The greatest era in WWE/F history?

[stavros241000]

The title is self explanatory, but here's a brief rundown of the eras.
The Territorial Era (1964-1983) : Top guys were Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Pedro Morales. Not many will pick this.

The Golden Era(1984-1993): Top guys were Hogan (second best ever IMO), Savage, Andre the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair (6th greatest of all time) for a little bit, Ultimate Warrior

The New Generation (94-97): Top guys were Shawn Michaels(BEST EVER), Bret Hart, Undertaker (4th best ever), Diesel, Razor Ramon. VERY UNDERRATED era IMO. Some great matches and rivalries were created, many of the greatest superstars ever were involved in this era.

Attitude Era (97-01): Top guys were Stone Cold (3rd best ever), The Rock (5th best ever), Undertaker, Kane, Y2J, HBK (at the very beginning), HHH, Mankind, Tag Team Wrestling was at peak with E/C, Hardys, Dudleyz, APA, New Age Outlawz, BoD, Rock N Sock etc.

Ruthless Agression Era(Part A: 01-04) (Part B: 04-08): Part A top guys were HHH, HBK, Y2J, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, Undertaker, Kane, Hulk Hogan and the NWO, The Rock, SCSA, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Big Show
Part B top guys were edge, randy orton, JBL, Batista, John Cena, Undertaker, Kane, Y2J, RVD, Booker T, Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley, Jeff Hardy, Big Show

PG Era (2009-Present): Top guys were John Cena, Edge, Randy Orton, Batista, Jeff Hardy, HHH, HBK, Undertaker, Kane, Mark Henry, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, Y2J, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, Daniel Bryan, The Miz
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My personal favorite was the RUTHLESS AGGRESSION era, because that's what I grew up with so it has a very special place in my heart. HBK was champ again and won first EC match, ECW had a breif comeback, HHH reached his peak, Kurt Angle and the SD 6 put on consistently great matches, the WHC came back, the WWE championship was beautiful until Part 2, Goldberg in WWE, HBK AND HHH IS MY FAVORITE RIVALRY EVER. Midcarders were also pretty good at that time. My 2 favorite matches with HBK vs Y2J at mania and HBK vs HHH Last Man Standing.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE ERA? I think most of you will say Attitude, and I don't blame you.

 

[DasWunderSwagg]

Not necessarily an era but I say it was that sweet surreal moment between the New Generation and Attitude which was the year of 1997

 

[hardy8778]

ill have to say the attitude era because it was cutting edge wrestling wrestlers were getting more and more real with the crowd and u could even go and say anything and almost get automatic heat from crowds and get the biggest cheers from them as well

 

[ECW Sandman]

The Golden Era and The Next Generation has to be the best eras in WWF/E History I started watching WWF when I was 2 years old and that was in 1984.


The Golden Era had great wrestlers in that time guys like Hulk Hogan who was the man back then, Roddy Piper, Andre The Giant, Tito Santana, Jake Roberts Hacksaw Jim Duggan and My Idol The Late Macho Man Randy Savage.

The Golden Era also brought with it WrestleMania Summer Slam Survivor Series and The Royal Rumble also with that Era it brought Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC.


The Next Generation had Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Yokozuna, Owen Hart, The Smoking Gunns, HHH, Goldust, and Mindkind,

Like the Golden Era The Next Generation brought new PPVS King Of The Ring, and In your House, It also brought a New concept to Monday Nights No longer was the days of Prime Time Wrestling On January 11th 1993 saw the Debut of Monday Night RAW coming from Manhattan Center in New York .

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

I'm with you, I grew up with the Ruthless Agression era. The first match I watched on tv was Beniot vs Angle and I was instantly hooked.

Obviously, looking back the Attitude Era might have been my answer had I been old enough to watch all the eras as it happened. But from what I saw unfold infront of me, rather than what I saw on YouTube. My answer is Ruthless Aggression and I don't have a problem with that.

 

[Lowdown]

I'll have to say for myself the Golden Age between '85 and '92. I enjoyed WWF during these years, even though I couldn't watch the PPV's. It was a treat in itself just to watch Superstars and Challenge on the weekends. And don't get me started on the classic Saturday Night's Main Event. Pretty much anything featuring Hogan and I was all in.

 

[entertainer101]

From the list that you provided, I would have to say the Ruthless Aggression Era Part A: 01-04.

While a strong case can be presented for each era given, I've gotta say this is the best.

The attitude era is probably second in my opinion. It put together quite a bit of memorable matches, moments, and characters. But there are three reasons I still pick the Ruthless aggression era:

(1) The attitude era was WAY too McMahon and faction centered. Things got to the point in the attitude era where there was a new powerful faction ran by Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, or Stephanie McMahon/Triple H every three-four months. The result was the McMahon's on screen nearly every other segment. It just got to be too much. The storylines became too predictable: screw job over The Rock/Austin/Jericho/other... more screw jobs... more screw jobs.... good guy finally gets the victory. Title put back on whoever the McMahons are supporting. It became repetitive.

(2) The Ruthless Aggression era had too many now legendary status stars at the top of their game to not be the best era. Think about it: HHH, HBK, Y2J, Eddie, Angle, Benoit, Undertaker, Kane. All of these guys were at this point veterans. They had been around the WWF long enough to really come into their own and while they put on some incredible matches while they were in the Attitutde era, by this point they were now putting on some of the best matches in their careers. Add that with new stars with tons of promise like Orton and Lesnar and you have a recipe for success. Top THAT with Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman as battling GMs and you have even more success (especially when Bischoff's creative ideas were extremely limited).

(3) It was the perfect time for newer stars who had been established during the attitude era to begin to challenge the legend status of their counterparts from the past without those wrestlers from the past being too old to steal a show (i.e., The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan, Austin vs. Scott Hall, HHH vs. Shawn Michaels, Edge vs. The Undertaker, Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley). It was the only era in which true dream matches were possible by watching truly great stars from the past wrestle truly great stars of the present and future. For that reason alone it is the greatest era of all time.

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

I liked the New Generation best out of a personal preference, and didn't even start watching live shows until nineteen ninety-nine. It featured "probably" the best flow of good technical wrestling matches with the least cheating, least distracted referees, least uses of steel chairs in cheap ways, and least brawls.

The Golden Era featured too many subtle subliminal alterior motives like offensive implied racism, as was the case between Rick Rude and Native American culture, as well as a RIDICULOUS amount of womanizers: Ric Flair being the prime number one suspect, "Macho Man" Randy Savage brutally pulling Miss Elizabeth by the arm CONSTANTLY on NUMEROUS occasions and shows, not being right whether she was married to him or not, the Warrior disgustingly enjoying Sensational Sherri getting down on her knees begging him to let Randy Savage get another match for the WWF title at WWF Royal Rumble in nineteen ninety-one and then animalistically screaming to her face saying "NOOOOOOH-OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" much to the delight of perverted sick freakish fans and a male dominated audience, stupid Andre forcing weight on a lady by squeezing and trapping her walking away with one forearm while slapping that woman on the butt as if it was a simple excercise, and yeah even Hulk Hogan with the way he messed around with Miss Elizabeth after the Mega Powers were walking away together, pathetically attempting to pose innocently that it was all in the name of good friendship when it was clear that she could handle herself on camera against the also abusive Macho Man, and he grabbed her arm almost out of the socket, as if he had made the decision for her not to continue supporting Randy Savage.

Aside from those dirty instances, the technical wrestling was looked down upon much in the Golden Era by the masses, allowing great performers like Bret Hart, Curt Hennig and Shawn Michaels (despite being more aerial, there was no doubt much psychology was present in moves he did for the short term and subconsciously to the average fan like simple things such as arm wrenches, chinholds and headlocks) to be put aside for favor of the ever so pathetic craze in the eighties to carry over from the fifties, sixties and seventies that big men were automatically the best. With those shortcomings aside, the Golden Era was the second best time in the WWF to me.

The Attitude Era was pretty dumb and not wrestling to me more than fifty percent of the time because open fists were blatantly allowed, and there were too many hardcore matches, but for the first time in a while, female wrestling was escalated to theoretically equal heights as they brought Chyna to hold own against heavy weights like the Undertaker and Triple H, even though she wouldn't be able to do so on a regular basis in real life, but the fact they showed her to be on that same standard went a long way, as it was the thought that counted. So, for that one reason, I wouldn't call the Attitude Era the worst, and it actually would be the third least worst time (or the third best time for your language as the reader).

Everything after Wrestlemania Seventeen was cheap, briefcasing many of the stupid disadvantages from the Attitude Era like cheap heat received by Eddie Guerrero and X-Pac, no logic whatsoever in how heels publically cheated in PLAIN SIGHT of referees, brawls receiving public praise and being considered wrestling matches, and a totally reverse direction for women wrestling, with few exceptions like Trish Stratus, Lita, Jazz, Molly, Victoria, and more recently Beth Phoenix. For purposes of this thread, this era was and still seems to me like the absolute second worst time for the WWF.

Only the territorial era seemed worse as regularly competing women were not showcased as much, other than the Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young maybe. That is a reason for me to consider it the worst, even though many legendary wrestlers came from that time, and just because I started watching wrestling at current times in ninety-nine didn't mean I didn't go back and watch old footage. Curt Hennig did stand out for those days, especially with the early work he did with his dad in a tag team.

Going by timelines set forth by the starter of this thread, the time after two thousand eight would be slightly less worse, and fourth least worst (fourth best in the language of you readers) but not by much, because of C.M. Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Jack Swagger and the like bringing back actual technical wrestling more often, without the necesitated seemingly thousand hardcore matches to one scientific matching ratio, as often was present in the Attitude Era.

Self-edit: To the people who will insist that Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero actually brought technical wrestling back to the WWF during the Attitude Era, I won't say they didn't do that, but will remind you all not to forget the dozens (and dozens) of brawls, closed fists, blading, and weapons that were continued to be used with them as well.

 

[CrazyChicksDigger]

Based on this list, I'd say the NEW GENERATION was the best overall, while the ATTITUDE ERA was fun from a sheer entertainment standpoint.

NEW GENERATION had good technical wrestling and storylines, but most importantly this was the first time in the "modern" (cable TV) era of wrestling that the WWF/E had a product where fans legitimately believed the WWF/E title could change hands (translation: the diehards finally didn't have to groan because they knew the challenger wasn't just a sacrificial lamb for Hulk Hogan). This was also the point where WWF/E started to rival (from a wrestling product standpoint) the quality product of the NWA/WCW.

The ATTITUDE ERA wasn't as technically sound, but still had some holdover and also was immensely entertaining. To me, however, what ultimately makes Attitude 2nd to New Generation was that it degenerated (no pun intended) into the Triple H show towards the end -- I will never forget the misery of having to endure the first 20 minutes of every Raw with a Triple H interview where he was literally shoved down our throats.

RUTHLESS AGGRESSION was kinda fun I guess, and I personally don't mind the PG ERA in the sense that I just enjoy watching the product.

TERRITORIAL ERA isn't one I can really comment on since I watched wrasslin' in the South (World Class, baby!), and as for the GOLDEN ERA -- heh, to me the true Golden Era is NWA/WCW in the 80s -- I wasn't a WWF fan during the Hogan years (the undercard was always better than him in the main event).

 

[Waylon Mercy]

Not necessarily an era but I say it was that sweet surreal moment between the New Generation and Attitude which was the year of 1997

I'm with you on this one. I would put the second half of 1996 through 1997, straddling the "New Generation" and "Attitude" era. Breaking it down specifically, this was when we experienced the rise of "Austin 3:16" and one of the greatest feuds ever in Stone Cold vs. Bret Hart. Bret Hart was at his best during this time, blurring the fine line between face and heel. Meanwhile, Bret and Shawn's feud had reached its zenith with intense and cutting edge promos against each other. The Undertaker had his most bizarre and sadistic opponent ever, with Mankind. If Mankind wasn't bizarre enough, along came Goldust. He was compelling, in a really freakish way. On the Divas front, Sunny was hot as hell, and then Sable came along and blew her out of the water. While Monday Night Raw was struggling in the war against Nitro, there was a feeling of change in the air, and it was a really exciting time to watch wrestling in general.

 

[FlairFan2003]

If you base it on money then it would be your "Golden Era" mid 80s to about 92 (the end of Hulk Hogan as No. 1 guy in WWE). The interest in wrestling in general was huge then for the most part, and the NWA did very well for much fo that time.

The Attitude Era as it was also was very profitable, but the height was much shorter. I would say in general interest in wrestling started peaking in 96 and stayed very hot through 2000, then the decline started.

The worst period of time for wrestling fans was probably The New Generation Era. Very few top level stars, arguably the most boring World Champ of all time (Brett Hart, great performer, no charisma), when they did put someone with some charisma at the top of the card (Kevin Nash) they had him feuding in World Title Matches with the likes of Mabel. There was some decent preformances in the ring during this time, on a consistent basis maybe better than 96-2000 where WWE focussed heavily on gimmick matches and screw job endings in shorter contests and WCW focussed heavily on older performers (Hogan, Nash, et all) with less in ring skills. Still, this was a pretty boring time to be a fan, none of the cutting edge craziness or unpredictability of what came after, none of the larger than life stars and atmosphere like what had come before. WWE was on life support here, WCW was in a coma, and the rest of the companies by then had disappeared.

For me I would take the 80s - mostly for the NWA though. The WWE product then was a bit boring too, although there were plenty of great characters, something lacking during the 93-95 period. The in ring product in the NWA was what sold it for me, the brutal, bloody steel cage matches that were tons more intense than anything WWE put on till Hell In A Cell over decade later (Hell In A Cell is basically WWE's update on the old school NWA Cage Matches, much like Elimination Chamber is a copy of War Games), great tag team wrestling with Rock & Roll Express (the team The Rockers were based on), The Midnight Express, Road Warriors, Blanchard & Anderson, and for awhile Rude & Fernandez and The Fantastics, and some highly skilled matches, guys like Flair, Magnum TA, Blanchard, Whyndam, etc could put on veritable clinics on how to hold a crowd for an hour without foreign objects, insane gimmicks, etc. The matches were grittier and more violent and the storylines tended to be more mature. Plus for much of this time other companies like World Class & AWA were still around so as a wrestling fan you had a lot of options and could watch a lot of different stuff. The old USWA (Jerry Lawler, Jarrets, etc) was also around in this era.

 

[mrpops]

1. Attitude was the best for pure entertainment and got WWE their highest ratings for a reason. It was a part of popular culture. AE is the pinnacle of pro wrestling. FACT. It made you want to tune in every week to see what would happen next. Now....its just like...meh....raws on....

2. Ruthless agression. Had most of the AE stars in their primes delivering awesome storylines and BEST matches easily. RA era had the best matches. Smackdown was the A show easily. Best roster ever.

3. 80's Hogan/warrior/savage/flair.....fun..."real"......but outdated now.

4. 90's shawn/bret/deisel/taker

5. PG crap cena/edge/randy/batista

6. Not sure where we are now era.....some still PG, but now we have punk/bryan/ziggler/ryback and hopefully cena gets injured for life and we start a new era.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Not necessarily an era but I say it was that sweet surreal moment between the New Generation and Attitude which was the year of 1997

I would have to concur. This is the single greatest year in wrestling history.

On the WWF side you have the Bret/Shawn fued that spans the year with the payoff finally coming at Survivor Series (and we all know how that turned out). In the inbetween, you have both Bret and Shawn involved in fueds with Austin (Bret's being legendary) that help get him where he eventually got, and the whole USA v Canada thing with the Hart Foundation. Also during this time you see the product get more and more edgier as the foundation for the Attitude Era is placed in 97.

On the WCW side you have NWO in full swing and still fresh. This would not be the case in 98, but its 97 and things are booming in WCW. NWo is getting larger and larger and the whole year is about Sting and his new Crow gimmick (which worked so well). Outside of NWO you have the crusierweight divison stealing the show on a weekly basis with guys like Jericho, Mysterio, Guerrero, Malenko, Saturn, and a bunch of masked dudes putting on matches no one had ever seen.

On the ECW side the company is starting to get somewhat mainstream as their shows start appearing on small local networks (it didn't come my way till 98). Shane Douglas is the man and Tazz is about to be the man. RVD is getting more and more popular and ECW is the underground alternative rock of wrestlig.

 

[EastCoastFan]

The Goleden Era and the Attitude Era were the best. Those were the two best eras to be a wrestling fan. In the 80's, the WWF was going national and Hulk Hogan was everywhere. For those people who didn't like Hogan, there was JCP/NWA and other promotions. In the 90's, you had WWF and WCW fighting in out on Monday night prime-time TV, both pulling out the stops to one-up the other, while ECW turned people on to their unique brand of "hardcore".

 

[HBsam31]

I have to say for me The Golden Era. I went from a kid into my early teens at the end of that era, and I just remember how special it was to watch wrestling back then. Every show was an event for me, and all of the stars seemed larger than life. Hogan and Savage is one of my favorite feuds ever. I got wrapped up in Hulkamania as a kid, and I just can't look back on any era with as much fondness as The Golden Era.

 

[Evolution1991]

I opened this thread thinking 'Im going to say Attitude era' (for my personal perspective) but actually I think the greatest era for me was what you've defined as the first part of the ruthless aggression era. For me during this time, both Raw and Smackdown were absolutely brilliant, due to the sheer size of the roster the draft worked amazingly during these years.

There was even a point whereby I enjoyed SD! even more than Raw. The battles between the likes of Lesnar/Angle/Benoit/Big Show/Taker were brilliant, and I probably go back to this era to re-watch more than any other. And then of course this era included HHH/HBK rivalry which still now I watch religiously. And of course there was the creation of the Elimination Chamber which I used to be a big fan of before it ended up being its own ppv.

However, away from my own personal feelings, I feel that the Attitude Era is the greatest era in WWE history. Sure wrestling was big, but it got MASSIVE during these years. When you look back at some of the general raw shows during this time you clearly see that literally every wrestler was 'over' with the crowd. You're seeing a massive crowd pop for matches like Val Venis v The Godfather, the like of which you don't even see at Wrestlemania these days, and I don't feel like im over exaggerating.

 

[HBKperfect23]

The Golden Era: I started watching at age 6 right after summerslam 91. Real Worlds Champion angle, Hogan vs Taker, Roddy Piper, LOD in WWF, the 92 Rumble, the roster was at its best at this time. Summerslam 92 was the best ppv ever. 92 was savages best year IMO. From around the time of SurSer 91 to SurSerr92 wrestling was at its best ever IMO.

Also: I wish I got to see more SNME and see the year 1988 live. I would love to have seen the Mega Powers angle. I also wish I got to see Pipers heel run going into the orginal WM.

My 2nd favorite time in wrestling was 1997. I dont care what anyone says, this is where the attitude era started. USA vs Canada, Bret/Shawn shooting on each other weekly, Austin, Mick Foley joining the main event, Everything in the summer of 97. Canadian Stampede, Final4, Shawn winning the title at RR1997. The transistion from the new generation to the attitude era in 97 was awesome

 

[XXJJ]

I loved the ruthless aggression era. Might be a little unpopular opinon but I thought it was better than the attitude era. Smackdown was just amazing to watch. You were getting ppv quality matches with great storylines every week. Also, was a big evolution fan on the raw side. I know a lot of people couldn't stand Triple H though, but I was a fan.

 

[Moneyinc]

Gotta say the Golden Era. Nadeem Ahmad made some interesting points with all the womanzing that was happening as well as the racism, but this was the late 80s/early 90s. Check out a John Hughes film and you will see similar stereotypes going on. Not that that makes it right, just saying it was a somewhat normal thing back then when it came to entertainment...

The acting/characters from the Golden Era cannot be matched by any other Era. Roddy Roddy Piper acted in a John Carpenter film called They Live, which to this day holds up as in my opinion the best movie any WWF wrestler starred in. The Rock has obviously done huge things, but They Live was directed by Carpenter in his prime. Gotta love it.

You also had Macho Man, Hogan, Warrior, Flair, Henning, Jake the Snake, Undertaker, Bret Hart, The Rockers/HBK turning, Legion of Doom, Moneyinc, Natural Disasters, Nasty Boys, Andre the Giant, Slaughter. All of these guys were cutting promo's with ease, and the best part about them is they are mostly funny promos as well. As someone else mentioned you had the creation of Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series all in the Golden Era.

Warrior beating Honkey Tonk Man in 30 seconds, Macho Man vs Hogan Wrestlemania 5, Macho Man VS Warrior WM7/Summerslam 92. Hogan vs Warrior WM6. Piper vs Hart WM8. Wrestlemania 3 and 4! The Golden Era just had way too much star power to be matched by any other ERA.

My second best would probably have to be the Attitude era. I was born in 1986. I started watching WWF around 94, because I would rent all the old VHS tapes from my local video store. I'm talking every Summerslam, Rumble, Wrestlemania etc. I'd also watch Raw of course during the New Generation Era. This Era had some great characters and a great 90s feel good feel, but it just didn't have nearly the impact that the Attitude Era had on the whole world. I was in about 7th grade when Stone Cold Steve Austin took my Junior High by storm. I still remember random kids at my school walking around with Stone Cold action figures. I remember students literally changing their personalities because of the impact Stone Cold had. One kid specifically walked/tried to talk just like Stone Cold, to the point to where I realize now that Stone Cold Steve Austin literally changed the way this kid acted. I went to a decent size middle school, and I can still remember all of my teammates from basketball/ every single one of my friends were into wrestling. Even people you'd never expect were into wrestling back then.

Besides Stone Cold, there were kids walking around doing the DX Suck it on a regular basis. The wolfpack handshake thing was very relevant in my Junior High as well. The fact that Nash and Triple H were creating little gesters and handshakes for their acts were really important, because they stuck with the fans. WCW Nitro during the Attitude ERA was absolutely incredible. I used to actually watch RAW, and I would just flip to Nitro any chance I got during slow matches or during commercials. Recently I watched a couple Nitro shows in their entirety on Youtube and I was blown away by the RAWness of the show.(no pun intended). It was just so dark. The show starts off very exciting with Goldberg stomping some guy with the last name Flynn. Probably Goldbergs 10th or so match so the crowd is behind him, and it is as fun of a 3 minutes as you will get in wrestling. Matches like Mysterio vs whoever, Malenko vs Benoit. Then you see NWO enter the building rolling up in limos, jeans and black Tshirts. Straight badass. Back to the action and you might get a little DDP promo followed by the whole NWO coming out to try to intimidate him. THEN, if you are lucky, Sting will fucking fall down from the rafters and whip out a Bat for DDP, and another bat for himself. UNREAL how awesome it was rewatching almost 15 years after it aired live.