Big props to Emperor for his 5 years of Music Thread. 

The premise of this thread is just as simple. For the rest of your life you are limited to watching wrestling from five consecutive years. Which years do you choose and why?


The thread is going no-where, if you just post the years. Which promotions? Which matches? Which angles? Which stars? What changes, what was happening during this period?

Are you reliving the New Generation becoming the Attitude Era, the birth of the nWo, the influence of ECW? The later rise of the WWF/E as the global leader in sports entertainment? The current rebirth of NJPW? The 1980's wrestling boom? 

I'm not going to stick strictly to calendar years and go for November 1992 - October 1997. That way I get Dream Rush along with Rey/Eddie Havoc and first Cell match.

- Four Corners of Heaven All Japan era
- Hashimoto and Liger as heavy and junior aces respectively in New Japan; with interpromotional feuds
- Interpromotional Joshi era
- Bret and HBK's working peaks; along with the tremendous Bret/Austin feud and USA/Canada angle
- The best of the nWo angle and introduction of cruisers in WCW
- Top hardcore with FMW and peak ECW
- Elite shoot style with UWFi and RINGS
- Top lucha from minis up to heavies
- Lucharesu with M-Pro

I'm sure there is a batch of years in the 80s that could compete, but I've not seen enough of some of the territories to properly judge.

I'll likely come back and elaborate more on this later.

I'll go for a different decade and say from 2013-2017 will be looked back on as a sweet period for Pro Wrestling fans.

WWE: The rise of The Shield and Daniel Bryan pushed as a top guy. NXT explodes and a bunch of talent that couldn't get a look in finally come into the company and gain a decent foot-hold. Wrestlemania 30 is celebrated as one of the more memorable shows and 32 becomes the biggest show in years. The WWE host three tournaments featuring independant talent, and they're all awesome. The Network launches around this time and becomes one of the best streaming apps available. Women's wrestling reaches new heights, to the point where some of the matches are generally regarded as match of the year contenders.

NJPW: After a big 2012, the Bullet Club invades NJPW, opening up their foreign market. Finally fans from around the world can identify with a stable and guys like Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura make some traction stateside. More and more talent makes their way over and others go from curtain jerkers to legitimate stars (eg. Ishii). In 2017, Omega vs Okada has the cannon greatest match of all-time, cementing this era as the GOAT.

Lucha Underground: Revels in doing everything different to the WWE and produces a fun pulp show that's easy to watch. It's style would later lead to many imitations, but none quite as good as LU.

PWG: After years of being half West Coast Indy/half Super-Indy, PWG just becomes a full-time super-indy that has some of the hottest talent duke it out. BOLA becomes an annual highlight and the small indy becomes so big, it's covered extensively by wrestling journalists looking to remain on the cutting edge of Pro Wrestling.

The UK Indy Scene: Explodes and a bunch of talent starts to make headway all around the world. Promotions like Rev. Pro, PROGRESS and ICW begin to affiliate themselves with bigger promotions and their shows are usually regarded as some of the best you'll see in all of Pro Wrestling.

CWF: Makes headway as the best southern independent, with a throwback presentation that's big on the sports-style presentation.

ROH: Realise they can't make their own stars, so they hop into bed with NJPW and become bigger than they ever have been. We get some fun cross-over matches in that time like Tetsuya Naito vs Jay Lethal and Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kevin Steen and the Young Bucks explode into one of the biggest acts in independant wrestling.

TNA: The Broken Matt Hardy stuff was fun.

Oh and unlike other periods where you had to pay $30 to watch some bootleg compilation, a lot of these promotions can be found via streaming services or other means online.

Strobe and Big Pete have done most of my work for me. The two time periods they chose are exactly the same periods I was considering, but I wouldn't necessarily choose those exact years.

Certainly mid-late 90s would be my first choice, just because it is the peak of my favourite promotion of all time in AJPW, the only wrestling I can watch for hours at a time without getting burnt out. Hell, it's the peak of Japanese wrestling, with NJPW on top form, the shoot-style promotions, and Joshi. It's also the peak of American wrestling with the Monday Night Wars and the Attitude Era. That time period is full of great wrestling all over the globe, a lot of which I have yet to see. Strobe already did a fantastic job in naming them all. The more I think about it, the more I see that mid-late 90s is by far the best choice. Thousands of hours of wrestling from WWF, WCW, ECW, AJPW, NJPW, Joshi, UWFi, and even the early shoot/MMA stuff like Pancrase and Pride if that counts. Compared to other periods, I am likely to enjoy aspects of all these promotions.

Contrast this to Pete's 2013-2017 where I only really like NJPW, and WWE up to around 2014/2015. I'm sure there's lots of good independent wrestling but besides those two promotions modern wrestling doesn't grab me as a whole. Then you have the 80s, which has some awesome wrestling, but probably a greater quantity of wrestling that's too slow/old school for my liking.

I need to settle on some years. Honestly I'm finding it very difficult to stray from Strobe's time period. I thought briefly about considering 1998, but a brief look at some WWF and WCW PPVs from that year doesn't convince me that it would be better than late 1992/early 1993 which has some great AJPW and some of the pre-Hogan WCW. So, yeah, I'm pilfering Strobe's answer. November 1992 - October 1997.

If we don't have to abide by calendar years, I'm very tempted to say November 1997 through October 2002.

I'm really mad the math didn't work out to let me stretch from November 1996 through 2002... And I'm embarrassed to admit how much finger counting it took for me to finally realize that I couldn't do that range and also follow the rules.

Anyway, this range essentially opens with the big bang of the Montreal Screwjob, the departure of Bret, the birth of the Mr. McMahon character, Stone Cold's return to the ring, and then the debacle that was what should've been the greatest Starrcade moment ever. While I wouldn't necessarily bother with stuff outside the WWF, I feel like it's a decent time for WCW and ECW overall... which could prove nice if I ever get bored and want to explore while stuck in this Groundhog Day loop.

Anyway... We get the departure of Shawn; the crowning of Austin; the entirety of the business-redefining Attitude Era, including the most infamous HIAC at KOTR98; the rise of a lot of strong midcarders... with Rock, Mankind, HHH, Jericho, and Angle breaking through, and Benoit kinda sorta nearly making it. Oh, and Goldberg... Duh.

I'll have to suffer through 1999 WWF, but it did have it's gems (at least IMO) like X-Pac/Shane, Shane/Test, E&C/Hardys @ No Mercy, the peak of the Rock/Mankind title feud and then later Rock 'n' Sock, Chyna vs. The Stooges, etc. etc. Just see Big Pete's thread for the good that came with the bad and the ugly. Plus, 1999 WCW has a fun tag thing going on from what I recall with Benoit/Malenko, Raven/Saturn, DDP/Kanyon, and Mysterio/Kidman.

On the overall, 2000 WWF makes up for most of the bad from 1999 WWF. The HHH/Cactus MSG street fight, Tazz's WWF debut, the rise of Kurt Angle, the love triangle, Jericho being a thorn in HHH's side when not embroiled in a fun rivalry with Benoit, Team ECK and Commissioner Foley antics, the return of a repackaged Undertaker and Austin, the real birth of the TLC era... Even the idea of a six-man HIAC (even if it included bad man Rikishi) wasn't off-putting.

Then in 2001 we get into a really interesting time, business-wide. ECW goes out of business and WCW gets bought out. The Attitude Era arguably comes to an end with THE greatest WrestleMania of all time. There's even gems buried in the bad that we have to endure. Austin's heel turn initially yields the bad-ass duo of the Two-Man Power Trip, and eventually gets into some surprisingly funny comedic work with Kurt Angle. And his heel run is littered with some of his best in-ring work ever... Which makes no sense for someone with two bad knees and a broken neck.

The Invasion as a premise was riveting at first and then quickly became so bad that it was at least an entertaining car wreck that was hard to look away from. It introduced WWF Diehard Loyalists to Rob Van Dam and Booker T at least. And while DDP's first run was a huge miss, there was something amusing about his Positively Page run later in the year. We end the year with a swerve finish with Jericho truly breaking through to become the first-ever Undisputed Champion.

Then Ric Flair returns to the WWF and essentially brings the original nWo members along with him in early 2002. Nash and Hall didn't have much to offer, but Hulk F'n Hogan had returned home and we got arguably the greatest WrestleMania main event in Rock/Hogan. Then the unthinkable continues to happen when Shawn Michaels returns to the ring at SummerSlam 2002. For as interesting as 2001 was from a business standpoint, 2002 is just as interesting. You've got the birth of the brand split and the WWE gets the F out. Meanwhile, the Jarrets launch the TNA experiment and ROH leads the Indy revolution.

To cap everything off, the first graduating class of OVW debuts in WWE, which changes the landscape of wrestling forever. Batista and Orton don't really "evolve" until after October, but vanilla Cena dresses up as Vanilla Ice for Halloween and suddenly becomes chocolate. And my man Brock Fucking Lesnar caps off a fucking awesome reign of terror with a fucking awesome HIAC title defense against Undertaker. All the while, the SD!6 and underrated RAW midcarders are providing excellent support.

There's something to be said for 2002-2006. I'm too lazy to consider doing months. I'll just go January-December.

WWE - HBK's return. The rise of Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Randy Orton. The greatness of the Smackdown six and the Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit feud. The debut of Team Angle. JBL's, Benoit's, and Eddie's world title reigns. Raw was not very good for a lot of this time period, but around 2004/5 you did get Evolution and the awesome Batista/HHH feud. I also get to see the One Night Stand shows, and RVD vs Cena. Goldberg's brief WWE run (I didn't care much for it at the time, but I feel like I'd appreciate it more now). Sheriff Austin. Most of the Wrestlemanias were pretty good, with a bunch of classic matches (HBK/Benoit/HHH, HBK/Angle, Cena/HHH, the first MITB, Eddie/Angle, Rock/Austin III, Rock/Hogan). I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff I've not thought of.

ROH - The first and best years of America's top independent promotion. Early spotfests featuring Low Ki, Danielson, Daniels, Amazing Red and AJ Styles with god awful commentary. The awesome title reigns of CM Punk, Samoa Joe and Danielson. The rise to prominence of many great wrestlers such as Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, CM Punk, Colt Cabana, The Briscoes, Nigel McGuiness, and Alex Shelley. Plus I get to see KENTA's ROH visits, including the two great matches against Danielson and Low Ki.

TNA - Similar story to ROH. Fun spotfests in the early months, which evolved to a full-fledged X-Division. TNA also had a great tag division in the early years. AMW, Triple X, The New Church (managed by the super underrated James Mitchell), Team Canada. I think the TNA knockouts explosion came after 2006, so that's a shame.

NOAH - The best Japanese promotion at the time. Kobashi's incredible 2+ year title reign starting in 2003. Misawa and Akiyama still going reasonably strong. KENTA being an awesome junior heavyweight. KENTA and Marufuji being an awesome junior heavyweight tag team.

I'd take this over 2013-2017, but it's still a clear second place behind Strobe's time period.

If I could encapsulate a period, it would be 1998-2002. That was my wrestling fan infancy, and not only was I emotionally invested, I'd spend hours just playing all the games which used to rock back then (well...the AKI and Yukes ones at least...).

1999 vs 2000 is an interesting debate. On one hand, WWF 2000 blows 1999 out of the water, no question but WCW and ECW were shadows of themselves. AJPW was going through some major turbulence with the Pro Wrestling NOAH split, and NOAH wouldn't find it's feet for a couple of years. WCW was still hot for the first quarter of 1999, right up until half the roster got injured and Nash sent Flair to the mental asylum. ECW started the year poorly, but was beginning to make a comeback with the TNN deal. 1999 was the end of an era for AJPW, not it's finest year but the death of Baba hadn't quite destroyed the promotion within the calender year. I'm fairly blank on NJPW, FMW, RINGS, Battlearts, Michinoku Pro etc. around this time so those could be your deal breakers. If it's considered, I'd imagine UFC was at it's lowest ebb around 1999-2001? At least you had PRIDE tearing it up around this time. If we're including UFC, then I'm throwing that in with my 2013-17 stuff and even though it's sort of lost something recently with all this John Jones/Brock Lesnar rubbish, UFC just keeps finding ways to be awesome. That GSP fight recently had no reason to be as good as it was and that show delivered big time.

My pick for the 2000s, would be 2003-07.

2002 vs 2007 is a fairly tough predicament. On one hand, the WWE was all over the shop trying to deal with the brand split and all the ramifications of splitting up the roster and having so many stars on their roster. On the other, Benoit put the WWE under the spotlight and there was all sorts of fall-out after what had happened. I feel like the product was better overall in 2007, largely due to guys like HBK, Taker, Cena, Orton, The Hardy Boyz etc. having their best years but I'd be prepared to call it a wash.

Meanwhile, I'd consider TNA and ROH better in 2007 than what they were in 2002. In 2002, they hadn't quite figured out their image, so ROH looks like a low-rent independent, while TNA was the island of misfit toys.

Honestly couldn't tell you much about the scene in Japan. I'm not entirely sure when it bottomed out there, whether it was 2007 or earlier, but there was a period where NJPW was in real peril. I'd assume NOAH 2002 was better than any Japanese promotion in 2007, but that's an utter assumption.

Great topic. I'm glad to see this thread has already gotten a lot of play while I was at work. I immediately came up with two options when I read Nath's post this morning....

1993-1998

I'm cheating by 15 days since my first thought was June 13, 1993 to June 28, 1998. That way we start with Yoko squashing Hulkamania & Bret winning King of the Ring. In other words, the real birth of the New Generation. A few days later Flair makes his in ring return to WCW.

End date is to get Taker/Foley Hell In A Cell on there as it's one of the most memorable matches of that era.

The business experienced rapid change during this period as new wrestling and booking styles became popular. Stuff that would have been mind-blowing in 1993, or even 1995, would become commonplace by 1998.

WWF - We get to see it grow from my beloved New Generation into the Attitude Era. I could sit here listing highlights and wrestlers for hours but I don't have the time right now.

WCW- Again we get change as WCW morphs from that NWA-style New Generation thing they had going on into Hulkamania 2.0 and finally the Nitro era, which made wrestling hot again via the Monday Night Wars while bringing new style wrestling to the mainstream, as well as having a little thing called the NWO.

ECW- Rises from a no name indie into the most influential promotion around. Would have been fun to watch it grow from the beginning.

SMW & USWA allow us to experience the last two traditional territories. SMW was also the favored promotion by smarks in the early days of this 5 year window.

Japan was hot with their Big Two churning out legendary matches while doing great business, Joshi still being big, the rise of death match promotions like FMW & IWA, and cult favorite indies like Michinoku Pro.

Alternate Date could be 8/30/93-8/30/98. We start and end with a Summerslam to get Goldberg beating Hogan and Austin vs. Undertaker, which ended the first (and probably best stage) of the Attitude Era as things would often get goofy during the next 16 months or so.

Whether June or August, either way we end with both WWF & WCW on fire and ECW still growing in popularity even if it had stagnated creatively.

Downsides- We hit a rough stretch in '94 with WCW sucking (imo) from about July 94-September 95, and even WWF hitting the doldrums right after Survivor Series '94 until about July '95 (and your mileage may vary there since I know nobody likes late '95 WWF nearly as much as I do). It may also be depressing to watch the last two territories, SMW & USWA, die quiet, relatively unmourned deaths. The US indie scene was also abysmal during this stretch once you get beyond ECW.

*My second, and probably superior choice was 1995-2000. Or to be more specific....

July 9, 1995 to July 9, 2000

Again, it might not be for everybody but I was getting really interested in WWF during that summer. The start date is, of course HOROWITZ WINS. We also had the Dean & Goldust vignettes getting me all excited, Bulldog joining Camp Cornette, and a bunch of other fun things in the first month or two.

It's a pretty rough first two months for WCW but everything changes in September with perhaps the largest mass signing in wrestling history plus the birth of Nitro.

ECW is already well into their stride by July 1995.

Downsides- Japan doesn't seem quite as hot during the last few years of the decade. WCW has been in decline for almost two years by the time this project ends. ECW is also struggling by 2000. 1999 is a pretty weird year all around even if WWF did do great business and kicked it up a notch both creatively and in ring-wise in 2000. 

*I'll be back with my choices for the 80s & 2000s later today.

Baker said:

July 9, 1995 to July 9, 2000

This is the worst pick so far for a very specific reason. My favourite match of all time took place on June 9, 1995. This just seems like a slap in the face. All to get the Bash at the Beach 2000 debacle from July 9th on there! Which I guess you shouldn't really get as it should only go to July 8, 2000. And Horowitz/Skip was filmed on June 28th, which presents an argument of actual date or air date.

Nov 13, 2017 14:15:09 GMT Big Pete said:

If we're including UFC

Never go full Meltzer.

Worked shoots sure. But not shoots.

--------------------------------------------------

I feel like 1985-1989 is a strong contender if we are looking for a total package, as opposed to purely match quality (and it is up there for that as well). Strong promos, classic feuds, great angles, hot crowds all abound here.

WWF: The national expansion with the rise and peak of Hulkamania. Rock 'n' Wrestling, The War to Settle the Score, the first WrestleMania, Saturday Night's Main Event. Hogan's feuds with Piper and Orndorff, Mania III and The Main Event with Andre being arguably the two biggest matches ever, the entire Mega Powers story arc, *Vince McMahon voice* ZEUS~! Arguably the most well-realised self-contained universe in wrestling. Everyone had a gimmick, a logo, a character, down to the commentators. Match quality wasn't especially high, but that wasn't the point. The characters were so good and memorable and had so many great angles and moments.

JCP/WCW: 5 years of peak Flair - the Dusty feud, the Horsemen run, matches with Windham, Garvin and Luger, his 1989 against Steamboat and Funk. The debut of War Games. Tag teams like the Road Warriors, RNR, MX, Fantastics, Andersons, Arn/Tully. The birth of the Clash. Magnum/Tully.

AWA: Rockers feud with Rose & Somers. Young Curt Hennig against Bockwinkel, Hansen, Lawler.

Memphis: Lawler against Savage, Idol, Bigelow and his endless feud with Bill Dundee.

Mid-South: The culmination of the DiBiase/Duggan feud, the amazing DiBiase/Flair angle/match, the phenomenal Duggan/Sawyer brawl.

AJPW: Choshu's invasion being resisted by Jumbo and Tenryu, the eventual Jumbo/Tenryu feud, Stan Hansen being Stan Hansen.

New Japan/Shoot Style: Birth of shoot style from guys that left New Japan to form their own feds and eventually came back for interpromotional feuds. Also ISLAND DEATH MATCH!!! (don't watch this)

AJW: Jaguar Yokota just before her retirement. Crush Gals and the feud with Dump and her army.

Puerto Rico: I'm sure there is more great stuff, but the Hansen/Colon feud alone is enough.

Plus, from the available footage, there must be plenty top lucha.

July 9, 1995 to July 9, 2000
This is the worst pick so far for a very specific reason. My favourite match of all time took place on June 9, 1995. This just seems like a slap in the face. All to get the Bash at the Beach 2000 debacle from July 9th on there! Which I guess you shouldn't really get as it should only go to July 8, 2000. And Horowitz/Skip was filmed on June 28th, which presents an argument of actual date or air date.

I feel like 1985-1989 is a strong contender if we are looking for a total package, as opposed to purely match quality (and it is up there for that as well). Strong promos, classic feuds, great angles, hot crowds all abound here.

WWF: The national expansion with the rise and peak of Hulkamania. Rock 'n' Wrestling, The War to Settle the Score, the first WrestleMania, Saturday Night's Main Event. Hogan's feuds with Piper and Orndorff, Mania III and The Main Event with Andre being arguably the two biggest matches ever, the entire Mega Powers story arc, *Vince McMahon voice* ZEUS~! Arguably the most well-realised self-contained universe in wrestling. Everyone had a gimmick, a logo, a character, down to the commentators. Match quality wasn't especially high, but that wasn't the point. The characters were so good and memorable and had so many great angles and moments.

JCP/WCW: 5 years of peak Flair - the Dusty feud, the Horsemen run, matches with Windham, Garvin and Luger, his 1989 against Steamboat and Funk. The debut of War Games. Tag teams like the Road Warriors, RNR, MX, Fantastics, Andersons, Arn/Tully. The birth of the Clash. Magnum/Tully.

AWA: Rockers feud with Rose & Somers. Young Curt Hennig against Bockwinkel, Hansen, Lawler.

Memphis: Lawler against Savage, Idol, Bigelow and his endless feud with Bill Dundee.

Mid-South: The culmination of the DiBiase/Duggan feud, the amazing DiBiase/Flair angle/match, the phenomenal Duggan/Sawyer brawl.

AJPW: Choshu's invasion being resisted by Jumbo and Tenryu, the eventual Jumbo/Tenryu feud, Stan Hansen being Stan Hansen.

New Japan/Shoot Style: Birth of shoot style from guys that left New Japan to form their own feds and eventually came back for interpromotional feuds. Also ISLAND DEATH MATCH!!! (don't watch this)

AJW: Jaguar Yokota just before her retirement. Crush Gals and the feud with Dump and her army.

Puerto Rico: I'm sure there is more great stuff, but the Hansen/Colon feud alone is enough.

Plus, from the available footage, there must be plenty top lucha.

Horowitz Wins is a pretty arbitrary start date but my alternate- 9/4/95- date of the first Nitro- doesn't help you any.

Strobe nailed it when it comes to the 80s. My specific dates were November 15, 1984- November 15, 1989

We start a few days away from the 2nd Starrcade, get the build to the first Wrestlemania, and get on the Hulkamania bandwagon relatively early.
We end with the culmination of the 80s best feud in Flair/Funk- I Quit.

Strobe stole most of my thunder but my reasoning is in the US alone you had WWF, Crockett, Mid South, Memphis, World Class & AWA all hot enough to draw the occasional crowd of 10,000 plus. (Maybe Florida too. Don't remember and don't feel like checking dates.)

In Japan you had their always-strong Big Two and weren't they embroiled in a sort of Monday Night War of their own, having a bunch of promotion jumps starting w/ Choshu? Joshi was hot with the Crush Gals and shoot style was taking off.

The death of the territories is a major downside but in the years to follow we see Hulkamania/WWF become huge, the rise of Savage, Flair & the Horsemen at the height of their powers, and still get a few years of good stuff from Mid South/UWF, AWA & Memphis.

As for the 2000's, I was thinking 2002-2007, maybe starting with the first ROH show 2/23/02, or ending with Wrestlemania 23 on 4/1/07.

Nov 14, 2017 4:15:33 GMT Baker said:

The death of the territories is a major downside but in the years to follow we see Hulkamania/WWF become huge, the rise of Savage, Flair & the Horsemen at the height of their powers, and still get a few years of good stuff from Mid South/UWF, AWA & Memphis.

This is the big question. 1989 is incredible: Jumbo/Tenryu, Flair/Steamboat, Flair/Funk, Hogan/Savage. But if we move to 84-88 or 83-87, we are getting the better of many other feds. If we are just thinking top tier match quality, 1989 WWF is handily beaten by 1984 WWF (Slaughter/Sheik, Tito/Valentine, Backlund/Valentine, Briscos/North-South). If we dip into 83 and 84, we get more Flair as travelling champion, a hotter World Class, more great Memphis, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Houston going stronger, more top Bockwinkel. Is it worth losing 89 or 88/89 for? It may be. Tough one.

My own thread. This is a hard one. 

I would love to say 2000-2005. As it was around 2000, I really became a full-time fan. 

But I will agree with @big Pete and go with 2013 - 2017. 

WWE 
Team Hell No
Daniel Bryan's elevation to Main Event status
The debut and reign of The Shield
The final days of the CM Punk era
AJ Lee's evolution from NXT diva to potentially, the most important women's worker of the last decade
NXT rapid growth from development territory into it's own brand
The debuts of AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, etc. 
The Cruiserweight Classic
The Mae Young Classic
NXT's Takeover Series
The WWE Network
The Women's Revolution
The New Day
The death of one brand split and the birth of another
The Wyatt Family
Brock Lesnar
The influx of independent talent to NXT
The influx of TNA talent to NXT and WWE


NJPW, ROH, etc
For me, NJPW, ROH starts becoming more accessible. I've seen snippets over the years, but it's rarely grabbed me. Whether it's the recent Styles/Devitt/Omega draws, the Bullet Club, etc. The combination of some incredible home-grown talent in Okada, Naito, etc. I think both companies, and a lot of independents workers have started to build a more mainstream brand, guys like The Young Bucks understand marketing, how to sell themselves, how to sell a product, etc. this idea that independent wrestling is, or needs to be, or allows itself to be this grungy, smokey sort of a show is over. Coming full circle, I would say, NXT has showed a lot of people, you can produce a very high quality production without losing the look and feel of an independent show. 

Nov 13, 2017 14:15:09 GMT Big Pete said:

ECW started the year poorly, but was beginning to make a comeback with the TNN deal. 

If it's considered, I'd imagine UFC was at it's lowest ebb around 1999-2001? At least you had PRIDE tearing it up around this time. If we're including UFC, then I'm throwing that in with my 2013-17 stuff and even though it's sort of lost something recently with all this John Jones/Brock Lesnar rubbish, UFC just keeps finding ways to be awesome. That GSP fight recently had no reason to be as good as it was and that show delivered big time.

I actually think 1999 was ECW's best year since 1995, maybe their second best year overall. They had a pretty good run up until the TNN deal, Cyberslam that spring was one of the best ECW shows.

1999 was a fun year for UFC. This was the year that the Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock/Lions Den feud heated up, starting earlier that year with Tito running through Ken's top students, the way he flipped off the whole Lions Den(top team in the sport at the time) was such a bold grab the bull by the horns moment that made Tito. 

A star was born and one of the greatest and most important rivalries in the history of the sport was born. Ken wasn't even fighting in MMA at the time he was on the road with WWF so I'd say this is worthy of mentioning in this thread. Ken vs Tito didn't happen until 2002 but it can't be overstated how huge that fight was for the sport, it really kick started the whole boom(the money it made pushed Zuffa to invest another $10 million and launch/bankroll The Ultimate Fighter show on Spike). 

It all built up to one of the all time greatest fights when Tito fought Ken's younger brother Frank Shamrock that November, the build up was some great pro wrestling promos, the fight itself is just as good if not better than any modern day MMA fight, it's a fight I point to whenever some douchey millennial MMA fan wants to talk shit about the good ole days, that fight still holds up in 2017. 

Plus you had that epic Mikey Burnett heel promo he cut at UFC 21, Bas Rutten vs Kevin Randleman probably one of the best hyped heavyweight title fights in the sport up to that point at UFC 20. Going into 2000 things got really shitty in UFC as they had a shitty matchmaker John Parretti running things and the company was broke so it had a low budget indy wrestling feel with a bunch of schlub boring fighters on the roster. 2001 was pretty great though as Zuffa took over and pumped a bunch of life into the company seemingly overnight. Rings was the top MMA promotion in 1999 and Pride was pretty dope as well, there were quite a few worked shoots in both of those that year. 

Easy and predictable answer for me for this thread though, January 1994 to December 1998. I loathe 1999-2000 and wasn't real impressed with what I caught up with from 2001 to present day, though I'd love to be able to watch through the first few years of ROH tapes someday.

I actually think 1999 was ECW's best year since 1995, maybe their second best year overall.

I'm just basing it on what Meltzer said at the time. Basically that early 1999 period before the TNN deal was when morale was at it's lowest, guys were no-showing left and right, the drug culture was out of control and it seemed like the company was going to shut down at any point. Then TNN came along and while ECW's initial approach of highlighting awesome matches fell flat, once they started airing more softcore porn, the fans got into it.

I haven't seen many TNN shows, but I was always told that it was inferior to the Hardcore TVs around the time. Still good and way better than Nitro, but not the step up most fans expected.