The television programming discussed in this article may offend the sensibilities of readers because it contains references to drugs, abuse, discrimination and sexual violence.
It would be an understatement to say that Wow Has changed immensely from his days during The Attitude Era. It is widely known by fans and commentators that WWE is in a boom time right now and is adored worldwide by men, women and children of all ages. As much as he’s understandably vilified for the lowest points of his career, taking WWE in a PG direction is a business decision by Vince McMahon that paid off, literally.
Even with the much-anticipated move to Netflix, that’s not likely to change anytime soon given the success WWE has found as a PG product. The Attitude Era is a stark contrast from what audiences see today on WWE television. In the spirit of staying politically correct and not displeasing sponsors, moments like the following could never happen in today’s WWE. Although it is important to understand that times have changed, along with cultural expressions, these stories are still part of WWE’s past, and from a time when the company is considered to be at its peak.
10
DX in Blackface… and Goldust in Blackface
July 6, 1998 episode of Monday Night Raw (and multiple instances after that)
In the first of multiple segments on the list that have been pulled 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 is talking about death, but it is often-forgotten that This was not the last time DX would do blackface. Fast forward to the December 14, 1998 episode of Raw and DX parodied The Rock’s newest faction, The Corporation. This time, reprising his role from “The Crack,” only Triple H is in blackface.
The members of DX aren’t the only WWE Superstars to wear blackface either. Another forgotten episode arrived much earlier on January 5, 1998’s Raw, III Flash Funk wrestled Goldust in dark skin paint and an Afro. Not surprisingly, that was also scrubbed 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 complicated entry, because it was supposed to make viewers feel as uncomfortable as those watching it today. It was the road to WrestleMania X-7 and the disaster Mr. McMahon has been shown to abuse his powerBeating his faithful mistress Trish Stratus, forcing her to strip to her underwear and bark like a dog. In that respect, it’s an effective segment, but the sensibilities of viewers were much different in 2001 than in 2024.
In 2001, a segment meant to inspire shock and awe instead produced cheers from a crowd ready to see, as Jerry Lawler would call them, “Puppy.” The crowd encouraging the in-ring abuse is what makes the segment uncomfortableBut regardless of intent, sponsors in 2024 would not condone something like this happening on live television.
8
Stone Cold repeatedly beats Lita with a chair
April 9, 2001 episode of Monday Night Raw
At the peak of their dominance as the two-man power trip, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H teamed up with Stephanie McMahon to wrestle The Hardy Boyz and Lita. The contest ends with the match and the Texas Rattlesnake brutalizing Jeff and Matt Hardy with chairs. To protect her boyfriend from harm, Lita uses herself as a shield to take the brunt of the chair shotsWhich Austin caps off with a stunner.
WWE is mostly against intergender wrestling nowadays (Unless it’s Rhea Ripley beating the men) As from the outside looking in, the optics of a man fighting a woman looks like domestic abuse to non-fans. An ultra-violent attack like this can 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 the entries, this is probably the Tamete, but in a world that is much more sensitive around language than it was in 2000, Even a slight slip-up of the word would produce the same negative reaction. It’s a word that produces such a powerful, visceral response that we can’t even so much as type it here! Today, when WWE is praised so heavily for their collaborations with the Make a Wish Foundation, a promo like this from Kurt Angle – or anyone on the WWE roster – would not be received positively in the slightest.
6
Alcoholic Hawk 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 has a real-life substance and alcohol abuse problem. On screen, he would show up to matches intoxicated until he was eventually sent off to rehab. Animal would replace Hawk with Droz (then Puke) during this stint, which made things awkward when Hawk eventually returned.
This culminated in Animal turning on Hawk on Sunday Night Heat, but it wouldn’t end there. The next night on Raw, Hawk climbed atop the Titantron threatening to jump. Puke would climb up after him seemingly to save him, but pushed him away, soon revealing he was the one giving Hawk drugs in an attempt to permanently take his place in Lod. The entire storyline was a mess and sticky enough to convince Hawk and Animal to leave WWE in disgust.
5
Terry’s miscarriage
January 4, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
After ditching real-life flame Goldust for Val Venis, Terri Runnells would announce on a random episode of Sunday Night Heat that she was pregnant. Ever the ladies’ man, Val was poisoned against the prospect of being a father. When they discover that Val had gotten a vasectomy years earlier, it becomes a mystery angle that revolves around who could have fathered Terry’s child.
Before the mystery was revealed, the night Mankind won the WWE Championship from The Rock was also a night where an argument with D’Lo Brown led to Terry falls off the apron while screaming, “My baby!“ As it turns out, Terry lied about her pregnancy and overall miscarriage in an attempt to guilt-trip Brown into doing what she wanted.
4
Chaz incest angle, followed by domestic abuse
Debuted on the May 31, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
Boy, what a double Hamas that was. When Thrasher from the Headbangers went down with an injury, his tag team partner Mosh was busy being repackaged as a singles character. He became Beaver Cleavage, a naive parody of sitcom characters like Leave It to Beaver with incestual undertones. Maybe the overtones are more appropriate, since his promos are filled with sexual innuendos revolving around “mother’s milk,” referring to his maid, Mrs. Cleavage. Take two guesses as to why they are named cleavage.
Apparently, that’s not uncomfortable enoughSo Mr. Cleavage was repackaged once more than Chaz, and Mrs. Cleavage became his black-eyed girlfriend Marianna. This is one story that exemplifies that, while some angles from the Attitude Era were great, many others simply had no rhyme or reason, and were played purely for shock value.
3
Chyna hooks Mark Henry up with a trans woman to embarrass 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 accepting of people of all sexualities in recent times. 1999 was a far cry from those times. After he was lying about them “doing the nasty,” Chyna gets payback by setting up “Sexual Chocolate” Mark Henry with her friend, Sami. Long story short, it turns out to be a plot for Chyna too Trick Henry into showing attraction to a transgender womanFilming the footage for his mother to see.
Obviously, things had to get worse. When Henry learns that Sammy is trans, it’s played for laughs like He goes into a bathroom. It was downright disparaging to the LGBTQ+ community, and there is absolutely no way that anything remotely similar could fly on TV today.
2
Triple H drugs and marries Stephanie McMahon
December 1, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
In one of the more infamous segments of the era, the wedding of Test and Stephanie McMahon was interrupted by Triple H revealing that Vince’s daughter was already married. After running footage of Trips and a drugged Stephanie at a Vegas drive-through wedding, The game also confirms that the marriage was consummated to the delight of the audience. The implications of Triple H’s words are horrifying, so understandably, Stephanie’s inevitable heel turn soon after suggests that she was on the prowl against her father all along.
1
DX Assault “Stephanie” in their locker room
November 8, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw
A more forgotten (and, for WWE’s sake, underseen) segment from the previous month saw WWE Champion Triple H wrestle 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 ground by her ankles, as her face was obscured. The exclamation that Stephanie was back there having the time of her life implied the worst possible scenario.
Naturally, Test, Shane and Vince all run backstage to save the Chairman’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 did not confirm that anyone was actually involved. Wow Would not dare to recreate a moment like this at the risk of cancellation, and it would be a best-case scenario compared to the comments they would receive for making light of a topic such as rape and assault.