Chris Jericho Breaks Down What Made the Attitude Era Special

Chris Jericho has a theory on why WWE’s Attitude Era still looms so large in wrestling fans’ memories a quarter-century later, and it comes down to simple math: an unmatched concentration of proven main-event draws all working at the same time.

Speaking in a recent interview, Jericho laid out his case for why the late-1990s to early-2000s stretch of WWE programming — whether fans call it the Attitude Era or the Ruthless Aggression Era that followed — remains so critically beloved. He put it alongside the 1980s national expansion era and today’s product as the three defining periods for pro wrestling in North America, but argued the talent depth of his own era set it apart.

“I think what made, let’s say we want to call it the Attitude Era… when I got to the WWE, there were legit, I’d say, 12 legit top-drawing main event stars,” Jericho said. “Not just guys who worked in the main event, top draws.” He rattled off names off the top of his head — The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Mankind, Triple H, Kurt Angle, himself, Chris Benoit, Kane and Big Show — and noted there were likely a few more he could have added without much thought.

Jericho drew a clear line between wrestlers who simply worked main events and those who became true box-office attractions with characters that transcended their era. He believes that distinction still separates the Attitude Era from the current product, even as he credited today’s roster with plenty of talent.

“There’s a lot of great talent in wrestling today, but main event stars, main event draws, main event, like, almost iconic characters that are still super popular today because of that timeframe, we don’t have that now,” he said. “You have a lot more eyeballs on it, maybe, because of platforms and streaming. But if you look at the main event names then, they can’t be touched.”

It’s a familiar argument in wrestling circles, but coming from Jericho — a performer who lived through both that boom period and has remained a top-level act across multiple promotions since — it carries added weight. Few active wrestlers can speak to the gap between eras with the same first-hand perspective, having shared marquee spots with Austin and The Rock in the early 2000s and still headlining shows for AEW today. His larger point isn’t that today’s stars lack talent, but that the audience simply hasn’t had 20-plus years yet to canonize them the way it has Attitude Era icons.

The comments arrive as Jericho promotes “Vietslam: Squashing the Cultural Gap,” a documentary he produced chronicling the growth of professional wrestling in Vietnam, centered on Vietnam Pro Wrestling. Jericho has his own tie to that scene, having made a surprise appearance for the promotion back in 2023.

Whether or not fans agree that the current era can’t produce Attitude Era-level icons, Jericho’s remarks are sure to reignite the long-running debate over how eras should be measured — by star power concentration, or by the reach modern streaming and social platforms give today’s wrestlers. As Jericho continues his media rounds for the documentary, expect him to keep drawing on that history to frame how far pro wrestling — in Vietnam and beyond — still has to grow.