10 Times WWE Went Further Than The Attitude Era

The WWF took it quite far during the Attitude Era.

The WWF, variously...

Booked a woman to miscarry a child, and subsequently booked the woman to lie about it, because she was a woman; served one of its superstars what looked like pulled dog after murdering a puppy; conducted attempted live embalming ceremonies; objectified women to canine status with, of course, their t*ts oot for the lads; repeatedly implied incest; scripted incredibly problematic depictions of foreign people even by the standards of the mid-20th century; engaged in absolutely relentless homophobia; used ableism as a nickname spouted by the top babyface; screened vast shining seas of bouyant silicone t*tties; encouraged crunching unprotected chair shots; encouraged weapon shots aimed at the unprotected heads of octogenarians; booked goo-coated disembodied hands to be pushed out of the vaginas of octogenarians; had c*cks get lopped off by Asian stereotypes so clumsily drawn that they were f*cking dubbed for f*ck's f*cking sake; had jock babyfaces perform monkey gestures; had jock babyfaces black up; implied date rapes that were still that before they were revealed not to be; booked immolations, satanic sacrifices, vehicular murder attempts...

But outside of that vaunted 1998-2001 period, WWE also...

The infamous "Pillman's got a gun" angle was more shocking in context than so much of WWE's tasteless output because Vince McMahon hadn't yet made the decision to steer away from the nuclear family and drive straight into frat house that was the Attitude Era. But he was thinking about it, even if he hadn't yet articulated it.

This was 1996. Everything was still painted in the old glory colour palette, but a shade of blood red was boiling under the surface of its skin, ready to burst through, which informed the idea that something bad was going to happen.

It also helped that Vince McMahon was prone to screaming ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN on the hour.

Pillman played such a convincing lunatic, too. Those eyes, that voice, that wild, Randy Savage-esque body language: Pillman worked carnies and middle America alike. There are people in pro wrestling who have somehow allowed themselves to believe that the Montreal Screwjob was a work, and yet, Pillman's brilliance was such that he eluded the most cynical fantasists industry-wide.

All of which converged to create an off and tense vibe when Austin invaded Pillman's home in November. Pillman was vulnerable, and Austin circled awfully around the sanctity of another man's home. The gunshot fade was a cynical hook nobody bought, but the expletive-laden chaos was so late-nite that the WWF eventually apologised.