WWE: 10 Things Today's Wrestling Fans Wouldn't Understand About The 90s

5. When World Titles And Secondary Titles Really Mattered

The beauty of having those four PPVs in a calendar was that they were able to make title matches feel more important. It's not like every title change, but some of them really mattered. Think about the Intercontinental Title in the early 1990s. When Bret Hart beat Mr. Perfect for it at SummerSlam 1991 it was a huge deal. A year later, the British Bulldog beat Bret for it and that drew one of the loudest reactions in wrestling history in England. That match headlined the show too. It's not just because Bulldog was a British guy. It's because they knew it was going to be the best match and the title meant a lot to the fans. Then there was the very famous Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon ladder match at WrestleMania 10 that Ramon won that is considered one of the best matches ever. You can even go to Triple H's ladder match win over The Rock at SummerSlam 1998 as another classic. In 1999, the title was passed around a lot and into the 2000s it didn't mean as much. There have been times when it was booked strong, but that decade in the 1990s was when the IC Title meant more than anything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuGdLGoG3e4 As for WWE's World Title, the 1990s started with the late Ultimate Warrior's huge win over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 6. Other deserving top guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin (three of the best wrestlers ever), all had memorable WWE Title wins at WrestleMania in the 1990s. Those victories meant so much because title changes weren't booked as often. In the 2000s, what we'll remember most is that in 2002 they brought in a second major title, which meant the value of the original WWE Title was hurt. Guys like John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton and Edge among others got so many reigns because there were two titles available to win. Daniel Bryan's win at WrestleMania 30 meant more because he's the top champion in the company now. It wasn't like that before. The great thing about having Raw, Smackdown and monthly PPVs is we get better matches on a regular basis. The bad thing is title changes just don't mean as much. At least in the 90s they did.