History YMMV / RuthlessAggressionEra

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The women's matches might pale in comparison to the likes of ''Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}}'' or bouts that the Four Horsewomen had on [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]]. But after years of WWE dumbing down the division to little more than {{Fanservice}}, it was the first time a mainstream audience had seen women's wrestling treated legitimately since the mid-90s. These were the matches that proved casual fans did want to see women wrestle. Wrestling/MollyHolly even lampshaded this when comparing herself to the more recent women.
--> "I just went out there and wrestled for three minutes. You should see what the girls can do today."

* DorkAge: The year 2004 was not a good year, and is seen as the lower point of the era. Notably the draft was introduced this year, and inexplicably broke up several good tag teams to seriously hurt the division. The [[Wrestling/WWEDivaSearch Diva Search]] was introduced, Wrestling/BrockLesnar abruptly left the company, the Cruiserweight division was downplayed and there was a general slump in quality of wrestling.

* NeverLiveItDown: The infamous Katie Vick storyline happened during this era, and is usually held up as one of the low points.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Again, Wrestling/TripleH's "Reign of Terror". No matter what happens, Trips always gets his way in the end. Even in times he loses, he find ways to get the upper hand back.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Again, Wrestling/TripleH's "Reign of Terror". No matter what happens, Trips always gets his way in the end. Even in times he loses, he find ways to get the upper hand back.

* VindicatedByHistory: At the time, the Ruthless Aggression Era was seen as a step down for simply ''not'' being the Wrestling/AttitudeEra. With the rise to prominence of several stars who got their start in this era, nostalgia for the great women's division and general appreciation of good quality wrestling - ''without'' the twists and gimmicks of the Attitude Era - it is more fondly remembered nowadays.

* VindicatedByHistory: At the time, the Ruthless Aggression Era was seen as a step down for simply ''not'' being the Wrestling/AttitudeEra. With the rise to prominence of several stars who got their start in this era, nostalgia for the great women's division and general appreciation of good quality wrestling - ''without'' the {{Shocking Swerve}}s and gimmicks of the Attitude Era - it is more fondly remembered nowadays.

* DorkAge: The year 2004 was not a good year, and is seen as the lower point of the era. Notably the draft was introduced this year, and inexplicably broke up several good tag teams to seriously hurt the division. The [[Wrestling/WWEDivaSearch Diva Search]] was introduced, Brock Lesnar abruptly left the company, the Cruiserweight division was downplayed and there was a general slump in quality of wrestling.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Brock Lesnar. Debuted in 2002 and stayed with the company just two years. Yet was one of the most recognisable faces of the era, and was still remembered even before his surprise return in TheNewTens.
** Trish Stratus actually wasn't a star when this era started. She'd had a couple of notable moments and showed signs of improvement in the ring - but nothing to distinguish her from the rest of the model-turned-wrestlers. Then she had some intense feuds with Jazz, Molly Holly, Victoria and eventually Lita - culminating in a match in the main event of Raw.
** Randy Orton became one of this era too. When Evolution formed, he was considered the odd one out of the group - Triple H was the established star, Ric Flair was the veteran, and Batista was TheBigGuy with lots of potential. Then the Legend Killer gimmick caught on and he became the youngest ever World Heavyweight Champion at the age of 24.

** Attitude Era vs Ruthless Aggression Era - which was better? Fans of the Attitude Era tend to dislike the Ruthless Aggression Era for being somewhat LighterAndSofter, and not being as fun. Others have suffered HypeBacklash to the Attitude Era, finding that the Ruthless Aggression Era had better quality wrestling as opposed to booking and gimmicks. Of course there are plenty of fans that love both too.
** Trish Stratus vs. Lita can always ignite World War III on message boards. With Trish Stratus being viewed as WWE's golden girl and getting more title reigns - and a beautiful send-off - it's led to people championing Lita as the underrated one. The flipside has fans highlighting Lita's flaws in comparison to Trish. The rivalry ignores that the two women are best friends in real life, and are beloved by many for what they did for women's wrestling.

* GirlShowGhetto: Broke out of it, for a time. The women's division was treated seriously, matches were given time and feuds were given importance. Diva fans tend to refer to this as 'The Golden Era' - and indeed this was when Wrestling/TrishStratus and {{Wrestling/Lita}} had a match in the main event of Raw. While there had been main events featuring the women before, this marked the first time that it was solely ''just'' the women - outside of a mixed tag match or Lita's previous main event, which had The Rock as a referee. Notably in 2003, SLAM Wrestling were slating most of the [=PPVs=] - but taking time to praise the women's matches.

* OvershadowedByControversy: The infamous Chris Benoit murder-suicide case is the biggest scandal to have come out of this era, and quite possibly in all of wrestling history.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The women's matches might pale in comparison to the likes of ''SHIMMER'' or bouts that the Four Horsewomen had on NXT. But after years of WWE dumbing down the division to little more than {{Fanservice}}, it was the first time a mainstream audience had seen women's wrestling treated legitimately since the mid-90s. These were the matches that proved casual fans did want to see women wrestle. Molly Holly even lampshaded this when comparing herself to the more recent women.

* ToughActToFollow: The Attitude Era was what brought wrestling back to mainstream, and was something new at the time. Ruthless Aggression gradually saw that mainstream press drying up.
* VindicatedByHistory: At the time, the Ruthless Aggression Era was seen as a step down for simply ''not'' being the Attitude Era. With the rise to prominence of several stars who got their start in this era, nostalgia for the great women's division and general appreciation of good quality wrestling - ''without'' the {{Shocking Swerve}}s and gimmicks of the Attitude Era - it is more fondly remembered nowadays.

* OvershadowedByControversy: The infamous Chris Benoit case is the biggest scandal to have come out of this era, and quite possibly in all of wrestling history.

* BrokenBase: 2003 introduced the concept of brand exclusive PPV events. Some fans loved the idea, feeling it gave opportunities for more talent to make it to the shows and it also gave the Big 4 events more importance (making them the only dual-branded shows). Others felt that it allowed for too much {{Filler}} and general low quality of booking. It didn't help that these returned in the 2016 Brand Extension, re-igniting the BrokenBase. However, as of 2018, WWE seem to have gone back to universal PPVs.

** Trish Stratus vs Lita can always ignite World War III on message boards. With Trish Stratus being viewed as WWE's golden girl and getting more title reigns - and a beautiful send-off - it's led to people championing Lita as the underrated one. The flipside has fans highlighting Lita's flaws in comparison to Trish. The rivalry ignores that the two women are best friends in real life, and are beloved by many for what they did for women's wrestling.

* BrokenBase: 2003 introduced the concept of brand exclusive PPV events. Some fans loved the idea, feeling it gave opportunities for more talent to make it to the shows and it also gave the Big 4 events more importance (making them the only dual-branded shows). Others felt that it allowed for too much {{Filler}} and general low quality of booking. It didn't help that these returned in the 2016 Brand Extension, re-igniting the BrokenBase.

** Randy Orton became one of this era too. When Evolution formed, he was considered the odd one out of the group - Triple H was the established star, Ric Flair was the veteran, and Batista was TheBigGuy with lots of potential. Then the Legend Killer gimmick caught on and he became the youngest ever WWE Champion at the age of 24.

* OvershadowedByControversy: The infamous Chris Benoit case is the biggest scandals to have come out of this era, and quite possibly in all of wrestling history.

* OvershadowedByControversy: The infamous Chris Benoit case is one of the biggest scandals to have come out of this era.

* BrokenBase: 2003 introduced the concept of brand exclusive PPV events. Some fans loved the idea, feeling it gave opportunities for more talent to make it to the shows and it also gave the Big 4 events more importance (making them the only dual-branded shows). Others felt that it allowed for too much {{Filler}} and general low quality of booking.
* DorkAge: The year 2004 was not a good year, and is seen as the lower point of the era. Notably the draft was introduced this year, and inexplicably broke up several good tag teams to seriously hurt the division. The Diva Search was introduced, Brock Lesnar abruptly left the company, the Cruiserweight division was downplayed and there was a general slump in quality of wrestling.

* Wrestling/MollyHolly is one of the most fondly remembered women of the era, due to being a great all-round worker and known for being incredibly nice in real life.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The women's matches might pale in comparison to the likes of ''SHIMMER'' or bouts that the Four Horsewomen had on NXT. But after years of WWE dumbing down the division to little more than {{Fanservice}}, it was the first time a mainstream audience had seen women's wrestling treated legitimately since the mid-90s. These were the matches that proved casual fans did want to see women wrestle.