The word “Attitude” that defined WWE’s most successful creative period was not part of any grand plan. Former WWE creative director David Sahadi said on Busted Open Radio that he simply decided to put the word at the bottom of a promotional spot, and it snowballed from there into the branding for an entire era.
The spot in question featured WWE wrestlers presenting themselves as legitimate athletes. Sahadi, who came from an NBC Sports background, wanted to counter the perception that wrestlers were not real athletes. The package featured Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and others listing their athletic credentials and injuries before Austin looked directly into the camera and delivered the closing line.
“The first spot I did was the one that says, ‘I know what you’re thinking. I’m not really an athlete. I’m just a wrestler. Well, I played in two Super Bowls. I was the first UFC Ultimate Champion,'” Sahadi said, recounting the various athletes featured. “Undertaker says how he played center at the University of Tennessee. Then they talk about the injuries. And it ends with, ‘This isn’t real. This is easy. Try lacing my…’ Stone Cold looks in the camera.”
Sahadi said he placed the word “Attitude” at the bottom of the spot on his own initiative. “That’s the first time it was used. I just decided to put that word there, and that ignited the whole Attitude Era,” he said.
The first WWF Attitude Era commercial included Bret Hart. pic.twitter.com/2QmFAPCO70
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) March 6, 2026
Sahadi emphasized that there was no master plan behind the Attitude Era. “It just happened,” he said.
He said the shift toward edgier content was a collective response to WCW’s dominance in the Monday Night Wars. “We were that close to being out of business, like a month and a half from being out of business. Eric Bischoff was kicking our ass so much, and we decided to change everything,” Sahadi said. “That ‘Attitude’ at the bottom of that spot got everybody doing something more pushy, more edgy. Creative writing edgier. Production cutting edgier packages.”
Sahadi credited both McMahon and Bischoff for shaping his creative approach during that period. “Vince is teaching me about emotion, and Eric is teaching me about doing stuff outside the box and storytelling,” he said. “You combine those three things together, the chaos that you don’t expect, the emotion, and storytelling, you have a home run. So I got that from both sides, both the man I was working for and the man I was working against.”
Sahadi worked for WWE for nine years during the Attitude Era as the creative director of on-air promotion. He produced every cold open for every pay-per-view during that period, including WrestleMania, as well as the Brock Lesnar commercial campaigns and Super Bowl spots. His new book, Backstage Pass: Tales from Beyond the Squared Circle, is available now on Amazon.
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