>>5816086Literal historical revisionism by WWE and Vince. Bret was the top guy of the New Gen era, and that's clear in everything from bookings to merch sales, and yes pop culture references too. Vince pushed Shawn (sometimes) as a bigger star, even to a nauseating degree in 96, but babyface Shawn with his childhood dream was just as forced on fans as Rocky Maivia or Roman Reigns. See: babyface Shawn getting booed out of the building against heel Psycho Sid at Survivor Series 96, even with Sid attacking Shawn's trainer, an old man. And remember that Shawn was mostly absent during the Attitude Era, given he was "retired" from wrestling in April 1998 and despite onscreen appearances, he didn't return as a wrestler until 2002.
After Bret left, and especially after Shawn "retired" in 1998, WWE built him up as a mega-star and pretended it was Shawn, and not Bret, that was the top star of the New Generation era, because Bret had been forced out of WWE in disgrace and went to the competition, WCW, while Shawn "bravely" sat at home collecting a paycheck while watching Nitro for a babe to marry. By the time Shawn returned fulltime after the Attitude Era was over, enough time had passed and now Shawn was legit over as a top babyface.
