http://getmonthlypay.com/index.php?invite=108078 The Attitude Era (1997-2001)
Main article: The Attitude Era
See also: Montreal Screwjob
As the Monday Night Wars continued between Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult oriented product, known as The Attitude Era. The era was spearheaded by Vince McMahon and head writer Vince Russo, who drastically changed the way professional wrestling television was written.
The fans of WWF seemed to favor what was posed to them as the bad guy instead of the good guy.
The creative changes made by the company's writers who saw wrestling
take on a "street fighting", "bad attitude" approach. However, despite
this revolutionary change by the company, WWF continued to lose much of
its leading talent to rival promotion, WCW throughout 1996 and 1997.
1997 ended with McMahon facing real-life controversy following Bret Hart's controversial departure from the company, later known as the Montreal Screwjob.[33]
This resulted in major financial losses and plummeting ratings with
many of McMahon's employees, wrestling critics, and wrestling fans
turning against him. This proved to be one of several founding factors
in the launch of the Attitude Era as well as the creation of McMahon's
on-screen character, "Mr. McMahon"; a dictatorial and fierce ruler who favored heels over faces.Prior to the Montreal Screwjob which took place at the 1997 Survivor Series, former WCW talent were being hired by the WWF, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mankind and Vader. Steve Austin was slowly brought in as the new face of the company despite being promoted as an anti-hero, starting with his Austin 3:16 speech shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1996.[34] The creation of the Mr. McMahon character soon led to the Austin vs. McMahon feud, the central storyline during the Attitude Era. During the rivalry, McMahon founded two heel factions: The Corporation and The Corporate Ministry to help try and defeat Austin. The feud even involved former boxing champion, Mike Tyson, which helped give the company mainstream media attention and a significant increase in ratings.
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