" of the Attitude Era.

The official start of the Attitude Era, as marked by WWE's official timeline, is March 29, 1998, the date of ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} XIV'', where Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin defeated Wrestling/ShawnMichaels for the WWF Championship in what would be Shawn's last match for four years, due to an injured back -- indeed, Michaels was said to be fighting through extreme pain during the match. Austin and Michaels actually had planted the seeds of the Era before ''[=WrestleMania=]'': Austin's famous "[[EstablishingCharacterMoment Austin 3:16]]" speech at ''[[Wrestling/KingOfTheRing King of the Ring 1996]]'' (as well as his submission match with Wrestling/BretHart at ''[=WrestleMania=] 13'') shot Austin into superstardom, whereas Michaels' involvement in the "Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob" at ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series 1997]]'' and his role in the formation of Wrestling/DGenerationX helped build the atmosphere that fostered the Attitude Era (a notable assist also goes to the aforementioned Hart and his match with Austin, and to [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]], whose feud with Wrestling/TheUndertaker brought more extreme matches into the WWF).

The official start of the Attitude Era, as marked by WWE's official timeline, is March 29, 1998, the date of ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} XIV'', where Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin defeated Wrestling/ShawnMichaels for the WWF Championship (in what would be Shawn's last match for four years, due to an injured back). Austin and Michaels actually had planted the seeds of the Era before ''[=WrestleMania=]'': Austin's famous "[[EstablishingCharacterMoment Austin 3:16]]" speech at ''[[Wrestling/KingOfTheRing King of the Ring 1996]]'' (as well as his submission match with Wrestling/BretHart at ''[=WrestleMania=] 13'') shot Austin into superstardom, whereas Michaels' involvement in the "Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob" at ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series 1997]]'' and his role in the formation of Wrestling/DGenerationX helped build the atmosphere that fostered the Attitude Era (a notable assist also goes to the aforementioned Hart and his match with Austin, and to [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]], whose feud with Wrestling/TheUndertaker brought more extreme matches into the WWF).

* March 3, 1997-- Monday Night Raw is aired as a pre-taped show from Berlin, Germany. While the event did see the debut and awarding of the European Title to Davey Boy Smith, the show's production values were derided and would garner the lowest ratings Raw had received to that point. An enraged {{Wrestling/Vince McMahon}}, looking for new ideas and directions, would bring WWF Magazine editor/writer Wrestling/VinceRusso onto the Creative Team.

People point to ''[=WrestleMania X-Seven=]'' as the end of the Attitude Era for a lot of reasons. (One of which being that everyone affiliated with WCW was relegated to silently watching ''[=WrestleMania=]'' from a skybox... could there have possibly been a more poetic visual than that?) WCW died the week before, ECW died shortly after (as a legal entity, ECW's last actual show took place on Jan. 13th, 2001), and the Austin/[=McMahon=] feud ended that same night, yet the industry had changed in a short amount of time. However, some also point to ''[=WrestleMania XIX]'' being the real end of the Attitude Era, as the tonal shift of the product changed immensely with both Austin and Rock leaving shortly afterwards.

People point to ''[=WrestleMania X-Seven=]'' as the end of the Attitude Era for a lot of reasons. (One of which being that everyone affiliated with WCW was relegated to silently watching ''[=WrestleMania=]'' from a skybox... could there have possibly been a more poetic visual than that?) WCW died the week before, ECW died shortly after, and the Austin/[=McMahon=] feud ended that same night, yet the industry had changed in a short amount of time. However, some also point to ''[=WrestleMania X-Nine=]'' being the real end of the Attitude Era, as the tonal shift of the product changed immensely with both Austin and Rock leaving shortly afterwards.

* [[Wrestling/StacyCarter Stacy "The Kat" Carter]] briefly flashed the crowd at ''[[Wrestling/ArmageddonWrestling Armageddon 1999]]'' following an "[[GimmickMatches Evening Gown in a Pool]]" match, marking the first instance of intentional nudity on WWF programming[[note]]Although according to Stacy, it ''wasn't'' intentional; what was intended was a ToplessnessFromTheBack shot where only the live crowd would see anything. A goof in the production room led to the wrong camera going out live.[[/note]]

* ''[[Wrestling/NoMercy No Mercy 1999]]'', which included the first tag-team "[[GimmickMatches Ladder Match]]" between "The Brood" members "The Hardy Boyz" (Wrestling/MattHardy and Wrestling/JeffHardy) and Wrestling/{{Edge}} & Wrestling/{{Christian}}; and Wrestling/{{Chyna}} winning the Intercontinental Championship from Wrestling/JeffJarrett in his last WWF match (making her the first woman to ever hold the championship).

People point to ''[=WrestleMania X-Seven=]'' as the end of the Attitude Era for a lot of reasons. (One of which being that everyone affiliated with WCW was relegated to silently watching ''[=WrestleMania=]'' from a skybox... could there have possibly been a more poetic visual than that?) WCW died the week before, ECW died shortly after, and the Austin/[=McMahon=] feud ended that same night, yet the industry had changed in a short amount of time. However, some also point to ''[=WrestleMania 19=]'' being the real end of the Attitude Era, as the tonal shift of the product changed immensely with both Austin and Rock leaving shortly afterwards.