There are certain times throughout history where we immediately know it’s going to be something special, and other times we haven’t a clue until later.
But this day in wrestling history has a certain feel to it that gave us a hint of things to come, and the wrestling world would never be the same.
On December 15, 1997, Vince McMahon gave a speech announcing that WWE RAW is WAR would be the “cure for the common show” and ushered in the greatest, and often maligned Attitude Era.
Breaking new ground
Though only two minutes long, Vince McMahon took center stage like a ringleader in a circus as he explained the thought process going forward.
This change was long overdue as the Monday Night Wars weren’t going in their favor, and the process had already begun, albeit gradually.
When Vince finally declared it, it told us all the gloves were off.
“It has been said that anything can happen here in the World Wrestling Federation, but now more than ever, truer words have never been spoken. This is a conscious effort on our part to ‘Open the Creative Envelope’, so to speak, in order to entertain you in a more contemporary manner. Even though we call ourselves Sports Entertainment because of the athleticism involved, the keyword in that phrase is Entertainment.
“The WWF extends far beyond the strict confines of sports presentation into the wide open environment of broad based entertainment. We borrow from such programs niches like soap-operas, like The Days of Our Lives, or, music videos such as those on MTV, Daytime talk-shows like Jerry Springer and others, cartoons like The King of The Hill on FOX, Sitcoms like Seinfeld, and other widely accepted forms of television entertainment. We, in the WWF, think that you, the audience, are quite frankly, tired of having your intelligence insulted.
“We also think that you’re tired of the same old simplistic theory of ‘Good Guys vs. Bad Guys’. Surely the era of ‘The super-hero urge you to say your prayers and take your vitamins’ is definitely, passe. Therefore, we’ve embarked on a far more innovative and contemporary creative campaign, that is far more invigorating and extemporaneous than ever before.
“However, due to the live nature of RAW and the WarZone, we encourage some degree of parental discretion, as relates to the younger audience allowed to stay up late. Other WWF programs on USA, such as The Saturday Morning LiveWire, and Sunday Morning Superstars, where there’s a 40% increase in the younger audience obviously, however, need no such discretion. We are responsible television producers who work hard to bring you this outrageous, wacky, wonderful world known as the WWF.
“Through some 50 years the World Wrestling Federation has been an entertainment main-stay here in North America, and all over the world. One of the reasons for that longevity is: As the times have changed, so have we. I’m happy to say that this new vibrate, creative direction has resulted in a huge increase in television viewership, for which we thank the USA Network and TSN for allowing us to have the creative freedom. But most especially, we would like to thank you, for watching. RAW and the WarZone are definitely the cure for the common show.”
Taking no prisoners
Just like that, Vince destroyed kayfabe wrestlers and promoters had defended their entire lives and ushered in a new era that was unlike anything we say before.
It was an exciting time as we were already going back and forth between WWE and WCW, and this gave up more to look forward to in the near future.
It also meant WCW would have to amp up their game to stay relevant, and we were off running.
The Attitude Era was an awesome time and it’s more than a fond memory for us as we watch current WWE programming.
We hope to see something similar to it return at some point as they were firing on all cylinders in the ring and storytelling.
This day in wrestling history is a special one for another reason as without this seismic shift, the WWE would’ve lost the Monday Night Wars and Vince would be a footnote in wrestling history instead of sitting atop of the mountain.
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