JBL believes WWE’s Attitude Era may never have happened if Scott Hall and Kevin Nash hadn’t left the company for WCW in 1996.
During an episode of the Something to Wrestle podcast, John Layfield was asked how different professional wrestling would have been had Hall and Nash remained with WWE rather than making the jump to WCW.
In JBL’s view, the consequences would have been enormous. “It’d have been terrible. I think terrible because you would not have had the Attitude Era. I don’t see any way you’d have had it.
You’d have had Rocky Maivia come along. He’d been Rocky Maivia. I don’t know if he’d ever been The Rock. You’d have had Stone Cold come along, but he wouldn’t have been Stone Cold. Well, Stone Cold Steve was already there. He’d have been The Ringmaster. You wouldn’t have had that there. There’s no way. I mean, that was created. Scott and Kevin created all of this.
Now, with kudos to Eric Bischoff for bringing them in [to WCW] and helping with it, but those three created this. If Scott and Kevin don’t jump, Bischoff has nothing to create with.
And that’s what changed everything. I mean, we had all these guys. Hunter [Triple H] was an aristocrat. Steve was The Ringmaster. DX was a Rockabilly and a road agent. Kane was a dentist. I mean, we had all these guys, but in horrible characters.
You had Scott and Kevin, and they’re Razor and Diesel, whatever that is. So, I don’t think you’d have had any of this. I don’t think it ever had the meeting where Vince says, ‘I don’t know what to do,’ and Chris Chambers draws on a napkin the scratch logo that they would use.
And you start seeing the Attitude Era come around. But it all started with Scott and Kevin. Without Scott and Kevin jumping, I don’t know what we’d have had, but we wouldn’t have had the Attitude Era.”
Hall and Nash left WWE in 1996 and subsequently appeared in WCW, where they joined Hulk Hogan to form the New World Order. The angle became one of the defining storylines of the Monday Night War and helped WCW establish a lengthy ratings advantage over WWE.
JBL believes the increased competition ultimately forced WWE to evolve creatively, paving the way for characters such as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock to become defining stars of the Attitude Era.
While Eric Bischoff played a pivotal role in bringing Hall and Nash to WCW and developing the storyline around their arrival, JBL considers their decision to leave WWE the catalyst that changed the trajectory of both companies — and professional wrestling as a whole.
