Best of the 90's - Title Changes

[IrishCanadian25]

So far, we have looked at the best promos, best matches, feuds, pay per views, moments, title reigns, and even the worst moments in the greatest decade in professional wrestling history. Now, it is time to examine the moments that are often the most fun, most exciting, most shocking, and most controversial - the title change.

1. Shawn Michaels defeats Bret Hart - March 31st, 1996

Two of the greatest athletes in WWE at the time, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, had a storied history at this point having waged a war over the Intercontinental Championship. Most argue that Bret won that war. But this was different...
With "The Hitman" on his third WWE Title Reign, Shawn Michaels won his
2nd consecutive Royal Rumble for the right to face Bret at Wrestlemania. With these two men so close in talent, it seemed logical that the only way to settle it was in a 60-minute Iron Man Match. Of course, after 60-minutes, quite the opposite occured - nothing was settled. Shawn would win his first WWE Title just moments into overtime, and the war was far from over.

2. Shawn Michaels defeats Bret Hart - November 9th, 1997

Ah, the Montreal Screwjob. Not much needs to be said here. This moment set the wheels in motion for Degeneration X, The Attitude Era, The "Mr. McMahon" character, and Bret Hart's move to WCW and ensuing hatred for WWE. It also acted as a full-on passing of the torch from Hart to Michaels...for a little while at least.

3. Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Shawn Michaels - March 29th, 1998
I can still hear Good Ole' JR yelling "The Austin Era has begun!" If the screwjob set the wheels in motion for the Attitude Era, Austin's first title win put the Ferrari into high gear, setting the stage for one of the greatest feuds of all time - Austin vs McMahon. It also signaled the end of the Shawn Michaels era...for a little while at least.

4. Ric Flair defeats Sting - January 11th, 1991

With WCW making the decision to pull out of the NWA, it was time for World Championship Wrestling to crown its own champion. Appropriately, that match took place on 1/11/91 between the two men who, more than a decade later, would wrestle in WCW's final match. The leader of the Four Horsemen and the dirtiest player in the game Ric Flair against the man called Sting. While this reign lasted just 6 months, it put the ball in Ric's hands and elevated Sting to top-tier face status.

5. Hulk Hogan defeats Ric Flair - July 17th, 1994

WCW had started making noice in 1993 and 1994 by hiring former WWE personalities such as Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund, and of course the shocking appearance of Lex Luger. When WCW signed Hulk Hogan, however, everyone turned and looked. For years, WWE fans salivated over seeing Flair vs Hogan to determine who the best was, but never got it. At Bash at the Beach 1994, WCW came through, and Hogan won the WCW Title, possibly starting the power shift.

6. The British Bulldog defeats Bret Hart - August 29th, 1992

A bit of a trend here with Bret appearing now as a three-time loser on the list, but there's merit to that. When Davey Boy Smith broke through and won his first major single title at Summer Slam in Wembley Stadium (regarded by many as one of the best matches of all time) Bret Hart walked away the winner. Odd, seeing as he got pinned by his brother in law and came in the heel. But so flawless was his calling of this match that Vince McMahon picked Bret to ascend to the ranks of the elite, defeating Ric Flair soon after, leaving the Bulldog to be the transitional champion to...Shawn Michaels.

7. Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Owen Hart - August 3rd, 1997

Among the most bittersweet of title wins in history, Austin defeated nemesis Owen Hart in a match that saw Owen's botched Tombstone Piledriver break the neck of Stone Cold. I attended this event live at Continental Airlines Arena, and even from the 200-level cheap seats, it was obvious something was wrong with Steve. Quick thinking by Owen to work the roll-up to drop the title to Steve, but it took years off of the career of the man who would carry the attitude era. Side note - rumor has it Steve didn't speak at Owen's memorial RAW because of this incident, though Steve and Bret Hart remain friends with Steve inducting Bret into the HOF.

8. Shane Douglas defeats Tazz, Dean Malenko, and 2-Cold Scorpio - August 27th, 1994

Shout out to RVDGurl. This night has come up a lot in the Best of the
90's boards, in the Best Moments and Worst Moments catergories ironically enough. When Douglas won the NWA World Championship on this night, he grabbed the belt and then threw it away, declaring himself the first ECW Champion, stating "I am not the man who accepts a torch to be handed to me by an organization that died 7 years ago." Some wonder if the NWA ever fully recovered.

9. Hulk Hogan defeats The Giant - August 10th, 1996

While I may get heat for leaving Warrior / Hogan I off of my list of nine, this win by Hogan put the biggest trophy in WCW into the hands of the man who had successfully completed the biggest heel turn in wrestling to that point. With Hogan and the nWo in control of the WCW Championship, a peice of fans everywhere started to die. People were hoping for somebody, somewhere to pound the turncoat into oblivion, and it wasn't until nearly one year later that Lex Luger did it. Hogan won it back 5 days later before his showdown with Sting in December.

10. Other

There were so many great title changes, pick your own and give us the reasons why. Y'all know the rules by now.

Here's looking forward to a spirited debate.

-IC25

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The best has to be the Montreal title change. For obvious reasons. Probably because you couldn't have predicted that it would end that way. You could have predicted that Hart would have lost. By pinfall, submission etc. But I don't think anybody would have guessed that Hebner, Michaels & Vince would have swerved him.

Then again Austin's win is pretty important. That pretty much was the end of clean finishes in main events for the remaineder of the 90's.

 

[salopstick]

i agree with your choices however no heat from me for warrior/hogan but this title change was one one of the best of the 90s and was very well executed.

started with a brief encounter at the rumble leading to a little encounter at saturday nights main event where they were tag partners. hogan was in a little feud with earthquake and dino bravo at the time and it was great tv when hogan was about to get earthquaked warrior made the save and vice versa the next week.

wrestlemania 6 was great remember how they used to enter the ring on wrestling ring themed trolleys!! so we had the IC champ against the WWF champ for the first time ever at a main event, new blood against the old guard would the torch be passed?

the number of times on these threads you here about wrestlers dragging a great match out of hogan and warrior well these two delivered brilliant against each other, not a technichal match but it told an incredible story and was PWI match of the year.

no one who watched that match could forget a battered hogan being wheeled back to the dressing room.

one of the best title changes of the 90s IMHO

the downside is knowing hogan would not be around forever vince tried to pass the torch to a new hogan unfortunatley warriors non wrestling skills, lack of draw and unpredictability made it a bad choice and when it all went wrong who did he turn too HOGAN. How different it could have been if hogan had dropped the belt to a heel like rick rude or savage and have a face like warrior chase that title for a few months rather than have it handed to him on a plate. (note that vince for when cena returns)

 

[cgisclair]

this is my first post here, so 1st off, I'd like to say hello to everyone.

But to answer the question, my fav title match ever was Sting/Flair. Those 2 had one of the best rivalries I can remember in recent years.

If it were a WWE only question, it'd be the Michaels/Hart 60 min match.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

this is my first post here, so 1st off, I'd like to say hello to everyone.

But to answer the question, my fav title match ever was Sting/Flair. Those 2 had one of the best rivalries I can remember in recent years.

If it were a WWE only question, it'd be the Michaels/Hart 60 min match.

Welcome to the forums! It's great to have your virgin post be on the Best of the 90's Series!

I'd like to ask you to elaborate a little bit. What about the Sting / Flair title change was so significant to you? And from a WWE point-of-view, The Iron Man Match?

I voted the Ironman match myself, because, judging by the Bret Hart DVD, it really added fuel to the fire that those two superstars did not get along well. Bret was incensed that Shawn was being given a run at the title while Bret was still in good working condition. It also set the stage for the months to come.

 

[No Count Pup]

I remember two great title changes from the 90s.

The Survivor Series 96' championship match between Shawn Michaels and Sid was intense. In an industry altering occurence, the fans cheered for a heel in the world title match. Sid received huge pops while Shawn Michaels was booed like a villian. I remember that as being one of the most exciting title matches as a young lad. Plus, Sid was awesome.

And who can forget Mankind's first WWE Championship victory over The Rock in early 1999? The crowd was hot and Austin's interference almost blew the roof off the Centrum. It was one of WWE's prime moments of the Attitude Era.

 

[X]

I can't believe I haven't gotten in on these threads yet Irish. Great stuff, I've been looking back at the other ones and may just have to do some serious bumping.

Ladies and Gentlemen...the return of xfearbefore writing posts about....WRESTLING! YES! IT'S TRUE! HE WILL REALLY TALK ABOUT SOMETHING THAN AMPUTEES, SPORTS OR MUSIC!

For me, it was a dead heat decision between a few choices.

First off, the Montreal Screwjob. How could this not be a choice for everyone? As its been said many times before, this one event here changed the face of wrestling forever and pretty much sealed the deal on WWE's dominance. I still remember watching this as a kid and being excited as hell simply because HBK had won the title and I was a huge HBK fan. I didn't even realize what had really taken place there until I was older and actually read about what happened and went back to watch the match again. Still sends chills up your spine, is there anything more classic then the closing moments of that PPV when HBK with Triple H & Chyna are leaving victorious and JR is saying "Ohh man you talk about controversy!". I still wonder if JR knew.

Next up would be the changing of the guard in the WWE really. When HBK lost the belt to Austin at WM14, it changes the WWE. The Attitude Era had already begun, but it hadn't really kicked into full gear until Austin became the unchallenged main event focus of every show. And man did it pay off, as to me there was never, ever, ever, EVER a better time in wrestling then the WWF circa 1998-2001. All of that started with this title change.

And finally, one for RVDgurl and the other ECW diehard fans....Mikey Whipwreck pulling the biggest upset of all time. When he fell on top of the Sandman under that ladder, nobody in the WORLD expected the Sandman not to kick out. He didn't. And the place ERUPTED, literally every single fan in that (as Slyfox would call it) bingo hall jumped to their feets, raised their hands and screamed hell yeah! I've never been exactly a big Mikey Whipwreck fan, but this was just a classic moment that really added even more to that feeling that anything could and would happen in ECW.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I think Hogan/Warrior 1990 has to make the list - this was the first time since "Hulkamania" started running wild that Hogan actually lost cleanly to anyone other than by DQ or count-out. This also showed (beyond the shadow of all doubt) that while WWE could prosper with another champion no one on the roster could match Hogan's star power and within a year he was back on top. Warrior meanwhile found out that even with a monster push he did not have that talent to be a longterm main eventer ala Savage, Michaels, Flair, etc. The "Warrior experiment" was a huge gamble but in the end it all came back to Hogan.

Other title changes that were significant included Brett Hart's IC Title win over Curt Henning (his first major singles title, a longreign that proved he was capable of competing at the top level without a tag team or manager behind him) and Shawn Michaels IC Title win over British Bulldog (his first major singles title and the beginning of a full throttle push into the main event stratosphere for Heartbreak Kid).

Ric Flair's win over Vader in 1993 was not only a highly entertaining match with great build-up and backstory (including the revenge angle with Flair nemesis Harley Race in Vader's corner) but it also was the start of the WCW comeback, helping the company revive it's attendance and PPV numbers and become a serious challenger to WWE, something it hadn't been since Flair left for Vince-Land in 1991 (realistically, the company had been little competition since 1990). With Flair back on top ppl started watching WCW again, if only to see him. Without Flair there never would have been Hogan or Savage in WCW and without Hogan no NWO angle. Vader left a few yrs later for a short but eventful run in WWE and has been seen in the US sparingly since. One can only imagine what would have happened if WCW's original plan for 1993's Starrcade (Vader losing the belt to Sid Justice) had been pursued.

 

[Mr.ROCKY]

i can't believe you left out the infamous change where mickfoley grabbed the wwe(F) title off the rock. That was one of the loudestpops i have ever heard & it was pretty much the beggining of the end for WCW. This defined the attitude era where anything can happen & that night it certainley did

 

[RuKDaD]

One of the wildest title changes had to be April 4th 1993. When Yokozuna beat Bret Hart for the world title before Hulk Hogan came out and beat Yokozuna for the title. It was really a wild event and a "must be" for the list.

 

[shayneomac]

1) The British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels (IC Title)
The match that gave Shawn Michaels the opportunity to develop as a singles wrestler. I believe this is the most overlooked HBK match. It was just as responsible for HBK's success as any other HBK match.

2) The Rock vs Brock Lesnar (WWE Title)
A prime example of what happens when you push a superstar too quickly without letting them pay their dues to the business. Brock's the youngest REAL WWE champion in history and i'm sure Vince McMahon regrets that.

3) The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (WM 17)
Not even the biggest wrestling 'no it all' saw that coming. I don't even think that The Rock saw that coming. That was the 2nd to last time that the WWE ever kept a secret well.

4) John Cena vs Edge (New Years Revolution)
The very last time that the WWE managed to be completely unpredicatble. A great moment!

 

[IrishCanadian25]

i can't believe you left out the infamous change where mickfoley grabbed the wwe(F) title off the rock. That was one of the loudestpops i have ever heard & it was pretty much the beggining of the end for WCW. This defined the attitude era where anything can happen & that night it certainley did

Yes, newbie, hence the "other" category. You will soon see that with posting polls you are limited to the number of choices yu can list. That is why I always come up with 9 and allow people to vote for "other." So, believe it.

While I feel you make a valid point on Foley / Rock, the two of them passed the title between each other so many times, and all the while people were just waiting for Rock vs Austin. It didn't bear much significance other than to solidify Mick Foley as a hall of famer and The Rock as top heel.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

1) The British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels (IC Title)
The match that gave Shawn Michaels the opportunity to develop as a singles wrestler. I believe this is the most overlooked HBK match. It was just as responsible for HBK's success as any other HBK match.

2) The Rock vs Brock Lesnar (WWE Title)
A prime example of what happens when you push a superstar too quickly without letting them pay their dues to the business. Brock's the youngest REAL WWE champion in history and i'm sure Vince McMahon regrets that.

3) The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (WM 17)
Not even the biggest wrestling 'no it all' saw that coming. I don't even think that The Rock saw that coming. That was the 2nd to last time that the WWE ever kept a secret well.

4) John Cena vs Edge (New Years Revolution)
The very last time that the WWE managed to be completely unpredicatble. A great moment!

I agree with your statements, but remember, the name of the thread is "Best of the 90's" and 3 of your 4 matches were from 2000 and later.

 

[kenchoe]

My choice?

Surprisingly, no one has mentioned this...but...

Ladder Match for the IC Title @ WM X between "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels vs "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon!

Great story building up to this match (Shawn being the fake IC champ, while RR being the real one...this was a "undisputed" IC match of sorts)...and of course, being a historic match...which paved the way for the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches that redefined wrestling in the late '90s/early '00s.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

My choice?

Surprisingly, no one has mentioned this...but...

Ladder Match for the IC Title @ WM X between "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels vs "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon!

Great story building up to this match (Shawn being the fake IC champ, while RR being the real one...this was a "undisputed" IC match of sorts)...and of course, being a historic match...which paved the way for the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches that redefined wrestling in the late '90s/early '00s.

Absolutely a great match!

But not a title change. Razor came into the match as the recognized champion, and won the match. He set himself as the "undisputed champ" but it technically wasn't a title change.

I swear, I'm not this anal about everything! I greatly appreciate all of you posting on The Best of the 90's!

 

[Player_1]

The Rock vs. SCSA at WM17 was not unexpected. At the last minute, they changed the match to a no DQ match. Anyone who has been watching wrestling for a long time would know that when something like that happens, you can pretty much predict who was going to win or that anything was to be expected.

Back to the topic...HBK over Bret Hart at WM12 has to be the top in the 90's. HBK's emotions were real. He earned that title. He wrestled for over 12 years at the time to get to that point in his career, he deserved it and that translated to the fans.

 

[bigshot316]

What about Austin defeating the Rock at WM17, not a shocking result directly but the fact that Austin threw everything at the Rock, and the Rock just kept coming back was awesome, and the finish where Austin turned on the world and joined forces with the devil (Vince!), and beat the crap out of the Rock with a chair before just pinning him was wicked!

WM14 was also a personal favourite, being a huge HBK mark. I just liked the way that he went out there and gave his best and put on an amazing match even though he was in agony. Austin got the torch well and truly passed, and the whole thing was awesome. The only sad thing is that that was the last day that dX was truly cool.
Oh, and I don't get people saying Shawn was being arrogant and chewing gum when Tyson K.O'd him.. I have watched it a ton of times and to me he's selling the punch!!!

 

[a0161613]

I will agree the hbk/hart and the Austin/hbk title switches were great but you also got to remember ones like mick foleys first title win, even though they were all transitional, as well as bambam bigelow TV title win (i think) over taz, the one with the fall through the ring, in his home town.

im sure there are others i cannot think of (i didnt see a lot of WCW back in the day) but there are too many to think of, i think you chose some decent ones for the poll

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

Goldberg vs Hogan July 1999: Goldberg was one of the few men that the WCW was able to establish and make a main event star. This wasnt a great match but had an electric atmosphere infront of 60 thousand people in the pontaic silverdome. I think Goldberg helped give the WCW title credibility wht his 100+ winning streak

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Goldberg vs Hogan July 1999: Goldberg was one of the few men that the WCW was able to establish and make a main event star. This wasnt a great match but had an electric atmosphere infront of 60 thousand people in the pontaic silverdome. I think Goldberg helped give the WCW title credibility wht his 100+ winning streak

Great title change. And a pretty good match. The only problem I have is that it's on Nitro. How stupid. WCW lost millions on that one. They gave away a monster main event for free. Possibly one of the stupidest booking decisions of all time.

 

[jback]

I went with one of my most favorite title change of all times...."Montreal screwjob" HBK VS. Bret Hart. The match had to be one of the most exciting/controverisal ever. I was shocked to see after the match Bret spitting on Vince's face and all of the aftermath. This had to be one of the best moves in wwe history(sorry bret) b/c is established Vince as one of the most hated heels ever in the wwe. I loved the match and still watch today.

 

[Shocky]

How in the flying fuck is the Iron Man match winning this thing. Talk about one of the most over hyped and over rated matches ever. It was an hour long match filled with crappy rest holds, and most of the action took place in the last 5 minutes.

Anyways, as far as most significant, obviously it's the Screw job. My god did this change the way the business went. The Attitude Era arrived, and it proved that McMahon was willing to do anything to become number one again, including screwing his number one guy out of the title.

 

[RVDgurl]

Again, some very good picks, IC! I have 3 title changes in mind that shaped the 90's and you already hit on 2 of them.

Montreal Screwjob - Probably the most controversial title change in the history of wrestling, let alone just the decade of the 90's. It was a great match, and of course, the ending was brilliant. Nothing better than a shoot in front of tens of thousands of people.

Shane Douglas Proclaims the Era of the ECW - Again, nothing like a shoot to end the match that sends people into a tither. This title match put the final nail in the coffin that was the NWA and ignited the most innovative wrestling company in the history of the sport.

Terry Funk def. Raven at Barely Legal - This title change solidified Funk's place in history as a wrestling legend. It was the culmination of his journey to a be a champion. The build up was great, the atmosphere was even better- ECW did everything right for Funk.