That Time The Ultimate Warrior Nearly Ruined WWE's Attitude Era
Shoving that control into a nosedive.
Cast your mind back to late 1997.
On the December 22 Monday Night RAW, Shawn Michaels defended his European Championship against D-Generation X stablemate Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The tertiary singles title had only been created in February. It was effectively destroyed on this night; in an absurd and transgressive angle, Michaels and Helmsley simulated a simulated contest with their shambolic bullsh*t. We were just over a week removed from In Your House: D-Generation X, a dreadful pay-per-view that revealed the bare bones of the roster.
Meanwhile, Steve Austin—in whom Vince McMahon saw so much star potential that he refused to coronate him at Survivor Series, preferring instead to leave a gigantic headache untreated to make him at ‘Mania—remained a huge long-term injury concern ahead of that coronation.
Change was needed. But could the man tasked with that change deliver it?
The undercard yielded very few breakthrough acts, at least prior to the realisation of the Attitude Era’s fertile philosophy. The imminent 1998 Royal Rumble match was promoted entirely around Austin’s quest for survival, more so than a field of multiple viable winners. That’s because there weren’t any. The Honky Tonk Man, Tom Brandi, and various DOA gimmicks (including DOA) made up the numbers, as did all three faces of Mick Foley.
That wonderful idea symbolised the nascent sea change: short on established star power, the Vince Russo-led creative regime instead used existing resources to perfection.
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