15 MORE Incredible WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Moments Nobody Ever Talks About
No 'Ruthless Depression' here! WWE's post-Attitude era is stacked with forgotten gems.
Names like John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Batista, Randy Orton, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James are strongly linked to the 'Ruthless Aggression' era. It was WWE's follow up to the dearly cherished 'Attitude' days, and it birthed a brand new breed of stars to supplant old stagers like The Rock, Steve Austin and more.
Of course, favourites like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and Trish Stratus were still flying the flag and doing some of their best work on Raw and SmackDown too. A few of those heroes are included here in a group of RA-inspired moments that fans generally don't discuss nowadays.
Bring up 'Ruthless Aggression' and you'll hear of Batista's World Title push, Orton's split from Evolution, Cena becoming the poster boy over on Raw etc etc. You won't hear anyone wax lyrical about a forgotten tag-team match from the 19 August 2004 episode of SmackDown or a Kane clash that got away from creative when it was staring them straight in the face.
Even hardcore fans would struggled to recall some of the hidden gems from a coveted 'Attitude' boom period. 'Ruthless Aggression' maybe doesn't get as much love as its predecessor, but this collection proves why that should change. The period between 2002-2008 (WWE went PG after that) was rife with incredible moments, matches and angles.
Workers cut career best promos no-one brings up, there was a WCW rematch worth watching, Raw featured a staggering in-ring debate between unlikely foes, and legends appeared on-screen to do impressions of each other for pretty much no reason at all.
Incredible doesn't always mean good though. Keep that in mind when reading!
15. HBK Destroys His Protege
Chris Jericho's suited up heel turn and feud with old hero Shawn Michaels was one of 2008's best storylines. Together, the pair worked several outstanding pay-per-view matches (including a particularly hot ladder scrap at No Mercy), and fans just didn't want the ride to end. It'd prove to be one of HBK's last truly great rivalries.
You might've forgotten all about Jericho's brief ally towards the end of the tale though. Lance Cade had actually trained under Shawn before reaching WWE, but he became something of a bodyguard for Y2J and worked a match vs. Michaels on the 8 October '08 Raw. Reading that has either unlocked a core memory or you've got no clue what the bout was even like.
It was good. Really good.
Well, the segment as a whole was excellent at least. Shawn and Lance worked a 'No DQ' match between trainer and trainee on the flagship, then Michaels left Cade laying in-ring and strolled off with a menacing scowl on his face. This was a stunning show of ruthlessness by HBK that’s never really spoken about now.
Seeing Shawn destroy his old protege just to send a message to Jericho was killer TV. The Canadian had been needling Michaels all year, and even punched his wife at one point, so all of that tension boiled over in October. At once, Michaels wore an expression that showed he was disgusted with himself for wrecking Cade and pleased with his handiwork because Lance was trailing his arch nemesis around like he was the messiah.
Great TV that's been lost to time.