10 Times WWE Went Further Than The Attitude Era

2. Billy & Chuck Get Gay Married

Kurt Angle Sharmell
WWE.com

WWE, much like the toddler that it is, promised to be good in 2002 even though it was coded to push boundaries and act out.

Courting GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination), the company promised to produce a sensitive and progressive queer love story between Billy and Chuck. GLAAD worked with WWE to secure the promotion mainstream publicity, and were thrilled at this promise of representation, even if it wasn't genuine in reality. The duo played heels, which was something of a tell. They employed a personal stylist. They embraced lovingly. You were, being a boorish masculine wrestling fan, meant to be freaked the f*ck out by this development.

It was revealed not to be genuine even in the fiction.

There was something about Billy Gunn's voice that made all too certain that he was not, in fact, gay. The emphasis on the "gay" after the "not" registered as something more than disgust with his accent and inflection.

This was worse than the rampant homophobia endemic to the Attitude Era because it masqueraded as something nicer.

It was not.

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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!