10 Things You Learn Binge Watching WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era
Out with WWE's 'Attitude' and in with "Ruthless Aggression", but...was it any good?
Sandwiched snugly between 'Attitude' and 'PG', the "Ruthless Aggression" era bridged a gap for WWE but is often unfairly written off as a poorer period for the company. Stars like John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and Batista emerged, and there were career renaissance runs for legends like Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair, but the era doesn't get the respect it deserves.
Time to change that.
Binge-watching "Ruthless Aggression" in preparation for this piece was a treat. The era officially began when Vince McMahon uttered his bold new marketing term on the 24 June 2002 Raw, and it'd continue until WWE appeased kid-friendly sponsors/investors by switching to PG certification starting with the 22 July 2008 flagship.
Single-branded pay-per-views became the norm for years, an entire company was rebooted as a third brand behind Raw and SmackDown, and the machine chugged along without serious competition. WCW was dead, ECW was a useful resource to be plundered, TNA was the alternative and John Cena f'n ruled (at least until he went "poopy" PG).
Here's everything learned when binging a potentially tricky period for WWE.
10. WWE Had Trouble Readjusting
Being honest, WWE failed to make it clear what "Ruthless Aggression" actually meant at first. "Attitude", which had ruled for years, was apparently old news, but nobody told creative that. Vince's Raw speech on the 24 June 2002 episode was supposed to user in a new dawn for everybody. Here's something amazing.
It didn't.
Later that year, WWE deployed miserable shock tactics for the Katie Vick angle and a faux-gay wedding between Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo. As if that wasn't enough, "Hot Lesbian Action" was dangled like a carrot in front of horny young fans. If anything, this "new era" tried to up the raunch for a while.
That made reliving some episodes of Raw and SmackDown jarring to watch. There were noticeable changes to the roster and even the ring style (especially on the midcard) during RA, but WWE's writers didn't fully understand what they were trying to implement. The earlier days between late-2002 into early-2003 come across as awkward and clunky as a result.