10 Ways Wrestling Was Just BETTER In The '90s
2. Early '90s WCW Banged Hard
When wrestling fans think of the '90s, the first thing that comes to mind is a WWF of Steve Austin, the Rock, Undertaker et al going head-to-head with a WCW of the nWo, Sting, Goldberg and Co. Other than that, there's memories of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels heading up the New Generation as Vince McMahon's promotion boldly ventured into a fresh era.
What often gets overlooked, though, is just how damn great WCW was at the start of the decade, prior to Hulk Hogan arriving in 1994 and way before Kevin Nash and Scott Hall rocked up in '96.
In Sting, WCW had an energetic, exciting, authentic babyface who made for the perfect poster boy. With such a wide variety of heels to play off - be that the genuinely terrifying Vader, the unhinged Cactus Jack, the Rolls-Royce sheen of Rick Rude, or frankly just anything to do with the Dangerous Alliance - it was so easy for the Stinger to draw sympathy from an audience.
Away from those names, you had an utterly stacked roster of legitimate top singles stars like Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, Paul Orndorff, Ron Simmons, and - between WWF stints - Ric Flair, Sid Vicious, Davey Boy Smith and Lex Luger. Throw in rising stars such as 'Stunning' Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, 2 Cold Scorpio, Dustin Rhodes, Lord Steven Regal, Johnny B. Badd, and Marcus Alexander Bagwell (yes, really), and there was so much to be excited about in WCW during that time.
While the singles ranks provided so much brilliant action, it would be utterly remiss to not make mention of the similarly stacked tag team ranks of early '90s WCW, with heavy hitters such as the Steiner Brothers, Harlem Heat, the Road Warriors, Doom, the Midnight Express, the Rock 'n' Roll Express, the Fabulous Freebirds, the Enforcers, the Nasty Boys, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams, and the Hollywood Blonds all getting their time to shine.
Early '90s WCW, man; forever an overlooked period of glorious pro wrestling.