Was Wrestlemania 14 was the turning point...

[willywonka666]

Before Austin won the world title, WWF's ratings weren't that great and they were regularly beaten by Nitro in the ratings. As a matter of fact, I remember reading on a news site that the dog show that year had bigger ratings than the Raw with Mike Tyson and Steve Austin getting into it.

We all knew Austin was going to win, because it was his time, and to me things seemed to magically change over nite, and DX took off in an even bigger way with X-Pac's return to Raw the next night. So was this the turning point? Did Austin winning get the ball rolling and "Business truly picked up" because of it?

[Avalanche Alvarez]

Every so often, one wrestler (I'm not calling them superstars) will come along to bring the promotion along with them. Hogan, Hart, Rock, Michaels, Austin. That's just the way it works.
I do believe you're correct and I think the Double E is past due to have another wrestler carry the promotion along.
Cena's not it.

[seanwalsh]

That was probably the start of the trend, sure, but I believe Tony Schiavone telling Nitro fans that Foley wins the title on the taped Raw was literally THE moment where millions of fans tuned from Nitro to Raw and never went back.

[skskillz]

Pre-WrestleMania ratings (1998):
3.3
3.4
4.0
3.5
3.5
3.2
3.2
3.8
3.6
3.6

After WrestleMania 14 ratings:
3.8
4.7
4.6
4.4
5.7
5.5

So yes, WM 14 was the beginning of the real big WWF boom.