The Attitude Era

The Attitude Era is a period in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, known now as WWE) and professional wrestling history that arose in the latter half of the 1990s. The era was marked by a shift to more adult-oriented programming content, which was accomplished in a number of different ways; including an increase in the level of depicted violence and the incorporation of horrific, or otherwise politically incorrect characters and storylines created for shock value. Similar to the 1980s professional wrestling boom, the Attitude Era was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States as television ratings and pay-per-view buy-rates saw record highs.

The era saw several wrestlers rise to stardom, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind, Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Kane; established star The Undertaker continued his main event prominence, as did fellow veterans Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Vader, Sycho Sid, Ahmed Johnson and Ron Simmons in the early stages of the era. Wrestlers such as Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Chris Benoit – who were unhappy with their employment in rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) – jumped ship to WWF to ultimately become headliners for the company (Big Show and Benoit having previously been world champions in WCW). Other prominent Attitude Era performers who later became world champions in WWE were Edge, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bradshaw, Christian and Mark Henry.

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