Did The Cartoon Era Have Better WRESTLING Matches?

[Y 2 Jake]

I would say that fans generally consider the ''Cartoon'' Era from the time Hogan left in 1993 to about 1997 when Austin really took off. (Yes I know Stone Cold was born in 1996 but he didn't start to make a big impact until 1997, he wasn't worthy of a PPV spot from Jult to October. So there)

But does anyone else think this was a golden time for actual wrestling during that time? Sure WWF in 1997 was absolutley brilliant. But that year is generally considered to be good. Whereas most fans hated the Cartoon Era and started watching WCW. Personally I think there's plenty of lost classics in those three years. Excluding Wrestle Manias. Because even casula fans will probably watch them. So I wouldn't consider them lost classics.

During 1994/1995 the 1-2-3 Kid was on fire. He was more ofthen than not the highlight of the show. Just watch his performances during the 1994 KOTR.

Get this. Taker (Slow/Plodding) had a great match with Yokozuna (Slow/Plodding) at Survivor Series. Anybody remeber it?

The Bull Nakano/Alundra Blaze feud was really pretty good. Especially with how WWE/F usually represent women wrestlers. There matches have never been bettered by any other female WWF performer.

The Hart Brothers cage match at Summer Slam 1994 is superior to there Mania match in my opinion. And yet nobody hardly ever talks about that one.

Shawn Michaels carried two Rumble Matches during that time. Both are up there with the best.

The opening match of Survivor Series 95 was full of jobbers. But there aren't many S.S. elimination matche sthat are better.

Bret Hart & Diesel always had good matches together. And Nash has always been pretty limited.

Anyone remember Bret Hart vs. Hakushi at the first IYH? That's in my personaly top 100.

Owen Hart was having good matches with Yokozuna as his partner. They even had a really good match against Bulldog & Luger.

Summer Slam 1995 is by far one of the better Summer Slams. I'd only put it 2nd to 2002.

Bret Hart couldn't have had a bad match if he'd tried during this time. Same with HBK.

Plenty of future superstars started to make names for themselves.

Bret Hart's match with The Bulldog at IYH pisses all over there Wembley bout. Everyone goes on and talks about what a classic that one is. But this is far superior. If it wasn't for the Bret Hart DVD nobody would remember this. Including myself.

The Mankind feud made Taker. Before Mick Foley helped Taker he was slow and boring. That feud made Undertaker the superstar he is today.

King Of The Ring is so much more than Austin's 3:16 speach. Find the main event between HBK & Smith. It's a classic.

Sid was actually having good matches. Yeah Sid. It was mostly down to HBK but his matches at the end of 1996 are really good.

Anyone else feel the same? Dont get me wrong. I like Austin. But I dont like every match to be a brawl, with a n inconclusive finish. I dont like elaborate storylines. I like wrestling.

 

[PerfectPlex]

For my money, mostly the matches Brett or Owen hart, Curt Hennig, Bob Backlund, Shawn Michaels, and British Buldog were putting on were primo matches at this time. It was a rare time for WWF where they let the guys who were more of a mat or pure wrestler put on good matches. Nowadays, they maybe let one or two of those guys have a good match twice a year. Everyone else was putting on ok matches. Im just not much into the Big Man style of that time. Yokozuna, Giant Gonzalez, Luger, and Undertaker (FROM THIS ERA) never really did it for me. Sid Vicious and Razor Ramon were ok but i was never too much into them. (I thought the Ramon/Michaels ladder match is overhyped- good but not great).


Oh yeah, so let me finish by saying that yes overall it was a golden era for actual wrestling though.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Are you kidding me, that was (in my opinion) the very best time for Pro Wrestling. I loved everything from 1993-1997 the most. Just to give a run-down of those things, I'll go through the years & my favorite moments.

1993: The Royal Rumble was very well done, its always ranked high on my list of favorites, but not the very best. (more on that later.) Razor Ramon v. Bret Hart was an overall good match. That year's Rumble was filled with the very best of colorful characters. WM IX was decent, not exactly the greatest, but for an outdoors event, it was well done. Bret Hart for being relatively young still, for the spot he had.. carried an unstoppable monster in Yokozuna to a very good match. The only down side was Hogan stealing the final spotlight.

King of the Ring debuts in 1993, by far this has been & will remain one of my all-time favorite p.p.v.'s. Not just the 93 version, all of them in the 90's. Bret Hart v. Razor, Mr. Perfect & Bam Bam was a great triple header. Yokozuna killing Hogan (at the time) was wonderful.

Skip passed Summerslam, as nothing outside of Lex Luger v. Yokozuna truly happened, to Survivor Series. Another of my person 3 all-time favorite p.p.v.'s.. this one was kinda a let down, just because two of the Survivor Matches were filled with crap. (H.B.K. & his "jobber knights" & the 4 Doinks, otherwise known as M.O.M. & the Bushwackers)

1994: The Hart feud was excellent throughout this entire year, & I second what you said (Jake) about their Summerslam Cage match blowing thier WM one away. I loved the KOTR with Owen winning it, & Bret v. Diesel was also on that card, but hardly anyone will remember that as being one of, if not the first match between them.

Dual winners in the Royal Rumble made history, as did the Championship double header at WM X, not to mention the Ladder match with H.B.K. v. Ramon.

Ramon v. Diesel at Summerslam was a personal favorite, as I've always enjoyed seeing these two go at it. And I'm sorry, but watching Taker v. Taker was huge to me. I loved that match, for as dull as many think it was.

Survivor Series 94 by far has to go in history as one of the best, next to 95. Both were filled with great elimination matches. 94 had the blow up with H.B.K. & Diesel, the Million Dollar Team destroy Lex Luger & a decent casket match with Taker v. Yokozuna, which started the year & ended it.

1995: Shawn Michaels winning the Rumble, after being the 1st entrant. My all-time favorite Rumble. H.B.K. carried this match, but the British Bulldog has to have some credit, as he could've easily been kicked out way earlier.

WM XI was built mainly around L.T. v. Bam Bam Bigelow, & it wasn't half bad for what it was. But by far, H.B.K. v. Diesel was perfect, Owen Hart debuting Yokozuna as his partner was great & many don't even remember Razor Ramon v. Jeff Jarrett's feud throughout the earlier portion of 94, which I loved.

Sadly I've never seen the 95 KOTR & I truly want to. I know Mabel (now Big Daddy V) won it all, & that is a low point when measuring all the other "kings" but still..

Summerslam 95 was one of the best S.S's, as it had not only the better of the two Ladder matches between Ramon & Michaels, but it had a good mid-card. 1-2-3 Kid v. Hakushi, H.H.H. v. Bob Holly, Blaze v. Faye, Taker v. Kama, Hart v. Isaac Yakeem (kane, now) & Luger's departure.

Survivor Series 95 would be tied to me, with 94 as having the best elimination matches. The first match, (Jake) you said were filled with jobbers. But I loved Marty Jannetty, The Kid, Holly, Hakushi, & Chris Candido. (then known as Skip) The female elimination was nice, but by far, my favorite concept was the "Wild Card" match that had enemies teaming with enemies & partners against partners. Bulldog v. Owen, H.B.K. & Sid together, Ramon & Douglas together. And the debut of Ahmed Johnson, who I liked back then.

The In Your House p.p.v.'s debuted in 95 as well, & I loved them as they added the beginning of p.p.v.'s every month. Diesel & H.B.K. v. Bulldog & Yokozuna in the first Triple Header Championship has been an IYH that I've definately always wanted to see, but never got the pleasure of. Hart v. Bulldog at the Dec. p.p.v. was by far their best match together & a great, bloody match. Back then, I was actually worried that Hart was seriously injured as his blood loss was way more than normal for any wrestler, then.

1996: The Shawn Michaels era, I waited seemingly forever to see it. H.B.K. winning back-to-back Rumbles was nice, the Diesel heel turn against him set up a great feud before Diesel left. The Iron Man Match will always live in history.

WM 12 will always be remembered for the Iron Man match, but I'll deep down remember it for Ultimate Warrior's 30 second match against Triple H., squashing him. As well as Ahmed Johnson, Jake Roberts & Yokozuna v. Vader, Owen Hart & British Bulldog. I loved all of them in that match & Yoko v. Vader was a great big man v. big man feud.

Mankind debuting & being Taker's (to this day even) most dominate enemy, was what helped make Taker the legend he is today. Most may disagree that Taker was a legend before this.. but he was getting stale & repeatitive.

You mentioned noone remembering H.B.K. v. Bulldog at KOTR, but I do. Not only then, but at the IYH before that. I loved his feud with all of Cornette's Camp. (Owen Hart, Bulldog & Vader)

Which brings me to Summerslam, this was one of my favorite due to the line-up. Sid v. Bulldog was great, Mero v. Goldust was decent, Owen v. Savio was perfect for openers, the 4-way Tag Team match was great.. then the Taker/Mankind boiler room match, with Bearer turning heel.. & H.B.K. v. Vader, that went on "forever" after getting restarted & restarted. (this was my favorite H.B.K. match of the year, even though it wasn't his best - which would've been against Hart, or Bulldog)

I hated Sid winning the Championship from H.B.K. at Survivor Series & as well, I dispised the lack of elimination matches.. including one of them being basically a cluster & thrown out.

SO, all in all.. I remember greatly those years, as they were by far the best (to me) in wrestling history.

 

[salopstick]

i think the cartoon era goes a bit further from 1993 however the wrestling today seems crappier because we see the same matches on smackdown, raw and every ppv with the same endings, too much rubbish skits

look at wrestlemania VI, 15 matches using most of the rosta, some not the best but warrior/hogan was a classic pwi match of the year i think.

in the uk we only had superstars of wrestling and wrestling challenge outside of the ppvs so a card like that was absolutely brilliant.

every so often would be a saturdaynights main event with great matches like hogan and warrior v hennig and genius. i recall a great match with hogan against bossman in the old blue steel cage and hogan suplexed him from over the top.

yes the weekly squashes were a joke but to see superstar against superstar at ppvs and main events only were exciting times.

sadly today its wwe and the show is just not about wrestling anymore

sports-entertainment-mania anyone

 

[Shocky]

The match quality of the WWE has gone to the shitter in the last decade. The cartoon era, why notorious for shitty gimmicks, had some of the better matches in it's history. I think Jake has hit on something in here.

Any match from Hart, Michaels, Owen, or Davey Boy was money. Hell, even Sean Waltman was must watch. Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett put on solid matches nightly. Hell, even Kevin Nash was watchable. The Yokozuna and Undertaker feud was watchable, and we all know how bad the Undertaker can be when put into matches with big immobile guys.

Then you get the influx of guys like Simmons, Dustin, Vader, Mero, Austin and Pillman, and the matches went through the roof. Did I forget someone, oh yes, Mick Fucking Foley.

Foley often gets typecast as hardcore, suicidal, and all of that junk, but let's not forget, Mick Foley is amazing in the ring. Without Mick Foley, the Undertaker is nothing more then an immobile slow big man. The Foley feud brought out the best in the Undertaker, and forced him to become more then a one dimensional character.

And a match that everyone forgets about, Foley vs. Michaels at Mindgames. This maybe the best match of both of these guys careers,a nd that is saying a shitload, considering the matches they have both been involved in.