1999, if we are dealing in FACTS. Fra and away the best year financially in the history of WWE, this was when they were murdering WCW on a weekly basis, 7.0 ratings were happening often.
See, you would THINK that. The reason I didn't answer this question is because it's almost impossible unless you put together ALL of the things the OP listed. Smart man, because it's not just the ratings that indicate how you're doing as a company. Sure, when television is your main product, it would make sense that when ratings are at their highest you'd be doing extremely well! But you also have to take into account that TV ratings as they are today were not established until 97 (I think...?). Is there a fair way to pit '99 up against the era of Hulkamania in the 80s? Think about the merch sales, the PPV sales...
Ratings are important and do indicate success. But WWE is a LOT of things, with ONE part of that being a televised product. You have to take PPV buys into account. YOu have to take merch sales. You have to take advertising, and for the first time INTERNET advertising. You have to take the global tours into account, the stock market, any other venture the WWE has their hands in... It's not as simple as looking at a number on a page, pointing to it and saying "that".
I'm not disagreeing with you, '99 makes a lot of sense. It's the year WWE started trading on the stock market, indicated that they finally did enough business to do so. But that could also mean a lot of other things as well... A lot of people will say "WWE stock was highest in 99 as well!" but...it STARTED in 99. That always happens with just about ANY stock, unless it's an unknown thing that takes off like Google. A mainstream business entering the market will always start high and continue to fall until it stabilizes and adjusts to the economy. If I had to guess, I would say '99 takes the cake, but I'd still be interested to see how that compares to the mid-80s when EVERYONE knew about wrestling.
Rock was huge. Austin was huge. But I'd venture a guess that Hogan outsold both of them 2-to-1...
