WWE/F: The best year

[Paralyzer Z]

Alright so this is a cap off to my Year vs Year series I had been doing quite constantly since August and up until last month.

The question is out of all the winners and loosers of the previous match ups, which ever one you picked, which was the best? Which one was the worst? In what period of 12 months did Vince's creation sky rocket, and when did they fall within 12 months. Enough of me reiterating and embezzling the same question lets get to it.

My pick for the best year in the WWE's long existence is non other than the year their biggest pain the ass was met with the start of the inclination of the quality of their product: 1998. WCW was kicking WWE's butt-ox in terms of ratings since 1996 when the NWO debuted. Now it was time for WWF to strike back with the Attitude Era. Whether or not the quality of the product was inferior or superior to today's product is up to you, but there is no denying that this was vital to their survival, if evanesced from history we would be watching Nitro. The ratings came into their favor and it was finally topped off in 2001 with the purchase of WCW. Int terms of quality this year was also great. WM14 was fantastic and the rest was also great, Survivor Series and the other big 4 were full of great matches and memorable moments. WWF took the throne here and never looked back.

The worst? This is a hard one for me but I will pick 1995 here. Besides a mediocre WM11 the rest of the year was not much to brag about either. You had Kevin Nash (Diesel) as champ for most of the year fighting HBK, Bret Hart, Sid and.... Mabel? He won the King of the ring, he was like a prototype for the Brock Lesnar push but it failed. INYH also had it's debut after WM. never cared much for them at all either. Back to Mabel, he and Nah had to "face the heat" at Summerslam in what was an underwhelming main event to say the least. Like I said before the rest is nothing to write home about at all.

Feel free to rank them if you want.

Which year in the history of WWE was the best for them, and the quality of the product? Why?

Which year was the worst for them?

 

[jungledeano]

I'll agree with you on 1998, it was a great year overall. I'd also like to say 1999, but I kind of think that after Fully Loaded in July, it kind of went down hill. For worst year, I'm going to say 2004. Though I don't entirely blame the creative for that. I think they were kind of banking on Brock to stay around and be "the guy" for a while. So when he left, they were kind of stuck for what to do until they built up another big star, i.e. John Cena and Batista. Granted, in 2004 we had Eddie's WWE title moment, which was nice, but then JBL was WWE champion for the remainder of the year. Which was okay, he was such a good heal, but it got dull after two months or so.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

First off let me say I've only watched sparingly the past few years so I can't really comment on those years for better or worse. But from when I started watching in 86 till about 08 the best year for me was 97 and the worst was 95.

My case for 97 is mainly that I loved the whole heel Bret Hart and the Canadian vs. USA gimmick. But you also saw the beginning of DX and the rise of Austin. It also gave you some memorable matches like Austin vs. Hart at WM13 and HBK vs. Undertaker HIAC.(I believe that was the first HIAC) And of course 97 also brought you arguably the most controversial finish in WWE history in the "Montreal Screwjob".

As far as 95 goes, it was completely terrible. The roster wasn't good, the storylines were bad and the characters and gimmicks were ridiculous. I never liked Diesel(I was a Kevin Nash fan just didn't like the Diesel character that much) so him dominating the whole year also didn't sit well with me. Plus with me being a huge Bret Hart mark, him basically competing in the mid card the entire year when the roster was as thin as it was bothered me. Overall it was a forgettable year with very few redeeming qualities.

Edit: Sorry just re-read your post and I saw that you were asking what was the best for THEM and not what you thought the best was. In that case I recant my vote for 97 since I believe they were getting their butts kicked in the ratings most of that year.

 

[The Idiot]

1992

Started off with the greatest Rumble ever....which lead to a decent Wrestlemania. Then went on to one of the best SummerSlams ever with Bret vs Bulldog at Wembley. We saw the rise of Shawn Michaels in singles competition. Bret Hart winning his first WWF title over Ric Flair.

A great Survivor Series main event between Hart and Michaels. Great feud with Savage/Perfect/Flair/Ramon.

So many great superstars in one company. Many great matches and feuds...and the year ended with the title being on the right guy, Bret Hart. The younger talent was never held down....the IC title matches were awesome (don't forget Piper/Hart, Piper Mountie, Hart/Mountie matches)

Hogan/Sid, Flair/Savage, Undertaker/Jake Roberts, Undertaker/Kamala first ever casket match, Michaels/Martel rivalry

The tag team scene was awesome. LOD, Natural Disasters, Steiner Brothers, Money Inc, etc.

Great great year!! My personal favorite.

 

[Showstopper530]

To me, the best year was 2000. I loved the Rock vs. HHH feud & the McMahon-Helmsley era. Triple H was the best in the world that year. Rock was a close 2nd. You also had the emergence of such talent as Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, and the great tag team division with the Dudleyz, Hardys, and E&C changing the business forever.

Almost every ppv besides King of the Ring was great. The year kicked off amazingly with the Royal Rumble which was won by Rock, and also had the epic HHH/Foley street fight and the Hardys vs. Dudleyz in the 1st tag team tables match.

No Way Out was great, with the incredible HHH/Foley Hell in a Cell, Angle beating Jericho for his 1st IC title, and The Hardys vs Edge & Christian.

WM2000 was underrated in my opinion. The main event was very good with Rock/HHH/Foley/Big Show. It also had the triple threat match with Jericho, Angle, and Benoit, and the triangle ladder match.

Backlash was a very good show. Jericho vs. Benoit was excellent, and Rock vs HHH was one of the most underrated matches of all time, in front of a very hot Washington DC crowd.

Judgment Day continued the great matches of Benoit vs. Jericho and Rock vs. HHH, in an awesome iron man match.

After Kurt Angle won the King of the Ring, Fully Loaded was another great ppv, with the epic Last Man Standing match between HHH and Jericho, followed by a great main event match between Rock and Benoit. Jericho and Benoit were having such great matches all year, they were both put into feuds with the 2 biggest stars in the business.

SummerSLam gave us the 1st ever TLC match, as well as a 2/3 falls with Benoit & Jericho, and the main event triple threat between Rock/HHH/Angle.

The year continued with great matches and storylines, with Kurt Angle winning his 1st WWF title from Rock at No Mercy, Stone Cold returning at Survivor Series vs HHH, and capping the year off with the 6 man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon[

Every Monday Night Raw and Smackdown had great matches and hot crowds, as I feel the business was at its peak. To me this was the biggest year in history, leading into an epic 2001...

 

[The HEEL JuiceLee]

To me is has to be 97-98. You had DX,Hart Foundation, Nation of Domination, Paul Bearer had Mankind, Vader, & thin the debuet of Kane. All who fueded with Undertaker in his Prime.Stone Cold blowing up, & also in his prime.The start of the Rock. TAG scene was great with New Age Outlaws. L.O.D 2000,HeadBangers,Owen Hart & Yokozuna,.You had Ken Shamrock,Brian Pilman,Ahmed Johnson,GoldDust,Jeff Jarrett,Savio Vega,Phyco Sid,Marc Mero JBL was Justin"Hawk" Bradshaw(im sure he had to change when LOD came in).Even Edge actualy started in WWE in December 97. In 97 The writting was edgy for the 1st time in a long time.JR & King were great on commentary. I mean it was a great year for WcW & WWF, & A great time just to be a wrestling fan. 98-2000 was all great to but i liked it best when it was all starting to be attitude in 97. Even though Diesel 1-2-3 kid and Razor jumped ship WWE did great with Shawn & Bret and kick starting there future super stars Stone Cold, HHH, & RocK. so 97 IT HAS TO BE

 

[Rockyfolifebo!!!]

Best- the best year, imo was 1998! You had the breakout stars (with Austin, Rock, HHH, Mandkind) set to take over the attitude era. DX officially became whole with outrageous gags, and a "war" on WCW. You had the nation, the whole Austin vs Vince thing was very cool. Everybody on the roster was young (under 40), everybody had a repackaged edgy gimmick, and everybody was over with the fans. I really wish i was old enough to watch back then. I was only four, but looking back at matches and hearing what people tell me, it was a really great time to be a wrestling fan!

The worst- I know I'm going to get bashed for this (technically '95 was the worst, but here's my opinion), but here goes. 2001! I said it. Wrestlemania X-Seven was without a shadow of doubt the BEST WrestleMania of all time. From top to bottom, the card delivered. That was the saving grace of this year. But just look at everything else that happened that year. First of all, Vince bought out WCW and ECW. When you buy your competition, you have nothing to strive for, so that really changed the industry. Then you had this mediocre feud with WCW and ECW alliance to take on the WWF. It was cool at first, then it got really stale because of the fact that none of the big players of WCW didn't participate in this feud, or the WWF/E at all (Goldberg, nWo, Sting). Oh, did I forget the XFL? Of course I did, everybody did. Did I mention that the Attitude Era died?aWhen I think of 2001, I'll only think of WM 17, nothing else really. But hat's just me.

 

[HorsemenNo4]

1998 - best matches:
Austin wins Rumble
Austin vs Michaels with Tyson as the special enforcer.
Undertaker vs Mankind (infamous Hell in a Cell match)
Kane vs Austin (First Blood match)
Rock wins title at Survivor Series
Austin alive Undertaker (Buried Alive)

I know many of the highlights I mentioned include Austin but he was the focal point that year!

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I haven't seen much pro wrestling pre 1985, and I stopped watching WWF around mid2000. I first started watching around 88-89 as a 3-4 year old. Started to really get into it by 91. I've seen just about every PPV the WWF held from 85 to 2000. These are the best years in WWF history in my opinion:

1. 1992: The WWF was just outrageous during this year. 1990 to 1992 was the peak of the WWF in my opinion, and 92 was my favorite out of the 3. The Rumble, Wrestlemania 8, Bret Hart's rise, The Undertaker in his prime, and all of the wild characters that just made the WWF look, and feel like a live action comic book were at their best in 92.

2. 1996: This was my personal peak as a WWF fan. I just have too many great memories from this year. I enjoyed the HBK vs Hart fued, even though I hated to see Hart lose the title. Mankind vs Undertaker was my favorite. The Undertaker was always a favorite of mine, and I knew about Cactus Jack in the ECW(didn't remember much of his WCW run). Cactus was one of my favorite's from the ECW. The Taker was doing some awesome stuff in his fued with Diesel that year too. What the WWF was doing with the Taker character in 1996 was a lot of fun to watch, especially for a diehard horror film fan like myself.

3. 1997: A lot of solid events for the WWF in 97. Their roster was performing on all cylinders throughout the year. I loved the ECW invasion angle while it lasted, and I really loved that the Undertaker finally won the title, and kept it for a while. I really enjoyed Takers title run, especially his coronation at WM 13.

4. 1994: Another year that I really enjoyed as a fan. I really enjoyed Bret, and Owen's work in the WWF during this year. HBK, Diesel, and Razor were all very entertaining as well. Who could forget CHUCK NORRIS at Survivor Series! I remember jumping up and down screaming when he kicked Jerrett when I was a kid. I was all like, YEAH!

5. 1998: Raw was rolling in 98. An unbelievable 2 hours of entertainment, even for people who could care less about Pro Wrestling. The classic 4 PPV events were among the WWF's best of all time(Not so much the Survivor Series). I would have this event higher, but they kind of petered out on PPV later in the year.

And, why not:

ECW

1. 1996
2. 1999
3. 1997
4. 1995
5. 1998
6. 1994
7. 2000
8. 1993
9. 2001

 

[Dyno Kid]

If I had to pick a best year I'd go 1985:

WWF gets Saturday Nights Main Events on NBC

Get their own Saturday morning Cartoon

The first Wrestle Mania

The War to Settle the Score on MTV

Hogan on the cover of Sports Illustrated

This was the year that Vince was able to get the non wrestling fan and the major network excecutive types into believing that the WWF was the new hip thing and he really started to distance himself from the other promoters in the wrestling war.