1992 to 1993 mass exodus

[moonpies88]

These are the names i can think of tha by the end 1993 they were gone from the WWF even though they were their in 1992

Has their ever been that many in just 1 short year?

Haku
Warlord
Hercules
Barbarian
Jim The Anvil Neidhart
Greg The Hammer Valentine
Marty Jannetty (returned later in the year but first time he was gone for a long time)
Hulk Hogan
Jake The Snake Roberts
Miss Elizabeth
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Sid Justice
Orient Express
Texas Tornado
Legion of Doom
Col Mustafa
General Adnan
The Mountie
Ultimate Warrior
British Bulldog
Nailz

[Midnight: Dark Knight]

was this the original "spring cleaning", never realized this until seeing this list. thats a big list of heavy hitters too, who the heck was left after this? lol

[moonpies88]

Jun 16, 2020 19:35:43 GMT -5 Midnight: Dark Knight said:

was this the original "spring cleaning", never realized this until seeing this list. thats a big list of heavy hitters too, who the heck was left after this? lol

Lol not many. For sure a weird time to be a WWF fan

[moonpies88]

i wonder what made Vince decide to clean house

[LA Times]

Jun 16, 2020 20:16:31 GMT -5 moonpies88 said:

i wonder what made Vince decide to clean house

They were phasing out guys from the Hulkamania era in favor of new stars for the new generation era.

[hbkbigdaddycool]

Jun 16, 2020 20:29:02 GMT -5 LA Times said:

Jun 16, 2020 20:16:31 GMT -5 moonpies88 said:

i wonder what made Vince decide to clean house

They were phasing out guys from the Hulkamania era in favor of new stars for the new generation era.

That and a lot of the guys that got let go were heavy steroid users and would have looked weird in a years time if Warlord was down to 250lbs with no muscle mass.  Look at how weird Hogan looked at Wrestlemania IX.

[MKSavage]

Don't forget about Ric Flair.

Some others:
Beverly Brothers
Kamala
Ted DiBiase (retired after SSL93, returned in 1994 to manage)
Mr. Perfect (left around SSE93, returned in 1994 but never wrestled for the company again, until 2002)
The Nasty Boys
Tito Santana (I believe he left sometime in 1993, don't remember him in the WWF after 1993)
Repo Man/Barry Darsow
Big Boss Man
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Superfly Jimmy Snuka
The Berzerker
The Natural Disasters (Both came back for a short time in 1994 but left again)
Sgt. Slaughter (returned in 1993 as a back stage agent but didn't wrestle)
Brutus the Barber Beefcake
Jimmy Hart
Sensational Sherri
Mean Gene Okerlund
and Bobby Heenan

[TheXtremisT]

Jun 16, 2020 21:05:55 GMT -5 MKSavage said:

Tito Santana (I believe he left sometime in 1993, don't remember him in the WWF after 1993)

He came back to be a Spanish announcer.

[ClassicFan2]

yea wwf went from greatest top heavy roster ever to a few names in a bucket. was a very strange and heartbreaking time for me actually. the steroid scandal is was had vince gettin rid of the more muscle-bound guys who more likely to fail a test or did fail a few test run tests.

[rowdy1971]

LOL imagine if message boards were around then?

What's Meg "The Slammer" Megatime doing at Center Stage!?!?!?! (yes, I know Greg went to WCW under his name, but still)

[JokerFC]

Ric Flair.
Beverly Brothers
Kamala
Ted DiBiase (retired after SSL93, returned in 1994 to manage)
Mr. Perfect (left around SSE93, returned in 1994 but never wrestled for the company again, until 2002)
The Nasty Boys
Tito Santana (I believe he left sometime in 1993, don't remember him in the WWF after 1993)
Repo Man/Barry Darsow
Big Boss Man
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Superfly Jimmy Snuka
The Berzerker
The Natural Disasters (Both came back for a short time in 1994 but left again)
Sgt. Slaughter (returned in 1993 as a back stage agent but didn't wrestle)
Brutus the Barber Beefcake
Jimmy Hart
Sensational Sherri
Mean Gene Okerlund
Bobby Heenan
Haku
Warlord
Hercules
Barbarian
Jim The Anvil Neidhart
Greg The Hammer Valentine
Marty Jannetty (returned later in the year but first time he was gone for a long time)
Hulk Hogan
Jake The Snake Roberts
Miss Elizabeth
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Sid Justice
Orient Express
Texas Tornado
Legion of Doom
Col Mustafa
General Adnan
The Mountie
Ultimate Warrior
British Bulldog
Nailz

so thats what the list ACTUALLY looks like....Christ almighty thats some clearout.

[MKSavage]

Jun 19, 2020 13:55:16 GMT -5 JokerFC said:

Ric Flair.
Beverly Brothers
Kamala
Ted DiBiase (retired after SSL93, returned in 1994 to manage)
Mr. Perfect (left around SSE93, returned in 1994 but never wrestled for the company again, until 2002)
The Nasty Boys
Tito Santana (I believe he left sometime in 1993, don't remember him in the WWF after 1993)
Repo Man/Barry Darsow
Big Boss Man
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Superfly Jimmy Snuka
The Berzerker
The Natural Disasters (Both came back for a short time in 1994 but left again)
Sgt. Slaughter (returned in 1993 as a back stage agent but didn't wrestle)
Brutus the Barber Beefcake
Jimmy Hart
Sensational Sherri
Mean Gene Okerlund
Bobby Heenan
Haku
Warlord
Hercules
Barbarian
Jim The Anvil Neidhart
Greg The Hammer Valentine
Marty Jannetty (returned later in the year but first time he was gone for a long time)
Hulk Hogan
Jake The Snake Roberts
Miss Elizabeth
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Sid Justice
Orient Express
Texas Tornado
Legion of Doom
Col Mustafa
General Adnan
The Mountie
Ultimate Warrior
British Bulldog
Nailz

so thats what the list ACTUALLY looks like....Christ almighty thats some clearout.

When you look at the list in total, it's amazing the company survived.

[nibs92]

Bret Hart, Virgil, Skinner, the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, the Bushwhackers and IRS seem to be the only Wrestlers from Survivor Series 91 that were still there when 1994 dawned. That’s 75% of the last major PPV in 1991 left the company.

[johnnyhanson21]

I would counter this list with what happened to the WWE from WM XXV to 27.In a two year span the lost,


Batista
Carlito
Chris Jericho
Edge
Hardcore Holly
The Hurricane
Jeff Hardy
JBL
Matt Hardy
Mr.Kennedy
MVP
Ric Flair
Shane McMahon
Shawn Michaels
Shelton Benjamin
Tazz
Tommy Dreamer
Umaga

That's a ton of talent to go in less then two years.Plus also keep in mind that after WM 26 both Undertaker & Triple H where pretty much retired as well and became special attraction talents that only wrestled a handful of times per year.

This is why Del Rio,Miz,Sheamus,Punk & the Nexus got such big pushes in 2010-2011 which pretty much all failed with the exception of Punk.

[Nivro™]

As mentioned a lot of these guys were roiders but I think a lot of it also had to do with getting younger and getting more aesthetically better. Lets be honest guys like Jake Roberts & Greg Valentine arent the mugs you want to put on posters to get peoples attention. A guy like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart or Razor Ramon are much more likely to both peek interest from a wrestling aspect but also from a promotional look.

[warriorlynx]

Jun 16, 2020 20:29:02 GMT -5 LA Times said:

Jun 16, 2020 20:16:31 GMT -5 moonpies88 said:

i wonder what made Vince decide to clean house

They were phasing out guys from the Hulkamania era in favor of new stars for the new generation era.

Doubtful since we saw the return of Hulkamania era talent anyway in the New Gen (from Bundy to Piper to Roberts). Remember New Gen wasn't even official till June 1994, I think we often think 1993 is part of the new gen because it looks like it.

Business was in the gutters by Survivor Series 1992 with a big merch drop, reputation not so great as the company is filled with scandals, more opportunities elsewhere to make money for talent like in Japan. Not a good time to be in the WWF.