The Attitude Era is to many, the greatest era in professional wrestling. The Attitude Era is responsible for creating some of the biggest icons in this business and the roster was stacked with talent, perhaps too much talent. WWE had a surplus of stars during this time period which unfortunately caused more than a few of them to fall through the cracks. Not everyone can make it to the top unfortunately. Still, there are quite a few wrestlers who don’t get the recognition they deserve when it comes to their contributions to The Attitude Era. Here are 5 wrestlers from The Attitude Era that we think are underrated.
#5 – Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HruY6LAwCB8
When Test made his debut a lot of people were shocked. It’s not every day that a wrestler with his size and look is just placed into the WWE. Test made a huge impact right away as the muscle of The Corporation and he managed to hover around the main event scene for a while after his debut. Over the course of his career he won just about every title WWE had to offer at the time, with the exception of the World Championship and Light Heavyweight Championship.
He seems to get looked over quite a bit when people talk about The Attitude Era but Test was a reliable performer that could be placed anywhere on the card. His agility mixed with his big man style set him apart from many other stars on the roster and he was the perfect man to fill in the gap that was left by Kevin Nash when he left the company. Although he never reached the same heights, he still had a great run in WWE. May he rest in peace.
#4 – D’Lo Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOI2b6L2yzg
D’Lo Brown was always the background guy in the Nation of Domination. He often played second fiddle to The Rock and Farooq but once the group broke up and he got a run by himself, he started showing major potential. Who could forget D’Lo’s head bob during his entrance? His look and personality was just quirky enough to work and his promos seemed to get better every week. During his feud with Jeff Jarrett D’Lo started picking up some major momentum and fan support but he could never break out of the midcard.
The highlight of D’Lo’s career was when he held the Intercontinental Championship and European Championship simultaneously. After drifting through the tag team division for a few years, his career in WWE slowly fizzled out. Brown had the size of a heavyweight and an in ring style that saw him move like a cruiserweight. Brown consistently put on solid matches and given the right opportunities he probably could have done a lot more in the WWE.
#3 – Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock is a great example of how a MMA star can make a successful transition to professional wrestling. Ken’s in ring style is exactly how you would imagine a MMA fighter would look if he used wrestling moves. He managed to find himself in several high profile feuds with the likes of The Rock, Mankind, The Undertaker and more. He’s a former Intercontinental Champion, Tag Team Champion and King of the Ring winner.
Ken never won the big one in WWE but it wasn’t hard to picture Ken Shamrock as WWE Champion. He could have easily fit into the main event picture at any given time as he was a believable threat to anyone’s championship reign. Shamrock suffered quite a few injuries during his time as a wrestler which caused him to quietly walk away. Still, his run during The Attitude Era is the perfect blueprint on how to book a MMA star as a professional wrestler.
#2 – Val Venis
Many people assumed that Val Venis would be a WWE World Champion someday and it’s not hard to see why. Venis had a great look, a great in ring style and he made what could have been a disaster of a gimmick work perfectly. Val was always hovering right around the main event scene as he found himself in feuds with Steve Austin, Mankind, The Rock and others. Much like everyone else on this list though, he could never break through the glass ceiling for some reason.
Val would go through a character transformation as he joined Right To Censor until he eventually got injured. He made his return at the 2002 Royal Rumble but never really seemed to get his momentum back as the times were starting to change once again. He then drifted around the midcard until 2009 when he was eventually released.
Val Venis and his gimmick were a pretty integral part of The Attitude Era and the show wouldn’t have been the same without him. Val Venis could wrestle well, was a great talker and had the look of a champion. He may not have had the same success as the faces of The Attitude Era but he still made a pretty big impact.
#1 – Billy Gunn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Ls7p22jpI
If there’s one man who probably should have won a WWE World Championship during The Attitude Era, it’s Billy Gunn. If you wanted to build a superstar from the ground up, using Billy Gunn as a blueprint would be a great place to start. Billy had the size and the ability to become a big player in the WWE but the timing just never seemed to be right.
Billy had a very successful run as a member of D-Generation X and one half of the New Age Outlaws. When he went out on his own it seemed as though he was on the path to main event success. He became King of the Ring in 1999 which then led to a high profile feud with The Rock at SummerSlam. It seemed like Billy Gunn’s time had finally come due to the fact that he was feuding with The Rock, but his momentum quickly fizzled out and he ended up reforming the New Age Outlaws shortly after that.
In the years that followed Billy would drift in between the tag team division and singles competition. His gimmick would change several times as WWE put a lot of effort into trying to find a gimmick that would stick. He was never able to win the big one but as you will see in the video above which features Billy in a WWE Championship match against Triple H, he could certainly hang with the best of the best.
