Now I'll readily admit my feelings on 96 WWF are very influenced by nostalgia because this was the year I really started watching but I do think it get's too bad a wrap because I often see 95 & 96 lumped together as the absolute low points of WWF. Now in terms of business that might be true, but while the product was piss poor in 95, there is a lot of good stuff in 96.
Things I like about 96:
-The seeds of the attitude era are planted in 96. You can even go back to late 95 arguably. The product begins to feel a little less cartoonish and more edgy. Austin is beginning to cut his classic promos, the Pillman's Got a Gun Raw and in fact I always felt Raw after Summerslam 96 started to feel different, a litte more unpredictable.
-You get to see the rise of Austin and Mick Foley
-Diesel's last little run as a tweener/heel is VERY underrated. This run to me is like the prototype Attiude Era character. Breh was fueding with faces and heels at the same time, flipping the bird, he even started nodding to the fact Vince was boss. If he had had this character in 95 he might've actually drew a dime.
-Sid becoming master and ruler of the World at MSG
-I don't wanna get into a debate about HBK....whether he was a failed champ or not he consistently delivered quality main events that year
-Taker's character had life breathed into it after fueding with the Million Dollar Corproation for what felt like years. He felt less cartoonish and in Mankind he had an actual interesting antagonist.
-Ahmed was strongly booked for the first half of the year
-Assorted Goldust fukkery
There's more stuff I like but I don't want to turn this into a dissertation. But overall it was a good year IMO. Nitro was definitely the better show, nWo were killing it but there was still a lot to like on the other channel.
I will concede there was some absolute trash that year too:
-TL Hopper & The Goon
-Farooq's Gladiator costume
-Losing Hall & Nash early on
-Warrior's run was a waste of time
Things I like about 96:
-The seeds of the attitude era are planted in 96. You can even go back to late 95 arguably. The product begins to feel a little less cartoonish and more edgy. Austin is beginning to cut his classic promos, the Pillman's Got a Gun Raw and in fact I always felt Raw after Summerslam 96 started to feel different, a litte more unpredictable.
-You get to see the rise of Austin and Mick Foley
-Diesel's last little run as a tweener/heel is VERY underrated. This run to me is like the prototype Attiude Era character. Breh was fueding with faces and heels at the same time, flipping the bird, he even started nodding to the fact Vince was boss. If he had had this character in 95 he might've actually drew a dime.
-Sid becoming master and ruler of the World at MSG
-I don't wanna get into a debate about HBK....whether he was a failed champ or not he consistently delivered quality main events that year
-Taker's character had life breathed into it after fueding with the Million Dollar Corproation for what felt like years. He felt less cartoonish and in Mankind he had an actual interesting antagonist.
-Ahmed was strongly booked for the first half of the year
-Assorted Goldust fukkery
There's more stuff I like but I don't want to turn this into a dissertation. But overall it was a good year IMO. Nitro was definitely the better show, nWo were killing it but there was still a lot to like on the other channel.
I will concede there was some absolute trash that year too:
-TL Hopper & The Goon
-Farooq's Gladiator costume
-Losing Hall & Nash early on
-Warrior's run was a waste of time
@1:45 of Doc Hendrix
