Guest Report post Posted June 5, 2002 Sorry if this has been done before... Who do you think was the "Wrestler of the Year" for each year in the 90 - 2000 period? Here's mine: 1990: The Ultimate Warrior 1991: Hulk Hogan 1992: Ric Flair. He single-handedly carried the company this year. 1993: Yokozuna. Like him or hate him, he had one of the most successful years of any wrestler I can think of. 1994: Bret Hart. 92 and 93, as well as some of the following years were good for him, but 94 was just one outstanding performance after another, day after day. 1995: Tough one. Kevin Nash (Diesel) was champ almost the entire year, but Bret was never far behind, and HBK became huge. All in all though, I'd have to say Kevin Nash really carried the ball this year. How WELL he carried it is another matter. 1996: Duh. This year was ALL Shawn Michaels. 1997: Stone Cold Steve Austin. This was truly his BIG breakout year, and the rest is history. 1998: Stone Cold again. And again, duh. 1999: Another tough one, methinks. Stone Cold continued his main event dominance until November, but Rock was always right behind him and HHH reached ME status. I'd have to give it to Rock, because this was the year he became a household name, and started to steal Austin's thunder. 2000: HHH. HHH. And HHH. You can talk about Angle all you want, but HHH owned the new millenium. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Mark4steamboat Report post Posted June 5, 2002 im including wcw in this as well. 1990. Ric Flair. He had some great matches throughout the year disregarding the black scorpion angle. 1991. Hogan. WWF in 91 and wcw in 91 are probably my favorite times for wrestling and im not sure i can give a full reason why. Hogan vs slaughter is a good angle IMO because it made Hogan seem more the american hero than before. 1992. Flair. I totally agree with what you said. 1993.Vader. He had good matches in 92 and 93 was a good year for him as well. 1994. Bret. His amazing matches with Owen go down as some of the finest displays of north american wrestling in the late 20th century. 1995. Diesel. He had a good run as champ in wwf's dark period in the 90s. 1996. Totally shawn micheals. 1997. Austin began to take prominence in the new attitude era around this time. 1998. Austin 1999. Rock began to develop into a great athlete around this time. 2000. HHH had some great matches in 2000-2001. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest J*ingus Report post Posted June 5, 2002 Did you guys notice that you've mostly been listing whoever was the world champion for most of that year? My picks for the WWF, never using the same person twice: 1990: Ultimate Warrior. Yeah, I bitch about your choices and then agree with you. But seriously, '90 was an ungodly good year for Helliwig, as he & Hogan pulled off a miracle in the main eventof WMVI, and then followed it up with an equally good series with Rick Rude. Considering what a horrible worker Warrior usually was, this year was somewhat a godsend for him. 1991: The Rockers. Michaels and Jannetty were the only ones who consistently put out good matches in what was a very overrated year. 1992: Bret Hart. Yes, I wanted to put Flair here too, but just couldn't, Hart was too damn good. Bret carried both Roddy Piper and Davey Boy Smith (RIP) to the best matches of their lives, won the title from Flair, and feuded with Shawn Michaels, giving birth to the first-ever ladder match in the WWF. 1993: Mr. Perfect. Despite working with a crippling back injury, Hennig pulled out all the stops and gave awesome performances at all the PPVs. 1994: Owen Hart. I went for the non-obvious choice here, as Owen lifted his brother up to the best matches that either man would ever have. Also participated in that cool Harts vs. Steiners match (which I think was in '94, I could be wrong). 1995: Razor Ramon. In the crappiest of crap years, Hall at least turned in decent performances with a variety of competition on a regular basis, which is something that even Bret didn't manage that year. Including ladder match: part deux. 1996: Shawn Michaels. HBK had one of the greatest string of awesome matches in history: versus Owen, Bret, Diesel, Bulldog, Vader, Mankind, Sid, he always brought the goods in an outstanding fashion. 1997: Steve Austin. Aside from the legendary (and overrated) WMXIII match, Austin also competeted against the various Harts at various PPVs, and despite his multitude of injuries, somehow made most of them pretty damned awesome. Also has his first PPV matches against Taker and HBK, which were very good and oft-forgotten. 1998: Mick Foley. From teaming with Terry Funk as Cactus Jack to feuding with Austin as Dude Love to taking the infamous fall of the cage to yanking Shamrock's best matches out of him to elevating Rock to the next level, Mick did it all this year, and did it in grand style. 1999: Chyna. No, really. The amazon started off her year with the heated HHH-Chyna-Kane triangle, which made for some surprisingly good matches and TV. Then she had a decent run at KOTR, some good contendership matches with Foley, a fun & underrated little feud with Jeff Jarrett, and finally some shockingly good matches with Chris Jericho. Comparing this to ALL of her other work, '99 was the year that the heavens truly smiled upon the ninth wonder of the world. 2000: the Hardy Boyz. These two revolutionized tag-team wrestling today, and were incredibly good before injuries and burnout took their toll. The gimmick matches they had with the Dudleys and E&C lifted those two teams up to a level that they'd never seen before. Also, they picked up Lita this year, who was a perfect fit for them. 2001: Kurt Angle. A god in the ring who finally tapped his real potential, all his feuds this year were awesome, whether they were with HHH, Benoit, Austin, Booker T, RVD, or whomever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest benoitrules2000 Report post Posted June 5, 2002 I think it was taped in december of 93 but it was packaged on the tape wrestlefest 94. The commentators say it was before royal rumble 94 when they were still teaming. Awesome match. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest benoitrules2000 Report post Posted June 5, 2002 1994: Owen Hart. I went for the non-obvious choice here, as Owen lifted his brother up to the best matches that either man would ever have. Also participated in that cool Harts vs. Steiners match (which I think was in '94, I could be wrong). The match was actually taped in december of 93 when owen and bret were still teaming and owen was still face but it's packaged on wrestlefest 94. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest benoitrules2000 Report post Posted June 5, 2002 Sorry about that, I fucked up the quote the first time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest dreamer420 Report post Posted June 5, 2002 1990: ultimate warrior 1991: hulk hogan 1992: ric flair 1993: bret hart 1994: bret hart/owen hart 1995: bret hart 1996: davey boy smith 1997: steve austin 1998: steve austin 1999: rob van dam 2000: hhh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest easye46 Report post Posted June 5, 2002 1990: Warrior (WM6) 1991: Hogan (WM7) 1992: Bret Hart 1993: Lex Luger 1994: Hogan (kick started WCW) 1995: HBK 1996: Hogan (Kick started NWO) 1997: Sting 1998: Sting 1999: Hogan 2000: Hogan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest caboose Report post Posted June 6, 2002 1990: Ultimate Warrior 1991: Randy Savage 1992: Bret Hart 1993: Mr. Perfect 1994: Razor Ramoan 1995: Shawn Michaels 1996: Hulk Hogan 1997: Bret Hart 1998: Steve Austin 1999: The Rock 2000: Kurt Angle 2001: Steve Austin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest papacita Report post Posted June 6, 2002 1999: Chyna. No, really. The amazon started off her year with the heated HHH-Chyna-Kane triangle, which made for some surprisingly good matches and TV. Then she had a decent run at KOTR, some good contendership matches with Foley, a fun & underrated little feud with Jeff Jarrett, and finally some shockingly good matches with Chris Jericho. Comparing this to ALL of her other work, '99 was the year that the heavens truly smiled upon the ninth wonder of the world. And so Papacita's EVIL plan to overthrow the smarkboard comes 1 step closer to reality!!! HA..........HA! Years 90: Saw nothing but a WM VI commercial and a Hillbilly Jim promo on Superstars for the whole year. Judging from tapes, I'd say Warrior. 91: Undertaker. He had an AMAZING first year. 92: Flair. No real explanation. 93: WCW was Vader hands down, but it was a toss up in the WWF between Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart and Yokozuna. 94: Bret Hart, 95: Shawn Michaels. Diesel...strong run, but Shawn stole the show. 96: Shawn Michaels again. 97: Austin 98: Austin 99: You know what...all bias aside, I'll go with the Chyna answer. As much of a draw as Austin was, his career (from a creative standpoint) stalled sometime after Wrestlemania XV. 99 had the potential to be Rock's breakout year...but his role as #2 face (in addition to a feud with Billy Gunn), slowed his momentum. Undertaker started off the year with a fresh gimmick, which (no matter what you thought of it), lost damn near all of its novelty once he went "Corporate", and the hip injury sidelined him from September on. And H...WWF fucked his momentum by not giving him the title at SummerSlam. Aside from Rock and Austin, Chyna was the most consistently over performer in 99, and somewhat changed America's impression of female wrestlers in the process. And I'm not sure if anybody else has realized this, but over a 4-month period, Chyna pinned 3 future World Champions (HHH, Jericho and Jarrett). That thought alone makes her a credible choice for this title. 00: HHH, despite being slowed by poor booking late in the year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted June 6, 2002 Here are my picks. Besides acheivement, I also look at who was over, and who was putting on good matches. 1990: Ultimate Warrior: His best matches in his whole career, and he's not that great. Honorable mention: Hulk Hogan Rick Flair Sting Midnight Express 1991: The Rockers: Got more over then in the previous years, put on great matches regulary Honorable mention: Hulk Hogan Sting Randy Savage 1992: Sting: Picked up the slack of Rick Flair's departure, then had to pick up more from Lex, great matches with Vader, and Cactus Jack. Honorable mention: Bret Hart Ric Flair Randy Savage Ricky Steamboat Ric Rude 1993: The Hollywood Blondes: Got huge over and had great matches with Steamboat (not too hard) and Shane Douglas. Honorable mention: Cactus Jack (His bumps in his Vader matches) Vader Bret Hart Mr. Perfect 1994: Bret Hart: Only big draw in the WWF in a time when they were in a lot of trouble. Honorable mention: Owen Hart Shawn Michaels Razor Ramon 1995: Shawn Michaels: Great matches with Diesel, Razor, and Jarrett. Got very over in the 2nd half of the year. Honorable mention: Deisel Razor Ramon Ric Flair 1996: Shawn Michaels: Only good thing in WWF until Bret's return and feud with Austin. Honorable mention: Ric Flair Hulk Hogan Sting 1997: Steve Austin: Broke out and became a superstar. Honorable mention: Diamond Dallas Page Bret Hart Shawn Michaels 1998: Mick Foley: Made everyone look great and got over like crazy. Honorable mention: Steve Austin Kevin Nash Diamond Dallas Page Chris Jericho The Undertaker Bill Goldberg 1999: HHH: Broke out of his DX shell, became the most hated and popular at the same time. Honorable mention: Steve Austin The Rock Sting Diamond Dallas Page 2000: HHH: Great matches all around. Honorable mention: The Rock The Hardy Boyz Edge and Christian Booker T Chris Benoit 2001: Chris Jericho: Very over as a face, even more as a heel. Great matches with RVD, Austin, Benoit, Rock, etc. Honorable mention: Shane McMahon Kurt Angle Rob Van Dam Steve Austin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Kahran Ramsus Report post Posted June 6, 2002 1990 - Curt Hennig 1991 - Bret Hart 1992 - Ric Flair 1993 - Vader 1994 - Owen Hart 1995 - Shawn Michaels 1996 - Steve Austin 1997 - Eddy Guerrero 1998 - Mick Foley 1999 - Chris Benoit 2000 - Triple H ------------- Other years... 1985 - Ric Flair 1986 - Dynamite Kid 1987 - Randy Savage 1988 - Randy Savage 1989 - Ric Flair 2001 - Kurt Angle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest bob_barron Report post Posted June 6, 2002 90- Warrior 91- Even though he wasnt active most of the year- Savage. 92- Flair 93- Vader 94- Owen 95- HBK 96- HBK 97- Bret 98- Austin 99- Rock 00- HHH 01- SCSA Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted June 6, 2002 I don't think me sitting here proclaiming the Taker to be wrestler of the year for every year would get over... This has been the Taker Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JHawk Report post Posted June 6, 2002 1990- Sting won pretty much every awad imaginable, but he was hurt four months and his title reign was pretty much a lame duck reign. Flair was turned heel early in the year and lost matches to Junk Yard Dog of all people. Hogan was off filiming Suburban Commando. Ultimate Warrior had a fairly solid feud with Rick Rude and gets my vote by default. 1991- Gotta go with Ric Flair. Some outstanding matches in WCW with Scott Steiner and Bobby Eaton, he actually got people to think El Gigante had a chance in hell of being a player, then went to the WWF and had some tremendous house show matches with Hogan and Roddy Piper. 1992- I'll have to go with Flair again. A great feud with Randy Savage and helped Bret Hart get into the main event scene with a classic match. 1993- Vader without a doubt. Held the WCW World Title most of the year and I didn't see a bad match out of him that didn't involve Sid Vicious. 1994- Bret Hart. The Owen Hart feud was amazing, the run with Backlund was pretty damn good, and he had more defenses on free TV than anybody else at the time, including Flair. (BTW, the 1995- I hated 1995, can I take a pass? I'll go with consensus and say Shawn Michaels 1996- Shawn Michaels again. Pretty much the only guy to have a consistent run anywhere near the top all year. 1997- Tough call because it was a good year for breakout stars. A tossup between Austin and DDP for me, so I'm giving it to DDP because Austin missed a solid three months after the neck injury. 1998- Austin. He just had too much success to ignore, although like him or not Goldberg also had a hell of a year. 1999- God, 99 sucked too. Business was good, but most major shows sucked. I'll have to go with Triple H because he was putting out good matches and finally broke into the upper card. 2000- I have to go with Triple H. Great matches with everybody he came in contact with all year long. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Andy Report post Posted June 12, 2002 1990 - Flair 1991 - Sting 1992 - Flair or Hitman 1993 - Hitman or Hennig 1994 - Owen or Hitman 1995 - Flair or Shawn 1996 - Flair or Shawn 1997 - Austin 1998 - Austin 1999 - Benoit 2000 - Benoit 2001 - Angle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest converge241 Report post Posted June 12, 2002 01: Austin - Angle (tie) i hate to cop out but i cant pick out of those two. had great matches against each other. Austin with Rock, HHH, the tag match, and against benoit, jericho. Angle with Benoit, HHH, Shane. 00:HHH - the matches with foley, the ironman, benoit, jericho 99: the Rock - an el sucko year but rock gets it for 2 with Austin, HHH. foley 98:Austin - Foley, Shawn, Kane rematch 97: Bret - austin, canadian stampede, vs taker (in us and UK) 96: Michaels - Bret, nash, foley, Vader, sid . one of the most deserving receipients in a one year capsule 95: Bret - all the mid card macthes, vs Nash 94: Bret - vs Owen nuff said 93: Vader - sting, flair 92-89: Flair - just the man. the rumble the savage match, funk, steamboat, sting 88-87: Savage 86: (i started watching in jan 86 so it might be a little fuzzy) Flair Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Son of Sting Report post Posted June 12, 2002 1989: Ric Flair 1990: Ric Flair 1991: Ric Flair 1992: Sting 1993: Ric Flair 1994: Owen Hart 1995: Bret Hart 1996: HBK 1997: Austin 1998: Foley 1999: The Rock 2000: HHH 2001: Austin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheHulkster Report post Posted June 12, 2002 1990: All I watched during this year was USWA (I was on an anti-WWF/WCW kick). So my pick is Jerry Lawler. 1991: Hulk Hogan (Not a great year for wrestling, but Hogan carried the ball) 1992: I can't believe there is no love for the Stinger. This was his year (the feud with the Dangerous Alliance leading to Wargames, his matches against Vader, his match against Cactus Jack). It's a rough choice between him and Savage because savage had such an amazing comeback. 1993: Bad year for wrestling. Bret Hart takes this one for me. 1994: It's a tough choice between Bret, Owen, and Flair. I'm going with Owen. 1995: Another bad year, but Bret was stuck in some lousy feuds, so i'll have to go with HBK. 1996: I stopped watching the WWF for a brief period because I was sick of all the boyhood dream bullshit, Jose Lothario, and pretty much anything related to HBK. Dean Malenko owned this year though, so i'll have to go with Deano. 1997: Rey Mysterio Jr 1998: Stone Cold 1999: A pretty lousy year for fans of in ring work. I'll go with the Rock (he busted out the best performances on a consistant basis) 2000: This year belong to the Game-uh 2001: Stone Cold Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest alfdogg Report post Posted June 13, 2002 Since this says WRESTLER of the year, here's my choices: 1990: Mr. Perfect 1991: Ric Flair 1992: Ric Flair 1993: Bret Hart 1994: Bret/Owen Hart (tie) 1995: Bret Hart 1996: Shawn Michaels 1997: Eddy Guerrero 1998: Steve Austin 1999: Steve Austin 2000: Chris Jericho 2001: Kurt Angle/Steve Austin (tie) 2002 so far: Kurt Angle/Chris Jericho (tie) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
