Then vs. Now

[Next Big Thing]

We talk a lot about how bad or good this era of wrestling is and how it compares or doesn't compare to the Attitude Era, who sucks, who doesn't suck, it's the talent, it's the writing, etc... so I figured it would be interesting to go back to this day 10 & 20 years ago and compare the talent of today with the talent of yesteryear.

I'm using the current and past title holders only because they're people obviously deemed worthy by the company for the push or exposure. In my opinion, this era's crop does come off a little weak in comparison to the other two decades although the WWE championship titleholders and WCW/ WWE Heavyweight Champions could spark in interesting debate.

What decade had the best collection of titleholders in your opinion? Who are guys who could have held the same title in either of the other two decades and who are guys who probably wouldn't have been allowed to even think about holding that particular title? Which belt has seen the greatest drop in talent or prestige? How far, if at all, do you think the talent level improved over the decades and/or dropped over the decades? What was the difference from then and now that makes these improvements or drops the way they are. You don't have to answer any of those, just throwing some ideas out for the sake of conversation.

WWE Champion
October of 1990: Ultimate Warrior
October of 2000: The Rock
Current: Randy Orton

Heavyweight Champion (WCW didn't have its own belt in 1990 so I used the NWA Champion)
October of 1990: Sting
October of 2000: Booker T
Current: Kane

Intercontinental Champion
October of 1990: Kerry Von Erich
October of 2000: Eddie Guerrero
Current: Dolph Ziggler

United States Champion
October of 1990: Lex Luger
October of 2000: Lance Storm
Current: Daniel Bryan

Tag Team Champions
October of 1990: Hart Foundation
October of 2000: Hardy Boyz
Current: McIntyre & Rhodes

Women's Champion
October of 1990:
October of 2000: Lita
Current: Michelle McCool