Battle of the Decades - Year 3 - 1992 vs 2002
~1992~
Top Superstar: Randy Savage - Having just return to the ring a couple months prior, Savage spent the entire year in heated rivalries. First, there was ending the battle with Jake Roberts which he did at Saturday Night's Main Event. After that, it was regaining the honor of his wife, Elizabeth when Ric Flair started telling people he had been with her first. At Wrestlemania, Savage defeated Ric Flair in a MOTYC. Soon after that, he help Shawn Michaels produce one of his best singles matches by selling like crazy (Savage that is) over in Europe. At Summerslam, Savage defended his Title against the man who retired him, The Ultimate Warrior. After the PPV, he and Warrior began to became friends. After newcomer Razor Ramon cost Randy Savage the World Title, he and Warrior (dubbed The Ultimate Maniacs) feuded with Razor andRic Flair which concluded at Survivor Series. This would be Savage's last full year as a wrestler for the WWF.
Top Tag Team: Money Inc - 1992 was the beginning of the end of tag team wrestling for the WWE. The Rockers split up in the beginning of the year, The Legion of Doom would be gone before the end of the year, and both the Nasty Boys and Natural Disasters would turn face and fail. The one positive thing about 1992 was Money Inc, IRS and Ted Dibiase. Both men would be together for the full year. They begin the year defeating The Legion of Doom for the Tag Titles at a house show. After loosing the titles in the Summer, they would quickly win them back and end the year as tag team champions.
Returning Superstar: The Ultimate Warrior - Having not been seen since the end of Summer the previous year, The Ultimate Warrior made his return at Wrestlemania helping Hulk Hogan against Sid Justice and Papa Shango. With prior year enemy, Jake Roberts gone from the WWF and the Undertaker now face, The Warrior found old long time rival, Randy Savage to feud with. While he did defeat Savage at Summerslam, due to it being by count-out, he didn't win the title. After that he and Savage would team for the rest of the year. At the final Saturday Night Main Event of the decade, they defeated the Tag Team Champions, Money Inc by Count Out.
Top Midcarder: Bret Hart - For the second year in a row, Bret was the top midcarder of the year. He began the year as champion and ended the year as champion. After coming back from an injury in Jan, Bret made his return and quickly won back the IC title at Wrestlemania from Roddy Piper. Having defending the title against the likes of Rick Martel and others, he started a friendly rivalry with brother-in-law, Davey Boy Smith. The feud concluded with Bulldog defeating Bret in the main event of Summerslam. Not to let the loss deter him, 2 months later, Bret defeated World Champion, Ric Flair for the World Title. The remainder of the year he defended the title against Papa Shango and Shawn Michaels.
Sudden Departure: The Ultimate Warrior - For the second year in a row, Warrior once again disappeared. Having teamed with Savage in the second half of the year, Warrior became antsy again with his current state. With just weeks before Survivor Series, he left the WWF causing Randy Savage to find a new partner to team with against Ric Flair and Razor Ramon.
Breakout Superstar: Shawn Michaels - Michaels began the year as a frustrated tag team wrestler. He decided that things had to change, so he broke up with Marty Janetty by throwing him through Brutus Beefcake's barbershop window in Jan. With a new gimmick, Michaels quickly became one of the top heel midcarders. After Wrestlemania, Michaels put up a good effort in a pair of matches (one being tag) against Randy Savage. At the final SNME, Michaels would defeat The British Bulldog for the IC title. He would end the year by getting a World Title shot at Survivor Series.
Top Feuds:
- Ric Flair vs Randy Savage - Who had the girl first?
- Jimmy Hart vs His Former Tag Teams - Paying for your betrayals
- The Undertaker vs Harvey Whippleman - 1st Test = Kamala
- Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice - Another former friend feels jealous
~2002~
Top Superstar: The Undertaker - No one had a stand out year the entire time. However, as far as being successful, The Undertaker was successful in many different ways. 'Taker began the year as the Hardcore Champion. At the Royal Rumble, had one of the most memorable eliminations ever when rookie Maven dropkicked him out of the ring. After that, it was on to Wrestlemania where he went 10-0 against WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. Once the brand extension was started up, he quickly became a number one contender. At Judgment Day, he defeated Hulk Hogan one more time to become World Champion. In the months that followed, he would successfully defend the title against Rob Van Dam, Triple H, Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle. Once loosing the title, 'Taker would head over to Smackdown where he would feud with World Champion, Brock Lesnar. It that passing of the torch feud, Taker looked better than he had in years.
Top Tag Team: Christian - The Brand Extension virtually killed the tag team divisions. It wasn't until October that both brands had a decent tag team division. Through all of these hardships, the one man who almost always looked good was Christian. He along with partners Lance Storm and Chris Jericho dominated the World Tag Team Titles against Hulk Hogan/Edge, Booker T/Goldust, Spike/Bubba, Jeff Hardy/RVD, and Kane/Helms. Christian would either be tag team champions or be the number one contender from July until the end of the year.
Returning Superstar: Shawn Michaels - After Wrestlemania 14, few people believed that HBK would ever return to the ring. However, after long time friend, Triple H, attacked him, Michaels came back for one night only. After winning with a rollup, Triple H attacked the victorious Michaels. A few months later, Michaels returned in the first ever Elimination Chamber match where he outlasted Triple H, Chris Jericho, RVD, Kane and Booker T to become World Champion. After a good, yet short title defense against Van Dam, Michaels would lose the title in a 2/3 Falls match at Armageddon to Triple H.
Top Midcarder: Rob Van Dam - To the shock of everyone, The IC title which had been around since 1979, was unified with the World title in October. However, prior to that, 2002 and the IC title was all about Mr Monday Night. Having won the title at Wrestlemania 18, Rob would lose the title to the returning Eddie Guerrero at Backlash. What followed were 3 more title defenses at Insurrection, Judgment Day and a ladder match on Raw. The latter ended up with Rob finally regaining the title. After winning the title, Van Dam went to the finals of the final PPV King of the Ring. The following month he would lose the title to Chris Benoit. Benoit's title win would be short lived as RVD would once again win it at Summerslam. After finally loosing it for good to Chris Jericho, RVD set his sights on the World Title. At Unforgiven, Raw and Survivor Series, Van Dam put up a great effort.
Sudden Departure: Steve AustinIn all of the chaos of the brand extension, the WWF lost one of it's top stars in Steve Austin. Prior to a Monday Night Raw where he was to job to Brock Lesnar, Austin decided to just go back home to Texas. It's there where he would remain for the rest of the year. Everyone wanted to know why he did what he did. Friend, Jim Ross, compared it to John Wayne giving up.
Breakout Superstar: Jamie Noble - Prior to 2002, most people only knew Jamie from the dying days of WCW. But with so few people watching at the time, when Jamie debuted on Smackdown, many people were watching him for the first time. Noble would make his debut attacking his girlfriend, Nadia's, ex-boyfriend The Hurricane. This would lead to a match at King of the Ring with Jamie Noble becoming the Crusierweight champion. With his Southern trailer trash gimmick, Noble became over rather quickly. Up until the beginning of November, Noble successfully defended the CW title against Billy Kidman, Funaki, Tajiri, The Hurricane, and others. Finally, at Survivor Series, Noble would lose the title to Billy Kidman.
Top Feuds:
- Hulk Hogan vs The Rock - Icon vs Icon with everyone watching.
- The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar - The passing of the torch.
- Triple H vs Shawn Michaels - Old friends, hated enemies.
- Eric Bischoff vs Stephanie McMahon - Battle of the GM's.
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Originally Posted by Steve
I've heard barely any praise until now.
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