Best and worst decade?

[Celtsfan1980]

I used to post on this board. Normally I'd wait to post this, but having Cancer clearly in its later stages I'm posting this before the end of the decade. 16 more months shouldn't make much difference.

The wrestling is much more important to me than anything else. I prefer wrestling where around 51% of your population(females) can get a decent pay check even if the league may frequently push the wrong people. Stiff wrestling can be amazing(see Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, etc.) but hitting each other with glass(see Lucha Underground) doesn't appeal to me. If I don't remember much from any wrestling promotion(see AWA, Mid South, USWA, etc.) that is not a positive. If your major cards are by far the worst I've seen(90's WCW) that is a very big negative. As a Ring of Honor fan wrestling doesn't revolve around one company. That is a good thing. The Bret Harts and Shawn Michaels' tend to get most of the attention, but I also remember a wrestler like Aldo Montoya or King Mabel. The good and the bad. I've never been big into TNA so I'll leave that out. Going from favorite to least favorite American promotions:

NXT
2000's Ring of Honor
2010's Ring of Honor
1990's WWE
1980's NWA
1980's WWE
ECW
2000's WWE
2010's WWE
AWA, Mid-South, and USWA
90's WCW(by far the worst on this list)

Japan:2010's is the best. 1990's were second led by Misawa and Kobashi. The 2000's were just okay. The 1980's were rather underwhelming.

I expect to be in the minority here:I'm putting the 2010's at the top(I wish the crowds were louder, but the other changes in wrestling have been mostly positive), and 1980's are the worst(I watch a lot of Japanese wrestling so this is the biggest reason but lesser-known American promotions don't help either).

[Scott Hall]

My favorite decade is the 90's by far and my least favorite decade is the 2010's although there are some things
I like this decade mainly Lucha Underground, NXT and some NJPW stuff

[improper]

My favorite decade is the 90's by far and my least favorite decade is the 2010's although there are some things
I like this decade mainly Lucha Underground, NXT and some NJPW stuff

I feel like wrestling has never been better from an in-ring quality perspective. Some of the stuff you'll see in NJPW, Lucha Underground, and NXT is just absolutely incredible, and that's skipping over a ton of other promotions as well like Ring of Honor and Impact's surprising comeback.

The late 90's and early 00's will always be my favorite period of wrestling, though, because I don't think we'll ever have characters like that again, at least not until Vince dies or finally gets so senile someone has to remove him from power.

[Ruzious]

Thanks for posting Celtsfan. I look forward to seeing you post more. I like the stiff style, but honestly, it wears me out after a while. I'd rather see it once in a while rather than match after match.

My favorite wrestling decade... the 1990's, because there was something special and electric about... ECW. Joey Styles screaching "Oh my God!" The Sandman visiting the crowd as "Enter Sandman" played. Raven sitting in the corner of the ring. Shane Douglas at his best. Tommy Dreamer entering with Layne Staley convincing me that Dreamer was indeed THE man in the box, the amazing group of wrestlers that went through there... Malenko, Jericho, Eddie, Benoit, Saturn, Taz, SuperCrazy; I loved... The Public Enemy, the whole Dudley family, even 911 had his thing that was perfect for ECW at the time, and so many more. Thank you Paul. Paul understood the importance of having a blend of different types of wrestling.

[Scott Hall]

Thanks for posting Celtsfan. I look forward to seeing you post more. I like the stiff style, but honestly, it wears me out after a while. I'd rather see it once in a while rather than match after match.

My favorite wrestling decade... the 1990's, because there was something special and electric about... ECW. Joey Styles screaching "Oh my God!" The Sandman visiting the crowd as "Enter Sandman" played. Raven sitting in the corner of the ring. Shane Douglas at his best. Tommy Dreamer entering with Layne Staley convincing me that Dreamer was indeed THE man in the box, the amazing group of wrestlers that went through there... Malenko, Jericho, Eddie, Benoit, Saturn, Taz, SuperCrazy; I loved... The Public Enemy, the whole Dudley family, even 911 had his thing that was perfect for ECW at the time, and so many more. Thank you Paul. Paul understood the importance of having a blend of different types of wrestling.

Couldn't agree more...ECW was wrestling for the soul

[Spens1]

Best Decade: 90's (overall even during the dark days of the mid 90's for the WWF, their was WCW, Prime AJPW which is as good as any promotion and ECW)
Worst: 2010's (outside of New Japan, early 2010's ROH and Lucha Underground and NXT mostly, its rather dire).

[Spens1]

If we're going by region:

North America:
Best: 90's (Attitude Era and early 90's alone probably carry it home lets be fair)
Worst: 10's (TNA was rubbish until recently, WWE outside little periods has been rubbish, ROH now is rubbish, NXT is our only saving grace and even that went through hard times)

Japan:
Best: 90's/10's (depending on which company you like, 90's All Japan is next level greatness but 2010's for New Japan has been amazing)
Worst: 2000's (even NOAH took a while to get going, because that was the only good promotion of the 2000s from Japan, Inoki New Japan was the worst promotion in the world and All Japan nearly died after Misawa and Co formed NOAH).

Europe:
Best: 1970's (Catch Wrestling Association, World of Sport etc, the CWA was one of the most prestigious promotions in the world and World of Sport was fantastic also, its only been in the last 6 years that a UK scene has really come along and its kind of the same for promotions like wXw).
Worst: 2000's (it was dead, properly dead, the largest promotions were drawing a few hundred a house)

[Scott Hall]

Feel like we gotta give the 80's some love...

To me that was when Wrestling was at it's peak I had never seen it more main stream even more then the Monday Night
Wars of the 90's. I remember going to bars/restaurants with my dad or uncle to watch the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania,
SummerSlam etc and the place was completely packed standing room only and sometimes lineups to get inside. It seemed
like everyone in the community watched wrestling and knew who every wrestler was. When you went to the Video store
to rent the PPVs and watch them again they always seemed to all be "rented" at the time and you had to wait.

Saturday Night's Main Event was like the biggest thing... Hogan vs. Andre did 30 million viewers compared to RAW now
that gets about 2.5 mill

I grew up in a WWF heavy territory one of the oldest parts of the North East with NYC and Boston I remember seeing WCW/NWA
on VHS tapes the Road Warriors and Sting looked so cool and Flair vs. Steamboat was awesome but in the North WCW seemed
like the minor leagues and they barely ever ran shows up here didn't get them on weekly TV till 1991

[Celtsfan1980]

ECW's matches weren't particularly memorable and Sabu, Sandman, and Dreamer did little for me as wrestlers. Worth watching from time to time though.

If we're going by region:

North America:
Best: 90's (Attitude Era and early 90's alone probably carry it home lets be fair)
Worst: 10's (TNA was rubbish until recently, WWE outside little periods has been rubbish, ROH now is rubbish, NXT is our only saving grace and even that went through hard times)

Japan:
Best: 90's/10's (depending on which company you like, 90's All Japan is next level greatness but 2010's for New Japan has been amazing)
Worst: 2000's (even NOAH took a while to get going, because that was the only good promotion of the 2000s from Japan, Inoki New Japan was the worst promotion in the world and All Japan nearly died after Misawa and Co formed NOAH).

Europe:
Best: 1970's (Catch Wrestling Association, World of Sport etc, the CWA was one of the most prestigious promotions in the world and World of Sport was fantastic also, its only been in the last 6 years that a UK scene has really come along and its kind of the same for promotions like wXw).
Worst: 2000's (it was dead, properly dead, the largest promotions were drawing a few hundred a house)

Has Mexican wrestling ever had a peak?

[Spens1]

ECW's matches weren't particularly memorable and Sabu, Sandman, and Dreamer did little for me as wrestlers. Worth watching from time to time though.

If we're going by region:

North America:
Best: 90's (Attitude Era and early 90's alone probably carry it home lets be fair)
Worst: 10's (TNA was rubbish until recently, WWE outside little periods has been rubbish, ROH now is rubbish, NXT is our only saving grace and even that went through hard times)

Japan:
Best: 90's/10's (depending on which company you like, 90's All Japan is next level greatness but 2010's for New Japan has been amazing)
Worst: 2000's (even NOAH took a while to get going, because that was the only good promotion of the 2000s from Japan, Inoki New Japan was the worst promotion in the world and All Japan nearly died after Misawa and Co formed NOAH).

Europe:
Best: 1970's (Catch Wrestling Association, World of Sport etc, the CWA was one of the most prestigious promotions in the world and World of Sport was fantastic also, its only been in the last 6 years that a UK scene has really come along and its kind of the same for promotions like wXw).
Worst: 2000's (it was dead, properly dead, the largest promotions were drawing a few hundred a house)

Has Mexican wrestling ever had a peak?

Oh yeah i'm sure it has but i'm not entirely sure when cause it seems fairly consistent (also i'm not entirely familiar with mexican wrestling history either).

[Dominator83]

Late 90s. 1996-2000 was the most memorable time of my life in terms of wrestling. WCW with the nWo stuff and beyond, WWF was getting good again starting with the Bret/Austin feud, plus you had ECW, which got on PPV in 97. My neighbor had a PPV pirate box, and there were times that we would get back-to-back-to-back sundays that were a blast. Then on Mondays I would be up till like 2am watching the Nitro replay. I watched RAW live, then the Nitro replay so that way I was watching both uninterrupted. And in-between that from 10-midnight, I would listen to a wrestling radio show on our local sports radio station (Chicago, 670 the score). My grades in school left a bit to be desired, mostly because the wrestling was so good that it was all I gave a **** about. Lol

That's probably why I think wrestling mostly sucks now. Because it will never be able to top that era

Gotta agree with Scott Hall here though. ECW was one of a kind. Loved it. Unfortunately being in Chicago, I didn't know what it was until they went on ppv in 97. We did actually start to get ECWTV in mid-98. Though sometimes it would be the same episode 2 weeks in a row, lol. It was on a non-cable local channel. Funny note on that is, eventually on Saturday nights that channel had a 3 hour block of WWF-WCW-ECW. Though WWF it was "shotgun", which by then was a total jobber show. By that point you would be lucky to get a main event of D-lo Brown vs Taka Michinoku. WCW it was " worldwide", their jobber show. Their main events were like Chavo Guerrero vs Norman Smiley. Maybe. ECW was still ECW though. Man I miss that

[Ruzious]

Late 90s. 1996-2000 was the most memorable time of my life in terms of wrestling. WCW with the nWo stuff and beyond, WWF was getting good again starting with the Bret/Austin feud, plus you had ECW, which got on PPV in 97. My neighbor had a PPV pirate box, and there were times that we would get back-to-back-to-back sundays that were a blast. Then on Mondays I would be up till like 2am watching the Nitro replay. I watched RAW live, then the Nitro replay so that way I was watching both uninterrupted. And in-between that from 10-midnight, I would listen to a wrestling radio show on our local sports radio station (Chicago, 670 the score). My grades in school left a bit to be desired, mostly because the wrestling was so good that it was all I gave a **** about. Lol

That's probably why I think wrestling mostly sucks now. Because it will never be able to top that era

Gotta agree with Scott Hall here though. ECW was one of a kind. Loved it. Unfortunately being in Chicago, I didn't know what it was until they went on ppv in 97. We did actually start to get ECWTV in mid-98. Though sometimes it would be the same episode 2 weeks in a row, lol. It was on a non-cable local channel. Funny note on that is, eventually on Saturday nights that channel had a 3 hour block of WWF-WCW-ECW. Though WWF it was "shotgun", which by then was a total jobber show. By that point you would be lucky to get a main event of D-lo Brown vs Taka Michinoku. WCW it was " worldwide", their jobber show. Their main events were like Chavo Guerrero vs Norman Smiley. Maybe. ECW was still ECW though. Man I miss that

We got a low budget cable network that had a weekly show called Inside the Square Circle, and they usually showed episodes of Smokey Mountain Wrestling - run by Jim Cornette - and when SMW went out of business, they showed UWSA - which had some of the same wrestlers. A Canadian team named the Thrillseekers made it in SMW - with Chris Jericho as the frontman and Lance Storm billed as the more high flying of them. Chris Candido and Sunny made their names there. Al Snow was big there and brought up this new giant called The Unabomber - aka Kane. The Rock n Roll Express carried them more than anyone else - always going against a good evil team managed by Cornette. And the Armstrong family was a staple there. USWA had Jerry Lawler and his group of guys - mainly the Jarretts and the Dundees. Lawler carried it, but they gradually got worse than SMW and died out.

[Scott Hall]

Late 90s. 1996-2000 was the most memorable time of my life in terms of wrestling. WCW with the nWo stuff and beyond, WWF was getting good again starting with the Bret/Austin feud, plus you had ECW, which got on PPV in 97. My neighbor had a PPV pirate box, and there were times that we would get back-to-back-to-back sundays that were a blast. Then on Mondays I would be up till like 2am watching the Nitro replay. I watched RAW live, then the Nitro replay so that way I was watching both uninterrupted. And in-between that from 10-midnight, I would listen to a wrestling radio show on our local sports radio station (Chicago, 670 the score). My grades in school left a bit to be desired, mostly because the wrestling was so good that it was all I gave a **** about. Lol

That's probably why I think wrestling mostly sucks now. Because it will never be able to top that era

Gotta agree with Scott Hall here though. ECW was one of a kind. Loved it. Unfortunately being in Chicago, I didn't know what it was until they went on ppv in 97. We did actually start to get ECWTV in mid-98. Though sometimes it would be the same episode 2 weeks in a row, lol. It was on a non-cable local channel. Funny note on that is, eventually on Saturday nights that channel had a 3 hour block of WWF-WCW-ECW. Though WWF it was "shotgun", which by then was a total jobber show. By that point you would be lucky to get a main event of D-lo Brown vs Taka Michinoku. WCW it was " worldwide", their jobber show. Their main events were like Chavo Guerrero vs Norman Smiley. Maybe. ECW was still ECW though. Man I miss that

The late 80's- early 90's will always have a special place in my heart especially being a kid but 1996-2003 to me
is probably gonna be the pinnacle time period for the rest of my life...

1996 the Internet was just in it's infancy and you could learn so much about the business and other promotions
like ECW. The birth of the nWo and Hogan turning heel was insane, The Ultimate Warrior coming back even though
it ended up being a major flop, the Monday Night Wars getting intense just great stuff.

1997 was my favorite year or top 2 or 3 in WWE history and 1998 was my favorite year in WCW history. I remember
seeing ECW in magazines and on the internet and was like what in the world is this?? We didn't get Nitro shown here
till late 1997 a week or 2 after the Screw Job. We'd get RAW live then they'd Show Nitro the next day at 4pm in the
afternoon. We didn't get ECW until July 1999 when they went on TNN. At the time I got into tape trading as Youtube
and Daily Motion weren't around yet so I was able to see some ECW stuff I missed the previous years and thought it
was the greatest thing.

Even when WCW and ECW died in 2001 I liked how the majority of their rosters ended up in WWE and I really liked
WWE programming in 2002 and 2003. Things cooled off by 2004 but I liked a lot of stuff from 2004-2006 WWE and
liked some of the new ECW stuff in 2007 before things went south.

I was never into TNA, had no access to watch NJPW and while ROH was stacked at this time (Bryan, Omega, Owens, Rollins etc)
it was hard to watch them on a regular basis.