History DarkerAndEdgier / ProfessionalWrestling

* The WWE Women's Division as a whole as it went from having childish and catty high school girl-style storylines during the Divas Era to more violent and serious feuds since the WWE Divas Division was rechristened as the WWE Women's Division back in 2016.

* Zigzagged with, [[{{Pun}} of all people]], Wrestling/{{Edge}}. He started off as a dark brooding loner, became a vicious pseudo-vampire, before getting LighterAndSofter as a goofy tag wrestler, became DarkerAndEdgier after going solo as a vigilante like character hell-bent on taking down Wrestling/{{Evolution}}, before his heel turn and becoming a sleazy manipulator, and later became a goofy [[ComedicSociopathy Comedic Sociopath]].

* Lucha Libre Internacional was marginally but still noticeably heavier in tone than [[Wrestling/{{CMLL}} EMLL]], which it broke away from; one of its most famous angles, which in turn led to the tercias match being associated with Mexican wrestling, was started by a heart attack causing FallenAngels, who formerly were El Signo (whose gimmick immediately before this was having blond hair [[HumiliatingWager and getting it shaved off]]), El Texano (formerly a {{cowboy}}), and Negro Navarro (the only one with a remotely supernatural or worrying gimmick, which was simply being a [[AscendedFanboy fanboy]] of Black Shadow).

* Wrestling/BamBamBigelow debuted in the WWF in 1987 as a GentleGiant of sorts, an agile, seemingly fun-loving big man who spurned all the heel managers bidding for his services in favor of the babyface Oliver Humperdink. He would leave the WWF a year later, and in 1992 he returned with the same BaldOfAwesome hairdo, the same ring get-up, but with a heel persona and a slow, dark, ominous ring theme that contrasted to the happy sax music he entered to in 1987-88.

The "steel cage" used in Steel Cage Matches transformed over time from something that kids would probably enjoy climbing at Chuck E. Cheese to, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an actual steel cage]]. However, the steel cage itself is lighter and softer, as the first cage matches in pro wrestling used chicken wire.
* Lucha Libre Internacional was marginally but still noticeably heavier in tone than [[Wrestling/{{CMLL}} EMLL]], which it broke away from, one of it's most famous angles, which in turn lead to the tercias match being associated with Mexican wrestling, was started by heart attack causing FallenAngels, who formerly were El Signo(whose gimmick immediately before this was having blond hair [[HumiliatingWager and getting it shaved off]]), El Texano (formerly a {{cowboy}}) and Negro Navarro, (the only one with a remotely supernatural or worrying gimmick, which was simply being a [[AscendedFanboy fanboy]] of Black Shadow)

* The "steel cage" used in Steel Cage Matches transformed over time from something that kids would probably enjoy climbing at Chuck E. Cheese to, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an actual steel cage]]. However, the steel cage itself is lighter and softer, as the first cage matches in pro wrestling used chicken wire.

* Wrestling/BamBamBigelow debuted in the WWF in 1987 as a GentleGiant of sorts, an agile, seemingly fun-loving big man who spurned all the heel managers bidding for his services in favor of the babyface Oliver Humperdink. He would leave the WWF a year later, and in 1992 he returned with the same BaldOfAwesome hairdo, the same ring get-up, but with a heel persona and a slow, dark, ominous ring theme that contrasted to the happy trumpet music he entered to in 1987-88.

* ECW from 1996 onward was considered a more darker and edgier professional wrestling organization when compared to other organizations like WWE or WCW back in the day as ECW's angles took a more mature approach over the cartoony "storylines" WWF and WCW were using. ECW had actively based itself on older, more serious times in wrestling as well as on {{garbage wrestling}} promotions such as Wrestling/{{FMW}}.

* The [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF's]] Wrestling/AttitudeEra gained so much attention because it was so much Darker And Edgier than the days of [=Superhero=]-like wrestlers like Wrestling/HulkHogan, the fact that much of the new flavor was imported directly from Wrestling/{{ECW}} aside. It could be argued that this was inspired by Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s taking its two main wrestlers, Hulk Hogan and Wrestling/{{Sting}}, and transforming them overnight. The Sting gimmick morphed from a brightly colored California [[SurferDude super-surfer]] to a grim, vengeful NinetiesAntiHero, a wrestling version of Franchise/TheCrow. Hulk Hogan became "Hollywood Hogan", an [[WhiteGangBangers all-powerful gangster]] with a Hollywood-sized ego. This inspired WWF to change their direction as well as ECW's gaining momentum.

* ECW from 1996 onward was considered a more darker and edgier professional wrestling organization when compared to other organizations like WWE or WCW back in the day as ECW's angles took a more mature approach over the cartoony "storylines" WWF and WCW were using. Like with WWF, imports from Wrestling/{{FMW}} and the like aside.

* The [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF's]] Wrestling/AttitudeEra gained so much attention because it was so much Darker And Edgier than the days of [=Superhero=]-like wrestlers like Wrestling/HulkHogan, the fact that much of the new flavor was imported directly from Wrestling/{{ECW}} aside.
** It could be argued that this was inspired by WCW's taking its two main wrestlers, Hulk Hogan and Sting, and transforming them overnight. The character of Sting morphed from a brightly colored California super-surfer to a grim, vengeful NinetiesAntiHero, a wrestling version of Franchise/TheCrow. Hulk Hogan became "Hollywood Hogan", an all-powerful gangster with a Hollywood-sized ego. This inspired WWF to change their direction as well as ECW's gaining momentum.
* The "steel cage" used in Steel Cage Matches transformed over time from something that kids would probably enjoy climbing at Chuck E. Cheese to, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an actual steel cage]].

* Shane Helms' original [=Superhero=] [[TheGimmick gimmick]] "The Hurricane," seemingly [[ExecutiveMeddling imposed]] on him in 2001 when he came in from WCW as a joke to amuse the writers, but, Helms' talent, charisma and enthusiasm got the character over with the fans. It helped that Helms actually [[OneOfUs/WrestlingWeenies has a genuine love for comic books]]. When he revived the character years later just before his departure from WWE, he attempted somewhat to reimagine Hurricane as a grim, silent, DarkIsNotEvil avenger.

* Unlike WWE, Wrestling/{{TNA}} had more violence, blood, and profanity and was rated TV-14. It's also been viewed as IncompetenceInc.
* ECW was considered a more darker and edgier professional wrestling organization when compared to other organizations like WWE or WCW back in the day as ECW's storylines take a more mature approach over the cartoony storylines wrestling organizations used to take.
* Wrestling/TheUndertaker and his Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness gimmick. Undertaker has always been 'dark' so to speak, but when the Ministry came into existence he become a full blown villain, using creepy religious symbolism, crucifying opponents, abducting women, employing a cult of other wrestlers to do his bidding, the whole nine yards. He became less of a wrestling villain and more of something out of a comic book.
* Over the years, Scott Levy turned from the effeminate Scotty Flamingo into the brooding, psychopathic Wrestling/{{Raven}}
* In his WWE career, CM Punk has continued to become grittier and more visually dark, even when making a HeelFaceTurn
* Wrestling/KevinSullivan's HollywoodSatanism heel run in Florida qualifies. He has said that the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom was supposed to have been darker than it was. As it turned out, due to silly gimmicks and '''[[NoIndoorVoice NO INDOOR VOICE]]''' overacting, it ended up more as a SoBadItsGood {{Guilty Pleasure|s}} with plenty of HamAndCheese and NarmCharm.
* [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin "Goldust" Runnels]]'s promotion video as "Seven" when he returned to WCW, though that got cancelled.

* With the family friendly + occasional ParentalBonus formula PG-WWE has established with its characters and storylines, the backwoods cult of TheWyattFamily comes off like an AttitudeEra gimmick that got off at the wrong stop on a time machine. It has minor shades of the MinistryOfDarkness except that it's a lot earthier and ''slightly'' less over-the-top, coming across a lot more like a cult you could very well run across in RealLife if you got lost in the wrong area. Bray, unlike TheUndertaker, isn't so much a supernatural being, but he ''is'' a man that fully believes himself to be some sort of god, and that arguably makes him even scarier.

* With the family friendly + occasional ParentalBonus formula PG-WWE has established with its characters and storylines, the backwoods cult of TheWyattFamily comes off like an AttitudeEra gimmick that got off at the wrong stop on a time machine. It has minor shades of the MinistryOfDarkness except that it's a lot earthier and ''slightly'' less over-the-top, coming across a lot more like a cult you could very well run across in RealLife if you got lost in the wrong area. Bray, unlike TheUndertaker, isn't so much a supernatural being, but he ''is'' a man that fully believes himself to be some sort of god, and that arguably makes him even scarier.

* Wrestling/ChrisJericho's creepy video with the children before he returned to compete in the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble, lose, and then face CM Punk (then face) at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}}'', which had been his plan all along.

* Zigzagged with, [[{{Pun}} of all people]], Wrestling/{{Edge}}. He started off as a dark brooding loner, became a vicious pseudo-vampire, before getting LighterAndSofter as a goofy tag wrestler, became DarkerAndEdgier after going solo as a vigilante like character hell-bent on taking down Wrestling/Evolution, before his heel turn and becoming a sleazy manipulator, and later became a goofy [[ComedicSociopathy Comedic Sociopath]].

* Wrestling/ChrisJericho's creepy video with the children before he returned to compete in the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble, lose, and then face CM Punk (then face) at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}}'', which had been his plan all along.