12 Reasons WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Documentary Is An Absolute Mess

4. TRuthless Aggression

ruthless aggression originals
WWE.com

Not to undermine the entire point of the project, but "Ruthless Aggression" was a naked attempt at marketing a phrase as effectively as "Attitude" (and to a lesser extent, "The New Generation") that didn't even actually take outside of the odd Vince McMahon ra-ra speech and John Cena's launch promo.

The docuseries inadvertently highlights this! A clip is used of Cena entering the 2003 Royal Rumble in his relatively new rapper persona, mocking the term as a way to disassociate himself from his original incarnation. The era's biggest star doesn't even want anything to do with it!

It's also woefully out of time - in the clip from a 2002 Raw that's used over and over again McMahon hoots and hollers like a f*cking pillock for one of his browbeaten wrestlers to grab brass rings and show Ruthless Aggression but he's actually asking them to grab him a coffee and kiss his *ss. He bought his competition and made them job scared - how exactly can one subscribe to a philosophy when billionaire operating the controls has set them up to fail it?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.