Following the Attitude Era was always going to be an uphill battle, but the WWE Ruthless Aggression Era was up to the challenge. An influx of new talent was being phased in with the remaining talent to create one of the deepest rosters in WWE history. So much so that they were able to create two separate brands, with one occupying Raw, while the other moved to SmackDown. The era established its own identity, and stars that carried the company into the future.<\/p>\n
Having the deepest roster in WWE history didn\u2019t keep the Ruthless Aggression Era from experiencing the same problems as past eras. With more PLE\u2019s came the problem of producing main events that may not have been worthy of that slot. WWE was inconsistent with its main events, with some blowing the roof off, while others performed in front of crickets. Below, we will look at the best and worst of these main events from the Ruthless Aggression Era.<\/p>\n
Many believe that this match should have been saved for WrestleMania, and from the result, that\u2019s probably where it should have taken place. Semantics aside, we should all be lucky that this match took place, as it\u2019s one of the best of the Ruthless Aggression Era.<\/p>\n
This match had everything. The technical mastery shown by both men was only matched by their ability to turn the contest into a brawl. Everything they did was perfect; it was a match that no one wanted to end. It may not have been on the right card, but at least we bore witness to a legendary match between two of the greatest men to step into a wrestling ring.<\/p>\n
We were deep into Triple H\u2019s reign of terror when he stepped into Hell in a Cell against his former Kliq mate. WWE leaned heavily on the history between the two men to tell a fun story as they marched towards hell. It was just inconvenient that once they got inside the cell, nothing of note happened. Not even the inclusion of Mick Foley could help this championship match.<\/p>\n
No one wanted to see this match. The Hell in a Cell stipulation helped to inject some violence into the contest, but it wasn\u2019t enough to save it. Kevin Nash was past the point of putting on a good match, as he and Triple H lumbered to each spot. It was too slow and didn\u2019t include any of the great spots we associate with Hell in a Cell. The crowd applauded only when the match was over.<\/p>\n
WWE\u2019s roster was stacked in 2002. There were so many big names at the top of the card that WWE played a game of hot potato with the Undisputed Championship. Trading it back and forth produced some interesting matches, with the best taking place between The Rock, Undertaker, and Kurt Angle in Detroit.<\/p>\n
With Brock Lesnar waiting, these three men went to war over the WWE Undisputed Championship. It was a tremendous match that saw great chemistry and character work by three top guys. The action was always going to be great, but the fact that each man traded the other finishers made this match epic. It was something that set the blueprint for how triple-threat matches were booked.<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t much that can be said about the program between the Great Khali and John Cena. Following his WrestleMania 23 victory, he needed someone to challenge, and WWE felt it was necessary to put him up against the monster that was Khali. His physical presence was awesome, but that\u2019s where the allure ended. The Great Khali was not a great wrestler, and nothing was going to change that.<\/p>\n
Cena and Khali had some fun matches, but all of those included a gimmick. This was a standard match that had no hope of becoming anything great. The Great Khali couldn\u2019t wrestle, and John Cena couldn\u2019t walk him through anything exciting. This was a very boring 8 minutes to end the night.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No two men defined the Ruthless Aggression Era quite like Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle. Their program was the highlight of a great year for SmackDown, and their tilt at WrestleMania 19 will go down as one of the best main events in the history of the event.<\/p>\n
Both Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were in their prime for WrestleMania 19. They were accomplished amateur wrestlers, and that was used to create a great contest featuring the best wrestling in years.<\/p>\n
There was brawling mixed in, yes, but this was a battle for wrestling supremacy. Lesnar and Angle were two wrestling machines that went to war to determine the best wrestler in the company. When all was said and done, it was the fans who were the true victors in this WrestleMania main event.<\/p>\n
A lot was expected when Triple H and The Undertaker<\/a> stepped into the ring. They had engaged in classic battles before, and there was not much doubt that they would again. While they had produced some incredible matches in the past and future, this one was not one of them.<\/p>\n What hurt this match was WWE\u2019s desire for neither man to look weak. The match started strongly, but after a while, it developed into a boring slog. The wrestling wasn\u2019t great, and the bigger spots seemed disjointed. At the match’s conclusion, too much funny business took place to protect both men, leaving the fans wondering what had happened. It looked like WWE booked this match without considering the finish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John Cena and Edge made the Ruthless Aggression Era a success. It was one of the era’s top rivalries, with every match imaginable being contested. Every contest had its own allure, but it was their TLC finale that topped the bunch.<\/p>\n Taking place in Toronto, the crowd was firmly in heel Edge\u2019s corner. It was a rabid atmosphere for John Cena to walk into, and that atmosphere amped the match’s intensity all the way up. It gave the match the big-fight feel that was fitting for Edge and John Cena\u2019s last dance.<\/p>\n The creativity with which the tables, ladders, and chairs were used was a great way to keep the match fresh in the audience\u2019s mind. One-on-one TLC matches are hard to keep exciting from start to finish, which makes it all the more impressive that Cena and Edge were able to do so. It was a near-perfect match with a perfect ending, showing us a spot that no two other men could have pulled off.<\/p>\n This match has been torn apart so much that it has become a thing of legend. A legend that keeps growing about how terrible this match was, and how it pretty much ruined the ECW brand. This was WWE\u2019s first and only ECW-branded PLE, and for good reason. The entire night was a debacle, which was capped off by a train wreck of a main event.<\/p>\n There was no story to be heard of heading into this match. WWE had given up on the ECW brand and just threw these men in the ring with some weapons. The violence was fun to an extent, but not enough to save the match. This wasn’t the best way to connect with fans and strengthen the hardcore brand; it was one of the main reasons for its decline. Paul Heyman was soon gone from the company, and ECW became a shadow of its former self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following the Attitude Era was always going to be an uphill battle, but the WWE Ruthless Aggression Era was up to the challenge. An influx of new talent was being phased in with the remaining talent to create one of the deepest rosters in WWE history. So much so that they were able to create […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4518,"featured_media":160676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7205,2192,4,3],"tags":[140,328,165,8883,297,75],"class_list":["post-160643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-cm-punk","tag-edge","tag-john-cena","tag-ruthless-aggression","tag-the-undertaker","tag-triple-h"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160675,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160643\/revisions\/160675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Best: John Cena v Edge<\/a> (TLC Match for the WWE Championship; Unforgiven 2006) <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Worst: Extreme Elimination Chamber (Elimination Chamber for the ECW Championship Match; December to Dismember<\/a>) <\/strong><\/h2>\n