A large percentage of today’s wrestling fan base grew up on the Ruthless Aggression to make that the most important WWE chapter to them. Even fans watching WWE longer will reveal its impact being more important than previous eras due to the drastic changes. Various concept changes and general growth set up the presence WWE reached today as a global brand.

RELATED: 10 WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Wrestlers Who Changed Their Look Completely From Their Debut

WWE depended on names like John Cena, Triple H, The Undertaker and Randy Orton to lead the way. However, fans passing along hot takes or remembering things wrong has led to some inaccuracies throughout the years. Each of the following things about the Ruthless Aggression Era are generally wrong despite being believed by many people.

10 John Cena Was A Star After Big Debut Vs Kurt Angle

John Cena Debut

The first moment of the Ruthless Aggression Era that many fans viewed as the start was John Cena answering an open challenge of Kurt Angle in his SmackDown debut. Cena used the phrase “ruthless aggression” to describe what he brings to the table and had a great outing.

RELATED: John Cena's Debut & 9 Other Huge WWE Moments That Were Decided At The Last Minute

However, a belief that Cena got over due to that segment and became an instant star is wrong. Cena struggled immensely with the generic babyface act and even felt his job was in the air. The gimmick change to the heel rapper got Cena over to pick up his trajectory towards a top spot.

9 Eddie Guerrero Had A Great WWE Championship Reign

Eddie Guerrero as WWE Champion

Many fans name Eddie Guerrero winning the WWE Championship as their favorite moment of the Ruthless Aggression Era. Unfortunately, the win was more of a historically successful moment than the title reign that followed.

Guerrero did have a great title defense over Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20, but he lost the title in his next feud. There was severe disappointment by many fans when JBL won the title from Eddie seemingly out of nowhere after years of mid-card work before the instant main event push.

8 Christian Wasn't Main Event Caliber

Christian on the Highlight Reel with John Cena

Some great WWE wrestlers just couldn’t get over the hump moving from the mid-card scene to the main event picture. Christian was often named on that list since he was among the greatest mid-carders of the Ruthless Aggression Era to never move into the main event scene.

There was one huge run that Christian had calling out the main eventers before the 2005 draft that created momentum.

WWE had Christian lose one match to John Cena in a triple threat and moved him back to the mid-card. Christian felt wronged enough to make the move to TNA since he felt he deserved a chance in a bigger role.

7 D-Generation X Reunion Story Started At WrestleMania 22

DX Reunion

WWE reuniting D-Generation X in 2006 was among the most memorable storylines of the Ruthless Aggression Era. Many fans name WrestleMania 22 as the night WWE started the storyline, but it was merely a tease to test the waters.

Shawn Michaels and Triple H both did crotch chops in their respective matches. Triple H remained a heel for another month to continue his feud with Cena. The DX angle started shortly afterward with Triple H being hesitant to do Vince McMahon’s bidding against Michaels.

6 Tough Enough Was A Failed Project

Triple H Tough Enough

The MTV reality series Tough Enough was WWE’s biggest project outside their live weekly shows. MTV gave them a valuable prime time spot for the first-ever wrestling reality show of untrained talents trying to learn the ropes and win a contract.

Tough Enough was often called a failure for not creating many stars, especially from the winners. However, MTV loved the show due to successful ratings the first few seasons. Maven even received strong crowd reaction to prove the first season held relevance. Future seasons saw the show falling apart and losing MTV’s confidence.

5 There Was No Interest In Hulk Hogan Vs Roddy Piper Feud

Mr America Vs Roddy Piper

WWE played a risky move by going back to the Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper feud almost two decades after it peaked. The storyline failed badly to see WWE mocked for putting the older legends in a program together, but that isn’t the full context.

RELATED: 9 WWE Gimmicks From The Ruthless Aggression Era That Made No Sense

There was a huge pop at WrestleMania 19 for Piper making a shocking return to attack Hogan. WWE hired Piper to feud for with Hogan for that reason, but they ruined it themselves. Hogan becoming Mr. America and other names like Sean O’Haire, Rikishi and Zach Gowen getting involved ended any reason for fans to care.

4 Eric Bischoff Vs Stephanie McMahon Started Brand Split

Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon

WWE did a great job making the brand split rivalry feel important when Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon had a feud trying to one up each other as General Managers. However, fans often forget that they weren’t part of the original draft.

Ric Flair and Vince McMahon being co-owners led to the brand split creating separate rosters. WWE realized Flair wasn’t working as an authority figure and bailed on that after a few months. Stephanie and Bischoff being added made the brand rivalry feel important for the first time, but they didn’t start it.

3 Shelton Benjamin Flopped As Intercontinental Champion

Shelton Benjamin Intercontinental Champion Cropped

The top prospects from developmental almost all panned out for WWE during the Ruthless Aggression Era. John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar all lived up to the hype and then some. Shelton Benjamin was considered part of that short list of great young talents.

WWE showed that when ending Shelton’s tag team run with Charlie Haas before it even peaked to give him a singles push. Many fans view Benjamin’s push as a flop since he never moved into the main event scene. Shelton was still a great success story as arguably the best Intercontinental Champion of that time and a huge fixture in the Money in the Bank ladder match taking off.

2 Triple H Never Put People Over

Triple-H-World-Championship

One of the most controversial topics of the Ruthless Aggression Era was the reign of terror by Triple H. Names like Rob Van Dam, Booker T and Scott Steiner are argued as being buried by Triple H to harm their respective WWE careers.

However, Triple H did put over a few stars in huge moments. Batista, John Cena and Randy Orton all scored important wins at various points thanks to Triple H putting them over. WWE was selective about the names to defeat Triple H, like they do with anyone they view as the top star.

1 Vince McMahon Wanted To Hurt ECW's Legacy Like He Did With WCW

December To Dismember Elimination Chamber 2006 Cropped

WWE bringing back the ECW brand and destroying what fans loved about it may be considered the worst overall mistake of the Ruthless Aggression Era. There was even a belief that Vince McMahon wanted to make ECW look bad in the way he did with WCW’s legacy for years.

Fans should absolutely criticize Vince for how ECW failed, but it started with honest intentions. The One Night Stand 2005 reunion show drew enough money to bring ECW back. However, McMahon using the same style he did for Raw and SmackDown ultimately failed the concept.