The Greatest Era in Wrestling History?

[The Crock]

Professional wrestling is an ever-evolving thing, it changes to keep up with the times. Sometimes those changes can be excellent, other times... Not so much. Now, out of all the eras in the history of wrestling which is your favorite?

Simple question, really: What is the greatest era in professional wrestling history?

I'll begin by outlining all the different eras:

- The Golden Era: The time during which the WWE(F) took off and became popular. This was when it took off towards becoming the global giant that it is today. The Golden Era is probably the most well known era of them all. It gave us stars such as Hulk Hogan, who is probably the most famous professional wrestler of all time.
- The New Generation Era: The time where new stars were born. The old guard, such as Hogan, were phased out and guys like Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Owen Hart, and Bret Hart all came in. This was effectively the "lead-in" to the Attitude Era. The product became a little stale and began to evolve, the groundwork or the future was laid down.

- The Attitude Era: The most cutting edge and controversial period in pro wrestling history. Wrestling went from being family friendly to being adult oriented very suddenly. Some of the greatest stars ever came out during this period, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, etc. Competition was a big part of the product during this era, hence all the pushing limits by the WWE(F) and WCW. This era is beloved by many, and is in the eyes of most of the IWC the "glory days" of wrestling.

- The PG Era: The current product, which is geared more towards children and families. Hated by the IWC, and felt, by some, to be the worst time in wrestling history. It had changed the product, but in some ways it had returned the product to what it was once like in the Golden Era.

Now, there are two eras which I didn't include, because they are generally ignored but I will summarize them here:

- The Territory Era: Before there were any huge promotions. The country was split into territories, and regions. Major competition between promotions.

- The Ruthless Aggression Era: The period after the Attitude Era and before the PG Era. It is not officially recognized by the WWE, I believe, and it was a fairly down time for wrestling... Quite similar to the New Generation Era.

Now that all the summaries are complete a decision can be made. I believe that the Attitude Era is the greatest era in wrestling history. I may be biased towards it due to growing up at the time, but there are many reasons I think it is the greatest. It was the most entertaining time, and it was the most profitable. This is the time when WWE(F) and pro wrestling in general exploded into the mainstream. This when wrestling was "cool".

Ok, now that you know what my choice is, tell me yours. What do you think?

 

[Wrestling Free Thinker]

I have a feeling the attitude era is the era plenty of people will pick because it was so awesome and is what wrestling should always be....

I pick Golden Era due to NWA and the WWF

 

[mulkeymania]

for my money it would be the golden era--brought wrestling nationwide and just some of the most amazing rosters between WWF and crockett promotions and WCCW and the AWA did bring along some people about that time.
the downside to it was that we seen WCCW,AWA and UWF fold up and crockett sold out to turner but at the time it was great just like the middle to late 90s were--just throw in competiton and wrestling gets better for it.

 

[kingjaekob]

If you go by ratings, it was The Monday Night Wars in mid-late 90's that brought us The nWo and WWF Attitude Era's.

If you go by what wrestling brought to our culture! I would say the 80's helped establish Wrestling as part of Americana, even thought it was popular in big cities, it was brought to us by Cable TV. WWF/Vince/Hogan made the Rock and Wrestling connection from 85-87. WCW in late 80s early 90s had the best talent ever in one promotion.

 

[realoldskoolfan]

the territories by far. it not only gave workers a chance to basically go anywhere in the country and be employed, but gave the fans numerous options. the bar was set way higher back then, as promotions had alot of competition and needed to stay a step above. everybody was on there A game in the mid 80s and it made for great stories. you had Gagne and the AWA, the Von Erichs in World Class, Jarrett/Lawler in Memphis, Crockett in the Mid Atlantic/NWA, Vince and the WWF, the Grahams in Florida, the Armstrongs in the Gulf Coast, Don Owen in Portland, The Harts in Calgary, the Guerreros in LA, the Funks ran Amarillo, Harley Race and Bob Giegel running the Central States, Bill Watts in Mid South/UWF. and if you want to really look into those promotions, alot of you younger guys will find that your favorites from the 90s and beyond were major stars in these territories back then. how many people know that the Undertaker went by the name Master of Pain doing his biker gimmick waaaay back then and was in a hot fued for the USWA Title w/ Jerry Lawler in 1988?? how about Steve Austin fueding with Chris Adams in World Class because Austin was married to Adams ex wife? oh was that HBK who was winning the Central States tag titles with a kid named Marty Jannetty in 1986? didn't they go on to become a team called the Midnight Rockers in the AWA? how about Cactus Jack Manson doing elbow drops off the apron years before the WWf days down in Memphis???? mid 80s territory days by far. close down this thread and move on.

 

[Trivia247]

I would say that the 70s - 90s would be the hottest period for the entire industry. I remember during the 80s you could flip any channel and you could watch WWF, AWA, UWF, WCW/NWA etc etc. You could see the same wrestler a few months working one territory then a few months to a year later work another territory. etc.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I will go with The Attitude Era. Not because it simply was the Attitude Era. Not necessarily for the content, but for the actual wrestlers in general.

The Rock, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, The NWO, DX... Guys like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sting were in their primes.

Guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Booker T and Chris Benoit were "young" in the game and would go out every night and steal whatever show they were on.

The element of surprise was a huge factor in those days. You really never knew what would happen next, that goes for WWF/E and WCW. Sometimes you weren't sure if something was a work or if it was real.

It isn't the vulgarity or the women parading around half naked OR the blood. It was the talent that was meshed together and the element of surprise, mixed with the competition between 2 companies looking to go further than the other one, to give fans what they wanted AND keep them guessing at the same time.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Attitude Era

I was in my teenage years at the time of the Attitude Era and my god it was awesome. Wrestling was cool, every WWE show in England would sell out in minutes, it was the hottest thing going. Everyone at school would be talking about the action on Raw the night before, we all had out wrestling t-shirts and it was the "IN" thing to be a wrestling fan. The ratings were sky high and WWE was at its absolute best.

What I loved about this era was the controversy. It was constantly pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable. The violence, the nearly-nude women (as a 14y/o seeing Sable in the handprint bikini or Debra showing the puppies, and Kitty going topless was the best thing ever haha), and the fact that you never knew what to expect. Anything could happen on Monday Night Raw, and all the talent was fresh and exciting. You had Austin- literally the biggest thing in the business, The Rock was on his way up, HBK and HHH were hilarious as DX and Undertaker was awesome with his Ministry of Darkness.

The feuds were hot, the HBK v Bret feud is legendary as is the rivalry with Vince and Austin, Rock and HHH, Austin V Rock, HHH v Foley. Even the mid-card talent was used right, with the awesome tag-team division giving us some of the best matches of all time and guys like Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Shamrock, Kane etc not usually being involved at main-event level but all relevant and putting on great matches.

I loved Vince as the uber-heel, I think he played the role to perfection. There just isnt anything in modern-day wrestling that can compare to the Attitude Era for me in terms of excitement. I used to count down the minutes to the show every week, and could not wait to get my fix. Maybe now as I am older, that the show now doesnt have the same effect, and perhaps if the Attitude Era was now I wouldnt get into it as much?

But the fact of the matter is, with WCW breathing down his neck constantly, and with them having hot storylines like the nWo, Vince was constantly forced to work harder, and he thrived under the competition. Not only that, but ECW being around forced Vince to change the style of the WWE to a more edgy, more adult themed product. We can see this is the style of the storylines, the hardcore elements and the language used. This wasnt PG. This was action packed, with chair shots, exciting new gimmick matches, more realistic entertaining characters who pushed the boundaries and gave us what I, and many others of my age range, class as the best time to be a wrestling fan

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Well I feel it is a two horse race between the attitude era and the golden era. These were the two most profitable eras for the WWF as well as times when wrestling was considered to be "cool".

But I would pick the attitude era among the two because I feel that the roster in the AE was stronger than that of the Golden era. Very often, during the golden era WWF was mostly the Hogan show. Now there were a few more talented performers around like Randy Savage but most of the roster was not that good. It contained guys like Jim Duggan and Brutus Beefcake who are very frankly not good wrestlers. Another example is the Honky Tonky Man who was very entertaining but hardly passable in the ring. The quality of wrestling was not exactly great in that period bar a few matches.

Now in the AE especially the late AE from 2000-2001, WWE had a great roster. Rock, Austin, Triple H were both charismatic as well as good in the ring. A great combination for any main eventer to possess. Guys like Benoit, Jericho, Undertaker, Kane and Angle were all upper midcarders but they could easily the shoes of a main eventer if one was absent.

I have not mentioned the tag teams because I feel this is one department where both eras are evenly matched.

But overall I would pick the attitude era mainly due to the talent of that era.

 

[apokalypse]

New Generation era actually belongs to Austin-Bret-Taker-Shawn, Austin promo at King Of The Ring WITHOUT APPROVAL and a fued with Bret is turning point for WWF. with that promo Vince decides go along with Austin 3:16 and Vince sent out memo stated only Austin able to swear on TV which slowly became Attitude Era . As for Attitude Era, Austin elevate other guys and new stars to shine like The Rock-HHH and at this stage they able to sellout tickets. the Jumpship of Radicals-Jericho from WCW to WWF , and also Kurt Angle. Attitude Era has so many talents include tag-teams like Dudley Boys-Too Cool-Edge and Christian.

 

[Trivia247]

I would say the Golden Era Further because it was the time when Wrestling was at its Most Mainstream. Before Steroid trials, before PTC protests and racey stuff.. You could find Wrestling on both Cable and Network channels. Now its just Cable channels.

 

[Freddy4190]

I'm assuming the Ruthless Aggression era would be like: Lesnar, Angle, Heyman on SD!, etc. I think that was my favorite Era to be honest. 2002-2006. That's when I was into wrestling the most. Being a late bloomer when it comes to wrestling, I didn't really get into wrestling until near the end of the Attitude Era. I remember seeing bits and pieces of it. Now, i'm not taking away from how amazing of a time for wrestling it was, but my personal favorite? Yeah.

 

[LKOKDJE]

Wrestling, just like anything else, is about BUSINESS first. Hands down, no other era took the one time most dominant wrestling company the industry ever saw (WWF/E), saw the rise of an upstart rival (WCW), do the unthinkable, surpass it, nearly broke the former wrestling kingpin (WWE), then lose momentum after 80 plus weeks, get surpassed by the one true king (WWE), and then, ultimately, as they did in the 80's (WWE), buy out their former rivals (WCW, ECW) and add their talent pool and other assets into their roster! Essentially, the Attitude Era made Vince a BILLIONAIRE; off the blood, sweat, and toil of The Rock, Austin, HHH, Mankind, Undertaker, Chyna, Michaels, Edge, and others! Even the Rock and Wrestling-Hogan era could not match the money made from merchandise, collectibles, etc.

The territorial days surpasses all others though, when it comes to dominate, long-standing title reigns. Sammartino, Backlund, Moolah, Thesz, Gagne, Bockwinkel, Race, Rogers, Lawler, Morales, and others come to mind as far as the old territorial system long standing champions.