10 Reasons WWE's Worst Era Is Secretly Its BEST Era

Despite consisting largely of short matches, Crash TV excesses, some highly controversial storylines, and far too many reckless chair shots, the Attitude Era is viewed by many as being the greatest era in wrestling history.

To argue the Attitude Era wasn't white-hot would be utterly daft, with the WWF and rival WCW regularly hitting ratings that these days are unfathomable. As well as huge ratings, merchandise numbers were through the roof, PPV buys were up, and those days featured some of the stars who are now revered as the biggest names in the history of the business.

For the New Generation, though, that era was pivotal in shaping those stars who would come to dominate the Attitude days.

To look back at the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, which major players did those years genuinely craft to be main event acts in what would become the New Generation? For the names who became main events in the NG, they were effectively learning on the job where it pertains to being at the top of the tree.

As the '80s rolled into the '90s, it was all about Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, and a slew of villainous giants. You could argue that Curt Hennig was possibly being prepped to become a main event act before his back issues flared up, but that was about it.

Was Bret Hart being groomed as a future World Champion when Hulkamania was running wild? Not particularly. Hart was viewed as an excellent midcard hand, and Bret was fortunate enough that Vince McMahon took a punt on him when McMahon's hands was forced away from oversized powerhouses in the aftermath of the steroid scandal.

There was the Undertaker, of course, who won the WWF Title after only one year in the company, but his role as World Champion was not only extremely brief, but it was done because he was one of those aforementioned villainous giants.

The wider point being, the stars who succeeded in the New Generation weren't stars who had been earmarked to be main event mainstays for the next several years. There was no masterplan in place when Hulk Hogan left, when the Ultimate Warrior left and returned and left again, or when Randy Savage was forced into a commentary gig before departing the company. The only masterplan was to rehash the formula of yesteryear, as seen by poor Lex Luger being turned into Hulk Hogan 2.0 - just without the charisma, crowd reactions, merchandise numbers, or drawing power of Hulk.

What the New Generation did that was different to its predecessor, though, was it crafted stars who would be ready to take over at the top of the mountain once the NG mainstays began to wind down.

The Bret Hart and Steve Austin bout at WrestleMania 13 - not to mention their other excellent matches in 1996 - helped take Stone Cold to an entirely new level, and he'd win the WWF Title just one year later. Likewise, the work between Undertaker and Mankind in '96 positioned Mick Foley as a genuine player, and the Micker would later use his newfound position on the card to showcase his genuine personality and propel himself to World Champion status.

Then there's Triple H, whose time working with Shawn Michaels in D-Generation X prepared him to become one of the next top guys, and midcard rivalries with both Helmsley and Austin saw The Rock seize the opportunity to mark himself out as a big-time player.

All of the above is absolutely a long way round to make the point, but the New Generation Era featured top talent - and management - who were fully aware and keen to make sure that the stars of tomorrow were being lined up to lead the charge.