The New Generation

[robinsonben36]

Hey guys, I've been watching some classic matches lately and I think I decided that I will always like the New Generation the best (and much better than the current product) for a few reasons:

• I was 10 at the time, probably when my fandom was at its peak. Plus, we all romanticize our heroes from our youth.
  
• While workrates (or whatever) weren't as high as they generally are for today's crop, almost everyone on the roster is over and most of them can work a crowd. I think that's the most undervalued skill in wrestling. It's also why some of today's guys that are technically skilled aren't really getting over: because they don't work the crowd at all.
  
• I love the dynamic, diverse characters from this era. Sure, it's stupid that there's a hockey player, a garbage man, a minotaur, and a dentist, but they were all very distinctive and were interesting, for better or worse, for different reasons. I don't think we'll ever return to this style of gimmicks, and I think that's really a shame. A guy like the Funkasaurus would have fit right in with this era and I think that's why he's one of my favorites.

A guy that has really stood out (beyond the consistent brilliance of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Owen, Razor etc) is Hakushi. First, his In Your House match against Bret:




Everything about that match is so perfect. Check out about 2:00 into the second clip, where Hakushi hits an Asai moonsault onto Bret. He hits him very flush, and Bret looks like he could have been crippled by the impact as he gets bent in a very awkward position. Just fantastic stuff.


Is anybody else here a huge New Generation fan? Any other matches that might have slipped under the radar from then that you can share with us?

[kazoosandstreamers]

I first started watching wrestling when the new generation was in full swing. I was very young, but I remember guys like Bret Hart and Razor Ramon going at it.
Then I saw Undertaker. I was hooked.

I love watching matches from that time period.

[Deleted]

I liked certain guys like Bret, HBK, Razor, Diesel, 1-2-3 Kid, etc.

But...

It was also the era of Doink, Duke Droese, The Goon, Mantaur, etc.

[kazoosandstreamers]

Apr 28, 2012 23:06:29 GMT -5 @bashcrashwiley said:

I liked certain guys like Bret, HBK, Razor, Diesel, 1-2-3 Kid, etc.

But...

It was also the era of Doink, Duke Droese, The Goon, Mantaur, etc.

Hey, Doink is a legend, pal!
Being young that's the stuff I liked seeing, also. ha

[jammer311]

The New Generation is always gonna be a favourite to me too. Something about the wrestling era from 1994 - 1997 that seems special to me. Maybe it's cause wrestling was just fun to watch then, and enjoyable.

[Daniel F'n Bryan]

I thought I was one of the very few that loved the new generation more then any other "era" in WWE history. Just the amount of talent during that time was crazy:

Shawn Michaels
Bret Hart
Diesel
Razor Ramone
Owen Hart
Undertaker
British Bulldog
Yokozuna
Sycho Sid
Vader
Mankind
Ahmed Johnson
Goldust

And even the guys that were around but didnt really do much untill the New Generation was close to becoming the Attitude Era:

Stone Cold
Hunter Hurst Helmsley
Rocky Maivia
Marc Mero

There was just so much pure talent there that it was truely a great time to be a WWF fan. My favorite thing about this period though is that almost anyone of these guys could be in the main event picture at anytime. Most periods have a few select guys that were in the main event during that era (attitude era: Austin, Rock, Taker, HHH and Mankind, "PG Era Cena, Orton, HHH, etc.) but just look at all the different names that main evented between 94 and 97 and you'll see that there was a huge array of names that were in the main event at one point or another.

[Deleted]

New Generation > All. All the bests competed in the New Generation at some point (I consider it to be 92-96).

[Deleted]

some awesome matches in the New Gen but 95 was a bad year creatively for Vinnie.his worst up to that point Id say.

but there were some matches in the 92 to 96 period that blew us all away.heres the ones that spring straight to mind

Bret vs 123 Kid(Raw)
Bret & owen vs The Steiners
Bret vs Hakushi(IYH)
Bret vs Perfect,Razor and Bam Bam @ KOTR 93
All Americans vs Foreign Fanatics @ SSeries 93
Steiners vs Money Inc,headshrinkers and Quebecers
Bret vs Bulldog @ Summerslam 92 & IYH Seasons Beatings
Bret vs Owen @ WM X and SSlam 94
Bret vs Diesel @ Survivors Series 95
Razor vs Diesel @ Summerslam 94
Vader vs Razor @ IYH Good Friends Better Enemies
HBK vs Razor @ WMX & SSlam 95
HBK vs Jeff Jarrett @ IYH II
HBK vs Owen @ IYH Feb 96
HBK vs Diesel IYH:GF/BE
HBK vs mankind
HBK vs Bulldog @ beware Of the Dog and KOTR
UT vs Diesel @ WM12

and Im probably missing heaps.

[Raine]

Mankind vs Undi (KOTR 96/Summerslam 96)
Stone Cold vs Savio Vega (IYH, strap match)
Bret vs Doink (Summerslam 93)

[mikey1974]

it was a good period with a lot of great matches ...it also had some of the worst gimmicks outside of WCW on out TV screens every week!

it's kinda interesting to think that if guys like Hogan,Savage,Piper,Warrior,and Jake the Snake had never left or stopped wrestling,we might not have ever had the New Generation,as they'd undoubtably still want to work on top,and the whole idea was to try and distance the WWF from the older guys who had left.

[Deleted]

For me, if I just want to see a wrestling match then I'll go to this era. If I'm going to sit down and watch every episode from Raw for an entire year and I'm just looking to be entertained then I'll look at the Attitude era.

One match I haven't seen mentioned that I think was a good match, from what I've read, is HBK and Jannetty that was on Raw I think in 93. It won PWI match of the year(surprise, surpise HBK won a PWI match of the year) but I haven't seen it since it doesn't seem to be on Youtube and i thought I'd mention it in case anyone has a link to it.

[hbkjason]

I started watching in 1989 and the New Generation is my favorite era by a mile. It really gets looked down on but as a guy who watched every RAW and every Superstars and PPV at the time I was never disappointed. I hate when some kid watches about ten minutes of footage featuring Duke the dumpster drosse and the Goon and says the whole era sucked.

I think part of what made it so special for me was at this time I was in high school and me and my 4 best buddies were all rabid WWF fans who just loved watching it every week and just enjoying the product for what it was man how I wish I could enjoy wrestling like that now.

[cordless2016]

I loved the New Generation. Its when I first got into wrestling and guys like Bret, Owen, Bulldog, Taker, HBK, Diesel, Razor, 1-2-3 Kid, Jarrett, Goldust, Yoko, Lex, and others were constantly putting on great matches and good storylines. 100x better than the product we have gotten since 2006. Sure, there were alot of bad gimmicks, but the guys I listed more than made up for it. And Doink was an awsome character.

[jakksking1]

I loved the New Generation when I watched it (i was 8-10 in 1994-6). However, it hasn't really held up with time. Creatively, it was probably one of the lowest points in wrestling history, and I include WCW along with that. The storylines were just absolute garbage, especially in the mid-card. You had the height of the wrestler "occupations," humping yeti's, very strange gimmick matches (kiss my foot, baby powder match), and the worst offense, top flight wrestlers in garbage feuds. I will still never understand what possessed Vinny Mac to put Bret Hart in feuds with Jean Pierre LaFayette, Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yankem.

I think it is also a testament to the abilities of guys like the Undertaker and Mick Foley. Foley was playing a dude that lived in a boiler room who talked to a rat. That could have been crap if it was played by someone else, but he made it work incredibly well. Taker probably died several times onscreen during this period at the hands of Mabel, Yokozuna, maybe a couple of others, had his face crushed, had Chuck Norris as a body guard, lost his urn powers etc. It was the height of his cartoony character, but he made it work so well.

I think looking back on it, I get frustrated because there was some serious talent on that roster that was ultimately underused or pushed aside. But don't get me wrong, I loved it when I was a kid, but it really doesn't hold up well.

[Rule 30]

Gave us some great matches, but it's far from my favorite 'era.'

[Nivro™]

Apr 29, 2012 5:45:02 GMT -5 @cabbageconkers said:

New Generation > All. All the bests competed in the New Generation at some point (I consider it to be 92-96).

I would jack it up a year to 1993 personally. 1992 was still dominated by Flair, Hogan, Savage, Warrior, Perfect along with a lot of 80s golden era guys.

[Deleted]

I don't think they officially started referring to the era as "The New Generation" until sometime in 1994.

But...I could be wrong.

[jakksking1]

Yeah New Generation was 1994 til the Montreal Screwjob.

[punksnotdead]

I'm a New Gen kid as well, 1994 when I got completely addicted. I wore HBK heart shaped sunglasses and Diesel gloves on the school bus, yeah. The bulk of my VHS collection is all New Gen stuff with like the Winter Combats and all those weird collections they used to do. I still have the hour long HBK and Diesel videos they did. I think I have a Razor one too. Anyway, I loved that stuff, and I love going back and watching that stuff, Smoking Guns, Kid, especially Owen and Yoko/Bulldog, Cornette. Lots of good stuff.

I get it, I know why the 80's fans who were getting older hated it, but it was perfect for me when I was 10-12 years old. Pus, I was like 14 around the 97/98 when the Attitude Era started to take over so I felt like it was perfect timing for the product to change for me as a fan. Man I loved DX in late 97.

[Deleted]

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