Attitude Era

File:WWF Attitude Logo.png

The WWF Attitude logo, used from November 1997 to May 2002.

The Attitude Era was a period in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (known now as WWE) and professional wrestling history that began during the later half of the 1990s and ended in the early 2000s resulting in a three-year life span. 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 sexually suggestive, horrific, or otherwise politically incorrect characters and story lines 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, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Mick Foley; established WWF stars The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels continued their main-event prominence. Wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, The Big Show, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero - who were unhappy with their employment in rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) - jumped ship to the WWF to make names for themselves. Other main-event wrestlers who first rose to prominence during the Attitude Era include Kane, Edge, Christian, and the Hardy Boyz. The era also saw an increase in the McMahon family's on-screen presence, starting with Chairman Vince McMahon's creating a heel persona of himself following the Montreal Screwjob.

Since the end of the Attitude Era, and in particular since 2008, WWE has done away with much of the adult-oriented programming content introduced during the Attitude Era and returned to more family friendly programming.

Overview

The Attitude Era, according to official WWE media, spanned a time period of somewhere between 1996 and 2002, although the exact starting and ending points are essentially undefined. The organization has, over the years, given various dates, which differ drastically from one medium to the next. The 1996 King of the Ring on June 23, 1996, Survivor Series 1997 on November 9, 1997 (the first official usage of the "Attitude" logo occurred during a vignette at this event) and WrestleMania XIV on March 29, 1998, have been cited as the starting point of the era. WWE's estimates, however, have proven erratic: the Attitude Era has been deemed active in September 1997, but May 1999 has been inferred as pre-Attitude Era.

Official WWE media has deemed the era to have concluded by April 2001, yet also to have been ongoing as of June 2001. The company officially ceased its "Attitude" promotion on May 6, 2002. On that date, usage of the initials "WWF", which were prominent within the logo, became prohibited as the result of a legal battle between the company and the World Wildlife Fund over the rights to legally use those initials. World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. officially became World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) and replaced its "Attitude" promotion with a new "Get the F out" marketing campaign.

The Attitude Era proved to be a huge marketing success for the WWE, drawing in a previously unaccounted for young adult demographic that allowed them to successfully cripple their competition, the WCW, by defeating them in the ratings war. Within two years, WCW had become so unsuccessful that it lost its primetime television deal. During this same period, the WWE had become so financially powerful, that McMahon was able to buy the company's trademarks, logos, copyrights, video archived library, and several wrestler contracts from AOL Time Warner at a dramatically reduced valuation.

Initiation

During the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between the WWE's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, the WWE would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult oriented product. This era was spearheaded by Chairman 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 WWE had also began playing up female sexuality, led by Sunny and Sable. After losing a match that cost him a chance at the WWE Championship in March 1997, Bret "Hitman" Hart shoved McMahon and went into profanity-laced tirade.

The Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels feud

Another important feud from 1996 to 1997 was between Hart and Shawn Michaels, who had legitimate issues with one another outside of wrestling. The conflict behind the scenes spilled out into their on-screen story line, with both men making pointed personal remarks in interviews that were often rooted in these issues.

In 1997, Michaels stuffed gauze in the crotch area of skin-tight biker shorts for an interview while making sexual gestures. McMahon legitimately fined Michaels $10,000 for the incident, which led to Michaels pushing McMahon on adult humor as the direction WWE needed to go. Hart was upset with the company's direction preferring a more family-oriented product, this philosophical difference added to the real-life tension. Michaels would team with Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude to form the edgy group D-Generation X (officially named on October 13, 1997), launching two major trademarks of the Attitude Era: crotch chops and the catchphrase, "Suck It!"

Their rivalry culminated in the Montreal Screwjob, another landmark date in the Attitude Era and one of the most critical points in the birth of McMahon's character, Mr. McMahon, a corrupt evil-owner caricature fixated on destroying the lives of disobedient employees.

The Shawn Michaels/Undertaker rivalry

While the feud between Michaels and The Undertaker was short, it was important in adding a new rivalry. One important match from the Attitude Era was the WWE Championship match between Hart and the then-champion The Undertaker with Michaels as the special guest referee at SummerSlam 1997. A contract was put in place outlining what Hart had stated verbally: if Hart lost, he would never compete in the United States again. WWE officials would later shock the audience by making Michaels the referee and amending the contract to state that if Michaels didn't call the match fairly, he would never be allowed to wrestle in the United States either. During the match, Hart knocked out Michaels and took the advantage by hitting The Undertaker with a steel chair. While Hart attempted the pin, Michaels stopped counting when he saw the chair. Hart and Michaels then got into an argument in the ring; during which, Hart screamed to Michaels, "Fck you!" and spat in the latter's face. This angered Michaels, and as he attempted to hit Hart with the chair, Hart dodged it, resulting in Michaels hitting The Undertaker instead. Michaels counted the pinfall, and Hart won the title.

Worried that The Undertaker would seek redemption, Michaels teamed up with Triple H and Chyna to form D-Generation X, with Ravishing Rick Rude as their "insurance policy." While Undertaker said that Michaels would "pay for his crimes", Michaels repeated his SummerSlam actions during a tag team match between DX and The Undertaker and Mankind, getting himself disqualified by hitting The Undertaker with a chair. This led to the first ever Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood: In Your House. During the match, The Undertaker was close to victory when his younger half-brother Kane (that Paul Bearer had spoken of) ripped the door of the Cell and performed the Tombstone Piledriver on him, costing him the match. This led to The Brothers of Destruction Saga.

Michaels and The Undertaker would meet again three months later at the 1998 Royal Rumble in a Casket match. Two infamous moments occurred during that match that would change the complexity of not only The Brothers of Destruction Saga, but the WWE. During the first several minutes of the match, The Undertaker launched Michaels over the top rope and onto the edge of the Casket, damaging Michaels' back and putting him out of in-ring action for the next four years. Kane later on interfered in the match on what was thought to be on The Undertaker's behalf, but instead aided Michaels by chokeslamming The Undertaker in the Casket, closing it shut, and setting it on fire with the help of Paul Bearer.

Mike Tyson and WrestleMania XIV

After Austin won the 1998 Royal Rumble, former boxing champion Mike Tyson made a guest appearance on Raw the following night. Tyson was to be introduced as the "Special Guest Enforcer" referee for the championship match at WrestleMania XIV. However, McMahon's presentation of Tyson was interrupted by Austin, who flipped off Tyson, leading to a brief scuffle. The incident received mainstream media attention from several outlets and is credited with helping draw significant attention to the product just as the Attitude Era was being born.

Over the following weeks, Tyson aligned himself with Michaels, Austin's opponent at WrestleMania, and D-Generation X. In the closing moments of the match, Tyson counted Austin's pinfall on Michaels. Following the victory, a distraught Michaels confronted Tyson, who then knocked out Michaels with a right-handed punch as Austin celebrated.

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Birth of Austin 3:16

Stone Cold Steve Austin has been described as the "poster boy for the WWE's Attitude Era."

Stone Cold Steve Austin, who previously wrestled in WCW and ECW, first appeared in the WWE in 1995 as "The Ringmaster" and was managed by Ted DiBiase. For several months, Austin held the Million Dollar Championship while DiBiase served as his mouthpiece. It was during this time that Austin shaved his head bald and grew a goatee to develop his now-iconic appearance. When DiBiase left the WWE following a stipulation on a "Caribbean Strap Match" between Austin and Savio Vega, Austin revealed that he purposely lost the match to rid himself of the distractions caused by DiBiase.

The 1996 King of the Ring tournament saw Austin's first usage of "Austin 3:16", the major marketing juggernaut for the WWE during the era. After winning the tournament by defeating Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Austin mocked Roberts' recital of the biblical passage John 3:16 by saying, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"

Austin's popularity skyrocketed as an anti-hero despite his playing a heel character, eventually leading to a long feud with Hart from late-1996 to mid-1997 climaxing in a Submission Match at WrestleMania 13 with Austin turning face and Hart turning heel. During an interview in 1997, Austin hit the Stone Cold Stunner on McMahon. This laid the foundation for the later feud between Austin and McMahon, the central storyline of the Attitude Era.

The Austin vs. McMahon rivalry

On the Raw after Austin won the WWE Championship, Mr. McMahon presented him with the newly designed WWE Championship belt and informed him he did not approve of his rebellious nature and that if he didn't conform to society and become his image of what a WWE Champion should be, Austin would face severe consequences. Austin gave his answer in the form of a Stone Cold Stunner to McMahon. This led to a segment a week later where Austin had pledged a few days prior in a meeting to agree to McMahon's terms, appearing in a suit and tie, with a beaming McMahon taking a picture of himself and Austin, his new corporate champion. The entire thing was a ruse by Austin, who in the course of the segment proceeded to tear off the suit, telling McMahon it was the last time he'd ever be seen dressed like this (he was subsequently seen in a suit in his WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony). Austin punched McMahon in the 'corporate grapefruits', and took another picture with McMahon grieving in pain.

The following week on April 13, 1998, Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no contest when Foley (as Dude Love) interrupted the entire contest. On that night Raw defeated Nitro in the ratings for the first time since June 10, 1996.

Their rivalry continued throughout the Attitude Era including a match in 1999 at St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Through the rivalry, McMahon founded two heel factions: The Corporation and The Corporate Ministry, using several wrestlers to face Austin, including The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane and "The Big Show" Paul Wight.

The Rock

Nation of Domination

The Rock, another prominent figure of the Attitude Era.

Dwayne Johnson, a third-generation wrestler, made his debut at the 1996 Survivor Series as "Rocky Maivia", naming himself after his grandfather Peter Maivia and his father Rocky Johnson. Despite being a babyface with an impressive winning streak and an Intercontinental Championship reign, he was frequently met with loud boos and "Rocky sucks!" chants by the fans. Frustrated by the fans' negative reception, Maivia joined the Nation of Domination in 1997 and renamed himself The Rock, an egotistical jock who referred to himself in third person. As a member of the Nation of Domination, The Rock won the Intercontinental title for a second time. The Rock eventually overthrew Faarooq, to become the leader of the Nation. It was during his time as leader of the Nation that he became more popular with the fans for his engaging promos. After the Nation disbanded, The Rock referred to himself as the "People's Champion", which led to Vince McMahon and the Corporation to target him since they had a problem with the people, they had a problem with the "People's Champion". After battling McMahon's goons for the chance to go to the Survivor Series, The Rock entered the tournament and made it to the finals against McMahon's chosen representative Mankind. During the match, a double turn occurred with the help of McMahon similar to the previous year's Survivor Series, revealing that he was working with The Corporation all along. The Rock officially joined McMahon as the crown jewel of The Corporation, abandoning his previous moniker as "The People's Champion" and declaring himself "The Corporate Champion".

The Corporation: feud with Mankind

As a member of The Corporation, The Rock's persona changed yet again, to an even more callous attitude, where he would insult the fans on a regular basis, calling them "trailer park trash". The Rock would go on a lengthy feud with Mankind, with a rematch at Rock Bottom, where The Rock retained the title due to a technicality, even though he lost the match. Mankind would get his revenge, winning the title on RAW is War. The reign was short lived however, as the Rock got his rematch at the 1999 Royal Rumble, in an I Quit Match. The Rock won the I Quit Match and became the WWE Champion yet again. Mankind knowing he never quit during the match was furious with the Rock and stole a large amount of the Rock's money to bribe him into a rematch during halftime of the Super Bowl. The match was titled "Half-Time Heat", and Mankind won the match, and the title. The Rock got his rematch at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in a last man standing match for the chance to headline WrestleMania XV as the WWE Champion. The bout ended in a draw after both men were unable to stand at the ten count. Despite Mankind being the WWE Champion, he gave the Rock one more shot at the title in a ladder match on RAW. This would be their final match, as The Big Show Paul Wight, interfered in the match and chokeslammed Mankind off the ladder, leaving the Rock all by himself to win the match and headline WrestleMania XV as WWE Champion.

The Corporation: feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin

At WrestleMania XV The Rock, the WWE Champion faced off against the challenger, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold Steve Austin won the match, and seemingly defeated The Corporation and Vince McMahon. Austin, after winning the title, described the belt as not being good enough. Saying he wanted his personalized Smoking Skull Belt as the WWE Championship. McMahon who was in possession of the belt ordered Shane McMahon to give it to Austin, seemingly ending their feud. But Shane had other plans, as he went against his father's wishes and gave the belt to The Rock. This was the basis for The Rock's rematch at Backlash for the WWE Championship. In order for Stone Cold to get his smoking skull belt, he had to defeat The Rock at Backlash. With the WWE Championship on the line, The Rock lost the rematch and the Smoking Skull belt, against Stone Cold. The night after Backlash on RAW and after failing to beat Stone Cold Steve Austin for a second time, Shane McMahon turned on The Rock and fired him from the Corporation.

The People's Champion

After being fired from the Corporation, The Rock once again became the People's Champion and went on a number of small feuds during the latter part of 1999. It was also during this time that he joined his former rival Mankind, to create the tag team, Rock 'n' Sock Connection. The Rock along with Mankind went on to win the WWE Tag Team titles becoming one of the most successful tag teams of the Attitude Era. After the Rock 'n' Sock connection broke up, The Rock went back into the main event picture of the WWE battling the likes of HHH and the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. Late in the Attitude Era, The Rock faced Stone Cold Steve Austin in what many consider to be the ending of the Attitude Era at WrestleMania X-7.

The Brothers of Destruction Saga and The Ministry of Darkness

One of the long-running story lines which took place during the Attitude Era, was The Brothers of Destruction saga. The Undertaker was involved in a feud with his former manager Paul Bearer. During the course of their rivalry, Paul Bearer threatened The Undertaker with the threat of revealing his 'secret'. Bearer called him a murderer and accused him of killing his real parents and half brother. He then revealed that his half brother Kane was actually still alive, warning him that "your brother Kane is coming!". After weeks of hype, Kane finally debuted at Badd Blood: In Your House, wearing a mask to hide his storyline burned face, during the hell in a cell match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Kane famously ripped the door off its hinges before delivering a tombstone to The Undertaker. At first, The Undertaker refused to fight him. However he finally agreed to fight Kane at WrestleMania 14, after Kane cost him his WWE championship match against Shawn Michaels at the 1998 Royal Rumble, before locking him in a casket and setting it ablaze. The Undertaker won the match but their rivalry continued and also included the first ever inferno match in WWE, at Unforgiven 1998 in which The Undertaker was again victorious. The brothers would also go on to feud with both Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mankind during this period and it was ultimately revealed that they had begun working together, uniting to form the team that became known as The Brothers of Destruction. They would continue to go back and forth between teaming together and feuding against one another throughout the remainder of the Attitude Era.

In late 1998, The Undertaker turned heel and bigger after Paul Bearer betrayed Kane and realigned with him. The Undertaker began taking a more satanic and darker persona claiming that a "plague of evil" would hit the WWE. During the weeks that followed he feuded with Steve Austin whom he blamed for costing him the WWE Title and began talking about his Ministry of Darkness. The feud saw some of The Undertaker's most defining acts of the Attitude era like kidnapping Stone Cold and attempting to embalm him alive, and most famously crucifying Steve Austin on The Undertaker's symbol. At Rock Bottom 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin buried The Undertaker alive causing him to disappear for a month. A month later, a much scarier, darker, druid like Undertaker returned to television and introduced his Ministry of Darkness and along with The Acolytes (Farooq and Bradshaw) began recruiting wrestlers like Mideon, Viscera and The Brood (Edge, Christian, Gangrel) in the Ministry. Over the weeks that followed, The Undertaker announced his intentions of taking over the WWE and claimed he was working for a higher power. He began playing mind games with then recently turned face Vince McMahon and his daughter Stephanie McMahon, with the Ministry burning Undertaker's symbol in the McMahon family yard and hanging the Big Bossman at WrestleMania 15. After finally kidnapping Stephanie McMahon at Backlash: In Your House, he attempted to marry her on Raw in a dark wedding, until she was saved by Steve Austin, who helped his enemy Vince McMahon to fight the Ministry. In a turn of events, Shane McMahon turned on his father Vince and took control of the Corporation to take control of the WWE along with the Undertaker forming the Corporate Ministry. The following two months was a battle between the Corporate Ministry and Vince McMahon, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The higher power was later revealed to be Vince McMahon, who was the mastermind behind the Ministry of Darkness, revealing that he and Shane had used their family to fool everybody and gain revenge on Steve Austin. The Corporate Ministry lasted until Fully Loaded (1999). After this, The Undertaker began a tag team with the Big Show and was still associated with the left over members of the Ministry, until Undertaker received a groin injury, disbanding the group.

D-Generation X and The Faces of Foley

D-Generation X

Triple H took control of D-Generation X after Michaels left due to back injuries, and recruited the New Age Outlaws ("Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) and X-Pac into his new "DX Army". The newly formed DX Army participated in numerous segments causing chaos and leaving wreckage wherever they went. On April 28, 1998 Nitro was held at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, while Raw was held nearby at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. With the ongoing war between the WWE and WCW, the DX Army decided to initiate an immediate "invasion" of Nitro. The DX Army drove to the Norfolk Scope in an army Jeep, challenging WCW head Eric Bischoff to come out and face them or to let them in. Soon after, the DX Army appeared at CNN Center (as well as WCW's stand-alone Atlanta offices) to call out WCW owner Ted Turner. Like Austin and The Rock, D-Generation X were embraced by fans, with their mischievous antics and defiant attitude, as their popularity continued to grow.

Triple H eventually branched out as a main-event level singles performer, marrying McMahon's daughter Stephanie McMahon and taking control of the WWE in 2000. (Although all initially done by kayfabe, in a case of life imitating art, Triple H would later marry Stephanie McMahon in real life in 2003 and is currently the Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events in WWE's front office as well as Vince McMahon's eventual successor running the company.) It could be argued Triple H was the company's top heel for the majority of the Attitude Era.

Mick Foley

Foley became a top star during the era, playing three different personas: Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack. While Mankind was his main persona in the WWF and Cactus Jack was previously used in his days in WCW, Japan and independent circuits, Dude Love was inspired by a character Foley created when he and his high school friends did backyard wrestling in his hometown of Long Island. The image of Foley being thrown from the top of the Hell in a Cell by The Undertaker at the 1998 King of the Ring is synonymous with the era. His greatest contributions were a late-1998/early-1999 feud with The Rock and a 2000 feud with Triple H; these feuds were instrumental in establishing The Rock and Triple H as top stars.

Perhaps Foley's greatest accomplishment during the Attitude era was on January 4, 1999 on Raw Is War, where he won his first WWE Championship from The Rock. This match is also known as the turning point in ratings of the Monday Night Wars as it favored the WWE until the end of the wars and led to the downfall of WCW. That night, WCW attempted to sabotage Raw's rating by announcing the result of the match on Nitro, but their plan backfired when Nielsen ratings indicated that over 600,000 households changed the channel to watch the victory and shifted the ratings for the night in WWE's favor.

Ex-WCW talent

Big Show

During the Attitude Era, many WCW wrestlers who were unhappy with the political environment jumped ship to the WWE. Paul Wight, who wrestled as "The Giant" starting in 1995, allowed his WCW contract to expire on February 8, 1999 when Eric Bischoff denied his request for a pay increase in his contract. He signed with the WWE a day later and debuted at St. Valentine's Day Massacre as "The Big Show" Paul Wight, Mr. McMahon's enforcer in The Corporation. After a falling out with The Corporation, The Big Show turned face and had several feuds with The Undertaker and the Big Boss Man before winning the WWE Championship at the 1999 Survivor Series.

Chris Jericho

Frustrated over WCW's refusal to give him a chance to wrestle Goldberg, Chris Jericho signed with the WWE on June 30, 1999. On the August 9 episode of Raw Is War, he made his debut, referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug) and beginning feuds with The Rock, Chyna, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit while capturing the Intercontinental and WWE European Championship championships on several occasions in the era. On the April 17, 2000 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Triple H for the WWE Championship, but the decision was reversed by referee Earl Hebner under pressure from Triple H. Jericho continued to feud with Triple H and Benoit throughout 2000 and 2001 before becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion at Vengeance 2001.

The Radicalz

In January 2000, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn left WCW for the WWE. Benoit had just defeated Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Souled Out 2000 on January 17, but the decision was reversed after it was revealed that Sid's foot was under the ropes while he tapped out to the Crippler Crossface. The quartet made their TV debut on the January 31st episode of Raw as audience members and backstage guests of Mick Foley before attacking the New Age Outlaws. They were offered a chance to "win" contracts by defeating members of D-Generation X in a series of three matches. Despite losing all three matches, they were "given" WWE contracts by Triple H in exchange for betraying Foley. The quartet became known as The Radicalz before splitting up in 2001 when Benoit and Guerrero found more success in singles competition and Malenko retired from wrestling.

The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge & Christian

The feud that highlighted the tag-team division during the second half of the Attitude Era was the three-way feud between the Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff), The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von), and Edge and Christian. Matt and Jeff Hardy, still dubbed as "The New Brood", faced off against Edge and Christian in the first ever tag team ladder match, dubbed the "Terri Invitational Tournament", at No Mercy 2000. The Hardys won the and the services of Terri Runnels as their manager. The match was well received by critics and both teams received standing ovations the night of the match, as well as the following night on "Raw is War". (According to Matt Hardy, the match elevated them from "WWE wrestlers to WWE Superstars".) The Hardys then declared that they were no longer the New Brood - they were "The Hardy Boyz".

The Dudley Boyz debuted in the WWE in the fall of 1999. They were initially villains and were responsible for bringing the use of tables into wrestling mainstream. During this time Bubba Ray Dudley became famous for his penchant for driving women (including Terri, Trish Stratus, Tori, B.B., Lita, Torrie Wilson, Jazz, Stacy Keibler, Molly Holly and Mae Young) through tables. The Dudleys faced off against the Hardy Boyz in the first ever tag team Table match at the Royal Rumble 2000, which the Hardys won.

Eventually, the three teams were brought together in a Triple Threat Ladder match at WrestleMania 16 for the WWE Tag Team Championship, in what would be the forerunner of the TLC in terms of the spots involved, most notably Jeff Hardy's infamous Swanton Bomb on Bubba Ray Dudley through a table. Edge and Christian would win the match and the titles. Afterwards, the Dudley Boyz would turn into fan favorites, while Edge and Christian would turn into villains. Edge and Christian would then develop the "Con-Chair-To" finishing move, which involved the two hitting an opponent's head simultaneously, on opposite sides, with chairs. This led to then-WWE Commissioner, Mick Foley to bring the three teams together for the first ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, or TLC match, at SummerSlam 2000. Edge and Christian would go on to win the match. The following year, a second TLC match, dubbed "TLC II", occurred at WrestleMania X-Seven, which also sprung the infamous spear off a 20-ft ladder by Edge on Jeff Hardy, who was hanging onto the titles above the ring. Edge and Christian would win this match also, thanks in part to interference by Rhyno, and withstanding interference from Lita and Spike Dudley, who interfered for the Hardys and Dudleys, respectively.

Legacy

Home video

On November 20, 2012, a three-disc documentary set simply entitled The Attitude Era was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc. The video cover is a collage of the WWE Superstars and celebrities of that era, designed as a parody of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.

Video games

Many video games were released by the WWE based on the Attitude Era, with some of the most notable titles being WWE No Mercy, and the start of the long-running WWE video game series. Many years later, WWE programming would nostalgically reflect on this time period; a video game entitled WWE '13, which was released in October 2012, paid tribute to the era with its "Attitude Era" mode, which allows the player to reenact WWE matches and storytelling from SummerSlam 1997 through WrestleMania XV.

See also

• History of professional wrestling in the United States
• Monday Night Wars
• History of WWE