Darker and Edgier/Professional Wrestling


 * The WWF's Attitude Era gained so much attention because it was so much Darker And Edgier than the days of Superhero-like wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, the fact that much of the new flavor was imported directly from ECW aside.
 * The "steel cage" used in Steel Cage Matches transformed over time from something that kids would probably enjoy climbing at Chuck E. Cheese to, well, an actual steel cage.
 * When Gregory Helms brought his "superhero" The Hurricane to WWE, it was essentially a silly character and a parody of comic books. When he revived the character years later just before his departure from WWE, he attempted somewhat to reimagine Hurricane as a grim, silent, Dark Is Not Evil avenger.
 * Interestingly, while the WWE's PG era was initially exactly that, with relatively clean violence and little profanity, it's now gotten more than a bit edgier, the violence is more brutal, the language is dirtier and more frequent, and Anti-Heroes like CM Punk and Randy Orton are starting to become the norm again for faces. Add to that the returns of wrestlers from the Attitude Era like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and it could very well be only a matter of time before WWE goes back to TV-14. Funnily enough, the WWE initially started out as PG before transitioning to the Attitude Era, and then back to PG before starting to get edgier again.
 * ECW was considered a more darker and edgier professional wrestling organization when compared to other organizations like WWE or WCW back in the day as ECW's storylines take a more mature approach over the cartoony storylines wrestling organizations used to take.
 * The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness gimmick. Undertaker has always been 'dark' so to speak, but when the Ministry came into existence he become a full blown villain, using creepy religious symbolism, crucifying opponents, abducting women, employing a cult of other wrestlers to do his bidding, the whole nine yards. He became less of a wrestling villain and more of something out of a comic book.