The Eras of WWF/WWE

A mini-guide to every WWF/WWE era from January 23rd, 1984 to now.

I remember seeing this post a few years back and thought it was a great summation of the history of WWWF/WWF/WWE.

With the Ruthless Aggression documentary premiering on the WWE Network this week, I thought I would take a swing at both fleshing out and updating the previous post. Here’s every WWF/WWE era post-Bruno Sammartino.

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The Golden Era

Began: January 23rd, 1984 (Hulk Hogan defeats the Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden for the WWF Championship)

Ended: April 5th, 1992 (Wrestlemania 8)

Era Figurehead: Hulk Hogan

Notable names: Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Andre The Giant, The Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair

Key moments: Creation of Wrestlemania, death of the territory system, Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC, Ted Turner creates WCW, Hogan appears in “Rocky III, leading to mainstream awareness of WWF” Wrestlemania 3 attendance record, wrestling first airs on pay-per-view

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The New Generation Era

Began: April 5, 1992 (Wrestlemania 8)

Ended: March 23, 1997 (Wrestlemania 13)

Era Figurehead: Bret Hart

Notable names: Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Lex Luger, Yokozuna, Mankind, Goldust, Owen Hart

Key moments: WWF steroid trial, a downturn in business leads to WWE working with smaller independent promotions like USWA and ECW, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and several Golden Era stars leave and join WCW, the debut of Monday Night Raw

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The Attitude Era

Began: March 23rd, 1997 (Wrestlemania 13)

Ended: April 1st, 2001 (Wrestlemania 17)

Era Figurehead: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Notable names: The Rock, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, Triple H, Kane, Kurt Angle, D-X, The Big Show

Key moments: WWF vs. WCW, wrestling business booms, the full introduction of The McMahon Family as characters, Montreal Screwjob, WCW, and ECW go out of business, WWE becomes undisputed #1 promotion after acquiring WCW and ECW

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The Ruthless Aggression Era

Began: April 2nd, 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw

Ended: June 24th, 2007 (Chris Benoit double murder-suicide)

Era Figurehead: Triple H

Notable names: The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg

Key moments: WWF becomes WWE, Stone Cold Steve Austin departs WWE, The Rock leaves WWE for Hollywood, the return of Hogan/Nash/Hall/Flair to WWE, Invasion Storyline leads to debut of former WCW stars, WWE brand split, the OVW Class of 2000 becomes the next generation of main eventers, death of Eddie Guerrero, the return of ECW brand

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The PG Era

Began: June 26th, 2007 (Vince McMahon’s pre-taped statement about Chris Benoit before ECW episode)

Ended: July 17th, 2011 (Money in the Bank PPV)

Era Figurehead: John Cena

Notable names: Batista, Randy Orton, Edge, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Christian, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, The Rock

Key moments: Linda McMahon’s Senate bid, WWE goes TV-PG and kills ECW brand, WWE business tails off, CM Punk “pipebomb” promo leads to renewed mainstream interest in WWE, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels appear together for the first time in 12 years, WWE brand is promoted as #1 draw vs. individual wrestlers for the first time in company history, Shawn Michaels retired by Undertaker

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The Reality Era

Began: July 18th, 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw

Ended: April 6th, 2014 (Wrestlemania 30)

Era Figurehead: CM Punk

Notable names: John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, the 4 Horsewomen

Key moments: a relaunched and rebooted NXT, Undertaker loses the Wrestlemania streak to Brock Lesnar. Total Divas premieres on E!, creating reality show/kayfabe hybrid that influences WWE storylines, CM Punk departs WWE, leading to rebooked Wrestlemania and rise of Daniel Bryan as fan-favorite, WWE embraces social media with hits (Youtube) and misses (Zack Ryder, Tout), WWE Performance Center opens in 2013

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The International Era

Began: April 7th, 2014 episode of Monday Night Raw

Ended: April 7th, 2019 (Wrestlemania 35)

Era Figurehead: Brock Lesnar

Notable names: John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, the 4 Horsewomen, AJ Styles, the New Day, Ronda Rousey, Bray Wyatt, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Adam Cole & The Undisputed Era

Key Moments: The launch of the WWE Network, massive talent raids of independent promotions as well as international competition like NJPW, the rise of NXT as a touring brand and creation of NXT Takeover live specials, the ESPN/WWE partnership, the groundbreaking WWE/FOX contract, WWE Saudi Arabia deal announced, the first female-headlined Wrestlemania, the first all-female PPV Evolution, first all-female specialty matches (Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber, Royal Rumble, etc.), return of Cruiserweight title and division, expansion into the UK via NXT UK

The Too Big To Fail Era (Feel free to suggest other names, lol)

Began: April 8th, 2019 episode of Monday Night Raw - present

Era Figurehead: Becky Lynch

Notable names: Brock Lesnar, Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, The New Day, Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Adam Cole & The Undisputed Era, Johnny Gargano, Finn Balor, Tomasso Ciampa

Key Moments: AEW presents first real competition to WWE in 20+ years, NXT becomes third official brand, biggest talent roster in history leads to supercard events (NXT/RAW/SD Survivor Series, When Worlds Collide), first NXT title defended at Wrestlemania (the forthcoming Rhea Ripley vs Charlotte Flair match), WWE moves away from traditional wrestling industry revenue streams (house shows)

A little long, but any/all thoughts are welcome!

I posted this to Reddit too!

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/f63qz2/the_eras_of_wwfwwe/