Royce Keys: WWE not trying to recreate the Attitude Era amid The 946-Bloodline storyline
Rising WWE star Royce Keys told Bleacher Report the company isn't aiming to replicate the Attitude Era, responding to comparisons after The 946's recent violent angles in their feud with The Bloodline.
Royce Keys has pushed back on comparisons between WWE's current storytelling and the Attitude Era, telling Bleacher Report that the company isn’t attempting to recreate that specific period. Keys made the remarks while addressing reactions to recent actions by his faction, The 946, during their ongoing feud with The Bloodline.
The 946’s recent storyline beat has included elements described in coverage as attempted vehicular homicide, kidnapping and arson — incidents that some fans have noted would have fitted the edgier tone of WWE’s Attitude Era. Keys said those comparisons miss the point, arguing the industry and its audience have moved on and that trying to simply repeat that era wouldn’t make sense.
The Attitude Era ran from November 1997 to May 2002 and is commonly remembered for its more adult-oriented, extreme storytelling as WWE shifted away from earlier, more cartoonish presentations. The period produced landmark moments and polarizing content alike and is often cited by older fans as formative for their interest in wrestling.
WrestleTalk’s report on Keys’ comments notes WWE now programmes Raw, SmackDown and NXT to a TV-PG standard, and that creative teams frequently test boundaries within those constraints. The piece also cites commentary from Will Ospreay, who told Shortlist that modern wrestling has evolved beyond the Attitude Era in terms of athleticism and in-ring storytelling — a point that underscores why some performers and creatives favour new approaches over direct replication.
In short, Keys framed recent heat-generating angles as contemporary storytelling rather than an attempt to revive a past era, pointing to a different audience and different expectations as reasons to move forward rather than rewind.
