Many people look back at the Attitude Era as the best time to be a fan of WWE. There are good reasons for that, even though many people see the era through rose-colored glasses.

The Attitude Era's high points came because WWE had multiple main event stars, from Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock to Degeneration X and The Undertaker. Never in the history of WWE was the roster so stacked. WWE also had storylines for everyone, even the mid-card talent, and no one was wasted.

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However, while everyone had a storyline, that did not mean that all gimmicks were created equally. Fans may remember most of the era fondly, but in retrospect, many of its gimmicks are better off being forgotten. Here is a look at five gimmicks from the Attitude Era that range from cringy at best to outright horrific at worst.

The Godfather

Easily, the most popular gimmick on this list was that of The Godfather. At his WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, Godfather mentioned that he loved this gimmick because it was the real him. Before this, he worked as a voodoo priest, an MMA fighter, and a nondescript member of the Nation of Domination. However, when WWE let him be him, he soared to new heights as The Godfather.

However, in the modern era of the #MeToo and #SpeakingOut movements, a professional wrestler whose gimmick was being a pimp who'd bring out his Ho Train and offer up the ladies' services to other wrestlers would never fly. It is almost hard to believe that it was so popular in the Attitude Era, but that was the era of bra and panty matches. At least this gimmick introduced the world to Victoria.

Val Venis

Not only did WWE have a pimp in the Attitude Era, but it also had a porn star. Val Venis would come out to the ring with his bath towel around his waist and then strip down to his wrestling tights for the ladies in the audience. It was like Ravishing Rick Rude, but without the kissing and with a lot more hip gyrating. Venis even had a finishing move inspired by his gimmick,  The Money Shot.

Venis underwent a lot of changes over his WWE career after the Attitude Era, but he never found as much success outside of his porn star gimmick. He was an authority figure and was part of the Right to Censor, turning his back on the sexualized gimmick of the Attitude Era to help Steven Richards -- and, ironically, The Goodfather -- try to censor all sexuality from WWE.

Kai En Tai

Not only did Val Venis have a cringeworthy gimmick as a porn star, but he was also involved in one of the worst angles in Monday Night Raw history. This came in 1998, when he was feuding with the stable Kai En Tai. In the angle, Venis slept with manager Yamaguchi-San's wife, Shian-Li Tsang. Venis battled various members of Kai En Tai, and much like in the present-day Rusev and Bobby Lashley storyline, the adulterer won the feud. However, before that ended, the stable abducted Venis, brought him backstage, stripped him down, and tried to "choppy-choppy his pee-pee."

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That is offensive enough -- and that was just one storyline. WWE treated Kai En Tai with practically every Asian stereotype in the book. They were over-the-top and forced to act like fools the entire time they were together. Even worse is the fact that this stable consisted of some of the best wrestlers from Japan at the time, including Taka Michinoku, Togo and Funaki, all being saddled with a terrible, racist gimmick. WWE would repeat a similarly embarrassing racist stereotype gimmick in the Ruthless Aggression era with a stable called the Mexicools.

PMS

It wasn't only the male superstars who looked to objectify other members of the roster during this period. There was also a stable that arrived in the Attitude Era called PMS. While the name has another meaning, this one stood for Pretty Mean Sisters and consisted of Terri Runnels, Jacqueline, and Ryan Shamrock. Only one of those women was a legitimate wrestler, and the others were just there to try to humiliate the men in WWE, all of whom almost universally exhibited sexist behavior towards the women on the roster.

These women also had a boy toy of their own: their love slave, Meat. For those who don't know, Meat was Shawn Stasiak. WWE didn't seem to care that Stasiak was the son of a former WWE World Champion. He was just there to be a sex slave to PMS and wrestle all his matches with a fake bulge in his trunks. Yes, it was that kind of rare angle that managed to be embarrassing for both genders involved.

Gangland Wars

There was one stable that was revolutionary in the Attitude Era, and it wasn't Degeneration X. That stable was the Nation of Domination. This group was — when taken seriously — a faction that actually talked about the discrimination and racism that exists in America, as portrayed by a group of strong Black men who refused to be held back by anyone. However, WWE saw this and decided they'd be perfect for a racist "gangland war" storyline.

WWE created two more gimmick stables and neither one held a candle to the Nation of Domination, either at the time or in the annals of history. These were the Disciples of Apocalypse and Los Boricuas. The DoA were a biker gang that came off almost like a white supremacist gang. The second were a group of Latino wrestlers whose only big name was Savio Vega. WWE took something great in the Nation and created something offensive and stereotypical in the end.

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