The Best Era of the Modern WWE

[Shocky]

Since the WWE became the WWF, you can break it down into different eras. The average time of an era is almost three years. How I break the eras up is basic storylines. You can tell that stories are a continuation from year to year. Usually what breaks an era up is a huge shake up that shows a change of direction in the company. Remember, this is just a very Mickey Mouse version of the way I see things. There is probably a transitional period between eras.

Era 1:
The Birth of the Federation
March 1979 to December 1983
Vince McMahon buys out his father. The WWF stays very territorial in the Northeast. Vince McMahon begins to send feelers out to try and aquire talent from other territories. This talent becomes the foundation for what the next era will become. The Champion during this era is Bob Backlund. This era ends when Backlund loses his title to the Iron Sheik in December of 1983. This symbolizes Vince removing the last piece of his fathers company, and sets the stages for the next year.

Era 2: The Golden Age of Modern Wrestling, The Birth of Hulkamania, Rock N' Wrestling
January 23, 1984 - February 5, 1988
Vince takes his company mainstream. Talent "stolen" from other territories begin to reach mid and upper card status. Roddy Piper, Bob Orton, Valentine, and Hogan amongst others join WWF staples such as Andre, Superfly, and Don Muraco. The Birth of Wrestlemania takes place in this era. By the end of this era, the changing of the old WWF guard to the wrestlers acquired by Vince in the first era is completed. Andre hands the torch to Hulk Hogan at WM 3. Hulk Hogan is the champion during this era, before his first title reign is finally ended by Andre the Giant. Younger talent such as Jake Robers, Bret Hart, and Macho Man begin to wrestle on the low to mid card.

Era 3: Age of Expansion, Middle Federation years
March 27, 1988 - January 19, 1991
The Mid Carders from the Golden Age are given an opportunity to move up. Randy Savage starts this era by winning the belt at WM 4. The WWF begins to expand on pay per view. The WWF brings in Summerslam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble to join Wrestlemania. Hogan sees another year round title reign, before he drops the belt to the Warrior. This is often seen as the Golden Age of tag team wrestling as well. Demolition, teh Legion of Doom, the Rockers, and the Hart Foundation to name a few are big draws. The Intercontinental ranks are filled with guys like Rick Rude, the Warrior, and Mr. Perfect. WCW is born during this time period.

Era 4: End of the Golden Age, Steroid Gate
March 24, 1991 - June 13, 1993
This era begins with Hogan defeating Slaughter for the title at WM 7. This is the first era where problems begin to occur. The older guys begin not to hand the reigns over to the younger talent, forming a log jam in the mid and lower cards. Vince McMahon finds himself in the beginning stages of his steroid trial. A whole roster change is made by the end of this era. Vince begins to get rid of obvious juicers. Guys like Piper and Savage remain at the top. Mid Carders are filled with Perfect, Hart, Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels. Champions of this era include, Hogan, Slaughter, the Undertaker, Flair, Savage, Bret Hart and Yokozuna. This era wins with Hogans final match with the WWF at KOTR 93.

Era 5: The New Generation, The Dark Ages
August 30, 1993 - June 23, 1996
The top names in the company all but abandon ship. Hogan and Savage leave the company, leaving huge holes atop the company. The WWF faces troubled times, do to mid carders not getting upper card exposure with the main eventers from previous eras. The mid carders are put into the main event spotlight. Also, with the WWF guys going to WCW, WCW fires a lot of people, causing another influx of unexposed talent to hte WWF. Guys like Vader, Mankind, and Ron Simmons join with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Kevin Nash, the Bulldog, and Owen Hart to form the new WWF. Bret Hart is the biggest star during this period. The Kliq gains control of the WWF in 96, causing locker room havoc. Champions of this era include Yokozuna, Bret Hart, Bob Backlund, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels. This era ends with the uttering of one simple phrase, Austin 3:16 says i just whooped your ass.

Era 6: The Attitude Era, The Austin Era, Russo Era
November 17, 1996 - November 14, 1999
Now some will argue that the Attitude Era starts at KOTR, but they kept Austin off the card at Summerslam. Bret Hart returns from his Hiatus during the summer of 96. This night sees the debut of the Rock, and the crowd beginning to turn on Hart and Michaels. The WCW is very dangerous and nearly puts WWF out of business. WM 13 sees the Birth of Austin as a legit star. Michaels plays politics and sits out most of 97. Hart turns heel in his last year with the company. The infamous screwjob in Montreal takes place, effectively removing the last star from the Golden Age. Austin becomes the top star in the history of the company. Mick Foley becomes a superstar. Guys like the Rock and Triple H lay ground work for their superstardom. Edge, Christian and Jericho debut in this era. Champions of this era include Shawn Michaels, Sid, The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Kane, The Rock, Mankind, Vince McMahon, and Triple H.

Era 7: The Invasion Era, the Triple H Era
January 31, 2000- November 18, 2001
This era starts with Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko entering the WWE. The name itself describes the general feel of it. After being destoryed in the ratings by Nitro, the WWE regains control and never looks back. Austin, and the Undertaker are injured to start this era, and with the retirement of Mick Foley, forces Triple H and the Rock into Main Event level wrestlers. Jericho and Kurt Angle rise to mid card status. Vince aquires the rights to both WCW and ECW. The WWE becomes the sole promotion in North America, but becomes flooded with under card level talent. Most believe the Invasion angle is the biggest botch in wrestling history. This era ends with WCW officially dying at Survivor Series of 2001. Champions of this era include Triple H, The Rock, Kurt Angle, and Steve Austin.

Era 8: Birth of WWE, The Renaissance, the New Golden Age
December 9, 2001 - January 30, 2005
Chris Jericho finally becomes a main eventer by being the first man to unify the WCW and WWF championship. 2002 sees the exit of the two biggest names of the last era, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin from full time competition. 2002 alone sees the return of Ric Flair, Triple H, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Scott Steiner. Guys like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Kurt Angle move from the mid card to Main Event level. Tag teams such as Edge and Christian, and the Hardyz break up to form the mid card level. Brock Lesnar debuts and leaves. Guys like Batista, John Cena, and Randy Orton all debut in 2002. Goldberg enter and leaves as well. Undisputed Champions include Jericho, Triple H, The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, the Rock, and Brock Lesnar. WWE Champions include Brock Lesnar, the Big Show, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero and JBL. World Champions include Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, Chris Benoit and Randy Orton.

Era 9: The Current Era, The John Cena Era
April 3, 2005 - Current
This begins with the changing of the guard in the WWE. With the absence of guys that should have dominated this era, like Brock Lesnar, the WWE is forced to put titles on Batista and John Cena. Despite the WWE's best efforts, the crowd does not get behind the new main eventers. A huge hole is created with the likes of Kurt Angle, Christian, Chris Jericho, and Brock Lesnar leaving the company. This era sees the debut of CM Punk, Lashley, and Kennedy. Edge and Randy Orton also move into the upper mid card level. WWE expands to 3 brands with the rebirth of ECW. WWE Champions in this era include John Cena, Edge and Rob Van Dam. World Champions include Batista, Kurt Angle, Rey Misterio, Booker T and the Undertaker. ECW Champions include Rob Van Dam, The Big Show and Bobby Lashley.

 

[figure4]

I like this thread.

Let's put it in perspective....there were only two eras that really mattered in the WWF/E, the Hogan era and the Austin era. These were the two eras when WWF/E was truly a MAINSTREAM success...the quality of the actual wrestling may have been better in the Bret/HBK era, or the old-school era...but that doesn't really matter at the end of the day.

It's all about the money!!! The Hogan era first brought wrestling to the masses. The attitude era really brought wrestling fans back in who left when the big dogs (Hogan, Savage) fled to WCW. The Attitude Era saw WWE push the envelope in order to compete with WCW.

In my opinion, WWE is still trying to rebuild ever since Vinnie Mac bought WCW. The lack of competition has really weakened the product. Now with the emergence of TNA, WWE is starting to get better.

Sure we saw stars like HBK, Bret Hart, Diesel, and Razor Ramon dominate in the "New Generation/ Kliq eras), but this era also produced some of the worst WrestleManias ever---(Taylor vs. Bigelow, anybody?)

So definitely the Hogan era and the Stone Cold era are really the only ones that matter. The Birth of WWE, the Invasion era, they never really had the impact that the Hogan and Austin eras had.

 

[brahma62]

the attitude era was the best i seen and i feel it was the best ever. They pushed the envelope as far as possible. Fans were into it as much as ever. Stars like stone cold, the rock, it was amazing

i also liked the invasion era, it was pretty interesting to me

but i feel that whenever the name WWF left, so did all the action and excitement. Ever since they were renamed WWE, it really hasnt been as interesting

 

[shayneomac]

I think that the 2002-2004 HHH/Evolution era is the worst era that the WWE has seen. Every single superstar existed purely just to put HHH over

 

[kennyg9]

Austin Era
Simply the best era so many memorable moments where to even start. Austin ran wild raising hell.
Saw stars and moments from The Rock and DX as well. Who can forget them making fun of the nation of domination.

 

[Shocky]

My choice is the Renaissance and here is why.

2002 may have been the best year to be a fan of pro wrestling in my opinion. The confusion of having to flip back and forth and follow all of the promotions was done. The WWE had just got done with a horrible angle that took up the entire back half of 2001. The WWE botched the WCW vs. WWE angle the only way the WWE could, they let the writers instead of the wrestlers tell the story.

But the good thing of this was, that whole time was spent with huge group vs. group matches that when the whole thing blew up, the WWE reseted itself during the fallout of it. When WCW was gone, all of these wrestlers were now able to establish themselves in the WWE as neither face nor heel, simplyl as who they were.

WWE started this off perfectly with putting the two belts on a man that was held down Chris Jericho. On top of that Ric Flair comes back with a power struggle with Vince. The next month you have Triple H returning after 8 months gone, and then you top that off by bringing back the NWO. If you didn't mark out for the NWO, you either hated them, or you're a liar. That may have been Vinces best promo work ever.

2002 starts off the brand extension, which was shaky at first, but before they broke the pay per views into brand only, there were some damn good cards. The over stocking of these pay per views with big name talent was great. You had a lot of people that deserved to be on cards not there, simply because the star power over booked pay per views. Brock Lesnar becomes huge in this time frame, and on top of that, Shawn Michaels comes back after 4 years away.

We see the invention of the Elimination Chamber, and Michaels wins the belt. You had Steiner, whcih was okay at best. Then you get the return of Austin, the Rock and Hogan, topped by finally getting to see Hogan McMahon go at it. We get to see a damn good main event with two real wrestlers with Angle and Lesnar.

You see Benoit and Guerrero rise to the top of the company at Wrestlemania 20. Randy Ortons first heel run is absoltutely amazing. The last great Stable in Evolution runs wild in this period. All in all, I thought it was an exciting time were you got to see a ton of high quality matchups.

The one bad thing about this time is the log jam at the top of the card. It didn't allow for the mid carders to grow, and this is why we have the current problem atop the WWE now. We're stuck with guys like Cena, Batista, and Lashley, because a lot of the main guys from that era are gone. Brock Lesnar might be the single biggest reason as to why we're stuck in a shit storm that is the current era of the WWE. Vince banked a lot on Brock being there for the long run, and he bolted. This thrust an incredibly green Trio into the spotlight that they just were'nt ready to handle.

Put it this way, the combined "Star" power that is Cena, Lashley and Batista can't fill the void that Brock Lesnar made when he took off.

The Attitude Era was good, but really the quality of wrestling was lackluster. Remember, Russo had his hands in a lot of that. Outside of the theatrics and the spectical that was Monday Night Raw from 97-99, the substance wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, it was entertaining as hell to watch, but if you wanted to watch wrestling, you got the rabbit ears out and found ECW on the local channels.

 

[InstantClassic]

I enjoyed the Austin era for the sheer spectacle that was guys like Austin and The Rock, but I must agree with Shockmaster's comments above.

The renaissance era did it for me as well. I do hope that with a few of the older guys coming back to the top in The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, they can help those that were thrust forward to early develop into real main event performers.

 

[rockyedge]

I can not really vote, as I have only been part of one era, the Cena era, which is sad cause I've seen multiple matches from that part of histroy and They are tens times better than any Cena match I have ever seen. Very good topic SM, You are like a god when it comes to creative and interesting topics.

 

[Emmet]

Would have to be the Attitude Era, but I also liked the period before Attitude. Era 5 and Era 6 for me

 

[MetalMayhem]

The only era I've been in is the Attitude Era, Renaissance Era, and the John Cenothing era. I voted for the Attitude Era because that's what had me totally hooked on wrestling. The Cenothing Era is supremely boring by putting over true talents such as Kurt Angle and Jericho. This era also destroyed the Cruiserweight and Tag Team division.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

For me it's the Hogan era. Purley because that's when I started watching wrestling. Even as a kid though I was never a Hogan fan. I always prefered Rick Rude, Jake Roberts and Randy Savage. Looking back it wasnt the best wrestling in WWF at the time. Hogan main events used to stink up the building. How did he get so popular? But there must have been something there that attracted me to wrestling.

 

[Shocky]

The Hogan era was the most influential on me as a wrestling fan. Hell if you're in your mid 20s, it would be hard not to. I think that those eras with Hogan were good, but they did ultimately lead to the company going nearly under.

All of those great mid carders with Savage, Rude, Perfect, Michaels, Hart, Taker, the list just goes on and on. The only reason why it wasn't my favorite, is because of the crap style of wrestling Vince pushed to the top. Very Entertaining, and will always be my favorite, but I couldn't vote it to be the best.

 

[tmangamer]

I think my favorite period would have to be the 2000-2001 era, but since it's not really part of the Attitude Era or the Invasion Era, I would definitely have to go with the 2002-2004 period "The Birth of WWE, the Renaissance." Why ? Cause we simply had good wrestling for once, with awesome promos, even though the feuds weren't always that great.

I'm thinking of Raw with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Evolution, The NwO, Austin/Bischoff, The Highlight Reel, Booker T (w/ Goldust - RVD) etc. for fun promos.

But I especially think of Smackdown with great matches and great wrestlers such as Benoit, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, etc. that actually got good pushes.

 

[wcu77manu]

im not sure what era you put in, but austin, ROCK, hbk, the game, thats when the wwe put wcw out of bus. the rock was and still is the best that i have ever seen. and thats hard for me to say cause i was and thought i always would be an ultimate warrior fan.

and a quick question? why has vince destroyed tag team wrestling, i use to consider the good tag teams almost in the same league as the main eventers. but now the tag teams are just shit. can we at least get edge and christian back together to battle the hardys and the dudleys

 

[JohnWordLifeCena]

honestly i just loved the invasion era i mean wrestlemania 17 was probably the best wrestlemania to date... same with the royal rumble 2001... the ppvs of this era were just phenomenal

 

[Y 2 Jake]

If you started watching wrestling during 2001 I can understand it being your personal favourite era. But if you were watching year's before then shame on you. W.M. X7 is a brilliant card. But it was all down hill from there. There is standout match's from that time. But it's not the greatest era of all time. WWF completley screwed up what could potentially have been the greatest angle of all time. WWF vs. WCW should have been huge. Instead Vince just buried them. Maybe it was better than I remember and I'm blinded because I cant see how the whole angle could be screwed up.

 

[Shocky]

Ya that' why I didn't vote for that Era. It started off so damn good with the year 2000. You had all of the Radicalz, Jericho, Angle, Rock, Triple H, American Bad Ass Taker, Steve Austin, all of those guys. That last 6 months with WWF vs. WCW was just horrible. How in the hell could they botch that up so badly.

I think in 2002 they righted the ship. That was a phenomenal year of wrestling with a ton of supercards. The Invasion was just so horribly done though. It was too NWOish.

Wrestlemania 17 was the best

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I think WWE's been on a constant slide since W.M. X7. I can hardly think of any bright spot's since then. Obviously there has been some. But compared to the Attitude Era where you just had to watch every show, WWE is dull. They introduce too many new star's. So a lot of them mean nothing. The one's who get up the ladder would'nt have even been in the same league as Austin, The Rock & Triple H in 98-99. I think it's steadily on the up again. And there will be another boom period. But I just dont see the product being as intresting as it was then for another few year's.

The only truly great card since W.M. X7 is Summer Slam 02. All the other's have had there moments bbut non of them have been absolute out and out classics.

 

[tmangamer]

The WWF vs. WCW / ECW storyline should have gone on a lot longer, possibly having the brand extension go on in continuation of that angle. It's just too bad it was badly played out, with some terrible feuds such as the BOD's feuds... They could have kept it going, with the NwO coming in a short while after, and people asking themselves if the NwO would team with the WWF or with WCW / ECW. In my opinion, THAT would have been exciting.

The Summerslam 2002 card was very good for sure, since it featured all of the WWE's best in-ring talent on one show, putting on some great matches such as Mysterio vs. Angle and RVD vs. Benoit especially. But I don't know about you guys, but it's been a few years that I find Summerslam to be sometimes better than Wrestlemania (mostly thinking of 2002 and 2006).

I wouldn't necessarily say that the WWE has been progressively going down since Wrestlemania 17 due to bad choices, the WWE has had a lot of downs in the past 5 years, but it's very much the result of the sudden loss of such big talent. I'm thinking of The Rock, Austin, Foley, Guerrero, Angle, Lesnar... Like them or not, those were big names and they were all huge main eventers. I could also name guys like Goldberg or Hogan, but I don't think they necessarily meant better matches / feuds in the WWE ...

 

[Big Ace]

I started watching WCW in 94 so I had no clue what the hell was going down in WWF. I did start watching WWF at the 'Rumble 96 though. HBK was my favorite and the Hart-Michaels main event match @ WM 12 blew my mind. I think that the New Generation Era really did have the best wrestling. I've seen clips of the Hogan Era and without a doubt, It made Wrestling very, very popular. My favorites would have to be The Attitude Era and the Renaissance Era. 96-01 was spectacular and really, during that time, more people were watching Wrestling than ever before. Renaissance was great as well as you had all the Old guys coming back. I absolutely hate this Era. The John Cena Era is so ''successful'' because there's no competition. TNA is not big enough to challenge WWE and probably won't for another number of years. So 'till then. We have to put up with this crap.

 

[usctroj11]

I voted for the renissance era and here is why I for one I really enjoyed the whole Brock Lesnar era I thought he was just a great performer and we saw Chris Jericho become champ and the debuts of todays stars like Cena and Orton, who both started as regular guys and are now at the top of the company. I also thougth the quality of matches were very good Summerslam 2002 was a great show and saw Brock Lesnar win his first title, and all the Angle/Lesnar matches were very good, and of course it saw Eddie Guerro and Chris Benoit finally rise to the top.

 

[Moon Knight]

I chose the Austin era. Mainly because that was the last time the WWE had gone out of it's way to provide the best shows possible. Austin was the most entertaining man on TV and WWE at the time helped me thru some bad spots by letting me forget for and hour or 2. I hated the Hogan 80's era as it was just to cheesy for my tastes. Hogan held the title for too long and it kept greats like Ricky Steamboat from holding the belt..But today is the worst, with the brand split and Cena holding everybody back, this has to be the worst era ever. Cena's matches are slow paced and boring and the storylines seem to have little effort in them.

 

[showtyme27]

I have to go with The Birth of WWE, The Renaissance Era as it was my persoanl favorite time to watch wrestling, I started watching wrestling way back in The Golden Age, Birth of Hulkamania Era but The wrestling in that Era as stated perfectly by ShockMaster was a little weak, like most I also loved The Attitude Era but I truly feel that the Renaissance Era was an even more incredible time for "Prue" wrestling fans SD! was arguably the greatest roster of talent ever, and even the more gimmicky show of RAW was consistantly entertaining, I think WWE really needs to go back and take a look at this Era and see that having a majority Wrestling Show (like SD! was) can be a success after reading all you guys post I truly became a little sadden and miss this brand of entertainment.

 

[TheRealDC]

I like this thread. I would like to go with Attitude Era. And not to go off topic, but think about the things that revolved around it. It wasn't only The Stone Cold Era, but it was also the era of the Monday Night Wars, and ECW a close third (but in my opinion ECW ruled all). You had both WWF and WCW at each others throats. You had touchy storylines, sometimes that came off as offensive to some which gave wrestling a mature rating sometimes. Everyone was just pushing the envelope more and more and more. ECW were the first people to use the lesbian storyline, and that was a very touchy subject. The WWF was never the same after the SCEra, because the typical champs before that were very competitive, and very clean cut. Good guys that little kids could look up to, and champs that parents could root for with their children. Hulk Hogan saying, "eat your vitamins and say your prayers" that was good wholesome family entertainment. The all of a sudden... the champion, is a beer drinking, foul mouth redneck. Who beats the holy crap out of his boss, and kicks whose ever ass he felt like kicking. It was edgy, it has some of the best promos, Mick Foley during that era, was passed around, but he was classic anywhere he went. It had some of the most emotional matches as well, literal roller coaster matches, that would shake you. And that was all night long buddy, lol. The mid-card was just as crazy as the top card. The Tag Team scene was lighting up with Edge and Christian and The Hardyz ladder match. That shit was bananas. It still has some of the best moments ever, it was the WWE's gold mining years. But the main reason it did so well, is because it had competition. It had that other brand that would out do them sometimes. They need that, they can't do this, Raw vs Smackdown thing, and expect to get competition from themselves. In my heart, I truly hope that TNA does get better, and does it soon. Because once Vince gets a fire under his ass, he won't stop until he buries the competition.

 

[Becool420]

I think that the Kennedy era is next and beleive me.. he's the next Rock/Stone cold.. as long as they dont mess his character up!