10 Times TNA Went Further Than The WWE Attitude Era
7. Absolute Dumbass Weaponry
In a constant bid to top itself, to create an ever more shocking and violent world, WWE constantly raised the stakes between 1997 and 2001.
Vince McMahon asked Mick Foley to "never, ever come close to doing this again" after his fall from Hell In A Cell at King Of The Ring '98, before saying "Fill your boots" to his own son, Shane, who fell from yet greater heights when such stunts got over to a massive extent. "You might suffer brain trauma," was the subtext, as Vince continued to sanction double digit chair shots on random episodes of telly.
In a lame attempt to fake such harrowing brutality, Triple H took to wielding a sledgehammer. This was preposterous. The man who told CM Punk that he didn't know how to work couldn't hit people with it correctly, even if it was made of hard rubber, because it might seriously injure them. That is both the purpose of wrestling and something he could not do, a paradox that should never have been entertained, but it made him look like his beloved Thor so f*ck..you...?
'Janice', the spiked bat wielded by Abyss, was somehow even worse - particularly since he punctured Rob Van Dam with it in an actual felonious assault - after which RVD was cool bro and Abyss was never charged with anything.