Pro Wrestling's Pay-Per-Views from the 90s That Every Fan MUST See

If you're a wrestling fan, I hope you had the pleasure of experiencing the product in the 90s. Whether you got to live it or if you went in the archives, if you consider yourself a passionate fan, the final decade of the 20th century had many big moments.

I put together a list of wrestling pay-per-views you must see from the 1990s. This doesn't necessarily mean they are the best pay-per-views from top to bottom, but they're shows as a fan you have to see because they had some of the biggest historical impacts.

The list is in no order of importance—as a fan, you have to watch all of these PPVs if you've never done so. To keep some order to things, they are listed chronologically.

WWE Royal Rumble in 1992

This Royal Rumble shook the wrestling world as Ric Flair, who had just signed with WWE weeks earlier after leaving the NWA (WCW), would go on to win it all. Flair entered at No. 3 and was the first guy to go the long stretch in Royal Rumble history. The previous winners all entered as one of the final 10 entrants.

Flair had been one of the faces of the NWA through the 80s, and to come over to Vince McMahon's promotion and win the Rumble that awarded him the company's vacant world title was a big moment in wrestling history.

Things to Watch For

• Bobby Heenan's entertaining commentary with Gorilla Monsoon throughout the Rumble match—as he was a huge Ric Flair supporter
• Roddy Piper's pre-match promo before beating The Mountie for the Intercontinental title
• Ric Flair's post-match promo and speech after winning the Rumble

WWE SummerSlam in 1992

It was quite the show at the outdoor Wembley Stadium in England. This was classic wrestling pay-per-view, with a sellout crowd of over 80,000 people and more matches than you see today in two pay-per-views combined.

The match that you need to see as a fan was the final match on the card—Bret Hart versus British Bulldog. The Intercontinental title was on the line.

That's right—the IC title was last aired, and the match more than delivered. The two are real-life brother-in-laws which added an nice element to the story.

The rest of this card had some solid matches, including a great tag titles match with the Legion of Doom, The Undertaker in action, Macho Man up against The Ultimate Warrior and one of the first big PPV matches for Shawn Michaels, who broke away from The Rockers less than a year earlier.

Things to Watch For

• Vince McMahon continuing to lose his voice—he sounded like a different person by the time the final match came.

WWE WrestleMania 10 in 1994

One of the many WWE events at Madison Square Garden, this is a must-see for a few reasons.

The classic ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon is always on the top of the list. It wasn't the first ladder match in history, but it set the bar for any ladder matches of the future.

A lot of people remember Owen Hart, his family and that he tragically died during a pay-per-view in 1999. Not enough people are necessarily aware of how good he really was in the ring. The opening match between Owen Hart and Bret Hart was a terrific showing of both Hart brothers' talents.

Other Things to Watch For

• The comical Bill Clinton impersonator
• Hilarious celebrity cameos, promos and involvement
• How much Bret Hart earns his paycheck by the end of the night

WWE WrestleMania 12 in 1996

This show might have contained the match of the decade.

Shawn Michaels won his first world title from Bret Hart in the first ever 60-minute Iron Man Match, where whoever has the most decisions in the time limit wins. It was a fantastic showing of nearly every style of wrestling. Technical wrestling, some brawling, chain wrestling and some outside craziness all featured in this classic.

Perhaps even more impressive is how Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels talked/planned out this match in a very short conversation that weekend, with only a few key points of where they want to be at certain times on the 60-minute clock. Michaels admitted that in the final two minutes, he was about to do a move at the exact time they had planned for it to be.
 

Other Things to Watch For

• An odd but entertaining Hollywood back-lot brawl between Goldust and Roddy Piper with the use of OJ Simpson footage incorporated
• The return of The Ultimate Warrior and the opponent he squashed—hint: The squashed opponent went on to do pretty well for himself in the business.

WCW Bash at the Beach in 1996

This is one of the few WCW pay-per-views you must see because, mostly, it left its mark on the business on Monday Nitro.

The events didn't have a good record of delivering anything big consistently on pay-per-view. However, Bash at the Beach in July of 1996 was perhaps one of the biggest moments in the decade and in the history of the sport.

This is the first match between Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, who were part of what seemed like a WWE invasion to WCW. The match was Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger against Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and a mystery partner. The partner, of course, would turn out to be Hulk Hogan, and New World Order was birthed.


Other Things to Watch For

• Bobby Heenan on commentary almost blowing the whole surprise, as Hogan comes to the ring and Dusty Rhodes has to try and cover it up
• The post-match interview with Mean Gene Okerlund after the main event
• Rey Mysterio Jr. versus Psychosis is worth the time.

ECW Barely Legal in 1997

This was the first pay-per-view for ECW.

It was a show that took a lot of work for ECW to get because pay-per-view was scared of the ECW product. Terry Funk, who was the veteran of the roster, was involved in the main events and played a big part in helping to get the company off the ground.


Other Things to Watch For

• The crowd at an ECW show is one of a kind.
• Joey Styles' stellar commentary

WWE Badd Blood in 1997

This is a show that certainly fits the bill for this list. From top to bottom, it wasn't the greatest show, but it had some serious historical impact.

The show featured the first ever Hell in a Cell match—between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. The match was a phenomenal, violent match that had two months of great back story. This match also featured a swerve of an ending, with the debut of Kane. It is still one of my favorite debuts ever.

Sadly, the show was also when Vince McMahon had to announce that Brian Pillman had passed away.

Other Things to Watch For

• Jerry Lawler's commentary during a rare midget tag team match on a WWE pay-per-view.
• The crowds reaction when Kane's pyro hits out of the ring posts. It was not a common thing to see at this point in time.

WWE Survivor Series in 1997

This was the night of the famous Montreal Screw Job involving Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon.

In addition to having to see how the real-life swerve took place, you have to consider the whole event is taking place in Canada in the middle of WWE having a big USA versus Canada storyline that extended past Shawn and Bret. The pay-per-view had a very radical feel to it with the fans, since the ring announcements were being made in french and, of course, the anticipation for the main event was huge.

Other Things to Watch For

• Stone Cold against Owen Hart for the first time since Owen accidentally broke Austin's neck in the ring three months earlier
• Every bit of detail you can take in as the abrupt ending to the main event and screw job is taking place

WWE WrestleMania 14 in 1998

History is filled in this classic.

Many who worked in wrestling during this period say WrestleMania 14 was a huge shift of momentum over to WWE from WCW in the war to be the No. 1 company. This show featured Stone Cold Steve Austin winning his first world title from Shawn Michaels and officially taking the leader position of the famous Attitude Era. This would also be Michaels' last match for five years, as he retired due to back issues.

You can't talk about WrestleMania 14 without talking about how Mike Tyson was the special enforcer for the match and went in to the show as a billed member of D-Generation X.

The show also featured the first match between Kane and The Undertaker, after more than six months of build and The Undertaker refusing to fight his brother.

Other Things to Watch For

• Pete Rose's debut incident with Kane, which would be the first of several
• If you look closely at the DX band who plays Shawn Michaels to the ring, you'll see Jim Johnston playing guitar. Johnston is the guy who composes WWE's in-house theme music.

WCW Starcade in 1998

It was the only other big pay-per-view for WCW, in the grand scheme of things.

It was when Goldberg would finally lose, after going unbeaten for 26 months. I remember being there that night, and there was a big-fight feel that delivered in the main event (as I noted earlier, this wasn't a regular quality of WCW PPVs).

Kevin Nash beat Goldberg with a cleverly disguised Scott Hall.

Other Things to Watch For

• Excellent opening triple threat match for the Cruiserweight title

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