Best Year ever by a Promotion Nominees

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I was writing posts on that "Dean Ambrose Hates the Attitude Era" thread and I said many times that I felt 1997 WCW was the best promotion/year of all time. In my opinion, it's because it had a fantastic undercard with great matches, star power at the top, and great story lines throughout.


Obviously, I haven't seen every show from every promotion from every year. So, what would your nomination be for the best year by any promotion. Doesn't have to be my criteria, can be anything. Do multiples if you'd like, but explain why. Also, comment on other's if you agree or elaborate as to why you don't agree.

 

[Wolf Pac]

1989 NWA/WCW. Despite how badly it ended with the Iron Man/Team Tournaments at Starrcade, the year was solid for the in-ring action and was full of great matches and great feuds such as Steamboat vs. Flair, Funk vs. Flair, Sting vs. Muta, Steiners vs. Doom etc. The company lost momentum after Starrcade and wouldn't be this brilliant again until 96/97.

 

[relentless1]

1997 WCW, the nWo vs WcW, sting vs Hogan feud were the talk of the wrestling world, no matter what WCW did that year they made gold

 

[THTRobtaylor]

If you're gonna do it, you do need some fixed criteria because otherwise there is no way to ever set one above another.

97 was a successful period businesswise for WCW no doubt, creatively not so much. The NWO was starting to bloat, even with the Hogan/Sting feud... A lot of the cruisers were floundering and the focus wasn't properly on non NWO talent who were basically being fed to them. The saving grace is the emergence of Goldberg, but even that is more luck than judgement, even businesswise the following year in WWE eclipsed it and had a far better creative mix.

If you're looking at it creatively, then WWE 1999-2000 arguably comes into the discussion, during that time you had McMahon/Austin, Austin/Rock, Foley and Hunter finally winning the big one and the debuts of talents like Angle, Tazz and Jericho and finally the Radicalz... all were done well and the undercards were also exciting. Even Steve Blackman was being given entertaining stuff to do and the envelope was being pushed with TLC matches and the like. Business was booming but the show itself was arguably the best it had been.

But if you're going to pick out a "banner year" for the business, it's the WWF in 1987 into 1988. From the sheer numbers perspective, the massive Mania crowd, Andre v Hogan, the Steamboat/Savage classic and the "oil change" of talent that fit in seemlessly as the older ones were jettisoned. Look at the roster change between Mania 3 and 4... Vince was able to bring in not just one but many new talents, integrate them so that when Mania 4 and the tourney came around, however flawed the booking on the night all of these new guys looked like they belonged in the tournament... DiBiase, Duggan, Rude, Bam Bam... Warrior of course also debuted but wasn't in the tourney...all of them were new but contributed to the success of that year and it was like guys such as Iron Shiek, Harley Race, Bob Orton & Paul Orndorrf, Bundy... those who had been the mainstays to that point, were not even missed cos the booking of the newcomers was done absolutely right.

Others on the roster came into their own, guys like the Harts, Demolition, Brutus and Honky Tonk man became major players.

The only letdown was Mania 4 didn't quite work as well as intended... it could only ever be a let down after the prior year and to me the biggest issue is still having Hulk and Andre in the tourney at all... they should have had a cage match for their careers, seperate. DiBiase should have won the tourney... but all told that period from Mania 3-4 is the banner year in the business, where major success was built on and where the WWF became an entity for the long haul.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I would go with 1987 for the WWF for the reasons Taylor mentioned above.

I'm offering up 1986 for the JCP/WCW. This was the year that creatively a lot of things were working for JCP, and it's considered part of the golden era. During this time, you had the rise of the Four Horsemen, the best of 7 series between Magnum T.A. and Nikita Koloff, teams like the Rock N' Roll Express and the Midnight Express held the tag team titles, and the Road Warriors landed in the promotion, and lit the place on fire. This was the last time until 1996-1997 that the JCP/WCW was considered a peer to the WWF. 1987 ended up bringing a host of mismanagement problems including the purchase of UWF and poor booking that ended up undoing much of the goodwill built up.

 

[sMark]

If you need the full year, then i'll go with WCW97 - the only full year i wasn't bored at some point.
There also were these like 6 months periods when i enjoyed 90%+ of the things i saw:
WCW: Bash at the Beach 96-Starrcade 96, January 98-September 98
WWE: middle of 1997 (after WM, but before Screwjob), January 2001-Invasion PPV, Summerslam 2002-Backlash 2003, january 2005-One Night Stand, Summer of Punk, the end of 2013-WM 30 (rise of DBry)

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

If you're gonna do it, you do need some fixed criteria because otherwise there is no way to ever set one above another.

97 was a successful period businesswise for WCW no doubt, creatively not so much. The NWO was starting to bloat, even with the Hogan/Sting feud... A lot of the cruisers were floundering and the focus wasn't properly on non NWO talent who were basically being fed to them. The saving grace is the emergence of Goldberg, but even that is more luck than judgement, even businesswise the following year in WWE eclipsed it and had a far better creative mix.

If you're looking at it creatively, then WWE 1999-2000 arguably comes into the discussion, during that time you had McMahon/Austin, Austin/Rock, Foley and Hunter finally winning the big one and the debuts of talents like Angle, Tazz and Jericho and finally the Radicalz... all were done well and the undercards were also exciting. Even Steve Blackman was being given entertaining stuff to do and the envelope was being pushed with TLC matches and the like. Business was booming but the show itself was arguably the best it had been.

But if you're going to pick out a "banner year" for the business, it's the WWF in 1987 into 1988. From the sheer numbers perspective, the massive Mania crowd, Andre v Hogan, the Steamboat/Savage classic and the "oil change" of talent that fit in seemlessly as the older ones were jettisoned. Look at the roster change between Mania 3 and 4... Vince was able to bring in not just one but many new talents, integrate them so that when Mania 4 and the tourney came around, however flawed the booking on the night all of these new guys looked like they belonged in the tournament... DiBiase, Duggan, Rude, Bam Bam... Warrior of course also debuted but wasn't in the tourney...all of them were new but contributed to the success of that year and it was like guys such as Iron Shiek, Harley Race, Bob Orton & Paul Orndorrf, Bundy... those who had been the mainstays to that point, were not even missed cos the booking of the newcomers was done absolutely right.

Others on the roster came into their own, guys like the Harts, Demolition, Brutus and Honky Tonk man became major players.

The only letdown was Mania 4 didn't quite work as well as intended... it could only ever be a let down after the prior year and to me the biggest issue is still having Hulk and Andre in the tourney at all... they should have had a cage match for their careers, seperate. DiBiase should have won the tourney... but all told that period from Mania 3-4 is the banner year in the business, where major success was built on and where the WWF became an entity for the long haul.

The nWo didn't get bloated. It got to it's most powerful then Sting/DDP started to take it down. If Starrcade 97 were booked better, it would be a masterpiece. I still contend that Sting vs nWo is the greatest story arc of all time. I start that arc as soon as Hogan came to WCW and pushed Sting over as the top baby face. Sting gracefully stepped aside, then was betrayed by WCW again at Fall Brawl, then he went through the transformation, ultimately saving them. The majority of the cool shit in that happened in 1997.

You also had Guerrero vs Mysterio at Halloween Havoc 1997, which is a masterpiece and probably the best match any mainstream company has ever put on.


The older WWF years are hard for me to evaluate because things were booked so differently. A lot of squashes and few matches where top guys bump for each other and go a long time.

If you want hard criteria, I'd say in ring talent, good stories, good business being done, and things like milestones, landmark events, or rising stars as bonus points. Which WCW 1997 had all of.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Aside from the god-awful WrestleMania 16, the year 2000 was an incredible year for the WWF. This is the year when Triple H really became a top guy and a main event level heel. From his matches with Foley at the start of the year, to his feud with the Rock, and eventually the love triangle story line with Kurt Angle and Stephanie, this was the year of the Game. The undercard was awesome as well, with the Hardys, Dudleys and E&C tearing it up in the tag-team division. Chris Jericho had a great year as well, and Kurt Angle won his first WWF Championship, benefitting greatly from the aforementioned feud with Triple H.

2000 wasn't perfect by any stretch. The "Who ran down Stone Cold?" angle obviously could've been handled much better, but it ultimately did lead to some solid matches with Austin and Triple H. Overall the good greatly outweighed the bad for the WWF in 2000, and it's one of my favorite years.

Notable matches in from the WWF in 2000:
Triple H vs. Cactus Jack in a Street Fight for the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble
Hardys vs. Dudleys in a Tables Match at the Rumble
Triple H vs. Cactus in a Hell in a Cell MAtch for the WWF Title at No Way Out
Hardys vs. Dudleys vs. E&C in a Triangle Ladder Match for the Tag Titles at Mania 16
Triple H vs. The Rock for the WWF Title at BackLash
Triple H vs. The Rock in an Ironman Match for the WWF Title at Judgment Day
Rikishi vs. Val Venis for in a Cage Match for the IC Title (Rikishi did a fucking splash off the cage)
Triple H vs. Chris Jericho in a Last Man Standing Match at Fully Loaded
Jericho vs. Benout 2-out-of-3 Falls at SummerSlam
Hardys vs. Dudleys vs. E&C in a TLC Match for the Tag Titles at SummerSlam
Rock vs. Triple H vs. Angle for the WWF Title at SummerSlam
Triple H vs. Angle in a No DQ Match at Unforgiven
Rock vs. Angle for the WWF Title at No Mercy
Triple H vs. Stone Cold in a No DQ Match at Survivor Series
Armageddon Hell in a Cell for the WWF Title

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

The nWo didn't get bloated. It got to it's most powerful then Sting/DDP started to take it down. If Starrcade 97 were booked better, it would be a masterpiece. I still contend that Sting vs nWo is the greatest story arc of all time. I start that arc as soon as Hogan came to WCW and pushed Sting over as the top baby face. Sting gracefully stepped aside, then was betrayed by WCW again at Fall Brawl, then he went through the transformation, ultimately saving them. The majority of the cool shit in that happened in 1997.

You also had Guerrero vs Mysterio at Halloween Havoc 1997, which is a masterpiece and probably the best match any mainstream company has ever put on.


The older WWF years are hard for me to evaluate because things were booked so differently. A lot of squashes and few matches where top guys bump for each other and go a long time.

If you want hard criteria, I'd say in ring talent, good stories, good business being done, and things like milestones, landmark events, or rising stars as bonus points. Which WCW 1997 had all of.

My issue with WCW 1997 is that there was a huge nadir in the storyline from about February up until December. It started with a clusterfuck of a main event at SuperBrawl, which was filled with weird stipulations and teams. From there it progressed to folks like Dennis Rodman, Kevin Greene and Karl Malone main eventing matches alongside the most tired of the tired wrestlers in Flair and Piper. Hogan disappeared frequently during this period, and somehow we were presented with Luger and The Giant as credible threats to the title.

The problem was it just dragged on for too long. By the time Hogan Vs. Sting happened at the very end of 1997, the angle had gone on without progression for a year and a half, and Sting had been parked in the rafters for over a year.

IMO, 1996 was the best year for the nWo, but it really needed to be brought to a close by the summer of 1997.

 

[FlairFan2003]

My issue with WCW 1997 is that there was a huge nadir in the storyline from about February up until December. It started with a clusterfuck of a main event at SuperBrawl, which was filled with weird stipulations and teams. From there it progressed to folks like Dennis Rodman, Kevin Greene and Karl Malone main eventing matches alongside the most tired of the tired wrestlers in Flair and Piper. Hogan disappeared frequently during this period, and somehow we were presented with Luger and The Giant as credible threats to the title.

The problem was it just dragged on for too long. By the time Hogan Vs. Sting happened at the very end of 1997, the angle had gone on without progression for a year and a half, and Sting had been parked in the rafters for over a year.

IMO, 1996 was the best year for the nWo, but it really needed to be brought to a close by the summer of 1997.

You say Piper & Flair were "tired", they were also as popular as anyone in wrestling at the time, thje crowd reactions they got were insane, WWE at that would have killed for guys who generated that much pop from fans.

I do feel that 1997 wasn't a great year. The build to Hogan-Sting was excellent, but Hogan was gone much of the year, Flair spent long periods on IR, there were great cruiserweight matches but no one cared since they weren't given storylines or significant pushes, Eddie Guerrero, gaining real heat as a heel, was actually de-pushed at this time because Nash & Hogan didn't want any heels getting heat besides the NWO, and Starrcade 97 was the event where the power should have shifted and WCW should have taken back control, something that didn't happen for nearly two more years (and then they tanked the whole storyline anyway). Nash no showed SC, the main event was a cluster, Flair was re habing a broken ankle, the whole thing was bad.

I actually thought a lot of what the NWA was doing in 1987 was successful, certainly from a live attendance standpoint it was good, the Great American Bash tour was a success, although some of the business decisions behind purchase did hurt.

1986 was an awesome year for the NWA. Magnum TA was becoming the biggest fan fave in the business, rivaling Dusty & Hogan. He was so popular, and unlike the Ultimate Warrior a few years later in WWE, magnum could actually wrestle and talk. His 53 minute match when he lost the US Title to Tully Blanchard in 1985 was terrific, as was the "I Quit" Match between, still considered the greatest of that match genre. 1986 saw the rise of The Four Horsemen, The Rock & Roll Express-Midnight Express feud was so over it forced WWE to try and copy it by creating British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation, The Road Warriors landed full time in the company after splitting between NWA, AWA, and Japan and the immediately became huge, there was also a lot of investment in the under card, guys like Ronnie Garvin, "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin & Prescious, older vets like Dick Murdock & Wahoo McDaniel still doing well, even the terrible car accident that ended Magnum's career didn't derail the company. That was a great overall year.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I'd also vote for WWE 2000 - from the brutal title match at Royal Rumble through to an amazing Hell in a Cell six pack match at Armageddon, the in-ring product was probably the best we've ever seen from the WWE. The innovation of the TLC match also occurred this year, after the Hardys, Dudleys and E&C tore the house down at Wrestlemania. Whilst far from the best, I do feel that year's WM was underrated - the main event was decent though perhaps a little long, the aforementioned ladder match was compelling, the hardcore battle Royal was a fun 15 minutes (other than the botched ending).

We also saw the debut of Taz, the mega-push of Kurt Angle, the defection of the Radicals from WCW (one of which, Chris Benoit, was the WCW champion when he jumped, though this was never acknowledged); the best Iron Man match I've seen at Judgment Day; and one of my top 5 ppvs of all time, Backlash 2000.

In fact, only the Autumn ppvs let the year down. No Mercy was ok but Survivor Series was the worst card of the year in my opinion, including the ridiculous site of Stone Cold dropping Triple H from 20+ foot in a car, only for Trips to appear unscathed on Raw 8 days later... (Oh dear)

That blip aside, WWE was truly on top of it's game in 2000.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I can just see Shieky Baby's comments on reading this..."FAAACK THE BOTCH YOO JABRONI...I FORMER WWF WORLD CHAMPION AND BATTLE ROYAL WINNER..."

2000 was a strong year for sure, but a lot of the "buzz" had disappated from 1998-1999. Bad things like Owen's death and Droz's accident had muddied the waters, some "jump the shark" moments had started to creep in alongside the classics you mention. Austin had turned the corner from being the hero to the villain and arguably had blown his wad creatively. The undercard was major in 2000 but more reliance was being placed on guys taking risks or who weren't getting the ball 100% to drive the actual WOW factor on WWF TV without any real payoff for them... the aborted Jericho in the 4 Way kind of showed that... they advertise Jericho, then replace him with the guy who retired last month in Foley... it kinda shows that they weren't wanting these newer guys to take over so quick as they did.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I can just see Shieky Baby's comments on reading this..."FAAACK THE BOTCH YOO JABRONI...I FORMER WWF WORLD CHAMPION AND BATTLE ROYAL WINNER..."

2000 was a strong year for sure, but a lot of the "buzz" had disappated from 1998-1999. Bad things like Owen's death and Droz's accident had muddied the waters, some "jump the shark" moments had started to creep in alongside the classics you mention. Austin had turned the corner from being the hero to the villain and arguably had blown his wad creatively. The undercard was major in 2000 but more reliance was being placed on guys taking risks or who weren't getting the ball 100% to drive the actual WOW factor on WWF TV without any real payoff for them... the aborted Jericho in the 4 Way kind of showed that... they advertise Jericho, then replace him with the guy who retired last month in Foley... it kinda shows that they weren't wanting these newer guys to take over so quick as they did.

You say that, but Triple H only won his first world title in August 1999, so technically was part of the 'newer guys taking over'. Then we had the rapid ascent of Kurt Angle, who only debuted at Survivor Series 1999 and in 2000 won the European, Intercontinental and WWE titles and the King of the Ring. Other than them, the likes of Jericho, Benoit and Rikishi headlined ppvs for the first time, and the build to the 2001 Royal Rumble was so strong that it had 5 or 6 believable winners rather than the usual 1 or 2 if we're lucky...

Add to this a toning down of the tacky crap from 1998-99 (the shock value stuff like Yamaguchi-San demasculating Val Venis or Mae Young giving birth to a hand were largely absent) - still there in small doses but not nearly as prevalent as previous years - replaced with a more hardcore style of wrestling, but one which have us some tremendous matches, like the aforementioned TLC matches and the Last Man Standing match between Jericho and Triple H at Fully Loaded (I think).

It was also probably their best year for tv. Main events this year included Chris Benoit's debut match v Triple H and WWE v ECW champion in Triple H v Taz, and the main event of my favourite ever Raw episode, from Feb 2000: DX and the Radicals versus Cactus Jack, the Rock, Rikishi and Too Cool; we also had the false title change when Jericho beat Triple H but the decision was reversed - not so much designed to keep super-popular Jericho down, more to reheat Triple H as a heel, since he was becoming a 'cool' heel by this point, which wasn't the direction WWE wanted from him before Stone Cold's return from injury.

Finally, Stephanie McMahon NEVER looked better than in her 'sexy Steph' phase in 2000

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's always gonna be subjective to age as well... if the 2000/Attitude era was when you "got in" then you're always gonna look at that stuff better. Those around for the Hogan era will do the same there...just as some poor sods DO think Cena is the nuts... Likewise with Steph... she was hot in 2000 but a trashbag ho... I'd much rather bang the MILF version but hey that's just me...

I never disputed 2000 being a great year, but it was the beginning of the "downward" part of the spiral, WCW was in freefall so the need to compete wasn't there as it had been the prior year when the war was alive and could legit have gone either way.

The talent churn in 2000 was different to that in 1987, it was a much more stated "WCW is shit so we're here" than in 87, where Vince was cherry picking the best from each territory and making them stars very quickly. The debuts in 2000 were more "star powered" in that they had more guys with more national exposure, strengthening an already deep roster.

In 87 they churned completely, ditching guys who had been mainstays in the territory for years like JYD, Muraco, Orndorrf, Orton, Piper and Sheik and replaced them along with newer experiments that had failed like Harley Race, Billy Jack Haynes and the like it was a massive risk to cut so many known faces and replace them with relative "unknowns" from the territories.

The Radicalz and Tazz were "can't lose" to an extent as they had the national fanbase from the TV exposure WCW and ECW had and the novelty of seeing stars created elsewhere jumping ship. In 87 a UWF fan might have marked seeing DiBiase or Duggan debut or a WCCW fan might have recognised Rude or Warrior, but the public at large didn't. There was no "holy shit" debuts for these guys, where as in 2000 anyone who did come in was nationally known and would automatically generate that buzz... however telegraphed the move was. Even if Benoit and co had bombed later on, their debut made the risk worth it... just for that one TV moment.

Duggan, DiBiase, Gang, Bossman, Warrior and Rude all had some exposure in certain areas but only really DiBiase had ever been "someone up north" before they debuted in 87. The only one with any real NWA/JCP pedigree was Bossman, who was still relatively new into his career when he was picked up, he might have been more noticeable but to most he was again, a complete unknown.

Add to that guys like Bam Bam and a little later the Rockers who were relatively green yet all caught quickly without damaging the business. If Duggan hadn't fucked up, he'd have been HUGE, it was all in place for him. Bam Bam too but he needed seasoning, which they got the benefit of a few years later. Other than that to a man in 87 they not only replaced the talent well but surpassed them in many people's memories. Someone like Rude is considered higher in the IC title ladder than a Muraco is in most fans eyes for example.

Look at how long talents spend in development and how many dark matches they now get before they get their debuts... that 87 bunch got some vignettes and bang...into it...and to a man they took their chances, although Duggan perhaps blew his later, till that point he was on route to be the next big face.

2000 makes the top 4 or 5, but 87-88 really does have everything in there.

 

[New Hot Fed]

I can just see Shieky Baby's comments on reading this..."FAAACK THE BOTCH YOO JABRONI...I FORMER WWF WORLD CHAMPION AND BATTLE ROYAL WINNER..."

2000 was a strong year for sure, but a lot of the "buzz" had disappated from 1998-1999. Bad things like Owen's death and Droz's accident had muddied the waters, some "jump the shark" moments had started to creep in alongside the classics you mention. Austin had turned the corner from being the hero to the villain and arguably had blown his wad creatively. The undercard was major in 2000 but more reliance was being placed on guys taking risks or who weren't getting the ball 100% to drive the actual WOW factor on WWF TV without any real payoff for them... the aborted Jericho in the 4 Way kind of showed that... they advertise Jericho, then replace him with the guy who retired last month in Foley... it kinda shows that they weren't wanting these newer guys to take over so quick as they did.

Yea I think to me while 2000 may have had many good matches, the red hot buzz the WWF had wasn't there anymore. In wrestling you need a great mix of good matches, heat and storylines and the must-see storylines were just not there in 2000. Except maye HHH-Angle for the love of Steph. 2000 was a weird year in wrestling as the Attitude Era was coming to a close and the product was kind of boring and in WCW it was the New Blood Era with Russo and it was nuts and complete garbage.

About Jericho not beating HHH, it went from maybe the greatest moment of the year in wrestling to the worst for me. Had Chris won that match that day, his career would have been much better in my opinion cause he was still fresh, he still had that edge that he had from WCW, that cockiness, untouched by the WWF system so to speak.

Now as far as picking years, it's difficult cause quality doesn't automatically start on January to December. Like for instance I'll say JCP's good stuff probably started in 85 and carried over a part of 86. I'll say WCW's Best Year was probably 1997 but it's more accurate to say Summer of 1996 to Summer 1997.

Personally my favorite Attitude Era year is WWF 1997 before the Stone Cold phenom but right in the middle of him becoming the hit boy. That year you had a mix of everything, you had Stone Cold, you had the NAO, you had the Hart Foundation, the original DX, Sid. I even liked the Patriot! It's a shame that Bret had to leave cause I really wanted to see a DX-Hart Foundation War. Bret going to WCW fucked everything up wrestling-wise for both companies cause it made the WWF focus too much on Stone Cold, it killed the Hart Foundation and by the Montreal screwjob happening, it put the idea in the head of Bischoff to do a screwjob for Sting vs Hogan and it killed WCW's momentum.

Now given how WCW 97 was the best and WWF 97, it's safe to say that 97 was my year in wrestling. But it wasn't the finish that I wanted. lol

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

Yea I think to me while 2000 may have had many good matches, the red hot buzz the WWF had wasn't there anymore. In wrestling you need a great mix of good matches, heat and storylines and the must-see storylines were just not there in 2000. Except maye HHH-Angle for the love of Steph. 2000 was a weird year in wrestling as the Attitude Era was coming to a close and the product was kind of boring and in WCW it was the New Blood Era with Russo and it was nuts and complete garbage.

About Jericho not beating HHH, it went from maybe the greatest moment of the year in wrestling to the worst for me. Had Chris won that match that day, his career would have been much better in my opinion cause he was still fresh, he still had that edge that he had from WCW, that cockiness, untouched by the WWF system so to speak.

Now as far as picking years, it's difficult cause quality doesn't automatically start on January to December. Like for instance I'll say JCP's good stuff probably started in 85 and carried over a part of 86. I'll say WCW's Best Year was probably 1997 but it's more accurate to say Summer of 1996 to Summer 1997.

Personally my favorite Attitude Era year is WWF 1997 before the Stone Cold phenom but right in the middle of him becoming the hit boy. That year you had a mix of everything, you had Stone Cold, you had the NAO, you had the Hart Foundation, the original DX, Sid. I even liked the Patriot! It's a shame that Bret had to leave cause I really wanted to see a DX-Hart Foundation War. Bret going to WCW fucked everything up wrestling-wise for both companies cause it made the WWF focus too much on Stone Cold, it killed the Hart Foundation and by the Montreal screwjob happening, it put the idea in the head of Bischoff to do a screwjob for Sting vs Hogan and it killed WCW's momentum.

Now given how WCW 97 was the best and WWF 97, it's safe to say that 97 was my year in wrestling. But it wasn't the finish that I wanted. lol

I'm not really going to compare 2000 to the 80's, but I disagree about WWF 2000 being boring and not having the red hot buzz. WWF in 2000 had all of the momentum and it all culminated in WrestleMania X-7 (what I consider the best WM ever). You mention great matches, heat and must-see storylines... well WWF had one of it's best rosters ever in 2000.

Main event guys like The Rock, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker were at their peak in terms of heat and popularity. Upper-mid card guys like Kane, The Big Show, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit could step in and main event any show that needed them to. New blood in the mid card like Chris Jericho, Taz, Raven, Rikishi, Eddie Guerrero, Saturn to supplement guys like X-Pac, Val Venis, D-Lo, etc. Plus the best tag division since the 80's with Edge & Christian, The Dudleyz, The Hardyz, APA, even Too Cool and Kaientai got over. Right To Censor got major heat for a lowcard stable. This roster was hitting on all cylinders in terms of heat, matches and overall talent.

Some great matches... HHH/Cactus Jack Street Fight and Hell In A Cell, Rock/HHH Iron Man Match, Angle/Jericho/Benoit Triple Threat, Jericho/HHH Last Man Standing, Benoit/Jericho 2of3 Falls, Hardyz vs Dudleyz Tables Match, Tag Team Triple Threat Ladder Match at WM2000, TLC, I'm sure there are others.

You mention the Steph/HHH/Angle love triangle storyline which was great but don't forget 2000 also had one of WWF's biggest storyline's with who ran over Stone Cold. Not to mention the entire McMahon-Helmsley faction/era storyline earlier in the year.

I agree with you, I love WWF 1997 it's probably my personal favourite year. But in terms of just top to bottom quality 2000 has to be considered for the top.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Not to be contrarian, but just to throw some other suggestions into the mix for contemplation:

The best answer to this question is probably one the years that All Japan produced during the 90s. Take your pick on which you prefer, basically every year was nearly flawless. It would be the clear landslide answer if the question was best decade by any promotion, as literally every year of the decade could be in the running in this conversation. If I had to pick one I'd go with 1997, but you can't really go wrong with any year of AJPW during the 90s.

As far as North American promotions I'd offer up 1999 ECW as a part of the discussion as well. That year saw ECW get its national TV deal and become the number one rated show on its network(TNN) despite zero support or promotion for the product by the network.

That year amongst other things had Taz's entire first world title reign, RVD holding the TV title for the year's entirety putting on outstanding matches, the final run of the Dudley's, the start of Mike Awesome's world title run, the teaming of Storm and Credible to form the Impact Players, Tajiri's first year with the company, the debut of Rhino and Steve Corino as a wrestler, the American debut of Amy Dumas, the only PPV matchup between RVD and Taz, and the surprise return of Raven winning the tag titles with Tommy Dreamer his former chief rival in the company.

And then there were the classic feuds that produced incredible matches; '99 ECW had the most memorable parings of the RVD/Jerry Lynn feud, the Tajiri/Crazy feud which also featured a lot of good matchups by those guys against Guido as well, and the American version of the Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka blood feud.

Considering the way the environment of the national professional wrestling scene was at the end of the decade and the way that WCW and WWE were competing, and had been stealing ECW talent and "borrowing" storyline ideas to fuel that competition, its amazing they were able to put together such a spectacular showing throughout the year and move the company to fully national.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

You say Piper & Flair were "tired", they were also as popular as anyone in wrestling at the time, thje crowd reactions they got were insane, WWE at that would have killed for guys who generated that much pop from fans.

I stand by my comment...Piper was retreading main events in 1997: the pops steadily died off the further removed he was from his initial appearance at Halloween Havoc 1996. By the time he and Flair teamed against Hall and Nash, the ship had sailed on them as legit threats to the NWO. Without a threat, the whole story lost steam. Flair was popular because he was Flair but this wasn't new blood. These were the same pops these guys were getting all along, but in 1997 they started to wear thin. Guys like Piper, Flair, and Savage were great at getting heat because of who they were. They were always guaranteed some reaction. Savage had a resurgence mainly because he had a fresh feud in Page. Flair and Piper had no such luxury.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I have given this one a lot of thought and I don't know as if I can decide.
From a childhood standpoint; my favourite WWF years were 1989/1990/1993
From my teens; it would be 1997/1998 and 1999
From my twenties; 2005/2007 and 2011

For wcw; they had 3 super years from 1997 to 1999 inclusive; but 1998 was their best by far.

If I had to look at one year that I was engrossed in wrestling; it comes down to the final 3 choices;
1997 -
Bret Hart/ Hart foundation What a year! Not only that but we saw Mankind and Steve Austin get over. Rocky Mavia was treading water but was on the up. Undertaker vs HBK hell in a cell, Kane debuted.

1998 - Stone Cold VS McMahon, Rock V HHH, Rock v Mankind, Taker vs Kane. DX! The whole year was amazing. Manking winning his first wwf title.

2000 - Edge, Christian, HHH, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley as mankind/Cactus jack and himself, Stone Cold returns, The Rock, God father, Commisioner foley.

I think i'd go for 1997- wwf on a limited budget; they were some of my favourtie times as a fan.

 

[ilapierre]

My issue with WCW 1997 is that there was a huge nadir in the storyline from about February up until December. It started with a clusterfuck of a main event at SuperBrawl, which was filled with weird stipulations and teams. From there it progressed to folks like Dennis Rodman, Kevin Greene and Karl Malone main eventing matches alongside the most tired of the tired wrestlers in Flair and Piper. Hogan disappeared frequently during this period, and somehow we were presented with Luger and The Giant as credible threats to the title.

The problem was it just dragged on for too long. By the time Hogan Vs. Sting happened at the very end of 1997, the angle had gone on without progression for a year and a half, and Sting had been parked in the rafters for over a year.

IMO, 1996 was the best year for the nWo, but it really needed to be brought to a close by the summer of 1997.

No no no no. No. WCW 1997 is leaps and bounds above any period of time in any wrestling organization since I began watching in 1988. The roster by itself confirms that. There is other criteria though. The NWO vs WCW feud was at it's best and climaxed at Starrcade 97 with the Hogan vs Sting match. Piper and Flair were FAR from tired. Only your most obsessively loyal WWE fan (like Joey Joe Joe) would believe that. The 'Icon' had some of his best matches of his career between 96-98. As for Flair, being tired, bahahahahahaha was this poster even watching WCW whatsoever? Flair was delivering some of his best promos when the NWO was running wild. The Horsemen were rejuvenated. Flair was way past his peak in the ring but by no means was he past his peak in being entertaining. As for the assertion that Karl Malone was main eventing in 1997, that's just flat out wrong. As for Rodman, he was simply a celebrity personality who sometimes stepped into the ring during a high profile match. Rodman was not used in singles competition. And the absolute silliest thing I've ever read is that the NWO angle had gone on a year and a half too long without progression. Dude has absolutely no clue what he's talking about.

 

[ilapierre]

My issue with WCW 1997 is that there was a huge nadir in the storyline from about February up until December. It started with a clusterfuck of a main event at SuperBrawl, which was filled with weird stipulations and teams. From there it progressed to folks like Dennis Rodman, Kevin Greene and Karl Malone main eventing matches alongside the most tired of the tired wrestlers in Flair and Piper. Hogan disappeared frequently during this period, and somehow we were presented with Luger and The Giant as credible threats to the title.

The problem was it just dragged on for too long. By the time Hogan Vs. Sting happened at the very end of 1997, the angle had gone on without progression for a year and a half, and Sting had been parked in the rafters for over a year.

IMO, 1996 was the best year for the nWo, but it really needed to be brought to a close by the summer of 1997.

If you're gonna do it, you do need some fixed criteria because otherwise there is no way to ever set one above another.

97 was a successful period businesswise for WCW no doubt, creatively not so much. The NWO was starting to bloat, even with the Hogan/Sting feud... A lot of the cruisers were floundering and the focus wasn't properly on non NWO talent who were basically being fed to them. The saving grace is the emergence of Goldberg, but even that is more luck than judgement, even businesswise the following year in WWE eclipsed it and had a far better creative mix.

The only letdown was Mania 4 didn't quite work as well as intended... it could only ever be a let down after the prior year and to me the biggest issue is still having Hulk and Andre in the tourney at all... they should have had a cage match for their careers, seperate. DiBiase should have won the tourney... but all told that period from Mania 3-4 is the banner year in the business, where major success was built on and where the WWF became an entity for the long haul.

No no no no no NO. A clusterfuck at Superbrawl 97? Please. I remember a three way dream match with some of the best talent. Was it one of the best matches of the year? No. The focus was not on producing matches with clean finishes but on bringing together an all star cast of guys to bring credibility to the best feud in wrestling history. You have these WWE apologist revisionist types like RobTaylor and JoeyJoe blatantly exaggerating every little thing they look back at as wrong with WCW. Because they couldn't possibly be anything but loyal WWE apologists. All you young posters don't be fooled. Most of us WCW fans were quite a bit more objective. These guys 'rooted' against WCW the entire NWO angle. And don't be fooled by their "i Was a fan of both rhetoric." These same guys were having a hard time sleeping at night because WWE was god awful during this period. All the old guys/draws of the WCW/NWO were threatening the WWE's very existence. These so-called 'objective' posters revising the best years of WCW from a WWE fanboy viewpoint should be completely ignored. For them, it's due to company loyalty. No different than a Red Sox fan believing that their World Series wins in the 2000s were the best of all time and better than any Yankees win.

I disagree with almost everything posted above. Goldberg was not the saving grace for WCW in 1997. That would be 1998. Just like Karl Malone's involvement. Goldberg was walking over jobbers for the two months he was relevant in 97. And really, minus the Streak, Goldberg was one of the most overrated parts of WCW during his time there. As for the 'cruiser's floundering, yeah right. Those guys were the most entertaining part of the show and they were all wrestling fantastic matches. They did flounder, however, but that would be a year later in 1998 when guys like Jericho and Guerrero were still not elevated..In 97 these guys were still gaining necessary momentum in great matches and feuds. As for the NWO bloating, NO. I know a lot of you WWE fans liked the NWO best when it was just Hogan, Nash and Hall. But the thing most of us loyal WCW fans appreciated was the 10-15 guy super group. The pecking order. The NWO wasn't a tag team or a four horsemen-like group. They were suppose to be half the company. That was the point. The NWO was at its best when it was at its most dominant with numbers. To think otherwise indicates a WWE loyalty.

As for 87-88 being a banner year for WWE. Sure. I won't disagree with that as I was only casually watching during this period. I just have my doubts that it was better than the 1997-1998 period in WCW. As for the assertion that Dibiase should have won the tournament, all I can do is just shake my head. Randy Savage was the best wrestler (and yes entertainer) in the company during Hogan's reign. Had Savage been in WCW/NWA he'd have as many titles (and fantastic matches) as Flair. If Hogan never existed, Savage would have carried the company that entire period just as well or better. Savage was a larger than life title holder who would have actually defended the title all week. I cannot for the life of me understandwhy anyone would think a mundane wrestler (a heel at that) like Dibiase should (instead of Savage) win 4 times on wrestling's greatest stage, Wrestlemania, and supplant Hogan as the company's top draw? The only other person in the world who could think such a thing would be Dibiase himself. I don't even believe Dibiase should have been in the main event. For the torch to be passed properly, Savage should have knocked Ted the mid card man Dibiase out in the semi finals and either beat Hogan or Andre cleanly in the main event. The way wrestling works today it would have been a no brainer that Savage pin one or the other. Having Savage beat Dibiase for the title wasted what could have been an even more epic moment for Savage..Can you imagine how Wrestlemania 4 would be regarded had Savage gone through 3 guys to get to the main event and overcame the odds to slay Andre (who would have had the bye) or pin the unpinnable Hogan (who would have had it had Andre not advanced). Savage deserved a win over them. Not a second rate Dibiase.

 

[New Hot Fed]

I'm not really going to compare 2000 to the 80's, but I disagree about WWF 2000 being boring and not having the red hot buzz. WWF in 2000 had all of the momentum and it all culminated in WrestleMania X-7 (what I consider the best WM ever). You mention great matches, heat and must-see storylines... well WWF had one of it's best rosters ever in 2000.

Main event guys like The Rock, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker were at their peak in terms of heat and popularity. Upper-mid card guys like Kane, The Big Show, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit could step in and main event any show that needed them to. New blood in the mid card like Chris Jericho, Taz, Raven, Rikishi, Eddie Guerrero, Saturn to supplement guys like X-Pac, Val Venis, D-Lo, etc. Plus the best tag division since the 80's with Edge & Christian, The Dudleyz, The Hardyz, APA, even Too Cool and Kaientai got over. Right To Censor got major heat for a lowcard stable. This roster was hitting on all cylinders in terms of heat, matches and overall talent.

Some great matches... HHH/Cactus Jack Street Fight and Hell In A Cell, Rock/HHH Iron Man Match, Angle/Jericho/Benoit Triple Threat, Jericho/HHH Last Man Standing, Benoit/Jericho 2of3 Falls, Hardyz vs Dudleyz Tables Match, Tag Team Triple Threat Ladder Match at WM2000, TLC, I'm sure there are others.

You mention the Steph/HHH/Angle love triangle storyline which was great but don't forget 2000 also had one of WWF's biggest storyline's with who ran over Stone Cold. Not to mention the entire McMahon-Helmsley faction/era storyline earlier in the year.

I agree with you, I love WWF 1997 it's probably my personal favourite year. But in terms of just top to bottom quality 2000 has to be considered for the top.

But the storylines just were not there in 2000, the image I have of that year is this: HHH coming in to the ring and bragging that he was the greatest. Then boom you would hear a music of a random top face wrestler that would appear in the entry way that would come in and challenges HHH and then the challenge would be set for random PPV. I mean they did the same thing three months back-to-back with Hunter and Foley. It was very basic and "un-storyline" focused. Very much "I want your title!" and "Well come take it!" stuff. I don't think it was bad but it did not generate the must-see vibe of the 97-99 period.

 

[New Hot Fed]

No no no no no NO. A clusterfuck at Superbrawl 97? Please. I remember a three way dream match with some of the best talent. Was it one of the best matches of the year? No. The focus was not on producing matches with clean finishes but on bringing together an all star cast of guys to bring credibility to the best feud in wrestling history. You have these WWE apologist revisionist types like RobTaylor and JoeyJoe blatantly exaggerating every little thing they look back at as wrong with WCW. Because they couldn't possibly be anything but loyal WWE apologists. All you young posters don't be fooled. Most of us WCW fans were quite a bit more objective. These guys 'rooted' against WCW the entire NWO angle. And don't be fooled by their "i Was a fan of both rhetoric." These same guys were having a hard time sleeping at night because WWE was god awful during this period. All the old guys/draws of the WCW/NWO were threatening the WWE's very existence. These so-called 'objective' posters revising the best years of WCW from a WWE fanboy viewpoint should be completely ignored. For them, it's due to company loyalty. No different than a Red Sox fan believing that their World Series wins in the 2000s were the best of all time and better than any Yankees win.

Nobody was a fan of both feds equally but you could enjoy both products. Especially if both companies were offering a product that you enjoy. As a heel groups fan, I loved to see the domination of the Hart Foundation in 97 for example.

I disagree with almost everything posted above. Goldberg was not the saving grace for WCW in 1997. That would be 1998. Just like Karl Malone's involvement. Goldberg was walking over jobbers for the two months he was relevant in 97. And really, minus the Streak, Goldberg was one of the most overrated parts of WCW during his time there. As for the 'cruiser's floundering, yeah right. Those guys were the most entertaining part of the show and they were all wrestling fantastic matches. They did flounder, however, but that would be a year later in 1998 when guys like Jericho and Guerrero were still not elevated..In 97 these guys were still gaining necessary momentum in great matches and feuds. As for the NWO bloating, NO. I know a lot of you WWE fans liked the NWO best when it was just Hogan, Nash and Hall. But the thing most of us loyal WCW fans appreciated was the 10-15 guy super group. The pecking order. The NWO wasn't a tag team or a four horsemen-like group. They were suppose to be half the company. That was the point. The NWO was at its best when it was at its most dominant with numbers. To think otherwise indicates a WWE loyalty.

Now you don't have to be a WCW hater to realise that once the Nwo had guys like Vincent and Mike Rotondo, it wasn't the same quality. But I agree the nWo should not have been just three guys.

As for 87-88 being a banner year for WWE. Sure. I won't disagree with that as I was only casually watching during this period. I just have my doubts that it was better than the 1997-1998 period in WCW.

Well that's a matter of personal tastes and opinions.

As for the assertion that Dibiase should have won the tournament, all I can do is just shake my head. Randy Savage was the best wrestler (and yes entertainer) in the company during Hogan's reign. Had Savage been in WCW/NWA he'd have as many titles (and fantastic matches) as Flair. If Hogan never existed, Savage would have carried the company that entire period just as well or better. Savage was a larger than life title holder who would have actually defended the title all week. I cannot for the life of me understandwhy anyone would think a mundane wrestler (a heel at that) like Dibiase should (instead of Savage) win 4 times on wrestling's greatest stage, Wrestlemania, and supplant Hogan as the company's top draw? The only other person in the world who could think such a thing would be Dibiase himself. I don't even believe Dibiase should have been in the main event. For the torch to be passed properly, Savage should have knocked Ted the mid card man Dibiase out in the semi finals and either beat Hogan or Andre cleanly in the main event. The way wrestling works today it would have been a no brainer that Savage pin one or the other. Having Savage beat Dibiase for the title wasted what could have been an even more epic moment for Savage..Can you imagine how Wrestlemania 4 would be regarded had Savage gone through 3 guys to get to the main event and overcame the odds to slay Andre (who would have had the bye) or pin the unpinnable Hogan (who would have had it had Andre not advanced). Savage deserved a win over them. Not a second rate Dibiase.

Nobody ever said that Dibiase was Greater than Macho Man. It's more of a case where some of us would have wanted for the WWF to spread the wealth around over the years and that heels especially got short-changed. Guys like Piper, Andre, Orndorff, Dibiase, Jake Roberts and Mr. Perfect should have been Champ.

The original plan was for Dibiase to win the tournament and become Champ and for Macho to regain his IC title from Honkey Tonk Man. And for then have a unification match between Macho vs Dibiase at Mania with Macho becoming champ there. But when HTM didn't want to job to Macho, they had Macho win the tournament instead. And Macho went on to job to Hogan at Mania. Which situation you like best?

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

The focus was not on producing matches with clean finishes but on bringing together an all star cast of guys to bring credibility to the best feud in wrestling history.

They established credibility just fine in 1996, but what they needed in 1997 was coherence and a clean end. Instead, we got an escalation of ego and a drawn out feud that grew more nonsensical as it progressed. Case in point: Hogan refusing to be pinned cleanly at Starrcade 1997.

You have these WWE apologist revisionist types like RobTaylor and JoeyJoe blatantly exaggerating every little thing they look back at as wrong with WCW. Because they couldn't possibly be anything but loyal WWE apologists. All you young posters don't be fooled. Most of us WCW fans were quite a bit more objective. These guys 'rooted' against WCW the entire NWO angle.

You seem to be taking this quite personally. Are you Eric Bischoff or something?

I find it funny that you consider me a WWE apologist when frankly I am much, much more of a JCP guy. But given you started watching in '88, I'm going to hazard a guess you have no clue what that means.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

As for the assertion that Karl Malone was main eventing in 1997, that's just flat out wrong. As for Rodman, he was simply a celebrity personality who sometimes stepped into the ring during a high profile match. Rodman was not used in singles competition. And the absolute silliest thing I've ever read is that the NWO angle had gone on a year and a half too long without progression. Dude has absolutely no clue what he's talking about.

Oh, I'm sorry...Kevin Greene...the guy you strategically neglect to mention... main evented in 1997. Malone didn't get his turn to main event a PPV til 1998 (when the NWO was still chugging along on its last little bit of gas that it had left).

So, yes, mea culpa. I obviously know nothing.

Again, tired, poor booking that was based more upon egos than coherent stories. Feh.