And also stories. Nearly every wrestler had a story and nearly every wrestler had a character, including midcard acts. I mean Oddities were over AF. 2 Cool with Rikishi, you had people that looked like superstars and didnt talk like robots. And also a shit load of catchphrases that crowds could get behind like the rock, austin, new age outlaws, dx, etc.
Russo gets a lot of shit, and rightfully so, but i think his peak was survivor series deadly game. The storytelling for that PPV, the number of threads, and the ultimate part leading to Rocks heel turn and immediately having austin and foley as challengers was brilliant.