THIS Was WWE's Most Creative Year Ever
One got over, at least - the Buried Alive concept, one that basically made a casket match slightly more dynamic, made it through to and beyond the Attitude Era as a respectable draw. The Caribbean Strap Match, a great, snug, fight that harkened back to the best of the WWWF, almost, indirectly propelled Steve Austin to megastardom. His performance in it was so good that it convinced Vince McMahon to crown him King of the Ring, which while overstated in its importance - a push and its success isn't that dependent on that or the Royal Rumble win or what have you - he made millions and millions by successfully marketing Austin's off-the-cuff "Austin 3:16" gag.
The old glory aesthetic remained in place, but the WWF was painting from every hue of the colour wheel in 1996 before it settled for the blood red darkness of that which followed.
The WWF also expanded and matured the scope of its storytelling from the goofy, kiss-footing fare of the '95. The notorious Brian Pillman incident - in which he ostensibly shot Steve Austin at the climax of a jaw-dropping home invasion angle - felt like it belonged and fast-forwarded to a dystopian future, not the family-friendly WWF.
That was an infamous lightning rod moment, but the thunder of transformation rumbled ominously for Bret 'Hitman' Hart as the WWF approached an epoch of sorts in which it asked, even unconsciously, its maturing audience to look introspectively. Was Bret Hart still their hero? Or was the clearly reprehensible but compelling Steve Austin better, or more interesting?
CONT'D...(3 of 5)