12 Times WWE Buried Itself
5. “The Gratitude Era”
Credit to Dolph Ziggler for coining "Gratitude Era", or at very least credit to him for wearily verbalising it when the mindset was effectively crushing the careers of him and all of his colleagues.
One of a generation of talents middled by Vince McMahon's failure to let go of the past, 'The Show Off' was only allowed to show ass if anybody from the 1998-2001 period rocked up for increasingly regular nostalgia editions of Raw and SmackDown during the rudderless 2010s.
This was star destruction in an era of star depletion into total contravention of star depletion. If you were from a hotter time period, you meant something. If you weren't, thanks for the 51 regular weeks of the year but it's once again time to sacrifice yourself at the altar of Attitude and be grateful for the opportunity. The messaging was loosely "WWE sucks now, especially compared to the show you love, and here's some fictional proof" on a never-ending loop.
One of the most telling moments from the early days of Triple H taking a tighter grip on the main roster creative by 2023 was the critically acclaimed Raw Is XXX 30th anniversary edition of the flagship. 'The Game' donned his DX colours for the night, but rather than decimating some gormless heel, they cowered in fear from the dangerous Gunther and his Imperium group.