A Counterfactual History - The 1990s. Part One.

The 1980s are here.

12. Royal Rumble 1990

-This is when the Jake/Piper tag team won the straps from the Rockers and when Hennig kept the title over his former friend and stablemate Rude.  

13. Wrestlemania VI

-Were Rick Rude and Marty Jannetty ever WWF tag champs?  Find out here.  Bret successfully defends the IC against Shawn, as Hart v. Clique, the feud that defined the decade, starts here; at Royal Rumble 2011, almost 21 years later, it was IC Champ Johnny Nitro (Clique) successfully defending against Tyson Kidd (Harts).  Hennig keeps the WWF Title in the main against the man he took it from, Savage.

14. Summer Slam 1990

-A pretty bad show from a work perspective; Hennig kept in a cage match main event against Savage, this was the debut of the WWF fork, and probably the most color seen to that date in the Counterfactual.  

15. Survivor Series 1990

-The Undertaker debuts, the Road Warriors win the WWF Tag Titles, Bret again keeps the IC over Shawn, and this show really depends on the quality of that match from a work perspective.  

16. Royal Rumble 1991

-We finally get Shawn v. Marty on PPV, a year after they broke up; Savage returns after Hennig keeps against DiBiase and spills Perfect and Heenan's blood all over the WWF Championship belt.  One of my favorite Counterfactual images is blood just covering the title belt as this show closes.  

17. Wrestlemania VII

-A Shawn/Marty rematch.  Bret beats Tenryu to keep the IC.  Hennig kicks out after 3 Savage elbowdrops to beat Randy for the 4th time; the Liz/Randy "we're back together" hug closes the show.  

18. Summer Slam 1991

-Bret beats the returning Steamboat to keep the IC; Davey Boy wins the WWF Title.  

19. Survivor Series - 1991

-The Undertaker squashes Hogan; Shawn wins the blowoff with Marty; Piper hits Bret with a ringbell and takes his IC Title, and Ric Flair wins the WWF Title.

20. Royal Rumble - 1992

-The end of the Strike Force feud.  Shawn beats Owen as Clique/Harts continues.  Savage takes the IC from Piper in a full on garbage match, and Flair keeps over Davey Boy.  

21. Wrestlemania VIII - 1992

-Owen beats Shawn and Bret wins the WWF Title and the Triple Crown.  

22. Summer Slam 1992

-It's Wembley; Bret submits Davey Boy to keep the title in a match that also includes Shawn elbowdropping Owen through the announce table.  The best match of the decade to that point.  

23. Survivor Series 1992

-The Steiner Brothers win the tag straps; there are two IC title matches - Shawn taking from Savage and then Owen taking from Shawn.  Bret keeps over Flair.  

24. Royal Rumble - 1993

-Razor Ramon makes his PPV debut going over Savage.  Hennig beats Flair in a Loser Leaves Town.  Shawn beats Owen in a 30 Minute Iron Man Match and Bret keeps over Tenryu.  This is the best show of the decade to that point.  

25. Wrestlemania IX - 1993

-What was the 25th WWF PPV?  Wrestlemania IX of course. Shawn keeps the IC over Hennig and Bret keeps the WWF Title over Razor; the show ends with Diesel's debut, and the Clique cleans house.  

26. Summer Slam -1993

-Waltman makes his PPV debut by beating Owen which kicks off a fun brawl that begins the splitting of the Harts and the Clique.  The two singles title matches are Mania rematches with the same result.

27. Survivor Series - 1993

-Savage forks Owen as part of the "training" process, toughening up Owen for the next level in his career.  Michaels keeps the IC over Waltman and Razor turns face.  

28. Royal Rumble - 1994

-Would you like to see some Mr. Backlund?  He wrestles here, as does Jeff Jarrett.  Owen forks Savage and Randy likes it.  The Steiners title run ends.  Shawn keeps his IC over Razor as Waltman turns heel; and Bret submits the Undertaker as The Hit Man's heel turn begins.

29.  Wrestlemania X - 1994

-Savage's last match; Razor takes the IC in the Ladder Match, and Owen beats his brother for the strap in the main event.  I believe those to be the two best matches in real world WWF history, so we'll say they're the two best matches of the first half of the 90s.  

30. Summer Slam - 1994

-Razor keeps his IC over Diesel in a garbage match; Owen keeps the WWF Title over Bret in a cage.  Harts/Clique - that's the 90s.  

31.  Survivor Series 1994

The first half of the 90s ends with Survivor Series.  Diesel goes over Davey Boy; Bret and the Anvil win the tag straps; Razor keeps the IC over Waltman in a ladder match - and Shawn, working as a babyface in San Antonio, takes the WWF Title from Owen (you want that Shawn v. Owen comp VHS tape if you're trading in the mid 90s) and Diesel immediately turns on him.  Shawn's a face - Bret's a heel, Harts and Clique have all the gold as we move to the back half of the decade.    

A Counterfactual History - The 1980s

Here's a brief history of the Counterfactual, focusing on workrate; were I to look at the best matches in WWF history, this is on what I'd look at.  It's hard to say "here are all the four star PPV matches" but that's sort of what's in my head.  The motivation for this is Rumble 2012 is the 100th WWF PPV, so there would be clip packages all summer showcasing 1-99. 

1985

1. Wrestlemania: Steamboat keeping the belt in the main over Windham is probably the only four star match, maybe the Piper/Valentine IC bloodbath makes it as well.  

1986

2. Wrestlemania II:  Dynamite beats Steamboat for the belt in a match the company really needs to be 4 stars. An open question is Dynamite’s physical condition; how long could he go at a main event level intensity by 1986?  Savage/Piper hits them both I think at exactly the right time and I'd put that here too.  The Hart Foundation, with their hockey jerseys and title belts, is triumphant at the end of II.

1987
3. Wrestlemania III: Steamboat goes over Dynamite, which, since it replaces real world Savage/Steamboat needs to be an all time classic.  I’m going to say maybe they get a four star tag match out of Harts/Rougeaus.  Could be that any show without two 4 star matches is a failure; I thought that way about real world ROH for a good stretch in the middle of the previous decade.

4. Survivor Series 1: Savage going over Rude is probably the best worked match as they might be stretching Dynamite's ability too thin by late '87.  Let's say the Rougeaus finally going over the Harts also makes four stars)

1988
5. Wrestlemania IV: Bret ended Savage's long IC run here, almost certainly the best match; and then the Dynamite/Steamboat blowoff that ended Steamboat's WWF run.

6. Summerslam 1: Davey Boy turned heel on Bret after their all babyface tag partner IC match, which is probably the match of the night - Savage loses to Dynamite in the main.

7. Survivor Series 2: This is the best card of the 80s; Mr. Perfect beat Owen; Bret beat Davey Boy again; Savage takes the belt from Dynamite.

1989
8. Royal Rumble 1: How about Brainbusters/Rockers and Perfect v. Bret?
9. Wrestlemania V: This is the big color match between Brainbusters/Rockers - the young babyfaces really just get carved up here.  Rude/Perfect was an all heel IC match that hopefully gets to 4 stars; and I loved Bret/Savage as a babyface main event - particularly with the end of the show standoff between the Heenan Family (Perfect/Rude/Arn/Tully) and the babyfaces (Bret/Savage/Shawn/Marty).
10. Summerslam 2: The Rockers win the cage match blowoff against the Brainbusters; Rude went over Hennig and Savage beat Bret again.  Essentially a Mania rematch card.
11. Survivor Series 3: Perfect took the title from Savage in a match that included a swerve - Hennig had seemingly turned face, breaking with Heenan, earning Savage's trust and this match was set up really to replicate the babyface Bret/Savage series - but Hennig and Heenan were actually still together, culminating in the title switch here.  If there's a second four star match, I'll say it was Bret/Arn.

That ended the 80s.  11 shows.  The early shows really rely on the working ability of Dynamite and establish the primacy of he, Bret, Davey Boy as the core of the company.  There's a transition to Savage as lead babyface, his work ability and charisma carry the shows as Dynamite and Steamboat move on.  By decade's end the Heenan Family has had a vibrant heel run that sets up really the best angle of the 80s, the Heenan/Hennig fake split that leads to Perfect winning the strap.  That's my favorite moment of the decade; largely, I was just looking at those early shows as a puzzle and not storytelling, but I really enjoyed thinking about that Hennig angle, and that began to move the Counterfactual into a different direction.