Attitude Era Timeline in your opinion?

[Promoter 0]

This is spin-off from the WWE PG 13 thread. Since the wwe officially announced doing this in the last few months I was wondering how long things would take for it to hit into high gear.

 

So, I go back in time to the last real era philosophy that clicked with fans worldwide. What would you consider were the events that shaped the Attitude Era and what was the timeline that started everything? The official landmark event of Attitude Era acknowledged by wwe.

 

I think it should be noted that there is debate on when the change came into effect. I think people overlook sometimes that the wwf began their adult themed philosophy back in 1995. Remember RAW magazine for the mature wrestling fan?

 

It's very arguable that the storyline of Diesel shedding his corporate image the night after Survivor Series 1995 was the beginning. Also, the character of Goldust's debut at Survivor Series 1995 was also a change in direction(although there was Adorable Adrian Adonis before in the wwf).

The wwf was still a bit in its "new generation campaign" that was not really taking off too well with the masses. The following ppv show had Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog and it was the first signs of blading old school style was aired when Bret was in a pool of blood.

 

The wwf didn't make it OFFICIAL until Survivor Series 1997 with "Attitude" commercials that aired on the ppv of "you think I'm not an athlete? Try lacing up my boots".

 

To the mainstream masses it was OFFICIAL at WrestleMania 14 off the hype of Mike Tyson.

 

Austin's speech at KOR 96 was the wwf's Hulk Hogan heel turn interview at Bash at the Beach in that fans saw a new type of interview that was more shoot-ish(worked shoots coming to age after perhaps the pioneer Brian Pillman).

[The Tino Standard 0]

Plenty of points where you could say it began (personally, I vote for Survivor Series 97). As for where it ended, Steve Austin shaking hands with Vince McMahon at the end of WM 17 was a pretty definitive stake in the heart.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Thats the beauty of Wrestlemania X-SEVEN. Not only was it probably the climax of the Attitude Era, but also a fitting close, and the beginning of a new direction for the company. Austin shaking hands with "Satan, himself", put the perfect end to the wildest era WWE has ever seen.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Unless the "Attitude campaign" predates the Survivor Series, which I don't remember it doing or not, then it's from the Montreal Screwjob to Austin shaking hands with McMahon at X-Seven.

[Jebus 0]

You could even argue that the Attitude Era began when RAW became WAR (March '97).

As for when it ended, if you wanna stretch it, I'd go with the inaugural brand split.

 

So for me, the Attitude Era would be a good 5 years (March '97 - March '02).

[Angle-plex 0]

WM 14 to WM X7 to be easy.

[BifEverchad 0]

In my humble opinion, the Attitude Era started in February of 1997 with Bret shoving Vince, and saying "This is BULLSHIT!" on RAW....to around the union of HHH and Stephanie's marriage which of course started the next "Era", being the McMahon/Helmsley Era.

[chaosrage 0]

Plenty of points where you could say it began (personally, I vote for Survivor Series 97). As for where it ended, Steve Austin shaking hands with Vince McMahon at the end of WM 17 was a pretty definitive stake in the heart.

 

Thats the beauty of Wrestlemania X-SEVEN. Not only was it probably the climax of the Attitude Era, but also a fitting close, and the beginning of a new direction for the company. Austin shaking hands with "Satan, himself", put the perfect end to the wildest era WWE has ever seen.

 

Unless the "Attitude campaign" predates the Survivor Series, which I don't remember it doing or not, then it's from the Montreal Screwjob to Austin shaking hands with McMahon at X-Seven.

 

I used to think that, until I watched a lot of shows from late 01 awhile back and saw that it was still very much attitude era-ish.

 

The promo where Austin and Rock sing together happened in late 01. How could the Attitude Era have ended before that? This is THE Attitude Era promo.

 

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=NZMT38GR

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=SLL1EYKY

 

And if you watch that, what did Austin shaking hands with Vince actually do? Only a few months later and they're right back to Austin and Rock being the two most popular babyfaces in the company. The Alliance and Austin's relationship with McMahon are about to be dead and forgotten about. It might as well not even have happened. So did they really go in a new direction? Not really. For a little while they did, but then they were back where they started. Wrestlemania X7 didn't actually close anything. Based on that, I'd say Jebus is right. The Attitude Era definitely extended past WMX7 and probably went all the way up to the brand split.

[dubq 0]

It's very arguable that the storyline of Diesel shedding his corporate image the night after Survivor Series 1995 was the beginning. Also, the character of Goldust's debut at Survivor Series 1995 was also a change in direction(although there was Adorable Adrian Adonis before in the wwf).

 

Diesel's turn to tweener at the 95 SurSer was great. "Fucking mother fucker!" when he lost was priceless. I don't think I had seen such visible F-bombs on wrestling TV ever before that.

 

Oh, and Goldust debuted at In Your House 4 in Winnipeg (Oct 95) a month before that.

[BifEverchad 0]

It's very arguable that the storyline of Diesel shedding his corporate image the night after Survivor Series 1995 was the beginning. Also, the character of Goldust's debut at Survivor Series 1995 was also a change in direction(although there was Adorable Adrian Adonis before in the wwf).

 

Oh, and Goldust debuted at In Your House 4 in Winnipeg (Oct 95) a month before that.

and he had black ears.

[CubbyBr 0]

You could even argue that the Attitude Era began when RAW became WAR (March '97).

As for when it ended, if you wanna stretch it, I'd go with the inaugural brand split.

 

So for me, the Attitude Era would be a good 5 years (March '97 - March '02).

 

What about a full year before that when Goldust start making gay advances at Razor Ramon and then ended up fighting Roddy Piper in the "Hollywood Backlot Brawl" and Mania 12. Some of the shit in that match came right out of the attitude era-- Goldust Running around in leather chaps, Piper chasing him in a white Bronco and promising to "make a man out of him." Wrestlemania 12 was when I started to really feel like the product was evolving into something different.

[Naked Snake 0]

Plenty of points where you could say it began (personally, I vote for Survivor Series 97). As for where it ended, Steve Austin shaking hands with Vince McMahon at the end of WM 17 was a pretty definitive stake in the heart.

 

Thats the beauty of Wrestlemania X-SEVEN. Not only was it probably the climax of the Attitude Era, but also a fitting close, and the beginning of a new direction for the company. Austin shaking hands with "Satan, himself", put the perfect end to the wildest era WWE has ever seen.

 

Unless the "Attitude campaign" predates the Survivor Series, which I don't remember it doing or not, then it's from the Montreal Screwjob to Austin shaking hands with McMahon at X-Seven.

 

I used to think that, until I watched a lot of shows from late 01 awhile back and saw that it was still very much attitude era-ish.

 

The promo where Austin and Rock sing together happened in late 01. How could the Attitude Era have ended before that? This is THE Attitude Era promo.

 

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=NZMT38GR

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=SLL1EYKY

 

And if you watch that, what did Austin shaking hands with Vince actually do? Only a few months later and they're right back to Austin and Rock being the two most popular babyfaces in the company. The Alliance and Austin's relationship with McMahon are about to be dead and forgotten about. It might as well not even have happened. So did they really go in a new direction? Not really. For a little while they did, but then they were back where they started. Wrestlemania X7 didn't actually close anything. Based on that, I'd say Jebus is right. The Attitude Era definitely extended past WMX7 and probably went all the way up to the brand split.

 

Austin was never the same after he shook hands with McMahon, especially after his heel run. After Survivor Series 2001, his character seemed kinda flat because of the screwy booking of 2001. Hell, look at his placement on the card for WrestleMania X-8. That would have never happened to Austin from Mania's 14 to 17.

 

The major storyline of the Attitude era was McMahon versus Austin. Once they concluded that, it went to a new era. Remember, a lot of the Attitude era has a role in the Monday Night Wars...the Attitude era is a by product of the Monday Night Wars. Once you have WCW and ECW in the mix, it is no longer that Attitude era but a whole new era.

 

[dubq 0]

It's very arguable that the storyline of Diesel shedding his corporate image the night after Survivor Series 1995 was the beginning. Also, the character of Goldust's debut at Survivor Series 1995 was also a change in direction(although there was Adorable Adrian Adonis before in the wwf).

 

Oh, and Goldust debuted at In Your House 4 in Winnipeg (Oct 95) a month before that.

and he had black ears.

 

Leave the memories alone...

[chaosrage 0]

Austin was never the same after he shook hands with McMahon, especially after his heel run. After Survivor Series 2001, his character seemed kinda flat because of the screwy booking of 2001. Hell, look at his placement on the card for WrestleMania X-8. That would have never happened to Austin from Mania's 14 to 17.

 

Austin had to fight a member of the NWO. The Rock had Hogan and Nash was injured. That leaves Hall. It's not like they were treated as equals. Hall was basically Austin's bitch in the feud, with him being tied up and humiliated by Austin. The match was pretty much a handicap match between Austin and Hall/Nash.

 

I don't agree that his character was flat. If anything, his "WHAT" promos breathed new life into his old face character. His popularity wasn't hurt at all. He was still at least as popular as the Rock at the time.

 

The major storyline of the Attitude era was McMahon versus Austin. Once they concluded that, it went to a new era.

 

McMahon vs Austin didn't conclude at WMX7 though. I believe Austin turned face after the Survivor Series by attacking McMahon. The impact of Austin turning heel is really overrated.

 

Remember, a lot of the Attitude era has a role in the Monday Night Wars...the Attitude era is a by product of the Monday Night Wars. Once you have WCW and ECW in the mix, it is no longer that Attitude era but a whole new era.

 

Eh, the Monday Night Wars were essentially over in the middle of 1999. By 2000, WCW and ECW meant nothing to the WWF.

[frostdude1 0]

Start: Austin and McMahon's first confrontation at the MSG Raw in '97

End: Wrestlemania X7

[SamoaRowe 0]

Start: Austin declares to Jake Roberts that "Austin 3:16 just whooped your ass" at the King of the Ring 1996.

 

End: The episode of Raw where WCW turned heel, the ECW stable formed, and they joined up to become the Alliance all in one show. It was that episode when I realized that the WWF had changed and would never be the same again (as far as the type of show format and quality I was accostomed to).

 

I can definitely see the case for Wrestlemania X7, and I'm sort of persuaded to change my mind to that.

[Epic Reine 0]

Start: Survivor Series 1997

End: Survivor Series 2001

[Papacita 0]

I would be more inclined to say November/December 95 if Vince didn't seem so hesitant to go in that direction. Late 95/early 96 has the Goldust/Razor angle, anti-establishment Diesel showing the the middle finger on PPV, HBK's collapse and even guys like Ultimate Warrior cursing on TV, but then for everything like that you'd have a push back to the plumber-wrestlers, the Goon, and Hillbillies; the neutering of HBK's babyface character even after the backlash Diesel suffered after the same push really shows that the attitude mindset just didn't exist yet.

 

I do think that by late 1996, however, that the Attitude era was in full swing, really starting with Survivor Series 96. Stone Cold was already starting to get popular, and if you remember there was a pretty noticeable shift in the way Raw was laid out, with heel-heel brawls between Austin/Vader/Mankind and all the top babyfaces at each others' throats over the World Title being probably the best example of "shades of gray" booking I can remember at anytime in WWF history. Shotgun Saturday Night came shortly after, and the first thing they did why have Marlena take her top off on TV, and then to really cap it off in my mind, in the lead up to Mania 13, Russo himself penned an article in WWF magazine titled "WWF Attitude."

 

So yeah, it became official at Survivor Series 97 once it became a marketing slogan, but really I'd put Survivor Series 96 as the official start date.

 

As for the end...I kind of agree with whomever said the start of the McMahon-Helmsley Era, since WWF made another fairly noticeable shift (to me anyway) to what I consider the Entertainment Era: reliance on heavily scripted promos and situations, less randomness, more emphasis on comedy and skits, etc. (there also a MUCH greater emphasis on match quality that I sometimes think takes away from enjoyment of the shows, but I digress). But really, most of those features didn't really start to dominate shows until Austin's title run in 2001, so it makes sense to put that as an endpoint.

 

To Summarize: Survivor Series 1996 to about WM X-7.

[TheFranchise 0]

Start: Austin declares to Jake Roberts that "Austin 3:16 just whooped your ass" at the King of the Ring 1996.

 

End: The episode of Raw where WCW turned heel, the ECW stable formed, and they joined up to become the Alliance all in one show. It was that episode when I realized that the WWF had changed and would never be the same again (as far as the type of show format and quality I was accostomed to).

 

I can definitely see the case for Wrestlemania X7, and I'm sort of persuaded to change my mind to that.

These two dates. SamoaRowe is on the money, in my opinion.

 

Personally, i'd have chosen the Bret Hart/Steve Austin match at WrestleMania 13 as the starting point for the Attitude Era, but now that SR says that above, I 100% agree.

[Diamonddust 0]

Start: Austin declares to Jake Roberts that "Austin 3:16 just whooped your ass" at the King of the Ring 1996.

 

End: The episode of Raw where WCW turned heel, the ECW stable formed, and they joined up to become the Alliance all in one show. It was that episode when I realized that the WWF had changed and would never be the same again (as far as the type of show format and quality I was accostomed to).

 

I can definitely see the case for Wrestlemania X7, and I'm sort of persuaded to change my mind to that.

These two dates. SamoaRowe is on the money, in my opinion.

 

Personally, i'd have chosen the Bret Hart/Steve Austin match at WrestleMania 13 as the starting point for the Attitude Era, but now that SR says that above, I 100% agree.

 

I'm in agreement with these dates as well. You can trace portions of Attitude back into 1995, but honestly, King of the Ring '96 was the starting point with the Austin 3:16 line. It was that era's version of "Say your prayers and eat your vitamins". Austin's popularity started to build, and it became cool to cheer the psychopathic heel in place of the moralistic baby-face (The Austin/Bret feud that developed shortly after).

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I think most people will agree with the end. It is the Austin heel turn at Wrestlemania X-7. There was a complete change of direction after that and the biggest star that defined the era just turned heel.

 

As for the beginning, I go with the double turn at Wrestlemania 13. Then that was immediately followed by the formation of the Hart Foundation. They had been building towards a more adult product since at least the fall of 1996, but the submission match really represents the break with the past. The WWF was in a sort of quasi-attitude mode until then. It was darker than previous years, and Survivor Series 1996 made Austin a star, but he was still a clearcut heel. He was great in the role, but it wasn't significantly different from what Jake Roberts was doing 5 years earlier. The face turn is the key moment. That changed everything about how faces and heels were viewed by fans. The Attitude Era was well underway by Survivor Series. That was one of the big beefs that Bret Hart had with the company.

[Pythagoras 0]

Here's the quick and dirty version.

 

Act I: The Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon characters are built, mostly through Bret Hart.

(1996 King of the Ring to 1998 Royal Rumble)

 

Act II: Stone Cold makes it to the top, Mr. McMahon and others try to knock him off.

(1998 Royal Rumble to 1999 Survivor Series)

 

Act III: Stone Cold returns, gets revenge, but ultimately sells out. He makes one last push for the title and comes up short.

(1999 Survivor Series to 2001 Vengeance)

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't know the exact date but to me the beginning of the Attitude Era was when the WWF completely changed the look of Raw right after WM 13. That was when Raw went to 2 hours full time and became very much the show we still see now.

 

Of course for the official start it was right after Montreal, when the Attitude vignettes started airing. The end was WM 17 in 2001. From there it was the Invasion Era which bridged into the Brand Extension Era that still exists.

[Promoter 0]

I guess historians will have a lot to work with in summarizing the second biggest era. I still say the 80's(now called Federation years) was bigger for various reasons. Anyways, great responses from all and it's interesting to see the viewpoints. All valid points imo.

 

The one that kind of stood out which probably will get overlooked nowadays, but grow over time is Bret Hart's involvement in changing wrestling. Pythagoras made a really great point that Mr. Mcmahon and Austin were built through Bret Hart and it is also debatable about HBK in terms of the new attitude era.

 

Look at it like this. Austin makes his Austin 3:16 speech at KOR(which is another story in itself because we know HHH was suppose to win that year, so what would have happened if Austin didn't play off Jake to make the catchphrase of a generation?). Austin then is set up to goad Bret Hart back into the wwf. Nice angle by Vince because of Bret had jumped to wcw(another timeline changing event if it had happened) Austin would just call him a coward. Bret comes back to face Austin at SS 96 and HBK's face champ run comes to an end with Sid is cheered for winning by heel tactics.

 

Bret and Austin continue at Mania 13 when it was suppose to be HBK/Hart. That changes history as well. However, that "lost my smile" scenario only intensified the Bret/HBK angle. HBK becomes more edgy in his character playing off Bret Hart's old school babyface morals(look at the video package at Survivor Series). That feud gets more heat and build as the match doesn't happen at KOR 97 either. Basically, by design or not Bret and HBK got the Hogan/Sting build up.

 

Now, take Bret Hart out of the equation and where or how would wwe have gone in terms of building HBK and Austin? Vince more than got his money's worth out of that Bret contract in retrospect and he got rid of him at the right moment too(although a Bret/Austin title feud was money imo). The Survivor Series in Montreal was the climax of the wwe's hottest feud up until that time excluding anything from the 80's era such as Hogan/Savage. WCW saw how big it was and copied it for Hogan/Sting by putting Bret into the mix for Starrcade.

[BruiserKC 0]

I would agree with the ending of the Attitude Era being Wrestlemania X-7, but I'd say the Attitude Era for me started with RAW on January 1, 1996. While we had the little blurbs with Goldust's arrival and such, to me it all started on RAW with the first Billionaire Ted/Huckster/Nacho Man segment. While Bischoff had been spilling spoiler results for a few months on Nitro, McMahon kicked it up a notch with those skits. And of course, who could forget that great talk show host Larry Fling. From there for me everything seemed to have that edge from that moment on.

[cabbageboy 0]

There were moments of Attitude showing as far back as Diesel tossing Bret through the announce table, but it wasn't any sort of actual new direction until after WM in 1997. Sure, there were insane angles like Austin/Pillman with the gun on Raw, but the basic look of the show remained the same.

 

I mentioned this a bit in a previous thread months ago, but I think Owen Hart was just as instrumental in Austin's development as Bret. Let's face it, Austin had little sympathy during the entire Bret feud. He was a total asshole. But when Owen nearly broke his neck legit it was a shock to the system that basically forced fans to care about the guy. Did anyone really want to see Austin beat the crap out of Bret? Not really, because Bret didn't play it that way. He still wanted to be the hero on some level. Owen was a douche who nearly crippled someone and had no problem being a total heel. If this hadn't happened legit then such an angle almost had to happen with Austin to bring a different dimension of sympathy to his character.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Another small thing, for me anyway, was the 1996 Slammy Awards when the word "ass" was tossed around like it never had been before. They even used in in the (remade?) Buddy Rose Blowaway Diet parody, urging the audience to dial 1-800-LARDASS. Not a big moment, but it never left my mind.

[MFer 0]

I just wish I had become a regular viewer of WWF/E (or just wrestling in general) back then. I didn't start watching full-time until RAW moved to TNN, which was like late 2000. I'd also agree that the Attitude era ended around WM X-7.

[Promoter 0]

There were moments of Attitude showing as far back as Diesel tossing Bret through the announce table, but it wasn't any sort of actual new direction until after WM in 1997. Sure, there were insane angles like Austin/Pillman with the gun on Raw, but the basic look of the show remained the same.

 

I mentioned this a bit in a previous thread months ago, but I think Owen Hart was just as instrumental in Austin's development as Bret. Let's face it, Austin had little sympathy during the entire Bret feud. He was a total asshole. But when Owen nearly broke his neck legit it was a shock to the system that basically forced fans to care about the guy. Did anyone really want to see Austin beat the crap out of Bret? Not really, because Bret didn't play it that way. He still wanted to be the hero on some level. Owen was a douche who nearly crippled someone and had no problem being a total heel. If this hadn't happened legit then such an angle almost had to happen with Austin to bring a different dimension of sympathy to his character.

 

You know I completely forgot about that. Good point. I also liked how they kept Austin as a heel in storylines even though he was face to the fans around that time too.

[Papacita 0]

Did anyone really want to see Austin beat the crap out of Bret?

GOD YES!!! Granted, Bret had some redeeming qualities, but he was also a fantastic villan and I couldn't wait for Austin to beat his ass. Really, was there anybody that didn't go crazy when Austin attacked Bret in the ambulance?

 

Re Promoter's point, I also liked how in those days Austin acted like a heel despite being face. It used to crack me up when the fans would cheer him or something and he'd tell them to "shut up"! I hated when he started doing the "Hell Yeah" stuff, but I guess it was all for the better.