It was similar for us 88-94 guys too. My original grille was cracked down the right of center, and the "chrome" was flaking off around the edges. I bought a replacement one for $89 I believe, and there was a similar, but not near as bad, "difference" in it. On the original, the bowtie was built into the grille, and recessed a bit into it. On the replacement, there was the backing "shape" with two holes for attaching an emblem. Took me forever it seemed to find the right bowtie to attach to it, but I finally found one brand new that cost me around $50 I believe. New emblem on new grille sticks out more forward, rather than recessed into it, but it still has the "chrome outline shape" all the way around, so it still looks good to me. You 95-98 guys have it rougher with the replacement grilles for sure, that does look much worse than what they did to us guys with the earlier models.
Thanks for the pics and info anyway, always good to know these things for helping others, or things to watch out for so there's no negative surprises.