What is the best decade in pro wrestling history? This is a loaded question since some people have seen more from one decade than another and because of footage issues for older decades but still. Define your own criteria: matches, booking, angles etc. etc.

 

Personally, I'm going to go with the 90s and it's not even close. The sheer variety and quality of matches is unmatched.

It will be interesting if anyone votes for the 60s

It's the 90s... but it is pretty close for me. I prefer the pacing and psychology of how the best guys worked in the 1970s and 1980s and recently I've been watching almost exclusively matches from those eras... but footage from those days is filled with unsatisfying finishes. The increased focus on clean finishes and (as you say) the variety of matches available from the 90s gives that decade a slight edge.

I've got to take 80s.

 

WWF, JCP / NWA, AWA, Mid-South, Georgia, Florida, Portland, Puerto Rico, WCCW, Memphis, AJPW, NJPW, lucha stuff

 

Across all of those places you have tremendous variety with many legendary workers active and near their peaks.

 

For me, I love the huge differences between all of the different places. The unique vibe and feel of every promotion. The traditions, the history, etc. etc.

 

There is incredible richness across the decade.

I'm gonna say 90s. Shoot-style was at its peak and All Japan. Nuff said.

I've got to take 80s.

 

WWF, JCP / NWA, AWA, Mid-South, Georgia, Florida, Portland, Puerto Rico, WCCW, Memphis, AJPW, NJPW, lucha stuff

 

Across all of those places you have tremendous variety with many legendary workers active and near their peaks.

 

For me, I love the huge differences between all of the different places. The unique vibe and feel of every promotion. The traditions, the history, etc. etc.

 

There is incredible richness across the decade.

This would be my pick too, for the reasons stated above and also because of the transitions and evolutions that wrestling went through during the decade, in America, Japan and Europe. It is fascinating to look back on.

I said 80s, but it's availability bias of course. If we had as much 60s-70s territory stuff on tape, who knows what we'd discover.

Easily 1988-1997.

 

The tale end of the great 80s period with 89 included, all the way up to 1997 which was epic before things fell off a big in 98.

80s, without any second-guessing. I can't think of many places where wrestling improved in the 90s outside of like, northeast indies. Kings Road/WAR/BattlARTS are great, but I wouldn't even trade them for the Japanese scene of the 80s, and those are probably the chief highlights of the 90s for me. I know OJ and others call the 80s an underrated decade for movies, but to me it's almost analogous to 80s wrestling = 70s cinema (coked-up wannabe tycoons taking innovative artistic risks, making genre fiction and regionality into something subversive and distinct), while 90s wrestling = 80s cinema (which has great stuff of its own, but needs to be found on the grittier outskirts away from an overblown mainstream).

The 80s seem like an easy call. This decade has a sneaky case based on sheer volume and diversity of promotions around the world.

I voted for the 80s but don't feel super strongly about it one way or the other. If the 2010's continue as they are, and were over, I'd have considered it at least.

I think there are things to appreciate about each decade, and my answer would probably change based on the day. Each decade offers something that others don't. It's tough for me to pick anything before the 80s as my favorite with so much footage not being available. I like the general ambiance of 1980s wrestling more than any era (cheesy music videos, rabid crowds, and the right balance of in-ring goodness and out-of-the-ring silliness), but the 1990s probably trumps it for match quality, even if the atmosphere lags behind for me. 2000s wrestling I'm exploring now and I don't know where I stand on that yet, but halfway through February 2000 it's at least off to a good start. 2010s on an objective match quality level probably holds its own with or exceeds any decade in terms of great matches on tape, but it doesn't tug at my heartstrings. Admittedly, maybe that's because I won't let love in and that could change at some point, but right now it's tough for me to go there. I'll probably grow to love the 2010s in the 2030s.

The 80s are my first instinct but when I took a moment and really thought about it, I think the 90s are probably a better decade for me. I love 80s wrestling but the 90s just has so much variety and so many promotions that you can get lost in. You can watch SMW, ECW, FMW, GWF, USWA and WAR and you haven't even scratched the surface of the more mainstream promotions like WCW, WWF, CMLL, AAA, AJPW and NJPW. Plus, I think the 90s are an interesting decade as you see the TV product evolve and the modern formula take over.

 

Likewise, I think the 2010s are extremely strong in the variety category. The sheer volume of promotions that you have access to and the quantity of good wrestling on a show by show basis is just absurd. You could just decide that you were going to watch the online TV run of Championship Wrestling From Hollywood and have 6 or so years of weekly TV to watch.

I voted the 80's. That's what I grew up on as a teenager watching wrestling. I love watching and reading anything 80's wrestling related. I can totally lose myself researching and looking for stuff from this decade.

 

I still keep up on the modern product and try to watch when I can, but when I get disenchanted with it I always find myself going back to the 80's stuff. It's comfort food for me.

 

Second choice would be 90's as I enjoy most of that as well. Just not as much as the 80's if I had to choose.

I imagine the '60s being a great decade for live wrestling. A decade where the big stars of the era wrestled in small towns and it was possible to see them up close frequently. And wrestling bears.

90s. Japan was just booming for the entire decade. Seriously like 10 different promotions in the 90s did like 15,000 plus at least once in Japan. AAA in Mexico was hellafun with Los Gringos Locos and Rey Jr/Psicosis/Juvi for a stretch. CMLL was awesome for awhile with El Santo's rudo run vs Casas. In America there were great alternatives in SMW and ECW. WWF and WCW were down for a large chunk of the decade, but picked up later in the decade.

This is a difficult question to answer as I generally prefer different decades for different promotions or styles. And I think the 80s and 90s are overrated in many ways.

 

Let's see:

 

Europe -- 70s

Japan -- 80s

Mexico -- 80s

US -- 50s

 

I guess that makes the 80s the winner.

What makes the 50s the best wrestler period in the US?

DuMont Network?

DuMont Network?

Yeah, so was that the height of popularity or quality? There isn't a HUGE amount of that stuff out there.

There's the Chicago archive on YouTube that has a lot from that era. I know it was really popular on the DuMont Network. You also had guys like Thesz, Rogers, Rocca, Valentine, Gagne, Longson, Hutton, etc. all kicking around at once. There seems to be a large amount of star power in the 50s.

I was thinking about direct across 80s vs 90s promotional comparisons and I think I take the 80s in virtually every area.

 

WWF - definitely 80s. Backlund era serves up a good amount of great matches and a feud for the ages (Bruno vs Larry), Hogan / Vince era give us the most fully realised internal wrestling universe ever. 90s meanwhile gives us the sad death of that era, some terrible lows in the middle and Vince Russo to cap things off. Monday night Wars were fun to watch but for me it cannot compare to the specialness of 80s WWF TV.

 

JCP / WCW - over the decade, you'd have to take 80s here. Flair at his peak with all the classic matches, peak Horsemen, peak Midnight Express, peak Rock n Rolls, grizzled bastards from the 70s like Wahoo, Ole, and Ivan Koloff still knocking around. Awesome promos. 90s brings us Jim Herd, Dungeon of Doom, Vince Russo, and David Arquette. Obviously a ton of good stuff in 90s WCW, but I'd probably say something like -- War Games 92 and Rude / Steamboat aside -- Flair's 10th best 80s JCP match was still probably better than the next best WCW match.

 

Territories - This is a steamroll, Mid-South, Memphis, WCCW, Portland, AWA, etc vs ECW, USWA, and early super indies. More or less a no contest.

 

AJPW - Obviously there are self-evident arguments to go 90s here, but between the Funks, Hansen, Jumbo, Tenryu, Choshu's Army etc. Etc. the quality and variety of 80s AJPW is outstanding, whereas a lot of 90s AJPW is the same handful of guys in various permutations.

 

NJPW - Close again, and I need to explore both more, but I'm really not a fan of the 90s Juniors scene whereas I can watch early 80s Fujinami all day. Again Choshu's army stuff. 90s NJ has a lot of good stuff in heavies scene, and of course Hase in general. Might be a dead rubber between who I hate more: Inoki or Chono. Two of my all time least faves stinking up main events in both decades. I probably lean 90s here on balance.

I ultimately voted for the '80s. The only real advantages I could think of for the '90s were the depth and variety provided by the Japanese indies and the high-end quality of All-Japan. But the strength of the U.S. territories, Britain and Puerto Rico combined with my preferences for '80s lucha and '80s New Japan, made it a fairly easy call.

The high-end years of 1990 and 1997 for EMLL/CMLL, AJPW, RINGS, BattlArts, the really great stuff in WCW (specifically 1992 and 1994), SMW, PWFG, the best joshi matches, and more depth of all types of footage has me leaning towards the 1990's.

I would go with 90s. I am a sucker for RINGS and shoot style wrestling in general. Also with 90s deathmatches being my gateway drug to prowrestling in general, I have a special place for that decade in my heart.

 

Also, if this current decade keeps up in terms of in-ring quality, it might turn out to be in the top tier, really