10 Startling Stories From WWF's New Generation

1995 was not a good year for the World Wrestling Federation. Across the board, business was down, and creative ideas were at an all-time low. Still reeling from the effects of a steroid-related trial which nearly put him in jail in the early-1990's, Vince McMahon had no idea how to successfully transition his business away from names like Hulk Hogan and the musclebound beasts of before. It was reasoned that smaller, more realistic workers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were the future. Even so, McMahon still wanted to maintain the cartoon-like carnival atmosphere of the WWF he had fostered, which is precisely why he wheeled out countless hokey gimmicks like Mantaur and Kwang. Post-Hogan, Vince dubbed his product the 'New Generation', something which would last right up until the advent of the more successful 'Attitude' Era. The then-WWF was a struggling entity, one which had lost a lot of shine. This article focuses on various stories from the 'New Generation' era. Most of these entries happened behind the cameras, but many were directly influenced by what was going on in front of them. Vince McMahon's juggernaut was an ailing beast by 1995, and the boss was running out of ways to make money. That panic led to many of the following things happening....

Please note: Many of these stories were found reading James Dixon's excellent book Titan Sinking: The Decline Of The WWF In 1995. It's a cracking read and comes highly recommended with its sequel Titan Shattered: Wrestling With Confidence And Paranoia released recently.