Best decade for wrestling?

[spacedye]

My favorite is early to mid 90s. Hulkamania was winding down, ECW was coming up and some fantastic characters were introduced.


And WCW was hilarious.

[Dark Flash2099]

I would say the 90s, just because we had some of the best wrestlers of all time at the top of their game back then (Bret and Owen, Austin, HBK, Shane Douglas, Raven, etc).

[drzoidberg1599]

It would have to be the 90s. Mainly WCW after June of 96. Yeah thats right, im talking about the nWo. the reason WCW beat raw in the ratings like 105 weeks in a row. While Raw tries to use sex and "the oh no this person and that person are related" to sell, Nitro was using story lines and great young wrestlers to compliment the old. Then Raw brought out DX. A horrible attempt at copying nWo, even getting Xpac (syxx from wcw). Even today i miss the glory days of wcw. The nWo is just too sweeeeeeettttt! Wolfpack for life!

[Charaxes]

I know I'm biased, but I'd say the 1990's. I've always considered 1997 as the glory year of wrestling as both WWF and WCW were hitting their stride at that time. Plus, it was when when ECW started doing PPV's...

All three promotions were at their best. Unfortunately, WCW allowed the talent to have too much pull backstage, and ECW spread themselves too thin. This lead to them both going out of business, which has left WWE to monopolize the wrestling business ever since. This led into the current state of professional wrestling in America, with McMahon knowing that he will have a fan base regardless of how good his product is. Hopefully, the raising promotions will give Vince some competition, and then motivate him into getting American wrestling back on track.

[spacedye]

It would have to be the 90s. Mainly WCW after June of 96. Yeah thats right, im talking about the nWo. the reason WCW beat raw in the ratings like 105 weeks in a row. While Raw tries to use sex and "the oh no this person and that person are related" to sell, Nitro was using story lines and great young wrestlers to compliment the old. Then Raw brought out DX. A horrible attempt at copying nWo, even getting Xpac (syxx from wcw). Even today i miss the glory days of wcw. The nWo is just too sweeeeeeettttt! Wolfpack for life!


nWo worked out at first, but then they started to blow it out or proportion. Then after the fans stopped caring they killed it off, only to have it brought back when the fans still didn't care. I really wouldn't call DX a rip-off of nWo either. They were similar but different, and ultimately superior. And to be fair, X-Pac was the 123-Kid before he was Syxx. :p

Once WCW got "legends" like Hulk, Macho Man, Lex Luger, etc. they started to fall. They got too focused on keeping these old guys on top while the WWF brought in so much new talent. The Rock, HHH, Stone Cold, the Hardly Brothers, Edge & Christian among many others. They also took talent that WCW failed to use like the Big Show, Chris Benoit, Eddie Gurrerro, and especailly Chris Jericho, and really pushed them. They also spent too much time trying to hurt the WWF than trying to further their promotion.

WCW started off great, but they dwindled down and failed to really do anything important later on.

[Frontman]

The 90's turned the whole industry on its ear. You had the nWo angle, you have the WWF attitude era, you had ECW in its heyday.

Watching the 3 hour 15th anniversary Raw show reminded me of all of that. Man; wrestling was fun in the 90's and into 2002, then it got stale. I have a feeling we're about to see a new revolution in the biz.

It's going to be fun to see how it all turns out.

[StormX]

It would have to be the 90s. Mainly WCW after June of 96. Yeah thats right, im talking about the nWo. the reason WCW beat raw in the ratings like 105 weeks in a row. While Raw tries to use sex and "the oh no this person and that person are related" to sell, Nitro was using story lines and great young wrestlers to compliment the old. Then Raw brought out DX. A horrible attempt at copying nWo, even getting Xpac (syxx from wcw). Even today i miss the glory days of wcw. The nWo is just too sweeeeeeettttt! Wolfpack for life!

Umm...just so you're well aware, the nWo was a rip-off of Japanese invasion angles that had been done many times before. The nWo was just the first to do it in the US. So I wouldn't get too vocal about who copied who.

Also, it took WWE to make Diesel(Kevin Nash) and Razor Ramon(Scott Hall) famous for the nWo to work. before Diesel and Razor Ramon they were Vinnie Vegas and Diamond Stud, two WCW mid-carders that never did anything.

Your precious nWo was also what ruined WCW, at least partially. They hung around too long, and let backstage politics get WAY out of control.

[Frontman]

Umm...just so you're well aware, the nWo was a rip-off of Japanese invasion angles that had been done many times before. The nWo was just the first to do it in the US. So I wouldn't get too vocal about who copied who.

Also, it took WWE to make Diesel(Kevin Nash) and Razor Ramon(Scott Hall) famous for the nWo to work. before Diesel and Razor Ramon they were Vinnie Vegas and Diamond Stud, two WCW mid-carders that never did anything.

Your precious nWo was also what ruined WCW, at least partially. They hung around too long, and let backstage politics get WAY out of control.

Have you actually read the death of WCW? It wasn't the nWo that killed WCW, it was the book-keeping. (And I don't mean the booker, I mean the dollars.)

Keep in mind that the WWF was at its worst with Diesel and Razor as their top guys. Oh sure, they could wrestle (especially Scott) but ratings draws they weren't.

[spacedye]

I don't recall Razor ever being on top? He was mostly competing for the intercontinental belt. Nash was on top for a while, sure, and he was a boring champion and I agree that he didn't bring in the ratings. He only held the belt for a little bit, though.

[FoxInStocks]

I'd actually say the late 80's, when Hulk and Savage and Steamboat were around. I loved that cartoony, almost family-friendly era. The 90's were awesome and wrestling evolved a LOT during that time, even hitting it's peak, but I had the most fun with the mid-to-late 80's stuff.

[The Mattador]

Definitely the '90's...WWE Attitude versus WCW's Monday Nitro and then the evolution of DX and the NWO and the ongoing Monday night wars were great. I used to love it when WCW would read the RAW taping results so that people wouldn't switch over to RAW at 9 and then RAW went live so WCW went to three hours...it was great!

[hail_eris]

As fond as I am of the Cyndi Lauper era of the WWF (I loved me some Leapin' Lanny Poffo and British Bulldog), I've got to go with the '90s. Jericho was just hitting his stride, you had a bunch of big men who could move (Wrath's Meltdown has to be my favorite finisher of all time), and Bob Mould (of Husker Du and Sugar) was doing scripts for WCW. And the addition of Mexican and Japanese wrestlers to headline matches added a level of athleticism not present in the more cartoonish '80s.

[darius_dax1]

As fond as I am of the Cyndi Lauper era of the WWF (I loved me some Leapin' Lanny Poffo and British Bulldog), I've got to go with the '90s. Jericho was just hitting his stride, you had a bunch of big men who could move (Wrath's Meltdown has to be my favorite finisher of all time), and Bob Mould (of Husker Du and Sugar) was doing scripts for WCW. And the addition of Mexican and Japanese wrestlers to headline matches added a level of athleticism not present in the more cartoonish '80s.
Don't forget the rise of ECW!


(have not read any posts before hail-eris)

[rwint1968]

I'll chime in and say late 80's/early 90's. Hulkamania running wild, The Mega Powers (Hogan and Savage) as Tag Team Champs, Ultimate Warrior, Honky Tonk Man, JYD, The Steiners, Jake the Snake Roberts, Sid Viscious, The NwO, The Road Warriors, The Hart Foundation and the list could go on and on. WCW was just starting to come into it's own and WWF was going strong. The headliners of today are good, don't get me wrong, but they don't bring the excitement that Hulk, Macho Man and company brought back in the day.

Thanks,
:cool: