Biggest Talent Loss In 1 Year

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Was just pondering the fact that WWE lost 3 of their main eventers in CM Punk, Alberto del Rio and Rey Mysterio this year, in addition to Daniel Bryan and The Undertaker possibly being done (depending which way the newz blows this week).

So what's the record for a promotion losing its biggest names in one calendar year? Annnnnnnd...go!

[Racksman]

I don't know if it's a record, but between September '88 and September '89, NWA/WCW had lost Dusty Rhodes, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, Barry Windham, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ronnie Garvin and Ricky Steamboat (came and went in the same time span).

[thegame415]

In 1996, WWF lost Diesel (who was the champion for 11 months the previous year), Razor Ramon, 123 Kid and Bam Bam Bigelow. Bret Hart didn't wrestle for half of the year

1999, ECW lost Tazz, the Dudleyz, Shane Douglas and Sandman (most of the year). Tazz vs Shane Douglass was the main event of. Guilty as Charged 1999 and by the end of the year, both guys were gone.

[James Fabiano]

ECW in 1996...Public Enemy, Mysterio and the other luchadors, Jericho, Scorpio....

[Deleted]

For me, 92-93 WWE is about the biggest and most sudden change of landscape.

They lost Hogan, Sid, Jake, Warrior, Flair, Quake, Slaughter, Savage (semi-retired), LOD, Davey Boy, DiBiase (retired from ring), Hercules, Barbarian, Warlord, Darsow, Valentine... tons of mainstays just disappeared almost overnight or in a few cases, became managers or broadcasters.

[Deleted]

WCW '89-'90 was another big transition. They lost Sid, Samoans, Steamboat, Funk, Muta, Stan Lane, Road Warriors, Mark Callous, Terry Gordy, Steve Williams.

[Deleted]

Between the summer of 2009 and the spring of 2010 WWE lost Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels and Batista plus Triple H and Undertaker stopped working practically every PPV and went into part-timer status.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Pretty much all but two native workers leaving All Japan Pro Wrestling in 2000 to form NOAH.

[mizerable]

I just came across some WCW 1991 cards. The set contains roughly 17 people.

Within 18 months, the following people who were highlighted were working for WWF;

Ric Flair
Sid Vicious
Lex Luger
Mr. Walstreet
El Giante
The Steiner Bros.

Granted, WCW benefited by bringing in other talents, namely Vader...but with the exception of Sting, they lost their top 3 big attractions.

[BorneAgain]

Smackdown from October 2005 to October 2006 continually lost in ring talent, some permanently:

November: Eddie Guerrero passes away, Christian leaves the company, Mr. Kennedy is injured and out for months.
January: Batista vacates world title, out for six months.
March: Randy Orton suspended for several months (eventually coming back to Raw, not SD)
May: JBL Retires from active competition, Benoit takes five months off.
June: Kurt Angle departs to the ECW Brand
July: Mark Henry injured at SNME, out for ten months.
October: Rey Mysterio takes 10 months off for surgeries.

If you're wondering why Booker eventually got the WHC, the fact that he was one of the biggest stars on the roster who stayed healthy in this period (even when he tore his groin, he still stayed on TV) probably played a factor.

[dangerousdanpotato]

Since the OP specifically mentions calendar years I'll say WWF 1992. Guys that left:

Hulk Hogan
Ultimate Warrior
Sid Justice
Jake Roberts
Sgt. Slaughter (transitioned to non-wrestling role)
Roddy Piper
Legion of Doom
Texas Tornado
British Bulldog
The Mountie
Greg Valentine
The Warlord
The Barbarian
Hercules
Haku
Jim Neidhart
Jimmy Snuka
Col. Mustafa
Marty Jannetty (left in January, returned at the end of the year)
Nailz

That's a lot of guys at the top of the card and a fair gutting of the midcard, especially considering how long a lot of those guys had been around.

[N E O G E O B O Y S]

Wasn't the AWA at 1983 the big winner?

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Dec 11, 2014 15:00:42 GMT -5 @antoniolangston said:

Between the summer of 2009 and the spring of 2010 WWE lost Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels and Batista plus Triple H and Undertaker stopped working practically every PPV and went into part-timer status.

JBL and Jericho also left around that time.

[Mid-Carder]

They did lose those three this year but Rey's done nothing for years and, though I'm a big fan, Del Rio is no big loss. Hell, even Punk has sort of been replaced with Dean Ambrose, in a way.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2014 20:09:46 GMT -5 dangerousdanpotato said:

Since the OP specifically mentions calendar years I'll say WWF 1992. Guys that left:

Hulk Hogan
Ultimate Warrior
Sid Justice
Jake Roberts
Sgt. Slaughter (transitioned to non-wrestling role)
Roddy Piper
Legion of Doom
Texas Tornado
British Bulldog
The Mountie
Greg Valentine
The Warlord
The Barbarian
Hercules
Haku
Jim Neidhart
Jimmy Snuka
Col. Mustafa
Marty Jannetty (left in January, returned at the end of the year)
Nailz

That's a lot of guys at the top of the card and a fair gutting of the midcard, especially considering how long a lot of those guys had been around.

Yeah, '92 for me was the big year of change for the WWF. Hogan disappearing was big enough, but by that point a bunch of guys were gone already (the '92 Rumble really was a last hurrah for that Golden Age of the WWF) and more folks of heavy worth would also vanish.

'93 wasn't really a big year of losses, but it really felt like an epilogue to 1992's losses. Like all the mainstays that should've left in '92 left that year - Darsow, Bossman, Quake, Tugboat/Typhoon. But most importantly Tito Santana left - I really felt like his loss changed the midcard BIG TIME - and DiBiase was phased out as a competitor, which was a major old school loss to the top part of the roster.