10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 1999
Monstrous crowds, even more monstrous egos, and the REAL Survivor Series screwjob...
It was a different time.
The Attitude Era is everything WWE has told you about for years, and plenty more things they haven't. The "attitude" label was first dropped in 1997 to reflect not just how the product was getting edgier, but also how much spirit, ability and skill it took to be a wrestler. Excess was probably a more accurate term - there was too much of just about everything.
The company went from maximising the minutes to specialising in seconds as they flew further and further ahead of a free-falling WCW, and the blood, sweat and sex show that was WWE in 1999 represented just about the only time the company was right on the pulse of pop culture rather than a couple of periods behind it. So much happened that it was almost impossible to keep track, but so many people were watching that there were plenty to monitor every last sordid - and admittedly often awesome - detail.
It was as gross as it was great. And it really was a different time. But there were some striking similarities about WWE as the centuries switched over...
10. WWE Outdrew WCW At The Georgia Dome
Shocking if not surprising at the time, WWE had become such an unwavering and unrelenting success story by the fall of 1999 that barging into the enemy's spiritual home and making it their own was par for the course rather than some sort of transgression.
The iconic Atlanta had played host to the legendary WCW World Title change between Bill Goldberg and Hulk Hogan in the red hot summer of 1998, but a spectacular creative and financial collapse (including the infamous "Fingerpoke Of Doom" in the same building in January 1999) saw that Nitro crowd drop from 41,412 to 25,338. If that wasn't bad enough, most of the locals hadn't switched off but simply switched over. Raw packed in 33,375 for the October Raw taping and went from strength to strength. WCW by accident or design never ran the venue again.
And it wasn't the only time that year the market leader packed so many in for a taping...