The Attitude Era - Initiation

Initiation

During the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between the WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult oriented product. This era was spearheaded by CEO Vince McMahon and head writer Vince Russo, who drastically changed the way professional wrestling television was written. Russo's booking style was often referred to as Crash TV — short matches, backstage vignettes, and shocking television.

Several miscellaneous events, outside the major benchmarks, have been credited with helping the transition the Attitude Era. In his book, Russo mentions the debut of the character Goldust in 1995 as a turning point in portraying a more adult character. Brian Pillman's "loose cannon" persona has also been credited, highlighted by a 1996 segment when he pulled a gun on Austin and a 1997 storyline that contained sexual overtones with Marlena. By 1996, the WWF had also began playing up female sexuality, led by Sunny and Sable. After losing a match that cost him a chance at the WWF Championship in March 1997, Bret "Hitman" Hart shoved McMahon and went into profanity-laced tirade.

Read more about this topic:  The Attitude Era

Famous quotes containing the word initiation:

    Until the end of the Middle Ages, and in many cases afterwards too, in order to obtain initiation in a trade of any sort whatever—whether that of courtier, soldier, administrator, merchant or workman—a boy did not amass the knowledge necessary to ply that trade before entering it, but threw himself into it; he then acquired the necessary knowledge.
    Philippe Ariés (20th century)

    The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new—whether it be the settlement of new lands or the initiation of new ways of life—is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new.
    Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)