First of all before you state your argument, you must define what an era is. Now according to your dictionary.com, there were 3 different points on what an era is.
1.an event or date that marks the beginning of a new or important period in the history of something
2.a period of time measured from some important occurrence or date
3.a period of time considered in terms of noteworthy and characteristic events, developments, individuals, etc. an era of progress
Now to some up what these points mean in simpler english, An era is something that begins after a noteworthy event, the 80's golden age began when hogan won the title in 1984, the new generation era began in late 1991 when the wwf title became vacant and at royal rumble 1992 when ric flair won the title and a new crop of younger stars became champions.
Firstly, when Stone Cold Steve Austin won the wwf title at wrestlemania 14, what did jim ross say? he did not say the attitude era has begun but the austin era has begun, those are two different things. the attitude era was when the wwf had violence and swearing and dx, austin and rock leading the company. The austin era was when austin held the title, no way can it be said that the attitude era was the era of scsa but the rock was just as huge. In 2000, it was the rock's era as he was the man.
Now as the definition of era has stated that, an era begins at a noteworthy event, what would that be? Well the Montreal screwjob, happened on november 9th, 1997, that was the last day of bret hart in the wwf and after that a huge change happened in wrestling, the mcmahon character was born, we had dx becoming even more sexual and the departure of bret hart who was a main eventer mean't that a new breed of stars were to shine. Every era has its stars, the 80's had hogan, savage, andre, piper and warrior. the new generation had bret hart, hbk, undertaker, diesel and razor ramon. So by the time the montreal screwjob happened, the wwf had just lost 3 of its stars of the era. Now once bret got screwed everything changed, they need new stars to depend on, yes austin was alrready gonna be champ in da next couple of months but the rock shot up through the ranks and became the most improved wrestler of 98 and hhh became even bigger with dx. People have stated that the attitude era ended in late 99, because that is when the mcmahon-helmsley era began but the thing is that was only a storyline, nothing more, if is was for that there would be an era every year, 08 would have been the jericho-hbk era coz of their storyline and 07 would have been da cena one. No at dat tme of the mcmahon-helmsley era, the ratings were still the same, there was still violence, swearing and the kat was still showing her tits to the crowd. Then people have said that it ended during the invasion but that was just a storyline, it didnt really make a significant change to the wwe as the ratings in 01 were still high and there were the same top stars as 97, 98, 99 and 2000, with the exception of y2j.
The noteworthy event that ended the era to me is the brand extensions, ppl have said it was when the wwf had that get the f out shit but that really didnt change the storylines or anything in wrestling, the brand extension was when austin and rock hung up their boots as full time stars, yes they came back in 03 but only part time and it was when hhh and angle finally became the top stars and brock lesnar was born and guerrero and benoit were getting there biggest push and the wwe became family friendly, you cannot say that the invasion was family friendly because to be fair it wasnt, it had a shitload of violence and swearing. Also every era has it's peak the 80's golden age lasted from 84 to 91 but the peak was from 85 with the birth of wrestlemania until wrestlemania 6 when warrior pinned hogan than the ratings were still high but they slowly went down. Thats the same with the attitude era, it lasted from the montreal screwjob in late 97 and last until early 02 when the brand extension began but to me the PEAK of the era was from wm 14 to wm 17.
Also the eras after attitude era was the (ruthless aggression or post attitude era) which lasted from early 02 until 05 when cena and batista won the titles, the reason why I HAVE said that it ended here is coz the stars of the previous era werent main eventers anymore or werent in da business and a whole new range of stars were born, lesnar and goldberg left, guerrero and benoit went to the upper midcard and hhh and angle had their time at da top. To me the pg era began at wm 21 and has been at its peak (in terms of being pg since late 07).
ATTITUDE ERA (MONTREAL SCREWJOB IN LATE 1997 - BRAND EXTENSION IN EARLY 2002)
PEAK OF THE ATTITUDE ERA (WRESTLEMANIA 14 - WRESTLEMANIA 17)
