wrestling / Columns
The Ten Count 11.16.13: The Top 10 WWE Moments From the 90s
Welcome back to the Ten Count. As always, thank you for reading last week’s column. And here we go…
OF COURSE I MISSED A FEW THINGS
Probably Should Have Been on the List:
For some reason I couldn’t find the actual retirement speech. How that is not on YouTube is beyond me?
Jericho Gets What He Deserves:
A lot of you mentioned this moment and I have to admit I completed forgot about it. Such a great memory and could have been the launching pad for Malenko’s career but we all know he is a “Vanilla Midget”. Sometimes people in power just don’t get it.
SPEAR, SPEAR, SPEAR….Into a Steel Plate:
It always seems like Bret Hart’s best moments seem to happen in Canada. At least the ones that he is going over. Haha.
YOUR THOUGHTS (IF WE WANT TO CALL THEM THAT)
How About Another List: Good read but too much Hogan for my liking.
Although not all positive, or even main-event angles, off the top of my head some of my most memorable WCW moments are:
*Jericho’s list of moves with arm bar used multiple times.
*Missy Hyatt trying to conduct locker room interviews only to be chased out by an y-front wearing, tobacco chewing Stan Hansen.
*Hall appears on Nitro for the first time.
*DDP swerve joining the NWO only to diamond cutter Hall and Nash.
*A Flair for the Old with Pillman & Austin mimicking Flair & Arn Anderson.
*Sting coming from the ceiling for the first time to destroy the NWO.
*Shockmaster falling over on his debut.
*Nash using Mysterio as a dart.
*Pillman roughing up Heenan making Heenan lose his cool and swear on live tv!!
*Nash ending the streak.
*Goldberg spearing Bret Hart, (Hart wearing metal plate on his ribs to knock out Goldberg).
*Vader vs Cactus Jack, (concrete powerbomb)!!
*Arn Anderson retires/NWO mocking of retirement, (to me it was hilarious).
*Savage vs DDP feud.
MY THOUGHT: How is a feud a moment? On the other side, I enjoyed the Mysterio lawn dart throw. Heenan swearing on live TV was very good as well.
Buddy Rogers Brings Up a Very Valid Point: They didn’t hold the Goldberg-Hogan match for the PPV because they were afraid that Hogan would change his mind about doing the job. They felt they had to have the match while he was willing to do it.
A common mistake is to think that the Monday Night wars were the most popular wrestling had ever been. In the cable TV/national promotion era, sure. But wrestling was much more mainstream, and had more general popularity, back in the early days of television, when the territories system was at its height. I’m talking about from the mid-fifties through the mid-sixties. Even mid-sized cities had weekly cards of top performers, results were printed kayfabe in the sports sections of the local newspapers, and prominent sportscasters covered the matches. At the height of the nineties popularity, there were fewer than ten million people tuning in every week. A much higher percentage of the population was following wrestling back in the day.
MY THOUGHT: Being a child of the late 70s/early 80s it just doesn’t strike me how popular wrestling was in the old territorial days. Good insight here.
How About an Unofficial List: This isn’t my official list, just some great moments.
Nash “lawndarting” Mysterio.
Benoit and Sullivan brawling into the men’s room.
Ron Simmons winning the World title.
“I respect you bookerman” Brian Pillman.
Ricky Steamboat being revealed as Dustin Rhodes mystery partner. Enforcers subsequently freaking out.
Sting dropping from the rafters and taking out the entire NWO for the first time.
Arn Andersons retirement.
Dean Malenko unmasking and beating Jericho for Cruiserweight title.
Scott Steiner turning on his brother Rick, becoming Big Poppa Pump
Booker T wins World title after Hogan, Jarrett, Russo debacle.
Luger racking Hogan to win world title.
Goldberg spearing Bret Hart..only to hit a steel plate.
MY THOUGHT: So what is the official list?
I Know It Because I Was There (Well He Was): I was at the Meadowlands show where they stripped Flair. Although I didn’t know what they were talking about at the time exactly, fans during intermission were calling for Dusty Rhodes’ blood.
MY THOUGHT: That’s cool. Dusty’s blood, not Herd’s?
Blame It On Hogan: Even though Hogan’s political bs ruined the match, I’d still include Sting vs Hogan from Starrcade. That was WCW’s peak. It’s amazing when you think about how long they held it off. Sting’s entrance gives me goosebumps to this day.
MY THOUGHT: Yes, that match was not as good as it could have been. The moment Sting came into the ring was in fact very special. WWE tried to do this with Rock/Cena and while it was not as successful it was a really nice build.
Challenge Accepted: “In thinking about ECW back in the day, you would see 5 of those in 1 match.” Gonna ask for a citation on that one, ’cause I don’t think that even the Credible/Lynn, Dreamer/Credible or 3-way dances ever hit numbers that high.
MY THOUGHT: Give me some time but I’ll find it.
One Last Thought, Brother: I cant believe you forgot hogan and savage vs the dungeon of doom in triple cage. The Dungeon was trying to kill hulkamania brother
MY THOUGHT: My eyes, my eyes.
ERRORS, CORRECTIONS, AND CLOSE CALLS
How About 1 From 2 Weeks Ago: Orton was champion at SummerSlam, he did not win it from Cena at SummerSlam. He was defending it. That’s why they restarted the match so much was he was doing everything he could to wiesel away with the title. He got counted out, think he got DQ’d, etc..
CORRECTION: No excuse for that….that’s my bad.
And Another One: Nothing big or anything, but the Chiefs won by 6 points, not 3. Final score was 23-17.
CORRECTION: I think I still “won” that game.
NOW SOMETHING NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT, MY FANTASY FOOTBALL TEAMS!
On to Week 10 of fantasy football and my teams once again went 2-1. I am now 4-6 (barely alive), 3-7 (absolutely dead), and 6-4 (on the upswing). The more important and very sad thing is that my suicide is officially dead. All because the stupid Titans were not able to beat the lowly Jaguars. The saddest part is that there are now only 27 people left out of over 6,000 because of that game. I could have been one of those people. I could have been a contender. Now, I am sad. So sad.
ALSO, HOW ABOUT THOSE CLEVELAND BROWNS?
The Browns had a bye week last week so I will talk about what is ahead of them for the rest of the season. Currently, they are sitting at 4-5, but are only 1 game out in the loss column after the Bengals looked awful against the Ravens. On Sunday, the Browns play the Bengals in what could be the biggest regular season game in the past 10 years. If the Browns win, they are even in the loss column and would have swept the season series with the Bengals. A loss puts them 2 behind and a split of the season series. The rest of the schedule is Pittsburgh twice, JAX, NE, NYJ (might be for the wildcard week 16), and CHI. I think if they win this week and go to 5-5, there is a good chance of getting to 8-8 for the year. If they lose, it is another 10 loss season.
Here are the Ground Rules
AND NOW *The Top 10 90s WWE Moments *
#10. {Vince McMahon “Cure For the Common Show” – Monday Night Raw; December 15, 1997}
I know that people like to claim that this was the moment that started the “Attitude Era” or that is the moment, or this is the moment but in my mind this is the moment that told the world that the times were a changing. It was also the first real glimpse into the mind of Vince McMahon and what he really thought about wrestling. He basically told us that he sees his company as an entertainment company not a wrestling company. He compared WWE to soap operas, cartoons, and sit-coms. McMahon acknowledged that WWE was going to be more adult oriented and if you think back to 1997 there were a lot of shows going in that different. The best was yet to come for WWE as they had the backing of their broadcast partners and the fans wanted the “Cure for the Common Show”.
#9. {Birth of Austin 3:16 – King of the Ring; June 23, 1996}
I have a feeling many of you might be thinking that this moment would be higher on the list but I think there are many other Steve Austin moments that are even better than this. To me, the best part of this promo was that apparently it was not scripted. It was a just a guy who won the biggest match of his career to that point and had a little something to say. This promo touched the crowd and started the ascent of Steve Austin to heights not even he could have imagined. Isn’t that the whole point of a promo? It made Steve Austin bigger than before the promo. Did I mention it was not scripted….we need move of that today, ya think?
#8. {Death of Owen Hart – Unforgiven 1999; May 23, 1999}
Well, some moments are good moments and this would be one of them. The death of Owen Hart led to a very good episode of Monday Night Raw the next night with all the superstars giving their real opinions on Owen and his life. The fact that this happened made wrestling and wrestlers realize that some of the stunts that they do were not quite the best idea. No one after that was falling off high things or repelling from the ceiling. That is probably a good thing as these guys aren’t trained stuntmen and women so leaving that stuff to the professionals is the best idea.
#7. {Mick Foley Thrown Off Hell in a Cell – King of the Ring; June 28, 1998}
Mick Foley put this to rest during the Hall of Fame Ceremony that yes this did hurt. I think I could have told you that just by seeing it. Foley going off the top of the cage is to me the personification of the Attitude Era. He did something absolutely insane. In essence, he fell from the 2nd story of a building onto concrete. If you don’t think that’s nuts, go up to the 2nd floor in your house, open a window, and jump out. Oh yeah, land on your back in your driveway. Insanity. The fact that this moment has been played over and over and over and over (did I mention that they have shown it a number of times) makes it one of the biggest moments in the history of the business.
#6. {Steve Austin Stuns Vince McMahon – Monday Night Raw; September 23, 1997}
At SummerSlam 1997, Steve Austin was dropped on his head by Owen Hart causing major damage to Austin’s neck. He needed to be out of the ring for at least a couple of months but he wanted to fight Owen. All of the WWE officials got in Austin’s way and they were all stunned. Sergeant Slaughter, Jim Ross, and others felt the wrath of the stunner. On this night in Madison Square Garden, Austin once again attacked Owen Hart and was about to be arrested. That was until Vince McMahon got in the ring to try to talk some sense into SCSA. A couple minutes later Austin was being arrested and McMahon was flat on his back after taking (not very well) his first of 1.2 million stunners. It was a true OMG moment as it was something none of us thought was going to happen.
#5. {The Ultimate Warrior Defeats Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship – WrestleMania VI; April 1, 1990}
Finally a moment not from the late 1990s, this was supposed to be the passing of the torch from Hulk Hogan to the star that would catapult the WWE to even higher heights The Ultimate Warrior. This match was the first ever Good Guy vs. Good Guy main event in WWE history (Sting and Flair “main evented” Starrcade 1989). The crowd was not quite split as I think that Hogan was the fan favorite which made this moment not quite work as well as WWE had hoped. Hulk Hogan hadn’t lost a match clean in the WWE since his heel run in the early 1980s. This was the first time Hogan did lose but I think at the end of the day Hogan was still the bigger star than Warrior but it was such a memorable moment that it belongs on this list.
#4. {Steve Austin and Mike Tyson Meet – Monday Night Raw; January 19th, 1998}
WWE isn’t mainstream no matter how much they try. They are not NCIS or Big Bang Theory. They are not football or baseball. They are not in the pop culture lexicon no matter how much they tell you. The reason why I tell you this is that on this night they were pop culture. I remember watching a recap of this moment on ABC-7 in New York City during the 6:00 news. Yes, the 6:00 news. I think that’s the only time I have seen that since then. Mike Tyson is a global superstar and his appearance in the WWE was huge. Steve Austin was 2 months away from becoming the WWE Champion and needed one last big thing to happen and this was it. Jim Ross was about as perfect as he could be as he was describing the action. Vince McMahon’s reaction to Austin continued to move that angle along and WrestleMania 14 was the launching pad for the great things to come.
#3. {Double Turn, Steve Austin and Bret Hart Submission Match – WrestleMania 13; March 23, 1997}
Steve Austin was quickly becoming one of the biggest fan favorites in the WWE while Bret Hart was becoming bitter about his career. The fans wanted to boo Bret and cheer Steve but they needed a reason. 1 reason was all they needed. They got their reason this night at WrestleMania. Austin was portrayed as the gritty tough guy who wouldn’t quit while Bret was the crybaby who didn’t get his way and snapped. Austin 3:16 was the moment Austin got the rocket tied to his ass, this match was the moment the fuse was lit. It also led to the awesome summer of USA vs. Canada which came to an abrupt end in November. Maybe we will talk about that later on in the list….we call that a tease in TV talk.
#2. {Monday Night Raw Debuts – January 11, 1993}
On last week’s list I talked about the importance of the debut of Monday Nitro but the debut of Monday Night Raw was even bigger. For many years, Monday night was “Prime Time Wrestling” night. It was Monsoon and Heenan in a studio throwing to matches taped around the country. That was a magical time….then well….some not so magical times. They added a studio audience, then made it into a round table (in the era before cable news) but it just didn’t work. Something had to change, something new, something exciting, something LIVE! Monday Night Raw was born and is apparently the longest running episodic show in TV history (where have I heard that before, 1000 times a night). It really was a risk, a big risk, and a big change to weekly wrestling shows. Vince McMahon hit a home run and we are still enjoying it to this day.
#1. {The Montreal Screwjob – Survivor Series 1997; November 9, 1997}
Did you expect anything else at #1? I am not going to write much about this moment as volumes have already been but I will say a couple of things. I still have some doubt that Bret didn’t know about this. I just can’t believe that someone who grew up in a wrestling family, that had heard about people getting screwed to allow himself to be put in a submission hold while being warned about a possible screwjob. So why is this #1? It made Vince McMahon into Mr. McMahon which in turn gave Steve Austin the one person he needed to feud with. Without Montreal, there is no 1998-2001 boom in wrestling. I firmly believe that and that’s the final reason why I think it is one huge work. A well run work by 2 guys that have wrestling in their blood. Maybe someday we’ll hear the whole truth or I could be wrong.
So there you have it, the Top 10 90s WWE Moments! What is your opinion?
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Next week, someone suggested a top 10 list of “Horsemen” matches. This means that the match had to include a member of the Horsemen while not necessarily in the 4 Horsemen. I like the idea and there will be some important ground rules that I will share next week.
Until then, remember it’s all entertainment and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. And I’m out.
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