One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY Month Of The WWE Attitude Era
1. April 2001 | Two For One
Two “secrets” to end with here. One is depressing. The other is a daft bit of fun that explains one of the sillier Attitude Era mysteries.
According to the April 9, 2001 issue of the Observer, the WWF did in fact hold sensible, patient, long-term plans for the Invasion angle. Vince McMahon was not stupid. He developed a severe and destructive lack of patience as the year unfolded, and his arrogance became boundless upon learning that he had finally thwarted Ted Turner, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew WCW was a joke with no value whatsoever: look how much he paid for it. He probably stopped looking at the Nitro ratings in the summer of 1999, checking back in briefly a few months later just to check whether Vince Russo’s jump had any effect. The original idea was for WCW to invade in 2002 only after the promotion’s credibility had been rebuilt through the WWF-penned TV show that, at one point, was set to take the Monday Night Raw slot. None of this happened. The WWF killed WCW so emphatically that ECW got the reboot treatment. It was the only option.
WrestleMania 17 was the last night of the Attitude Era. While there were more pertinent questions at the front of your mind - like “Did Vince McMahon just kill the entire business in the United States?” - did you ever wonder why Golden Age star George Gray appeared in the Gimmick Battle Royal as the One Man Gang? Where was Akeem? That was his actual, outlandish Fed gimmick.
Gray couldn’t find the outfit, and even if he could, at 100 pounds lighter than his 1989 heyday, he probably wouldn’t have been able to fit in it.