12 Reasons WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Documentary Is An Absolute Mess
Garbage wrestling.
First, the good things.
It shouldn't be understated how welcome it is that WWE have finally started mining another period from their history beyond Steve Austin's beer truck and that D-Generation X "tank" invasion of WCW. Regardless of anybody's personal take on this supposed "era" (and there were plenty of those upon announcement of this series), the prospect of the company using its infinite resources for something beyond splicing together more Val Venis clips was fantastic.
And on fantastic splicing, that's exactly what Episodes 1 and 2 of this were. Despite evidence to the contrary every Monday and Friday, there are fields within wrestling WWE are still the runaway leaders in. Production on projects like this is one such example. The company dove deep into the archives for new backstage footage as well as on-screen moments that helped shape a narrative, even if that particular one was further away from the truth than Vince McMahon was from adhering to an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund in the late 1990s.
But more on that later.
Enough of the stuff to enjoy though. This was, at all other points, an absolute mess. This was not, by a wide f*cking margin, a journalistic endeavour. And that's an important distinction to understand, because this list isn't either.
12. What About The Attitude Era?
"RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!" "RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!" "RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!" "RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!" was effectively how WWE trailed this new show, every talking head more excited than the last to finally be allowed to offer an opinion on something that wasn't tangentially linked to the Ministry Of Darkness.
The grand unveiling then spent the first 15 minutes talking about the f*cking Attitude Era again.
There was absolutely space for context here - a transitional time for the company doesn't come without prosperous periods to slide out and in of - but the show didn't need a third of its runtime dedicated to yet more self-fellating on the Monday Night War win. Not least when it was peppered with how quickly they dropped the ball in the aftermath.
But more on that later, we've got the f*cking ATTITUDE ERA to talk about...