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The 1990s Wrestling Boom (sometimes referred to as the 3rd Golden Age of Wrestling) was a period in professional wrestling in North America where it received unprecedented TV ratings, pay-per-view buys and media attention, perhaps even dwarfing the 1980s Wrestling Boom. It was characterised by edgier, darker, anti-authority characters and themes which often caused controversy and outcry among critics and the general public alike. The 1990s boom coincided with what the WWF referred to as the Attitude Era.

Contents 1 Before the boom 2 The Monday Night Wars begin 3 WCW and the nWo 3.1 The nWo's "third man" 3.2 "We are taking over" 4 Montreal Screwjob 5 WWF's "Attitude Era" 5.1 Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon 5.2 D-Generation X 5.3 The Rock 5.4 Mankind 6 The tide turns 7 ECW on TNN and the peak of the boom 8 The end of the Monday Night Wars 9 ECW collapses 10 Vince McMahon purchases WCW 11 Since the boom 12 Late 1990s culture 13 See also 14 References and external links

In the early 1990s the state of wrestling in North America had changed drastically from the boom it experienced in the 1980s. Television ratings and pay-per-view buys had gone down. The World Wrestling Federation and National Wrestling Alliance were both in a state of decline in terms of popularity, and while new stars were created, they did not have the drawing power that stars from the mid-1980s such as Hulk Hogan had attained. Additionally, what little attention the industry got from the mainstream media was negative (such as WWF owner Vince McMahon being brought to trial on charges of distributing steroids in 1994).

Perhaps adding to the decline was the fact that during the wrestling boom of the 1980s there were three wrestling promotions that could be considered "national" or "global," however that ended when the American Wrestling Association officially folded in 1991. That same year, Ted Turner officially severed ties between World Championship Wrestling and the NWA, becoming its own separate entity. His move came three years after (and was perhaps set in motion by) Turner's purchase of Jim Crockett Promotions. Subsequently, the NWA had no national television presence in the United States.

In 1993, the WWF announced that it was cancelling Prime Time Wrestling and would begin live TV feeds (which then changed to airing one edition live and then the next two to three subsequent editions taped on the same night) of a new show called Monday Night RAW on the USA Network (which also aired Prime Time Wrestling). While a revolutionary concept, it didn't remove the problems that the WWF was experiencing during this time period.

1993 also saw the beginning of ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling -- The name change to Extreme came a year later). Starting out as a small outlet of NWA wrestling, ECW would make a suprising rise in popularity which many see as a key to the success of the 1990s boom. Under Paul Heyman, ECW revolutionized a form of wrestling called Hardcore in which rules became non existent and anything could go. At the same time, ECW helped introduce wrestlers such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Chris Jericho to the American audience. Such performers had spent years harnessing their technical skills around the world and were a break from gimmicks that other, more successful promotions utilized.

While the WWF was pushing to make Monday nights the centerpiece of its programming, WCW had signed former WWF stars from the 1980s boom such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage (among others). WCW Vice-President Eric Bischoff and others had hoped that this would lead to a resurgence of "Hulkamania" and instantly propel them past the WWF; however, that wasn't immediately the case. WCW's major fan base, which was considered to be mostly Southern and anti-WWF, had a hard time buying into stars that were seen to them as "WWF guys." It didn't help matters either that Hogan's draw had significantly decreased since his glory days in the mid to late 1980s, and that WCW had also given Hogan full creative control which resulted in failed main-event programs such as his ongoing feud with the Dungeon of Doom.

Things would, however, change drastically over the course of the next few years.

Main article: Monday Night Wars

In 1995, WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff met with company owner Ted Turner to discuss what WCW could do to surpass the WWF as the number-one promotion in the United States. According to Bischoff, he flippantly suggested that WCW be given a weeknight prime time slot, specifically one on Monday night to compete with WWF's Monday Night RAW program. To his surprise, Turner enthusiastically agreed and granted Bischoff a full hour on TNT on Monday nights. The timeslot would later expand to two, and then three, hours.

WCW Monday Nitro debuted on September 4, 1995 at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The show opened with a match between Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger. At the end of the broadcast, former WCW and WWF star Lex Luger made his return to WCW and challenged then-WCW Champion Hogan to a match the following week. Though Luger had failed to be the draw the WWF had hoped he would be, his return to WCW was a genuine surprise to most viewers since just weeks prior he had been in a tag-team program with the British Bulldog. This was considered the opening salvo of the so-called Monday Night Wars, and would set the tone for the years to come.

For the next several months, RAW and Nitro battled in the ratings, receiving generally somewhere in the 2.0 range and trading victories with each other. This would soon change with one of the most famous wrestling storylines ever.

Main article: New World Order (professional wrestling)

On Memorial Day in 1996, on the first two-hour edition of Monday Nitro, Scott Hall (formerly known in the WWF as Razor Ramon) appeared dressed in street clothes and interrupted a match by cutting a promo. WCW commentators Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko sold his unexplained appearance as if he was not supposed to be there and that he was an "invader." Hall inquired as to the whereabouts of "The Nacho Man" and "Scheme Gene," a reference to the "Billionaire Ted" skits the WWF had done to lampoon WCW mere months before. Hall declared "war" on WCW and claimed that his arrival was only the tip of the iceberg, and that others would soon join him. In reality, Hall, along with good friend Kevin Nash, had just been signed by WCW.

Two weeks after Hall's appearance, Nash would debut on Nitro. The two promised a "third man" that would join them in the future. Rumors spread that the third man would be Lex Luger, Roddy Piper, Sean Waltman, and Bret Hart, among others.

At the 1996 Bash at the Beach, the third man was revealed to be none other than Hulk Hogan. Hogan told WCW and its fans to "stick it," citing their treatment of him in WCW as a babyface prior to his turn. He dubbed the group the "new world order of professional wrestling", which gave the group it's name: The nWo. This marked the first time that Hogan had been a heel as a main-event player, which revitalized his career as well as resulting in the explosion of popularity and interest in the nWo and the subsequent invasion storyline.

In the months to come, the nWo added other ex-WWF members such as Ted DiBiase, Syxx (formerly The 1-2-3 Kid in the WWF), and Randy Savage. In addition, they added major WCW stars to their group such as The Giant and at the end of 1996 revealed that the mastermind behind the group was none other than Eric Bischoff.

Though the origins of the program are not fully known, Bischoff has made numerous claims that the idea came to him after being in attendance at a New Japan Pro Wrestling event and seeing a similar storyline being used. Regardless, it was a brilliant move on WCW's part, in that they played up the resentment the mainstay WCW fans had for the WWF, while simultaneously bringing in new fans by using established WWF talent.

The group became wildly popular with the crowd (despite playing heels) and led WCW Monday Nitro to over 80 consecutive weeks of ratings dominance.

Main article: Montreal Screwjob

In March 1996, Bret Hart temporarily left the WWF and was in negotiations with both them and WCW over the course of about seven months. The WWF eventually won out, and signed Bret Hart to an unprecedented 20-year contract (two more years as an active wrestler, and then a move into the front office) in order to sway him from signing with WCW. Over the course of the next year, however, the WWF fell into some financial trouble and was considering restructuring the contract. Additionally, Hart himself was unhappy in the company and the direction it was taking, which led to him regretting signing a long-term deal. With both sides unhappy with the contract they had agreed upon, McMahon agreed to cancel the contract and allow Hart to negotiate with WCW.

Hart, who was at the time the WWF Champion, was asked to lose the Championship to Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series 1997 in Montreal, but refused on the grounds that he did not want to lose to Michaels (with whom Hart always had a legitimately bad relationship with backstage that once led to an actual fistfight in front of the locker room) in his home country. He proposed instead that he appear the night after the pay-per-view on Monday Night RAW, announce that he was leaving the company, and publicly vacate the title. McMahon agreed and set up the match to supposedly be a DQ finish.

However, at the same time, McMahon had become paranoid and did not trust Hart, despite the close relationship he had with Bret and his family as a whole. This was due in part to the humiliation the WWF had suffered in late 1995, when WWF Women's champion Alundra Blayze appeared on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro and dropped the WWF Women's title belt in a garbage can. McMahon feared the immense loss of prestige he and his company would suffer if the reigning WWF Champion appeared on the competition's TV show with the championship belt and did something similar, or worse.

The WWF championship match in Montreal between Hart and Michaels took place as scheduled. However, due to McMahon's paranoia, the planned finish to the match had been changed behind Hart's back, and the new finish was known only to McMahon, Michaels, Michaels' good friend Triple H, WWF official Gerry Brisco, and match referee Earl Hebner. Near the end of the match, McMahon came down to ringside and took a seat beside the timekeeper. In the ring, Hebner was knocked out inadvertently by Michaels, as per the planned finish, and Michaels put Hart in the latter's famous finishing submission hold, the "Sharpshooter." Hart was then scripted to reverse the hold, but instead Hebner suddenly revived and called for the timekeeper to ring the bell, ending the match. McMahon elbowed the shocked timekeeper and told him to "ring the fucking bell" as Hebner leapt out of the ring and ran to the back of the arena, where a car was waiting to take him out of town. Michaels similarly departed the ring in a hasty fashion with his newly won WWF World title, alongside Triple H and Chyna. When Hart realized that McMahon had snatched the WWF title out of his hands and humiliated him in front of his countrymen, he flew into a rage, spitting at McMahon and breaking several television monitors at ringside.

After receiving an extended off-air ovation from the sympathetic Montreal crowd, Hart physically attacked McMahon in the locker room. Hart later said in an interview that he struck McMahon because he felt that, if McMahon sued, McMahon wouldn't stand a chance legally due to the Screwjob. Indeed, McMahon never filed suit or pressed charges. Hart left for WCW on extremely bad terms with the WWF and the McMahon family. Although he has, in some ways, reconciled with Vince (who reportedly was among the first to call Bret after his stroke in 2002), he still has not forgiven Shawn Michaels.

This event, which came to be known as the Montreal Screwjob, was a pivotal point in the 1990s wrestling boom for several reasons. For one, it was the first time that kayfabe (the practice of keeping the inner workings of professional wrestling a closely guarded secret) had been broken in such a public manner. This was especially true with McMahon addressing the issue on a later edition of RAW, claiming that he did what he had to do because Hart had refused to conform to "time-honored tradition" (jobbing before leaving the company), and uttering the infamous line "I didn't screw Bret, Bret screwed Bret." It also meant that yet another WWF mainstay, and some would say the man who carried the torch during the WWF's most trying years, was now with the rival WCW promotion, although Hart's time in WCW was riddled with disagreements, injuries, and ultimately a concussion that forced him into an early retirement.

The WWF's ensuing handling of the situation on television and its booking in general after the event also indicated a wild new direction for the WWF (later becoming known as The Attitude Era). Most importantly for the WWF, however, it (whether directly or indirectly) gave birth to perhaps the most hated heel in the company's history - Vince McMahon himself.

The WWF then went into what is now referred to as The Attitude Era (referred to as such because WWF Attitude had become the company's tagline). This era was spear-headed by McMahon and then head writer Vince Russo, who drastically changed the way wrestling TV was written and constructed, with his booking style often referred to as Crash TV - short matches, backstage vignettes, and shocking television.

As a result of the Montreal Screwjob, Vince McMahon turned heel and fashioned himself as the evil boss character "Mr. McMahon." McMahon used the real-life events in Montreal to flesh out his character of the selfish, manipulative, and self-centered Mr. McMahon. The WWF had already established "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as an anti-authority figure, and since the wheels were already in motion for him to win the WWF Title at WrestleMania, a feud between the two seemed natural.

The feud began when Austin was going for the World Title. On an edition of Monday Night RAW prior to Wrestlemania, McMahon brought in Mike Tyson to announce his participation at the event. Austin disrupted the proceedings and got into a shoving match with Tyson. Mr. McMahon then made it clear that he didn't want Austin to be WWF Champion. The feud kicked into high-gear after Austin defeated Shawn Michaels for the belt at WrestleMania XIV.

For the remainder of 1998, Vince made repeated attempts to take Austin's belt and eventually succeeded in vacating the belt. Austin and McMahon would continuously feud for years with McMahon firing Austin numerous times, though Austin would always return to give him another stunner no matter what McMahon had done. Austin's anti-authority character struck a chord with many fans who had become tired of the traditional do-gooder babyface, and it has also been argued that the feud succeeded primarily due to fans vicariously living out their fantasy of "sticking it" to authority figures.^{[citation needed]}

Most importantly for the WWF, the feud ended up breaking Nitro's 80-plus week dominance over RAW in the ratings battle on April 3, 1998.

Main article: D-Generation X

During 1997, Shawn Michaels and Triple H formed a stable known as D-Generation X. The stable began as a quartet, which also included Chyna as HHH's "bodyguard" and Rick Rude as a manager. The stable was formed as a response to the nWo in WCW and behaved much like them (smarmy cool heels/tweeners), however instead of being an "invading force" their actions were more based on trying to create controversy than on "invading" or initiating a "hostile takeover."

Severe back problems forced Michaels into retirement after dropping the title to Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV on March 29, 1998. While making sporadic appearances in the ensuing years, Michaels would not become active again for quite some time. In the meantime, Triple H became the new leader of DX and introduced its new members, The New Age Outlaws and, in what was a surprise for most viewers, Sean Waltman, who had just been released by WCW.

In his first appearance on RAW after returning to the WWF, Waltman cut a promo on Eric Bischoff, even bringing up the genuine dissatisfaction in WCW that his friends Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were feeling at the time. Waltman subsequently became known as X-Pac, and the group would became popular "tweeners" with such antics as trying to gain entry to the building housing Monday Nitro when the two events (Nitro and RAW) were taking place within driving distance, as well as appearing at TBS headquarters in Atlanta to attempt to meet with Ted Turner. All four men became legitimate draws for the WWF as a result of the group's popularity. D-Generation X were popular because of their "Crotch chop" signature taunt, "Suck it" slogan, hilarious gimmicks, and being involved with every situation the Attitude Era had. They also had a lot of peripheral members like Jim Neidhart (November 24, 1997), "Iron" Mike Tyson (March 2, 1998-March 29, 1998), Mankind (December 28, 1998-January 11, 1999), Kane (March 29, 1999-October 28, 1999), and many more that were important to the Attitude Era.

Perhaps the only superstar to rival Steve Austin in popularity during this time was The Rock. Third-generation star Dwayne Johnson was originally introduced to fans as ultra-babyface Rocky Maivia, receiving an immediate push upon his arrival including being given the Intercontinental Title. The fans turned on Maivia, however, as they didn't appreciate him being shoved down their throats and tastes at the time had developed past the do-gooder babyface. Rocky was subsequently brought back and repackaged as a heel, now calling himself "The Rock."

Through his tremendous promo abilities and vast improvement in the ring, The Rock gained a huge following and became popular despite every attempt at the character to be a heel (including the famous line "this is not Sing-a-long with The Rock" when fans began saying his catch-phrases in unison). After awhile, The Rock was positioned as the top babyface in the company and held the WWF Title at a time when the ratings for Monday Night RAW were at their highest. He is also arguably the biggest crossover star the WWF/WWE has ever had, becoming a legitimate movie star and receiving critical praise for his performances.

Mick Foley is perhaps the embodiment of the Attitude Era. After changing his costume from a brown sleeveless shirt and plants with a Hannibal Lecter-inspired mask into an untucked shirt with a loose necktie, sweatpants, sneakers, with the same mask. Mankind, during the Attitude Era, did the unpredictable. Mankind was in the first Hardcore Match and was the first ever Hardcore champion. His popularity grew to new heights after being tossed off the top of the Hell in a Cell by The Undertaker in King of the Ring 1998. Mankind's personality gradually became less of a violent tortured soul and more of a goofy, broken down oaf with his Mr. Socko gimmick. He eventually became one of the most popular wrestlers in the WWF and even defeated The Rock on January 4, 1999 for the WWF Championship. Later, he teamed up with The Rock as the "Rock 'n' Sock Connection" and won the Tag Team Championship in the process. After retiring from wrestling, he became WWF Commissioner throughout the Attitude Era.

With the nWo storyline as the focal point of the organization, WCW dominated the ratings on Monday nights for over 80 weeks between June 1996 and March 1998. With RAW's ratings victory on April 6, 1998 (due in large part to the McMahon/Austin feud), the companies evened out and became more competitive, trading victories in the ratings war.

Perhaps the first sign of WCW's decline came at the company's premiere pay-per-view event, Starrcade#1997, on December 28, 1997. The main event featured WCW loyalist and "franchise" Sting facing off against nemesis Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship. It was more than a year in the making and would be Sting's first match since 1996. The match however ended in a highly controversial way. It was rumoured that Hogan was unwilling to lose to Sting, so the decision was made to have Hogan pin Sting, but then have special referee (and new WCW employee) Bret Hart restart the match. The supposed "Fast Count" was in fact a legitimate three-count, which confused and annoyed fans who had waited over a year to see this match. As instructed, Bret Hart restarted the match and Sting won after forcing Hogan to tap out to his trademark "Scorpion Deathlock" (a.k.a. Bret Hart's "Sharpshooter"). Though fans were pleased to see Sting win the belt they were irritated by the way the match had ended. This intensified criticism towards Hogan, who had gained the reputation for being a politician (a wrestler who has strong backstage influence over matches and other affairs), as well as Eric Bischoff, who had given wrestlers such as Hogan complete control over their characters. In later years however, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan, among others, denied any politicking or pay-offs to Nick Patrick, stating that the plan was for Sting to kick-out of the first Hogan Leg Drop at two, then a second one would draw a fast count from the referee, thus drawing out Bret Hart to restart the match. However, Sting got confused or forgot to kick out. Thus the ending was merely botched, rather than a deliberate attempt to make Hogan look better.

The WCW Championship would later be stripped from Sting because of the controversial finish at Starrcade and held vacant until a rematch between him and Hogan at 1998's SuperBrawl pay-per-view. But this move did not erase or soothe the wounds from that event. Sting's reputation as WCW's top star was dealt a blow due to the nature of his Starrcade victory, while Hogan would spend the remainder of his WCW career being accused of fixing matches and holding down younger talent.

Around this time, WCW was pushing Goldberg as their next champion using the gimmick of an undefeated streak. The character, who said little and did little beyond dominating matches, became wildly popular with crowds and led to renewed interest in WCW while the nWo storyline seemed to be burning out. This led to WCW winning back ratings after a brief RAW dominance.

Goldberg's push reached an apex when he faced Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship in the main event Monday Nitro on July 7, 1998. The match was at the time the highest-rated quarter-hour of any wrestling show in television history, and led to a victory for Nitro that night. For the remainder of the summer, WCW remained competitive, but pulling the trigger on Goldberg so early and giving away the title match with Hogan on live television instead of pay-per-view proved to be a mistake in the long-run.

Another reason for WCW's early decline was Eric Bischoff's obsession with bringing celebrities into wrestling. Top WCW star Diamond Dallas Page twice became involved in tag matches which featured a prominent non-wrestler. At Bash at the Beach, he tagged with Karl Malone to take on Hollywood Hogan and Dennis "Rodzilla" Rodman. The following month he tagged with TV host Jay Leno to face Eric Bischoff and Hollywood Hogan at Road Wild 1998. Whilst this did not damage Page's reputation among fans, there was a backlash against having celebrities being involved in wrestling. Bischoff was heavily criticised for wasting television time not just on celebrities, but on lengthy promos such as Thunder's nWo Night Cap, which fans and critics dubbed nWo Night Crap.

By 1998, it was clear that it was a three-way-dance between the WWF, WCW and ECW. Each promotion was unique from the other and fans world-wide were tuning in each week to catch whatever they could. By now Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind, Sting, Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, Sandman, Taz and Sabu had all become household names. 1998 through to 2000 was the peak of the boom, with each promotion using various tactics to try and knock out the other and wrestlers constantly moving from one company to another. The internet by this time had become widespread and rumours, news, and opinions were helping to keep the momentum going.

Unfortunately, the downside was that as wrestling's popularity surged so to did wrestler's pay. While the WWF and WCW could afford to splash-out on lucrative contracts for their wrestlers, ECW couldn't and they struggled to afford new talent. Paul Heyman believes that during this period wrestling began to mirror the Dotcom boom, which was in full swing at the same time, in that wrestling had become an inflated bubble that had to burst and it became clear that the only way for ECW to survive was through national TV.

Late 1999 saw the debut of ECW on TNN. At first, it was seen as a major positive for ECW as video games and other merchandise soon followed, but it was plagued from the start. First, Taz and the Dudley Boyz jumped over to the WWF which left ECW with only a handful of major stars like Rob Van Dam to front its programming (Sandman, Raven and Bam Bam Bigelow having jumped to WCW though Raven and Sandman would return). Also, TNN meddled with ECW programming, demanding higher production quality and less emphasis on ECW's hardcore tradition. The last straw came when in early June 2000, TNN began negotiating with the WWF to bring RAW IS WAR over to TNN and dump ECW programming in the process. This led to a verbal shoot from Paul Heyman, in which he blasted TNN for not caring about ECW and threatened to sue. Ironically, ECW on TNN was at the time, the highest rated program on The Nashville Network (now Spike TV).

Many see this as the beginning of the end of the boom. By late 2000, ECW would be suffering from serious financial hardship while WCW had since entered a permanent decline.

By the fall of 1998, RAW had turned the tide into its favor, this time permanently. With the exception of one night that was pre-empted, RAW won in the ratings from November 2, 1998 until the final edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

The most pivotal event in this time frame took place on January 4, 1999. That night on Nitro, Eric Bischoff decided to revive a tactic he had used with considerable success earlier in the Monday Night Wars—revealing the results of taped RAW matches on the live Nitro. He directed Tony Schiavone to announce that Mick Foley, wrestling as Mankind, would defeat The Rock to win the WWF Championship. After making the announcement, Schiavone then sarcastically added that Foley's win would "put a lot of butts in the seats." Within minutes, Nielsen ratings data showed that over a half-million viewers switched from Nitro to RAW to see the title change. In the meantime, Nitro would feature an infamous "match" for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hulk Hogan, the challenger, poked champion Kevin Nash in the chest; Nash immediately fell on his back and allowed Hogan to pin him for the title. Immediately after this, the nWo was re-formed. The Hogan-Nash match, and the show as a whole, would enter wrestling lore as the Fingerpoke of Doom. From this point, Nitro would only reach a 5.0 rating twice.

When RAW received its highest rating ever on March 22, 1999 (with a 7.2 rating), it became clear that the WWF was riding high and not looking back. Throughout 1999, RAW hovered around the high 5.0 to 6.0 range, while WCW's ratings continued to slip downward until it was averaging in the low 3.0 range. WCW hoped to turn the tide once again by hiring away WWF head writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara in late 1999, however their style of booking didn't click with the Nitro audience and WCW sunk further down in the ratings while the WWF continued on an upward trend.

By 2000, Monday Nitro started regularly pulling in ratings in the 2.0 range, while occasionally pulling in a rating slightly above 3.0. After a year-high 3.5 rating on August 28 of that year, WCW stayed above the 3.0 mark for two more weeks (posting a 3.6 and 3.2 rating respectively), which while still losing to RAW in the ratings at least managed to cut into a portion of RAW's audience. The momentum, however, was short-lived. The September 18 edition of Nitro dropped back to a 2.75 rating, with the subsequent edition on September 25 posting a 2.9 rating. WCW would never again achieve a rating above 2.6 until roughly a year and a half later on March 26, 2001 - the final episode of Nitro.

TNN's decision to pull ECW programming off their schedules was the first of many signs that the company was going under. Despite constantly selling-out their arenas and being praised by fans and critics for original and innovative matches and angles, ECW entered a permanent decline. Most former ECW stars blame owner and promoter Paul Heyman, who refused to accept outside help. Heyman was also accused of spending what little money ECW had on potential TV networks whilst most wrestlers were left unpaid and only able to survive by wrestling for other promotions.

Despite these woes, ECW remained popular with the fans, unfortunately this couldn't save it from collapse. After spending the last three months of 2000 struggling to survive against insurmountable odds, ECW held its last show in January 2001. ECW's collapse left only the WWF and WCW to fight it out however by this time it was clear who was going to win.

High-paying contracts and expenditures over the years had resulted in WCW's parent company AOL Time Warner trimming down its budget, ultimately resulting in an outright sale. In March 2001, the WWF announced that it had purchased WCW from AOL Time Warner.

On March 26, 2001, Nitro went on the air for the last time and closed with a RAW/Nitro simulcast wherein Vince McMahon proclaimed victory in the ratings war. Shane McMahon then appeared at the site of Nitro and announced he had purchased WCW (in storyline), leading to the subsequent Invasion storyline.

This ultimately marked the end of the Boom. Even though it was now the only game in town, the WWF didn't even approach the numbers it was posting in 1999 and 2000. The "Invasion" storyline (which also re-introduced ECW with Stephanie McMahon as its owner to form "The Alliance" with WCW) wasn't booked terribly well, and suffered from the WWF not buying out the contracts of WCW stars - such as Ric Flair, Sting, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner - all of whom were the major stars of WCW during its dominance. They opted instead to include WWF stars such as Kurt Angle and Steve Austin as the head figures in The Alliance, and as a result the storyline fell flat with the audience and was dropped after the 2001 Survivor Series, with the WWF ultimately gaining the victory.

While WCW was the most obvious casualty of the end of the 1990s wrestling boom, the WWF suffered as well. Between the period after WrestleMania X-Seven and the start of the Invasion, WWF programming began to suffer in the ratings. RAW dropped from high 5.0 numbers to the mid 4.0s while SmackDown! fell even further with mid to low 3.0 numbers. After the Invasion, the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) changed its name to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) after losing a lawsuit filed by the World Wildlife Fund in a British court. Due to the failure of the Invasion storyline, which was supposed to culminate in the two primary shows (RAW and SmackDown!) being changed to two different promotions, WWE split into two different "brands," RAW and SmackDown!.

Although the excuse during the Invasion storyline was that the contracts of WCW's major stars were too expensive to buy out (due to the fact that the contracts were with parent company AOL Time Warner rather than WCW itself), after the Invasion storyline, WWE eventually brought back the pivotal players in WCW at one time or another. In February 2002, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hollywood Hulk Hogan were brought back as the nWo. The angle ended shortly after WrestleMania X8. Even more ironic is that one week after the nWo angle was officially scrapped, Eric Bischoff made his WWE debut as the on-air general manager of RAW. WWE also eventually brought in Scott Steiner and Goldberg as well. Unfortunately few ex-WCW stars have succeeded in WWE with only Rey Mysterio and Booker T making any impact. Fans and critics often blame WWE for been biased against ex-WCW and ECW stars and even argue that WWE is suffering from the same problems that cost WCW its popularity.

This period has also seen the departures of stars who fueled the 1990s boom. Steve Austin staged a number of walkouts from 2002 - 2003, whilst The Rock has since become a major Hollywood performer. One of the few people to have gained true stardom since the end of the boom was Brock Lesnar who was pivotal in helping WWE turn around its fortunes. Unfortunately, his reign as a top star was short and he opted to become a pro football player in 2004, which failed to get off the ground. He returned to wrestling briefly in 2005 (before opting to become a Mixed Martial Arts fighter) but is currently on bad terms with WWE.

Currently, WWE is the largest and most influential wrestling promotion in the world, and continues to turn a profit. It also enjoys high ratings on the USA Network, having returned to that network on October 3, 2005 with WWE Homecoming. However, there has been no indication that WWE and professional wrestling in general will enjoy another boom in the immediate future, and the more cynical fans and observers wonder if anything like it will ever happen again in North America. The majority believe that a 4th Golden Age of Wrestling is only possible if there is more than one promotion with sound financial backing and a TV outlet.

In October 2005, after WWE left for the USA Network, young rival promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was signed onto Spike TV, given the same Saturdays at 11PM timeslot that WWE Velocity had. Due to strong ratings from their flagship show, iMPACT!, their timeslot has been upgraded twice, once to Thursdays at 11PM, and then again, in November 2006, to a Thursdays at 9PM primetime slot, following the signing of renowned former WWF/E wrestler Kurt Angle in September of the same year. This makes iMPACT! the first primetime wrestling show on television that isn't a part of WWE programming since the end of Nitro in 2001. TNA is generally considered the closest competition to WWE and the second largest promotion in the United States.

After strong DVD sales and two successful reunion pay-per-views entitled ECW One Night Stand, the WWE revived ECW fulltime as it's third brand with a show airing Tuesday nights weekly on the Sci-Fi Channel with strong ratings. Despite the success of the revived ECW^{[citation needed]}, there has been heavy criticism from fans of the original promotion towards the brand due to what they feel is a product not true to the original's vision.

There is a strong belief that wrestling's shift towards the edgier angles and characters were brought about by a change in culture. The late 1990s were characterised by grittier themes, younger audiences largely wanted more vulgarity and violence along with anti-heroes. Movies such as The Matrix and The Blair Witch Project personified this period of darker, cult-like themes whilst once underground bands and performers like Limp Bizkit, Eminem, and styles like Nu Metal entered the mainstream.

The period was also marked by controversies such as the Monica Lewinsky scandal which some would say encouraged vulgarity and anti-authority. TV shows like MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch gained a huge following due in a large part to the show's attitude towards famous persons and the type of matches they were placed in.

• D-Generation X
• Monday Night Wars
• List of television ratings during the Monday Night Wars
• Montreal Screwjob
• Fingerpoke of Doom
• The Invasion (pro wrestling)
• World Championship Wrestling
• New World Order (professional wrestling)
• World Wrestling Entertainment

• The Death of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez
• The Monday Night War (DVD)