JRH Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 I decided this would be an interesting topic. I picked a handful of random wrestlers, what would you say their best year was, and why? Heres the list: Rick Rude Hulk Hogan Jake Roberts Stan Hansen Rey Mysterio Jr. Scott Steiner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Mysterio was killing it in '97. His match with Guerrero at Halloween Havoc was the jewel in the crown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El McKell Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Rick Rude - 1992, hands down Hulk Hogan - 2002, better than any 80s Hogan and you can't tell me otherwise Jake Roberts - 1985, This one is tougher cos he always sorta sucked, but he did do some decent stuff in Mid-South Stan Hansen - 1993, tough one for the opposite reason the Jake one is tough, but damn that Kobashi match and that Kawada match rule so much Rey Mysterio Jr - 1996, dude was so consistent though, you'd get no argument from me if you say 95, 97, 03, 05 or 09 Scott Steiner - 1994, all the non-crazy choices here are right beside each other, 92, 93, 94 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microstatistics Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Rick Rude - 1992 Stan Hansen - 1994 Rey Mysterio Jr. - 2009. This is a hard one because you could go with any number of years. I'd add 2002 and 2006 to the ones listed above. Scott Steiner - 1991 4 hours ago, El McKell said: Hulk Hogan - 2002, better than any 80s Hogan and you can't tell me otherwise Interesting pick. The Hogan fans will probably not agree since some people think he was a good wrestler in his prime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphis Mark Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 I agree with 92 being Rude's best year . Rude career was so interesting . I remember Rude working as a jobber for Watts . Then Jarrett and Lawler got him in the Memphis/ Mid-South talent swap and the rest is history . . I got to watch Ric Rude develop during his runs in Memphis , Florida , World Class , JCP , WWF and WCW . One hell of a legacy . It always wondered why Bill Watts could not see the talent in Rude , while the two Jerry's gave him a platform to launch a Hall of fame career . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachchaos Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 Rude's 1992 could be up there with the very best years of the top tier GWE winners. He was very good throughout his entire WWF run and even before that, but everything came together during the Dangerous Alliance angle and he was able to have one of those career-defining runs. Hogan was consistent throughout his first WWF run, even if he didn't have one single standout year. I'd probably go to bat for 1991 if pressed today. The Desert Storm Match is maybe his very best match as WWF Champion and the previously unreleased Flair match is very good as well. It's not a strong case and I'm sure there's a stronger year somewhere in the 80's. We tend to focus so immensely on in-ring work that it's easy to overlook Jake Roberts' character work in late 1991, both as a sympathetic babyface who lost his pet and later as a nightmarish heel who will terrorize you with his pets. Black-Glove-Cobra-handler Jake is a heel character unlike almost anything else in wrestling history, to the point where you could compare the run to some of the very best Hollywood villains. It was all over far too quickly, but man, what's there is just pure gold on every level. Rey is always on point unless he's recovering from an injury, but I'll take 1996 WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. as comfort food. Hansen had the Bullrope and Cage matches from the feud with Colon in 1987, which should make that year a strong candidate. 92 seems like the sweet spot for the Steiners. Anyone else lucky enough to see 2018 Big Poppa Pump? Not his best era tbh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El McKell Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 15 hours ago, Microstatistics said: Interesting pick. The Hogan fans will probably not agree since some people think he was a good wrestler in his prime I'm not anti Hogan, he's pretty decent in the 80s but to me that Mania match with The Rock is his best performance in any match of his career, and the Brock Lesnar match is fucking awesome and nobody ever talks about it. There's also plenty of fun in miscellaneous other stuff he did that year, for example there's a tag match with him and Rock against Lance Storm & Christian that's more enjoyable than you'd probably expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxnj Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 Hogan in the mid-80s is legit one of the greatest ever at manipulating a crowd and getting mileage out of every move. I'd go 1986 since you get the underrated Bundy feud, the great brawls with Savage, and the Orndorff feud with some other fun tags like him and JYD vs the Funks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB8 Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 I'd go '86 for Hogan as well. About a decade ago I watched almost every Hogan/Savage match I could find and I thought those matches from '86 were all really fun (more have probably surfaced since then as well). The Funk match from SNME at the beginning of the year isn't as good as a couple of their matches from late '85, but it's a fun "greatest hits" sprint. There's also a really cool Kamala match from late in the year where he gigs himself huge and Kamala drinks his blood and stabs him in the face with the Shiv of Quan Chi of whatever such nonsense. I'm a sucker for a spectacle so I absolutely love the Rock match from Wrestlemania 18, but there's more meat in '86 and I'd absolutely say he was a good wrestler that year. 1992 for Rude. It's one of my favourite single years for a wrestler ever. He was often really good to awesome in multi-man matches in the first half of the year, a huge part of Wargames, has a bunch of really good matches on TV (the Pillman match especially), the Dustin match from Worldwide that's fucking great, and the Ironman with Steamboat that I thought was one of the five best matches WCW ever had. Would probably go 1993 for Hansen. He wasn't at his physical peak then, but walking tall Hansen refusing to let go of his place in the world and be passed by the young natives is one of my favourite in-ring characters ever. The Kobashi match is obviously killer, but the Misawa match is great and I'd probably have the Kawada match from February above every All Japan match of the decade bar maybe a couple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Boricua Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 I agree with peachchaos, 1991 is likely Jake Roberts best year. It'll never be about the matches with Jake, but in 91 you get the full gamut of Jake Roberts (out for revenge for being blinded Jake, broken hearted looking to avenge his crushed pet Jake, turncoat on Warrior Jake and then the absolutely evil bastard that was trust me Jake in the fall of 91 onwards). Also agree with Rude's 1992, although I'd say it's more that period from November of 91 to Fall of 92. After that the injuries and his refusal to work/put over certain guys just did him in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 The correct answer for Rude's best year is so obvious as to not even really be worth discussing. A far more difficult and interesting question would be his second-best year. It's almost certainly either 1989 or 1993. The highs in 1989 are higher, but there's also a lot less meat. Other than the Warrior matches, what else is there besides Survivor Series and a couple of matches on SNME? I don't think anything else made tape, and there are no handhelds that I know of. Meanwhile, 1993 featured a bunch of OK-to-decent matches but nothing really earth-shattering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 10 hours ago, El McKell said: I'm not anti Hogan, he's pretty decent in the 80s but to me that Mania match with The Rock is his best performance in any match of his career, and the Brock Lesnar match is fucking awesome and nobody ever talks about it. There's also plenty of fun in miscellaneous other stuff he did that year, for example there's a tag match with him and Rock against Lance Storm & Christian that's more enjoyable than you'd probably expect. I absolutely love the Hogan/Edge v. Billy & Chuck tag title change from 7/4/02, so fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 I'm not a fan of Rude's WWF work in the slightest. He had one really amazing match with the Warrior and spent the rest of the time in rest holds. I'd rather watch him tag with Manny than sit through any of his WWF matches. The Piper cage match gets mentioned at times but it's not a match I'd bat for. There was one Rude vs. Dustin match from 1993 that I adored but the rest of the series was a letdown. I remember really enjoying the match where the Bossman made his debut. But Rude was a disappointment on PPV that year. It would have been interesting to see how his 1994 would have panned out. Vader vs. Rude would have been intriguing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRH Posted September 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 Might as well add some more: Ray Traylor (under any gimmick) Undertaker Ted Dibiase Dustin Rhodes Kerry Von Erich Chris Jericho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Cooke Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 Dustin Rhodes - 1992, if only for the Superbrawl 1992 tag with Windham vs. Austin/Larry and WarGames. Also has a great 1/4 match against Arn and plenty of other good to great TV matches throughout the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 I'd actually go with 1994 as Dustin's best year. He may have been in more great matches in 1992, but did more of the heavy lifting in his great 1994 matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachchaos Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 I'll go to bat for Dustin in 1994. The work in the feud with Col. Parker alone would take him there, but then you've got the Vader series on top of it. Shame we never got a long PPV match with Flair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microstatistics Posted September 13, 2018 Report Share Posted September 13, 2018 Undertaker - 2010 for the Rey and Shawn matches. He was good in 1997 as well. Ted Dibiase - 1985. Pretty overrated year for a really overrated wrestler (IMO) but he was good against Murdoch and turned in a career performance against Flair. Dustin Rhodes - 1994 Kerry Von Erich - 1984 Chris Jericho - 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRH Posted September 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 Some more: Tully Blanchard Owen Hart Harley Race Greg Valentine Ultimate Warrior X-Pac (under any gimmick name) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted September 24, 2018 Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 You know who is a really interesting case for me? Jushin "Thunder" Liger. He's been so good & so consistent over so many years, at least for me, it's hard to just pick one specific year. His body of work is pretty remarkable in that regard. He's obviously slowed down as he's aged but his matches haven't really regressed all that much as he adapted his style over the years. I think of his Super J Cup performances, his WCW run & feud with Brian Pillman, even his semi-recent NXT appearance, not to mention current NJPW work as he still shows up on most big shows. Kind of crazy body of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 6 hours ago, Coffey said: You know who is a really interesting case for me? Jushin "Thunder" Liger. He's been so good & so consistent over so many years, at least for me, it's hard to just pick one specific year. His body of work is pretty remarkable in that regard. He's obviously slowed down as he's aged but his matches haven't really regressed all that much as he adapted his style over the years. I think of his Super J Cup performances, his WCW run & feud with Brian Pillman, even his semi-recent NXT appearance, not to mention current NJPW work as he still shows up on most big shows. Kind of crazy body of work. I'm actually working on an article on Liger and his impressive body of work for PWO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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