When was the WWE roster at its best?

[Dolph'sZiggler]

in your opinion? for me I would say 2000 was a pretty sick year as far as the talent they had

Rock
Austin
Taker
HHH
Angle
Benoit
Jericho
Eddie
Big Show
Vince/Shane in their prime
Mankind
Taz
E&C
Dudleys
Hardys
DX (Road Dogg & X Pac)
Too Cool/Rikishi
Kane
APA

And probably more that I'm forgetting. Everyone on the roster at this point was either a great worker or had an interesting character, and many qualified in both categories. King and JR were on commentary and storylines were plentiful. Probably my favorite year in WWE overall.

 

[Danielson]

2000, and you forgot HBK, he found his smile.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

2000, and you forgot HBK, he found his smile.

he was 'retired' until late 2001 or 2002 iirc

I DID forget Val Venis though. shame on me

 

[deathclaw4721]

As soon as AJ was added to the roster. So anywhere from 2009-present, because of her awesome days in FCW and everything else up to now. And now is great, and she's getting better every night. ^_^

 

[Swift]

^ That wasn't predictable at all.

 

[Wacokid27]

From your OP, I would say that you should have waited until 2001, when Booker T, Chavo Guerrero, Diamond Dallas Page, Gregory Helms, Rob Van Dam, and Tommy Dreamer were part of the roster, but you make a solid argument nonetheless.

I would offer the current roster as being a very strong entrant into any competition, especially when you add to the main roster some of the talent that is currently on the NXT roster.

Main Event Level:
CM Punk
Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson (for those who weren't aware that they were the same person)
John Cena
Undertaker (part-time)
Brock Lesnar (part-time)
Alberto Del Rio/Dos Caras, Jr. (still an important name south of the border)
Randy Orton
Ryback
Sheamus (I have a feeling he'll return to the main event scene)

Upper Midcard Level:
Seth Rollins/Tyler Black
Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley
Roman Reigns
Dolph Ziggler
Cody Rhodes
Goldust/Dustin Rhodes
Damien Sandow/Idol Stevens
Curtis Axel/Joe Hennig
Rob Van Dam

Midcard Level:
Jimmy Uso
Jey Uso
Titus O'Neill
Darren Young
Bray Wyatt
Erick Rowan
Luke Harper
Big E Langston
Kofi Kingston
Justin Gabriel
Mike Mizanin (I hate typing "The Miz")
R-Truth/Ron Killings
Christian/Christian Cage
Tyson Kidd
Wade Barrett
Drew McIntyre
Jinder Mahal
Heath Slater

NXT wrestlers:
Bo Dallas
Kassius Ohno/Chris Hero
Sami Zayn/El Generico
Xavier Woods/Consequences Creed
Rick Victor
Conor O'Brian

Please note that I've used their "WWE names" along with names they have been popular under or may be better known under in this list.

This list is not definitive and I'm aware we can debate whether many of these wrestlers are worthwhile as performers or where they belong in the pecking order. What I think it does display most easily is the strength of the current roster. There are highly decorated indy wrestlers alongside guys that are pure "WWE products" on this list and I think it shows that, not only is there a strong and diverse presence in the main event scene, but that there are a bevy of talented guys in the midcard and in developmental that make the future look pretty bright.

WWE 2000 was a solid roster. I think that, in 15 years, we may be looking back on the WWE 2013 roster as even stronger.

wk

Edit: Since DZ didn't include any female wrestlers on his initial list, I didn't include any on mine, but that would make the discussion all the more interesting. wk

 

[Nick]

As soon as Zack Ryder was added to the roster ^_^

 

[Lockard 23]

I'd say 2000 or 2003. I'll go with 2000 because that was a stacked year in all categories - great wrestlers/workers, great characters, great storylines, was probably the best overall year for PPVs, etc.

Even with Austin out, you still had Rock and Triple H in their prime. This is the year when Triple H shined the most as a heel. He was drawing mega heat after his pairing with Stephanie (the McMahon/Helmsley Era where they "ruled" Raw was an underrated but successful gimmick) and his retirement of Mick Foley (great feud that really put Triple H over the top as a long term main eventer) and people even pelted the ring with garbage when he became the first heel to walk out of Wrestlemania as still the reigning WWF Champion. You also had the Kurt Angle/Triple H/Stephanie love traingle during the Summer. Shame it ended very anti-climatically, but then again, I didn't really agree with their original idea (Steph sides with Kurt Angle and turns HHH face in the process) anyway. It's kind of funny how heel/heel feuds tend to work the best when it's two guys feuding over a woman (for another example, see Sherri Martel being struck on both Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel in 1992.)

You also had a very solid tag team division: Edge and Christian, APA, Dudleyz, Hardyz, Too Cool, T&A, etc. Austin coming back to wreck havoc looking for who ran him over, Mick Foley as Commissioner, that great Rock/HHH Iron Man match, Undertaker returning as the humanized American Badass, Big Show's light hearted gimmick with imitating people, the 24/7 rule of the Hardcore title with Crash Holly was entertaining, Tazz's debut (though he wouldn't end up doing much, unfortunately), the Radicalz debuting (there's a strange story to that, but here isn't the place to get into it), Rikishi dancing with Too Cool was fun to watch, Right To Censor made for a unique group idea, Kaientai's amusing "evil/bad english dubbing" gimmick, you had a good light heavyweight division, etc.

It's a shame not many people know the name Chris Kreski, because he was the main writer who took over for Vince Russo in late 1999 and was behind 2000 WWF's brilliance, booking wise.

2000 might just be my favorite overall year. I'd say in no order though that 1997-2000 and 2003 were my top five favorite WWF/E years ever.

 

[Wacokid27]

Undertaker returning as the humanized American Badass

I love your argument and I just want to go on record as saying this was actually my favorite Undertaker incarnation.

It's a shame not many people know the name Chris Kreski, because he was the main writer who took over for Vince Russo in late 1999 and was behind 2000 WWF's brilliance, booking wise.

I know about Kreski (who you are right about being a brilliant booker in 2000), but I'm not sure how long he was around. Was he also responsible for the horribly-booked Invasion angle or was that just Vince and his "grapefruits" showing how much of a badass he was?

wk

 

[Danielson]

he was 'retired' until late 2001 or 2002 iirc

I DID forget Val Venis though. shame on me

Pretty sure he returned and wrestled in 2000

 

[Danielson]

nvm

 

[Lockard 23]

I love your argument and I just want to go on record as saying this was actually my favorite Undertaker incarnation.




I know about Kreski (who you are right about being a brilliant booker in 2000), but I'm not sure how long he was around. Was he also responsible for the horribly-booked Invasion angle or was that just Vince and his "grapefruits" showing how much of a badass he was?

wk

He was replaced by Stephanie in November of 2000. I've heard somewhere before (probably an interview with someone else on the writing staff at that time) that Stephanie had been trying to edge her way into his position since the summer of 2000 as she wanted to be head of creative so bad. Would love to have Kreski back, but he's passed away, unfortunately. The horrible booking of the Invasion is all on Stephanie and her team of writers (and Vince, since he's the boss and calls the shots. To be fair though, their original idea for the invasion was a well-thought one, but it didn't pan out for them for various reasons. Still...)

And yeah, ABA Taker is awesome. I prefer the Deadman myself, but I wonder what things would be like if he was still his old Biker persona.

 

[Nick]

In my actual opinion, the rosters have always been good. 2000 and 2001 were just full of talent, especially in the mid card. I mean, you had the staples of the era in Austin, Rock, Taker, Angle, HHH, Kane, Foley, but you also had tons of guys who would become main eventers such as Benoit, Jericho and JBL. But there are guys I loved from that time period that never get talked about when talking about this period like Malenko, DDP, Kaientai, Farooq, Test, a growing diva's division, a good tag team division, a huge amount of WCW-ECW talent, etc. However, I've also always thought 2003 had some great talent as well.

Main Event:
Benoit
Lesnar
HHH
Big Show
Undertaker
Shawn Michaels
Angle
Goldberg
Hogan (Also as Mr. America)
The end of Rock
The end of Austin
Kevin Nash

Upper Mid Card:
Jericho
Christian
RVD
Booker T
Kane
Eddie Guerrero (Don't believe he went main event until 2004)
Rey Mysterio
Ric Flair
Scott Steiner
Edge was just beginning to get IC title push

Mid Card:
Tommy Dreamer
Billy Kidman
Test
Maven
Randy Orton
Goldust
Lance Storm
The Hurricane
Ultimo Dragon
Chavo
Jeff Hardy
Matt Hardy (Don't believe they were teaming together at the time)
John Cena
Rikishi
Batista
Rhyno
A Train

Divas:
Trish
Lita
Victoria
Jacqueline
Stacy
Tori
Jazz
Gail Kim
Ivory
Molly Holly

Tag Team:
Dudleys
Basham Bros
The end of the APA
The World's Greatest Tag Team
I think London/Kendrick
The Holly Cousins
FBI
Rosey and Jamal
La Resistance

Sure I'm missing a few others to, but still a solid roster. May not be as good as 2000, but I think it can compete.

 

[Irwin R. Schyster]

80's/early 90's had sick rosters. 1992 roster makes my eyes tear up with joy.

 

[Wacokid27]

The horrible booking of the Invasion is all on Stephanie and her team of writers (and Vince, since he's the boss and calls the shots. To be fair though, their original idea for the invasion was a well-thought one, but it didn't pan out for them for various reasons. Still...)

I was thinking Steph had taken over Creative by that point, but I wasn't sure. The Invasion angle started off so strong, but Vince just couldn't let guys WCW built beat his golden children. That wasn't the whole of the problem, but it was a big part of it.

I think, when we discuss rosters, we also should look at the writing. WWE had some great writing in 2000 and in 2003. I think the writers right now are doing a very good job, sometimes a great one. But, we wouldn't be talking about how great the rosters were in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2013, or 1985 if the writing was weak.

wk