The Last Days Of The WWF

by Michael Hamflett
Trish Stratus Molly Holly
WWE

It's not even, as of this writing, on the WWE Network.

The Sunday Night Heat archive currently proffers some Attitude Era hidden gems from 1998/99, but hasn't yet made it to an event that would go down as the final wrestling event to (legally) address the company as the World Wrestling Federation.

The May 5th 2002 edition of the show looked and felt like any other weekend card by the company the time - f*cking weird. The company had hoovered up a hodgepodge of so many talents that events felt like B-Side best-ofs. Mr Perfect fought Tommy Dreamer while Raven did commentary talking about Hulkamania. Crash Holly had taken to wearing dungarees and reunited with heel-turned cousin Molly. The Boss Man wasn't even "Big" anymore. He fought D'Lo Brown, who to be fair, was almost always on there at this time. Molly Holly, Trish Stratus, Rob Van Dam, Justin Credible and Eddie Guerrero perving over Terri Runnels rounded out the rest of a wholly inconsequential taped broadcast.

But history was being made. This episode, by virtue of its airdate, would be the last to sport the branding that had most defined pro wrestling on a national and international stage for two decades. Much of that was informed by the carny roots and questionable promotion instincts of McMahon himself.

It was fitting that these had been at the heart of this remarkable rebrand too.

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett