Eras in WWE are often defined by fundamental changes that rock the company to its core but for the most part sets the WWE on a course for better seas.
New Eras give us new top guys, new attitudes and new reasons to tune in. The current era, the Thunderdome era was ushered in by a global pandemic but beyond the external forces happening outside the ring, inside the company, we have seen the Undertaker retire, 2 new top guys emerge in Reigns and Mcintyre and the most diverse roster in WWE history.
But, what about the other eras? What defined them and when are they book marked in time?
The Golden Era - 1985 - 1993 - 8 years
Many people say the Golden Era is not actually the first era but is preceded by the Classic Era, however, let's let the Classic Era be era 0. Because the Classic Era lacked something that the golden era had: color.
The Golden Era was defined by colorful superstars such as Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man and The Ultimate Warrior who really helped make wrestling a main-stream phenomena. Bright colors, cartoons, and Saturday Day Morning Shows was targeted to get children into becoming long-term wrestling fans. The marketing was brilliant.
However, once the bigger guys left for even bigger paychecks, it was middle card workers like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and other smaller built competitors that were the ones to carry the company into the next era.
The New Generation Era - 1993 - 1998 - 5 years
During the New Generation Era, we saw a plethora of new stars being introduced into the company. While Bret, Taker and Shawn were middle-card carryovers from the the Golden Era who were thrusted to the top, they weren't the only superstars that defined this moment of WWE history.
During this Era, the universe got acclimated to the likes of Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Mark Henry, Brain Pillman and the men that would soon come to define the next era, Stone Cold, The Rock and Triple H.
The New Generation Era was a troubled, low-ratings era where the WWE was seemingly trying to throw anything at the wall and seeing what was going stick.
The Attitude Era - 1998 - 2003 - 5 Years.
Some say the Attitude Era begin when Stone Cold gave his infamous 3:16 speech and others say it's when he won the championship from HBK at Wrestlemania 14, and while these were definitely markers that the attitude era was in the making, I would argue that the Attitude Era was really solidified after the Montreal Screwjob in Novemeber 1997, though the Attitude Era seeds had already been planted with the creation of DX, Brain Pillman's loose cannon persona and the Nation of Domination.
The Attitude Era was a response to getting hammered in the ratings by WCW/NWO. As the Era crossed into the new century, WWE was finally able to defeat WCW and buy the company. What happened next was a collision that changed the company forever as it introduced new talent and old talent in waves of anticipation.
As WCW, WWF and ECW all seemingly merged into one company, the WWE, we knew the era was changing. The company's motto at the time was "get the F out", and well that is exactly what happened as the attitude era's biggest stars, DX, Stone Cold and The Rock begin to slowly exit the company.
The Ruthless Aggression Era - 2003 - 2008 - 5 Years.
Like most eras, when the ruthless aggression era actually began is also up for debate, but eras are more of a gradient rather than being ushered in with a hard line between any two eras.
Some would argue the ruthless aggression era began when the Rock was defeated by Brock Lesnar or when Evolution was formed, or when Cena rose through the ranks or after Chris Beniot became champion. While all these moments are definitely highlights of the era, the actual era itself is where the WWF become the WWE.
However, the whole era came to a screeching halt after Beniot's suicide-murder. This incident left the whole wrestling world needing to clean up its content to go back to a more family-friendly product similar to what the golden era offered.
The PG Era - 2008 - 2012 - 4 Years.
The PG Era was lead by company man John Cena who transformed into a good ole' boy- soldier, wearing bright, fruity-loop colors that harkened back to the days of the Golden Era. The WWE as a company focused on programs such as Make-a-Wish, Tribute to the Troops and the Susan B. Cohen cancer foundation.
While the WWE was making sure it had a more public friendly face, a collision was brewing between two superstars that would span over 4 years which was the top Superstar of the PG era, John Cena locking horns with the top Superstar of the Attitude Era, the Brahma Bull himself, the Rock. It was during this time that the PG era slowly started turning into the reality era as fans were becoming tired of scripted promos, corporate created characters and predictable outcomes.
Many people believe the PG era is what lead to the Yes Movement that completely made WWE have to go off script from what they were originally planning for the Wrestlemania 30 storyline.
The Reality Era - 2012 - 2020 8 Years
The Reality Era, which is the latest era before our current Thunderdome Era, was also the longest Era of WWE history spanning almost a decade. The era can actually be broken up to 3 parts.
Part 1. - The Rock Returns 2011 - 2012
Part 2 - Daniel Bryan / Cm Punk 2013 - 2014
Part 3 - The Shield / Brock Lesnar 2015 - 2019
As fans grew tired of the corporate created characters, scripted promos and smiling faces of the John Cena generation, there was a longing for authenticity and reality that many people believe CM Punk brought back into the WWE when he dropped the infamous pipe bomb.
But, it wasn't just the CM punk character that was helping create a more realistic product, it was also the return of Broc Lesnar from the UFC and the debut of Ronda Rousey from the UFC that also gave way to a new authentic product.
We saw the rise of the Shield and the Wyatt family and many superstars coming up through the ranks in the newly created NXT brand. And, the return of Goldberg.
The reality era continued showing its teeth in spots such as the women's revolution and Becky Lynch and John Cena suffering a broken nose. Other real injuries also made the product seem more realistic like Undertaker losing his streak because of a concussion and Seth Rollins dropping a title due to a torn ACL, and Randy Orton getting busted open by Broc Lesnar. We also saw Sting finally come to WWE only to be sent away with a Career threatening injury.
The reality era may have kept going for a lot longer but when the global pandemic hit, the WWE had to shift gears and a new era was born.
