Favorite Years In Pro Wrestling

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we discuss our favorite years in pro wrestling.

Steven Jackson’s Favorite Years in Pro Wrestling

1989: Three years before I was born, but still one of the greatest years in pro wrestling history. 1989 featured so many wonderful matches and incredible feuds all over the world. Aside from the Flair and Steamboat trilogy, we also got great things happening in the WWF, as well as AJPW and NJPW breaking new ground.

1994: The year I love most of all. Lucha libre was at its peak, the Super J Cup revolutionized wrestling in Japan and WCW and WWF focused their attention on putting on great wrestling matches.

2013: Quite a leap forward, but 2013 again was a year when wrestling was thriving across the globe. NJPW had its best year in history, the Shield and NXT were taking over WWE, lucha was breeding new stars and the independent scene featured the rise of Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano and the cementing of PWG.

John Corrigan’s Favorite Years in Pro Wrestling

2000: It’s the year I got sucked into pro wrestling. I saw Sunday Night Heat the night of the Royal Rumble at my gram’s house and was mystified by this “WrestleMania” thing that seemed like the coolest event ever. From there, I watched SmackDown on UPN until we got cable on February 18, 2000. I only remember the date because that meant I could watch Raw, at least the first hour before taping the rest and watching before school the next day. This was also when No Mercy on N64 and SmackDown on PlayStation came out, two staples of my childhood. Discovering wrestling during the peak of the Attitude Era is probably why I still watch.

2002: So much happened: NWO arrived, Rock vs. Hogan, Stone Cold walked out, the brand extension, Eric Bischoff arrived, Brock Lesnar’s rise to stardom, Shawn Michaels returned, the Elimination Chamber, the SmackDown Six, and on and on. Plus, I checked out a new promotion – NWA: TNA – and discovered a whole slew of fresh faces. On top of all that, this was the year I attended my first wrestling – GLOOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Outrageous Wrestling). My dad got tickets because it was at the armory around the corner. I don’t remember much aside from Mae Young and Moolah in the main event, as well as some chick named Psycho Bitch that my dad absolutely loved.

2019: We didn’t realize how good we had it. Although my interest in WWE was at an all-time low, my interest in the wrestling scene overall was sky high. AEW came to fruition and made Wednesdays must-see TV. Impact jumped to AXS TV and became easily accessible again. The NWA resurrected with a weekly YouTube series and the brief return of Jim Cornette on commentary. MLW unleashed Contra on the wrestling world. And then you’ve got the indie scene: Synergy was on fire with Jazz vs. Maria Manic, the inaugural Garden State Invitational and an ECW reunion with Rhino and Fonzie; ECWA delivered an exhilarating Super 8 Chickfight with Scarlett Bordeaux and an enjoyable, yet financially disastrous second-generation Super 8 before going on hiatus; and Modern Vintage Wrestling presented the first Brody Cup, a free show with New Jack and SCU’s final indie event.

Juan Bautista’s Favorite Years in Pro Wrestling

2016: My fandom really grew this year. Besides the WWE product, which wasn’t doing much for me aside from specific wrestlers, I began watching NJPW and ROH more. I also watched more independent companies. It was fun because WhatCulture Pro Wrestling launched and the matches were great.

2007: The TNA product was great. Kurt Angle held all the gold at one point. Batista and Undertaker had a tremendous feud over the World Heavyweight Championship, trading wins at WrestleMania and Backlash before going to a draw in a last man standing match.

2005: WrestleMania 21 was the first Mania I saw. You also had One Night Stand, which was a really fun show. Shelton Benjamin was a highlight reel all year long.

Jack Goodwillie’s Favorite Years in Pro Wrestling

2002: Even though I became a wrestling fan in 2004, I have actually seen WWE programming from 2002 in its near entirety. Back in the day, pre-WWE Network, streamers over on Justin.TV would stream old WWE consecutively on their channels to where you could watch an episode of Raw, SmackDown and then the subsequent pay-per-view in some cases. This is how I came to find the WWE Global Warning Tour, now a hidden gem over on the Network. But 2002 had an absolutely stacked roster and saw the WWE go all-in on the brand split, resulting in some the best built PPVs ever at the time.

The year began with Chris Jericho ringing in the New Year as the first Undisputed WWE Champion, though the company would go on to play some hot potato with the belt as the brand split worked itself out. WrestleMania X-8, while maybe not the perfect event (or even the best event of the year), does score generally high marks from fans and had that Rock-Hogan match that is still held in the highest regard. Speaking of Hogan and The Rock, both guys would go on to hold the Undisputed Championship this year. Hogan would get exposed after the match with Rocky, as he really had no business working as a regular at this point in his life, but that said, it was SummerSlam where things started to heat up this year, pun intended.

The brand split had given a ton of exposure to WWE’s upper mid-card talent without any extra work on the company’s part, and it enabled opportunities for guys like Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam and others to step up to the plate and drive in runs. SummerSlam ’02 stands the test of time as one of the greatest pound-for-pound wrestling events ever produced and also served as the coronation for Brock Lesnar, one of wrestling’s brightest modern stars. Also of note, Kurt Angle fortified himself as one of WWE’s cornerstones in 2002, having the hair match with Edge while being put in spots to “steal the show” while bigger names like Hogan, Rock, Undertaker and Triple H dominated the top of the card. Also of note, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling came to be during this year, and those early episodes are something else…

1999: When you look at a Nitro vs. Raw ratings chart, March of 1999 is when both programs were regularly doing 5.00’s in the ratings. It was also in 1999 when Raw began to ascend to the upper 8.00 range and WCW went in the tank. For these reasons, 1999 has to be one of the most fascinating years in wrestling. Prior to this year, the public had never quite supported multiple wrestling shows to this extent, though it’s arguable if this was the peak of the Monday Night War.

It was, however, the year that sunk the WCW ship seemingly for good. Goldberg was on hand as a homegrown, bonafide superstar, but WCW struggled to find reputable programs for him after Kevin Nash booked himself to go over at Starrcade ’98. At Starrcade ’99, Goldberg drew Bret Hart in the match where Hart’s career came to an end after Goldberg kicked him in the head, giving him post-concussion syndrome while putting a big, fat, upside down exclamation point to a mostly bitter year for WCW.

Meanwhile, WWE had that crazy double main event at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the first match in the fabled Austin vs. Rock trilogy at WrestleMania XV, and the debut of Kurt Angle, one of the defining wrestlers of the next decade. This year is often considered to be the peak of the Attitude Era. I’m not all that high on the ‘Tude, but I am high on big stars and big characters, and 1999 WWE had both of those in spades. It also had the famous (or infamous) This is Your Life segment that officially buried WCW six feet under and the Halftime Heat bout between The Rock and Mankind. And to think I haven’t even mentioned ECW…. granted, if you asked five different fans what the best year for ECW was, you’d probably get five different answers.

2005: My first WrestleMania resided in 2005 – WrestleMania Goes Hollywood – and it marked the beginning of a new era in WWE with up and comers John Cena and Batista sitting atop the Raw and SmackDown thrones. Of course, there is some fun irony in the coronation of both guys happening in Tinseltown, as both of their arrows are pointing up in the movie industry these days. This year was also the container for one of my favorite feuds (and pro wrestling junk food): Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. These two never had a bad match, and although some fans may be critical of the custody angle involving Rey’s son and current WWE superstar Dominik Mysterio, I loved it. The promo work from Eddie during these years was something of legend, with him coming out every week with a storybook in his hand and that excellent combination of wife beater and blazer.

Of course, this was also the year Guerrero suddenly died in his hotel room. Eddie’s death was one pill I found tough to swallow. I remember crying during the 10-bell salute and being further driven to tears watching guys like Kurt Angle and JBL, two bad guys who made Eddie’s life a living hell on TV, profusely crying. I’ll still shed tears any time I revisit that moment. Meanwhile on Raw, Batista and Triple H found their form in working together and I was a big fan of that Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance. That match is everything a Hell in a Cell match should be: violent and personal. This was also the year of Muhammad Hassan who became an overnight success as one of the best (or worst?) heels wrestling has ever seen, playing off the insecurities of many Americans.

It marked the debut Bobby Lashley, the C-side to one of the biggest matches in WrestleMania history, and the debut of The Wrestling Estate favorite Mr. Kennedy. Additionally, I discovered TNA during this year and it took me all of about 10 minutes to figure out how awesome AJ Styles was (and is). Bound for Glory also made its debut in 2005 and continues to be that company’s defacto WrestleMania/Starrcade event. So yes, 2005 appeared to be the year that bridged the gap between wrestling as we knew it and wrestling as we know it now.