25 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Ruthless Aggression PPV

1. The Era Lasted A Little Too Long

Randy Orton Kane
WWE.com

The earliest knockings of 'Ruthless Aggression' saw WWE persist with 'Attitude' flavour whilst simultaneously building fresher stars like Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton. Then, once those names were established, it became clear that the company needed to embrace that and kiss goodbye to all of the 'Attitude' from yesteryear.

Vince McMahon had a real tough time figuring out how to do that.

He was creatively caught halfway between ‘Attitude’ and daring to dial things down a tad. That meant a sense of staleness began creeping in around 2006/2007 - the latter of which was a full year and change before they went PG. That staleness wasn't lost on the audience. A new generation of younger fans had started to emerge, and they wanted something a little bit different to the norm.

This might sound like heresy to some, but 'Ruthless Aggression' was arguably WWE's go to buzzword-heavy phrase for too long. 'Attitude' was only in effect between 1997-2002, and it was kinda downplayed by the end. RA was shouted from rooftops between 2002-2008, then forgotten about once the PG direction kicked in.

That's 6 years next to 5, which doesn't sound like a massive difference. It isn't, but can anyone honestly say that 'Ruthless Aggression' was as catchy or as vibrant as 'Attitude'?

What else have you learned from binging WWE's 'Ruthless Aggression' era PPVs? For more wrestling, check out 10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2008 and 10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2008

Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.