if you had to narrow it down, what was the single best year in wrestling history?

[stlstudios189]

Re: if you had to narrow it down, what was the single best year in wrestling history?

wrestlemania 5 was awesome. macho man really built that storyline up well

[DonkeyJote]

Re: if you had to narrow it down, what was the single best year in wrestling history?

Wrestlemania XIV to Wrestlemania XV. Austin winning the title, feuding with Dude Love (Vince's choice for champion). Kane winning the WWF title from Stone Cold, only to lose it the next night. Taker vs. Austin at Summerslam. Taker and Kane both pinning Austin in a triple threat. Austin driving the Zamboni in the the title presentation. The "Deadly Games" tournament at Survivor Series with The Rock putting Mankind in the Sharpshooter and becoming the Corporate Champion. Mankind winning the title. The I Quit match. Empty Arena match. Ladder Match. Stone Cold winning the Rumble. Big Show debuting. The beer truck. All culminating in the first Austin vs. Rock match. Also, the DX Army forming, the Nation/DX feud, Val Venis vs. Kaientai ("choppy, choppy!"), the Hardcore Title, the Corporation forming. Chyna turning on DX. Chyna rejoining DX only to turn on them with Triple H later that night. X-Pac and D'Lo feuding over the European title (it seemed more important than the IC title most of the year). The only real bad thing to come out of that year was the Ministry of Darkness.

The best part of all that is that I can remember it all off the top of my head. There was a long term plan, and everything starting from the day after Wrestlemania XIV started to build torwards Wrestlemania XV. It was great.

[TheShizNo1]

Wrestlemania XIV to Wrestlemania XV. Austin winning the title, feuding with Dude Love (Vince's choice for champion). Kane winning the WWF title from Stone Cold, only to lose it the next night. Taker vs. Austin at Summerslam. Taker and Kane both pinning Austin in a triple threat. Austin driving the Zamboni in the the title presentation. The "Deadly Games" tournament at Survivor Series with The Rock putting Mankind in the Sharpshooter and becoming the Corporate Champion. Mankind winning the title. The I Quit match. Empty Arena match. Ladder Match. Stone Cold winning the Rumble. Big Show debuting. The beer truck. All culminating in the first Austin vs. Rock match. Also, the DX Army forming, the Nation/DX feud, Val Venis vs. Kaientai ("choppy, choppy!"), the Hardcore Title, the Corporation forming. Chyna turning on DX. Chyna rejoining DX only to turn on them with Triple H later that night. X-Pac and D'Lo feuding over the European title (it seemed more important than the IC title most of the year). The only real bad thing to come out of that year was the Ministry of Darkness.

The best part of all that is that I can remember it all off the top of my head. There was a long term plan, and everything starting from the day after Wrestlemania XIV started to build torwards Wrestlemania XV. It was great.

Ministry Taker was sweet

[Cyphre]

Re: if you had to narrow it down, what was the single best year in wrestling history?

The year between WrestleMania IV (April of 1988) and WrestleMania V (April of 1989).

Randy Savage's year long run as world champion and subsequent feud with Hulk Hogan after the dissolution of the Mega Powers. Savage was the last wrestler to hold the WWF/E Championship for an entire calender year until John Cena did it from 2006-2007. As far as I know, Savage was also the first wrestler to turn heel while WWF Champion as well, which just made his run that much more interesting.

The Ultimate Warrior would also win his first title during this time frame too, after defeating the Honky Tonk Man (who still holds the record for longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time) for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam in 1988. This was also the first ever SummerSlam and the first time that the WWF had their "Big 4" PPV events all in the same year.

Demolition would also win their first Tag Team Championships and held them for a still record breaking 478 days. Despite this fact, the tag team division in the WWF was as healthy as ever during this span with such teams as The Hart Foundation, The Brain Busters, Strike Force, The British Bulldogs, The Rockers, The Powers Of Pain, The Twin Towers, The Bolsheviks, The Fabulous Rougeaus, The Young Stallions, The Bushwhackers and several other teams were all active during this time period.

Pretty stacked midcard filled with such names as Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Rick Martel, Greg Valentine, Dino Bravo, Tito Santana, Terry Taylor, an up and coming Owen Hart (as the Blue Blazer) and many others.

Ted DiBiase was the top heel in the company and this span was one of the single greatest heel runs ever. He also had Andre The Giant in his back pocket which made the whole thing even better.

Bobby Heenan's stable of heels. This would be the last year that Heenan managed full time.

Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura on commentary for the majority of events.

And that's just the WWF!

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In the NWA Ric Flair was world champion for the majority of this span and his legendary feud with Ricky Steamboat just so happened to take place during this time frame as well.

The Road Warriors also won their first tag team titles during this span and also faced a stacked tag team roster in the NWA featuring the likes of The Steiner Brothers, The Midnight Express, The Rock 'N Roll Express, Doom, The Samoan Swat Team, The Fabulous Freebirds, The Varsity Club, The Dynamic Dudes and many others.

The emergence of Sting as a main event caliber guy.

WarGames!

Well said, I totally agree....although it's tough to just pick one year....but 1988 also saw wrestling go main stream with the global "invasion" of Cable TV.....and saw the NWA transition to WCW.....It also was the year Hogans 4 year run as WWF Champ came to an end.....It was also the first time WWF had 4 WM like events in a year, Royal Rumble (debut on USA Network), WM IV (PPV), Summerslam (debut PPV) and Survivor Series (2nd annual PPV)....that prompted WCW to "beef" up their PPV line-up and by 1989 we had the beginning of what is now our "monthly feed" of PPV's.


1995 Gets an honorable mention....as it was the year that the Monday Night Wars began and this alone would reshape wrestling as we know it.......no more taped events on Monday....WWF was "forced" to go live with MNR....and it was officially the last year the wrestling "jobbers" actually had a job....how ironic.....The only time "jobbers" were used was to mock the rival company stars (Gillberg, Huckster, Nacho Man, etc)

[Nature_Boy]

Re: if you had to narrow it down, what was the single best year in wrestling history?

Plain simple 1985-86:

Saturday Morning Wrestling
The Birth of Wrestlemania
Hulkamania
The rise of Starrcade
The Four Horsemen
The Von Erich's
The Freebirds
Tag Team Wresling at it's best.

Four legit wrestling organzations all at the same time:

WWF
NWA
AWA
WCCW

I would have to go with this as well. It was a great time to be a Pro Wrestling fan.

[Cyphre]

Re: if you had to narrow it down, what was the single best year in wrestling history?

Plain simple 1985-86:

Saturday Morning Wrestling
The Birth of Wrestlemania
Hulkamania
The rise of Starrcade
The Four Horsemen
The Von Erich's
The Freebirds
Tag Team Wresling at it's best.

Four legit wrestling organzations all at the same time:

WWF
NWA
AWA
WCCW

Don't forget the UWF......But I have to say the best year was still between 1988-1989......as it was the year that Wrestling bloomed into a global phenomenon.