Biggest star of the last 4 decades

[ChitownKnight]

Who would you say owned each of these decades in wwe?

1980s: Hulk Hogan
1990s: Stone Cold Steve Austin
2000s: John Cena
2010s: either John Cena or Brock Lesnar

[Deleted]

I'd give it to Hulk.

Austin was definitely the most popular of the late 90's, but Hulk was still the biggest name in wrestling for two thirds of the 90's and instrumental in bringing wrestling fans back in droves with the nWo. Hogan triggered the boom though Austin carried it to its peak.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

80s: Hogan took it national

90s: Austin saved the company from bankruptcy and made Vince a billionaire

2000s: Cena, despite not being mainstream he consolidated the tv deals and merch.

2010s: sigh it’s between Bryan and Reigns and it wasn’t a good decade, they only make money because it’s impossible not to do it, it would be like being the only casino in a city and not make money.

[Dub H]

2010 it really depends and there is no clear responae.

I would say irs between Punk and Bryan. Punk had a highee peak but Bryan had a more long term over run.

[realist]

1980s: Hulk Hogan
1990s: Steve Austin
2000s: John Cena
2010s: WWE (this is the beginning of that weird period when the company decided that every star should be interchangeable to prevent any one star from becoming bigger than the company itself.)

[sunnytaker]

2010s never really had one guy, first couple of years could say cena, then punk for a couple years, then DB for a year or two and then the reign of roman after that. without the retirement maybe bryan could make an argument for it, but at the moment it seems to be trending to roman with DB a close second. will be one of those two by the time the decade is over most likely. brock probably rounds out the top 5- booked like it should be him and having the belt for so long, but is never around enough to actually claim the top spot.

[Prince Petty]

It's hard to evenly split decades (other than the 80s, which are clearly Hogan's) because each top guy only emerged a few years into said decade - Austin only really took off in 1997, Cena in 2003. And Cena was still the biggest star in the company, by far, until 2015.

The current era is definitely the era of "the company is the star", rather than letting one guy be the figurehead. But I tend to think the same of the Attitude Era. Sure, Austin and Rock were huge, but it was the general ethos of the company that got the most people talking - DX, Mankind, Mr. McMahon, The Undertaker, all those wrestlers who were part of a era of "anything can happen" decadence. Ask anyone about the Attitude Era, and they'll usually reference one of three things - Austin 3:16, The People's Eyebrow/Elbow or the DX crotch chop.

[mcstoklasa]

Hogan
Austin and The Rock leading into the early 2000s
Cena
Wwe

[salz4life]

I'd have to say Hogan because of longevity.... but Austin was probably just as hot if not hotter during his short period.

[Deleted]

Hogan
Austin
Cena
Punk

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Apr 15, 2019 11:38:40 GMT -5 realist said:

1980s: Hulk Hogan
1990s: Steve Austin
2000s: John Cena
2010s: WWE (this is the beginning of that weird period when the company decided that every star should be interchangeable to prevent any one star from becoming bigger than the company itself.)

Agreed. Wrestling does not move in “cycles” as some people like to say. Boom periods happen for a reason. The real boom periods in wrestling have happened because there were legitimate superstars like Hogan, Piper and Andre or Austin, Rock and the NWO. The WWE basically sabotaged the pushes that could’ve made Punk or Bryan even bigger than they already were becoming. I can’t say whether they’d reach an Austin or Rock level or not but they had the potential to if you go by the consistent crowd reactions to them but WWE just kept mishandling them to the point that many people gave up on them at the time. They could’ve fed those fires but WWE just kept putting them out.

I don’t think that the WWE wants to create a Hogan or an Austin now. Bret Hart had too much power over the WWF when he was leaving for WCW when he was world champion. I wondered what Vince would do to make sure he was never put in a spot like that again. Even with WCW gone he still decided to have two top titles. If one world champion wants to leave or even just got injured they can just put the other one in the main event. That solved that problem. Bret was the top star at the time. Now they don’t advertise that Bret Hart is coming to your town, just that the WWE is coming to your town. Solved that problem too. The WWE doesn’t want to make anyone bigger than the company itself. With the money they have coming in they don’t even need to. WWE wants full control and they have it. That’s why we’ll never get a boom period or true larger than life superstars in wrestling again.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

Tough to say...

Obviously you give Hogan the 80s

90s you really only have a little over three years of Austin neglecting the first 6+ years of the decade.

If you give Austin the 90s under those conditions you should probably give The Rock the 2000s.

2010s I’d push it to Cena

[Deleted]

Hogan
Austin
Cena
Reigns

[slaughterama]

Hulk Hogan might be one of the most recognizable human beings on the planet. It's him.

[celtics543]

I think based on longevity you could argue Bret Hart in the 90's. Austin didn't really take off until the end of 1997 while Bret was a huge star for the entire decade. He didn't peak as high as Austin but if Austin was a 10 from late 97 until the end of the decade then Bret was an 8 for the entire decade of the 90's.

Hogan is clearly the top star of the 80's and could be argued for the 90's if he hadn't taken time off. Rock is the biggest superstar but not through only wrestling. And currently wrestling isn't as popular so Cena/Reigns/Bryan or whoever aren't really in the conversation.

I'd say Hogan is the biggest star in the history of the wrestling business.

[Slingshot Suplay]

80s -Hulk
90's - Austin
2000's - Rock
2010's - Cena.

The company hit its peak during each decade with each of those men.

[repomark]

I don’t think the 2010s are all that different than other decades in that one star wasn’t on top for the entirety of it. For instance, Austin was only on top for three years max at the end of the 90s, before that you had Shawn and Bret picking up the baton from Hulk Hogan. The difference was the peak was much higher for Austin.

Maybe needs broken down into further chunks (purely looking at WWF/E):

1980-84. Bob Backlund
1984-92. Hulk Hogan
1993-96. Bret Hitman Hart
1996-97 Shawn Michaels
1997-2000. Stone Cold Steve Austin
2000-2002. The Rock
2003-2004. Brock Lesnar
2005-2012. John Cena
2013-2014. Daniel Bryan
2014-2015. Brock Lesnar
2016-present. Roman Reigns

Probably could make a solid argument for CM Punk in 2011/12 and for Batista in 2005 - plus the Undertaker has been a big star in every decade since 1990 but never “the guy”.

That said, no question Austin, Hogan, Rock and Cena are the four biggest stars in the business of the last 40years and no one else is close.

[Deleted]

This is difficult for the same reason it is difficult to determine the GOAT because unless everyone can agree on a criteria.

Because how does one determine who is best during the decade? is it money drawn? , overall industry influence during the time?

[thecrusherwi]

If you’re going all wrestling, there’s a very strong case to be made that Hogan is the biggest star of the 80s AND 90s.

[Citizen Snips]

Apr 15, 2019 17:18:29 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

If you’re going all wrestling, there’s a very strong case to be made that Hogan is the biggest star of the 80s AND 90s.

Yeah until 1998, Hogan was undoubtedly still the biggest name in wrestling.