The Best And Worst Of 1994

WWF to me that year was still solid even though they were going off the rails by years end. The 3 Bret vs Owen matches that year were excellent and a big reason why I look back in fondness for that year in the companies history. Savage leaving at the end of the year was like Heenan leaving a year prior for me. I hated to see both those guys leave just a year apart. PPV wise Mania and KOTR were my favs from that year. I'll also say this...I actually didn't mind Arn Donovan on commentary at KOTR. It's like watching wrestling with your Grandpa who has never watched wrestling in his life.

WCW was great during the early months that year but yeah when Hogan came in you know it was going to be all about him and his friends and that's what happened. Both Spring Stampede and Slamboree were great events that year.

ECW was also solid that year. I marked out huge when Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson showed up for a brief stint.

All 3 companies had my attention that year for sure.

I liked 1994, biggest problem with both WCW and WWF was roster depth, the top stars were good but after about 10 or so in each company the drop off was significant. For WWF, the bright spot was definitely Bret vs. Owen, great feud and great matches. Also, the Razor/Shawn/Diesel feud and matches were also great. Yokozuna vs Undertaker at Royal Rumble and the Survivor Series that year were good matches, too. The rise of Diesel was done well, though winning the title at a house show was disappointing, might have been better to give Diesel a win on Raw (which didn't happen that often back then). The Rumble match was good but the ending not so much, I think it would have been better to have a winner that night (either Bret or Lex) so the fans could go home happy and not boo the end of the PPV and the next night on raw say that the Refs talked about it and neither could decide who won so Jack Tunney would declare the same matches we had for Mania that year (Owen v. Bret, Lex v. Yoko, and Yoko v. Bret). The matches at the Rumble PPV were also good, Bret/Owen v. Quebecers, Tatanka v. Bam Bam, and IRS v. Razor, as well as the Yoko v. Taker match mentioned above. Mania was good as well, Bret gaining the title back, the Owen/Bret and Razor/Shawn matches are two of the best in Mania history. Sadly, this was Macho Man's last mania and PPV match in the WWF/E. King of the Ring was decent as well, the Bret/Diesel match was very good (always liked their chemistry in the ring together - I liked all 4 of their PPV matches). The rise of Owen Hart was great as well. Summer Slam was kind of boring with the exception of the Owen/Bret match and the Razor/Diesel match, the Undertaker/Underfaker match was terrible - can't believe that main evented the PPV over the Owen/Bret match. The other thing I liked about the PPV was the return of the British Bulldog. The worst PPV of the year was the Survivor Series, none of the traditional survivor series matches were great or even good. To me the match that could have been great was Diesel's team vs. Razor's team, but instead they used it to set up the Diesel/Shawn feud for early 1995. Jerry Lawler was probably the best thing/part of the whole PPV. The Bret/Backlund match was good but not great, Bob didn't look to good here. However, the Yoko/Taker match was pretty good. Worst thing about WWF in 1994 was we never got that feud/program that Savage wanted against Shawn Michaels, I think these two could have put together something really great. Another bad thing about the year was the lack of use of the Steiner Brothers, especially when the WWF needed top tag teams.

For WCW, they had some really good feuds and matches, most notably the Flair/Steamboat and Sting/Rude ones. Steamboat and Austin also had a nice run this year. If I remember correctly, they were starting up a feud between Rude and Vader but then Rude broke his neck in Japan and the feud was ended. I was a huge Sting fan, so I did not like that he had to take a back seat to Hogan (who I was never really a fan of), though, I understand why they did it. Although, I hated Savage leaving the WWF, at least he got to wrestle in WCW. Another good thing about the year was the return of Bobby the Brain Heenan, though, I would have preferred him in the WWF it was great to see him out there again.

I did not even know that ECW existed so I cannot comment on ECW for this year.

Agreed, especially with the lack of talent in the tag team division that year and the next two, the stainers should have dominated the competition. Wonder why he wanted them to feud with each other when they were only in the company for a year and were still the most popular tag team in the company. Seems like you have a tag team feud with each other when the team has pretty much run its course and is becoming dull. 

shoulda did a big bro vs little bro tag fued (bret/rick vs owen/scott)

The Good:

Wrestlemania X: An overall solid card, with memorable moments.

Taker vs. Taker (I actually enjoyed it)

Taker vs. Yokozuna I and II

Diesel winning the title off of Backlund was actually well done that brought shock value (Backlund crawled back to dressing room), too bad crappy booking, protecting Bret first and lack of heels ruined Diesel's run. 


The Bad:

1994 (April 1 '94 -March 31 '95) was the company's first net loss under Vince Jr if I recall. A few factors were in play:

1. Hulk joining WCW which boosted their PPV buy vs. WWF and forced Vince to call it the "New Generation"
2. Bret Hart not being a big draw as they hoped domestically, followed by Diesel who was worse
3. Taker was gone for a good part of '94 and he was the most over since late 93
4. Lack of monster heels: Yoko was finally defeated at WMX when Bret did the "impossible", Diesel was marginal.
5. Costs related to Steroid Trial in April

Old school/Underutilized talent:

Many old school wrestlers were still around like Earthquake, Bundy, Lombardi, Backlund, Mountie, etc, it would've been fun watching a clique of old-gen wrestlers form. Savage would be better as a heel working with some of the stars instead of stuck as a commentator. Roddy Piper had a nice return except that the booking and main eventing KOTR with Lawler didn't work, Piper would've been better feuding with anyone else. Mr. Perfect returned, but it was way too short obviously he wasn't happy that he didn't have much of a future left in the WWF, perhaps instead of pushing for a feud with Luger, Perfect stays on as a babyface maybe even feuding with Yokozuna.