In our recent journey throughout the Survivor Series of the original “World Wrestling Federation”, we made a note that the WWE of today could certainly make some improvements with some lessons from the past, and in watching wrestling from the 1990s, we learned a number of things about the organization of yesteryear! With wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Ted Dibiase, Macho Man Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, and even the Undertaker helping to make the wrestling organization the number one company in the world. Though we don’t know how many lessons from the past the present WWE will use, it’s certainly fun travelling back in time.
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What was the most ridiculous aspect of wrestling in the 1990s? What is the most ridiculous aspect of wrestling today? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the WWE!
People LOVED The Ultimate Warrior
Let us tell you something, you think you’ve heard audiences erupt at Wrestlemania but you haven’t heard anything when you see the Ultimate Warrior doing his ridiculous full sprint down to the ring. While the bluster of the Warrior can’t be denied and his promos are the thing of legend thanks to their insanity, fans in the 1990s ate it all up and absolutely loved the Ultimate Warrior when he would make his grand appearances. It’s truly difficult to wrap your mind around the insanity that was the character of the Ultimate Warrior, but that didn’t stop these fans from the past in eating up his every appearance.
Rowdy Roddy Piper Was The Original Rock
Before Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hit the WWE full time and became one of the biggest Hollywood action stars in the world, there was “Rowdy” Roddy Piper! The hot headed Scottsman was able to transition from the ring to the commentator table and even scored some movie roles such as in John Carpenter’s They Live and Hell Comes To Frogtown. Piper’s wit and enthusiasm cannot be overstated and his genuine love of the sport seeped through everything he did!
Wrestling Was Political
What was really crazy about watching wrestling from the 1990s is that the current events at the time were mentioned quite frequently, with a lot of the wrestlers begging then President Bush to send them to Iraq so that they could “body slam Saddam Hussein”. Needles to say, we doubt this is something you would see in this day and age, but it’s certainly a shock to see how involved some of the biggest wrestlers at the time would be. There was even a segment where Sgt. Slaughter “turns heel” on America itself and walks down to the ring with the Iraqi flag. It was bonkers.
Everyone was BIG
We’re not saying BIG in the world of wrestling, though of course they were, we’re just saying physically massive. While you’d have exceptions such as Jake the Snake Roberts and Ted “The Million Dollar Man’ Dibiase, who would show off their skills in the ring to make up for their lack of insane muscles, you had wrestlers like the Texas Tornado, Ultimate Warrior, Hogan, and Zeus who would be busting out of their shirts on the regular to give their muscles some air.
The Gimmicks Were Hilarious
Just look at “The Warlord”. We have no idea just what this character’s aesthetic and staff with a “W” on the end of it were trying to convey but this guy was a big deal in the early 90s. Joining him were of course characters like the Ultimate Warrior and we’ll never disavow our love of the Legion of Doom, aka the Road Warriors. Whenever you heard that familiar voice yelling over the loud speaker in the ring, “OOOOOOOO WHAT A RUSH!”, the child in you can’t help but smile.
So Many Managers
Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Jimmy Heart. The Slickster. Ms. Elizabeth. Brother Love. Paul Bearer. These are just a few of the many voices behind the wrestlers of the early 1990s who had these mouth pieces working for them. While Paul Heyman remains the most prolific of the latest managers, with his work as the hype man for Brock Lesnar being legendary, the manager used to be way bigger in the day than now.
The Undertaker was ALWAYS A Beast
Rewatching the Undertaker’s first match in Survivor Series 1990, you could tell there was just something different about this wrestler from the rest. The intensity of his personality and the efficient use of his moves in the ring made Calaway a different beast all together, and you could tell that the audience was simply enraptured with the “Dead Man” from his first time in the ring.
