10 Times TNA Went Further Than The WWE Attitude Era

4. Brian Christopher Says The Worst Word

TNA Garbage
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Wrestling tries to get away with swearing quite often, but not as often as you'd expect. Offscreen sexual assaults, disgusting bloodbaths, death-risking stunts: all are deemed palatable for national television, but the word "f*ck" is not.

Nowadays, with the TV industry that bit more desperate to retain viewers, the word "sh*t" is thrown around with no compunction. It is a weekly occurrence on AEW Dynamite. This was very rarely uttered in the Attitude Era - standards and practises were different back then - although there was a proliferation of "ass". Also Bon Holly called Michael Cole a sh*thead at WrestleMania 2000. Vince said "F*ck you" to Triple H at the UK-exclusive Rebellion 1999 PPV, but that doesn't count.

Even if Steve Austin live on RAW Is WAR ahead of King Of The Ring 1998 said to Kane "You useless f*cker, if you set yourself on fire you'd actually improve your mobility", TNA would still have the edge on the Attitude Era.

And that is because Brian Christopher, captured at full volume by a hot ringside mic, unmistakably called his valet a "c*nt" in a match with X-Pac. Pac immediately pinned him, so this was presumably an attempt at saying "See? It's fine, he got beat" when really, it was just an excuse to call a woman a c*nt.

 
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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!