Every WWE Era Since WrestleMania I - Ranked From Worst To Best

While the Attitude Era is often wistfully romanticised by a huge portion of WWE’s fanbase, Ruthless Aggression is held to the same esteem by an admittedly smaller section. Some find Attitude hard to overlook, but Ruthless Aggression was the pinnacle of professional wrestling in everything but TV ratings, which remained consistently mediocre throughout.

Nonetheless, from a pure wrestling standpoint, 2002 is one of the best years WWE have ever had. Much of this came from SmackDown, and while Raw bathed in the tiresome sports entertainment tropes of old, the blue brand became an exciting, wrestling-centric island away from the nonsense. The “SmackDown Six” (Kurt Angle, Edge, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) became centerpieces, and the brand absolute thrived with Paul Heyman as the lead writer.

Ruthless Aggression delivered greatness like Eddie and Benoit’s highly emotional title wins, and the conclusion to The Rock and Austin’s WrestleMania trilogy. It brought the fantastic Shawn Michaels/Triple H feud, the ECW One Night Stand PPVs, and made stars of wrestlers who once looked like they’d be forever consigned to the midcard.

Things weren’t perfect, of course. The product’s overrall quality took a dip from 2006-7, and Triple H was featured far too prominently for many fans’ liking. But hese are minor complaints when compared to the era’s stunning high points.

For the undeniable improvements Ruthless Aggression brought to WWE’s product inside the ring and out, it stands proudly as the company’s strongest era since WrestleMania I.