[MUSIC]
In the late 90s, after decades of appealing to a younger
demographic, WWE decided to pivot to an edgier product.
>> Attitude Era was Wild West, and you could just do anything you wanted.
[MUSIC]
>> The Attitude Era also introduced new match concepts, such as the merciless and
awe-inspiring Hell in a Cell.
>> It is a perverse, diabolical structure.
>> [NOISE] >> And increased physical competition,
with tables, ladders and chairs.
>> That must be a 20 foot ladder.
[MUSIC]
Then fall a table.
My god, and through the 20 foot ladder.
[MUSIC]
>> [NOISE] >> Jeez!
>> A cannonball!
>> That hurt. >> You have essentially
two choices at that point.
You can either decide to push the envelope even further, and
try to see what you can get away with without being yanked off the air.
Or you can stop and say we need to reinvent ourselves, and
what's the next thing?
>> In need of a fresh start in June of 2002,
now five years removed from the birth of Attitude,
Vince McMahon addressed the WWE roster and laid down a challenge.
[MUSIC]
>> I took on WCW, and it took me a while, but I kicked their asses and
bought the company because of ruthless aggression.
Which one of you has that quality?
Who has enough ruthless aggression?
[MUSIC]
>> With this new motivation,
several recently acquired superstars began to step up.
As well as some newly introduced on air characters,
who were used as a vehicle to revolutionize the landscape of WWE.
>> Anybody that's involved in innovation,
and entertainment in particular, you have to rally your team.
Whether it's talent or the people that support that talent.
To refocus, reenergize, and
think of new ways to tell your stories, or to present your product.
[MUSIC]
>> What's fascinating to me is, to this day, I still have people
reaching out to me regularly thanking me for inventing Raw Roulette.
[MUSIC]
>> Raw Roulette was awesome.
Bring in Eric, the former antagonist of WWE at WCW,
open up the door to do things where he wasn't a typical heel.
>> Welcome to very special edition of Eric Bischoff's Monday Night Raw.
>> And Eric being able to introduce some of these wilder concepts, if you will.
That's exactly what Eric did in WCW to get noticed, well,
let's take that same attitude.
Let's take that same innovation and apply it here.
>> Boy, more spinning, uh-oh.
>> Remember, they're blindfolded, they can't see.
>> There he is behind you.
There he is, there he is.
Wait, Triple H is talking smack to people who ain't even there.
>> If there were a match, it would be outrageous and entertaining,
seeing William Regal and Goldust dressed up as showgirls.
Which Regal nailed, by the way, coming down the aisle.
>> God, no! >> Probably my favorite thing that I've
ever done.
And people always look at me sideways when I say this.
But because of the amount of comedy that I studied as much as I did wrestling,
I got to pull it off a lot in that one segment.
>> Is that blush on his face or is he just embarrassed?
>> The unpredictability of Raw Roulette created more than comedy,
at times it elevated the card.
>> It was an opportunity to have, essentially,
a pay per view on Raw is what it was.
>> So tonight you two are gonna put your tag team titles on the line.
Unless you spin the wheel and
see what kind of a match you're gonna end up in.
[MUSIC]
>> My God.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> The very first Tables, Ladders and
Chairs match in the history of Raw.
>> As a kid watching Raw, something like the roulette wheel is really exciting.
And they paid off in so many good ways.
There was a random,
incredible TLC match on Raw because of the Raw Roulette wheel at one point.
>> Been a Terminator.
>> [INAUDIBLE] Through the table.
>> I just wanted to be able to express some more creativity and
attempt to do something different.
It was just awesome.
[SOUND] >> He's done it, he's done it, my God,
he's done it.
>> My hat is off to all seven men.
>> After its initial success, Raw Roulette continued to serve as a vehicle for
new concepts in the years that followed.
With the wheel even once landing on a match, the very first of its kind.
I know I've set up a match tonight for you against Victoria,
but to keep in the spirit of Raw Roulette, [SOUND] can you imagine that?
>> [NOISE] >> A steel cage match.
>> Stopped on cage match.
I mean, it was like, what a great opportunity.
Go have a cage match, all right.
[SOUND] >> Look out, hey!
[MUSIC]
>> The cage is taking its toll.
>> To be able to have an opportunity to be creative with a variable that had never
been used before.
That aspect of it really means a lot to me.
>> Ladies, I just love my work.
[LAUGH] >> Just one month after the debut of
Raw Roulette, Eric Bischoff presented a much bigger innovation.
[MUSIC]
>> At Survivor Series, you will bear
witness to the Elimination Chamber.
>> I think it was a matter of us overdoing Hell in a Cell a little too much.
So I think we were just looking for something that had the visual
impressiveness of Hell in a Cell, but was brand new and different.
>> An ingenious creation.
>> Elimination.
>> From the mind of Eric Bischoff.
>> The whole thing's made out of [INAUDIBLE]
>> We put together these packages, right,
describing it.
I always found those amusing, there was just some guy, he's not identified.
We had no idea who it was, and he was just like, 14 tons of steel.
>> 36 foot diameter, exactly 2 miles of chain,
it's 16 feet the roof to the floor, total weight 10 tons.
>> The steel hell.
>> Who is this person?
I don't know, but he seems credible, I guess.
>> Six Raw Superstars, the Elimation chamber, for the World Heavyweight Title.
>> At Survivor Series.
>> The Elimination Chamber.
>> These men may never be the same.
[MUSIC]
>> With construction complete,
there was no better place to debut the chamber than the unofficial home of WWE.
>> Yeah, well, it's always great to debut something at Madison Square Garden.
>> New Yorkers, the garden, they call out BS when they see it.
>> As the chamber was set up in the world's most famous arena, the six
superstars who later would be locked within its confines made their way inside.
Eager to catch their first glimpse of the menacing structure.
[MUSIC]
>> You'd hear, no, we're building it, the whole thing.
And the next time I saw it was Madison Square Garden
where I walked out and was like, holy [BLEEP].
>> Any thoughts come to mind?
>> For this, yeah, we're all [BLEEP].
>> [LAUGH] >> Can you put that in the show?
[LAUGH] [MUSIC]
>> Yes, what's that?
>> Any first thoughts?
>> Big, [LAUGH] big.
Pretty cool looking, though.
Very cool looking, actually.
[MUSIC]
>> Thinking of new ideas that maybe I can pull off that I'll have an advantage
over the other guys with.
I think that this offers a lot of room for imagination.
[MUSIC] >> You'll be able to stand on top of
the chamber because the cage goes like this.
So you hear you could probably stand that way.
>> If you were on an angle?
>> No I'm saying, the thing is like this.
If you are here, you just might on the edge of it.
Because the cage goes like that, it might be okay.
[MUSIC]
>> Somebody's gonna get [BLEEP] up tonight.
[MUSIC]
>> What none of the six superstars knew then,
was just how true Booker T's words would be.
>> Ruthless Aggression.