Name a time when you think a wrestler peaked

[willywonka666]

Oct 3, 2015 10:30:12 GMT -5 paperbackhero said:

Oct 3, 2015 10:13:12 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

I think the Road Warriors were still doing great until possibly sometime in 89, or right through their wcw/nwa run

They have always been my favorite team and they went on to cement their success by winning the WWF tag titles, but by 92 it wasn't the same, and frankly I didn't find them quite the same in the WWF in general

Agreed on the WWF run. Magic was gone.

To me, and I only was watching a little by that point, but I don't recall them rushing the ring and beating the hell out of their opponents anymore, but they did destroy Power and Glory really fast.

Also-and this is minor, but to me when they added the red to their tights and shoulder pads, well it was just kind of off putting for a couple of bad asses that wore all black-I couldn't picture Austin doing that and it going over well

[paperbackhero]

Oct 3, 2015 10:35:18 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

Oct 3, 2015 10:30:12 GMT -5 paperbackhero said:

Agreed on the WWF run. Magic was gone.

To me, and I only was watching a little by that point, but I don't recall them rushing the ring and beating the hell out of their opponents anymore, but they did destroy Power and Glory really fast.

Also-and this is minor, but to me when they added the red to their tights and shoulder pads, well it was just kind of off putting for a couple of bad asses that wore all black-I couldn't picture Austin doing that and it going over well

I think the Steiner brothers showing up in 89 hurt the way that the Warriors were booked....a lot of their mystique was ebbing. I think that when Arn and Tully left, and the heel turn went poorly, they floundered. With Condrey gone as well, the new Midnights didnt stack up, and the Skyscrapers, SST, Doom and Freebirds had either short runs, or werent kept strong to battle the Warriors. 

I too was sporadically watching, but figured out instantly that they were done. In 85, they seemed so legit renegade and tough, rather than the sanitized, family friendly tough that the WWF was serving. A ventriloquist dummy? Sheesh...

[paperbackhero]

And I dont think a feud with Demolition would have helped anyone. The Road Warriors looked, and acted like killers...Demolition? Looked like a couple of my dad's friends playing a weird S&M dress up...complete with glitter gel....ridiculously bad, and never intimidating. Poor Masked Superstar. Didnt help that he did those pathetic looking axe handles....didnt look like they could crack an egg. Speaking of which...Masked Superstar peaked in 83.

[willyjakes]

Oct 2, 2015 16:46:50 GMT -5 Woo said:

Oct 2, 2015 16:23:35 GMT -5 willyjakes said:

Bret Hart probably around 1991-1992 as a singles star

Curt Hennig 1990

You think Bret Hart peaked before he had his Wrestlemania and Summerslam matches with Owen that some would give 5 stars too?

I do actually, 1991-1992 is when he had his huge rise from Hart Foundation to singles star to IC champ to World Champ. Bret post 1992 was still good, but he was essentially the same wrestler up until retirement. He didn't get progressively better or worse, just plateaued at really good until the injury.

[willyjakes]

Oct 3, 2015 10:35:18 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

Oct 3, 2015 10:30:12 GMT -5 paperbackhero said:

Agreed on the WWF run. Magic was gone.

To me, and I only was watching a little by that point, but I don't recall them rushing the ring and beating the hell out of their opponents anymore, but they did destroy Power and Glory really fast.

Also-and this is minor, but to me when they added the red to their tights and shoulder pads, well it was just kind of off putting for a couple of bad asses that wore all black-I couldn't picture Austin doing that and it going over well

You have a point there with the red. Not that it's a passive color. Red and black is still plenty intimidating, but it seemed like red for the sake of red, and just the WWF wanting to put their own signature stamp on the team.

[gatordone]

Sunny in 1996. Sable in 1998.

[gatordone]

WrestleMania 3 is when Hogan peaked.

[Woo]

Wrestlemania X-7 is when the WWE peaked.

[mcstoklasa]

Stone Cold peaked in 2001. This may have flown under some peoples radar as they may have hated the heel turn, but he was doing the best character work/character acting, the best promos and putting on the best matches of his too-short career.

1997 was another key year for him as well. Not that he wasn't tremendous all the time, bar 2002.

[theshockmaster]

Triple H in 2000 was the best wrestler in the world.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Ric Flair in 1991. He shouldn't have left to the wwf. While it's true that he became the wwf champion and mainevented wrestlemania, his best drawing days were in WCW.

[Old Baby]

Oct 3, 2015 10:54:45 GMT -5 paperbackhero said:

Oct 3, 2015 10:35:18 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

To me, and I only was watching a little by that point, but I don't recall them rushing the ring and beating the hell out of their opponents anymore, but they did destroy Power and Glory really fast.

Also-and this is minor, but to me when they added the red to their tights and shoulder pads, well it was just kind of off putting for a couple of bad asses that wore all black-I couldn't picture Austin doing that and it going over well

I think the Steiner brothers showing up in 89 hurt the way that the Warriors were booked....a lot of their mystique was ebbing. I think that when Arn and Tully left, and the heel turn went poorly, they floundered. With Condrey gone as well, the new Midnights didnt stack up, and the Skyscrapers, SST, Doom and Freebirds had either short runs, or werent kept strong to battle the Warriors. 

I too was sporadically watching, but figured out instantly that they were done. In 85, they seemed so legit renegade and tough, rather than the sanitized, family friendly tough that the WWF was serving. A ventriloquist dummy? Sheesh...

Steiner Brothers were like the new & improved Road Warriors of the 90's.  They could do everything that the Road Warriors could do, plus had flashier moves and were just all around better athletes.  The Road Warriors benefited most from taking on teams like Anderson/Blanchard, Midnights, R&R Express which they could toss around and bully.  Once they started putting them up against bigger teams like the Powers of Pain or teams like the Steiners, who could do all the same things and look just as bad while wearing singlets that looked like Trapper Keepers, it was hard for the Road Warriors to maintain that mystique.  Agree that they peaked at GAB '87. 

Oct 3, 2015 11:08:11 GMT -5 paperbackhero said:

And I dont think a feud with Demolition would have helped anyone. The Road Warriors looked, and acted like killers...Demolition? Looked like a couple of my dad's friends playing a weird S&M dress up...complete with glitter gel....ridiculously bad, and never intimidating. Poor Masked Superstar. Didnt help that he did those pathetic looking axe handles....didnt look like they could crack an egg. Speaking of which...Masked Superstar peaked in 83.

Aside from wearing face paint and Mad Max inspired attire, Demolition had nothing in common with the Road Warriors.  Hawk & Animal were about annihilating people and needed to do that consistently to keep them over as killers.  Demolition was about having good matches, and they had much better matches than the Road Warriors.  I don't think that Ax was ever good as a brawler, but Smash was good and got better and better as the years went by.  Like you say, Ax's punches and axe handles looked pretty sad.  Still, I disagree about them being bad.  I actually think that overall, Demolition was a better tag team than the Road Warriors, and probably would have had more longevity overall had it not been for Ax's illness and the way they were booked at the end of their run.

[Madagascar Fred]

Hennig in 1990/91

Punk in 2nd half of 2011

Vader in 1993

Jericho in 2008

Jeff Hardy in 2008/09

HHH in 2000

Foley and Austin in 1998