The Attitude era is basically when the WWF decided to give the WWF wrestlers a little more control of their characters and things got a little more crazy and funny and less placed on wrestling. Also story lines circled more around actions outside of the ring as well as inside of the ring. The Attitude era was when they had the sign that said WWF Attitude and it was basically 1998-2001, The Rock, Stone Cold, DX, Mankind, and the Hardcore championship.

I loved the attitude era and your right it does seem a lot like it lately