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Posted

So, looking back at all the new talent brought in or debuted in a calendar year, which year had the best talent influx?

 

1996 had: Stone Cold and Mankind, with Vader, Mero and some "Rocky" guy.

 

2000 had: The radicalz

 

2001 had: WCW and ECW with the notable stars being RVD, Booker T, Tajiri, and Chavo.

 

2002 had arguably 4 of the biggest WWE stars in recent history: Orton, Lesnar, Cena and Batista, along with Shelton too I believe.

 

So which year do you think had the biggest talent influx joining the WWF/WWE?

Posted
So, looking back at all the new talent brought in or debuted in a calendar year, which year had the best talent influx?

 

1996 had: Stone Cold and Mankind, with Vader, Mero and some "Rocky" guy.

 

2000 had: The radicalz

 

2001 had: WCW and ECW with the notable stars being RVD, Booker T, Tajiri, and Chavo.

 

2002 had arguably 4 of the biggest WWE stars in recent history: Orton, Lesnar, Cena and Batista, along with Shelton too I believe.

 

So which year do you think had the biggest talent influx joining the WWF/WWE?

 

In terms of lasting impact, 1996... in terms of the current product, 2002.

Posted

You really cannot argue with 1996. Austin literally saved the company from from going under, and Foley/Rock were strong draws and licenses themselves.

 

I love Vader and Mero, but they had no effect on the company's financial performance. Sadly, Sable was a bigger acquisition from 1996 then either of them were.

Posted
He did not appear on television until 1996.

OK, didn't know if that in-ring promo that he did with DiBiase introducing him was late 95 or early 96.

 

I think I'm wrong. His promo aired on the last RAW of '95. Still, I consider 1996 to be his first year with the company.

Posted

You could probably lump Kurt Angle in with the 2000 class since he really only started to do important stuff in 2000. In 99, all he did was face lower card guys and carry his undefeated streak.

Posted
You could probably lump Kurt Angle in with the 2000 class since he really only started to do important stuff in 2000. In 99, all he did was face lower card guys and carry his undefeated streak.

And Tazz, who while didn't do much for the in-ring side of things, provided a new and fresh (at the time) voice to the commentarry table.

Posted
He did not appear on television until 1996.

OK, didn't know if that in-ring promo that he did with DiBiase introducing him was late 95 or early 96.

 

I think I'm wrong. His promo aired on the last RAW of '95. Still, I consider 1996 to be his first year with the company.

Nah, it aired on January 8. It was taped on December 18.

Posted

Or how about some of 1999 as well with Big Show, Jericho, Dudleys, Taz (sort of, debuted early 2000 but signed in 99).

 

1996 is the winner here. I'd like to argue the 2001 era but too many guys from WCW got buried during that time.

Posted

I'd argue for the 02 class just because they were all 100% home-grown and all turned into good wrestlers/viable draws fairly quickly. Hell, they even produced a UFC champ in that bunch.

 

The others have a lot of big names, but it's mostly guys who were already well-established elsewhere and just jumped ship. Austin was a midcard guy they turned into greatness, so I'll give them credit for that, but Foley, Vader, the Radicalz, and the Invasion guys were all developed elsewhere.

 

You could still argue for 96 on the strength of Austin and The Rock alone, though.

Posted
1996 loses because you also had that stunning array of talent they brought in soon after Diesel and Razor left, such as TL Hopper, Alex Porteau, The Goon, and Who?

 

The success that The Rock, Austin, and Foley brought in negates all of that.

Posted

Plus the impact those guys had on the product at the time was negligible (I don't ever TL Hopper or Who actually appearing on Raw, for instance). That's like knocking the 02 Class based on Shannon Moore or Reverand D-Von.

Posted

I guess I've always been mad about that because at the time I was a much bigger WWF fan, and was angry that the WWF didn't seem to be doing anything to mitigate the losses of Razor and Diesel. Then I remember reading a press release shortly after where they actually tried to hype up those gimmick characters coming in. It just came off as really lame.

 

But overall, yes, Austin, Rock, and Foley all had huge long term impact, discounting the fact that their initial gimmicks weren't very good.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Well, like a lot of people, I just hated the fact that Cactus Jack, a well known wrestler, was coming in under a different gimmick and the WWF was pretending (at the time) that it was a completely different guy. Also, I don't think Mankind really got over until the Hell in the Cell match with Undertaker.

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