10 Ideas That WWE Stole From Other Companies
1. The Attitude Era
The Attitude Era is the most successful period in WWE history. It helped drag the company from ratings oblivion, established the Connecticut giant as the biggest brand in the game and, for better or worse, its legacy endures to this day.
WWE were in deep trouble. Perceived as a safe, outdated product compared to WCW’s edgier programming, the company had become bland and unexciting. They’d lost their edge. Bischoff’s switch to a riskier, more dangerous wrestling show had left Raw looking (and feeling) like a goofy kid’s show, and something had to be done.
After endless weeks of humiliation in the Monday Night Wars, Shawn Michaels and Triple H approached Vince McMahon and demanded WWE adapt to the ever-changing market. DX’s founding fathers knew that WWE was lagging behind, and Vince agreed, ushering-in a new era of in-your-face WWE programming.
While the Attitude Era emerged as a response to Bischoff's WCW, it borrowed heavily from Paul Heyman's ECW. ECW had created a rabid, cult-like following with it's revolutionary brand of no-limits wrestling and stronger adult themes.
McMahon was well aware of the influence, and the two companies even co-promoted a brief company vs. company angle in 1997 that saw Heyman and a handful of ECW wrestlers invade Raw, and Jerry Lawler return the favour in the ECW Arena.
ECW changed the industry: McMahon took their formula and brought it to a mainstream audience. From the Hardcore Division to the death of cartoonish personalities and increased focus on realism, ECW's hallmarks were all over the Attitude Era.
The Attitude Era finally gave WWE the momentum they needed. While WCW were hampered by their family-friendly PG rating, WWE's own TV-14 gave them far more leeway to take WCW’s risqué episodic storytelling and ramp-up the intensity.
The end result was WCW's death, and WWE's emergence as a monopoly.