10 Things That Would Happen If Today’s WWE Wrote The Attitude Era

2. Say Goodbye To Crazy, Inspired Angles

stone cold steve austin stephanie mcmahon
WWE.com

God, it was great when Stone Cold Steve Austin drenched the Corporation in beer.

That unforgettable angle served Austin's rebellious, funny, beer-swilling character with a literally gigantic visual, creating also a platform on which Vince McMahon performed his actual lol-worthy hammy selling. It was perfection.

Today's WWE isn't perfect, and so the go-home angle ahead of WrestleMania XV instead manifests as Steve Austin and The Rock playing tug-of-war over the WWF Heavyweight Title belt. The show goes off the air without a winner, and so the crowd is left to infer that they simply gave up after about half an hour. The WWF could have filled this logic gap by sending out security - or sending out security to break up a wild brawl, in a much, much better idea - but no. The photo goes up on the website, and the photo makes it look like they both want the title, and that's, presumably, all that matters. A visual.

A sh*tty visual with no basis in anything that makes sense.

Or, alternatively, in a contract signing segment, the third held in that young spring, The Rock says...not a killer catchphrase, but that he doesn't want to be the next Steve Austin - he wants to be the first Rock!

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!