The changes to WWE throughout the Ruthless Aggression Era made it the most transitionary of every WWE era. Vince McMahon came up with that term due to the ruthless aggression he wanted to see of the new talents joining the roster. Drastic changes came at various points like the brand split starting or the PG rating ushering in a new guideline for WWE.
Some expected successes like Brock Lesnar debuting as an instant star or Evolution getting two new stars over were things an educated fan could have forecasted. However, the unpredictable side of wrestling showed the opposite scenarios unfolding as well. Each of the following success stories were the most shocking of the Ruthless Aggression Era.
10 JBL Becoming Top Heel
WWE had JBL on their roster for almost a decade without ever reaching any success outside of the tag team division. Every Bradshaw singles push of a gimmick change failed ahead of Vince McMahon making a bold move to not only push him as JBL but to place him in the main event picture.
JBL won the WWE Championship less than two months into his gimmick change and held the title for almost a full year. The career of JBL is remembered completely differently than it would have been otherwise without this shocking success story.
9 Stephanie McMahon As Babyface General Manager
The early days of the brand split featured Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon named as the respective General Managers. Bischoff made sense as a great heel character to run Raw, but WWE shocked everyone by making Stephanie a face on the Smackdown side.
Stephanie was a hated heel for years and excelled in that role. The short face run in 1999 was the only time she felt like a weak character. However, Stephanie proved everyone wrong by becoming one of the better face authority figures and a great General Manager character.
