The Attitude Era was a major era of professional wrestling within the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), succeeding the New Generation Era. The Attitude Era was characterized by adult-oriented content, which included increased depicted violence, profanity, and sexual content, as well as disregarding the "good guys versus bad guys" formula in favor of unpredictable and shocking storylines, in a significant shift from the "traditional" and family-friendly output that the WWF had produced up until that point. The Attitude branding officially lasted from November 9, 1997 (at Survivor Series 1997) to May 6, 2002 (renaming of WWF to WWE), and was succeeded by the Ruthless Aggression Era.

The era was spearheaded during the Monday Night War when WWF's Raw went head-to-head with rival World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Nitro in a weekly battle for TV ratings. As part of the change, the WWF also rebranded its flagship show (which became Raw Is War), redesigned the arena setups, and later introduced the "scratch" logo and officially referred to and promoted the "Attitude" name. The Attitude Era was a highly successful period for the company with television ratings, merchandise sales,and pay-per-view buy rates for the WWF reaching record highs and it also came at a time of a general shift in American television moving away from family-friendly to "edgier" content, with the WWF pushing the limits of what was deemed acceptable for TV. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid and Stone Cold Steve Austin were among the wrestlers that ushered in the Attitude Era, with events such as Hart's explicit rant, the formation of D-Generation X and the Montreal Screwjob being key points of evolution to the Attitude format. However, Hart and Sid both left the WWF at the dawn of the era, and Michaels retired soon after.

Steve Austin would go on to become a major superstar of the Attitude Era and was joined by many new stars including The Rock, Triple H, Kane, Mick Foley (in various personas), Chyna and Kurt Angle, whereas The Undertaker continued to be popular as a veteran, and the company's chairman Vince McMahon would form a villainous persona out of himself, involving his real-life family in storylines. The Austin–McMahon feud was one of the longest-running and most prominent rivalries of the era. WWF also signed a number of wrestlers who left WCW during this boom period, including Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and the Big Show. In addition, the WWF Women's Championship was reactivated in September 1998 after years of dormancy, and most of the company's female talent, such as Sable, Sunny and Stacy Keibler during this time period were marketed as sex symbols booked in sexually provocative gimmick matches (e.g., "bra and panties", bikini, lingerie, etc.), whereas prominent female stars such as Chyna, Lita, and Trish Stratus were presented as serious wrestlers. The era also saw the resurgence of tag team wrestling, namely The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge & Christian, who were featured in several destructive, physical and stunt-filled Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches during this era. Distinguished stables that were established in this era include D-Generation X, Nation of Domination, The Corporation, Ministry of Darkness, Corporate Ministry and The Brood, and had developed major rivalries among each other. Also, the Hardcore Championship was established in November 1998, a chaotic division involving no disqualification, falls count anywhere matches that would start ringside and then would be taken outside, with blunt weapons involved.

The actual start of the Attitude Era itself is often debated among fans; Vince McMahon's promo on the December 15, 1997 episode of Raw about not being "passé" is usually the latest point in time. The WWE themselves retrospectively claim that the start of the era is hard to pinpoint, and have used inconsistent events to categorise the era. In 2017 and 2021 respectively, the WWE released DVD and Blu-ray compilations named 1997 - Dawn of the Attitude and 1996 - Prelude to Attitude, signifying that the era was, in yearly terms, beginning in 1997.

It is generally considered that the start of the Attitude era was gradual rather than immediate, based on different elements: the year 1996 saw the WWF increasing graphic violence and selling sex among its female talent, while the year 1997 saw the major aesthetic makeover, the normalisation of crude language and behavior, and the beginning of dramatised plots. General consensus is that the era (incorporating all these elements) had fully begun during the second half of 1997. In the years following, the Attitude era continued to evolve and experiment with ever more violent and crude content.

During the New Generation Era of the mid-1990s, the World Wrestling Federation was at a difficult point following the steroid scandal against its chairman Vince McMahon, the loss of some of its stars to rival WCW, and a difficult financial situation. In the Monday Night War, a television ratings battle between WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro, the WCW had the upper hand. The former WWF megastar, Hulk Hogan, had also been enjoying success at WCW as part of the nWo with its distinctly "edgy" nature. This also coincided with societal acceptance of racier TV content occurring in the latter half of the 1990s, strongly influenced by NYPD Blue and amplified by The Jerry Springer Show, which had become exceptionally popular in 1997. Kevin Eck wrote in a The Baltimore Sun column in 1997:

The kids of the '80s who grew up rooting for All-American good guys like Hulk Hogan, they say, are now jaded twentysomethings who worship Marilyn Manson, Howard Stern, and Dennis Rodman. They're looking for something more real, more dangerous, the kind of entertainment they can now find in fringe "sports" like Extreme Championship Wrestling [ECW] and The Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC].

In an effort to revamp itself, the company began to transition from the "traditional way" wrestling had long been presented, instead opting for a product which "pushed the envelope" according to then-head writer Vince Russo. The creative side of the product during the era's early stages in 1997 was spearheaded by Russo, who drastically changed the way WWF television was written. Ed Ferrara would later join Russo in June 1998, when he was hired by the WWF. Russo's and Ferrara's booking style has been described as "Crash TV", where they contributed edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, profanity, swerves, unexpected heel turns, and worked shoots, as well as short matches, backstage vignettes, shocking angles and levels of depicted violence. Vince McMahon commented in a May 1997 interview that the "taste of the American public changes from time to time" and "If their tastes change, so too will the direction of our company." McMahon had already started a working relationship with hardcore wrestling promotion ECW as early as September 1996, which influenced the Attitude era.