What Constitutes "The Attitude Era"?

[Big Red Machine]

People have given many start dates for the Attitude Era. Many have cited the "Austin 3:16" speech at King of the Ring 1996. Others have given other dates, such as Austin's Title win at WrestleMania XIV, the Bret-Austin double-turn at WrestleMania 13. I'm sure there are others who will tell you that it is when D-X started to do raunchy comedy. Unsurprisingly, Kevin Nash claims that it really started when he became one of the first tweeners after losing the WWF World Heavyweight Title, while Bret Hart will tell you it started when he shoved Vince McMahon on Raw during an interview in February 1997.

The next question to answer would be "when does it end?" Many people use the purchase of WCW as the end date, while others extended it to WreslteMania X-7 as the end date. Some say the Attitude Era goes until the end of Invasion angle at Survivor Series 2001, while others go as far as about June 2002, with Austin's walkout, the beginning of rise of the Smackdown Six, Vince's "Ruthless Aggression" speech, the final demise of the nWo, and the upcoming departure of The Rock as a full-time wrestler. If you wanted to, you could even extend it to the early fall 0f 2002, with the rise of Evolution, the pushing of the Smackdown Six and Brock Lesnar to main event spots, and the end of Chris Jericho's singles push.

The next, and possibly most interesting question, is "does the Attitude Era" only refer to stuff in the WWF? After all, Nitro was also being edgy (and we can all agree that ECW was being edgy WAY before that, although their edginess really only reached the mainstream wrestling audience at Barely Legal, which I guess you could view as another possible start date because it showed that this sort of edginess could pay off), and a lot of that started with Scott Hall's debut on May 27, 1996.

What do you all think?

[cero2k]

I think the Attitude era kinda started with goldust, 'loose cannon' brian pillman, but it didn't become solid until Austin/Hart at WM.

After that, i think it goes this way.
Attitude Era (~95 - 2001)

The Invasion (2001-2002) no era, just the invasion event (it was quite unique so i think it is its own thing). This starts with Lance Storm debuting up until Flair returning.

The Brand Extension Era (2002-2010)
the brand extension era is divided into Ruthless Aggression (02-05) and the PG-Era (05-10)

The Reality Era (2010), which kinda evolved into what I'm hearing to be the youth movement era, the triple h era, the part-timers era, call it what you want.

now, whether the AE extends WWE, i don't think so, i think other promotions had their own 'era'. for WCW you could simply call it the NWO era i think, or even the Russo era to some extent. For ECW, well, the era was as long as the life of the company, so hard to call it an era, but considering they're the ones that started it all, i think it would be a bit insulting to say they where in the attitude era

[Big Red Machine]

I think the Attitude era kinda started with goldust, 'loose cannon' brian pillman, but it didn't become solid until Austin/Hart at WM.

After that, i think it goes this way.
Attitude Era (~95 - 2001)

The Invasion (2001-2002) no era, just the invasion event (it was quite unique so i think it is its own thing). This starts with Lance Storm debuting up until Flair returning.

The Brand Extension Era (2002-2010)
the brand extension era is divided into Ruthless Aggression (02-05) and the PG-Era (05-10)

The Reality Era (2010), which kinda evolved into what I'm hearing to be the youth movement era, the triple h era, the part-timers era, call it what you want.

now, whether the AE extends WWE, i don't think so, i think other promotions had their own 'era'. for WCW you could simply call it the NWO era i think, or even the Russo era to some extent. For ECW, well, the era was as long as the life of the company, so hard to call it an era, but considering they're the ones that started it all, i think it would be a bit insulting to say they where in the attitude era

On ECW- While the overall thing was their thing, the company definitely has different "Eras." ECW from the beginning to about early 95 feels VERY different than ECW in 97 or ECW in 2000.
I also disagree a bit with your WWE Era classification, but I'll get to that in a bigger post.

[cero2k]

On ECW- While the overall thing was their thing, the company definitely has different "Eras." ECW from the beginning to about early 95 feels VERY different than ECW in 97 or ECW in 2000.
I also disagree a bit with your WWE Era classification, but I'll get to that in a bigger post.

of course you could divide it into eras, but they're really small and the bigger difference between each other mostly had to do with who they were pushing and who was working at the time, but i wouldn't say that it was the whole direction of the company changing. At most i'd make a difference between ECW Philly and ECW New York

[Big Red Machine]

On ECW- While the overall thing was their thing, the company definitely has different "Eras." ECW from the beginning to about early 95 feels VERY different than ECW in 97 or ECW in 2000.
I also disagree a bit with your WWE Era classification, but I'll get to that in a bigger post.

of course you could divide it into eras, but they're really small and the bigger difference between each other mostly had to do with who they were pushing and who was working at the time, but i wouldn't say that it was the whole direction of the company changing. At most i'd make a difference between ECW Philly and ECW New York

No. At least with the pre-Spring 95 stuff, the company felt different. Before that it really just felt like a garbage-wrestling indy that happened to be able to bring in famous names like the Funks and Snuka, and had some great talent with mainstream exposure like Cactus Jack, Scoprio, and Shane Douglas. After that, it starts to feel like the place where guys are either "found" as far as the US audience goes, or where guys go to achieve their full potential. The characters started to get much better at that point, and not just top of the card guys like Dreamer, Taz, and Raven. Even the Pit Bulls stopped feeling like random big mean dudes and started to feel like they were real people.

[Big Red Machine]

Hulkamania Era- Hogan's first title win- Summer Slam 1993
This is the era of the expansion and Hulk Hogan and his buddies (Savage, Piper, Warrior) being on top. Hogan is the be-all, end-all focus of the company basically the whole time (Luger was really just a stand-in for Hogan). Size and look are prioritized above all.

New Generation- Summer Slam 1993- WrestleMania 13
Newer, quicker, more agile, wrestlers come to the forefront, and a lot more focus is placed on the IC Title as a real attraction. The major stars are Bret, Shawn, Razor, Diesel, and Taker, (and, in part, Luger, Owen, and Davey Boy). While the characters are still larger than life, there is also an attempt to make them more relatable to the viewer.

Attitude Era- WrestleMania 13- Summer Slam 2002
I have chosen WM 13 (and specifically the Bret-Austin double-turn) as the starting point for the Attitude Era because the idea of the fans embracing Austin as the babyface despite the fact that he was a big asshole (and the company coming to terms with it and booking it that way) most symbolizes the beginning of this new era (though we had had some stuff before this like Austin's promos and Goldust).
We get Rock, Austin, D-X, Foley, Ministry Taker, and Mr. McMahon. We get a lot more hardcore stuff, sexual situations, and generally risque (and risky) content than ever before. Things that would never have been made into an angle before, like race and misogyny, become big angles.
We also get just utterly crazy, criminal things slipping into wrestling, like running people down with cars, gratuitous destruction of property, stalking, kidnappings, and tales and threats of arson.

The last nine months in particular mark a winding down of the Attitude Era, with many important parts of it (and the state of the wrestling business that spawned it) disappearing. WCW is vanquished, and their world title unified with the WWF Title. The Hardcore Title is written out. Important factions such as the McMahon-Helmsley faction and D-X are written out. The nWo gets one last run before it sputters and dies.
The Women's Division also undergoes a major overhaul, with the line between the women who were hired to wrestle and the women who were hired to stand there and look pretty being totally erased. From now on, everyone is expected to be able to do both. There is a noticeable attempt to overhaul the tag team division, with multiple long-time teams breaking up.
In the period from Wrestlemania 18 to Summer Slam 2002 we also start to see some building blocks for the new era being put into place: The Brand Extension, the Smackdown Six, Brock Lesnar, the return of Shawn Michaels and the beginning of his feud with Triple H (which also announced to the world that D-X was dead). John Cena debuts in an important role (and Orton and Batista debut as well, albeit with much less fanfare).
By the time Summer Slam ends, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock (as well as Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and DDP, who were big parts of WCW during the Monday Night War, which was an important part of the Attitude Era as well) have finished up their careers as anything close to full-time performers in the WWE.


Ruthless Aggression Era- Summer Slam 2002- WrestleMania XXII
We start off by not only having two brands, but also now two world champions. A second pair of tag titles soon follows, as does a second secondary singles title, while the Women's Title and Cruiserweight Titles are assigned to Raw and Smackdown respectively.
We have the creation and dominance Evolution, and the elevation of first Brock Lesnar and then, eventually, all of the Smackdown six (except for Chavo), as well as John Cena, Batista, and Randy Orton to main event status.
Shawn and Hunter have an epic two-year feud, Kane loses his mask and becomes a crazy, evil monster, Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated streak is first mentioned, Trish Stratus becomes the star of the women's division, while the Cruiserweight Title all but wastes away to nothing, with no effort whatsoever put into its booking.


Tragedy, Terrible Ideas, & Trying New Things- WrestleMania XXII- No Mercy 2007
The company started ECW as a third brand, but that quickly ran into problems when its top stars, RVD and Kurt Angle, ran into trouble- in Rob's case, a pot arrest (while he was WWE Champion!) and in Kurt's case, a painkiller addiction which led to him leaving the company. These problems were compounded when Paul Heyman clashed with the McMahons over the creative direction of the brand.
During this time, the WWE also suffered from many ill-timed injuries that screwed up the booking and left no time to think up anything other than a quick fix. Mark Henry, Edge, Cena, Undertaker, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H, MVP, Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley, and many others all went down with injuries at important times. This problem was compounded by the departures of Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, and Booker T, as well as the retirements of the two biggest stars in the women division, Trish Stratus and Lita, just two months apart. Most tragic of all of these, though, was the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide, which also brought WWE tons of bad press, and essentially made management decide to give up on the ECW brand.
D-X get back together and feud with the McMahons. The way they came together was well-crafted, but what started as fun campy-ness quickly got stale and annoying.
This one is kind of weird because it didn't mark a shift in the product itself so much as it was a shift in the way the fans perceived it. They saw the much-beloved ECW bastardized, WAY too much time spent with D-X acting like teenagers, and a much-deserving star in Booker T finally get a world title run, only to be booked like a total clown. The Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. feud left a bad taste in many people's mouths because it was seen as exploiting Eddie Guerrero's tragic death, as did the McMahonism angle, for mocking G-d, and the Cryme Time gimmick for its racism. Also, The Great Khali and the Punjabi Prison Match happened.
For the long term, though, perhaps the most important was the way the fans turned on Cena and Batista. This is the time when the anti-Cena movement really picked up steam, watching him beat Edge in Edge's hometown in Edge's own signature match, then be the guy to slay Umaga didn't help matters at all. Fans also noticed Bobby Lashley (another guy with lots of muscles but not enough wrestling skill) being shoved down their throats, and started to rebel. This, combined with the beginning of very over-the-top soap-opera storylines (specifically Vince's limo blowing up and the illegitimate son angle), caused the fans to really start to turn on the product.

PG Era- No Mercy 2007- June 27, 2011
The company didn't officially become PG until about July 2008, but this is where a lot of things seemed to start. Fans started turning on Orton in addition to Cena, Batista, and Triple H. Hornswoggle was all over the place, and they did the "One Night Only" D-Generation X reunions so many times that people started to dread them. ECW became a show for a bunch of undercard geeks no one could care about and then died, only to be replaced by NXT, which failed in different way. The tag team, women's, and cruiserweight divisions were all neglected to the point where they seemed almost irreparable. With few exceptions, most of the women on the roster were terrible, but were pushed because of their looks, while others (Nattie in particular) were grossly underused. The cruiserweight division actually did just plain die. The product as a whole starts to often feel childish, with Cena taking the brunt of the hate from the fans.
During this time, no new stars were created, with the exception of Jeff Hardy, who was already super-over, and, arguably, CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio, both of whom received pushes, but Punk was sent back down to the midcard, while Del Rio lost all of his momentum when he didn't beat Edge at Wrestlemania. This became a huge problem for WWE once 2010 neared. Not only had Jeff Hardy left, but he left a bunch of drug charges in his wake, meaning he would likely never be brought back. HBK was retiring, Taker was going to become a once-a-year guy, and Hunter didn't work too much more than that. Then Batista left the company. Then Jericho left. Then Edge had to retire.
During this time, WWE tried to push a lot of people to main event spots. The Miz, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio, Kane, CM Punk and R-Truth were all given chances to main event, but all either didn't connect with the fans as well as they needed to or were booked weakly either during or after their main event pushes and so no one stuck.
Fans became frustrated by the combination of Super Cena, Randy Bore-ton, and Botchtista forced down their throats. This problem was compounded by all of the failed main event pushes because the fans felt that their favorites like Punk, Ziggler, and John Morrison were having their pushes sabotaged by poor booking, while the company tried to force others like Miz and Truth and Sheamus down their throats. Zack Ryder got himself over with a YouTube show, but despite the chants of "WE WANT RYDER!" ringing out in arenas all over North America, he was never even used as a midcarder. When Christian won his first-ever World Heavyweight Title but then lost the belt cleanly to Randy Orton a few days later, it infuriated many fans. They felt like the company's attitude was "we'll tell you who you are supposed to like."


The Best For Business Era- June 27, 2011- June 2, 2014
Then, on June 27, 2011, at the end of Monday Night Raw, CM Punk said the exact same things the fans had been thinking. At Money in the Bank 2011, not only did Punk beat Cena to win the WWE Title in one of the best matches of all-time, but Daniel Bryan won the Smackdown Money in the Bank briefcase, practically guaranteeing him a future world title reign. John Laurinaitis, the much-maligned VP of Talent Relations was made an on-air heel, and through Punk, many fans' criticisms of Vince, Triple H, Johnny Ace, and management in general were given voice. Punk, Bryan, Ryder, Ziggler, Wade Barrett, and Ryback were all given pushes, which the fans felt that they had gotten them. It wasn't perfect, of course, as the mistreatment of all of them aside from Punk shows, but with Bryan in particular, the fans felt that they had helped force management to push him, and that created a lot of investment in the character. The fans finally felt like their voices were being heard. Although the phrase "best for business" would not be spoken on TV for another two years, WWE embraced the idea of doing things that were "best for business," including listening to what the fans were telling them.
They also embraced the idea from a pure numbers standpoint. They became willing to break with their traditional demands on a talent in order to bring in a lot of part-timers to pump up business. First it was Rock. Then Brock Lesnar. Then guys like RVD and Jericho came in to work for a few months at a time to hopefully boost PPV buys. If paying these guys a lot of money to work limited dates would get you a bigger net profit than not bringing them in at all, why not bring them in?


The Authority Era- June 2, 2014 - ?
The idea of doing what is “best for business” in wrestling is often as simple as listening to the crowd reaction and booking your stars accordingly. In the “Best for Business Era,” it seemed like WWE was listening to us. We wanted Ryder, so they gave Ryder some spotlight. We cheered Dolph instead of Del Rio, so they did a double turn and gave us what we wanted. We wanted Daniel Bryan, so we chanted “YES! YES! YES!” for two straight years until Daniel Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Title in the main event of WrestleMania.
But at some point, that typical WWE arrogance came back and they once again decided that they knew what we wanted better than we did, so they were going to give us what they were certain we wanted, no matter how loudly we told them what we really wanted.
From the day that they decided that they had to put the title on Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXX, their plan was for Brock Lesnar to squash him like a bug at Summer Slam, so they booked him in a ridiculous feud with Kane. We never got as far as that squash because of Bryan’s unfortunate injury, and the last episode of Raw on which he would be champion was June 2, 2014.
Also on June 2, 2014, the Shield broke up, and while in reality the plans for Roman Reigns to be the next top guy had been in place for years, and had become quite apparent by the end of 2013, this- the splitting of The Shield from a united faction of three equals into three separate singles wrestlers, was when the focus on Roman really started. Unfortunately for WWE, they didn’t realize that Roman was the least over member of the trio, and when the fans made this clear to them, WWE’s response was to just stick their heads in the sand. From this moment on, everything felt like it was about getting Roman Reigns over, no matter how it would affect other people. The disaster that was Royal Rumble 2015 could have easily been avoided if WWE had anything close to decent read on the pulse of the WWE Universe, but instead they chose to stick Daniel Bryan in the rumble and eliminate him like a chump instead of holding off his return until afterwards. But instead WWE just thought that everyone would love Roman Reigns no matter what, and did whatever they could to make this be the case.
Also around June 2, 2014, a few other important trends in WWE started:
1. Cesaro, a fan favorite who go over with no help from management to the point where management decided that in order to make the fans happy, he had to be the guy to win the first ever much-hyped Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale, and they even gave him Paul Heyman as a manager. But then, for no adequate reason at all, Cesaro started to get jobbed out and was separated from Heyman without even so much as an explanation.
2. The Wyatt Family started being booked poorly. The Wyatts had been brought up with the intention of a John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt match at WrestleMania XXX. Now, two months later, that feud was completed, and it would soon become quite clear that creative had no plans for Bray whatsoever after this point. He was brought up to lose to Cena, and that was it.
3. The rise of NXT, whose Takeover show the previous week had pretty much upstaged the main roster Payback PPV the night before, with the shining gem on that show being the Charlotte vs. Natalya match for the Women’s Title which kicked off this great era of women’s wrestling in NXT.

These three things have become emblematic of what this new era, the “Authority Era,” now seems to stand for in the minds of the fans. It doesn’t matter who we cheer, and it doesn’t even matter if WWE starts to push someone strong, as they did with Kevin Owens. In the end, WWE will do what THEY want to do, regardless of whether or not the fans like it. Any time a guy like Cesaro or Owens, or Ziggler or the Wyatts get hot, we now know it doesn’t matter because WWE has shown us time and again that they are only interested in what they want to show us, not what we want to see. Anyone not named Cena or Reigns or Rollins or Sheamus who gets hot will quickly be cooled down in the end and sent back to the midcard (or even the undercard) before long.
We want women’s wrestling, but when they give us the stars we loved on NXT, they have to do it their way, a “Divas Revolution” which utterly failed because WWE did not understand why these women became stars on NXT. We might all want Sasha, but WWE wants us to want Eva, so in the end that’s what we are going to get. This is the era of Roman Reigns. No one else matters, because Vince doesn’t want anyone else to matter. I call this the “Authority Era” not because of prevalence of that on-screen faction, but because of WWE’s attitude towards its fans, which has been that what we want doesn’t matter because they are the ones in authority.

[Big Red Machine]

Bumped for update. A new era has begun.

[cero2k]

The Best For Business Era- June 27, 2011- June 2, 2014
Then, on June 27, 2011, at the end of Monday Night Raw, CM Punk said the exact same things the fans had been thinking. At Money in the Bank 2011, not only did Punk beat Cena to win the WWE Title in one of the best matches of all-time, but Daniel Bryan won the Smackdown Money in the Bank briefcase, practically guaranteeing him a future world title reign. John Laurinaitis, the much-maligned VP of Talent Relations was made an on-air heel, and through Punk, many fans' criticisms of Vince, Triple H, Johnny Ace, and management in general were given voice. Punk, Bryan, Ryder, Ziggler, Wade Barrett, and Ryback were all given pushes, which the fans felt that they had gotten them. It wasn't perfect, of course, as the mistreatment of all of them aside from Punk shows, but with Bryan in particular, the fans felt that they had helped force management to push him, and that created a lot of investment in the character. The fans finally felt like their voices were being heard. Although the phrase "best for business" would not be spoken on TV for another two years, WWE embraced the idea of doing things that were "best for business," including listening to what the fans were telling them.
They also embraced the idea from a pure numbers standpoint. They became willing to break with their traditional demands on a talent in order to bring in a lot of part-timers to pump up business. First it was Rock. Then Brock Lesnar. Then guys like RVD and Jericho came in to work for a few months at a time to hopefully boost PPV buys. If paying these guys a lot of money to work limited dates would get you a bigger net profit than not bringing them in at all, why not bring them in?
AKA The Voice of the voiceless era, i don't think fans had ever had so much power, and i don't think we'll ever see it again.

The Authority Era- June 2, 2015 - ? (2014, right?)
The idea of doing what is “best for business” in wrestling is often as simple as listening to the crowd reaction and booking your stars accordingly. In the “Best for Business Era,” it seemed like WWE was listening to us. We wanted Ryder, so they gave Ryder some spotlight. We cheered Dolph instead of Del Rio, so they did a double turn and gave us what we wanted. We wanted Daniel Bryan, so we chanted “YES! YES! YES!” for two straight years until Daniel Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Title in the main event of WrestleMania.
But at some point, that typical WWE arrogance came back and they once again decided that they knew what we wanted better than we did, so they were going to give us what they were certain we wanted, no matter how loudly we told them what we really wanted.
From they decided that they had to put the title on Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXX, their plan was for Brock Lesnar to squash him like a bug at Summer Slam, so they booked him in a ridiculous feud with Kane. We never got as far as that squash because of Bryan’s unfortunate injury, and the last episode of Raw on which he would be champion was June 2, 2014.
Also on June 2, 2014, the Shield broke up, and while in reality the plans for Roman Reigns to be the next top guy had been in place for years, and had become quite apparent by the end of 2013, this- the splitting of The Shield from a united faction of three equals into three separate singles wrestlers, was when the focus on Roman really started. Unfortunately for WWE, they didn’t realize that Roman was the least over member of the trio, and when the fans made this clear to them, WWE’s response was to just stick their heads in the sand. From this moment on, everything felt like it was about getting Roman Reigns over, no matter how it would affect other people. The disaster that was Royal Rumble 2015 could have easily been avoided if WWE had anything close to decent read on the pulse of the WWE Universe, but instead they chose to stick Daniel Bryan in the rumble and eliminate him like a chump instead of holding off his return until afterwards. But instead WWE just thought that everyone would love Roman Reigns no matter what, and did whatever they could to make this be the case.
Also around June 2, 2014, a few other important trends in WWE started:
1. Cesaro, a fan favorite who go over with no help from management to the point where management decided that in order to make the fans happy, he had to be the guy to win the first ever much-hyped Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale, and they even gave him Paul Heyman as a manager. But then, for no adequate reason at all, Cesaro started to get jobbed out and was separated from Heyman without even so much as an explanation.
I think there is more to this. It's not just Cesaro, we saw a heavy trend of guys getting over and WWE pushing them down. From Zack Ryder, to Cesaro, to Sandow. Sandow got over as Sandow, as Mizdow, and I'm sure he would be over as Macho Man Sandow, but I think more than never, we're seeing the trend of if you're not WWE's plan to get over, you're not getting over.

2. The Wyatt Family started being booked poorly. The Wyatts had been brought up with the intention of a John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt match at WrestleMania XXX. Now, two months later, that feud was completed, and it would soon become quite clear that creative had no plans for Bray whatsoever after this point. He was brought up to lose to Cena, and that was it.
3. The rise of NXT, whose Takeover show the previous week had pretty much upstaged the main roster Payback PPV the night before, with the shining gem on that show being the Charlotte vs. Natalya match for the Women’s Title which kicked off this great era of women’s wrestling in NXT.

These three things have become emblematic of what this new era, the “Authority Era,” now seems to stand for in the minds of the fans. It doesn’t matter who we cheer, and it doesn’t even matter if WWE starts to push someone strong, as they did with Kevin Owens. In the end, WWE will do what THEY want to do, regardless of whether or not the fans like it. Any time a guy like Cesaro or Owens, or Ziggler or the Wyatts get hot, we now know it doesn’t matter because WWE has shown us time and again that they are only interested in what they want to show us, not what we want to see. Anyone not named Cena or Reigns or Rollins or Sheamus who gets hot will quickly be cooled down in the end and sent back to the midcard (or even the undercard) before long.
answered before reading this, but yeah, i agree

We want women’s wrestling, but when they give us the stars we loved on NXT, they have to do it their way, a “Divas Revolution” which utterly failed because WWE did not understand why these women became stars on NXT. We might all want Sasha, but in the end, WWE wants us to want Eva, so in the end, that’s what we are going to get. This is the era of Roman Reigns. No one else matters, because Vince doesn’t want anyone else to matter. I call this the “Authority Era” not because of prevalence of that on-screen faction, but because of WWE’s attitude towards its fans, which has been that what we want doesn’t matter because they are the ones in authority.
I would perfectly subtitle this to the "PR Era", twitter trends, cookie cutter looks, Steph, it's all about 'how awesome we are' by saying it, yet rarely showing it

[badnewzxl]

Here's how I see it:

94-98 was the "New Generation Era" with Razor, Diesel, Kid, HBK, Bret, Owen, and Taker at the top.

98-01 was the "Attitude Era" with the Rock, Austin, Mankind, HHH, the Outlaws, and Jericho leading the way.

01-05 was the "Ruthless Aggression Era" with Angle, Edge, Beniot, Lesnar, and Eddie joining HHH, Taker, and others. Personally my favorite BC it was when WWE s roster was at its strongest ever.

05-11 was the Brand extension, which I severely dislike mainly BC it lasted too long and barely anybody got over besides Cena, Orton, and Batista (Punk too, but mainly on his own). Add in Edge, Jericho, and the awesomeness that Taker and HBK gave and you have damn good main event. sadly the midcard, tag, divas, and really everything else was terrible.

11-present can only really be defined by Punk's pipebomb. Since then, the theme of WWE has been that the "company" and the "fans" are at odds. Every character that gets over with the fans must encounter hassles from the bosses. Punk, Bryan, Reigns, Ambrose, etc. I kinda want to call it the Corporate Era BC the company no longer panders to fans, but solely to advertisers and investors.

That's how I break it down; by the popular stars of the era and the theme of the show