Best Five Years For The WWF/WWE?

[DitchMarner]

What do you think are the company's best five years (or the five you personally like the most)?

For me the two best years I've seen are 1997 and 2000. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I prefer '94 to anything from the last 20 years. 2001 was good (the roster was still very deep and talented) even though the Invasion angle was generally disappointing. I find '98 overrated and like 2008 more than that year.

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[Bondurant]

'84-'88

Heel Piper, Babyface Piper, Hulkamania, Savage v Steamboat, "Lust in your eyes".

 

[BruinDust]

Wrestlemania 12 through Wrestlemania X-7

 

[Sheppy]

1998-2002

 

[The Shadow]

Wrestling will never be what it was 1997-2000. That was the golden era

Wrestlemania 1-6 were incredible years as well. So many great memories watching as a kid

 

[Megahab]

1992-1997 mostly for nostalgic reasons. But if we just forget 1995 ever happened. Even as an easily entertained kid, that year was boring. I didn't start watching WCW regularly until 1996 though.

 

[NextBigThing]

Well they’ve made more money in the last 5 years than any other 5 year period by far. So there’s your answer.

 

[Bondurant]

Well they’ve made more money in the last 5 years than any other 5 year period by far. So there’s your answer.

Milli Vanilli sold a lot of records.

 

[Megahab]

Well they’ve made more money in the last 5 years than any other 5 year period by far. So there’s your answer.

But it's been such a shitty product.

 

[Conrad McBenis]

1998-2002

correct

 

[Killer Orcas]

Milli Vanilli sold a lot of records.

I loved that album

 

[JackSlater]

1997-2001 for me, though any window shortly before or after would also be good.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

1998-2002

I'd shift it to 97-01 so you get the ascension of Austin and the feud with Bret

 

[Megahab]

1992-1997 mostly for nostalgic reasons. But if we just forget 1995 ever happened. Even as an easily entertained kid, that year was boring. I didn't start watching WCW regularly until 1996 though.

I guess this is 6 years. My real answer if we're ignoring nostalgia is 1997-2001. Hart Foundation, nWo, attitude era etc. Just a time in wrestling that will never be replicated. At least not for me.

 

[Kaner9]

1998-2002

 

[TD Charlie]

1998-2002

This is the only correct answer.

WCW had a couple great years in there right before they fizzled out, leading right into the best shows that WWE ever produced.

The wrestling today is approximately 81 times better on average, compared to 20-25 years ago, but total entertainment factor was off the charts around the turn of the century.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

97-02

 

[CHGoalie27]

89-94

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

1996-2001 (even though I stopped caring by 2000)

 

[alko]

Im lucky, i watched WWF in the golden era. It was one week delayed comparing to USA (Germany TV), but at that time, with no access to Internet i was ok with that.

 

[branimal84]

I think in terms of nostalgia, I think 1992-1997 is probably my favorite, but I don't know if you could argue against 1997-2002. The business will probably never be that hot again.

 

[Machinehead]

If we're talking a five-year period, and not an "era," I would say 2000-2005. That includes the best of the Attitude Era and the best of Ruthless Aggression.

I think a lot of people misremember how tits 1997, 1998, and 1999 were. WM 13 and WM 15 are two of the worst ever. 14 was also nothing special. Matter of fact, WM 2000 sucked too.

I think when folks romanticize about the "Attitude Era," they're talking about Backlash 2000 through to X-Seven, or maybe WM 18. The good stuff is later than we often remember and in a shorter window.

To me, nothing exemplifies early Attitude better than Badd Blood 1997. Kane and the company's signature stipulation debut in the same night and that's what everyone remembers. Before that, we would have blushed at the card if it was an episode of Raw.

 

[BruinDust]

If we're talking a five-year period, and not an "era," I would say 2000-2005. That includes the best of the Attitude Era and the best of Ruthless Aggression.

I think a lot of people misremember how tits 1997, 1998, and 1999 were. WM 13 and WM 15 are two of the worst ever. 14 was also nothing special. Matter of fact, WM 2000 sucked too.

I think when folks romanticize about the "Attitude Era," they're talking about Backlash 2000 through to X-Seven, or maybe WM 18. The good stuff is later than we often remember and in a shorter window.

To me, nothing exemplifies early Attitude better than Badd Blood 1997. Kane and the company's signature stipulation debut in the same night and that's what everyone remembers. Before that, we would have blushed at the card if it was an episode of Raw.

I actually think it's the opposite and people think about what was WWFs best year ever in 1998 into 1999 and associate that year(s) with the rest of the Attitude Era as that is the year with the most memorable segments. Lots of Austin and DX stuff. The number of people that I knew who were into Wrestling then was off the charts. Raw is War was a major topic around the high school on Tuesday mornings, seemed like most males were into it. Yeah WM 15 wasn't great but a lot of what lead up to that was fantastic entertainment. Casual fan interest in WWF peaked around early 1999.

By the time you get to the Fall of 2000 and the move to TNN for Raw and a lot of my friends had moved on and lost interest. Bars and restaurants would routinely show the PPVs each month as they drew good crowds from 1998-2000. By mid-2001 they weren't drawing patrons with wrestling PPVs like they used to the few years previous and not long after stopped airing them.

 

[Machinehead]

I actually think it's the opposite and people think about what was WWFs best year ever in 1998 into 1999 and associate that year(s) with the rest of the Attitude Era as that is the year with the most memorable segments. Lots of Austin and DX stuff. The number of people that I knew who were into Wrestling then was off the charts. Raw is War was a major topic around the high school on Tuesday mornings, seemed like most males were into it. Yeah WM 15 wasn't great but a lot of what lead up to that was fantastic entertainment. Casual fan interest in WWF peaked around early 1999.

By the time you get to the Fall of 2000 and the move to TNN for Raw and a lot of my friends had moved on and lost interest. Bars and restaurants would routinely show the PPVs each month as they drew good crowds from 1998-2000. By mid-2001 they weren't drawing patrons with wrestling PPVs like they used to the few years previous and not long after stopped airing them.

Yeah, if we're talking about casual engagement then the late 90's is probably the peak, but I tend to avoid analyzing wrestling quality that way because, to steal a line from another popular show, I've seen what makes them cheer.

Everyone I talk to who was into wrestling in the 90's and no other time talks to me about Taker and Kane. They were into the wizardry and other hokey nonsense. I think that's the absolute worst version of Taker and the wrestling got better as we went along.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

To me it's more of a question of total package. I'm not one who puts workrate above all else, especially if the storylines are absolutely dreadful. 2012-2017 was big on workrate but I wasn't big on any of the gimmicks or storylines outside of Punk and Bryan.

I always go 96-01 because Attitude Era Bret is my favorite thing in all of wrestling. Plus I think the RA era is wildly overrated (especially lately) and would like to avoid a lot of it. I also don't like Triple H on top and at least he wasn't running the show in 2000/2001.