For many fans, the Attitude Era was arguably the peak era of World Wrestling Entertainment, a four-year span where its pivot to edgy, in-your-face content resulted in the company emerging from a slump into loads of money and popularity. And WWE is totally aware of it, regularly milking nostalgia by having the stars of that period not only show up on TV, but actually perform in the ring.
As the years have gone by, many of the top stars of the era have since retired, including Triple H and The Undertaker. But there are still many that continue to wrestle today, some of whom may have been forgotten by the average fan. Let’s take a look at 10 of those.
10 TAKA Michinoku
A high-flyer from Japan’s Michinoku Pro Wrestling, TAKA Michinoku came to WWE as part of the company’s new light heavyweight division, but soon became a foreign heel. Fans that remember his WWE run likely remember Michinoku as a comedy jobber alongside tag team partner Funaki, but even they might not be aware that he’s still competing. On top of having his own promotion in Just Tap Out, TAKA Michinoku continues to perform in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as part of the heel faction Suzuki-gun.
9 Salvatore Sincere
One of WWE’s more bizarre yet low-effort gimmicks of the 1990s, Salvatore Sincere was a New Yorker who claimed to be sincere but was not sincere at all. After debuting in 1996 and having a brief rivalry with The Rock, Sincere got into a feud with Marc Mero, who labeled poor Salvatore a jobber and revealed his real name to the fans: Tom Brandi. The rebranding didn’t result in much success, however, as Brandi continued to be a jobber and left WWE in 1998. He continues to wrestle on the American independent scene to this day, sometimes as Salvatore Sincere and other times as The Patriot, despite never portraying that character in WWE.
8 Essa Rios
Over the course of his four-year run with WWE, Essa Rios has worked under a number of names, including Papi Chulo and Mr. Aguila. As Rios, however, he was affiliated with a new-to-WWE Lita and enjoyed a month-long run as Light Heavyweight Champion after beating Gillberg.
Since leaving WWE, Essa Rios — usually under his Mr. Aguila name — has wrestled on the Mexican indies. However, he did have a big-time match for AAA in 2022, teaming with X-Fly against Ricky Marvin and legit lucha libre legend Blue Demon Jr.
7 Dan Severn
Before the abortive WCW/ECW Alliance storyline, WWE had a couple previous invasion angles, including with the National Wrestling Alliance. Part of that group was Dan Severn, former MMA fighter and two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion with a 1,479-day reign to his name, who notably took part in the Brawl 4 All tournament only to drop out of the first round. He still wrestles, too, having made some memorable appearances in Game Changer Wrestling, taking on opponents like Chris Dickinson, Frank Mir, and Matt Riddle.
6 Hakushi
One of the more underrated performers of the New Generation Era, Japanese wrestler Hakushi had his entire body painted with kanji and put on some really great matches with Bret Hart and 1-2-3 Kid during his 1994-1996 run with WWE. After leaving, Hakushi — better known as Jinsei Shinzaki — enjoyed stints in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling before settling down in his pre-WWE promotion of Michinoku Pro, which he co-owns and where he continues to wrestle today. He doesn’t just stay in Michinoku, however, having made occasional appearances for Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, and even the US’s GCW.
5 The Headbangers
Perhaps only the most ‘90s kids of all remember The Headbangers, the intense heavy metal guys who dressed like grunge guys, and briefly held the WWE and NWA Tag Team Titles during their 1996-2000 stint in WWE. They stopped wrestling together after leaving the company, but reunited in 2011, taking their act to the indie scene save for a brief return to WWE in 2016. They’ve also been successful as a team on the indies, having held a couple of tag titles in New York and Florida.
4 El Hijo Del Santo
The original El Santo is a massive cultural icon in Mexico, El Hijo Del Santo succeeded his father admirably, proving to be a popular wrestler in his own right, with some fans considering him a superior in-ring performer. Fans outside of Mexico likely have no idea that he ever wrestled for WWE, but he actually competed on the company’s Spanish-language, lucha libre focused show Super Astros in the late 1990s.
El Hijo Del Santo debuted in 1982 and is pushing 60, but is still wrestling. He made AAA and CMLL his home in the past, but in recent years the younger Santo works freelance, wrestling for indie shows and one-off appearances for name promotions like The Crash.
3 Mr. Hughes
In the 1990s, Curtis Hughes — or Mr. Hughes — had a couple of WWE runs, having notably stolen The Undertaker’s magic urn in 1993, worked as Triple H’s enforcer pre-Chyna in 1997, and then as Chris Jericho’s bodyguard in 1999. In the years since he’s taught at a wrestling school in Atlanta, having trained indie standout AR Fox and WWE’s Apollo Crews but he also wrestles on the indies. One of his most recent matches, in April 2022, had him teaming with Lance Archer against The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express.
2 Negro Casas
Debuting in 1979, Negro Casas has spent most of his career in CMLL, where he wrestled some amazing matches against the aforementioned El Hijo Del Santo and developed a reputation as an incredible performer with an amazing longevity comparable to a Ric Flair. Like El Hijo Del Santo, Negro Casas also wrestled for WWE’s Spanish show Super Astros, having matches with Funaki, Dick Togo, Essa Rios, and more, often in tag bouts with El Hijo Del Santo. He continues to wrestle for CMLL on a frequent basis, and can be seen competing in tag matches.
1 Shane Douglas
Wrestling fans know Shane Douglas best for his association with ECW, where he gained notoriety as the man who rejected the NWA and announced Eastern Championship Wrestling’s reinvention into Extreme Championship Wrestling. Given that, it’s easy to forget that he had one WWE run, much less two, with an early 1990s jobber run followed by a mid-1990s run as the evil college dean known as Dean Douglas. Since the closure of ECW in 2001, Douglas has been a frequent presence on the indies, sharing the ring with many of his Extreme contemporaries, including Tommy Dreamer and 2 Cold Scorpio.