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I'll get to the others, but for now I'm gonna do the Attitude Era
Wrestler of the Era:
The Rock. I'm gonna have to go with him on this one, not because hes the best technical wrestler, or even the best star (Austin). Its because of his ability to tell a story with his matches. Virtually all of his matches were entertaining within themselves, even bouts with billy gunn and al snow. Even with a stint away from the main event he managed to keep the crowd in the palm of his hands and with memorable bouts against and along side Foley, and the ongoing fued up the ranks with HHH, when he was in the ring it meant something.
Honorable Mention: Triple H, Mick Foley
Champion of the Era:
Stone Cold Steve Austin. If ever anyone encompassed the role of "champion of the company" it was Austin, just like Hogan before him. As someone said, he was usually in the hunt and not always the Champion. However you always got the feeling it was his belt. It was all about him holding it and getting it back when he wasn't. His initial reign was one of greatness and the quest to regain it was even better. Winning the title at 3 wrestlemanias of the 4 of the era, and the other he was injured during. After a long time out of action, he came back and worked right back to the title resulting in one of the longest reigns of the Era and probably the last.
Tag Team of the Era:
The Hardy Boyz. Much like Austin, they weren't always the champion, but it was always their territory. They were way over with the crowd and ushered in a new breed of tag team wrestling along with their rivals in the TLC matches. Team Xtreme was probably the crowds favorite tag team, and displayed the best team presence in the ring with great tandum moves and classic spots. They differ from Edge and Christian by having more of a team feel.
Honorable Mention: The New Age Outlaws, Edge and Christian.
Babyface of the Era:
Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was all about Austin. He ushered in a new era and was an amazing draw. His crowd support and reactions were unreal and he shines as the babyface of the era for the reasons stated in the championship department. He also managed to become a face sheerly by crowd affection, breaking the mold and going from heel to face just because of crowd support making him a true anti-hero.
Heel of the Era:
Triple H. I would say Vince McMahon, but I decided to stick to just wrestlers on this one. Triple H was a unique heel because he was so damn ruthless and so hateable. He went from one of the top fan favorites of DX to this vile, dominant champion. Another unique quality was he wasnt your typical sneaky, wiseass cowardly heel. He was just damn good and knew it and would stop at nothing to win.
Card of the Era:
Wrestlemania 17. The apex of the attitude era. Everyone was on it. Great matches. Triple H vs Undertaker is one of the better second main events of Wrestlemania history as it was a fresh matchup, Austin/Rock clashed both at the height of their popularity.
Match of the Era:
Hell In A Cell: Mankind vs Undertaker
There were dozens and dozens of great matches during this time. King of the Ring 98s hell in a cell may not have been the most well wrestled, talent driven match, but it certainly stands out as the greatest to me. The entire match was one big holy shit chant to end all holy shit chants. The events that took place defined Foley and defined the company for years to follow. Its hard to explain it as my choice much further than this. It just is Hell in a Cell 98. Its a match that you can show to any person and they just go, wow. You know a match is something when the guy who loses is the true winner.
Character of the Era:
Mick Foley
Foley managed to capture the imaginations and hearts of the fans in a truly unique way. With his 3 characters he was memorable as hell. And his gritty, bloody bouts weren't the prettiest thing in the world but they were fun to watch. People actually cared about him in a way that was certainly unrivaled. He was so interesting that he was the subject of a groundbreaking best selling autobiography and various spots on 60 minutes and news programs. If Stone Cold was the face of Attitude, and The Rock was the mouth, then Mick Foley was the heart. The fans loved Mick in his 3 great gimmicks before king of the ring, but after this he was just Mick Foley.
Angle of the Era:
Austin vs McMahon. This isn't just the best angle of the era, but probably of all time. It never got old and it was always getting more interesting. It was groundbreaking and it gave people a reason to rush to the television by 8:59 every monday night. Its the angle to end all angles and it had more twists and turns than chubby checker in a blender. From its inital start, to its finish more than a year later it remains the defining angle in the industry and is what saved the WWF.
Worst Wrestler:
After talking about all this greatness, its hard to want to think about the crap. In this era, there wasnt a whole bunch of crap. There were some bad wrestlers but they certainly weren't forced upon us. Probably some peice of trash like Viscera or something.
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