10 Times WWE Misread Their Own Audience

3. Jim Cornette Brings The NWA To The 'Attitude' Era

Ahhhhh the 'Attitude' Era, perhaps the single most incendiary and exciting time in WWF/WWE history. Creativity felt limitless then, certainly when compared to the limp 'New Generation' of just a few years prior. It may not be a popular analysis, but Vince Russo was writing some very dynamic characters and storylines around this time. The late-90's was an awesome time to be a grapple fan, that's for sure (even if the actual grappling wasn't all that). That doesn't mean even the red-hot WWF didn't come out with some stinkers, because they sure as hell did. One of those was the brainchild of Jim Cornette, who wished to bring back the classic National Wrestling Alliance name and present a mini-invasion of sorts on WWF television in 1998. It's understandable that Cornette felt guys like Jeff Jarrett and The Rock N' Roll Express deserved attention, but the actual content of the NWA stable felt outdated and out of place. On one segment of Raw Is War, fans could see young, hip performers like The New Age Outlaws and then, all of a sudden, Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham were contesting matches under creaky NWA rules for a title hardly anyone gave a damn about at that time. Nobody should disrespect tradition, but fans just were not interested in the slightest and the WWF tried to force them to be. By the time Bob Holly and Bart Gunn were repackaged as The New Midnight Express, people just wanted the NWA to go away.