>>16529725I think a case can be made that ECW was strong influence, but I don't think it was the singular reason as most people weren't watching ECW. But WCW and WWF certainly both borrowed from things ECW was doing.
I think the bigger reason was that all the kids who grew up watching Hulk Hogan were in their late teens. Hogan's gimmick had grown stale by that point but a lot of us loved that guy back in the day. When he turned heel, it was a big deal and he became a draw again. Throw in the whole NWO era and pro-wrestling embraced the edginess that the rest of the '90s encapsulated. People who were childhood fans started watching again.
Before the NWO, pro-wrestling was kids stuff. WWF was stuck in the old mindset but started to evolve to outdo WCW. That gave us the Attitude Era, which, once WCW started to burn out its limited storyline, was arguably even better.
It was a combination of factors along with the times.
