New Era (WWE)

New Era
WWE (2014) logo.svg
The logo used by WWE throughout the New Era
PromotionWWE
DateMay 1, 2016 (2016-05-01) – disputed
WWF/WWE eras chronology
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The New Era was a term used by WWE to describe a period within the company beginning in May 2016. The period from March 2020 to July 2021, where the company produced their main shows behind closed doors during the COVID-19 pandemic in a bio-secure bubble, has been referred to as the "ThunderDome Era".

Initiation, the rise of Roman Reigns, and the state of the men's division

Roman Reigns was promoted by WWE as the face company during the New Era

After the Reality Era ended, WWE promoted the 2016 Payback pay-per-view as the start of a "new era".

Much like what happened to John Cena during the PG Era, Roman Reigns would become a prominent figure in major storylines during the New Era to mostly negative reactions.[citation needed] Since his return from leukemia in early 2019, crowd response to him has been more positive.[citation needed] After returning from another brief haitus at SummerSlam in 2020, Roman Reigns would turn heel, allying with his former rival Brock Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman. Roman Reigns would ally with The Usos and form the stable The Bloodline of which Reigns would be the leader, titling himself "The Tribal Chief".

At WrestleMania 35 in April 2019 Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to become the first African-born WWE Champion.

The New Day stable, comprising of Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E, became a record 11-time tag team champions in the company under the Freebird rule.

At Night 1 of WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin came out of retirement after 19 years for a one time only match defeating Kevin Owens. The following night on Night 2 of WrestleMania 38 in the main event Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match for the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, becoming the first wrestler ever to hold both titles at the same time.

The Women's Revolution

Charlotte Flair, along with Sasha Banks, made history in 2016 by being the first woman to main event a WWE pay-per-view at Hell in a Cell (2016) in the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match. Charlotte Flair also became a record 13 time women's champion.

As a continuation of the Diva's Revolution that began in 2015, the Women's Evolution picked up further momentum in the New Era, with women have regularly competed in stipulation matches that were previously reserved for men, including the Royal Rumble match, Elimination Chamber, the Money in the Bank ladder match, Hell in a Cell, WarGames, and TLC matches. On the Raw-branded Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event in 2016, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks made history being in the first women to main event a WWE pay-per-view event. This match was also the first women's Hell in a Cell match.

Flair and Becky Lynch in particular received much success during this period, with them being interchangeably considered the "face of the women's division" in the New era. Flair, Lynch, and Ronda Rousey headlined WrestleMania 35 in a triple threat match which Lynch won, making them the first women in WWE history to main event WWE's flagship event WrestleMania.

On January 31, 2021, Bianca Belair made history by becoming the second Black wrestler (after The Rock) to win a Royal Rumble match and the first and so far, the only Black woman to win a Royal Rumble match.

On night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks became the first Black women to main event a WrestleMania.

The second brand extension

In the Summer of 2016 WWE reintroduced the brand extension. The new brand split became effective with the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, 2016, with SmackDown changing its name to SmackDown Live and moving to Tuesday nights.

While the WWE Championship would be moved to the SmackDown brand, the new WWE Universal Championship was introduced for the Raw brand, with Finn Balor becoming the inaugural champion winning the title by defeating Seth Rollins at the 2016 SummerSlam event.

The NXT brand, which primarily serves as a developmental territory for WWE, had gained increasing prominence during the Reality Era, with its weekly television series and NXT TakeOver events frequently receiving critical acclaim. In particular, NXT TakeOver: Dallas was viewed as a superior event to WrestleMania 32, the latter being held the following night to mixed-to-negative reviews, and has been cited by some pundits as the point where the brand can no longer be considered a farm league.

During the New Era NXT TakeOver: New York held on April 5, 2019; received critical acclaim, reputed wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter praised all the matches, in particular giving the main event of Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole 2 out of 3 falls match a 5.5 stars, making it his highest rated WWE match in history.

WWE NXT would later move from the WWE Network to USA Network on Wednesday nights and expanded to a two-hour format to complete against the upstart wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling and its flagship show Dynamite on TNT, a move which marked the beginning of Wednesday Night Wars. Raw and SmackDown talent would begin to make more frequent appearances on NXT programming, while the likes of Finn Balor would return to the brand full time. NXT's creative staff would also gain oversight of the 205 Live brand, with talent appearing on WWE NXT, and the Cruiserweight title being renamed as the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. The title would be unified into the NXT North American Championship at New Year's Evil on January 4, 2022 when North American Champion Carmelo Hayes defeated Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong.

COVID-19 and the "ThunderDome" era

As with other industries, WWE was affected by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. WWE was barred from having live attendance and held Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live's events behind closed doors at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, although WWE later used some of their own crew as part of a limited crowd in a protective environment. NXT events continued to be held at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, but also without fans, while the NXT UK brand would go on hiatus.

Beginning in August, WWE moved events for Raw and SmackDown, and briefly 205 Live, to a new virtual crowd and arena staging, a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome. The ThunderDome allowed fans to attend events virtually for free and be seen on the nearly 1,000 LED boards within the arena. The bubble was hosted at three arenas in Florida: Orlando's Amway Center, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, and the Yuengling Center in Tampa.

A similar setup, the Capitol Wrestling Center, was introduced for the NXT and 205 Live brands in October, hosted at the WWE Performance Center with a small crowd. Meanwhile, NXT UK resumed operations in September without any fans at the BT Sport studio. WrestleMania 37, held in April 2021, was WWE's first major event to be held outside of the ThunderDome and with live fans, though to a limited capacity.

By mid-July 2021, WWE had left the ThunderDome to resume a live touring schedule for Raw and SmackDown. The period of time from August 2020 to July 2021 would be referred to by WWE as the "ThunderDome Era."


This page was last updated at 2022-09-08 20:46 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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