Mike Choida took fan questions during his “Monday Mailbag” podcast on AdFreeShows.com. During it, the former WWE referee was asked whether the referees during The Attitude Era were instructed not to count wrestlers out of the ring:
“That’s true. There was so much HAHA going on. When you had The Attitude Era, with Stone Cold doing his thing on the outside, and like with DX, there was a lot of HaHa being played in DX matches and stuff like that. The rules were kind of shaded a little bit out the door. The rules came back a little bit after that, in the mid-2000s, like maybe late-2000s the rules came back strong. There was a lot more leniency on the outside, a lot more leniency on the DQs. There were a lot of nut shots and other things you saw. The Hardcore style was a lot more entertaining. When you’re trying to entertain more, your rules kind of fall out the window. When MMA became really big, Vince wanted to go with all the rules.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription