1995 vs 2015- Which Year Was Worse for WWE?

[Wildcat66]

What I've noticed ever since becoming a WWE fan is that amongst the absolute worst years in the company's history, 1995 seems to rank at the top because of overly cartoony characters, terrible booking decisions and some of the worst PPV main events that have ever come about from any wrestling promotion.

It wasn't all bad though, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were putting in clinics with different opponents, In Your House made it's debut and we saw the debut of Triple H and Goldust, both of which would go on to have legendary careers in the industry.

Fast-forward twenty years later and it seems we have a new competitor for the title 'worst year in WWE history'. 2015.

Let's get this right, 2015 was not a banner year by any stretch for WWE. From injuries, to lackadaisical booking to the beginning of Roman Reign's white-hot push and the ratings heading towards a downward spiral, it's certaintly not a year to be proud of by any stretch.

But like with '95, there was also some good that happened this year. NXT reached the absolute peak it's popularity, The New Day found it's grove, Kevin Owens came in with a house en fuego, John Cena found new life with the U.S title and WrestleMania 31 will likely go down in history as one of the best WrestleManias in modern times if not of all time.

And for what it's worth, Ryback finally winning the Intercontinental title was a pretty feel good moment for a few people, you can't lie.

So, it's come to this. 1995 or 2015. Thinking about everything you've seen from both years in WWE, it's time to answer the question once and for all; which year was worse?

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I don't know about 1995, but 2015 was just.. bad. Not in terms of booking so much, but in terms of injuries mostly.

Cena got his face broken (that's a plus), Sting got retired by Seth, then Seth pulled his knee. Orton also got injured. Cena also left for a movie or something. But, I can't really call it a bad year you know... We got Owens vs Cena, the US Open Challenge, Seth Rollins as WWE Champion, a very good Wrestlemania, New Day, Reigns ending the year as an over babyface, Rollins vs Cena, Sting. The lows of that year were Sheamus as WWE Champ, League of Nations, Survivor Series. Actually, everything up to Survivor Series was good, then it all went south.

WWE has seen much worse years than 2015. 2010 comes to mind. WWE were hurting with all their big stars leaving at once (Batista, HBK, Hardy, HHH, Undertaker, Jericho). That was the year we got Sheamus and Swagger as world champions. Plus the Nexus never went anywhere. And CM Punk was in the biggest PPV losing streak, being jobbed out to the Big Show. The only true highlights of 2010 were The Miz and Bryan vs Ziggler. Of course I'm talking for the things that came after WM 26. Also there was Batista looking like a crying bitch on his way out.

 

[relentless1]

1995 easy. WWE is a publicly traded corporation now.. WWF 95 had shit workers and shit storylines, WWE may have shat all over their workers but they are leagues better wrestlers than 22 years ago... its not even a close contest really

 

[Makaveli31]

If we are talking from a purely financial standpoint it would be 1995. I believe 1995 was one of the worst years financially for the WWF, only beaten out by 1996. There were a number of reasons for that.

1) The steroid and sex scandals had made the WWF into a dirty word. On par with Michael Jackson and Pee Wee Herman. It was no longer "cool" to be a pro wrestling fan.

2) The production had gone down. Since they couldn't sell out arenas the WWF was running shows in high school gyms and small towns. They toured Europe relentlessly.

3) In the grunge and hip-hop fueled '90's the cartoonish WWF storylines just didn't cut it. I think if the WWF went with a more edgier product they would've done a lot better. They had all the major players who would go on to fuel the Monday Night Wars but it be over a year later before Vince went full speed in that direction.

As far as talent goes I believe that '95 roster was as deep and talented as any roster the WWF has fielded. Shawn and Nash were the top babyface and heel then we had Bret Hart as the #2, 'Taker, Razor, Bam Bam, Tatanka, The Samoans Yoko and Fatu, Owen, the Bulldog, Sid, Kid, HHH....the list goes on and on. So this was a VERY deep and talented roster.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I would say 1995 for one simple reason...WCW. In 2015 there really is no comparable competition, no one who can fill mid size or large venues in cities nationwide. ROH is a joke compared to the scope of WCW & TNA draws a fraction of WCW audience live on the rare occassions they tour.

Granted, WCW touring business was not as extensive as WWE's at the time, and relied on old NWA "Flair Country" regions of NC, SC, GA, KY, FLA, Tenn, Missouri, but they did do business on the coasts and further into the industrial mid west, doing PPV in Ohio for instance. WCW was also growing, its national presence on an upswing having added Hogan, Savage, & Flair all in the last year along with Lex Luger, joining Sting to form a strong top tier at a time WWE was struggling to elevate stars into that realm in the eyes of fans.

You can compare rosters, compare expenses vs revenue, storyline presentation, etc, but the biggest difference between these two "down" years was competition, today there really isnt any so WWE has a captive audience, in 1995 there was not only another viable national competitor but a competitor on the upswing (1995 was the 1st year since the very beginning of Turner's ownership the company turned a significant profit, their fortunes hitting rock bottom with the departures of LOD, Flair, & Luger in the early 90s).

 

[relentless1]

not true, WWE has plenty of competition in UFC and many other sports that occupy the same industry hemisphere as WWE does

 

[JoeMallard]

I'd say 2017 has been the worst year ever in the history of the WWE.

 

[HBKperfect23]

2015 by far. 1995 wasn't that bad. I think it get a little more flack then deserved because of a weak WM and weak Summerslam. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels still put on some great matches and moments in 95. Rumble 95 was one of my favorite ppvs of the 90s

Side note: Both these years produced the worst 2 ppvs here in philly. KOTR 95 and Royal Rumble 2015.

 

[Wildcat66]

I'd say 2017 has been the worst year ever in the history of the WWE.

Interesting...can we hear your case? I might actually make a sequel if there is enough request.

 

[JoeMallard]

Interesting...can we hear your case? I might actually make a sequel if there is enough request.

Just look at how far the ratings have fallen over the last six months. Samoa Joe winning the fatal five way and being the guy to challenge Lesnar was the first thing interesting they have done since after the rumble. Bayley was one of the hottest women to come up to the main roster, the perfect underdog, she won the title on a random episode of Raw with no build or major obstacles in her way, it completely ruined her. Finn Balor has been spinning his wheels since his return, he was supposed to be feuding with Bray Wyatt, what happened? Seth Rollins won the biggest match of his career at Wrestlemania against HHH, but now he's in a nothing feud with the biggest loser in the company. I'm not even going to get started on the supposed Lesnar vs Reigns match at Mania 34, so is Lesnar just going to squash everyone until Roman Reigns can "save us" and be coronated in his fourth Mania main event?

 

[Wildcat66]

Just look at how far the ratings have fallen over the last six months. Samoa Joe winning the fatal five way and being the guy to challenge Lesnar was the first thing interesting they have done since after the rumble. Bayley was one of the hottest women to come up to the main roster, the perfect underdog, she won the title on a random episode of Raw with no build or major obstacles in her way, it completely ruined her. Finn Balor has been spinning his wheels since his return, he was supposed to be feuding with Bray Wyatt, what happened? Seth Rollins won the biggest match of his career at Wrestlemania against HHH, but now he's in a nothing feud with the biggest loser in the company. I'm not even going to get started on the supposed Lesnar vs Reigns match at Mania 34, so is Lesnar just going to squash everyone until Roman Reigns can "save us" and be coronated in his fourth Mania main event?

I don't know if that's enough to call this year the 'worst' in WWE history though. Sure it's not the best, but it's certainly better than other years like say...2007 or 1996, someone mentioned 2010 being worse than 2015. Pretty sure at one point 2013-14 were mentioned as bad years.

 

[FlairFan2003]

not true, WWE has plenty of competition in UFC and many other sports that occupy the same industry hemisphere as WWE does

WWE has no other wrestling competition, not like WCW. In 1995 WWE was competing against the NHL at its peak (Lemieux, Gretzky, Messier, Hull), the NFL was a monster with the most wstched sports programming on network TV (Monday Night Football) plus the most watched program on Cable (Sunday Night Football), MLB had come out of it's strike, not too mention the boxing scene was huge with Foreman, Tyson, Hollyfield, etc, before we even get into the competition from movies & TV and an NBA in the midst of Jordan's Bull's SuperTeams dominance.

However, that is basically the same competition they face now from professional sports & entertsinment. The only change is today there is no viable direct competition for the WRESTLING audience, in 1995 they did.

 

[Makaveli31]

I would say 1995 for one simple reason...WCW.

Of all the reasons mentioned WCW was probably the LEAST of the reasons why the WWF was "unsuccessful" in 1995. Let's be realistic here....WCW was a blip on Vince's radar. They were doing even worse than the WWF was and considering we're talking about how bad the WWF was doing in 1995 imagine how bad WCW was doing.

Hogan was getting booed out of the buildings in the south, they were giving away tickets when they went out west, and they were drawing measly attendances at PPV's. They might have been better competition than TNA or ROH but not by much. Again, if we are talking specifically about 1995. WCW would become significant competition but in 1995 they were second rate by far even with Hogan and Savage.

The only reason they generated a profit was not because they were doing good business it was because Bischoff cut out house shows and was doing TV tapings in a soundstage at Disney World. The WWF had the better talent by far. If they had good booking and a better financial situation they would've blown WCW out of the water. So you can't say it was because of WCW.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

In my opinion 2015 is worse. I say this because 1995 resources were short and the WWF had competition from WCW and ECW. WWF had overcome a very tough 2 years for them with the trial in 1994. The major mistake was allowing Mable to win the KOTR. He was not a great worker and that was an awful PPV. That led to Summerslam - and with Diesel facing Mable it was awful. The sad thing with 1995 was the Royal Rumble Main Event was excellent but the championship bout ended badly and built nobody up at all for their year to come. Bret ended up with Bob Backlund and Isac yankum until he went on to face Diesel at the end of the year (red hot match though). Diesels Autumn run was one to forget- he was either teaming with Shawn again or fighting Bulldog (who was not in his best condition). No matter what though - WWE has vast more resources and writers now at their disposal so it really should be better than 1995. And it wasn't.

 

[relentless1]

Of all the reasons mentioned WCW was probably the LEAST of the reasons why the WWF was "unsuccessful" in 1995. Let's be realistic here....WCW was a blip on Vince's radar. They were doing even worse than the WWF was and considering we're talking about how bad the WWF was doing in 1995 imagine how bad WCW was doing.

Hogan was getting booed out of the buildings in the south, they were giving away tickets when they went out west, and they were drawing measly attendances at PPV's. They might have been better competition than TNA or ROH but not by much. Again, if we are talking specifically about 1995. WCW would become significant competition but in 1995 they were second rate by far even with Hogan and Savage.

The only reason they generated a profit was not because they were doing good business it was because Bischoff cut out house shows and was doing TV tapings in a soundstage at Disney World. The WWF had the better talent by far. If they had good booking and a better financial situation they would've blown WCW out of the water. So you can't say it was because of WCW.

ok a few points of contention here... first off, WCW wasn't a distant second in 95 they were neck and neck, especially in the latter half of the year thanks to Nitro, one look at the ratings will show you this.

second Hogan didn't start getting noticeably booed until mid 96 after he and Savage basically took on the Dungeon/Horsemen singlehandedly

third WCW may have been doing poorly outside of their area in the USA but they were doing quite well internationally; this is why Bischoff was able to finally turn a profit.

fourth WCW talent was at least on par with WWF if not better; Jushin Liger, Pillman, Malenko, Benoit, Guerrerro, Flair, Anderson, Sting, Vader, Booker T, Savage, Regal... the list goes on and on.

The point is, WCW was very much a threat to WWF in 1995.

 

[GhettoV1]

The video game industry was growing up as well with the launches of both the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation systems in 1995 taking video games from being kid-friendly to teens and young adult focused.

 

[Makaveli31]

first off, WCW wasn't a distant second in 95 they were neck and neck, especially in the latter half of the year thanks to Nitro, one look at the ratings will show you this.

True. But while they may have been neck and neck as far as ratings WCW was still getting smoked in live events and merchandise sales. Since the WWF was a privately owned company back then we will never truly know how close Vince came to bankruptcy. By all eye witness accounts it was pretty close in the mid-90's but again that had more to do with the federal steroid investigation and subsequent trial from the 1990 to 1994 than anything WCW did. Now if we want to talk about 1996 on. Eric Bischoff and WCW had a major impact but in 1995 not so much.

2) Hulk Hogan still wasn't a threat to Vince. Sure it was big for WCW but it didn't put them over to the top so to speak. It more or less drew them even with the WWF. It wasn't until Hall and Nash showed that WCW pulled ahead.

3) The WWF owned the international market. While WCW was combining shows and talent with New Japan, the WWF pretty much owned all of Europe.

4) Seriously.....you're comparing these lists?

Jushin Liger, Bret Hart
Pillman, Shawn Michaels
Malenko, Scott Hall
Benoit, HHH
Guerrerro, Undertaker
Flair, Nash
Anderson, Sid
Sting, Yokozuna
Vader, Luger
Booker T, Bulldog
Savage, Owen
Regal... Jeff Jarrett

I don't it's even close as afar as the combination of wrestling, charisma, promos etc....we're talking the best of the best in the WWF.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

I think what was happening with WCW in 1995 adds to the horrible year for WWF. Perhaps ratings, attendance, merchandise, etc. hadn't caught up yet (I would think they hadn't, I just don't have those numbers), but there were things being put in place in 1995 that wouldn't "materialize" until 1996.

In 1995, I was 16 years old. The previous 10 years of my life had been spent watching wrestling. The Hulkamania Era had people jumping ship to and from WWF, but the constant was Hulk Hogan. At different points as a young fan, I loved Junkyard Dog, Ricky Steamboat, and others who would leave WWF while I was still a huge fan. I missed those guys but I never considered watching NWA, AWA or WCW, whatever it was each time. Those guys had left and I was now focusing on Demolition, Ultimate Warrior and other new arrivals. Many faces changed, but Hulk, Savage, Tito, Jake, the Hart Foundation and others were constants for much of that time.

Then, the Hulkamania Era ended in WWF and while I still knew plenty of the guys who remained, the feel had changed dramatically. Sure, good ol' Bret is here and Undertaker is still here and the blonde guy from the Rockers is getting a singles push, but the overall feel of the product had changed. Now, granted, I am no longer a little kid at this point and a teenager's interests are going to change regardless of the roster. But, when the Steiners and Headshrinkers and Bastion Booger showed up...this just wasn't the WWF I had grown up loving. I was young, but I knew that all along people had moved from company to company. I knew guys got old and "retired". But it was a bummer to see that something I had loved for so long--so much of it with monthly magazines and PPVs and trading cards and LJN figures and ice cream bars--had now completely changed in my view.

What's my point? Well, all of a sudden, those guys I missed and those guys who brought me all of that joy...well, they were suddenly on that other channel. Like I said, guys like Rude and Steamboat had shown up before, but I never looked since WWF was what I loved. Now, WWF is nothing like what I loved and WCW has a lot of these guys. I could watch Diesel and Jeff Jarrett and Men on a Mission and try to give them a chance to change my mind...or I can go to this channel and see familiar faces like Hogan, Savage, Beefcake, Earthquake, Kamala. It didn't matter that their angles or characters weren't exactly the same. They were a way to keep the old WWF alive.

Suddenly, what WWF was offering had weakened and the people we wished were still around were around, but somewhere else. Suddenly channel 3 and those empty-feeling, watered-down shows were an option. For this reason, I think WCW can be added to the list of reasons 1995 was awful for WWF.

 

[Makaveli31]

I will just refer back to my original post as to why the WWF was in the position it was in by 1995. The fact is, if WCW was not there in 1995 the WWF still would've been in the same position it was in. As far as 1995 vs 2015. It's hard to say. We're comparing two different era's. I think the overall talent was better in 1995. The problem was the booking.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

The fact is, if WCW was not there in 1995 the WWF still would've been in the same position it was in.

This is hardly a fact. But, to clarify, are you saying if WCW and its roster just poof disappeared, WWF would've been in the same position? Or are you saying if WCW was suddenly not there, WWF would be in the same position despite WCW's roster now being available to WWF?

 

[Makaveli31]

This is hardly a fact. But, to clarify, are you saying if WCW and its roster just poof disappeared, WWF would've been in the same position? Or are you saying if WCW was suddenly not there, WWF would be in the same position despite WCW's roster now being available to WWF?

My point is the same events, which led to decline of the WWF, would've happened with or without the presence of WCW. Remember, this was not a sudden decline by the WWF. This gradually happened over a number of years beginning in 1990. If the "rise" of WCW accounted for the terrible year the WWF had in 1995, what accounted for the years 1990-1994 when the WWF was doing just as bad.

1) the federal steroid investigation and trial would've still happened leading to financial turmoil for the company.

2) The "Hulkamania" era would've still ended. Leaving a vacuum for that top spot.

3) The booking would've still been the same corny crap with or without WCW.

If you listen to shoots by Bruce Pritchard and Jim Cornette, who both were familiar with Vince's thinking back then, he was not worried about WCW in the least. He just escaped major jail time. His reaction to Nitro was 'Oh, that's interesting' to quote from Bruce Pritchard's shoot interview. WCW was not on his radar. He wasn't giving out guaranteed contracts, he was not changing the direction of the company, all that didn't change until Hall and Nash jumped a year later.

So my point is they would've been in the same financial position due to the steroid trial and Hogan's "retirement". They would've had the same booking philosophy because the Attitude era didn't happen until '97. The only thing that might've been different is the roster but I don't think the top guys would've changed. Vince was content with what he had.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I would say 1995 was the worse year of the two. In 1995 they had one of the worst Wrestlemania events in history in Wrestlemania 11. It even gets my vote for being THE worst Wrestlemania. The year also saw awful characters such as Isaac Yankem who we now of course know as Kane, but back then he was just an evil dentist character who sucked. Mabel won King Of The Ring and main evented against Diesel. Many older fans have tried to block that out from memory and who could blame them? This is all without even addressing a show called Monday Nitro that began in September of 1995 giving the fans a better option for what to watch, unless you were like me and watched both.

Then you have 2015. The year was off to a bad start with the Reigns VS Lesnar feud going into a main event at a Wrestlemania that so many thought would suck. The event as a whole exceeded expectations ten times over. Wrestlemania 31 had Seth's awesome cash-in, Sting's Wrestlemania match, Paige and AJ teaming up in a tag team match, and more. Seth as World Heavyweight Champion was a welcome change from the nonsense of Lesnar holding the title hostage since Seth actually defended it. Cena was giving prestige back to the US Championship. It wasn't until the end of the year at Survivor Series that it really got awful. 2015 had some pretty bad moments, though overall it's low points were nowhere near as bad as 1995.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

You can't really judge the two years on the same levels...

1995 was a time of paradigm shift in the business... not just with Hogan joining WCW but the whole business changed on its axis... You had monthly PPV for the first time, Nitro going live every week as opposed to the WWF's alternate weeks and TV ratings becoming the driver for both companies for the first time over PPV revenue and live event attendance.

WCW were better prepared for that shift, but that was to be expected as they were owned by a media mogul... they were able to give "Eric two hours on a Monday Night..." immediately... Vince had to negotiate his deals and work within financial restraints AND adapt his PPV model to match WCW's in a short space of time... He couldn't offer the contracts WCW were to aging talent and that meant he had a roster that to many was "inferior".

Look at that roster of "new talent" again though... you had Kane there, Dustin Rhodes, Mick Foley, Ron Simmons, Chris Candido, Jinsei Shinsake and Owen Hart who was only a year into his big run... Add in the guys already established like Nash, Hall, Davey, Bret, Bam Bam and Taker and you have a pretty strong core roster.

But they had to pad it with the Smokey Mountain deal, signing WCW Z listers like Johnny Gunn/Sal Sincere and using older C level talents like Bundy, Volkoff and Dan Spivey/Waylon Mercy.

The booking sucked but at the same time WCW's wasn't MUCH better... it was just the first time that many of their fans had seen Hogan and crew, so it seemed fresher. WWF was hurt more by the appalling choice of gimmicks for talent that saw the future Kane a dentist, Tony Anthony a plumber and Lex Luger and The Bulldog fighting The Harris Brothers, who were wearing skirts.

They needed more talent to do monthly PPV shows... but those available to them were the cheaper, less interesting options...so they had to overcompensate with shit gimmicks that in the main backfired... but Goldust for example, didn't backfire.

2015 was a different time in that Vince was having to adapt to damage done BY HIM and his choices rather than the business shifting. There was a lot of talk of Wall Street problems around that time, they had failed to secure the TV rights deal they had hoped for and for the first time Vince looked out of ideas on a business level. As a traded company by that time, options would have been limited... and to an extent WWE IS trapped in a self made slump... they built everything around Cena and PG to the level that even if the business demands a change, like it did in 1996-98... they may not be able to do it for risk of being voted out by other shareholders.

Both are "bad years" with some positives the following year... but the one truth remains is that in both years, Vince was a poor judge of talent to push... Nash and Shawn didn't catch as he hoped, just as Roman and Rollins haven't. It took a star "from nowhere" in Austin to catch and AJ was kind of that guy last year...

 

[WWEIsLife2]

I have to go with 1995 myself. Outside of Bret,Shawn, Taker, Diesel, Owen, Bulldog, Razor, 123 Kid plus maybe a couple others the Roster was very weak. Royal Rumble & Survivor Series were two of the bright spots that year plus actually Summerslam isn't a bad Show either. But then you had a pretty bad Wrestlemania 11 and an awful King Of The Ring. I haven't seen any of the In Your Houses except the December one even though i was watching at that point early on in my time as a Fan. I need to go back and watch the other IYH PPVs on The Network.

2015 overall is a better year than some give it a credit for. I agree the Royal Rumble outside the Triple Threat is not good, Wrestlemania 31 is one of the best Manias from start to finish, I really like Summerslam, and i have a soft spot for Survivor Series as I was there even though i wasn't a big fan of Roman Reigns losing the Title after winning it. A couple of the B Shows are good like Extreme Rules, MITB, Battleground, and TLC. Plus the influx of the Talent that came in on both NXT and the Main Roster. I got to see the debuts of Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch arriving on RAW too.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Was the roster that weak in 2015? A lot of guys they had became bigger over time.

Roadie & Billy Gunn
Triple H
Kane/Issac Yankem
Al Snow/Avatar
Bob Holly
Steve Austin (later part of the year)
Fatu/Rikishi

All of those guys were seen as "lowly" or weak talents in 1995 but became major parts of the winning Attitude Era roster. Where they were weaker than WCW was in the "jobber" department, as WCW were hiring bigger names and better talents to fill those roles while WWE were using Smokey Mountain or WCW rejects like Tony Anthony and Tracey Smothers in those roles. They also botched some of the potentially better ones like Maxx Payne/Man Mountain Rock and Louie Spiccoli.