What WWE WON'T Tell You About The Ruthless Aggression Era

CM Punk developed outside of WWE's umbrella, as did Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns developed in FCW - the Bayside High DSW - but he was afforded every opportunity. The best WWE output of the Ruthless Aggression period, and it was fantastic, was shaped entirely by Jim Cornette (Cena et al.), Dr. Tom Prichard's proto-developmental Stamford Warehouse (Edge, Kurt Angle) and the residual excellence of a bygone time (Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit).

The Ruthless Aggression Era wasn't even an "era". In terms of its narrative style, use of tropes, and regurgitated clichés, it was far closer to the Attitude Era than its own distinct thing. There was no marked tonal shift to a new philosophy; if anything, the Ruthless Aggression Era years were closer also to the worst impulses of the more maligned New Generation.

The contrived narrative events of WWE were presided over by the authority figure system popularised in the Attitude Era. Much of the talent promoted to and ruined by the main roster were packaged in over-the-top New Gen-adjacent gimmicks, like Eugene, the Spirit Squad, and stammering Matt Morgan. Eugene in particular was once raved about as an all-rounder. The tone of programming was as lewd as it was in the vaunted Attitude Era; old men with erections died in wedding segments; mock corpses were denigrated; lesbian fever swept the company; scenes of implied or threatened sexual assault were multiple; racism drove several story developments; terrorism became vogue in repulsive garrote angles...

All of this will be pitched through WWE's lens as a new era of opportunity, but the opposite was true.

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