10 Things We Don't Miss About WWE's Attitude Era
1. Unnecessary Violence
Again, this isn't something we wish never happened. Viewed today, the more brutal Attitude Era matches, though slightly unsettling, rank easily among some of the best the promotion has ever produced.
Even The Rock Vs. Mankind at Royal Rumble 1999, as uncomfortable as it is to watch now knowing that Foley only agreed to receive five chair shots to the head rather than the eleven sickeners Rock administered, remains a masterpiece of character development. Rock up until this point was a funny wise-a** - this was the seminal match which thrust him into permanent main event prominence.
That said, this was far from the only occasion on which chair shots were used with reckless abandon. On almost every episode of RAW, several wrestlers would take them to the forehead, ignorant to the long-term perils of repeated concussions. Though the chair shots of today are more contrived, with those on the receiving end having to bend over to take them on the back, stretching suspension of disbelief is a far more palatable price to pay.
Blood is a different matter altogether - provided that sufficient medical testing is carried out beforehand, the relatively safe practise of blading would go a long way towards enhancing the drama and spectacle of select main event matches. Used sparingly, to ensure that it matters more when it does happen, the juice - lethal-looking but safer than a chair shot - would still be welcome in 2016.