The 1990s were home to some epic moments for WWE. The feuds are now legendary: Bret vs Shawn, Austin vs McMahon, Flair vs Savage, and more. True, some feuds were very bad and often involved low-level workers, but WWE was good with the payoff on some major rivalries. Sadly, not all rivalries in the company were equal, as some feuds with a lot of promise simply never lived up to their potential.
Some rivalries weren’t awful but were not the level expected given the talent involved and some great setups. Some feuds even had major PPV encounters but couldn’t pull off the epic win predicted. It’s remarkable how a few feuds had every ingredient to be a classic yet never lived up to the expectations. Rather than just awful, these 10 feuds were big letdowns for WWE fans in the ‘90s and showed even the best stars can’t pull off epic encounters all the time.
10
The setup was one of the most perfect imaginable. After weeks of tension, The Rockers violently split with Shawn Michaels kicking Marty Jannetty and throwing him through a window. Jannetty was gone for months as Michaels rose to Intercontinental Champion.
Jannetty returned, but their 1993 Royal Rumble match was a mess with Jannetty gone after it. He came back in a memorable RAW to win the IC Title but dropped it back to Shawn two weeks later. While they had a good RAW match, the overall feud never lived up to the epic breakup opening.
9 The Ministry vs The Corporation
Heel vs heel conflicts are always interesting, and WWE had one in early 1999. The Undertaker returned with a darker persona, and some back-up with The Acolytes, Mideon, and others. They joined with Shane McMahon and went after Stephanie. Vince would use his Corporation to fight them.
The rivalry was built up with some wilder matches but also duds like Undertaker vs Bossman in Hell in the Cell. Yet the potential was there for more conflict...and then Vince was revealed as the “Higher Power” to combine the two groups and a waste of months of storytelling.
8 Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund
This may seem an odd choice, yet a good middle part doesn’t make up for the lame ending. Bret and Backlund had a match on RAW with Bret winning, which caused Backlund to “snap” and take on the crazy persona that got him amazingly over. At Survivor Series '94, they had the submission match with Owen tricking Martha into throwing in the towel, making Owen the focus of the story.
Backlund immediately dropped the belt to Diesel, with Bret going after Bob for a bit. The “payoff” was Wrestlemania XI in what Bret openly calls one of the worst matches of his career. Both men moved onto other programs as this feud wasn’t the grand affair many remember it as.
7 Shawn Michaels vs Vader
Vader’s arrival is one of the biggest dropped balls for WWE in 1996. This was a man established as a monster champion in WCW, and having him in the main event should have been sensational. He and Shawn had a decent setup with Vader pinning Shawn in a six-man tag match, becoming the number one contender in the process.
But their SummerSlam match was a letdown, it was restarted several times and made Vader look worse in defeat. He still had potential, but WWE soon dropped their feud for Shawn facing Sid as Vader never got his due as a huge star in the company.
6 Hulk Hogan vs Sid
Believe it or not, there was a time when Sid Vicious was seriously considered “the next Hogan.” He had an awesome look for the main event spot. Sure, he wasn't great in the ring but then neither was Hogan. Tension was teased with Sid tossing Hogan out of the Royal Rumble and Hogan then helping Flair eliminate Sid.
During an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, Sid would add to the conflict by leaving Hogan high and dry in a tag match. Hogan and Sid ended up main-eventing WrestleMania VIII. It was an awful match with Papa Shango botching his interference before the Ultimate Warrior returned. Hogan left WWE for almost a year, Sid was gone from the company soon after, so they couldn't salvage this rivalry.
5 Shawn Michaels vs Mr. Perfect
For a guy who was one of WWE’s biggest stars in the 1990s, HBK did have some poor feuds. Established as IC Champion, Shawn was set against Mr. Perfect in a fight to decide who was the best Intercontinental Champion ever.
Given these were two mat technicians with egos, fans expected a classic encounter. Instead, their SummerSlam ‘93 match was surprisingly poor, with Michaels winning by countout. This was nowhere near the perfect feud that was expected from the two. Not long after, Shawn was suspended, with Razor Ramon getting the IC Title.
4 Lex Luger vs Yokozuna
When Hulk Hogan left WWE in 1993, Vince needed a replacement. Lex Luger was a good choice as an established star, and while the “Lex Express” bit was rough, it still had potential. His slamming Yokozuna proved he was a threat and having him win the title at SummerSlam was the only logical choice.
Instead, he won by countout, so Yokozuna kept the title. The rematches were poor and WWE balked at having Luger win the belt at WrestleMania, with Bret Hart getting it instead. Luger clearly was frustrated with his biggest WWE feud turning into a flop.
3 Diesel vs Mabel
Frankly, this was always going to be bad, but it’s still astounding how poorly it went. Diesel was marred from the beginning by WWE watering down his anti-hero feel to a generic smiling babyface. They then added to it by putting him against the massive and massively untalented Mabel at SummerSlam '95.
It was a horrible feud with a terrible SummerSlam match and worse follow-ups. The whole thing was a mortal blow to Diesel’s push that he never fully recovered from.
2 Legion Of Doom vs Demolition
While they may have started as pure ripoffs of the Road Warriors, Demolition turned into one of the best teams of their time, dominating as champions in one of the best eras for tag team wrestling. When the Legion of Doom entered WWE, it was logical they’d face off.
But Demolition was hampered with Crush joining them in six-man bouts against The Ultimate Warrior and LOD. Rather than a hard-hitting and brutal feud, Demolition was crushed fast. If LOD was in WWE earlier during Demolition's run, maybe this feud could have worked.
1 Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair
Amazingly, this is one time WCW did something far better than WWE. For years, Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair was the ultimate dream match. The two biggest stars of their time and faces of rival promotions should have made for an epic clash. When it finally happened in 1991, the business was different.
There was no RAW or monthly PPVs, so while they had house show matches, it wasn’t the huge battle that fans expected. Their grand showdown was to happen at WrestleMania, but it never occurred, which was a missed opportunity. WCW managed to make it work while WWE missed out on delivering the feud of a lifetime.