"The Best of the 90's - Pay Per Views"

[IrishCanadian25]

When you look at the 90's, it was an era defined by the advent of pay per view as THE definitive medium for major professional wrestling events. The
80's started the trend, but in the 90's we saw WCW and ECW really throw their hats into the perverbial PPV ring,and the number of WWE shows climb from 4 to 12 or 13 just to match WCW's production numbers.

Obviously, some of the events come out as the most memorable, either because of the entire card itself, or one massively defining match. In this week's edition of "Best of the 90's," I am asking you all to vote for and defend your choice for the top Pay Per View of Wrestling's greatest decade.

Royal Rumble 1992. Featured the first ever Royal Rumble match that actually meant something, with Ric Flair capturing the vacant WWF championship and setting the stage for the Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice Feud. Flair won the rumble as the #3 entrant long before the bastardization of the
"#1 pick wins" days of the late 90's. Also featured Rowdy Roddy Piper winning his only major championship (IC) over The Mountie.

Summerslam 1992. The Wembley Stadium Classic. 2nd largest WWE attendance in history at 80,355. Featured a very entertaining Savage vs Warrior World Title Match (involving the Mr. Perfect manager storyline), the fun Michaels vs Martel "no hitting in the face" match, and of course The British Bulldog defeating Bret Hart to win the Intercontinental Title.

Wrestlemania 8. 1992 was truly an amazing year for pay per view. Featured the double main event of Savage defeating Flair for the WWF Title, Hogan vs Justice (and the return of the Ultimate Warrior), Hart defeating Piper for the IC Title, and an underrated Michaels vs Santana match to open it all up.

Wrestlemania 10. From Madison Square Garden, this mega-event was a return to Wrestlemania form that the original show had started - celebrity, glamour, and classic wrestling. Featured TWO WWF Title matches (Yoko vs Luger and Hart vs Yoko), and now infamous Hart vs Hart upset, a decent "Falls Count Anywhere" match between Savage and Crush, and of course one of the definitive matches of the 90's - Michaels vs Ramon ladder match #1.

Wrestlemania 15. All the build up surrounding wrestling's 2 biggest stars culminated in the main event here, The Rock vs Steve Austin #1. Steve's 2nd WWF Title reign. Also featured the infamous Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and the Big Boss Man where the Brood helped 'Taker hang BBM from the top of the cell.

Bash at the Beach 1994. WCW's arrival in the Pay Per View arena. Featured the Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan World Title match that WWF couldn't make happen. Also featured an underrated 20-minute US Title Match between Stunning Steve Austin and Ricky Steamboat.

Bash at the Beach 1996. Featured the moment that almost single handedly changed the scope of the wrestling world, Hulk Hogan's morph into "Hollywood Hogan" when he joined the Outsiders to form the nWo. Also featured Ric Flair vs Konnan, The Steiners over Harlem Heat, and Guerrero vs Regal.

ECW Heatwave 1998. Regarded by many ECW fans as one of the best shows ever. Featured Dreamer, Dudley, and Sandman vs The Dudleyz. Also saw Rob Van Dam and Sabu as a team win a 20-minute bout with a Japanese Team, and Taz defeat Bam Ba Bigelow.

ECW November to Remember 1999. Stacked lineup. Rob van Dam defeats Taz for the ECW TV Title. Mike Awesome over Masato Tanaka to retain the ECW World Title. Rhino, Credible, and Storm vs Raven, Dreamer, and Sandman.

Check it out, and feel free to nominate your own!

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Heat Wave 1998: BEST CARD EVER. Brilliant matches all round. Your hard pressed to find any negatives. Unlike most of the WWE cards that are options. Chris Candido vs. Storm is a brilliant match. Could have done with a bit more time but it's still excellent. And it shows what WWE missed out on with Storm. The Awesome/Tanaka is the best match those two ever had together. The tag title match is one of my fave matche sof all time. Not much in the way of psychology, but for fast paced wrestling there isn't much better. Taz vs. Bigelow is the best Big man/Little man match of all time. It would have been easy for Bigelow the big star to not really make much effort but him and Taz were equals in this match. The Street Fight is enjoyable, as most Dudley Matches at the time usually were.

 

[whezz37]

I loved King of the Ring 98. One of the first events I saw on TV and a brilliant card back in the attitude day.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Best WWF card of the 90's has to go to Canadian Stampede. Brilliant all round card. Taka Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke is the only time WWE have presented smaller wrestlers properly. Back then WWE fans actually cared about vanilla midgets. The Undertaker and Vader shows two things. That Mankind did wonders for Taker and that Vader should have been pushed harder. HHH vs. Mankind isn't there best bout against each other, but there series was classic anyway. And the headliner is awesome.Birarre atmosphere but still a brilliant match.

As for the WWF cards in the poll:

Royal Rumble 1992

The Rumble is the 2nd best ever (Rumble 07 is better imo) but the undercard was crap. The New Hart Foundation vs. The Orient Express was ok, but the rest was complete crap.

Summerslam 1992

This card only had two decent matches. Hart vs. Smith (There IYH match is better imo) and Warrior vs. Savage. The rest is complete shite.

Wrestlemania 8

Again just two good matches. Hart vs. Piper, in Pipers best match (possibly only good match) and Tito vs. HBK. Like most Mania's it's not as good as you remember.

Wrestlemania 10

Good but by no means a classic. The opener is a amazing. And the Ladder match is great also. There's a couple of passable matches, Savage vs. Crush and Hart vs. 'Zuna but that's it.

Wrestlemania 15

The most meh Mania of all time. Not bad but ininspiring. I enjoyed The Rock vs. Austin. But other than that I cant think of anything memorable or truly awful.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Jake, good call on Canadian Stampede. Like you said, it was almost a wrestling "clinic" on the way the matches were worked and presented. I expect a lot of "other" votes since the poll I posted is very "major event heavy." The way Wrestlemania is packages, the storylines leading up to even the "meh" matches, etc.

I have to diametrically disagree with you on Wrestlemania 8. That show got me into wrestling, so call me sentimental, but the Savage vs Flair match was well planned, well executed, and had a lot of drama. Savage sold the "knee injury" perfectly, during AND after the match. Flair's head being busted open (before it was a nightly occurance...) made an angry Savage seem like an absolute shark. Heenan and Monsoon in the booth for some of the greatest commentary ever. And when Elizabeth came to ringside, it ellicited real emotions from many fans. The match also saw the face win by cheating - not something you saw everyday. It was satisfying to see a top heel get a "taste of his own medicine."

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Forgot about the Savage/Flair bout. Yeah that's a classic match. But there rest of the card wasn't impressive. Taker vs. Jaker Roberts, Virgil, Jim Duggan, Boss Man & Slaughter vs. Nasty Boys, Mountie & Repo Man, Naural Disasters vs. Money Inc, Hogan vs. Sid and Owen Hart vs. Skinner might have been big matches at the time. But today on paper and watching those matches it's a different story. Then again tradition dictates that Mania's are going to be half loaded with shit.

 

[RVDgurl]

IC, you hit the nail on the head on this one. Best PPV's of the 90's, I have only two:

Heatwave '98 - This may be the best PPV card ever. ECW touches on a little bit of everything in this one. Scientific and technical, the usual hardcore elements, and psychology. The Taz v. Bigelow match was the highlight.

Barely Legal '97 - I had to include this since it was ECW's first PPV. This was a great card featuring RVD v. Lance Storm, Sandman v. Funk v. Richards, Raven v. Funk, a crazy 6 man tag match with imports from Japan and the climax of the Taz v. Sabu fued that was half storyline and half shoot. That match stole the show.

 

[Slyfox696]

I'll throw another in.

Wrestlemania 7 - Hogan vs. Slaughter. A fabulous match that is overshadowed by possibly the greatest match in Wrestlemania history. Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior. This match had everything and takes one on an emotional ride, even today. And, when Miss Elizabeth comes into save Randy Savage, as Gorilla Monsoon says, "There's not a dry eye in the house."

Additionally, The Rockers vs. Barbarian/Haku was a hot match, as was Von Erich's match. Bulldog vs. Warlord was garbage. But, a very good Tag Title match between The Hart Foundation and the Nasty Boys, and a very entertaining, if rather poor, Blindfold match between Jake Roberts and Rick Martel. I just wish they could have let those two go at it, with normal rules. The rest of the matches are "meh", but most of them had pretty hot crowds, and were entertaining enough.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Slyfox, you don't feel as though Wrestlemania 7 was overshadowed by the fact that it went from a major arena to an adjacent smaller arena due to death threats. It had the lowest (I think) attendance of any Wrestlemania, though the highest Pay Per View audience.

The atmosphere is that match was something else, the pro-US crowd. But you knew Hogan would win. I didn't see much in the way of suspense there. It was a formulaic Hogan match but wth blood. Warrior vs Savage was a show stealer, and among the best Wrestlemania matches ever (I still say Savage vs Flair @ WM 8 was better).

With a crap Intercontinental Title match (Perfect vs Bossman) and 4 matches less than five minutes long (Earthquake over Valentine, von Erich over Bravo, LOD over Power and Glory, Undertaker over Snuka) even the patriotic (blah) Hogan / Slaughter buildup and the all time great Savage / Warrior match wasn't enough to save the event as one of the greatest of all time.

The again, what buisness do I have talking about attendance with two ECW Events on the list??? Thanks for getting involved RVD Gurl!

 

[RVDgurl]

Yeah, I don't think attendance or venue really has anything to do with the quality of the show. Just because 60,000 people attend an event, doesn't mean the show was great. It usually just means it had enough hype and the advertising was convincing. I think kind of stuff can cloud people's judgements in regard to voting for the best PPV.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I am a bit surprised that NOBODY has voted for Bash at the Beach yet. Either of them. Hogan vs Flair was a major event that truly launched WCW as a major player in professional wrestling, and 1996 with the birth of the nWo was HUGE.

I guess early WCW just wasn't good enough to vote for?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I cant give an opinion on WCW PPV's as they've never to my knowledge been released on video over here. They were certainly never on T.V. What I've seen of there PPV's is from WWE DVD's or what I've looked for on You Tube. But Hogan & Flair main events dont inspire me at all.

 

[Lee]

Like Jake I can't comment on the WCW PPVs as I haven't seen them. So by process of elimination I have Summerslam 1992 or Wrestlemania 10.

SummerSlam 92 was huge for me as a kid because it was in the UK, and Bulldog won the IC belt, I remember locing this so much. But other than that and the savage/warrior match the PPV didn't have a lot going for it.

Which then leads to Wrestlemania 10; we have 3 of my most memorable matches as a child;
owen v Bret
Savage V Crush falls count anywhere match (I remember this pretty well it was probably a crap match)
And the ladder match, HBK v Razor Ramon.

That on top it marked the start of the new era with it being the first Wrestlemania without the Hulkster. It still wasn't without its disatser matches Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeating Doink the Clown and Dink in a "Mixed Tag Team match" and Men on a Mission defeating WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecer by countout. But you can't win them all!

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Flame, that Men on a Mission vs Quebecers match featured a former Intercontinental Champion and a future King of the Ring.

The disaster match for me was Adam Bomb (huge hit with the Japanese fans) vs Earthquake (huge hit with Californian fans). But I never before looked at Wrestlemania 10 as the first one without Hulk Hogan. I'd say they fared very well. I would have LOVED to be a fly on the wall in the board room, Vince assuring all of the naysayers that Wrestlemania didn't need the Yellow and Red.

I never knew WCW events didn't get over to the UK! As much as some WCW sucked, you also got cheated out of some overlooked classics.

 

[aray8]

wrestlemania 15 had soooo much more than is remembered on this message board.

what about triple h's push into the main event game by leaving degeneration x, after chyna's swerve on kane? what an intense storyline that stretched through two matches (triple h vs. kane, shane mcmahon vs. x-pac).

who will referee the main event? the big show or mankind?

the huuuuuuuuuge rock vs. steve austin storyline continuing and austin's second title reign.

it was an amazing event.

if i could throw one out there, i would have to say that wrestlemania 12 should have been an option. jake roberts, yokozuna and ahmed johnson vs. bulldog, owen and vader; steve austin vs. savio vega (somewhat boring match); the entertaining " hollywood back lot brawl " roddy piper vs. goldust; the return of the ultimate warrior vs. triple h w/ sable; CLASSIC undertaker vs. deisel; the historic 60 minute iron man match shawn michaels vs. bret hart

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

WWE- The best PPV of the 90's would have to be Wrestlemania 10, when I was younger and became a fan of WWF my older cousin gave me all of his Wrestling tapes(He recorded every Wrestling show that he would watch) with shows of RAW, Nitro, ECW and PPVs of all three companies. I watched Wrestlemania 10 countless times in my life because it was my personal favorite, I loved the Hart vs Hart match and of course the ladder match between Ramon and Michaels was and always will be a classic, not to mention this event was held in MSG which made it all the more sweeter.

WCW- Bash at the Beach 96 was the better one IMO, having a debuting Hogan form the nWo will always be one of the biggest moments in wrestling history. It felt so good to see Hogan turn on his beloved fans and start possibly the most popular faction of all time the nWo, pure genius!

ECW- Gotta be Heatwave 98, like previous posters above me said, there was an awesome mix of matches on this card which will be considered by many hardcore ECW fans as the best ECW PPV of all time. Chris Candido vs Lance Storm ranks up there with Angle vs Benoit and Tazz vs Bam Bam Bigelow will always be my favorite Tazz feud during his ECW days.

Three great PPVs from the 90's and it was a tough decision to choose one of them. Due to the fact that I watched this PPV more times than any other wrestling event, I would have to go with Wrestlemania 10, it was a very memorable PPV and had everything: Bret and Owen Hart, Randy Savage, Yokozuna, a Ladder match with HBK and Ramon, Madison Square Garden, and the WWF title was on the line not once, but TWICE on the same night!

 

[IrishCanadian25]

aray8, you had great points about WM15. The HHH ascension was a point a lot of people overlook. Well said.

Sadly, you followed it up Wrestlemania 12. WM12 was like the death wail / swan song of old, broken down, hasbeen stars of yesterday. Ultimate Warrior schooled HHH. In retrospect. what a bunch of garbage. HHH wasn't NEAR the character he is now when he took on Warrior. WWE threw him to the wolves there. Jake Robert, Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson, Vader? They should have made that a "pink slip on a pole match" because neither of them lasted more than what, another year? Undertaker vs Diesel was one of Taker's most forgettable Wrestlemania matches. The Ironman match, as was said in a previous "Best of the 90's" thread (now appearing weekly!) was 20 minutes of AMAZING wrestling broken up by 40 minutes of rest holds.

I love you enthusiasm, but I am not with you on WM12.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

My bad I lied. They released most of the WCW PPV's from 1999. I forgot I had them.

Spring Stampede 1999: The last great WCW PPV. Absolutley brilliant. Before the promotion turned to shit. Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg was a great opening match. I think this was Blitzkriegs first match. And it shows how well the cruiserweights were promoted that a vanilla masked superstar was over with the crowd. Bam Bam vs. Hak was another good match. Not so much a fan of The Sandman but Bigelow could work with anybody. Rey vs. kidman was another good cruiser match. This was before Nash almost ruined Rey's career. A really enjoyable match between Benoit/Malenko vs. Saturn/Raven. Really enjoyed there series together. And I thought the main event was brilliant. Surprising for me because I'm not a fan of Hogan or Sting, Ric Flair hasn't had a decent match since Rumble 1992 and DDP isn't main event material imo. Maybe it was the added Savage that made me love it.

 

[No Count Pup]

I would say Wrestlemania X. It was the greatest night in the careers of Bret Hart, Owen Hart, and Razor Ramon. One could even argue the same for Shawn Michaels. They put on all-time classics. Even Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger was fascinating if we take in to account what happened on camera and behind the curtain. The event was also the culmination of Bret Hart's one year journey to the world title. Also, the closing of that Wrestlemania was the most brilliant finish to a pay-per-view that I've ever seen. Remember Owen staring down his brother and asking "What about me?" And above all, it was the first Wrestlemania without Hogan. On that day, WWE proved that life will go on without the Hulkster.

Other events might have had better matches, but Wrestlemania X had the tangibles and the intangibles to make it the best show of the 90s.

 

[Shocky]

Summerslam 97 goes down as one of the more under appreciated pay per views ever in my opinion.

Mankind vs. Triple H in a steel cage opens the show, and damn near stole the show with Foley coming off the top of the cage.


You had Goldust vs. Brian Pillman, where the loser had to dress in drag for the next month, and believe me, nothing was as hilarious as Brian Pillman in drag.

LOD vs. the Godwinns, meh, what do you expect from either of these teams.

Bulldog vs. Ken Shamrock: Honestly, wasn't too bad, considering how short it was. Shamrock with his typical snapping and getting himself DQ'd ending.

Boricuas vs. DOA, wasn't a bad match either. The outside interference of the Nation kept this match much more interesting then what it should have been. This was a good feud built up after the original nation had disbanded.

Austin vs. Owen: Very good match, but remembered for the wrong reason. This is the match that saw Owen 3:16 being born. Yes, the ending was horrible but due to the circumstances, what did you expect.

Undertaker vs. Bret Hart: Folks, it doesn't get much better then this. Two of the best workers in the history of the business, plus Shawn Michaels as the guest referee, fucking brilliant.

Bret loses, he can't wrestle in the US anymore, Michaels shows any favortism, he couldn't wrestle in the US anymore. Just so much going into it on the line. WWF in 1997 will always be over shadowed by WCW, but I think people should somehow get a hold of 1997 Raws, and they will find a program immensely better then the star power of WCW.

Honorable mention goes to spring Stampede 1997.
Mysterio vs. Dragon opens the show.
Great midcard match with Benoit and Malenko for the US title.
DDP vs. Randy Savage is one of the more under appreciated matches ever. It proved that WCW actually had talent worthy of main eventing pay per views, and if you tuned out halfway thru this show, you missed something. This match launched DDP's career.

 

[Skillz]

WrestleMania 10 - Bret/Owen and HBK/Razor - Two of the greatest matches of the 90's. Also, Bret Hart finally winning back the WWF Title after a year-long journey, and then celebrating with all the faces in the ring... great moment. Therefore there is no doubt that this is one of the best PPV's of the 90's.

 

[wwe1581]

My bad I lied. They released most of the WCW PPV's from 1999. I forgot I had them.

Spring Stampede 1999: The last great WCW PPV. Absolutley brilliant. Before the promotion turned to shit. Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg was a great opening match. I think this was Blitzkriegs first match. And it shows how well the cruiserweights were promoted that a vanilla masked superstar was over with the crowd. Bam Bam vs. Hak was another good match. Not so much a fan of The Sandman but Bigelow could work with anybody. Rey vs. kidman was another good cruiser match. This was before Nash almost ruined Rey's career. A really enjoyable match between Benoit/Malenko vs. Saturn/Raven. Really enjoyed there series together. And I thought the main event was brilliant. Surprising for me because I'm not a fan of Hogan or Sting, Ric Flair hasn't had a decent match since Rumble 1992 and DDP isn't main event material imo. Maybe it was the added Savage that made me love it.

i disagree that pay per view was a big let down to me Mikey Whipwreck vs. Scotty Riggs was terrible and the main event which i was real pumped for let me down a lot Hogan gets helped to the back with an injury in the first five minutes and never returned his injury wasn't that serious to be out for the rest of the match just a big let down to me

i would say some of the best ppv's of the 90's were

SummerSlam '95 which featured the Ladder Rematch between HBK and Razor Ramon also Undertaker vs. Kama aka Godfather aka Papa Shango in a Casket Match, Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem aka Kane, Diesel vs. King Mabel aka Big Daddy V for the WWE Championship and a great opening contest between 1-2-3 Kid aka X-Pac vs. Hakushi
or
Royal Rumble '91 which had one of the best tag matches i've ever seen with the Rockers vs. The Orient Express also the Ultimate Warrior lost his WWF Championship to Sgt. Slaughter in a controversial match, plus Dusty Rhodes in his final pay per view appearance until recently teaming with a very young son Dustin aka Goldust vs. Ted DiBiase and Virgil who turned finally stood up to DiBiase and layed him out with the million dollar belt, plus the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match which featured Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Undertaker, Legion of Doom, Earthquake, Jake the snake Roberts, British Bulldog, Mr. Perfect, even pre ECW's Shane Douglas was in that Rumble Match great event

 

[kingmohd84]

i think this is easy...
the most entertaining ppv ever was wrestlemania in cesar las vegas
i think it was wrestlemania 9

very classical, very unique, very entertaining, ...unable to forget it..

 

[wwe1581]

I also forgot to mention Survivor Series 1999 which featured the debut of Kurt Angle, the night Stone Cold got ran down by a vehicle, also the night Big Show won the WWE Championship by defeating Triple H and The Rock in a Triple Threat Match, plus some entertainig traditional survivor series elimination matches

But i voted for Royal Rumble 1992 because that Rumble match was awesome it had everything on the line which made it so entertainig to watch

 

[Wall_of_Jericho]

Summerslam 1991..... still to this day just absolutely AWESOME. Here is my top 5 moments/reasons to love Summerslam 1991.

1) Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect. Bret goes over and wins his first Intercontinental Championship in a match which is candidate for "Match of the Decade" in the 90's never mind "Match of the Year".

2) The Mountie goes to jail. One of the most annoying heels of the time (The Mountie) finally gets what he deserves after losing to the Big Bossman in a Jailhouse Match. The match itself was not great but seriously watch the sketches again where the Mountie is getting dragged off to the slammer. For 1991 they are so ahead of their time, especially the final one where the Mountie meets his cellmate for the night.

3) Ultimate Warrior & Hulk Hogan AS A TEAM. Come on. The two most over guys in the company and two of the biggest babyfaces of all time together as a force against three of the most evil SOB's in wrestling history. Sgt Slaughter and his Triangle of Terror. For any kid watching that it was a dream come true. It was like Star Wars. The Ultimate Battle of Good vs Evil.

4) Legion of Doom win the Tag Team Championships. The LOD were always famous for their pop they could get but go back and watch this match. Listen to the noise in Madison Square Garden when they defeat the Nasty Boys to win the belts. Mind blowing.

5) Jake Roberts crashes Randy Savage's wedding. WWE have done a lot of ruined weddings over the years but this is still the best one. First off the wedding was legit (unlike the others) and what an evil way to crash the party. Put a snake in one of the gifts. Now that's a real heel.