The WWE of 1998 was infamously disgusting. It has NOTHING on the TNA of 2002...

The WWE Attitude Era will forever remain the most vile, lowbrow period in wrestling history.

Well, 'Ruthless Aggression' was equally hideous - a rape victim later aligned with her abuser in storylines, who had turned f*cking babyface - but it really wasn't its own period. The format and tone of WWE television was indistinguishable; only the personnel was different.

The Attitude Era while white-hot and electrifying at its best, but was nonetheless so repulsive that one need only fire up a random five minute segment of Raw on the WWE Network to find something that has been consigned to time, relegated below even worse material. Do you remember the Rock attempting to force himself onto Chyna, and reining himself in not because he thought better of it, but because he didn't deem her sexually attractive?

No, because WWE somehow contrived to demean Trish Stratus more infamously.

Revolting misogyny, rampant invitations to CTE, exploiting real-life substance abuse issues, flirtations with incest angles, mocking the deceased to advance storylines: the WWE Attitude Era will forever remain the most vile, lowbrow period in wrestling history.

A lot of implied sexual activity happened on WWE TV throughout the Attitude Era.

They never showed full penetration, of course, but scenes in which various wrestlers shared beds were commonplace. Mark Henry in his Sexual Chocolate guise was often found canoodling with Mae Young, Beaver Cleavage looked set to boff his own mother in their vignettes, and Jerry Lawler looked like he was constantly on the verge of the vinegar strokes.

In one of his vignettes, adult actress Jenna Jameson rose into shot and stood next to Val Venis. For those slow on the uptake - and since WWE insists on recapping things that literally happened seconds ago, there's a fair few of you - it was implied that Jenna had just finished inhaling his cack.

But depicting a performer in the act itself, with proper lighting?

That was..."best" left to TNA, and in 2002 - when it was at its wildest - a cult performer by the name of 'Puppet The Psycho Dwarf' when interviewed by Goldy Locks was found, in a trash can, beating his meat. He claimed he was "meditating" - this, in case you aren't aware, is a euphemism for jacking it - and this was rendered unmistakeable by the furious sound of a fist thudding against plastic.

Also, his excited face, twisted in pleasure, looked like Triple H adding an extra six unnecessary minutes to an NXT match.

Writer, podcaster and editor. Deft Punk. Author of Becoming All Elite: The Rise of AEW, which is available to purchase at the following link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-All-Elite-powerful-Wrestling/dp/B09MYSNT71

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