The Secret History Of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era | Wrestling Timelines
April 1, 2001 - WrestleMania X-Seven
The best show of the Attitude Era is also its wake.
Known as the Desert Island wrestling show - the one you’d watch forever if you only had one choice, such is its immense range - it actually kills the business.
Steve Austin aligns with Mr. McMahon in the main event. The heel turn swerve is a ridiculous idea, no matter how far Austin is past his mega-peak, but as shocking as it is, it should not come as a surprise. This is the WWF creative model, and after three full years of it, the inconceivable has lost all meaning.
Business immediately tanks across every metric. Backlash, the following pay-per-view, pulls the worst number since 1999. Ratings plummet after initial curiosity over Austin’s novelty heel character. In January and February 2001, Raw never once dipped below a 4.5 audience share. By the end of May, it’s down to 4.2. Excluding holiday editions of the show, which don’t really count, this is the sort of number Raw drew when WCW still resembled a functioning, hot wrestling product in September 1998. That there is no longer a WCW to compete with renders this number all the more sobering.
The Attitude Era is over - or at least, the boom is - but a new dawn of WWF Vs. WCW is dreamland territory.
July 2, 2001 - WCW Raw
In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports that “unless plans change, and they do on a daily basis”, the unthinkable is imminent: within weeks, the Raw slot on Mondays will be handed over to WCW. TNN is even notified of the change, it’s that advanced.
The original plan of airing WCW on Saturday nights between 11PM-1AM on TNN has fallen through; besides which, for a few weeks, anyway, Vince is adamant that WCW should become the A show, if he’s going to maximise interest in it - and the resulting WCW Vs. WWF rivalry.
The disastrous pilot - a WCW ‘main event’ on Raw between Buff Bagwell and Booker T - crushes the long-term plan for a while. It is beyond mediocre, and the WWF fans reject it. They’ve been told for years that WCW is awful, after all.
Vince agonises over and delays the decision for months. The ideation sessions get more half-hearted every week. Fans meanwhile are enthused, and massively so, about the InVasion pay-per-view, but quickly learn that Vince simply cannot sanction the idea that ECWCW is competitive - even in a fictional setting over which he has total control. Booker T is very entertaining, even if it’s very clear that he’s not a threat to the real players in the main event. Rob Van Dam is legitimately sensational when he comes in - someone you can actually imagine headlining WrestleMania for a brief time, before he develops a reputation for recklessness.
And that’s about it.
The idea of two completely distinct brands - planted by the WCW purchase - nonetheless appeals to Vince. There is a surplus of talent, and in a totally naive thought undermined by the reality of the state of the business, Vince thinks he can double his money. The problem is he has half the stars.