411’s WWE Greatest Moments Report: Title Matches of The ’90s

-We continue with the A&E Block and this time we run through the 90s with Greatest Titles Matches. I assume they mean WWF Title Matches.

-Michael Cole is our host and narrrator!

10. The Ultimate Challenge
-WrestleMania VI

-YES! I cried when Hogan lost as a kid, but this match rules and you are a hater if you don’t think so. If you look up epic in the dictionary this match is in there somewhere. I promise! Go look! Warrior from 2014 says Hogan was the white tiger. Hogan talks about it being so electric and loud in The Dome. Warrior wins the WWF Title and was supposed to lead the company into the 90s but it doesn’t always work out that way. I love this match. Here is my review.

9. Mind Games
-In Your House: Mind Games

-Oh sure, let’s start this show with back-to-back five-star matches (in my opinion). This match is just glorious as Mick did for Shawn what he did for Sting four years earlier and what he did for HHH, Orton, and Edge later. This was the show that actually started me on my journey of going month by month and reviewing each PPV. My review is here.

-Commercials!

8. Carving The Hitman
-Royal Rumble 1993

-Okay, this is a bit of a letdown after the first two matches. No disrespect to either man, but this isn’t bigger than Hogan/Warrior or Shawn/Mankind. I just finished this show last week, but it hasn’t dropped yet so no link. It’s a good match, but not the classic it’s being made out to be here. David Shoemaker compares it to David beating Goliath. What? Was he talking about another match and they sliced it into this match.

7. Better Enemies
-WrestleMania XI

-Oh man. If you wanted to include Shawn/Diesel than pick the million times better Good Friends, Better Enemies Match. This match didn’t even get to close the show at WrestleMania. It’s a good match, but the other match is an all time classic. Diesel gets the win and celebrates win the celebrities on hand. My review!

6. European Explosion
-One Night Only

-I did this show as well. Sorry for the plugs, but I always like when people would link to their reviews when I would read wrestling pieces over the years. This was a UK only PPV that is now available on Peacock (until Dec 31). This was a wonderful match, but not many people know about it because it was buried on a UK only PPV and unless you know about it, you aren’t looking for it. Crappy ending though as we get a DQ. Again, very good match, but I will still take Warrior/Hogan and Mankind/Shawn over it.

-Commercials!

5. Trapping a Rattlesnake
-Over The Edge

-One of the most influential matches as people have stolen stuff from it for years. Austin defends against Dude Love with Vince as the ref and The Stooges as the announcer and timekeeper. The keep changing the rules to screw with and all that craziness on top of Austin and Mick killing each other is just awesome. Good stiff here!

4. Caged Brothers
-SummerSlam ‘94

-Owen vs. Bret in a Steel Cage. Yes, this match is great! Sadly, it didn’t close the show as we got Taker vs. Taker that year. Great ending with Owen getting caught in the cage and Bret drops down to win. Bret notes it is the best cage match he has ever been part of. No lies!

3. A Savage Flair Affair
-WrestleMania VIII

-I am so happy they put this match on here. This is one of my favorite matches of all time and is another 5 star match on this list. I just did this show about a month ago. Savage and Flair could still be feuding today and I would watch. They were just made for each other. Punk says you get sucked in watching the match and calls it art. No kidding! I can’t praise this match enough and thank you to whoever decided it should be on this list. Oh, and all the love to Heenan and Monsoon on commentary. Rumble 92 may be Heenan’s best hour on color, but this was right up there.

-Commercials!

2. The Rattlesnake Lashes Back
-Backlash

-It’s Austin/Rock in a no holds barred match, so it’s pretty great. WWE was rolling at this point and you had these two megastars on top. We get the great visual of Rock taking over the camera and turning around to see Austin flip him off and hit a stunner. Just amazing! Austin gets the win and look at the reaction from the crowd.

1. Iron Men
-WrestleMania XII

-Bret vs. Shawn: I was afraid this match would end up here. It’s a great match, but man can it drag. The decision to have 0 falls in the hour takes away the fun of an Iron Man Match. Go watch Rock/HHH and Steamboat/Rude for a better use of the Iron Man stipulation. With that said both men deserve all the credit for going out there and putting on an hour-long match in front of a WWF PPV audience. Bret was kind of screwed with the overtime rule. Shawn says he is proud of the match and felt it was monumental. Nattie says people will say that is the match that made them want to become wrestlers.

-This was a lot of fun as there were a lot of all-time classic matches on this list. With so many WWE Title matches in the decade there are sure to be many that were left off the list. A couple of the choices here were questionable to me, but that’s part of the fun. Thanks for reading!