The TV programming discussed in this article may offend readers' sensibilities as it contains references to drugs, abuse, discrimination and sexual violence.
It would be an understatement to say that WWE has changed immensely since its days during the Attitude Era. It is widely known by fans and commentators that WWE is in a period of expansion and is adored around the world by men, women and children of all ages. As much as he is understandably maligned for the low points of his career, taking WWE in a PG direction is a business decision by Vince McMahon that paid off, literally.
Even with the long-awaited move to Netflix, that's not likely to change anytime soon due to the success WWE has had as a PG product. The Attitude Era stands in stark contrast to what audiences see today on WWE TV. In the spirit of remaining politically correct and not upsetting sponsors, moments like the following could never happen in today's WWE. While it's important to understand that times have changed, along with cultural expressions, these stories are still part of WWE's past and a time when the company was considered at its peak.
10
DX in Blackface... and Goldust in Blackface
July 6, 1998 episode of Monday Night Raw (and several instances thereafter)
In the first of several segments on this list that have since been removed from their WWE Network and now Peacock streaming library, D-Generation X infamously parodies the Nation of Domination, all in full blackface attire. This moment has been talked about to death, but it is often forgotten that This wasn't the last time DX wore blackface. Fast forward to the December 14, 1998 episode of Raw and DX, and we're parodying The Rock's newest faction, The Corporation. This time, reprising his role as “The Crock,” only Triple H is in blackface.
The members of DX weren't the only WWE Superstars to wear blackface either. Another forgotten segment arrived much earlier on the January 5, 1998 episode of Raw, where Flash Funk fought Goldust with dark skin paint and afro hair. Unsurprisingly, this has also been eliminated from WWE's streaming library.
9
Vince makes Trish Stratus bark like a dog
March 5, 2001 episode of Monday Night Raw
This is a tricky entry, as it should make viewers feel as uncomfortable as those watching today. It was the road to WrestleMania X-7 and the coward McMahon was accused of abusing his powerberating his loyal lover Trish Stratus, forcing her to strip down to her panties and bark like a dog. In that respect, it's an effective segment, but viewer sensibilities were very different in 2001 than they are in 2024.
In 2001, a segment that was intended to inspire shock and awe instead produced cheers from a crowd ready to see, as Jerry Lawler would call them, “puppies”. The crowd encouraging abuse in the ring is what makes the segment uncomfortablebut regardless of intent, sponsors in 2024 would not tolerate something like this happening on live television.
8
Stone Cold repeatedly hits Lita with a chair
April 9, 2001 episode of Monday Night Raw
At the height of their dominance as Two-Man Power Trip, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H teamed up with Stephanie McMahon to battle The Hardy Boyz and Lita. The contest ends with The Game and Texas Rattlesnake brutalizing Jeff and Matt Hardy with chairs. To protect her boyfriend from harm, Lita uses herself as a shield to withstand the impact of chair shotswhich Austin ends with a Stunner.
WWE is mostly opposed to cross-gender wrestling these days (unless it's Rhea Ripley beating up men), from the outside, the optics of a man fighting a woman looks like domestic violence to non-fans. An extremely violent attack like this could only end in the worst kind of media frenzy today.
7
Kurt Angle calls Kane and his fans the big R-word
March 27, 2000 episode of Monday Night Raw
Compared to many of these entries, this is probably the most harmless, but in a world that is much more sensitive about language than it used to be in 2000, even a small slip in this word would produce the same negative reaction. It's a word that produces such a strong and visceral response that we can't even type it here! Today, when WWE is so praised for its collaborations with the Make a Wish Foundation, a promotion like this from Kurt Angle - or anyone on the WWE roster - would not be received positively.
6
Alcoholic Falcon Apparently Attempts Suicide
November 16, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
WWE loved to blur the lines between reality and kayfabe during this era and in the case of the Legion of Doom Hawk had a substance and alcohol abuse problem in real life. On screen, he appeared at matches drunk until he was sent to rehab. Animal would replace Hawk with Droz (then Puke) during this period, which made things strange when Hawk finally returned.
This culminated in Animal turning on Hawk on Sunday Night Heat, but it wouldn't end there. The following night on Raw, Hawk climbed onto the Titantron and threatened to jump. Puke would climb up behind him seemingly to save him, but pushed him away, soon revealing that he was the one who gave Hawk drugs in an attempt to permanently take his place in the LOD. The entire storyline was confusing and cheesy enough to convince Hawk and Animal to leave WWE in disgust..
5
Terri's abortion
January 4, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
After leaving the real-life Goldust for Val Venis, Terri Runnells would announce on a random episode of Sunday Night Heat that she was pregnant. Always a womanizer, Val was vehemently against the prospect of becoming a father. After the revelation that Val had had a vasectomy years earlier, this turned into a mystery angle surrounding who the father of Terri's child could be.
Before the mystery was revealed, the night Mankind won the WWE Championship from The Rock was also the night an argument with D'Lo Brown led to Terri falling off her apron while screaming, "My baby!" It turns out that Terri lied about her pregnancy and miscarriage in an attempt to convince Brown to do whatever she wanted.
4
Chazz Incest Angle, Followed by Domestic Abuse
Debuts on May 31, 1999, episode of Monday Night Raw
Boy, what a double whammy that was. When Thrasher of the Headbangers suffered an injury, his tag team partner Mosh kept busy by being repackaged as a singles character. He became Beaver Cleavage, a naive parody of sitcom characters like Leave It to Beaver with incestuous tones. Perhaps the connotation is more appropriate, as his promotions were filled with sexual innuendos that revolved around “mother's milk,” referring to his valet, Mrs. Guess why they were called Cleavage.
Apparently that wasn't uncomfortable enoughso Mr. Cleavage was repackaged once again as Chazz, and Mrs. Cleavage became his black-eyed girlfriend, Marianna. This is a story that exemplifies that while some angles of the Attitude Era were great, many others simply had no rhyme or reason and were played purely for shock value.
3
Chyna connects Mark Henry with a trans woman to shame him
January 18, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
Wrestling has traditionally not been a safe space for non-heteronormative backgrounds, but the space has become surprisingly welcoming to people of all sexualities in more recent times. 1999 was very different from those times. After he lied about them "doing nasty things", Chyna gets revenge by setting up "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry with his friend Sammy. Long story short, it ended up being a ploy for Chyna trick Henry into showing attraction to a transgender womanfilming the footage for his mother to see.
Obviously, things had to get worse. When Henry finds out that Sammy is trans, it's a laughing matter because he vomits in the bathroom. It was completely derogatory to the LGBTQ+ community, and there is absolutely no way anything remotely similar would appear on TV today.
2
Triple H drugs and marries Stephanie McMahon
December 1, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
In one of the most infamous segments of the era, Test and Stephanie McMahon's wedding is interrupted by Triple H revealing that Vince's daughter is already married. After showing footage of Trips and Stephanie drugged at a drive-thru wedding in Las Vegas, The Game also confirms that the marriage was consummated to the delight of the public. The implications of Triple H's words are horrific, so understandably, an inevitable about-face from Stephanie soon after suggests that she was plotting against her father all along.
1
DX attacks "Stephanie" in his locker room
November 8, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
A more forgotten (and, for WWE's sake, underrated) segment from the previous month saw WWE Champion Triple H wrestling Test in the main event. Just when it looked like Test was about to win with Vince and Shane McMahon at ringside, DX appeared on the Titantron grabbing a woman on the floor by the ankles while her face was obscured. The exclamation that Stephanie was there having a great time implied the worst possible scenario.
Naturally, Test, Shane and Vince rush backstage to save the President's daughter, giving Triple H the countout victory to go off the air. On the next SmackDown, X-Pac would reveal that D-Generation X tricked the McMahons, and the woman was not Steph, although they would not confirm that anyone was actually assaulted. WWE they wouldn't dare recreate a moment like this at risk of cancellation, and that would be the best case scenario compared to the feedback they would receive for downplaying an issue like rape and assault.