The Best Year For The Classic Five

[The Brain]

From 1993-2002 the WWF held what are considered to be the classic five pay per views. Of course I am referring to Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. Which year do you think was the best collectively for the classic five? Basically I’m looking for an average of sorts. For example I thought the best SummerSlam took place in 2002 but King of the Ring and Survivor Series were a little weak that year. Royal Rumble and WrestleMania were good but not quite good enough to make up for KOTR and Survivor Series so 2002 won’t be my answer. There isn’t any specific formula; just your own opinion.

Believe it or not my answer is 1996. I know that’s typically considered a bad year for the WWF, but I felt that each of the classic five pay per views delivered a good show. More importantly when “calculating” my own averages none of the shows were bad so nothing dragged down the average.

Royal Rumble: It’s generally looked at as a bad rumble and I can understand why. Doug Gilbert, Omori, the Squat Team, and a 55 year old Dory Funk Jr. didn’t exactly add to the star power of the rumble match. I can look past that though. I remember the controversial and intriguing angle between Goldust and Razor Ramon. I remember Shawn Michaels cementing himself as the new main event man in the WWF. I remember the debut of Vader which was something I wanted to see for years. To me one of the main goals of the Royal Rumble is to get me excited for WrestleMania. After the rumble Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, Undertaker vs. Diesel, and Vader vs. Yokozuna (although it would later change) were set and I was physced for mania.

WrestleMania: It seems that people here either loved the Iron Man Match or hated it. I’m in the loved it category. Bret and Shawn were easily my two favorites to watch so putting the in the main event at mania for sixty minutes was a dream match for me. The rest of the show was solid with the only down part being a lack of matches. Six matches just aren’t enough for mania but it was still a good show.

King of the Ring: I really enjoyed this show. Of course it’s remembered for the famous Austin 3:16 speech. That makes it one of the most significant shows in WWE history but there were other parts I enjoyed too. Undertaker vs. Mankind was a great feud and this is where they hooked up on ppv for the first time. I enjoyed the feud between Ahmed Johnson and Goldust too. The main event was strong as HBK and Davey Boy usually worked well together. It’s forgotten because of Austin’s speech just a few minutes later but Brian Pillman delivered a very attitude like promo that night too. This event just had a fresh feel to it and it planted the seeds to what would become a new era in wrestling.

SummerSlam: An overall solid show. It’s probably best remembered for the first boiler room brawl. I’m not usually a fan of matches that take place away from the ring but this worked for me. I really liked the main event. It felt like a big match and the crowd was into it the whole way. There have been better SummerSlams but I don’t have anything bad to say about this one.

Survivor Series: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin alone makes this a good show. It was a great match that is often overlooked because of their WrestleMania classic. The main event was pretty good too as Shawn Michaels gave Sid what was probably the best match of his career. They didn’t amount to much but I enjoyed the debut of Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. Another guy who made his debut accomplished a bit more; Rocky Maivia.

Individually I’m not sure if any of these events were the best of its kind, but collectively I believe 1996 produced the best of the classic five pay per views. That was not an easy decision and I could accept a number of different answers so let me know your opinions.

 

[gonszo]

Great post man.
But i think its too good a post as its hard to argue with you!

I always hear that 96 was a bad year for the WWE? was there any story lines that sum up how bad it was? Or was it more due to being a transitional period?

Sorry if I take the thread off topic by asking this, but like I said, you have already made a strong case.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

I don't see how it can be any year other than 1997.

Royal Rumble '97 - maybe one of the best booked Royal Rumble matches ever. kick starting the rise of Steve Austin.

WrestleMania 13 - the Main Event sucked, but the face turn of Austin and the full heel turn of Bret Hart is up there with the formation of the nWo as one of the biggest turning points of the 90's.

King of the Ring - Triple H wins the KotR starting him down the path of being The Game, Mankind/Mick Foley starts down his path to being a true main eventer, Steve Austin faced Shawn Michaels is a pretty decent match... still a great great PPV all around

SummerSlam '97 - the path leading to Survivor Series starts with one swing of a chair and the most impactful injury ever happens with one botched and careless piledriver. it also started one of the most epic rivalries in history between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.

Survivor Series '97 - the history made in the main event alone is enough to put it on the list, but then there was the final showdown between Austin and Owen for the Intercontinental Championship. still one of the most talked about PPVs in history.

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

It has to be 2001 for me. I don't think any of the big 5 were weak that year, and in a couple of cases, they were fantastic.

Royal Rumble - One of my favourite Royal Rumble cards, as well as one of my favourite Royal Rumble matches. Kane was flat out awesome in this, and the parts with Drew Carey and the Honkytonk Man were both very memorable. When Kane, Taker, Rock and Austin were all out there at the same time, it was really good stuff. Aside from the Rumble match, there was a solid HHH vs Angle title match and the incredible Jericho vs Benoit ladder match.

Wrestlemania 17 - I really don't need to say too much here. The best Wrestlemania of all time. Rock vs Austin II. TLC II. Taker vs HHH. Fantastic event.

King of the Ring - This was pretty good, and that's mostly thanks to Angle. The final against Edge was decent, but the street fight against Shane was unbelievable. They both took a beating out there and put on one of the best matches of 2001.

Summerslam - This got better as it went along. This first half was solid, but pretty forgettable. However, it improved with the Hardy vs RVD ladder match and the Angle vs Austin and Rock vs Booker title matches. Angle vs Austin was a particularly good match and one of the year's best in my opinion.

Survivor Series - To be honest, I don't remember much about this apart from the main event. I know a lot of people have problems with the booking of the invasion, but if you put those aside, I thought a lot of wrestling was good, and I thought the 5 on 5 elimination main event was a very good match. Even though I knew who was winning, I was still very much into it.

So, three decent/good PPVs in KOTR, Summerslam and Survivor Series, and two great ones in Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania 17. Not a bad year for the big 5.

 

[Dynamitekid2012]

I picked 1994. I know alot of people don't think this was a great time for business, and with some outlandish characters and the business at a down point, I can agree. However, there were some real ppv gems this year!


RR- First off you had the first controversial finish to the RR when Luger and Bret won setting up the angle for WM with Yoko. Plus Yoko and Taker in a casket match! If memory serves me correctly the Harts worked with the Quebecers in memorable match to setup their angle and Tatanka had a pretty good match with Bam Bam.

WM 10- One of the best WM's of all time! Bret VS Owen in a classic, Yoko definding his title twice, Shawn VS Razor in THEE ladder match, Macho Man VS Crush; there were some really good things within this Mania.

KOTR- Owen Hart wins the tournament! Also, Nash and Bret for the title, and Piper VS Lawler! The most underrated KOTR of all time in my opinion.

Summerslam- Nash and Hall work for the IC title, Bret and Owen in a steel cage, Undertaker VS Undertaker (which actually made sense at the time), Tatanka VS Luger, and one of the few truly good women's wrestling matches between Allundra Blaze and Bull Nakano.

Survivor Series- Nash had a team of guys that faced Ramones guys, this is when Michaels kicks Nash and eventually starts the fued that leads into WM 11. Plus we had the continuation of Luger and Tatanka, Doink and Lawler, A return casket match for Yoko and Taker, and the infamous I Quit match with Backlund and Bret where Owen convinces Helen Hart to throw in the towel.



It was a great year for wrestling, and sadly, its one that is overlooked all too often!

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

First I don't say King of the Ring was one of the "classic five PPVs" since the first KOTR PPV was in 1993, and only 2 years later WWE started the In Your House PPVs each month.

But the best year involving all 5 of those PPVs has to be 1998.

You have Austin win the rumble along with the HBK/Taker match, win the title at Mania 14, the famous Hell in a Cell match at KOTR and the First Blood Match which set up the main event at Summerslam. You also had The Rock win his first WWE title at Survivor Series turning heel and joining the Corporation which led to the Rock/Austin feud.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

First I don't say King of the Ring was one of the "classic five PPVs" since the first KOTR PPV was in 1993, and only 2 years later WWE started the In Your House PPVs each month.

WWF would disagree with you on that:

​

The In Your House PPVs were just filler PPVs basically they were a glorified version of Saturday Night's Main Event or Clash Of The Champions that you had to pay $19.95 each month for. Therefore as The Brain stated in his title, the classic five are indeed the five pay per view events that everyone on this thread is talking about. Anyway I digress...

Brain not to kiss ass but a great thread, no doubt man. Anyway on to the subejct at hand.

My favorite year of the classic five was 1994. That’s not to speak ill of the subsequent years because 1997 and 1998 for me are solid candidates for consideration. However for me my favorite of the classic five as well as possibly my favorite year of the WWF would be 1994.

• Royal Rumble 1994 - A solid show from top to bottom in my opinion, the opener with Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow was great, I thought both those guys were great talents. I can't say they were failures by any means in the WWF especially in the case of the Bammer but I REALLY wish that these guys at least had the IC Title at some point in their WWF careers. But it was still a good match, I enjoyed it.
  
  The Quebecers vs Hart Brothers tag match was solid from top to bottom, Bret and Owen's storyline was playing beautifully off the heels of the 1993 Survivor Series and the brief reconciliation was a great segue into this event, the match having to be stopped due to Bret's bad knee...CLASSIC. Then Owen went and beat on his prone brother, loved the meltdown. Great selling by both. This of course set up what I feel is one of the best WrestleMania matches ever especially for an opening bout, it also led to a great WWF World Title feud afterwards.
  
  Razor vs IRS was a good IC Title match, Shawn Michaels involvement was classic. Being so spurned by the WWF over his kayfabe suspension led Shawn Michaels to try to cost Razor the IC title at every turn he could. Setting up the Ladder Match at WM X.
  
  Yokozuna vs Undertaker, man you couldn't go wrong with this one. One of my favorite WWF World Title gimmick matches, a solid brawling type affair from bell to bell. Having all those heels interfere and cost Taker the match was awesome stuff. This was the first test to see how immortal the Undertaker truly was both in storyline and out. I heard Taker was nursing injuries at the time and had this angle not been successful who knows what would have been after the Taker recovered? Obviously it was effective and this was an excellent storyline in my view. Its effectiveness planted the seeds for Taker's longevity.
  
  The Rumble match itself was pretty unique that year and I thought it was a nice twist to see Luger and Hart both win the thing. I thought it was a good set up for the two title match setup at WrestleMania X. Had this been four of five years later it might have ended up being a Triple Threat Match but instead I am glad they went this route instead. I'm sorry but I hate triple threat matches I just think they are a waste of time and effort. I might sound a little old fashioned but this is what defined the greatness of in ring storytelling the classic one on one affair, the way it should be.

• WrestleMania X - Personally speaking one of my favorite WrestleManias ever, yes there were some silly matches but still some great entertainment value. Bret Vs Owen what more can you say, Bret has Owen in the corner and he’s looking ready to wind this match down when all of a sudden Owen uses his wits and gets Bret into a pinning predicament and pins him, BAM! Great dynamics there! Bret sold the loss with a stunning panache (For anyone who says Bret had no personality, I say watch WM X, the guy could emote, that’s why he’s a personal favorite of mine and sadly I wish more people realized how great he was at the smaller nuances). The mixed tag match with Bam Bam and Luna vs Doink and Dink was sadistically amusing I am sorry but Dink just getting clobbered by Luna and Bam Bam after the match had me in stitches. Earthquake squashing Adam Bomb was an amusing moment because it had more of the often overlooked feud of The Fink and Harvey Whippleman, The greatest underrated manager of all time in my view. Oh the possibilities that could have been with Harvey especially after Bobby Heenan was already in WCW at this time, Whippleman could have easily been the greatest heel manager since The Brain’s heyday. I was sort of hoping that Earthquake was back for another heel turn after what he did to Adam Bomb but it was not to be, I am honestly not sure what caused his return to be so short-lived but alas it was.
  
  Mr. Perfect’s return as a special referee set up to resume his feud with Luger was sadly not to be as well. I remember Hennig was uncooperative with refereeing as Luger had Yoko beat for the belt but Perfect refused to count because Luger put his hands on him. I remember a promo afterwards with Hennig saying that there were no “hard feelings” from the WrestleMania before when Luger beat him but the direction the storyline was going in would prove otherwise, too bad nothing came of it.
  
  Macho Man vs Crush, the Falls Count Anywhere was weird that in you had 60 seconds to return to the ring after being pinned and the match would resume, never saw it before or since. It was great how Macho Man pinned Crush and then just tied him up so Crush couldn’t run back to the ring. Sadly it was Macho Man’s last WrestleMania and I think his last broadcasted WWF match period, I do remember he had announcing duties at SummerSlam 1994 but as far as competing goes this is the last match I remember seeing him in with the WWF.
  
  Of course since Yoko retained we went on to have Bret-Yoko II and man was that ever a great rematch! Bret was on the hunt for his World Title after winning the King Of The Ring and climbing his way back up the top of the ladder and man in a match that rivaled the drama of Bret-Piper at WrestleMania VIII, Bret sold the impossible and capitalized on the error of Yokozuna to get the title back. Bret even redeemed himself in the process from their previous title match from WM IX. To me I love WrestleMania rematches, (i.e. The Rock and Austin, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, Triple H and Undertaker, Hogan and Andre) and this was my favorite of them. Also Piper in any role at a WM is great, so it was awesome to see him back.

• King Of The Ring 1994 - Now this was a great KOTR, this legitimized Owen even further after his beating Bret at WM X. I won’t lie though I was rooting for Razor to defeat Owen and redeem himself from losing his IC Title To Diesel. However, looking at it in retrospect, Razor didn’t need the KOTR nod, it was good to give it to Owen because it made better storyline sense, it was a great occurrence. I enjoyed it.
  
  Diesel vs Bret Hart, Champion vs Champion was a good contest, I am not a fan of DQ endings but it made sense in a storyline context and it had Jim Neidhart’s brief return which as we know was instrumental in the finale of the KOTR tournament that year. All in all it was a good way to save face for both the World and IC Champions by having the match end in a DQ. I got no complaints,
  
  Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Headshrinkers as Tag Champs, I have to say that the match with Yoko and Crush was a solid brawl and it was a great display of awesome power, typical of the old time WWF days where you just had outright bizarre characters.
  
  The Main Event was a pretty solid presentation, Jerry Lawler was taunting and badgering Roddy Piper and Piper showed up to get his retribution on The King. I even remember that skinny kid they had lampoon Roddy in The King’s Court come out to turn on Lawler and align with Roddy, it was great. Piper’s eccentricity even as a face made him just as entertaining as when he was a heel. Again, during this time I would have loved to see Piper finally get that World Title run or at least be set up with one later that year but it was not to be either. Pretty disappointing in that respect, but it was not enough to discourage me from enjoying the event.

• SummerSlam 1994- Now this was a SummerSlam I totally enjoyed, I’ll admit three matches stick out for me more than the others but those three were enough to get me excited just the same. IRS and Bam Bam vs The Headshrinkers did not have the same emphasis it had weeks prior to the event because The Headshrinkers lost the straps to Diesel and Shawn the night before and then there was Lex Luger and Tatanka, for weeks Tatanka accused Luger of going heel again and joining with the Million Dollar Corporation. Ironically enough it was Tatanka that was the turncoat. Not the most entertaining feud but it somewhat stuck out to me at the time.
  
  Diesel vs Razor now that was a good match and it set up a great storyline for subsequent events, basically the seeds for WWF WrestleMania XI’s co-main event were planted right then and there with Shawn costing Diesel the IC strap with a superkick. They carried over their rifted alliance for a tad bit longer but this is really where it all hit the fan. With Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton in Razor’s corner this was a classic moment seeing Ramon get his coveted IC title back. Truth be told I think Razor was just as good an IC Champion in the 90s as Mr. Perfect was (I’ll still give Perfect the nod) but damn Ramon was just damned enjoyable during this era.
  
  Owen vs Bret II in the Steel Cage for the WWF Title, need I say more? Coming off the heels of WrestleMania X, Owen felt shortchanged after seeing his own brother, the man he beat earlier that night at WM X walk out as the World Champion. The match itself was just so chaotic but in a good way, mind you. You had a returning British Bulldog and of course The Anvil in attendance and with The Anvil looking to cause trouble, Bret looked to have another controversial demise to his title reign. However the Bulldog came through and held The Anvil at bay and that was enough to make the match a level playing field with Bret taking the win. The feud of course carried over onto the inaugural edition of WWF Action Zone in another classic WWF Title match, for those that want to find that match definitely pick up Bret’s DVD Collection from 2005, it is SO worth it!
  
  Then of course we had the other main event of the evening, SummerSlam’s grand finale as The Undertaker (the real one) came back after a hiatus following the Royal Rumble 1994. During that time, Ted DiBiase (who as we know brought Taker into the WWF) brought back “The Taker” or so some thought. Paul Bearer however proved DiBiase a liar and in his first resurrection, The Undertaker came right back into the WWF fold and had a classic match. Sure it might not be the bestUndertaker match ever but those who are fans of the Taker and the WWF period are going to remember this match and still do. That says something right there in my view. They even played off Yokozuna’s eternal fear of the Taker by implying that Yoko “took the night off in fear” which Jim Cornette vehemently denied, it was classic and it set up yet another angle for the Survivor Series. Of course this would not be the last time the Undertaker had to deal with Ted DiBiase but for this night he at least upended DiBiase’s impostor. Great storytelling plus I was digging the Taker’s new purple gloves.

• Survivor Series 1994 - The elimination matches were par for the course for the most part. However Diesel and Shawn Michaels’ alliance finally collapsed and it was awesome seeing the two dudes with attitude implode. The tag team title ended up getting vacated as a result and three days later...well I’ll touch more on that when we get to Bret and Backlund’s WWF Title match. As we know, Luger and Tatanka had their differences continue, Doink and Lawler’s feud did little for me but it had some minor amusement.
  
  Backlund and Bret Hart had their feud which had started on an episode of Super Stars which seemed to be a gentlemen’s match, that was until Backlund just snapped at Hart after losing to him. Backlund in storyline had a GREAT rationale though, he never did submit or get pinned for the World Title instead Arnold Skaaland made the call for him. Therefore this match was a great justification, I enjoyed the action in the match and of course Brother Owen had to get involved, he even feigned concern for Bret’s safety as Backlund locked the Chicken Wing on Bret. A KO’d Bulldog made it all the more easy for Owen to prey on poor Helen’s concern and throw the towel in for Bret. Despite not being a Backlund fan I thought in a twisted way it was redemption in the storyline for Bob to get the title back. Albeit it was only for only three days as that time later Diesel took the strap from Backlund for almost a whole year. Bret got his redemption a few months later at WrestleMania XI. It all worked out but Bret and Backlund was a favorite feud of mine as a kid. This match was a great interlude, it’s too bad the WM XI match was not as good but seeing it live as a kid and being an immense Bret fan to boot, it made for a good time.
  
  Then we had the rematch of all rematches that year...Undertaker and Yokozuna. We saw months earlier Yokozuna hold onto the World Title by a thread. We all know in the storyline that had the help of heels not been present Taker would have taken the strap. To make sure the match was without controversy they brought Chuck Norris in. Again it was gimmicky but to be honest I miss the way celebrities were used in the WWF back then. It was a pretty good match despite what some might think was a superfluous appearance by Chuck Norris but I enjoyed it. The in ring action was great and Taker was looking awesome coming off the heels of the SummerSlam return. It was only common sense in the storylines to have him stalk the man that tried to take him out of the WWF in the first place, This was a great capper to the Yoko-Undertaker feud.

Anyway, that wraps up my overview of the classic five. Now here are a few more points I wanted to make:

The one thing that worked so well was that there were so many storyline threads from one PPV to the next that connected all these pay per views, the Taker and Yoko feud being the best example. The greatest part is that the WWF could afford back then to cool the feuds off slightly.

For example, taking Taker out for a while and then have Yoko take on other challengers for his belt but being able to effectively play off their history when it came time for the rematch. Which is something I feel was done very well. Then you saw Shawn Michaels and Diesel’s tensions carry over from SummerSlam 94 all the way to WrestleMania XI. Sure it was true that Shawn had to win the Rumble first to get his shot, however the previous events of tension were played very well to build up the match at WM XI.

Take note WWE, this is what should be done AGAIN with how you do your events, reducing that PPV schedule back to the classic five might not be a bad idea. Go back to your old formulas, they worked for a reason back then and could work today. Yes there is some need for tweaking but you can move forward while paying respect to the essence of your past. Something I don’t think wrestling is doing properly these days.

Anyway I look forward as always to more feedback to this topic, it’s a great one.

 

[RicoLen]

I was never a fan of the big 5 myself. I liked "the big 4" Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, & Slayer... er... I mean... Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, & Survivor Series.

Actually PPV-wise 1996 was pretty strong, Monday Night Raw was gawdawful crap in 1996, but the PPV's were good right across the board.

Myself, I liked 1992 for the big 4 by a landslide. 1996 had nothing on 1992, except for King of the Ring.

The 1992 Royal Rumble was amazing, it saw "Rowdy" Roddy Piper win the intercontinental championship from The Mountie (thank god!) and it was a very well deserved title for Piper. It saw The Legion of Doom vs The Natural Disasters, and then Ric Flair enter at #3 and win the Royal Rumble, winning the vacated WWF Championship. Plus you had Bobby The Brain Heenan & Gorilla Monsoon as your commentators. Seriously how much better can a royal rumble get?

This was followed by Wrestlemania 8, and probably the best commentated Wrestlemania of all time. Heenan & Monsoon were on fire that night, and it was probably the best PPV of all time for those two. They made that Wrestlemania great all by themselves, regardless of what else happened. "I'm a former manager" "You're a liar!" "I'm a financial consultant" "You're a liar!" "and I'm a broadcast journalist" You're a liar!" "and you're not GOING TO GET ME UPSET!!" "Don't jump! It's a long ways down!" Tatanka vs Rick Martel was destined to be a pretty boring exchanged but ended up being a laugh a minute thanks to Heenan making Indian jokes.

Taker vs Roberts was a cool match, Natural Disasters vs Money Inc was good, and WM8 saw Bret Hart win the WWF IC title. Savage vs Flair is one of the very best matches either one of them had. Perhaps not THE best, but probably in the top 5 for both. You had Hogan in his last great WM match as The Immortal, and which saw the return of The Ultimate Warrior. All in all it was a tremendous Wrestlemania.

Summerslam in 1992 was IMO the best summerslam ever. I became a lifelong fan of The Undertaker when I saw him ride down to ringside on the back of that hearse. That was awesome. Granted I was 13 at the time and watching him get the s**t beat out of him by Kamala and then as Kamala was leaving seeing the Undertaker just rise up, deadman style and slowly take off after him was badass. Money Inc. vs LOD was a classic. Savage vs Warrior at SS92 was probably the best match I've ever seen in terms of physical story-telling, and having it end with them as friends after feuding together for so many years was great. And then came the big finale, the Intercontinental Championship match between The Hitman & The British Bulldog, in what is for my money, the best Intercontinental Title match ever.

And finally, Survivor Series 1992 saw The Perfect team. Mr. Perfect made the 2nd best face turn ever, and finished it with Randy Savage, when he took the chair from Savage and busted Ric Flair in the mouth with it. Bret Hart was now the WWF Champion and he defended against HBK. Yokozuna made his PPV debut, Bossman & Nailz had a very underrated match with their nightstick on a pole match, & The Undertaker debuted his Coffin Match against Kamala.

So yeah, there was no King of the Ring, and that's a shame too because I for one like King of the Ring. But even despite that, I think 1992 was the best year for WWE's PPV events.

There IS one other thing I'd like to point out to people... King of the Ring has been around since the time of Wrestlemania 1, it just hasn't be billed as a major PPV like the others were.

July 8, 1985 Winner-Don Muraco
July 14, 1986 Winner-Harley Race
September 4, 1987 Winner-Randy Savage
October 16, 1988 Winner-Ted DiBiase, Sr.
October 14, 1989 Winner-Tito Santana
No KotR in 1990
September 7, 1991 Winner-Bret Hart
No KotR in 1992
No KotR in 2003
No KotR in 2004
No KotR in 2005
No KotR in 2007
No KotR in 2009

I know it's a bit off topic, but many people here keep talking about how it's not really one of the big 5 (myself included) so I thought I'd just clarify a bit. It deserves to be one of the biggest PPV's, but it's also not a guaranteed event from year to year.

 

[rge2010]

Ok, I can see it is not an option because the KOTR was not around but in terms of PPV's, 1992 was by far my favourite and that was down to 2 men!! Gorilla Monsoon and The Brain!

1992 Rumble - Their work was absolutely amazing. Best commentating ever at a PPV. What made it better was that Flair won the Rumble and Brain had been championing him all the way through. I will admit, the undercard to this event was pretty poor but it was a great Rumble.

Wrestlemania 8 - My first Wrestlemania and I still enjoy it to this day. Again Brain and Monsoon were on top form only aided by Flair losing. Dont really need to go through the card but Hart/Piper, Flair/Savage, Santana/Michaels says it all. Plus the main event was pretty cool, epsecially the ending where Warrior returned.

Summerslam 92 - In my home country. And again, a very strong card! Warrior vs Savage was a classic, and Bret vs Bulldog even better! I also enjoyed the novelty of heel vs heel in the Martel vs HBK match!

Survivor Series 92 - Bret Hart vs HBK, a main event in 1992. Too up and coming stars and in the 'smaller mould'. Was a great under rated match. Perfect had recently turned face so I was dying to see that! Only ever seen him as a heel before! This was the weakest of the 4 mentioned though and I remember been dissapointed there was only one 4 on 4 match.

 

[byrnside]

Now most people are probably going to cringe at my choice, but there are far worse choices in my opinion. Also some of the better years have already been spoken for. My choice.... 1994. In what was in the beginning to middle of arguably one of the biggest rebuilding phases in the company where there very few stars, Hogan was gone, Warrior was gone, and Savage was more or less chained to the announce table, Vince and the WWF needed something fresh, and what we got was the New Generation. Which incidentally is when my full-time status as a fan began. So for the sake of argument I'm going to go with 1994 and most of you will probably have to hear me out as to why, so here goes...

The Royal Rumble:
many have said this is somewhere near the bottom 3 as far as actual Rumbles go but for what it was, it was one of my favorites for a couple of reasons.

Owen kicked Bret's kayfabe injured knee out from under him, catapulting him to "The Rocket" most of us know and love and leading him to probably one of his most successful years in the WWE.

The World Title casket match between Undertaker and Yokozuna. For some reason someone thought the Undertaker wasn't ready for the title at this point and that still baffles me, but I thought they did a pretty good job of "destroying" The Undertaker as we knew him to set up for the years to follow. It took 10 men to put The Undertaker in his own casket. How else would you have booked it with The Undertaker losing? I'm also pretty sure he was injured and/or wanted to take time off. So there you go.

Razor Ramon vs. IRS for the IC title. HBK was the champion before this and had been suspended and Razor had recently won the vacant title as a finalist in a battle royal (I think). The ending saw HBK run in and hit Razor with his version of the IC belt and eventually Razor went on to win the match. The match itself was OK, but it did a solid job setting up Razor and Shawn's match at 'Mania.

A few highlights of the Rumble match stand out. Diesel eliminated 10 men. It took a lot of people to eliminate Mable (7 I think). If I read correctly the other day this broke a record. Doink was launched by Bam Bam over the top in probably the sickest spots in a Rumble match up to that point. Greg Valentine was a nice surprise entrant. HBK made it to the final four and was eliminated in a cool spot where he was eliminated by, I think Bret at the same time as Fatu, who was eliminated by Luger, leaving the final two.

The end of the Rumble match itself. I understand that this match, specifically the ending, will go down as one of the bigger cluster fucks the likes of Vince McMahon ever produced, but if you had two guys on the rise to becoming main event stars and you had to choose one to headline that years Wrestlemania to ultimately become the next big thing, how would you do it? I guess Vince thought a tie would be in order and to more or less have the fans choose in the coming weeks. Obviously Bret won that battle which brings me to..

Wrestlemania:

I've always felt like this particular Wrestlemania has gotten mixed reviews from the internet community over they years, but there are several moments that make it stand out for most of us.

Owen beats Bret! In a continuation of what I said about the Rumble from earlier, Owen was officially established as a credible threat to "The Hitman" and many of the faces in the locker room.

Bam Bam/Luna vs. Doink/Dink. Ok, now I'll even admit I'm pushing it with this one, but their feud was pretty decent for the time period. You had an irate Bam Bam who was constantly being embarassed by the likes of Doink and Dink and it culminated at Wrestlemania.

Lex loses to Yokozuna. When I was 9 years old, I never dreamed Lex Luger would walk out of Wrestlemania X without the WWE title.. He did. Vince had been trying for the better part of a year to shove the new American hero down all of our threats and he seemed unstoppable. He was. Thanks to one of my all-time favorites, Mr. Perfect, who disqualified him in retaliation for their match at Wrestlemania IX. Now I've always read that Perfect was starting to make his comeback to the WWF with this angle but for some reason or another it never take place. Ever since I've read that, I always wonder "what if?"

Savage vs. Crush in the first Falls Count Anywhere Match. At least it was the first that I can remember seeing. I have posted numerous times about this match in "Forgotten Classics" threads. Their feud in late 1993-early 1994 was epic, in my opinion. These were two good friends that absolutely hated each other and their match was pretty damn good and extremely unique for the time.

The "first" Ladder Match for the I.C. title. There's not much here that I can say that hasn't already been said a thousand, trillion, billion times. In most people's opinion this was the launch pad for HBK and Mr. Wrestlemania. It would be really hard to argue with that.

Bret wins the title from the monster, Yokozuna. Lex Luger couldn't do it, how could Bret? Especially after having been beat by his baby brother earlier in the night. After the match all the faces poured out of the locker room and hoisted Bret onto their shoulders, and in the shadows of the entrance way we saw a bitter Owen Hart. We all know the outcome of the match that solidified Bret as a main event contender in the WWF. I only say this because most people, for some reason, don't consider Bret beating Flair at a house show a credible win? I digress...

King of the Ring:

Champion vs. Champion, Diesel vs. Bret Hart, Intercontinental vs. World titles. From what I can remember this was a pretty decent match that ended in a DQ to keep Diesel looking pretty dominant but without Bret losing the title. If I'm not mistaken Jim Neidhart surprised everyone, returned and interfered costing Bret the match. We were supposed to think the Hart Foundation was getting back together..

Owen becomes King! Anyone else noticing a pattern here? Owen went through the likes of Tatanka, the 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon in some pretty solid matches to eventually win the crown with the help of The Anvil who had returned earlier in the night, thus beginning the reign of the King of Harts, Owen Hart.

Summerslam:

Bret vs. Owen in what is arguably one of the best cage matches of the 90s. Seriously, if you haven't seen this match, you need to YouTube it.

Tatanka vs. Lex Luger. Lex is a sellout? At this point Tatanka had been making claims that Lex Luger had sold out to join Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation so somehow it had to be settled in a match at Summerslam.. I can't even tell you who won, but Tatanka ended up being the one that joined up with DiBiase.

Razor finally overcame Diesel Power and won the IC title back with help from Walter Payton.

Undertaker vs. Undertaker. The Undertaker had been gone for some 7 months at this point following his casket match loss against Yokozuna in January at the Rumble. Ted DiBiase had claimed he had found The Undertaker and he was now under his control. Meanwhile Leslie Nielson came on the scene and was investigating in some cheesy segments.. This was really cool only on paper as Brian "Chainz" Lee was hired to play DiBiase's bogus Undertaker. But I look at this, like I said during The Rumble rundown I just gave, as the rebirth of the Undertaker character, when he started to become a little bit more realistic. Granted it was a slow metamorphosis.

Survivor Series:

This was actually one of my favorite Survivor Series events as it was one of the remaining few Survivor Series events that was actually used with mostly, if not all old-school, tag team, elimination style matches. That was such a great way to further story lines, by the way.

The Undertaker finally got his revenge on Yokozuna in another casket match that enlisted the helps of, Chuck Freakin' Norris, as a security guard at ringside to keep the heels from interfering. In a really cool spot Chuck Norris superkicked Jeff Jarrett during this. This was also the beginning of the infamous IRS/Undertaker feud.

Team HBK vs. Team Razor was actually a pretty cool, and classically booked Survivor Series match that ended up with Razor all by himself against HBK's entire team. Until Shawn accidentally Superkicked Diesel and the whole team eventually got counted out while trying to stop Diesel who was chasing after Michaels. More importantly this was the face-turn of Diesel.

Overall it probably wasn't the best year for the "Classic 5," however, it will always be remembered by me as the year I became a full-fledged wrestling fan.

 

[Wolf Pac]

1996. I'm not picking this based on all the matches from all 5 PPV's. I don't care whether they were a bad card or a good card, I enjoyed watching the WWF in 96 regardless. No, I'm picking this based on the fact it was the year of Shawn Michaels, it was his rise & fall. He wins the Royal Rumble, goes onto to win the belt for the first time at WM then defends the title against 3 of the biggest threats (Bulldog, Vader & Sid, would include Mankind but he didn't face him on one of the classic 5 PPV's) in the WWF at the time before he loses it at Survivor Series. Most years were just messed up where you had loads of people winning the belt, you couldn't tell whose year it was supposed to be but 96 was pretty clear that it was Shawn's year. I like years that are focused on only one man.

Even though I picked 1996 for the Best Year Of The Classic 5, 1998 was my favourite year of the classic 5 cause it was the year of my top favourite wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. Also the 1998 Royal Rumble match is my favourite Rumble match ever, Survivor Series 98 is my favourite SS PPV ever and I enjoyed watching KOTR 98 & Summerslam 98 more than any other KOTR & Summerslam.

 

[Jsaturn14]

I'm going with 2002 as the best overall year for these PPV's, True, not one PPV really stands out on it's own as having a top to bottom all time fantastic great card, but all five of the PPV's were solid and memorable for their own reasons.

Royal Rumble: The Return of HHH after an eight month absence from injury, a very solid street fight between Vince and Flair, and a great Rumble that saw Taker getting eliminated by Maven, a fantastic Austin/HHH staredown, and HHH winning it at the end against Angle.

Wrestlemania 18: A pretty great opening bout between Jericho and Regal, an underrated main event between HHH and Jericho that was great in the ring, but was letdown by poor match placement by the WWE that killed the crowd, and of course The Rock vs Hulk Hogan, which was fantastic just because of the crowd reaction.

King Of The Ring: The Rise of Brock Lesnar, need I say more?

Summerslam 2002: A fantastic opening match between Angle and Mysterio, Rock vs Brock, and the return of the greatest In-Ring performer in wrestling history, Shawn Michaels, in an all-time classic, 45 minute unsanctioned match against HHH.

Survivor Series: The first Elimination Chamber match which saw HBK winning and becoming World Champion, a great triple threat tag team match between Los Guerreros, Angle and Beniot, and Edge and Mysterio, and a hardcore women's championship match between Trish and Victoria that while not great is still pretty dang good and violent for the ladies.

Yeah, 2002 was a great year for the Big Five PPV's.