10 Ways Wrestling Was Just BETTER In The '90s
1. Those Stage Sets
Sure, WWE goes hard for WresteMania each year, and there is the occasional gem such as this year's Backlash from Puerto Rico, but the stage setup in wrestling right now largely feels just so formulaic.
In a WWE sense, Raw, SmackDown, and the bulk of PPVs are all the exact same set-up, just with varied colour schemes at play. Over in AEW, there's such a generic, bland approach to the stage and entrance way of the promotion's shows. The Double or Nothing stack of giant poker chips was fun, but everything else has mainly been utterly dull.
Great wrestling sets weren't exclusive to the 1990s, of course, but that decade had so many more exciting, unique set-ups when compared to the landscape of today, particularly during the second half of the '90s. Think of WCW's Bash at the Beaches, Halloween Havocs, and the unique outdoor settings of those Hog/Road Wilds. Heck, think the electric design of WCW Nitro or even those 'futuristic' sets of WCW Saturday Night.
Over in the WWF, there was that totally badass Armageddon '99 set, there was the devilish SummerSlam '98 design, there was the famed In Your House sets, there was Fully Loaded '99, and your writer will always die on the particular hill that WrestleMania IX looked absolutely stunning. Again, that's not taking into account the various re-designs that Monday Night Raw underwent throughout the decade, or how mesmerising that first SmackDown stage was.