The Top 50 Wrestlers Of The 1990s (pt. 7) – #20-16: Piper, Triple H, Diamond Dallas Page, Yokozuna, Owen Hart

WrestleMania 34 is coming up, and being a wrestling fan, I tend to get a little more nostalgic for them olden days of when wrestlers didn’t have scripts with WWE verbage in front of them. DeLorean back to my early days of fandom during the 1990s and you had a product that was hotter than any Seth Rollins theme song (you know, ”Burn It Down?” Okay, I’ll see that bad joke right out the door).

So from now up until “The Grandest Stage of Them All” (with a little help from Wikipedia to fill in the blanks), I will release my Top 50 wrestlers of the 1990s, factoring in their impact from the kid-friendly first half to the cuss-ridden, beer drinking second half to determine where exactly your favorite heel or face fall in rank.

We breached the halfway point. No turning back now. Here’s who we have through 30.

#50. Ken Shamrock
#49. Dean Malenko
#48. Jeff Jarrett
#47. Big Bossman
#46. The Sandman
#45. Davey Boy Smith
#44. The Giant
#43. Taz
#42. Ron Simmons
#41. Rob Van Dam
#40. Eddie Guerrero
#39. Chris Benoit
#38. Sabu
#37. Rey Mysterio, Jr.
#36. Sid Vicious
#35. Kane
#34. Sean Waltman
#33. Chris Jericho
#32. Goldust
#31. Raven
#30. The New Age Outlaws
#29. Brian Pillman
#28. The Steiner Brothers
#27. Bam Bam Bigelow
#26. Lex Luger
#25. Terry Funk
#24. Ted DiBiase
#23. Rick Rude
#22. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
#21. Big Van Vader

Also, I should make note that I do realize I won’t complete this list until after WrestleMania, but hopefully it gives you something that continues to be a beacon for your wrestling nostalgia once we all realize that we don’t want to see Hogan back, whether it’s at the Super Dome or in WWE press releases. With that said, let’s look at #20:

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#20: Roddy Piper
Hailing From: Portland, Ore.
Finisher: The Sleeper Hold

Absence certainly makes the fan boy’s heart grow fonder and if any main event star benefited from time away from the ring in the 1990s, it was Hot Rod. Half of his decade consisted of part-time WWF appearances here and there while the latter included him being embroiled with WCW’s war against the N.W.O.

But in Piper fashion, the decade started off in controversy for Roddy. During his feud with Bad News Brown leading up to WrestleMania VI, Piper painted half his body black and Bad News Brown legitimately wasn’t a fan

After a few appearances and a motorcycle crash, Piper’s most memorable run in the first half of the decade came when he won the Intercontinental Title. That culminated in a match with Bret Hart at Wrestlemania VIII which became a classic for both competitors and one of the matches that Bret Hart ranks as one of his all time favorites.

Roddy would continue to pop in for WWF here and there and in 1996 would be in the pre-taped “Hollywood Backlot Brawl” with #32 Goldust.

It’s later in 1996 when Piper went to WCW to become one of the several big names to go up against the N.W.O. He showed up at Halloween Havoc and it’s then he decided to fight the faction solo until eventually teaming with Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen. He wouldn’t win any championships during this feud, but would be featured in main event bouts with Hogan, Savage, Diamond Dallas Page & The Outsiders.

Later, he’d return as WCW commissioner to help implement law & order over the N.W.O., and in 1999 would win the U.S. belt for a third time (his first in WCW.) Roddy’s decade would pretty much wrap up against wrestling booking most hated heel in Vince Russo (and that’s not a good thing.)

Piper’s presence in the 1990s wasn’t as prominent as his super-hot 80s run, but his cache and time away has put him at #20 on the list.

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#19: Triple H
Hailing From: Greenwich, Conn.
Finisher: The Pedigree

Hard to believe that the second most powerful man in wrestling today started off as Terra Ryzing in 1992, wrestling for various promotions for two years until finding spark in WCW. Triple H’s game has to start somewhere, no matter how small.

Triple H trained under Killer Kowalski and when he joined WCW in 1994, he eventually embraced his French roots by having his name changed to Jean-Paul Levesque. Oddly enough, it wasn’t WWF where he got the name for his finisher, The Pedigree, but WCW (thanks again, Wikipedia.)  Before leaving WCW, Levesque tagged with his appointed NXT commissioner Steven Regal for a brief run. However, Triple H saw more opportunity in WWF as a singles competitor and off he went up north.

This he Blue Blood, Hunter Hearst Helmsley first stuck up his nose. Like every new name of significance ,WWF promoted his debut with creative vignettes until he debuted on April 30 of 1995.

After that, Hunter floated on the mid-card for a while, including a swift WrestleMania XII loss to the Ultimate Warrior. To add onto that, Hunter found himself in the dog house due to the notorious Madison Square Garden Curtain Call where him, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash broke kayfabe to group hug. Due to this, Hunter allegedly lost his chances at winning the 1996 King of The Ring that ended up starting the “Austin 3:16” fire instead.

Hunter bounced back though with an Intercontinental title run that started with a victory against Marc Mero and eventually won that King of The Ring crown in 1997 against who would be his greatest rival in Mankind (I’ll be happy to argue that another time.)

Then DX rolled around and Hunter Hearst Helmsley turned into Triple H. Along with HBK, Chyna and Rick Rude the gang flipped WWF on it’s head as far as abrasive content went. Their worked shoot feud with The Hart Foundation helped to get eyes over back on the McMahon product and DX continued to do so for WWF after Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels left.

A babyface Triple H would feud with a heel Rock in another faction war, this time between DX and The Nation of Domination. The two would continue an ongoing rivalry that started in 1996 and through the rest of the decade.

Triple H’s 1999 was undoubtedly the biggest for him. It’s where he started off as the DX leader, turned heel, got boosted to the main event and won the WWF Championship twice. Also, that’s when his relationship with Stephanie caught fire. The 1990s is where The Game begun and hasn’t stopped being played.

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#18: Diamond Dallas Page
Hailing From: Atlantic City, N.J.
Finisher: The Diamond Cutter

A wrestler’s peak money-making years are typically in their mid-30s. Ric Flair saw that in the 1980s, Hogan was around that age at the end of 1989, the same goes for Austin during 1998.

Diamond Dallas Page didn’t start training to be a wrestler until he was 35. Up until 1991, DDP was strictly a manager. In the 90s, he first started managing The Fabulous Freebirds and eventually Scott Hall when he was “The Diamond Studd” (creating a stable called “The Diamond Mine.”)

At the end of the year, DDP decided to lace up the boots and begin training at WCW’s Power Plant. From there, he managed and tagged with Hall, Kevin Nash (as Vinnie Vegas) and played jobber until he was put on the shelf with an injury.

After that though, his persona and ring work heated up and that eventually led him to a Television title win. Everything, however, caught ablaze with popularity when the nWo hit the airwaves. Since Page had previous connections with Hall & Nash, the two tried recruiting him into the group, but the babyface Page was having none of it. He became a key adversary against the group and was one of the few personalities (along with “Crow” Sting and later Goldberg) that gave WCW a much needed “cool factor” in the feud. He’d have some memorable matches against the group, particularly one classic against Randy Savage that many consider one of the best of that era in WCW.

However, one of the feuds that fueled my wrestling fandom as a bright-eyed bushy tailed consumer had to be Diamond Dallas Page against Raven over the U.S. Championship. Raven with is drabby, ne’er-well-attitude and flunky Flock friends against DDP’s loner, “People’s Champion” fighting spirit made both talents shine even brighter than they already were.

DDP’s 1998 run was something else though. He had big-time feuds and was apart of the Bash at the Beach blockbuster that had him tagging with Karl Malone against Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman.

1999 was DDP’s World Title era for WCW as he won the title in a four-way dance with Hulk Hogan, Sting and Ric Flair. He turned heel and held the belt three separate times before forming the Jersey Triad with #27 Bam Bam Bigelow and Kanyon. They’d win the tag belts and be a top faction in WCW before the decade found it’s way into a Diamond Cutter.

While Steve Austin was the face of the blue-collar worker in the WWF, DDP defined it in and out of the ring for WCW. DDP’s 1990s absolutely deserved a self-high five.

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#17: Yokozuna
Hailing From: The Land of The Rising Sun
Finisher: Banzai Drop

Believe it or not, but Yokozuna’s 90’s tenure did not begin as his kimono would indicate. No, he started under the tutelage of Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie in the waning days of AWA. And he wasn’t Yokozuna, he was Kokina Maximus, all Samoan and less than the 400 pounds we were accustomed to be overwhelmed by.

Then in 1992, is when Yokozuna made his way Vince McMahon’s WWF and only wrestled one untelevised match under his Samoan name and background before switching to Yokozuna. He debuted in October, then squashed Virgil at Survivor Series.

His rise to the main event was basically immediate. In January 1993, he won the Royal Rumble and was main eventing WrestleMania on April 4 against Bret Hart. He became WWF Champion by defeating The Hitman with the despicable, cowardly tactic of salt to the eyes until Vince decided to vulture Hulk Hogan into the picture and Yoko was title-less by the end of the evening.

It wasn’t for long as Yoko would get the title back from Hogan at the King of Ring PPV, effectively ending Hulkamania for nine years. Yoko & his manager, Mr. Fuji, played that tidbit to their advantage.

But Vince is always searching for his next big babyface banner waver and he saw that in a star-spangled Lex Luger whom he had bodyslam Yokozuna on Independence Day. The two fought at Summer Slam which saw Luger win by count-out (and by not getting the title.)

Then during Survivor Series, Yoko got into a brief run with The Undertaker that built up until the Royal Rumble where he defeated the Deadman in a casket match (again, through nefarious means.)

Along came WrestleMania X and Yokozuna had to defend against two opponents, Luger and Hart, in two seperate matches. He avoided loss against Luger after Luger and guest ref Mr. Perfect got into a confrontation leading to another DQ situation for the Lex Express.

Yoko wasn’t as lucky with Hart, who ended up beating Yoko for the title that night, ending his 280-day reign as champion.

Eventually Yoko would team up with Owen Hart for several tag title runs as a heel duo, but Yoko’s weight was always an issue. He did have some main event matches with Shawn Michaels, Vader and Steve Austin, but his WWF career ultimately ended in 1996/

The rest of Yoko’s 1990s run ended up being on the independent circuits, but his time up top was one of the most imposing WWF was able to have during the decade.

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#16: Owen Hart
Hailing From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Finisher: The Sharpshooter

Whether it’s through his charisma and star power or the heartbreaking tragedy that occured on May 23, 1999 you associate Owen Hart with 1990s WWF.

However, it wasn’t the WWF where “The King of Harts” started at the end of 1989. Owen was wrestling on the indy circuit and then eventually for a few tapings in WCW before he joined Vince’s company in 1991.

First he tagged with his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart in the New Foundation and then switched to tagging with Koko B. Ware as one half of High Energy until he finally made the transition to singles competition.

In 1993, Owen won the USWA Heavyweight Championship in Jerry Lawler’s Memphis promotion before getting injured and on his return he saddled up with his brother Bret. Things took a turn for the worse at Survivor Series and totally imploded at the 1994 Royal Rumble when Owen turned on his brother, igniting a major feud for WrestleMania season.

Owen won cleanly against Bret at WrestleMania X (who later won the WWF Championship that night) and their feud continued throughout the year. Owen won the 1994 King of The Ring and then took on Bret in a cage match at Summer Slam that happened to be a Hart Family classic even though Owen was on the losing end this time around.

In 1995, Owen won the WWF Tag Team Championships with #17 Yokozuna at WrestleMania XI. They’d hold the belts on two separate occasions. Owen would then begin tagging with #45 Davey Boy Smith the next year until the two started butting heads over the new European Championship.  However, Bret would realign them to join The Hart Foundation, this time with a “Hate For America” flavor.

After the Montreal Screwjob, Owen was a man without a country. He turned babyface against Shawn Michaels and DX and would be in the world title mix until he was screwed out it by #19 Triple H’s interference.

After WrestleMania XIV, Owen turned on his buddy #50 Ken Shamrock and joined The Nation of Domination. He and The Rock were the top acts for the group until the Nation split up. Owen would then find a tag partner in Jeff Jarrett and moonlight as his old Blue Blazer gimmick.

Owen Hart may have never won the World Title for WWF, but he was alway a steady upper-mid card that could work main event style. Even that sounds like I’m underrating him, because Owen could have absolutely been bigger than he was booked to be..

What do you think of the list so far? Am I a nugget for compiling this list or do I deserve to put Slammy Award trophies on my singlet?
Follow me @DominicDeAngelo and let me have it.

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NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The Top 50 Wrestlers Of The 1990s (pt. 6) – #25-21: Terry Funk, Ted DiBiase, Vader, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts