10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 1998

4. It Was Worse Than You Thought

Bart Gunn Steve Williams
WWE Network

The Attitude Era was so overflowing with sewage that you can only really remember the worst s*** at the bottom of the toilet.

You'll remember the time that DX parodied the Nation of Domination in blackface. You may not remember the time that Triple H et al. visited a newsstand and racially abused the vendor. Triple H, who in particular bloody loved doing a Pakistani accent, asked somebody wearing a turban - in the voice - if they were hiding a snake in there.

In 2001, the WWF drew intense criticism for the angle in which Mr. McMahon ordered Trish Stratus to strip to her bra and panties and bark like a dog. In 1998, as part of the aforementioned feud, the Rock threatened to sexually assault Chyna before not proceeding only because he found her so repulsive.

In 1998, you'll recall that Hawk, untrained as a stuntman, was ordered to climb up to the top of the TitanTron to facilitate a repulsive angle that nobody wanted. Not too long afterwards, Chyna swung from the outside of a shark cage in a stunt that could have gone wrong. Horrifically wrong.

There's a match in, yes, 1998, in which Kane and Mankind hit each other in the head with unprotected steel chair shots so vicious that they'd easily make a YouTube compilation vid of SICKEST WWE CHAIR SHOTS - if anybody could remember underneath the more infamous fare of the day.

Seriously: go back and watch every minute of 1998 WWF Raw. You'll find something worse than the headlines almost every time.

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!