10 Ways WWE Could Revive The Attitude Era (Even With A PG Rating)
6. Ruthless Mentality
Look at the state of the No Mercy 1999 undercard. With a roster loaded with star power but bereft of technicians, it was up to Mideon and the Godfather to fulfil the improbable remit of the "hot opener". They failed.
When the undercard fodder of the Attitude Era failed to capture the interest of the most enthusiastic crowds in modern wrestling history - i.e. the easiest - their like had to adapt or perish. The Godfather was abysmal, but hugely over and entertaining, and thus safe. Mideon was irredeemable - in the wrestling ring; by all accounts he is quite the chef - and so, when Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho developed, and the Radicalz debuted, he was gone. The New Age Outlawz, failures as singles acts, slid down the card. The WWF tried to get the Bulldog back over. The mission failed. He was gone. The Acolytes evolved into the APA. Had they not, they too would have met the ax. A failure to deliver was met with the exit door; in 2018, a failure to deliver is rewarded with a bumper two-year contract. This ruthlessness kept the product fresh, and cultivated a shark-infested waters mentality of self-preservation. Iron sharpened iron. The dull fringes joined the Kiss My Ass Goodbye club.
In order to approximate this mentality, WWE must...