"Ruthless Agression"

[Spidey Revivey]

You hear many here talking about how much they enjoyed the Golden Years of wrestling, back when WWF(E) really started to make waves in the entertainment industry with the likes of Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

You may also be aware (especially with it fresh on many fan's minds) of that moment in history dubbed "The Attitude Era". It has seriously gained critical acclaim here on WZ because of the comparison to the more modern aspect of WWE- The PG Era. We saw the anti-heroes instead of the babyfaces becoming the popular ones. The Rock, Stone Cold, Sting, and Goldberg were extremely over with fans at this time. Also the product was much more different than the Golden Years with edgier storylines and blood practically being the norm.

What about the time BETWEEN The Attitude Era and The PG Era?

Within the years of 2002-2008 WWE ended the One Roster Two shows and built up two seperate rosters for each individual show. We know them to be Raw and Smackdown with their own Heavyweight Championships. WCW was gone for good and left many stars willing to join the 'E ranks. Out of the woodwork, guys like Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Brock Lesnar were becoming household names, while mid-carders like John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista were trying to make a name for themselves.

So the question is this- prior to me explaining a little of what transpired pre-PG post-Attitude Era, do you feel the "Ruthless Aggression Era" ("Ruthless Aggression" was a term Vince McMahon coined at this time) Should be considered an actual era of wrestling? I ask because I don't see that many people discussing this time and billing it as such. That, and it was nowhere near as popular as the AE or the PG Era, let alone the Golden Years.

And should "Ruthless Aggression" deserve such rep as that of the other 3 timelines in the WWE? I mean lots of people like to compare the PG Era to the Attitude Era..but what about that time before PG?

 

[klunderbunker]

Sure it should. It existed and it clearly was a big time of transition. It's a lot like the New Generation era from 94-96. We were in a state of flux as Rock and Austin were gone and all you had left was HHH. They more or less threw whatever they had at the wall to see how it would stick. More or less we were just waiting on the next batch of guys to rise up and take over. Until about 2005, there wasn't anyone until Cena stepped up and took over the company. He wasn't really over as a big deal though for about a year though. He was just that guy that had the title at the moment.

Also, the Manias kind of showed how weak these times were. Cena vs. HHH and HBK were big matches, but they don't feel at all like ones that should main event Wrestlemania. There simply wasn't a big name out there to put up against Cena other than Batista and they held off on that for years. It's definitely one of the darker times though as HHH DOMINATED Raw and it just didn't come off well at all. The company seemed afraid to give the ball to anyone else and it made the shows very bad. It was a time of transition for the company but it certainly could have been worse. Yes though, it should definitely be considered its own period.

 

[blackmetalbuick]

Sure it's its own era, and a terrible time in my opinion. It was already a lot less edgy yet they still tried to retain some sort of attitude, and it just came off jumbled and uninteresting. I hated the era of Raw with the "razorblade" shaped Tron, when the ring apron no longer said "Raw is War", just "RAW" in a fancy font, I know I'm just referring to visual cues but it's how I identify this time period. It's actually the least I've ever watched wrestling because I worked a late shift at my job for a couple years and felt zero interest to record it or watch it later.

 

[Post]

The Ruthless Aggression Era definitely deserves mention and credit for what it did. As CultofRaven mentioned, we saw men like Mysterio, Benoit, and Guerrero rise to capture World Titles. When I first saw each of these men for the first time, I in no way envisioned them as World Championship material. But this era proved that you don't have to be the biggest, baddest, strongest, best looking, or best on the mic to be the man. This Era spent some time dealing with work ethic, individual drive, and heart.

Now I know that some of you are going to say, "I want my World Champion to be the biggest, baddest, strongest, best looking, and best on the mic." I can't say that I disagree to this, as most of the time I agree. But this era gave us a flavor of something different (and great). I love seeing the underdog win!

Let's not forget that this Era gave us the rise of Kurt Angle, JBL, and Edge as well. It gave youngsters a chance to step up and run with the ball (Cena, Orton, Batista (even though he's not that young)).

Mostly, the Ruthless Aggression Era showed people that the little guy (no pun intended) could succeed. There were the prototype champions, but it opened the door for WWE to resume their old slogan that "Anything can happen in the WWE."

 

[El Rev sXe]

well my friend as you said that people that guys like Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Brock Lesnar wre becoming the top dogs, dont you forget that Angle was again the biggest name on SD! so for me is a little bit more like the "technical agression" lol but due to the lenght of the "era" itself I dont think it can be consider as an era.as you said its a transition period.

however I disagree with those who said it wasnt a good period. I mean sure, it wasnt extremely entertained Lesnar, Angle or Benoit on the mic, but man Angle/Lesnar is waaaaaay better than Batista/Cena. I mean the level and quality of WRESTLING WOW!

 

[Sean Valjean]

I tend to refer to that era as the "Post-War" era, but Ruthless Aggression works too I suppose.

As KB said, this era should be recognized because as it was cleary a big transitional period, so much happened during that time. The brand split, the introduction of the World Heavyweight title, the build-up of our current stars (Cena, Orton, Batista) among so many other things.

I also feel that the roster was at it's strongest in terms of in-ring ability during that time. You had Lesner, Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, Jericho and others all on the roster at the same time, with most of those guys getting pushed to the top. It was almost like a brief era of the technical wrestler. Also, the women's division was at it's best by far during this era, particuarly from 2002 to 2004.

So yes, while it's had it's moments of suckitude, I enjoyed the Post-War era a lot and usually think of it as a period when we got some of the best in-ring performances and pure wrestling of the last decade.

 

[pessimism101]

Officially, that time period is the Brand Extension Era. It can also be known as the WWE Era. To me, the Ruthless Aggression thing ended around 2004, since the emphasis on showing "ruthless aggression" largely subsided by then. I don't know though. I guess I would call it the Schizophrenic Era since the WWE didn't know what it wanted to be until 2008.

 

[fredstephenson]

i think its an era and a really good one to it had some fantastic moments i think it was like a different type of attitude era in its own way

the only difference is the attitude era was more about blood anarchy swearing and rude jokes it also had quite a fast paced anything can happen at any time thing going on i think the reason it was called attitude was because the wwe had an attitude itself at the time it might as well have said screw you we will put what the hell we want on our shows and if you dont like it suck it. oh wait they did say that

the so called ruthless agression era sort of lost the go to hell attitude and was less in your face about what they did but come to think about it they may have even pushed the boat out more then the attitude era morally at least it gave us necrophilia the live sex celebration hot lesbian action the dawn marie and torrie wilsons dad thing the gay wedding with chuck and billy litas unborn baby getting killed by snitsky also dont know if you remember the tastfull little suicide segment with the former wwe referee also there is plenty of other things i cant remember at the minute but on top of that it also had plenty of moments to remember and a lot of fantastic matches so it is definatly an era in its own right

 

[BOSS Productions]

I think that 2002-2004 was a separate era for the WWE , whereas 2005-2008 was the transition period in the WWE.

2002-2004 wasn't a transition period in my opinion , it was more or so , the beginning of the "Lesnar Era" , but because Lesnar left so quick , that little time period never became as big as the Attitude Era and the PG Era. 2005 - 2008 was basically the transition period , the WWE was trying to make both Cena and Batista the top dogs of the company but it took them awhile for them to become legit main eventers but ya the Ruthless Aggression thing was from 2002-2004 , in other words it was the Lesnar Era , it wasn't a transition period at all , it was just an era that was shortened because the top dog decided to leave for football.

 

[Ezekyo]

l always considered that period of time the Ruthless Aggression Era. Vince made a big deal out of that catchphrase (l rather liked it) and others used it at certain points. The other day l actually thought about Cena's debut and when Kurt Angle asked what makes Cena cut out for WWE, Cena replied "Ruthless Aggression". Who'd have thought that was the first step of today's top star?

Although it was a very forgetful period of time, it did provide us with Cena, Batista, and Orton, today's current top draws, and also helped push veterans like HHH and Edge to the forefront, to the main event status they have today.

Other than that, it really was kind of a dark age for wrestling in my opinion. There was so much dead weight left over at the conclusion of the WWE/Alliance angle, The Rock and Austin, the two top guys of the Attitude Era started fading, and most noticeably, there was no more Nitro. No more serious competition. No more fire under Vince's ass to put out a stellar product like he did with the Attitude Era.

Me personally, l was a big Perry Saturn fan in the late 90s-early 00s, and when WWE released him, l just kind of watched, and no one really sticking out as a favorite for me for a long time. l mean l liked people for certain qualities, but l just never had any core favorites. Thank God for Snitsky though. (Yeah, l like the most weirdest, random people, lol)

 

[Alex_U]

One name i see forgot during this hole thread is Easy E. Eric Bischoff was a HUGE part of that era, and also was Heyman. Two of the best creative outlet in wrestling in one orginization. It was an amazing time for the WWE, i think one of there better eras, well atleast better then TV-PG.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I personally think that the Ruthless Aggression period only really lasted between 2002 and 2004, and after that it simply became something else.

Fast Paced technical wrestling and some truly perverse storylines seemed to be the 2 key aspects of this particular period in the WWE. After that the wrestling stayed the same, but the storylines seemed to get somewhat tamer, but we were then introduced to the swerve/shock value era with the birth of MiTB, plus the countless times people have dropped titles in a matter of days since 2005, and now everything is PG.

I think the wrestling would be to the same standard if WWE actually had any wrestlers who could go for 30 minutes non-stop like Benoit, Guerrero, Lesnar and Angle used to. Plus a lot of moves have been banned from the traditional moveslists so i think that's why it seems all the 'aggression' has gone.

Plus 2002-2004 was a time where you'd have gimmick matches on free TV, such as Kane defending the tag titles on Raw on his own in a 4 way TLC match, or the famous Undertaker/Jeff Hardy Ladder match

 

[DL23]

It wasn't an era that is for sure, it was more for the influx of talent that came in around the April-June 2002 time, Brock Lesnar, Batista, Orton and Cena.

I mostly remember Cena talking about ruthless aggression towards Jericho at the July PPV, but apart from that I the term Ruthless agression wasn't really used, or talked about.

The 2002-2008 era is pretty much like the 1991-1995 era in WWF, nothing major, very little note worthy happenings happened at around them years, and not to be a kill joy but apart from a hand full of feuds, most feuds in that period will be forgotten, apart from one or two.

WWE have really used this PG rating to turn their show around, and i think for some people it's annoying, but at we had it good. Back in 1994 when I got into wrestling it all cartoon characters etc etc, how must the 70s-80s fans must of felt? pretty shafted in my opinion, same goes for the mids 90s the Attitude Era, Bret Hart spoke out about this in 1997 and was told wrestling isn't black and white it's shades of grey, same goes for now, some of us were lucky to enjoy the attitude era but thus who came in after have a product that is half empty or half full depending which way you look at it, give the product time to rippen and in 10 years from now, we'll probably have different titles, different belts, different shows etc etc wrestling changes, 10 years in wrestling is like a lifetime so it changes continuesly