A major ally of The Rock, a UFC star, Butterbean, and a 22-time champion – 12 WWE Attitude Era stars you definitely forgot about
The Attitude Era is remembered by a generation of wrestling fans as the most thrilling period in professional wrestling history.
With its mix of athleticism, raw characters and close-to-the-knuckle storylines, the period spanning the end of the 1990s to just past the millennium kept fans on the edge of their seats.
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Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock arguably emerged as the two biggest names from that time, both stars moving up from the mid-card scene and their own feud over the Intercontinental title to even bigger and better things.
Triple H also moved into his own as a star in the Attitude Era while legend The Undertaker continued to dominate, the likes of Chris Jericho also moving over from WCW to make WWE debuts.
But for every household name who shone in the Attitude Era, there’s arguably one that toiled and entertained during the same period who is less remembered. How many can you remember, though?
marvelbet369.com outlines 12 such names to jog your memory of the lesser known grapplers of some of WWE's hottest years.
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Grandmaster Sexay
One half of the wildly popular Too Cool tag team, Brian 'Grandmaster Sexay' Christopher was best known in WWE for his run alongside partner Scotty 2 Hotty.
The pair, later joined by Rikishi, enjoyed many a tag triumph, while Sexay enjoyed some brief in WWE's short-lived Light Heavyweight Division.
Christopher, the son of WWE legend Jerry 'The King' Lawler wrestled across multiple spells for the company as well as in TNA and the independents, but sadly died aged just 46 in 2018. He took his own life having been arrested for driving under the influence.
Al Snow
Veteran Snow was a veteran of the Attitude Era, re-signing for WWE having previously wrestled there as Leif Cassidy earlier in the decade.
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He stayed for ten years and was perhaps best known for his stint in the Hardcore division, holding that championship on six occasions in addition to enjoying runs with the European and tag team gold.
Snow continued to wrestle for TNA after his WWE exit before becoming heavily involved with Ohio Valley Wrestling.
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The Brooklyn Brawler
A true villain of the WWE wrestling scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s, The Brooklyn Brawler remained a familiar face during the Attitude Era having given Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson his first match in the company.
In 1997 arguably his biggest outing came at a WWE live event in New York City when he challenged for the WWE Championship in a losing effort to Shawn Michaels.
The Brawler spent the rest of the Attitude Era being beaten up by Stone Cold Steve Austin who became a regular tormentor, and featured in the WrestleMania 18 Gimmick Battle Royal. He left WWE in 2016 after more than 30 years with the company.
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Gillberg
Gillberg was the character portrayed by veteran Duane Gill, who'd wrestled under other guises in WWE during the 1990s before, in 1998, being assigned the character he's arguably most remembered for, a parody of unstoppable WCW legend Goldberg.
Existing only to mock Goldberg and the rest of WWE's competition, the hapless performer lost all but one of his matches, the opposite to Goldberg's menacing undefeated streak in Atlanta.
Gillberg once wrestled Triple H for the WWE title in 1999 but gradually faded from screens, save for the occasional return skit, the most recent being on Raw in 2021.
D-Lo Brown
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D-Lo Brown was initially part of the Nation of Domination faction in the mid-to-late 1990s, the group evolving with him in it to the point where The Rock became its leader.
Rock and D-Lo were regular allies, the latter even winning the European thanks to the former's assistance, his run with that title proving to be hugely entertaining in 1998 when The Nation battled against D-Generation X.
D-Lo later worked alongside and against Mark Henry in WWE before numerous stints on the independents and with TNA Wrestling.
Jaqueline
Though often in the shadow of her most famous rival in WWE, Sable, Jaqueline was a veteran performer who was a mainstay of the women's roster during the Attitude Era and a performer arguably before her time in the company.
She battled Sable having debuted as the on-screen girlfriend of Sable's ex Marc Mero, famously performing against he rival at SummerSlam and Survivor Series in 1998, winning the Women's Championship in between.
Throwback to when Butterbean was incredibly dropped by first punch of fight in just ten seconds but managed to earn controversial draw
In the Autumn of that year Jacqueline was part of what would now be considered a viral moment after her she was left half naked in a match in London when Sable pulled off her top during a pay per view event.
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The Headbangers
Mosh and Thrasher, were The Headbangers, the wild and rowdy tag team who debuted in WWE in 1996 quickly achieving tag team success and winning the company's tag titles at Ground Zero the following year, though their run with the gold lasted just a month.
Performing under a fairly broad metalhead gimmick, they wrestled with shaved heads and kilts, proving popular with fans before disappearing in early 1999 after a serious injury to Thrasher.
After six years together, they split and wrestled sparsely as singles wrestlers before departing WWE in 2001, returning for a brief cameo in 2016.
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Crash Holly
As the name might suggest, Crash Holly was one of the most durable performers of the Attitude Era and was a regular in the period's Hardcore title scene, farcically holding the Hardcore title on 22 occasions.
He first appeared on screens in 1999 as the on-screen nephew of established and similarly hard-hitting wrestler Bob Holly, and achieved his most notable - and serious - win by downing Brit William Regal for the European title in 2000 before losing it two days later.
He died in 2003 at the age of just 32, ending his own life.
Dan Severn
Legitimate fighter Severn performed in WWE in the midst of the doomed Brawl for All series that saw wrestlers compete in legitimate boxing-style matches.
A UFC star in the company's formative years, Severn transitioned in to and out of professional wrestling either side of a 127-fight MMA career, battling in the NWA before his WWE debut in 1998.
His rivalries included fellow MMA veteran Ken Shamrock, Owen Hart, and Steve Blackman, and he lost to The Rock in the final's of the '98 King of the Ring tournament.
Butterbean
Hard-hitting boxer, kickboxer, MMA star is one of the most renowned stars of his generation, and was another crossover star of sorts for WWE during the Attitude Era.
Boasting 65 knockouts from almost 100 combined fight wins during his career, the now 58-year-old featured for WWE in 1997 and 1999 in pay-per-view bouts, defeating Marc Mero in a storyline match before legitimately knocking out Bart Gunn in a WrestleMania outing in barely 30 seconds.
The former IBA World Super Heavyweight Champion, real name Eric Esch, has remained active and earlier this year declared his readiness to battle the winner of the impending Jake Paul v Mike Tyson fight.
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Droz
Once a football star in the US, including a spell in the NFL, Darren 'Droz' Drozdov transitioned into wrestling, joining WWE not least because of an uncanny ability to vomit on cue, something which was said to wildly entertain former chief Vince McMahon.
He battled both alongside and against iconic tag team the Legion of Doom soon after his debut before breaking out as a solo star, his career dramatically halted and ended by a tragic accident in 1999 that saw him paralysed during a match recorded for television.
Landing incorrectly when taking a running powerbomb, the star was initially left a quadriplegic with no feeling below the neck. He continued to work for WWE in a broadcast role for a short time, and died in 2023 at the age of 54.
Gangrel
Gangrel was the de facto leader of The Brood, the faction featuring Adam 'Edge' Copeland and Christian who featured extensively across WWE in 1998 and 1999.
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Rising from the ramp on episodes of Raw, would-be vampire character Gangrel's trademark entrance saw him shrouded in red lighting and unmistakable theme music, before sipping from a cup hinted at as containing blood before spitting it in the air.
The Brood soon split, and the writing was soon on the wall for the striking superstar who was barely used as a singles star before leaving WWE.
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