1990: The Year in Pro Wrestling: All the WWF and WCW supershows

by Nick Temple

1987: The Year in Pro Wrestling now available to pre-orderReally well written and very engaging from cover to cover" - Amazon review of 1993: The Year in Pro Wrestling1990 was the year when both major companies decided to replace their 80s figureheads with new 90s superheroes. Out went Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and in came Ultimate Warrior and Sting. But would these two muscular young champions be able to escape from the huge shadows cast by Hogan and Flair? The author that brought you 1988, 1991 and 1994: The Year in Pro Wrestling now looks back on a pivotal year in the business. This is the story of two wrestling companies that know they need to change now the 1980s are over but neither really knows what to do. So they throw most of their eggs into face painted baskets and hope for the best. WCW knows it can rely on excellent tag team wrestling to carry its undercards, while the WWF is confident that seeing a big fat monster vanquished is all their fans really want from a main event. Misplaced creativity, pay per views seemingly laid out with enough filler to make the job of editing them for home video as easy as possible, magic tricks used to set up the biggest main event of the year and a match that makes you rethink how bad a three minute match can possibly be. 1990 certainly had a lot to ponder. Memphis gave us a 21 man tournament that defied mathematics, the WWF had pre- and post-match interviews that were blatantly recorded at the same time, WCW claimed they were going to crown the tag team champions of the universe and Master Blaster Iron set a standard for missed spots that really should’ve become the SI measurement for botched moves in pro wrestling. In this book I'm going to tell the story of the year through every PPV, network special and Clash of the Champions broadcast (as well as a few side steps and archive rarities). The matches, the angles, the interviews and the talent - it's all here along with a healthy dose of humour. Forget star ratings - this is a lapsed fan enjoying some frequently awful pro wrestling and gaining a new understanding of a year where both companies changed champions but put all their energy into the title win and gave little thought to what comes after. I’ll also be asking whether Lex Luger should’ve won the world title when Sting got injured, I’ll speculate about what the WWF would’ve done if Warrior had blown his knee out just before Wrestlemania VI and forced them to change their plans. I’ll book a WCW version of Survivor Series just to see how their roster really compares to Titan’s. I’ll also pay tribute to the AWA as they ran their final events and gave in to the inevitable fate of all who dare to exist in Vince McMahon’s industry. From Wrestlemania VI Maybe if Hogan had done what Andre did in 1987 and turned heel on the younger champion, it would’ve been possible. But by taking Hogan the champion and replacing him with Hogan the immortal icon they inadvertently replicated the Obi Wan – Vader duel from Star Wars. Hogan could easily have told Warrior “If you pin me I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine”.

Genres: Sports

374 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2017

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the year 1990, and both WWF and the WCW are steaming headlong into the new decade, both trying new things, and mostly failing. Sometimes funny, occasionally wrong, and Temple isn't up on his American celebrities.