Current roster the most talented IN RING in WWE history?

[543Y2J]

From pure in ring talent, including both NXT and main roster, is this the most talented in ring roster they have ever had? Does it not compare to attitude era or other eras in the past? If it's not the best is it the most well rounded with talented individuals in each of the sections of the roster (lower,mid,upper,main)?

Keep in mind this question is NOT how WWE uses the talent, this is YOUR view on the talent and the potential of the roster (and its most recent signings) based on their in ring talents or lack there of. In other words its up to you, take out the programming, storylines, WWE as a business and company and just look at the roster of talent in ring quality and how it compares to ones of the past.

The full list of current talent can be found on wikipedia

[Tiger Millionaire]

1991 Roster

Macho Man
Flair
Steamboat
Hogan
Undertaker
Jauques Rougeau
Hennig
Valentine
Hart
Michaels
DiBiase
Roberts
Martel

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

The way I view it, this roster's best aren't quite as good as the best of the rosters past, but it's worst are far better than the worst of the past (if that makes any sense).

[boydy]

The current roster is a lot bigger then any roster before so its a bit unfair to say it is the best, I'd say 1992 had a very good roster with Flair, Hogan, Undertaker, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Curt Henning etc, you don't have genuine stars like that anymore, also wrestling has advanced since the 90's so its easy to say the current roster is better workers.

[Deleted]

The era when they had Eddy, Benoit, Jericho, Malenko, Lesnar, Angle, Austin, HHH, HBK, Taker, London, Kendrick, Yang, Rey, Ultimo, Tajiri, Regal, etc. was the best ever IMO.

[CM Parish]

Yeah early 2000's was just unreal.

[mizerable]

Jun 1, 2013 11:52:42 GMT -5 Tiger Millionaire said:

1991 Roster

Macho Man
Flair
Steamboat
Hogan
Undertaker
Jauques Rougeau
Hennig
Valentine
Hart
Michaels
DiBiase
Roberts
Martel

Valentine WAS good, but hadn't been good in many years by this point. Dibiase was declining. Undertaker was green. And Roberts, while being solid was never a great wrestler per se, he just knew how to execute something.

I'd give the advantage to what we have now;

Cena
Orton
Cesaro
Rhodes
Christian
Bryan
Punk
Del Rio
Ziggler
Jericho

And that's not even taking into account the guys who are still great, and given almost zero to do. WWE right now in terms of talent is almost TOO good.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Jun 1, 2013 12:07:30 GMT -5 @akeem said:

The era when they had Eddy, Benoit, Jericho, Malenko, Lesnar, Angle, Austin, HHH, HBK, Taker, London, Kendrick, Yang, Rey, Ultimo, Tajiri, Regal, etc. was the best ever IMO.

Edge, Christian, The Hardy Boys, WGTT...

[Deleted]

It is. From the top of the card to the very bottom, nearly everyone is capable of having a great match every night. Now if only the majority of these guys were able to develop characters and get featured more.

[babyfootball]

I voted "YES" because I'm always making the point that the current roster is SO talented and there are so many good workers that it actually makes it harder to stand out. They've had some other pretty damn talented/deep rosters in the past. The roster they had in the mid 80's right after the national expansion was pretty ridiculous, full of guys who had been stars in their respective territories. It was just the fact that Hogan was champ for 4 years and nobody other than he, Savage and Andre had got to reach that peak before 1990 kind of made the mid-carders seem very mid-card, but even including the Kerry Von Erichs and Harley Races of the world who were not in WWE what they were 5 years prior, they still had a lot of guys who had success as big draws in other places, as well as a lot of solid "workers" (The Rockers, Bret, Rougeau, DiBiase, Hennig, Davey Boy and Dynamite before he left, Jake, Steamboat, and a host of others) and a lot of really talented stick-men and legendary gimmicks.

I don't define "talented" as just in-ring work. For example, both ROH and TNA (at its X-Division peak) have had some rosters who were pretty proficient in the ring but they lacked in some other areas.

WWE has had some other moments in time when they've had some really nice rosters; that 1992 Royal Rumble that Flair won featured a lot of guys who either had or would go on to have pretty notable careers. It's widely considered the best Rumble of all-time because they let an outsider who brought a nice amount of credibility in Flair win the whole thing, and for the title no less. In the early 2000s, just after the Invasion, they had a really deep roster of their usual stars, the Radicalz and others (Angle, Jericho, etc...) who had joined in recent years and brought a lot of skill, and all the young/green guys they brought in from WCW who looked to have a lot of potential at the time.

But the thing is about each of those periods, they still had a lot of lumbering big/power men and average gimmick-y workers who stunk it up in-ring. Nowadays, almost all of their big power guys (Ryback, Henry, Sheamus, Big Show, Kane, even Brodus and Tensai) either move pretty well for their size or at least make up for it with experience and guile, as well as the fact that there is so much talent through the main event to the depths of the mid-card that it's almost impossible these days to get a clunker of a match between 2 sub-par workers, aside from the occasional inevitability that a lack of chemistry occurs. The endless TV parade of extremely short matches like they had in the 80s with the jobber squashes and the late 90s with the Attitude Era garbage wrestling isn't how they do TV anymore. They have so many hours to fill that the average matchtime has gotten longer, which has given a lot of low-carders an opportunity to at least get a minute or two of promo time followed by a fairly competitive match.

The fact that they have a lot of belts, a lot of TV time and yet there are still a number of guys who get pegged as "underrated" and deserving of more of a push says something.

[Gimpo Commando]

It's hard to tell really. Often what determines those things in lists like these is what eventually happens in their careers. It shouldn't be that way really, but it's hard say that Edge and Christian early 2000s when they were doing their 5 second pose were going to have better careers than many veterans, even though that's eventually what happened.

That being said, has there ever been a time when so many established Indy talent congregated in the WWE? I would say that right now the talent pool in the WWE is stacked, both on the roster and in developmental.

[Deleted]

A few years ago they were much better because they had an actual Women's division and an almost identical main roster.

[BigWill]

Jun 1, 2013 13:09:35 GMT -5 @mightykretzler said:

A few years ago they were much better because they had an actual Women's division and an almost identical main roster.

But a few years ago the developmental system was full of generic clones and not stacked with so many potential breakout stars.

[thecrusherwi]

It's hard to say. I guess I would say yes, because from a pure in ring standpoint pretty much everyone today can do more things than guys from any era I can think of. But I think saying that this is the best pure in ring roster is empty praise. It would be like ranking musicians on their pure technical expertise. You can hit all the notes, but can you make music?

Sure today's guys are great in the ring, but a segment of guys cutting promos against a green screen in the event center in the late 80s-early 90s entertains me more than your average match from today. You have to consume the total package.

[froggyfrog]

I'd say yes, definitely.

[Deleted]

Jun 1, 2013 13:14:33 GMT -5 BigWill said:

Jun 1, 2013 13:09:35 GMT -5 @mightykretzler said:

A few years ago they were much better because they had an actual Women's division and an almost identical main roster.

But a few years ago the developmental system was full of generic clones and not stacked with so many potential breakout stars.

Maybe at this point we've got a better depth of singles guys, but in terms of stables/women/tag teams, the roster a few years ago had far more balance than it does now.

There were plenty of great talents they wasted. The Nexus had far more potential than Shield does, due to the depth of the team, and could have made for months upon months of storylines and feuds. Every single person was distinct in ring style and could have been used for unique roles. WWE got nowhere near the potential of it and blew it, big time. Nexus could easily have been the biggest angle of the past ten years, no question. WWE got scared of maximizing what they had in front of them, and it's no surprise it fizzled out.

They also had a greater depth of tag teams then than they do now, or at least, the workers to power them. The female roster now is nothing compared to what it was. I know women's wrestling gets marginalized on this board a lot, but as TNA proved, it doesn't get ignored by fans if it's good. Imagine a women's division led by (in no order) Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Melina, AJ, Natalya, Gail Kim, Michelle McCool and of course, Kharma. You'd never run out of good matches and storylines with that lineup.

[zeez]

If you're talking just based on pure spot monkey ability, then it very well could be.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

No. Mid to late 2001. Including injured people and people who showed up late in the year, if we're talking about in-ring talent rather than star power or overness:
Austin
Triple H
The Rock
Jericho
Undertaker
Kane
Big Show
Booker T
Benoit
Guerrero
Lance Storm
Mike Awesome
Shane Helms
Billy Kidman
Rob Van Dam
Dudleyz including Spike
Hardyz
DDP
Kanyon
Edge and Christian
Steven Richards

Could go on.

[MolotovMocktail]

2002:

Hulk Hogan
Steve Austin
The Rock
Triple H
Ric Flair
Shawn Michaels
Kurt Angle
Undertaker
Brock Lesnar
Kane
Big Show
Rob Van Dam
Booker T
Chris Jericho
Christian
Edge
Chris Benoit
Eddie Guerrero
...and more

[Deleted]

Nope but it's up there. Developmental has been extremely stacked since Triple H took over and this or last year might be the best ever. It rivals with the stacked 2002 class