The Attitude Era was in full swing by the year 1998 and overall it was a great year financially for the WWF. We saw a lot of new stars being formed and many potential future stars debuting as well in the year. Among everyone, these 5 wrestlers managed to leave the most impact:
5. Kane
IMG credit: WWE & pinterest.com
Kane arguably had the best wrestling debut ever at In Your House: Badd Blood in 1997 where he destroyed the Hell in a Cell door and hit the Tombstone Piledriver on The Undertaker. Kane quickly established himself as a very terrorizing character and people were legitimately scared of him. Kane continued his terror in 1998 and had a solid year despite having many ups and downs. His biggest feud in the year was against his brother The Undertaker and even though they failed to deliver a lot of great matches, the feud did give us some cool moments. Kane also managed to win the WWF Championship but well…. we shouldn’t talk about that.
4. The Rock
IMG credit: WWE & championsbelts.com
After a rough start in the WWF, The Rock turned heel and joined the Nation of Domination and revived his career. He was the Intercontinental Champion heading into 1998 and held the belt for the majority of the year. 1998 was the breakout year for The Rock as he rose from the midcard position to the main event scene. He had some great matches in the year, such as his ladder match with HHH at SummerSlam and also the triple threat match against Ken Shamrock and Mankind at Breakdown: In Your House. Those two matches helped him to become a big star and he finally won the WWF Championship at Survivor Series.
3. The Undertaker
IMG credit: WWE & imdb.com
After doing great in 1996 and 1997, The Undertaker continued his dominance in 1998. He was frequently featured in the main event scene and had notable feuds against Kane, Steve Austin and Mankind. He also had the famous Hell in a Cell match against Mankind at King of the Ring, which is one of the most talked about wrestling matches ever and set the stage for future Hell in a Cell matches. The Undertaker didn’t have a lot of memorable matches from the year, but he had a lot of memorable moments. He was often one of the most important parts of the show.
2. Mick Foley
IMG credit: wwe.com
Mick Foley used every persona of his in 1998 and did great work as each. He is most famously known for appearing thrice in the Royal Rumble match, each time with a different character. In the year, Foley had many memorable classics against the likes of Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Terry Funk, Ken Shamrock, The Rock, etc. Foley literally did everything the company wanted him to do. He was Austin’s first rival over the WWF title and helped put him over. He also contributed in the midcard and the tag team divisions, winning the tag team titles on three different occasions, with Kane twice and Terry Funk once.
1. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
IMG credit: WWE & pinterest,com
Steve Austin was undoubtedly the best wrestler of 1998. After being massively popular among the fans, the WWF finally decided to put the belt on Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV. Steve Austin repaid the company’s faith and went on to have one of the best World Title Reigns ever. Not only did Steve Austin have many classic matches and feuds in the year, he also drew a lot of money as the top guy. We all know Steve Austin as one of the biggest wrestling stars ever, and 1998 was when he cemented that position.
And that’s all for today’s post, thank you all for reading. Stay tuned for further updates. Have a nice day!
1997 was the transition year for the WWF from the New Generation Era to the Attitude Era. WWF was trying a lot in 1997, like introducing the European Championship, the light heavyweight division, etc. They might have been still unable to beat WCW’s ratings in the short-run, but it was a solid showing for the WWF in 1997 overall. These are the wrestlers who were at the top of their game:
5. Shawn Michaels
IMG credit: WWE & wwebrady.fandom.com
As usual, Shawn Michaels continued to be one of the best in-ring workers for the WWF. Even though it wasn’t the best year Shawn had, as he had some weak matches with the likes of Sycho Sid and Ken Shamrock, he did manage a lot of classics against the likes of The Undertaker, Steve Austin or The British Bulldog. The weak point of Shawn’s year was the fact that he was constantly in and out due to questionable injuries, even missing both WrestleMania and SummerSlam in a wrestling capacity. To end the year, he was involved in the Montreal Screwjob, and the beginning of DX was polarizing with Shawn’s promos being unwatchable at one point. I would have loved to give Shawn a higher ranking, but some of the aforementioned points prevents me from doing so.
4. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog
IMG credit: WWE & pinterest.com
Even though Owen Hart and British Bulldog enjoyed a lot of singles success in 1997, I put them as one entry because they spent a huge portion of the year as a tag team and did great work together. Owen held the Intercontinental Championship on multiple occasions and British Bulldog became the first ever European Champion, while simultaneously holding the Tag Team Championship as a duo. They also joined forces with Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman to form The Hart Foundation, producing awesome work in there. They didn’t have the best year as far as match quality is concerned, but they were very entertaining to watch and one of the most essential parts of the show.
3. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
IMG credit: wwe.com
If 1996 wasn’t enough proof of Steve Austin’s potential, 1997 firmly cemented Austin as someone who would be a main eventer sooner or later. Austin started off the year continuing his rivalry with Bret Hart, which ended up being one of the best wrestling feuds ever. During the feud they had two magical matches: first at WrestleMania 13 which is my personal favorite match of all time; the second at In Your House: CanadianStampede as part of a 10-man tag match. Austin enjoyed both singles and tag team success as he won the Intercontinental Championship multiple times in the year and also won the tag team straps with two different partners, Shawn Michaels and Dude Love. However, there was a negative in the year for him as his neck got seriously injured at SummerSlam, which affected him a lot and forced him to change his style of wrestling going forward.
2. The Undertaker
IMG credit: wwe.com
The Undertaker’s first Paul Bearer-less full year proved to be an awesome one. Undertaker started off the year strong winning the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13. He had a very strong reign which I feel was his best World Championship reign ever. He had good matches constantly and the storylines were also very entertaining. He was in the main event scene for the majority of the year and he did a great job. The year also marked the beginning of his feud with his “brother”, Kane. The back story to it was awesome and led to Kane’s debut having such a great effect. Overall, solid year for the Deadman and quite possibly his best year in the 1990s.
1. Bret Hart
IMG credit: WWE & whatculture.com
After being away for majority of 1996, Bret Hart had a solid showing in 1997. He started off with an awesome feud with Steve Austin and followed that up with a great feud with The Undertaker. As usual, Bret had great matches all the time and his PPV record in the year is just too damn impressive. He was the leader of The Hart Foundation and they were often one of the best things to watch. As a heel, Bret Hart cut awesome promos and proved to everyone that he can be great in that department too. As infamous the end to Bret Hart’s year was with the Montreal Screwjob, it takes nothing away from the great year Bret had and it was definitely one of the best years he had in wrestling.
And that’s all for today’s post, thank you all for reading. Stay tuned for further updates. Have a nice day!
The WWF was struggling bad with their roster in the New GenerationEra and 1996 wasn’t much different. They had quite a number of debuts in the year but lost a lot of top stars to injuries and other companies. Despite all the tough circumstances these 5 wrestlers managed to keep the WWF afloat:
5. Vader
IMG credit: WWE & sportskeeda.com
Vader had become a legend in the wrestling world by the time he entered WWF and fans were very excited to see him finally wrestle in a WWF. However after a monstrous debut at the Royal Rumble, Vader had to be written off TV due to a shoulder surgery. His first feud was against Yokozuna where he completely destroyed his ankle and looked very strong. He also challenged later in the year for the WWF Championship against Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam and was in fact supposed to win it but plans changed thanks to Shawn. Even though Vader wasn’t as great as he used to be and his booking wasn’t the best, it was a good year for Vader and certainly better than the other years he had with WWF.
4. The Undertaker
IMG credit: WWE & Whatculture.com
Since his debut in 1990, The Undertaker quickly gained popularity and became one of the most popular wrestlers of the time. However, Undertaker barely had good matches but that would change in the year 1996. This was the first great year Undertaker had in terms of match quality. Starting off with a great Diesel feud, Undertaker had an awesome rivalry with Mankind which provided us tons of great matches and helped The Undertaker a lot. It was also in 1996, that The Undertaker went on his own for the first time after Paul Bearer turned heel on him. The year was so good for the Deadman that he was given the WWF title the following year.
3. Mankind
IMG credit: WWE & villains.fandom.com
From The Undertaker to his best rival that year, Mankind. After a series of “earie” vignettes. Mankind made his debut on the RAW after WrestleMania XII and it didn’t take long for him to make a mark. His finishing maneuver, the Mandible Claw quickly got over as a very deadly and paralyzing move. Mankind didn’t take long to attack Undertaker and start a feud as he did that on his debut night. In between the feud, Mankind also had a mini program with Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship and had an awesome match at In Your House: Mind Games. By August, Mankind saw himself paired up with his rival’s former manager, Paul Bearer. Overall, Mankind showed great character work and had great matches in the year and he proved the company can put faith in him in the future.
2. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
IMG credit: WWE & pinterest.com
This was the debut year of Steve Austin but it didn’t take him long to cement himself as one of the top guys. Austin debuted as “The Ringmaster” with Ted Dibiase as his manager but it was not long until his name was changed to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Austin started off with a great feud with Savio Vega however it was at King of the Ring, where his popularity skyrocketed. His king of the ring speech is very famous and still to this date, is one of the best promos ever. Even though the WWF didn’t capitalize on the buzz instantly as he was left out of SummerSlam, soon enough Austin started a feud with none other than Bret Hart. They had an awesome match at Survivor Series and it was just the beginning of one of the best wrestling feuds ever.
1. Shawn Michaels
IMG credit: WWE & wrestleview.com
There is absolutely no doubt who the MVP of the WWF was in the year 1996, “The Heart Break Kid” Shawn Michaels. After spending years in the mid card division, Shawn was finally given the WWF title at WrestleMania XII. Even though the ratings and PPV buys were disastrous during the reign, no one can deny the match quality Shawn had. He had great matches with everyone, from Bret Hart to Vader to Sycho Sid to Mankind and many more. What’s even more impressive is the fact that all these opponents work different styles and Shawn had different matches all the time. The only problem with Shawn Michaels was his backstage attitude problems however on screen, in the ring he was definitely the guy to watch.
And that’s all for today’s post, thank you all for reading. Stay tuned for further updates. Have a nice day!
July 12, 1992 Live from Albany, GA (Albany Civic Center) Announced attendance: 8 000 (capacity: ca 10 240) PPV buyrate: 70 000 (-75 000 compared to GAB 1991’s 145 000)
Hey there everybody. Welcome to my review of WCW’s Great American Bash 1992 event, featuring the last rounds of the tournament to crown brand new NWA World Tag Team Champions, as well as Sting vs Big Van Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Here is the list of WCW champions heading into this PPV:
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Sting [134th day of his reign] – previous champion: Lex Luger
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [236th day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: Steve Austin [50th day of his reign] – previous champion: Barry Windham
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Brad Armstrong [7th day of his reign] – previous champion: Scotty Flamingo
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) [7th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Steiners
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: Dick Slater & The Barbarian [17th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Fabulous Freebirds
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & culturecrossfire.com
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match #2 – Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs. Brian Pillman & Jushin Thunder Liger
IMG credit: WWE & tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com
The winning team meets the already qualified MVC in the semi finals. We get a handshake before the match. Brian & Nikita start with the latter easily overpowering Pillman in the first moments of the bout. Pillman responds by using his quickness to get a nearfall on Nikita with a roll up, as then Brian & Liger take turns working over Nikita’s arm. Liger actually manages to knock Nikita down with a series of quick dropkicks and shoulderblocks, but Nikita catches Pillman with a back elbow and tags in Steamboat for the first time. Steamboat goes after both men and knocks Liger into Pillman on the outside, which is probably the most heelish thing you will ever see an unprovoked Ricky Steamboat pull out! Back in, Steamboat goes to work on Pillman’s arm before they get into a nice little sequence that ends with Steamboat catching Brian with an armdrag. Tag to Liger for a double dropkick but Steamboat quickly turns things around and brings Nikita back in. Back to Ricky for a headlock on Brian, which he escapes and drops an elbow for two. Dropkick gets two more. Liger’s backbreaker sets up the moonsault for a fantastic nearfall. Tombstone piledriver gets another. Liger hits a somersault senton for another one, but Steamboat fights back with a backdrop suplex and makes the tag to Nikita so he can control the pace.
Steamboat takes over with a series of backbreakers into a running powerslam in a rare showcase of strength by Ricky Steamboat, but the pin is broken up by Brian. Nikita works a headlock on Liger and a double team flying double axe gives Steamboat two. However, Pillman gets the hot tag and cleans house off that, and Liger comes in with a great looking missile dropkick. A cartwheel into a crossbody gives Liger two, but Nikita gets back in with a running shoulderblock to Liger. He preps the Sickle, but Pillman cheapshots him with a dropkick from behind. Air Pillman connects followed by a missile dropkick, but Brian stops to take out Steamboat as well and the delayed pin only gets two. Brian hits the sleeper and Nikita escapes with a jawbreaker, which Brian takes like a champ. It’s off to both Liger & Steamboat, as Liger hits an enziguiri for two. Missed dropkick gives Steamboat two. Backslide gets two for Liger. Springboard crossbody off a blind tag by Pillman gets two, as they then get into a pinfall reversal sequence. Brian goes up but Steamboat falls back on the ropes and accidentally crotches him, which is enough to cause a pier six brawl as IT’S BREAKING LOOSE AT THE BASH. Pillman finally shrugs off the low blow and comes flying with a high crossbody on Steamboat, which gets turned over into a pin to send Steamboat & Nikita into the semis at 19:26.
Rating: Good opener. This saw Steamboat working all the fast and exciting trade-offs with Pillman and Liger, while Nikita would occasionally come in and quickly make his presence felt by using his power. Highly enjoyable tag match to kick off the PPV. ***3/4
Eric Bischoff interviews The Steiners backstage. Scott says the title loss to MVC is not gonna make them crumble, as even Muhammad Ali tasted defeat in his career. Rick adds that they’re coming after MVC.
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match #3 – The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) vs. Hiroshi Hase & Shinya Hashimoto
IMG credit: WWE & retroprowrestling.com
Hashimoto is subbing for an injured Akira Nogami here. Typical moonwalking and stalling from Hayes to start. Headlock by Hase is turned into a legscissors by Hayes, but Hase escapes and we reach a stalemate. Hayes tries a sloppy cradle for two and it’s off to Hayes/Hashimoto. The latter works a headlock for a while and the Japanese take over using frequent tags. Powerslam from Hashimoto gets two, but Hayes gets the tag back in and goes to work on Hashimoto’s arm. Hashimoto fights back with a number of chops, though, followed by a back elbow. Hase hits a delayed gutbuster, but doesn’t seem interested in trying the pin. Right in sync with the crowd, who apparently don’t seem interested in reacting to anything. Spinning wheel kick from Hashimoto, but Garvin breaks up the pin at two. A nice fallaway slam into a bridge pin gets two. Hayes cuts them off with the good ol’ double noggin knocker, but Hase refuses to sell it and goes back to pounding on Hayes. What a mess! Hayes finally knocks both guys down successfully, opening the door for the hot tag to Garvin who runs wild. He wants the DDT but IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA, and Nick Patrick forcing Hayes out allows Hashimoto to superkick Garvin into a Hase northern lights suplex for the pin at 9:16.
Rating: Though the match was a bit of an awkward looking mess and it looked like the wrestlers weren’t on the same page at times, it had its moments and was certainly better than most Freebird matches around this time. With that in mind, though, it was skippable as the winner of this was clearly succumbing to the winners of Rude & Austin vs Windham & Rhodes in the semi finals. Thankfully it was relatively short at least, so it didn’t overstay its welcome that much. *1/2
THE RETURN OF THE BIG GOLD BELT! Bill Watts & Hiro Matsuda announce an upcoming tournament featuring wrestlers from both WCW and NJPW, taking place in the G1 Climax that August to crown the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Watts makes sure to mention Ric Flair (the previous title holder) and publicly strip him off the belt on air, also adding that he was once defeated by current WCW Champ Sting for that belt. Geez, cowboy! Furthermore, the winner of the tournament will face the WCW Champion down the road to crown one undisputed World Champion. In other words, the whole thing is declared useless less than a minute after its announcement…
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match #4 – The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin)(w/ Madusa) vs. Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes
IMG credit: WWE & retroprowrestling.com
Windham and Austin start with a lockup into an armdrag by Barry, as Jesse is already bitching about the cast on commentary. A battle over a backslide is won by Austin for two, and a roll up full of tights gets two more. Austin criss crosses but ends up walking into the taped fist, and you don’t need to ask Jesse twice to complain about it for about a minute! Austin takes it to the mat but Barry teases another shot with the taped fist, only to bitchslap him instead. Dustin adds in his own cheapshots as well before Austin finally bails. I mean… can you blame him?! Rude gets tagged in and so does Rhodes, and Rude slugs away in the corner. He eats boot on a blind charge, though, and Dustin fights back with a clothesline into a backdrop suplex as he takes over. Rick fights back and tries a Tombstone, but Rhodes turns it into his own Tombstone for two, with Austin saving. Rhodes eats knees on a missed splash, however, allowing Austin to come back in with a clothesline for two. Rhodes fights back with a knee to the gut and he follows it up with the abdominal stretch. Austin tries to hiptoss his way out of it, but Dustin goes right back to the hold and tags Barry in for a flying clothesline that gets a nearfall. The Alliance take back control near their corner and Austin sets up a superplex, but Barry headbutts him off the top and hits a crossbody for two. Madusa distracts the ref and allows Rude to come in with a missile dropkick for two. Piledriver gets two, with Rhodes saving.
Austin hits a delayed vertical suplex on Barry for two, and we hit the chinlock. It’s back to Rude for a fight in the corner and a slam, followed by some ravishing hip swiveling action. Austin comes in with a cheap pin using the ropes for two, as the Alliance keep Windham in their half of the ring. Austin works a chinlock with some extra leverage from Rude getting Rhodes’ attention, allowing the heels to cheat some more behind his back. Austin slugs away on Windham but eventually walks into a cradle for two, before they collide for a double down. It’s off to Rude to continue the assault, only for him to butt heads with Barry as well, who finally makes the hot tag. Rhodes cleans house like a bionic maid, running wild with mucho elbows until it starts BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Austin sets up for a piledriver on the illegal Windham, allowing Rhodes to come off the top with a flying clothesline for the win at 19:15.
Rating: Good action with even better cheating from the heels, though it did drag a bit near the end. ***1/4
Big Van Vader & Harley Race know tonight is Vader’s night.
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match #1 – Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) vs. Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff
IMG credit: WWE & retroprowrestling.com
Gordy works a long headlock on Steamboat to start, but Steamboat fights back with armdrags on both Gordy & Williams. Now Ricky goes after the arm and stays there for a while, before bringing in Nikita to work on the arm too. This is strangely not going anywhere and the crowd is pretty tired of the tournament. Nikita injects some much-needed life with a dropkick after a bunch of no-sold shoulderblocks, but then nearly lands on his neck in an awkward single leg takedown by Doc, who works a bodyscissors. This seemed way better on first view. Gordy comes in and so does Steamboat on the other side, hopefully to take this up a few notches. He fires away with some chops but gets quickly caught in the MVC’s corner, and Williams takes him down with a clothesline for two. Steamboat tries to comeback with a crucifix pin, but Doc overpowers him and sends him into the buckle. Gordy cuts off another brief comeback attempt from Ricky with a slam, as the MVC proceed to cut the ring in half. Steamboat’s crossbody gets caught with a Doc backbreaker for two. Steamboat finally gets something in with a DDT of sorts and makes the hot tag to Nikita, who briefly runs wild before getting caught in the heel corner and taken back down to the mat. Seriously, what is wrong with this match?? Gordy works the Oriental Twist (STF without the neck hold), Doc comes in for some knees and a Boston Crab, and Gordy comes back with the Oriental Twist. Nikita FINALLY escapes and makes the ice cold tag to Steamboat, who takes down both Williams & Gordy to absolutely no reaction. Ricky hits a flying karate chop on Doc and goes over to the other corner for another one, but Gordy gets involved and Williams hits the Oklahoma Stampede to FINALLY end this at a whooping 21:39.
Rating: I have no words for this. On paper, this could, should and probably would be a terrific tag team encounter any other day. Here, though, they were met with a painfully dead crowd who were more than tired of this tournament already, and the whole match seemed like an interminable heat spot. *
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match #2 – Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs. Hiroshi Hase & Shinya Hashimoto
IMG credit: WWE & retroprowrestling.com
Crowd seems even more dead here than they did in the previous match, hoping to see this tournament finally end as there’s no question to who’s advancing here. Hase & Dustin get into a test of strength to start, and Hase bridges out of it and catches him with a superkick. Now it’s off to Barry and Hashimoto for a test of strength of their own, which is won by Barry with a belly to belly. In comes Dustin for a couple of shoulderblocks that Hashimoto no-sells, and the big man easily overpowers Dustin as he brings in Hase. He goes after Dustin’s arm and wrestles him down to the mat, but Rhodes turns things around and tags in Windham for a hammerlock slam, as now the Americans go after the arm. Hashimoto cuts him off with a back elbow shot to the face, though, and follows with a cross ambreaker. Slam to Dustin and a spinning wheel kick, and Hashi takes him to the corner for a spike piledriver alongside Hase. The Japanese cut the ring in half using quick tags and occasional double team moves, leaving Barry impatient on the apron. They hit a double suplex into a Boston Crab by Hase, which Barry runs in to break. Hase hits a belly to belly and he goes up for a flying double kneedrop, but Rhodes moves out of the way and makes the hot tag. Windham runs wild and a powerslam to Hase gets two. Barry works an abdominal stretch and USES THE TAPED FIST BY GAWD to draw the ire of Ventura as usual, and soon enough it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Barry dumps Hashimoto and finishes Hase with a lariat at 14:55.
Rating: It was certainly not a classic as it suffered from being apart of this heatless tournament, but the work was good enough and it was an overall much better match than the other semi final. **3/4
Ron Simmons talks to Tony Schiavone and Magnum TA in the ring – he’s paying close attention to the upcoming match.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship – Sting(c) vs. Big Van Vader(w/ Harley Race)
IMG credit: WWE & unwrest.blogspot.com
The crowd finally comes alive here for what is the unquestionable REAL main event of the evening, despite Bill Watts clearly thinking otherwise. Vader pounds away on Sting to start, and a powerful clothesline forces Sting to bail. Sting comes back in to hit his own clothesline, but Vader totally no sells it and it’s Sting going down from the impact instead! Vader misses a blind charge in the corner, though, and Sting runs wild with a backdrop suplex and a clothesline that dumps Vader. The big man challenges Sting to a test of strength, but he thumbs Vader in the eyes and pounds away from there. Vader crawls into the apron where he’s met with an enziguiri from Sting, who then suplexes Vader into the ring for two. Sting then makes the mistake of running into Vader, though, knocking himself out as if he ran into a solid wall. Sting immediately comes back with a series of stiff kicks and cradles him for two, actually forcing Vader to bail! Back in, Sting tries a sunset flip, but Vader just sits down and squashes him like a bug. Vader even does a double bicep pose just to add insult to injury. JR: “I’ve heard bodybuilding isn’t doing so well”. BURN! Vader follows it up with a big splash as Sting barely rolls his shoulder on the kickout. Then, just to be a dick and just because he can, Vader actually puts Sting in the Scorpion Deathlock. It’s about as good visually as The Rock’s “Squatshooter”, but it’s the thought that counts!
Sting nearly powers out of it, but Vader drops down on his back and Sting goes right back down to the mat. Sting eventually powers out of the hold, but he’s pretty much done and Vader takes his sweet time enjoying the beatdown. Clothesline knocks Sting down, but Vader isn’t interested in pinning him yet. Powerslam gets a nearfall. Sting makes the comeback and takes Vader down with a crazy rolling koppo kick. He follows it up with a DDT and a running shoulderblock, but Sting’s too hurt to follow up and Vader actually gets up first. Vader goes up to the top rope but Sting crotches him and gets him up in a fireman’s carry position, hitting a delayed samoan drop for two. Sting sold that wonderfully, picking up Vader on “spaghetti legs”. The ref gets briefly knocked out on a battle over a suplex, which Sting wins with a bridged german suplex for two. The crowd is really into this one! Sting dropkicks Vader into the corner and meets him with the Stinger Splash, but Vader shrugs it off and Sting tries a second one, only to accidentally bust his head open on the steel buckle. Vader gets two off that, but it’s academic now as a single bitchslap knocks Sting down. Vader plants him with the powerbomb for the win and the WCW Title at 17:17.
Rating: The excitement for this match was off the charts due to the long build, and it delivered in every way. This was the perfect example of how to protect “David” in defeat in a David vs. Goliath situation in wrestling, as Sting was able to fight through all of Vader’s stiff and powerful shots only to eventually get knocked out due to his own mistake, leaving the door open for future business and making both guys look like million dollars. Great match! ****1/4
Vader & Harley Race celebrate in the dressing room. Eric Bischoff asks them about a potential rematch with Sting, which they don’t feel like answering. Rightfully so.
One would think this is the perfect way to end the PPV since nothing can follow it up, but no…
(Alleged) Main Event – Tournament Final – NWA World Tag Team Championship – Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) vs. Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes
IMG credit: WWE & retroprowrestling.com
They start off with basic stuff while the crowd goes right back to a vegetative state and, to make it even better, we have nearly 30 minutes left on the stream. Oh joy. Gordy hits a german suplex on Rhodes, who fires back with a series of quick bionic elbows and starts working the leg. Windham comes in and gets the figure four, but Gordy makes it to the ropes and brings in Doc. Williams scores with a belly to belly and they go to the mat for a while. Gordy hits a corner clothesline for two. Dustin goes back after the leg and drops some elbows on it, but Doc gets tagged in. Williams pulls the hair to win a test of strength and brings in Gordy to put Rhodes in the Oriental Twist (STF). Dustin fights out of the hold only to take a cheapshot from Gordy in MVC’s corner. You see, this match is not necessarily bad but the crowd is literally dead silent for everything, and there was no way this could ever follow Sting/Vader. Doc hits a powerslam for two, and he stops to complain with Ole Anderson over the count. Barry briefly runs wild off the “hot” tag and hits a suplex for a nearfall. Gutwrench suplex gets two more. Windham eats a shoulder in the buckle, though, and Gordy hits a suplex for two. We hit the chinlock as Gary Cappetta announces we’ve passed the 15 minute mark. Doc switches to a front facelock and into an abdominal stretch. Yeah.. Rhodes gets the “hot” tag and gets to run wild for all of ten seconds, until the MVC cut him off and Williams goes back to a front facelock. Yeah, call an audible and end it already. Dustin tries to make another comeback but gets cut off again, and Doc preps the Oklahoma Stampede only for Windham to dropkick him mid-move and Rhodes falls on top for two. Doc eats buckle on a blind charge and Dustin goes for the bulldog, but Doc sends him into Gordy and a clothesline gives them the titles and mercifully ends this stupid tournament at 21:10.
Rating: Another snoozer to put an end to a tournament full of them. *1/4
JR & Jesse promote Halloween Havoc ’92 to close the broadcast.
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: As much as it hurts me to say this, it looks like the streak has finally ended. After seven whole months, this is the worst PPV (add SNME and the Clash to the list for that matter) in 1992 up to the point. The pointless tournament really killed the room and the flow of the event, making it very hard for me to recommend this. A couple of quarter final matches were good and are worth checking out, but the only thing you really need to go out of your way to see from this event is Sting vs Vader. So what I say is look up for that match somewhere, but make sure you skip the rest of this show. 4/10
That’s all for this article, thank you so much for your time and attention. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming review of WWF’s SummerSlam, and others. Until then stay safe!
After a horrendous 1995 both financially and in terms of quality, the WWF needed a strong comeback in 1996. Even though the numbers continued to be bad, the product became significantly better. The year was quite important as it showed the first signs of a slow transition to a new era, which would be later known as ‘The Attitude Era’. In fact, I believe 1996 is one of the most overlooked years in the history of WWE.
WWF produced 12 PPVs in the year, seven In Your House shows alongside the usual “Big 5”. The PPVs were pretty consistent for most part as Shawn Michaels was on fire with his reign providing classics every show. However along with the good, we also had a lot of dull PPVs and matches that had you wondering why is it even on the show.
Let’s start with the worst..
12. In Your House 10: Mind Games
IMG credit: WWE & wikipedia
Date: September 22, 1996
Attendance: 15,000
Buyrate: 120,000
Main Event: Shawn Michaels(c) vs. Mankind (WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (****3/4)
The main event of this show was amazing which saw Shawn Michaels and Mankind tear the house down and wrestle one of the best matches ever with a non finish. However, as good as the main event was, the rest of the card was horrible. When José Lothario and Jim Cornette are having a match on a PPV, that says something. Another highly promoted match saw The Undertaker and Goldust square off in a “Final Curtain” Match which was far from anything brutal as the stipulation suggested. In fact, the main event was much more physical than this match. This was a definition of a one match show.
Overall Rating: 6/10
11. In Your House 12: It’s Time
IMG credit: WWE & wwenetworknews.com
Date: December 15, 1996
Attendance: 9,649
Buyrate: 90,000
Main Event: Sycho Sid(c) vs. Bret Hart (WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Flash Funk vs. Leif Cassidy (***)
Shawn Michaels was the MVP of PPVs in 1996 and this PPV suffered due to him not being on the card. In fact, even Vader whose catchphrase was used for the name of the PPV, didn’t wrestle on the show. Apart from the Undertaker vs. Executioner match there’s nothing very bad on the show and even that was somewhat watchable. However there was nothing on this show that screams MUST-SEE either. Flash Funk and Leif Cassidy (better known as 2 Cold Scorpio and Al Snow respectively) stole the show and put on an awesome match. The main event between Sid and Bret was also good but disappointing as a Bret Hart match. Just an average, filler show which is understandable as it was just before the Rumble and WrestleMania season.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
10. Royal Rumble
IMG credit: WWE & constantsportsandsneaks.wordpress.com
Date: January 21, 1996
Attendance: 9,600
Buyrate: 260,000
Main Event: Bret Hart(c) vs. The Undertaker (WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker (***)
The Rumbles in the early 90s suffered from the thin roster WWF used to have, and this was an example of that. There were some highlights like Hunter’s impressive Rumble performance, Vader’s debut and Shawn Michaels winning it for the second time in a row. But the lack of credible wrestlers made for a lot of dull moments and made the Rumble very boring for the most part. The main event between Undertaker and Bret was a solid match but they went 28 minutes just to end the match on a DQ… I mean I get that they wanted to set up the Diesel feud but a DQ in the main event is still quite disappointing.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
9. SummerSlam
IMG credit: WWE & tvovermind.com
Date: August 18, 1996
Attendance: 17,000
Buyrate: 157,000
Main Event: Shawn Michaels(c) vs. Vader (WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Shawn Michaels vs. Vader (****)
The build to this show was quite good and the matches that didn’t have a lot of build looked solid on paper. But the event didn’t quite live up to it. A horrendous first half saw the PPV heading into one of the worst PPVs territory. Thankfully, the last two matches saved the day. The penultimate match saw The Undertaker and Mankind face each other in a Boiler Room Brawl. The match isn’t the best brawl you will see, as there are moments where it drags a little and gets boring. However, the overall action is good and it set the stage for the future Attitude Era brawls. The biggest highlight was Paul Bearer turning heel on Undertaker. The main event between Shawn and Vader is infamous for Shawn’s unprofessional behavior and it was overbooked as hell. However, despite all of that the match delivered and ended up being a classic.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
8. In Your House 9: International Incident
IMG credit: WWE & wikipedia
Date: July 21, 1996
Attendance: 14,804
Buyrate: 90,000
Main Event: Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid
Match of the Night: Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid (***3/4)
This PPV was the least hyped show of the year, which can be credited to the fact that the main event six man tag match was used to set up the main event of the following PPV, SummerSlam. The previously mentioned six man tag match saw the WWF Champion Shawn Michaels team up with the Inercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid to take on the team of Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and Vader. It was a very good match and saw Vader pin Shawn Michaels. The other good match on the show was Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero, even though it wasn’t on the level of their King of the Ring match, it was still a nice follow-up. The rest of the card was awful, though, and it’s good that the runtime was not very long.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
7. In Your House 6: Rage in the Cage
IMG credit: WWE & wikipedia
Date: February 18, 1996
Attendance: 5,500
Buyrate: 150,000
Main Event: Bret Hart(c) vs. Diesel (Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart (****)
The PPV sandwiched between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. The show had two decent matches and one awesome match. The best match was easily Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart, which had Shawn’s WrestleMania title shot on the line. It had a nice story and the match stole the show. Another promoted match saw Razor Ramon take on The 1-2-3 Kid in a “crybaby match”. I know the stipulation sounds very dumb but the match surprisingly didn’t have A LOT of shenanigans and the action was generally good. Finally, the steel cage match between Bret and Diesel was a bit underwhelming given the great matches they had together, but overall it also had decent action and was used to further the feud between Undertaker and Diesel. Overall, a decent show and a nice way to build up WrestleMania.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
6. In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies
IMG credit: WWE & thesportster.com
Date: April 28, 1996
Attendance: 9,563
Buyrate: 150,000
Main Event: Shawn Michaels(c) vs. Diesel (No Holds Barred Match for the WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel (****3/4)
The post WrestleMania PPVs are usually filler as most of the big stories end at WrestleMania, but I think this show was quite good. This PPV is also known for being both Diesel and Razor Ramon’s last televised appearance with WWF up until their eventual return after WCW died. The show’s main event between Diesel and Shawn Michaels was an absolutely amazing brutal brawl and one of Diesel’s best matches ever. Razor Ramon’s match with Vader was also very solid and Vader’s best match in WWF up until that point. The show is hurt by a horrendous match between The Ultimate Warrior and Goldust, which is one of the absolute worst matches I’ve ever seen.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
5. King of the Ring
IMG credit: WWE & bleacherreport.com
Date: June 23, 1996
Attendance: 8,762
Buyrate: 197,000
Main Event: Shawn Michaels(c) vs. The British Bulldog (WWF Championship with Mr. Perfect as special outside enforcer)
Match of the Night: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero (****)
This was a very important show which had the first signs of a change in the WWF with the Austin promo. He was the clear highlight of the show and looked like an absolute star coming out of it. Other than that, there are some boring matches but Mero/Austin, Mankind/Undertaker and Shawn/Davey are very good and raise the score for this event. Owen Hart’s commentary was top notch and added a lot to the show. Not the best show from wrestling point of view, but in terms of storytelling it’s a top tier PPV.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
4. In Your House 8: Beware of Dog
IMG credit: WWE & wrestlingreviewer.blogspot.com
Date: May 26, 1996 and May 28, 1996
Attendance: 6,000
Buyrate: 110,000
Main Event: Goldust(c) vs. The Undertaker (Casket Match for the Intercontinental Championship)
Match of the Night: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega (****)
This PPV is famous for having a power outage which resulted in it being telecasted over two nights. Given all the circumstances I would say it was a solid show. On the first night we had Marc Mero and Hunter square off in an awesome match along with the WWF Championship match between Shawn and British Bulldog. The match was disappointing given the talents involved, though far from being a complete dud. The second night started off with an awesome Caribbean Strap match between Steve Austin and Savio Vega. The PPV did have a disappointing end with two underwhelming matches, but I would say overall it was a good show.
Overall Rating: 8/10
3. In Your House 11: Buried Alive
IMG credit: WWE & bleacherreport.com
Date: October 20, 1996
Attendance: 9,649
Buyrate: 100,000
Main Event: The Undertaker vs. Mankind (Buried Alive Match)
Match of the Night: The Undertaker vs. Mankind (****)
A very enjoyable show with no bad matches. It opened with a great match between HHH and Austin, which featured the debut of Austin’s famous theme song. They were followed by some solid matches capped by an absolute classic main event between Mankind and Undertaker. The Buried Alive Match was another brutal brawl between the two and it ended up being their best match in that year. This PPV goes down as one of the best In Your House shows.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
2. WrestleMania XII
IMG credit: WWE & neo-nwo.blogspot.com
Date: March 31, 1996
Attendance: 18,853
Buyrate: 290,000
Main Event: Bret Hart(c) vs. Shawn Michaels (60-minute Iron Man match for the WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (****3/4)
This event truly lived up to its hype. The main event Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels was easily the best match of the night and it was near perfect. It still to this day is one of the best WrestleMania main events ever. This show also had Undertaker’s first good WrestleMania match, that being against Diesel. We also got the WrestleMania debut of Steve Austin when he faced Savio Vega in a very solid match. The only negative of the show was Ultimate Warrior vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, which lasted for a very short time. Great show and one of the most underrated WrestleManias of all time.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
1. Survivor Series
IMG credit: WWE & tilt.goombastomp.com
Date: November 17, 1996
Attendance: 18,647
Buyrate: 199,000
Main Event: Shawn Michaels(c) vs. Sycho Sid (WWF Championship)
Match of the Night: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (*****)
Onto the BEST PPV of 1996, Survivor Series. In fact, you could say this is one of the best WWF PPVs of the entire decade of the 1990s. Although the three Survivor Series matches weren’t very good, the three one on one matches made up for it. A five-star match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart set the tone for their future feud. The match between Undertaker and Mankind was the worst of their feud, but still a good match for the time it lasted. And the main event was an amazing David vs. Goliath encounter which is quite possibly Sycho Sid’s best match. Madison Square Garden went crazy for Sid winning in what was quite the moment. We also saw the debut of Rocky Maivia, who would become popular later as The Rock. Great show.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
And that’s all for today’s post, thank you all for reading. Stay tuned for further updates. Have a nice day!
June 22, 1992 Taped from Charleston, SC (taped on June 16) Announced attendance: 4,600 TV rating (TBS): 2.8 (-0.9 compared to Clash 18’s 3.7)
Hey there everybody. Welcome to my review of the 19th edition of WCW Clash of the Champions, featuring exclusively first round matches of a tournament to crown the inaugural holders of NWA’s World Tag Team Championship. Among the many participating teams are many young international talents making their WCW debut, including future Radicalz teammates Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit.
List of WCW champions heading into this show (considering the date of the tapings):
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Sting [108th day of his reign] – previous champion: Lex Luger
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [210th day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: Steve Austin [24th day of his reign] – previous champion: Barry Windham
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Brian Pillman* [108th day of his reign] – previous champion: Jushin Thunder Liger
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Steiners (Rick & Scott) [44th day of their reign] – previous champions: Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) [30th day of their reign] – previous champions: Greg Valentine & Taylor Made Man
*Scotty Flamingo was the Light Heavyweight Champion at the time this show aired, having defeated Pillman for the title at Beach Blast
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & placetobenation.com
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #1 – Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs. The Malenkos (Joe & Dean)
Steamboat represents USA, Nikita represents Lithuania (hi, Vilnius!) and the Malenkos represent Europe. Hm, really? By that logic, doesn’t it mean Europe automatically advances regardless of the result!? Nice mat work by Steamboat and Joe to start and we get a stalemate. They get into a test of strength and Joe monkey flips him into a pin, which Steamboat blocks with a headscissors that Joe also blocks with a cartwheel, but then walks into an armdrag from Ricky. Joe manages to block a second attempt, so Steamboat scores with a hiptoss instead. Dean comes in and gets his arm worked over by Steamboat until he brings in Nikita. He works a bearhug and Dean uses the top rope to flip out of it, with Jim Ross making sure to mention on commentary that it is still legal under NWA’s rules. Dean goes up but his high crossbody gets caught by Nikita, only for Joe to come up with a dropkick from behind that gives Dean two. Snap suplex is no-sold by Nikita who responds with a giant faceplant, and Steamboat comes in to immediately go back to working the arm. Steamboat goes for a flying headscissors but gets double-teammed by the Malenkos behind the ref’s back, who hit a nice backdrop suplex into a flying clothesline combo for two. Dean puts Steamboat in a wicked submission that punishes both the leg and back, which Steamboat obviously knows how to sell perfectly. He eventually escapes and hits a desperate faceplant before making the hot tag to Nikita, who runs wild and finishes Dean with the Sickle to advance at 9:50.
Rating: Good match to get the tournament underway, with some great technical exchanges between Steamboat and the Malenkos and power display from Nikita. Though the result was never really in question, the Malenkos did somewhat look like credible threats due to Steamboat’s willingness to sell like a champ for anyone. ***
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #2 – The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin)(w/ Madusa) vs. ‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk & Marcus Alexander Bagwell
Everyone involved in this match represents the United States. Rude clotheslines Bagwell right off the gate, and Austin & Zenk take it to the mat and reach a stalemate. Rude gets back in with a dropkick followed by some hip swiveling action, and a vertical suplex gets two. Tag to Austin who walks into a cradle for two. However, Bagwell eats boot on a blind charge and the Alliance takes back control. A bunch of shots to Rude’s ravishing abs are no-sold (NEVER go after his abs!), and Rude responds with a piledriver to Zenk for two. Rude & Austin hit a double clothesline behind the ref’s back and they go to cut the ring in half, but Austin eats a superkick that opens the door for the hot tag. Bagwell crossbodies Austin for a nearfall, but then knocks himself out like a geek on a missed dropkick to Rude, who casually puts him away with the Rude Awakening at 7:54.
Rating: Average paint-by-numbers match to put the Alliance ahead. Bagwell in particular came off looking incredibly stupid, blowing away pretty much everything he went for here. On the other hand, Rude was clearly put over as the big star of the bunch. Not necessarily bad, but one would expect a lot more given who’s in it. *1/2
Meanwhile, Steve Williams & Terry Gordy are so desperate to get a rematch with the Steiners that they’re almost pissed to have to go through the first-round!
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #3 – The Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) vs. The O’Days (Larry & Jeff O’Day)
MVC are representing Japan in the tournament, and their opponents are a father/son duo from Australia. Gordy takes Larry (the father) down to the mat to start with some wrestling, but then Doc comes in and he pounds away. The kid eats a backdrop suplex from Doc and a corner clothesline from Gordy, but he actually gets a nearfall on Gordy with a sunset flip. It’s back to Larry for some shots, until Gordy gets tired of it and just PLANTS the poor man with a backdrop suplex. A stiff double shoulderblock from the MVC sets up Doc’s Oklahoma Stampede for the easy win at 2:35.
Rating: Just a squash, but the Miracle Violence Connection looked like world beaters. N/R
Jesse Ventura interviews Sting. Jesse compares Sting’s upcoming title match with Vader at the Bash to David vs. Goliath, and Sting actually has the balls to say he’s Goliath in this situation due to the fan support. Dang champ, there’s a difference between being confidence and asking for the beating of a lifetime!
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #4 – The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton)(w/ Paul E Dangerously) vs. Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes
Another all American match. Barry & Arn lockup to start, with Arn complaining about the taped fist already. A wrestling exchange goes nowhere, so Windham simply whacks him down in a fun spot that gets Jesse complaining about the cast on commentary as well. Barry eats knee on a blind charge in the corner and Arn goes up, but Windham dumps him to the floor with a dropkick. Eaton punches Rhodes in the gut in midair on a leapfrog attempt, but Dustin responds by dumping Bobby with a big boot and Paul E asks for the DQ. The Alliance bail but the babyfaces remain in control, until Eaton cuts Windham off with a cheap knee on a criss cross. Backdrop from Bobby gets two. Arn eats boot and Dustin cleans house off the hot tag. Rhodes holds the ropes to block Arn’s DDT, but Eaton pops up with a clothesline from the apron. Dustin misses a crossbody on Eaton and dumps himself to the floor, where Paul E adds his shot with the telephone. Back in, Bobby goes up and the flying kneedrop gets two. Eaton adds insult to injury by hitting Dustin with his own bulldog for a nearfall. He gets too cocky and tries it again only to be sent into the buckle this time around, but Arn immediately covers up for Bobby by distracting the referee so that he misses the hot tag to Windham. Arn then illegally jumps in with the spinebuster to Rhodes, giving Eaton a delayed nearfall. Bobby tries to follow up with the Alabama Jam straight away, but Rhodes dodges and the bulldog puts Bobby away at 10:23.
Rating: Good first round match with some quality cheating from Bobby & Arn. ***1/4
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #5 – The Steiners (Rick & Scott) vs. Miguel Pérez Jr & Ricky Santana
Actually never mind as the Miracle Violence Connection report to Eric Bischoff that they witnessed someone running over the Puerto Ricans, unabling them to wrestle tonight and thus automatically sending the Steiners into the quarter finals for a rematch with the MVC!
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #6 – The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) vs. The Silver Kings (#1 & #2)
The Kings are representing Mexico and the Freebirds are representing Badstreet USA, of course. One of the geeks dropkicks the other to start, but Garvin misses a dropkick. #2 goes up for a flying legdrop, but Garvin ducks and gets two. Suplex gets two. Hayes gets in and moonwalks for a bit, but #1 comes back with a senton for one. Flying elbowdrop from #2 gets two. The Silver Kings hit horrible looking spinning wheel kicks in stereo, but Hayes comes back with a backdrop. And he follows it up with absolutely nothing, instead stands there and claps. Okay then. #2 makes the comeback with a series of quick kicks and dropkicks, with Hayes bumping awkwardly for them as he looks totally lost and out of place out there. Missile dropkick from #1 gets two, with Jimmy breaking up the pin. The Freebirds get a couple of cheapshots in but the Mexicans ram them against each other and dump them. Hayes hits Garvin by mistake on the floor, and then the Silver Kings hit each other as well. Ugh. Hayes takes #1 back inside, where he simply cradles him for the merciful end at 6:28. I smell an audible there.
Rating: I like the Freebirds’ work in previous years, but at this point their matches keep getting scarier every time. This was really bad. 1/4*
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #7 – Flyin’ Brian Pillman & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington
Yep, it’s that Chris Benoit making his WCW debut. Him and Beef are representing Canada, Liger is representing Japan and Brian the United States. Benoit and Liger get into a nice wrestling sequence to start, won by Benoit with a fireman’s carry takedown. Benoit wins a test of strength too, but Liger bridges his way back up and sends Benoit flying. Benoit comes back with a shoulderblock, but ends up running into a series of armdrags before they each dodge a dropkick from the other and reach a stalemate. It’s off to Pillman and Beef, who runs over Brian with a powerful shoulderblock but gets dumped after a series of dropkicks. Beef comes back with a snap suplex and Brian responds with a suplex from the apron onto the floor. Liges fires away the quick kicks until Beef grounds him, and Benoit gets in with a clothesline followed by an enziguiri. Wellington brings back the ULTIMATE DICK MOVE by slamming Liger all the way to the floor, but his follow-up dive finds no water in the pool.
Brian dumps Benoit on a criss cross sequence, and brings him back inside with a backdrop suplex off the top rope. Missile dropkick follows and Benoit bails, so Brian fakes a dive and takes him down with a high crossbody instead. They get into a nasty chopfest filled with all kinds of extra mustard all over it. Now it’s Liger taking down Beef with a dive on the outside, but Beef counters a crucifix with a samoan drop for two back inside. Benoit takes Liger up top for a backdrop suplex, which Liger counters in midair and falls on top for two. Spinning wheel kick sends Benoit flying all the way to the floor, where Liger meets him with an Asai Moonsault. Brian goes for an O’Connor Roll on Benoit but instead walks into Beef’s knee in the corner, who then puts the miss in missile dropkick. Double noggin knocker gets rid of Benoit while also leaving Wellington in position for Liger to finish him with a moonsault at 11:30.
Rating: This was all action from start to finish, and it completely blew away everything else on the card, which is not surprising given who’s involved. Wellington would have a stint in ECW in the mid 90s, until his career came to an abrupt end in 1996 due to a serious eye injury. Benoit spent the next decade and a half having kickass matches and winning all kinds of titles in pretty much every promotion across the planet. ***3/4
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match #8 – Hiroshi Hase & Akira Nogami vs. The Headhunters (#1 & #2)
Japan versus the Dominican Republic. The Headhunters are Bob Cooke and Joe Cruze under masks. The masked guys take over with a bunch of basic stuff until Nogami blocks a suplex and hits a dropkick. #1 hits a stungun into a backbreaker for two, but the Japanese come back with a variation of kicks. They run wild until Hase misses a flying kneedrop, and #1 hits a sideslam for two. Double suplex gets #2 two. It eventually turns into a pier six that ends with both Japanese hitting bridged suplexes in stereo for the double pin at 5:19.
Rating: Not horrible, but there’s nothing to see here. 1/2*
Jesse Ventura interviews Ron Simmons. He plans to go where no other black man has gone in this sport and become World Heavyweight Champion. Harley Race interrupts alongside the Super Invader, and he wants Ron to go tell Sting something in the back, but Ron replies “go do it yourself”. Harley reminds him who he is and what he’s accomplished, but then goes too far by saying he had guys like him carrying his bags. Simmons snaps and cleans house alone, with Harley even taking the chop block to feed Ron’s push. Effective little segment to get Ron over.
Tony Schiavone interviews Bill Watts. He’s all about giving the fans what they came to see, and since there were eight matches booked on the card, that’s what they will get. The quarter finals were originally scheduled for GAB, but since the Miracle Violence Connection want the Steiners so bad, their quarter final match is TONIGHT.
NWA Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match #1 – The Steiners (Rick & Scott) vs. The Miracle Violence Connection (Dr. Death Steve Williams & Terry Gordy)
Wrestling sequence to start as Gordy goes after Rick’s leg. Scott tries to explode with a belly to belly, but Gordon uses his power to avoid it. Scott can’t bridge up on a pinfall reversal sequence that looked pretty awkward, so Scott sticks to an explosive backdrop suplex instead. Doc comes in for a nice exchange with Scott on the mat and we get a stalemate. Rick sends Doc flying with a belly to belly, and Doc bails. Doc gets back in and has the brilliant idea of bitchslapping Rick, who just SANDBAGS HIM in response and proceeds to pound away on freaking Dr. Death like he’s yesterday’s trash. We’re done playing now! Doc takes him down and stiffs the hell outta him with a forearm, before taking him inside out with the mother of all lariats. Gordy in for a belly to belly, which also sounds like an excellent idea, and indeed Rick turns it into his own. Hot tag Scott who runs wild with a backdrop, clothesline and the tiger driver in preparation for the Frankensteiner. However, Gordy holds on to the ropes and Scott knocks himself out on the mat. Doc in to work on Scott’s back with a backbreaker for two. Gordy follows up with a running powerslam and locks in a kneebar. A double shoulderblock by MVC gives Williams two. He goes after the leg as well, but Scott comes back with a standing dropkick. Rick gets the false hot tag and immediately dumps him with a clothesline. He hits a powerslam and goes for the pin, but the ref lets him know about it. Gordy runs over Scott with a chop block on the floor, and Doc follows up with a badass delayed gorilla powerslam for a great nearfall. IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and the ref loses control, allowing Gordy to clip Scott’s bad leg from behind when he’s going for a belly to belly on Doc, who lands on top for the pin to eliminate the Steiners at 15:01.
Rating: One of those rare matches where you can tell they’re stiffing the hell out of each other and not cooperating in the slightest, yet the match is better because of it. An absolute car wreck in human form is exactly what this is, a human demolition derby and it’s pretty darned awesome on that level. The tournament was all leading up to this rematch from their broadway at Beach Blast, and while it’s surprising that they did it in the quarter finals, at least it adds some unpredictability to the rest of the tournament. ***3/4
Tony Schiavone & Magnum TA close the show with a rundown of the tournament brackets, which will continue (and end) at Great American Bash. Since I’m a cool dude, I’ll leave them here for you as well:
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: It’s a show that definitely feels incomplete in case you don’t follow up by watching the PPV as well, as it literally just had the first round matches of the tournament. With that in mind, though, it was definitely an interesting show that gave some international talents a first chance to impress in a major wrestling company. Chris Benoit was by far the most impressive of the bunch, and he’d be brought back for a few more dates with WCW the next year before being eventually signed for a proper run in 1995. It’s a different edition of WCW Clash and it’s pretty good, all things considered. 6/10
That’s all, thank you very much for reading. Make sure you don’t miss the review of The Great American Bash to follow the rest of the tournament, as well as Sting vs. Big Van Vader for the World Championship. See you there, take care!
June 20, 1992 Live from Mobile, AL (Mobile Civic Center) Announced attendance: 5 000 (capacity: ca. 10 112) PPV buyrate: 70 000 (-35 000 compared to WrestleWar 1992’s 105 000)
Hello everyone, I’m Tomás. Welcome to my review of the first PPV of WCW’s new era. Yep, another one already! Cowboy Bill Watts had recently been hired as the company’s new Executive Vice President, replacing Kip Allen Frey, who himself was only in the job for five months – having taken over Jim Herd’s previous spot (thank god!) that January.
Granted, Watts’ old-school mentality had its positive aspects, namely booking clean finishes regularly rather than nonsensical gaga. However, he also had some very questionable decisions, such as making top-rope moves automatic disqualifications, or going back to WCW’s old partnership with the NWA and bringing back their titles. The regime wasn’t popular amongst the wrestlers and, as we will see, the whole NWA thing became very confusing real soon and didn’t last that long. Ultimately, neither did Watts’ run.
Anyway, onto the PPV…
The list of champions heading the event is as follows:
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Sting [112th day of his reign] – previous champion: Lex Luger
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [214th day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: Steve Austin [28th day of his reign] – previous champion: Barry Windham
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Brian Pillman [112th day of his reign] – previous champion: Jushin Thunder Liger
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Steiners (Rick & Scott) [48th day of their reign] – previous champions: Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) [34th day of their reign] – previous champions: Greg Valentine & Taylor Made Man
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com
The hosts are Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura
Bill Watts gets interviewed by Bischoff and Schiavone to open the show. He reminds us of the new strict rules in WCW, but the Sting/Cactus Falls Count Anywhere match is unsactioned, so those rules don’t apply to them tonight. Thanks for clarifying, Cowboy!
WCW Light Heavyweight Championship – Flyin’ Brian Pillman(c) vs. Scotty Flamingo
IMG credit: WWE
Remember: thou shalt not jump from the top rope! Lockup to start ends in a stalemate. Scotty gets a single leg takedown and celebrates as if he’d won the World Series. Pillman’s hammerlock is countered with a drop toehold, but Pillman quickly rolls through right back to the hammerlock. Now Pillman strikes with a drop toehold of his own, and starts throwing knees on Scotty’s arm while he’s got him in the hammerlock. Flamingo finally escapes after a bunch of cheapshots, but misses a clothesline and Pillman gets a crucifix for two, as Scotty bails. He’s able to comeback with yet another cheapshot in the corner, but Pillman hiptosses him out of the corner and transitions right into a short armscissors. Flamingo nicely rolls out of that predicament into a roll-up with a handful of tights that gets two, but Brian rolls him right back onto the hold. Scotty escapes and they go to a criss cross sequence that ends with a Brian hiptoss, as Flamingo begs off. Pillman stretches the arm and goes to work on it some more, with Scotty getting visually frustrated. Scotty makes it to the ropes and cheapshots him again, and Brian responds with a flying headscissors followed by a dropkick. Flamingo gets caught upside down on the ropes, and Pillman dumps him on the concrete floor.
Pillman then fakes a suicide dive and jumps off the apron to the floor instead. Pillman goes up back inside, but since thou shalt not jump from the top rope, Flamingo slams him off for two! Flamingo dumps Pillman in returns and meets him with a dive. Brian tries to go back after the left arm back inside, but Flamingo keeps him down and goes up for a flying fistdrop for two. But he did it off the second rope because… well you know by now! Flamingo charges into a Brian high crossbody off the apron, but Scotty immediately clotheslines him and the ARROGANT COVER gets two! We hit the chinlock. Pillman escapes with a shoulderblock only to eat a high knee, and Flamingo goes back to the chinlock and chokes away a little bit for good measure. Brian works a sleeper, but Scotty runs his head into the buckle to escape and they hit each other for a double KO spot. Flamingo throws another cheapshot, and Pillman finally has enough and responds in the same manner. Flamingo goes up but eats a dropkick in mid-air, followed by a spinning heel kick. Brian runs wild and slugs away in the corner, but Flamingo catches a charging Brian with a scoop powerslam for two. Pillman plays possum as his knee seemingly buckles twice, allowing him to german Flamingo off the second rope for two, with Scotty putting his foot on the ropes. Pillman tosses Scotty over the top with a clothesline (not a DQ, take a drink). Brian follows it up with a dive, but misses and lands on his head to take himself out in the process instead. That looked sick. Back in, Flamingo gets the academic pin and the title at 17:29.
Rating: Really fun opener, especially considering their hands were tied with these new rules. I dug the story they told, with Pillman outwrestling Flamingo for large portions of the first half of the match, until Flamingo’s constant cheating eventually took Pillman’s head off the game and made it more even. Good finish too that protected Pillman in defeat. ***1/2
Johnny B. Badd hosts the first part of the Madusa/Missy Hyatt bikini contest. Cool, I guess. I finish my comments on the previous match.
Ron Simmons vs. Taylor Made Man
IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com
Simmons easily overpowers Taylor to start. A number of cheapshots in the corner cuts him off, but Taylor stops to celebrate and gets run over with a pair of chop blocks. Taylor grabs Ron by the tights and dumps him, but Simmons gorilla presses him onto the ring and clotheslines him back outside. The poor DQ rule gets ignored as always. Simmons pounds away and works a bearhug, which Taylor escapes with the greco-roman thumb to the eyes. Simmons turns a Taylor hiptoss attempt into one of his own, but goes flying all the way to the ramp on a missed shoulderblock. Taylor pounds away back inside and the Mr. Perfect necksnap gets two. Backbreaker gets two. Simmons comes back with the spinebuster followed by a backdrop, a shoulderblock and finally a powerslam for the win at 7:10. Ron cuts a short babyface promo afterwards.
Rating: It was effective but nothing spectacular. Still, another nice win by Ron Simmons on his slow way up the card. *1/2
Greg Valentine vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell
IMG credit: WWE & culturecrossfire.com
An early wrestling sequence to start is actually won by Bagwell, who then counters a Hammer piledriver with a backdrop. Bagwell scores with an atomic drop followed by a couple of dropkicks, and Valentine takes a powder. Valentine finally has enough of the rookie and clotheslines his head off his shoulders. He put a little bit of mustard on that one. Greg takes the kid to school with the chops, but misses a flying elbowdrop. Did it off the second rope too, because thou shalt not jump from the top rope! Bagwell slams Valentine but misses a follow-up kneedrop, and Valentine goes to work on the knee immediately. Greg tries the figure four but gets kicked off, and then cradled on a second try for two. Bagwell turns a slam into a roll-up for two. Backslide gets two. Greg’s suplex gets countered into one by Bagwell that gets two more. Backdrop gets another nearfall. Bagwell lands on the bad knee on a leapfrog, though, and Valentine hits a kneebreaker followed by the figure four for the submission win at 7:17.
Rating: Quite good undercard match between veteran and rookie with some strong psychology. Also, it’s nice to see Greg get a singles win on a PPV for a change. His first one since the submission match with Ronnie Garvin at Royal Rumble 1990, I believe. **3/4
Falls Count Anywhere Match – Sting vs. Cactus Jack
IMG credit: WWE
This is ‘unsactioned’ by WCW, therefore non-title. We’re wasting no time tonight as it’s underway on the ramp, where Sting backslides him for two. Speaking of wasting no time, Cactus takes his first crazy bump in the form of a backdrop on the ramp. Sting follows it up with a bulldog for one. He tries the Stinger Splash onto the post, but takes himself out and eats the Cactus elbowdrop for two. Cactus follows it up with a SWINGING NECKBREAKER ON CONCRETE FOR TWO!! The crazy sunset flip off the apron gets two on the floor, and Sting rams Foley’s head onto the railing to finally take control. Cactus gets sent flying into the crowd with a backdrop, where Sting gives him a suplex on the concrete for two. And then Sting whips him back to ringside, with Cactus taking another insane bump ON CONCRETE AGAIN. This is insanity. Sting brings the fight back to the ring, but eats a clothesline there. Cactus hits a running knee in the corner and… works a bodyscissors??? That’s it, I’ve seen it all now! That obviously goes nowhere as Sting easily escapes, only to take the Cactus Clothesline onto the floor. Cactus whips him into the railing and beats him up with a chair, but Sting comes back with a backdrop suplex ON FUCKING CONCRETE for two. Holy cow. Sting goes for the Stinger Splash on the railing, which Cactus turns into a stungun onto the railing in mid-air. Piledriver on the floor gets two. The Cactus Elbow misses though, as Cactus eats concrete once more, and Sting runs wild with the chair. The Scorpion Deathlock on the ramp gets blocked, however, and Cactus hits the double-arm DDT for a false finish. Sting makes the comeback with a clothesline on the ramp and goes up for a flying clothesline to finish Cactus Jack on the ramp at 11:24.
Rating: Craziness. That’s what this was. Sting and (especially) Foley went out there on a mission to kill each other, and that’s exactly what they did in what was one heck of a street fight. Some of the bumps are quite uncomfortable to watch and I understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of coffee, but they deserve big props for going out there and taking no shortcuts. This had a different flavour than anything else on the show and I really liked it. ****1/4
30 Minute Iron Man Match – Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat
IMG credit: WWE & thisisawesomepod.com
This is also non-title because reasons. I can understand it in the previous match since the whole point about it was that it hadn’t been sanctioned by the company, but not so much here.
Steamboat goes right after Rude to start and an early gutbuster hurts Rude’s ribs. Steamboat wastes no time going after said body part with a shoulderblock in the corner that further damages Ravishing Rick, before Steamboat literally kicks the ribs as if he’s Maradona trying to score a final-minute 30 yard winner in the World Cup Final as hard as possible! Steamboat works a bearhug for a while before taking Rude back into the corner for more shoulderblocks to the ribs, until he eats a knee to the nose that stops him. Rude pounds away but the ribs are already too hurt, and Steamboat slams him down and applies a nasty armbar while he’s got a knee on Rude’s ribs for extra pressure. Rude rakes the eyes to escape, but gets caught in a Boston Crab from Ricky until Rude finally breaks by making it to the ropes. Steamboat drops him right on the bad ribs, though, and follows it up with a splash and a knee to the back. Ricky then teases a vertical suplex but drops him on his ribs instead. Awesome! Steamboat eats a second knee to the face on a missed blind charge, however, and Rude grabs a handful of tights to steal the first fall at 7:42.
Rick Rude 1-0 Ricky Steamboat
Now it’s Rude going after Steamboat’s previously broken nose with a few elbows. He immediately follows it up with Rude Awakening to get another fall against the tide at 8:39 (all while selling the bad ribs).
Rick Rude 2-0 Ricky Steamboat
Rude smartly slows down the pace from here, hitting a neckbreaker. He goes up for a flying kneedrop… which is a DQ at 9:46 because THOU SHALT NOT JUMP FROM THE TOP ROPE, dammit!
Rick Rude 2-1 Ricky Steamboat
It’s the classic “give up a fall to knock him out” trope, though, and Rude immediately scores again with an inside cradle at 10:11.
Rick Rude 3-1 Ricky Steamboat
Steamboat goes after the ribs looking for an opener, but Rude quickly cuts him off with a faceplant and smartly works a chinlock to kill some precious time. He releases the hold just as Steamboat is about to make the ropes and hits an assdrop to the back, but the injured ribs don’t allow the hip swivel in an amazing little touch. Rude goes back to the chinlock which Steamboat powers out of with an electric chair drop, but he misses a splash and Rude works the count a few times. Back to the chinlock we go just as we hit the halfway mark. Rude takes his time beating up Steamboat all over the ring and a piledriver gets a nearfall. Rude tries a tombstone next, but Steamboat reverses into his own and falls on top for his second decision at 17:39.
Rick Rude 3-2 Ricky Steamboat
Rude sends Ricky into the buckle before he can continue the comeback, but then he makes the mistake of going up again, this time with Steamboat following him and bringing him down with a superplex. Which now isn’t a DQ because… who knows. Take a drink! A pinfall reversal sequence sees a backslide give Steamboat the equalizer at 20:23.
Rick Rude 3-3 Ricky Steamboat
Steamboat runs wild with virtually every pinning combination imaginable giving him numerous nearfalls until Rude cuts him off with a jawbreaker. He follows it up with a couple of faceplants right on the bad nose for two. Steamboat fires away with the chops until Rude again goes to the eyes to break, and a hard clothesline takes the Dragon down. This time Rude completes the pose but only by using one arm. Rude maintains control by slugging and choking away on the ropes. He goes for the Rude Awakening, but Steamboat blocks and comes back with…. A RUDE AWAKENING(!!!) to go ahead, but Rude’s got his foot on the ropes to break the pin. We’re now in the final five minutes, as Ricky Steamboat hits a backdrop suplex for two. Rude jumps on his back with a sleeper, which Steamboat tries to break by smashing his face into the buckle twice, but Rude doesn’t let go and eventually drops Steamboat down to the mat to put the crowd fully Steamboat. Just as we enter the last minute, Steamboat climbs up on his knees and kicks the turnbuckle away as a last ditch effort, putting all his bodyweight on top of Rude’s shoulders long enough to pin him and get another fall at 29:26.
Rick Rude 3-4 Ricky Steamboat
Now Rick Rude is beyond desperate with only 30 seconds to go. Clothesline gets two. Shoulderblock gets two. Clothesline gets two. Fifteen seconds! Inside cradle gets two more. Ten seconds!! Rude hits a quick powerslam for the final pin attempt, but Steamboat kicks out and we eventually reach the 30:00 mark.
Rating: Wow! That right there was worth the price of admission. A true wrestling clinic between two of the very best with monumental storytelling and in-ring psychology but, above all, just f*cking perfect selling by both pros. It’s truly brilliant and while my heart is desperately telling me to give this the full monty, the new dumb top rope rule did give way to a few nonsensical spots. Plus the non-title caveat. However, I completely understand those of you who might give it five stars, because it was absolutely flawless otherwise. ****3/4
How do you follow THAT up!? With more of the Madusa/Hyatt bikini thingy, apparently. How much I love you, my dear fast-forward button!
Advert for The Great American Bash 1992 coming up on July 12th.
The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Steve Austin & Bobby Eaton)(w/ Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa) vs. Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff & Dustin Rhodes – special referee: Ole Anderson
IMG credit: WWE & wwenetworknews.com
Take just a second to check out the talent over on the heel side. Craziness. TV Title rivals Austin and Windham kick us off with some sweet basic tradeoffs on the mat, and Windham even pulls off a Japanese armdrag off the second rope. Dustin gets introduced to the match via an Austin thumb to the eye, but he responds with a dropkick on a criss cross sequence. Dustin gives him another and goes to work on the arm, but Austin’s too close to his corner and Eaton reaches in for the tag. Bobby catches Dustin with a knee to the gut and a roll-up gets two, before bringing in Arn Anderson. AA comes in with a bitchslap to Nikita, who then asks for the tag, and Anderson climbs to the top to run away from him. He thankfully remembers that thou shalt not jump from the top rope in time, but eats Nikita’s Sickle back in the ring and gets dumped. AA takes a powder before bringing in Eaton, who ends up running into a bearhug from Koloff. Arn comes in to break it up, but Nikita cleans house with an atomic drop that sends Eaton onto Arn, and a powerslam to Steve Austin. Windham takes over on Arn with a series of slams, and Arn tries to cut him off with a cheapshot, but Windham atomic drops him onto the buckle to cause a collision for a double down.
They get into a slugfest back up and Windham catches him with a sleeper, which Arn escapes with a backdrop suplex. Rhodes runs wild on all three heels off the hot tag, until he eventually gets caught in their corner where Arn sends him into Eaton for a double noggin knocker. Austin immediately steps in to pick up the pieces and he pounds away on Rhodes. The Dangerous Alliance keep it basic to maintain control close to their corner, making frequent tags and cutting the ring in half. Austin hits a running clothesline for two. We get one more minute or so of the Alliance working over Dustin, until he blocks a slam from Austin into an O’Connor roll for two, but then it’s back to the heat spot. Austin seems to hit the stungun for the finish, but instead it backfires as it catapults Rhodes all the way to the other side of the ring and allows Windham to reach for the hot tag. He comes in running wild until it eventually turns into a PIER SIX BRAWL BY GAWD. Windham finishes Austin with the Superplex, but Arn breaks up the pin… by jumping off the top. It’s a stone cold DQ finish (pun very much intended) at 15:32 to put over the new dumb rule.
Rating: This was really solid for the most part, even pretty good at some points, but overall I have to say it did lack that little extra juice. After seeing the Dangerous Alliance knocking it out of the park for months in main events, watching them in a throwaway six-man tag match designed to kill some air time and ultimately get over the top rope move just feels off. It was obviously solid given the awesome talent involved, but also forgettable. All six guys are capable of doing a lot better and worthy of a higher spot on the card. **3/4
Ricky Steamboat addresses his win over Rick Rude in the Iron Man Match earlier, but Paul E says no more title shots and… Cactus Jack jumps Steamboat. Now THERE’S a dream match you never knew you needed!
Bikini contest finale – Missy Hyatt is declared the winner.
Main Event – WCW World Tag Team Championship – The Steiners (Rick & Scott)(c) vs. Dr. Death Steve Williams & Terry Gordy
IMG credit: WWE & audioboom.com
Scott and Gordy take it to the mat to start. Gordy no-sells Scott’s shoulderblock and they get into a slugfest from there. Doc comes in for an amateur sequence with Scott on the mat, until he misses a charge. Scott goes for the german but Williams blocks it, only to miss another blind charge in the corner and Scott sunset flips him for two. Steiner works a headlock for a while and it’s off to Rick vs Williams in a battle of the former Varsity Club members, which JR covers on commentary. They feel each other out for a second until Rick explodes with a belly to belly suplex, and Doc bails. Doc retaliates with a powerslam back inside. He hits a chop block to start going after the leg, followed by a second one, but a failed third attempt earns him a Steinerline for two. Gordy with a backdrop suplex for two. Back to Williams for a slugfest, and he dumps Rick by the tights before shooting him off with a huge shoulderblock! Rick comes back in with a sunset flip off the apron for two, with a little assist from his brother. Gordy picks up where Williams left off earlier by locking in a half crab on Rick, who literally powers his way into a pair of nearfalls and explodes with a belly to belly. Scott finally gets back in with a violent t-bone suplex. He wrestles Gordy down with a front facelock, but luckily it’s near the corner and Doc reaches in for the tag to save.
We get the call for the final 15 minutes while Williams works a chinlock, and Scott comes back with a crossbody to Gordy for two. Doc cuts him off with a clip to the knee behind the ref’s back, though, and Gordy follows it up with a modified STF. Steiner won’t quit and Gordy knows it, choosing to release the hold and instead take his head off with a clothesline for two. Doc misses an elbow in the corner but Scott can’t follow up because of the knee, and Gordy goes back to the leg submission. Williams works a Boston crab that he turns into a half crab, and we’re in the last ten minutes. Gordy gets the STF a second time, and so does Doc with the Boston crab. Rick comes in off the hot tag with a powerslam for two. Flying fulldog (off the second rope) sets up the Doomsday Device (off the second rope!!!), but Gordy clotheslines Scott off the corner to stop that and Doc hits one to Rick. Gordy powerslams Rick off the second rope for two. Dropkick gets two more as we only have five minutes left on the clock. Gordy gets a backdrop suplex for two. Doc pounds away for a while and hits a nice gutwrench sitout powerbomb that gets two. Rick’s Steinerline is blocked and turned into Doc’s Oklahoma Stampede, but Rick escapes as well and this time hits the Steinerline. Gordy comes in only to eat a Steinerline himself too, and we have just one minute left. Hot tag Scott who runs wild with slams and Steinerlines abound. The tiger driver to Gordy sets up the Frankesteiner for the… time limit draw at 30:00, keeping the straps with the Steiners.
Rating: From a technical standpoint it was a strong match. As a main event that had to follow the Sting/Cactus falls count anywhere and the Rude/Steamboat iron man from earlier, though, it did feel somewhat underwhelming due to the tired audience. This was ultimately a really, really good match with potential to reach other levels had it not gone 30 minutes without a proper finish. ***3/4
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: High recommendation. Nothing in this show sucks or even comes close to it for that matter. Rude/Steamboat and Sting/Cactus are two absolutely epic classics in their own different ways, and everything else ranges from watchable to decent to really good. Despite the complicated booking decisions and rules throughout the whole show, it’s a very complete pay-per-view with lots to offer from top to bottom. A high 8/10.
POINT SYSTEM
Click here to find out how the point system works.
Wrestler
Star rating
Result
Main eventing
Extras
Total
Ricky Steamboat
4.75
1
–
+2 for earning 4 falls -1.5 for losing 3 falls
6.5
Scotty Flamingo
3.5
1
–
+2 for winning a title
6.5
Rick Steiner Scott Steiner
3.75
–
1
+1 for retaining a title
5.75
Sting
4.25
1
–
–
5.25
Steve Williams Terry Gordy
3.75
–
1
–
4.75
Greg Valentine
2.75
1
–
–
3.75
Rick Rude
4.75
-1
–
+1.5 for winning 3 falls -2 for losing 4 falls
3.25
Barry Windham Nikita Koloff Dustin Rhodes
2.75
0.5
–
–
3.25
Cactus Jack
4.25
-1
–
–
3.25
Ron Simmons
1.5
1
–
–
2.5
Arn Anderson Steve Austin Bobby Eaton
2.75
-0.5
–
–
2.25
Marcus Bagwell
2.75
-1
–
–
1.75
Brian Pillman
3.5
-1
–
-2 for losing a title
0.5
Taylor Made Man
1.5
-1
–
–
0.5
FEEDBACK
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And that’s all for today’s post. I’d like to apologize for taking a bit longer than usual to post because of personal and health reasons. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming reviews of WCW’s GAB featuring Sting vs Vader for the title, WWF’s SummerSlam from the UK featuring Bret Hart vs Davey Boy, and an edition of Clash coming up next that includes the WCW debut of Chris Benoit. Until then, everyone. Have a kickass year!
May 17, 1992 Live from Jacksonville, FL Announced attendance: 6.000 (capacity: ca 10.276) PPV buyrate: 105.000 (-55.000 compared to WrestleWar 1991’s 160.000)
Hello everyone, as usual it’s Tomás here with a review of WCW’s WrestleWar 1992 – featuring a main event packed with some of the biggest storylines in WCW at the time, inside the violent WarGames. Elsewhere on the card, former partners Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk go at it for Brian’s Light Heavyweight Championship. The Steiners look to go through Fujinami & Iizuka on their way to the IWGP Tag Team straps. Also, the herculean debut of the mysterious Super Invader! All that and much more.
Here is the list of champions in WCW going into this PPV:
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Sting [78th day of his reign] – previous champion: Lex Luger
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [180th day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: Barry Windham [20th day of his reign] – previous champion: Steve Austin
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Brian Pillman [78th day of his reign] – previous champion: Jushin Thunder Liger
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Steiners (Rick & Scott) [14th day of their reign] – previous champions: Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: Greg Valentine & Taylor Made Man [90th day of their reign] – previous champions: Ron Simmons & Big Josh
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & culturecrossfire.com
The hosts are Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura
WCW United States Tag Team Championship – Greg Valentine & Taylor Made Man(c) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin)
IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com
This is the first US Tag Title match on PPV in a year. Expect a rough undercard here, as the WarGames is naturally eating up three or four of the top WCW feuds at the moment, all in the same match. Hayes’ usual taunting gets things started for the Birds. The champs collide with each other leading to a Hayes roll-up for two, but Valentine blocks a hiptoss attempt and clotheslines him down. Hayes fights back with a succession of clotheslines for two, and a chopfest follows. Jimmy Garvin comes in to post Valentine, as the Birds then exchange quick tags while starting to go to work on Valentine’s arm. Taylor gets the tag, only to get caught in the Birds’ corner and get the same treatment. Taylor finally escapes that predicament by dumping Hayes to the ramp outside, but then Taylor follows him there and gets backdropped back inside for two. The Birds go back to work on the arm while the fans chant ‘DDT’, and now it’s Garvin being rammed outside. Valentine cheapshots Hayes off the apron to prevent the hot tag and he hits a suplex followed by a missed splash, but the hot tag is prevented once more, now by Taylor. A double KO spot finally allows Hayes to come in off the hot tag, but Taylor saves Valentine from a DDT with a five-arm to Hayes, giving Valentine a two count. Which in the process kicks off a second heat spot in this match, this time on Michael Hayes. In THIS match… A gutwrench sitout powerbomb by Taylor gets two. Valentine’s figure four is broken up by Garvin, setting up another hot tag as now Garvin gets to run wild on the champs. The fans want the DDT again. Me too, so we can finally move on. Valentine trips Garvin from the outside and tries to block the DDT on Taylor, but Hayes comes in to give him a hand as Garvin completes the DDT to get the titles at 16:02(!).
Rating: The Freebirds are over and the heels are solid singles wrestlers. But, for the love of god, this DIDN’T need 16 minutes, 2 hot tags and 2 heat spots. While it wasn’t horrible, it was a needlessly long match between a popular team past their heyday and a random duo, with little build over a title that just was not being featured. *3/4
Johnny B. Badd vs. Tracy Smothers
IMG credit: WWE & crazymax.org
Johnny nearly surprises Tracy early on with a quick roll up off a battle over a wristlock, as Tracy claims the tights were pulled. Tracy pops Johnny with an elbow to the jaw off another exchange of wristlocks, but Badd catches him with an armdrag and Tracy bails. Badd escapes a headlock with an armdrag, right into a crossbody for two, followed by a pair of dropkicks. Johnny slugs away on Tracy in the corner, but a blind charge is missed and Tracy takes him down with a great high kick for two. A nice flying elbow gets two. Tracy goes up once more to hit a high crossbody, but Johnny rolls through and nearly gets it. They exchange some nearfalls back and forth before Tracy works a chinlock, as Jesse wonders what the meaning of the kiss on the back of Johnny’s tights truly is. Badd elbows his way out of the chinlock and follows it up with a high knee as he makes the comeback. Johnny goes up for a flying sunset flip that gets two. Tracy misses another high kick, and the big left punch finishes Tracy at 7:03.
Rating: I liked some of the sequences in this one, and most of the stuff looked really good despite this being yet another heatless undercard match. **1/4
Backstage, the new US Tag Champs Fabulous Freebirds bring back Precious and want to add yet another World Tag Title reign and the NWA Tag tournament to their resume soon. If this was 1982, yes please. But in 1992? No, thanks.
Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Scotty Flamingo
IMG credit: WWE & crazymax.org
Speaking of a 10-year difference, I wonder if anyone thought in 1992 this would be a top tier match in WCW by the end of the decade – Raven vs Buff Bagwell. Here in 92, however, it really isn’t that big of a deal. We’re underway with a slapfest that quickly turns into a heated slugfest. Bagwell ultimately gets the better of that, and hits a backdrop suplex for two. Flamingo’s suplex attempt gets blocked and turned into Bagwell’s own suplex for two more. Bagwell rolls him up for two but a follow-up clothesline misses, and turned into a shitty backdrop suplex by Flamingo. That looked really bad. A flying fistdrop by Flamingo gets two, before he applies a chinlock. A criss cross sequence sees both guys tumble to the outside on a Scotty crossbody. Bagwell makes the comeback back inside with a hiptoss followed by a clothesline, and he goes up for a flying double axehandle. He finishes with the Imperfectplex, but Flamingo’s foot is on the ropes at two. Bagwell O’Connor rolls Scotty, who rolls through with a handful of tights to steal it at 7:11.
Rating: Not the greatest match here, as the barrage of pointless undercard matches continues. These two would go on to become big stars in the future, but here they were in their 20s and greener than grass (especially Bagwell). But outside of a bad looking spot or two, the match was otherwise alright and far from being terrible. *1/2
We recap Junkyard Dog returning at SuperBrawl, coming out through the crowd to save Ron Simmons from an attack at the hands of Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher.
Ron Simmons & Junkyard Dog vs. Cactus Jack & Mr. Hughes
Actually never mind, as Cactus jumps JYD from behind during the entrances and takes him out with a flying elbowdrop on the concrete. I mean, it’s Junkyard Dog in 1992, so those surprised with WCW finding him ‘not fit’ to work, please stand up. Simmons wants to go anyway, which takes us to…
Ron Simmons vs. Mr. Hughes(w/ Cactus Jack)
IMG credit: WWE & culturecrossfire.com
Somehow Hughes is in this spot, when the feud is between Ron/JYD/Foley/Abdullah. I’m assuming the company didn’t wanna go with Ron vs Cactus since it had already been done at the prior PPV, but then again booking JYD at this stage was asking to be booked into a corner. Ron explodes with a hiptoss to start, but Hughes bails and then takes over. Clothesline and an elbowdrop gets two. Hughes follows up with a kneedrop and then some choking on the ropes. Simmons fights back with a sunset flip for two, but Cactus makes his presence felt with a cheapshot as Hughes takes back control. Not for long, however, as Simmons hiptosses him. He makes the comeback with a clothesline and a backdrop setting up the big spinebuster. Ron goes for the pin but sees Cactus jumping inside the ring and takes a second to wipe him out, before finishing Hughes with a chop block at 5:22.
Rating: Confusing circumstances and story aside, this was short and effective. It accomplished what it had to – get Ron Simmons over on his way to becoming the first black World Champion of all time. *3/4
The Super Invader(w/ Harley Race) vs. Todd Champion
IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com
‘The Invader’ is Hercules Hernandez as a martial arts specialist from Thailand. Some puzzles are not meant to be solved. Invader takes it to Todd right from the word go, hitting a clothesline and a legdrop for two. They go to a test of strength but Invader cheapshots him and follows it up with the KARATE CHOP OF DEATH. Invader takes over with a side slam and then a backdrop suplex as he insists on not going for the cover, which is right in sync with the crowd who insist on not giving a shit. Instead Invader goes to a chinlock for about a minute, before dumping him to the outside. End this already. Invader hits a slam back inside and he goes up, only to eat boot on the classic Vertical Leap That Always Misses. Champion manages to fuck up a simple clothesline on his short cannon fodder comeback, before Invader catches him and finishes with the Powerbomb (Straight Outta Bangkok) at 5:26, mercifully.
Rating: A dumb idea and a dumb match. Not a good combination. DUD
Richard Morton vs. Big Josh
IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com
This was originally supposed to be Big Josh vs Diamond Studd (Scott Hall), but Hall recently left the promotion for the WWF where he’d debut as Razor Ramon. This is finally the last pointless undercard match before we move on to the three more featured bouts. Josh pounds away to start and does the goofy abdominal stomp spot early on. Josh misses a running elbow in the corner, and Morton fights back with some pounding of his own after ripping Josh’s shirt. Morton slides between Josh’s legs but can’t follow up with an O’Connor roll, but neither can Josh as he misses an elbowdrop. Morton goes for the pin off that and gets two. Morton goes to work on the arm until Josh slams him down, and this time he does hit the elbowdrop for two. However, Morton goes back to the arm to wear him down. Josh again escapes that predicament as he explodes with a belly to belly, and then a butterfly suplex gets two. Morton cuts him off with a cheapshot and he goes up, but lands right on the waiting arms of Big Josh and the assdrop splash pins Morton at 7:33.
Rating: Perfectly watchable little match, yet skippable. *1/4
We see a recap of the Pillman/Zenk story. One week after a cheap attack from Scotty Flamingo, during an interview with Jim Ross, Tom Zenk got too excited for a second and claimed Scotty could never beat him for “his title”. This offended Pillman who felt Zenk was looking ahead of him, as things got pretty heated between the former U.S. Tag champs. This is where the show finally picks up!
WCW Light Heavyweight Championship – Flyin’ Brian Pillman(c) vs. ‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk
IMG credit: WWE
We get a handshake before the bell. They start off with a nice little wrestling sequence that ends with both trying a dropkick at the same time. Brian takes control as he starts throwing vicious kneedrops to Zenk’s arm, before they again collide when they both try simultaneous clotheslines. Pillman with a snapmare takedown into a kneedrop, but it only gets one. A Pillman armdrag gets reversed into one by Zenk, who now goes to work on the arm, but Brian catches him with a flying headscissors and works an armbar. He switches to a headscissors on the mat, but Zenk makes it to the ropes and Brian gives him the clean break. This gives Zenk the opportunity to score a number of quick nearfalls, however, and Brian just CHOPS THE SHIT OUT OF HIS CHEST as a response. Good god. Brian starts twisting the ankle as he goes to work on the leg next. He misses a senton, though, landing right on his back as JR immediately explains Brian has had surgery on his lower back.
Zenk smartly goes to work on it immediately with some knees, and a vertical suplex gets two. He goes up only to miss a flying splash, and Brian goes back where he left off, working a single-leg crab. Zenk reverses it with an enziguiri that gets two, but a blind charge misses as Zenk hits the post legs-first. Brian follows it up with a figure four, which gets reversed back and forth and even results in a slugfest, before they eventually end up on the ropes to cause the break. Brian chops away and goes for Air Pillman, which Zenk turns into a powerslam in mid-air for a great nearfall. Sweet spot there. Pillman gets a crucifix for two. Jesse is desperate to see one of them cheat on commentary! Brian takes Zenk up for a superplex, but Zenk shoves him off and hits a high crossbody for a delayed two. A criss cross sequence sees them both collide again on a crossbody attempt for the double KO spot. Zenk faceplants him for two. The crowd are coming out of their seats for this one by this point. Pillman ducks an elbowdrop and Zenk plays some possum by claiming a leg injury, catching a flying Brian (no pun intended) with a dropkick in mid-air for the pin, with Brian making the ropes at two. Now Zenk goes up for a missile dropkick, but misses and Pillman cradles him for the quick pin to retain at 15:30.
Rating: NOW we’re talking! What a fantastic and energetic match this was. Both guys clearly knew each other very well, and they told that story very well throughout the bout, with both wrestlers having an answer and a reversal for almost everything thrown at each other. Best match on the card thus far by a mile. ****
No. 1 Contendership for the IWGP Tag Team Championship – The Steiners (Rick & Scott) vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizuka
IMG credit: WWE
The Steiners’ newly-won WCW World Tag Team titles are not on the line here. Scott and Fujinami feel each other out to start, until Scott explodes with a shoulderblock and gives both the backflip slam (botched the one to Fujinami). Fujinami eats such a rugged Steinerline from Scott that he immediately tags out. Iizuka gets the better of Scott when he comes in, hitting a flying elbowdrop and going back up again to hit a beautiful somersault senton for two. It looked as if Scott got shot like a cannon, great spot. Iizuka locks him in a Boston crab, but Scott’s too powerful so Iizuka rolls through into a cradle instead, which Scott bridges out of and into his butterfly powerbomb. He brings in Rick for the big elbowdrop off of Scott’s shoulders for two, and Fujinami comes back in to eat a NASTY german suplex. It’s off to Scott to work a single-leg crab, while we learn Iizuka is all busted up on the apron from the giant elbowdrop. The Japanese set up Rick for a Doomsday Device, but Rick actually catches Iizuka with a belly to belly off of Fujinami’s shoulders (DAFUCK!!!!) for a nearfall. Fujinami takes control by grounding Rick and going to work on his legs. Iizuka comes in to do the same, but Rick rolls through into a hammerlock and just whacks him with a knee right to the ribs. Don’t mess with the Steiners.
Scott adds a tilt-a-whirl slam for two. He wrestles him down to the mat with a double chickenwing for two. An explosive suplex sets up the tag to Rick, who punishes the kid some more with submission holds, before Scott comes back in for a pumphandle slam that gets two. Scott tries an abdominal stretch next but Fujinami makes the tag and comes in off the top onto Scott. He provokes Rick with a little cheapshot on the apron, before going to work on Scott with an abdominal stretch. Scott powers his way out of that predicament into a tag to Rick. Iizuka comes in too with a barrage of quick kicks in the corner, until Rick pretty much goes “yeah, not today” and nearly kills him with a DOUBLE LEG TAKEDOWN WITH EXTRA MUSTARD. Belly to belly gets two, with Fujinami breaking up the count. Scott willingly allows the poor guy to tag out, but he comes back in for a double-team and both end up eating a flying Steinerline from Rick instead. Good god! Fujinami illegally suplexes Scott off the top rope, setting up a german from Iizuka for two. I wouldn’t suplex a Steiner… just saying! A double spike piledriver and a missile dropkick from Iizuka set up Fujinami’s sleeper, but Scott escapes the Steiner way (by simply kicking him right in the jaw) and hits a Steinerline for a brief double KO spot. We get tags from both sides and Rick hits a stiff Steinerline with extra mustard on Iizuka for two. Belly to belly follows but Fujinami breaks up the pin, drawing Scott in as well as IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Took much longer than I expected! Rick then casually takes Iizuka up to the top rope and belly to belly suplexes him off the top for the win at 18:17.
Rating: This was a complete and utter car wreck and it was freaking AWESOME! I feel bad for poor Iizuka who just got stiffed like there was no tomorrow here, but to his credit the tough bastard kept getting up and got all the Steiners had to give. That’s not an easy task! Fujinami played the veteran role really well and wrestled a smart match too. And the Steiners were their usual physical, intense and explosive selves. It all made up for one heck of a brutal hoss fight. ****1/4
While they lower the cage for the main event, here’s a recap of the various stories:
In theory the Dangerous Alliance have the advantage because they’re a unit as opposed to Sting’s group of individuals. Five individuals who all want to be the WCW World Champion, which Sting currently holds. That’s a very valid point, however, on the other hand, the Alliance lost both the World Tag Team Titles (Arn & Eaton to the Steiners) and the TV Title (Austin to Windham) in the past couple of weeks. Heyman was also visually annoyed after Zbyszko lost a 2/3 falls match 2-0 to Nikita, so there’s certainly signs of dissension within the group. Barry Windham suffered a broken hand at the previous year’s Halloween Havoc courtesy of Arn and Zbyszko, so there’s bad blood there too. Ricky Steamboat and Rick Rude are in the midst of an intense personal feud over Rude’s US Title, with Rude breaking Steamboat’s nose shortly before this match. Meanwhile, Nikita Koloff resurfaced in WCW at SuperBrawl as a face, saving Sting from an attack by the Alliance, despite having been in a brutal feud with the Stinger shortly before departing the company the previous year. Can he be trusted!? On top of all that, Sting is coming in with a broken rib suffered at the hands of his number one contender, Big Van Vader. I hope I didn’t miss anything! Oh and Dustin… hmmm well… he’s the son of the booker former partner of Windham and Steamboat, so that justifies his involvement, I guess.
Main Event – WarGames – Sting’s Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff & Dustin Rhodes) vs. The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko)(w/ Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa)
IMG credit: WWE
Paul E literally brings a giant paper with all the strategy in a great little touch. Steve Austin and Barry Windham begin for their respective sides and slug it out to start. Windham hits a shoulderblock and Austin sends him into the cage, but Windham blocks the impact with his hands. Windham slugs away with the cast, as Jesse questions the veracity of the injury. Windham attempts a piledriver but Austin backdrops him, only to get sent into the other ring. Austin blocks a whip into the cage, much like Windham did earlier, but Barry rakes the eyes and DDTs him. Austin fights back with a clothesline that sends Windham back to the original ring, followed by a diving clothesline from Austin. He goes up but gets hung on top of the cell, and Windham slams him back down before finally sending Austin face-first into the cage. Some cheese grating action gives Austin the proverbial crimson mask, right before the time for the second round of wrestlers to enter.
The heels MAGICALLY win the coin toss to go first and Rick Rude comes in for them. Rude immediately jumps Barry to give the Alliance the advantage. Austin goes up and hits a flying clothesline. Windham then gets his face rammed into the cage a couple of times by both heels to leave him bloody too, but Ricky Steamboat enters and goes right after Rude. He beats Rude from pillar to post and plants both Rude and Austin with a DDT while the crowd goes absolutely bananas. Steamboat proceeds to ram Rude’s face into the buckle, but Austin breaks it up. Steamboat then hangs onto the top of the cage and goes full on Tarzan mode, using it to beat up the heels, including a hurricanrana to Rude before beating him up some more.
ArnAnderson breaks up the party with a DDT to Windham and the spinebuster to Steamboat. Rude then joins Arn as they work a double crab on Dragon, until Windham comes in for the save and they all get into a slugfest. Rude hits a piledriver on Steamboat before just sending him flying into the other ring, where they collide for a double KO spot. Dustin Rhodes evens the odds and he comes in running wild with several bionic elbows, atomic drops and clotheslines. The babyfaces completely turn things around as Steamboat works a Boston crab on Rude, Dustin hits AA with an electric chair and Windham sticks Arn’s head in between both rings!
Larry Zbyszko enters while Madusa climbs onto the roof of the cage so she can slide Paul E’s telephone into the ring. Sting follows her and eventually draws her back to ringside, but her goal is accomplished as the heels use the phone to their advantage inside the ring. Rude snaps Steamboat’s broken nose just as the countdown adds Sting to the mix. Sting makes the comeback with a bulldog to AA and a jawbreaker to Rude, before gorilla pressing Rude onto the top of the cage. Arn eats some cage. So does Austin with an insane backdrop. Arn eats some more cage, including cheese grating action, as now he too is all covered in blood. Time runs down as we get the final round of wrestlers.
Bobby Eaton comes in for the Alliance first to pound away on all the babyfaces. Dustin Rhodes is now bleeding as well. We get some ‘Nikita’ chants as his time approaches, while the commentators question Nikita’s loyalty. Finally Nikita Koloff comes in to begin the ‘match beyond’. Nikita immediately goes into the corner to save Sting from Arn Anderson’s attack, before picking Sting up from the mat leading to a big staredown. Nikita shoves Sting away from an Arn/Austin double clothesline, taking it himself. Sting then joins him to hit stereo clotheslines and they embrace to a huge pop! Meanwhile, Steamboat and Rude are still going at it alone in a separate ring. Dustin big boots Zbyszko. Stinger Splash on Arn sets up the Scorpion Deathlock, but Eaton is there for the save as now the top rope is broken. Dustin slams Austin to set up a flying elbow that misses. Zbyszko grabs the broken turnbuckle’s steel hook and takes a swing at Sting, but hits Eaton in the shoulder instead. Sting immediately capitalizes with an armbar on Eaton who gives it up to finish at 23:27. Paul and the Alliance all argue with Zbyszko on the way out.
Rating: This is exactly what WarGames should be. Drama, brutality, blood and excitement as the top stars’ feuds all intertwine leading up to it. It was simply done perfectly. The anticipation for Sting/Nikita was palpable, and it led to the staredown and the giant reaction after they united. Steamboat and Rude kept going after one another which made perfect sense. Austin was the bumping machine in this match and took the worse beating from start to finish, being one of the highlights as well. I also liked the finish of Zbyszko errantly hitting Eaton in the shoulder with the steel hook leading up to the armbar finish, as it made Sting look intelligent while also keeping Eaton fairly strong despite quitting. This is brilliant and definitely up there in talks of the best WarGames of all time. *****
We close with JR and Jesse hyping up the next PPV, Beach Blast.
Final thoughts: Long story short – if you watch only the final three matches, it’s pretty close to a 10/10 show; if you watch everything except the final three matches, it’s basically a 1/10 show. The undercard is brutal mostly because all the top feuds were in the main event, but thankfully by the end it was worth it. After the really exciting Pillman/Zenk match the show is flawless and that’s how it should be remembered, but that doesn’t erase the rest of the card from history. Overall, I give it a really high 6/10. Bring on Sting vs Vader!
FEEDBACK
Share your thoughts about my review and/or the event in the following form.
Ricky Steamboat Barry Windham Nikita Koloff Dustin Rhodes
5
1
1
–
7
Brian Pillman
4
1
–
+1 for retaining a title
6
Rick Steiner
4.25
1
–
+0.5 for winning the fall
5.75
Scott Steiner
4.25
1
–
–
5.25
Jimmy Garvin
1.75
1
–
+2 for winning a title +0.5 for winning the fall
5.25
Rick Rude Steve Austin Arn Anderson Larry Zbyszko
5
-1
1
–
5
Michael Hayes
1.75
1
–
+2 for winning a title
4.75
Bobby Eaton
5
-1
1
-0.5 for losing the fall
4.5
Johnny B. Badd
2.25
1
–
–
3.25
Tatsumi Fujinami
4.25
-1
–
–
3.25
Tom Zenk
4
-1
–
–
3
Ron Simmons
1.75
1
–
–
2.75
Takayuki Iizuka
4.25
-1
–
-0.5 for losing the fall
2.75
Scotty Flamingo
1.5
1
–
–
2.5
Big Josh
1.25
1
–
–
2.25
Tracy Smothers
2.25
-1
–
–
1.25
Super Invader
0
1
–
–
1
Mr. Hughes
1.75
-1
–
–
0.75
M. A. Bagwell
1.5
-1
–
–
0.5
Richard Morton
1.25
-1
–
–
0.25
Todd Champion
0
-1
–
–
-1
Greg Valentine
1.75
-1
–
-2 for losing a title
-1.25
Taylor Made Man
1.75
-1
–
-2 for losing a title -0.5 for losing the fall
-1.75
That’s all, thank you for checking out my review. Make sure you don’t miss my next reviews of the upcoming shows such as WCW’s Beach Blast and The Great American Bash, as well as WWF’s SummerSlam later. Happy new year!
April 19, 1992 Sheffield, England, United Kingdom Announced attendance: 8.000 (capacity: ca. 13.600)
Hello everyone and welcome to my review of WWF’s special event ‘Rampage’ in the UK, taking place on the final night of WWF’s annual post-WrestleMania tour of Europe. Airing live on Sky Movies Plus, Randy Savage defends the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Shawn Michaels in a rare dream match, the Intercontinental Title is up for grabs with Rick Martel challenging Bret Hart, the popular British Bulldog faces IRS in the main event in front of his fellow compatriots, and much more.
Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into this show:
WWF Champion: Randy Savage [14th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Bret Hart [14th day of his reign] – previous champion: Roddy Piper
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [72nd day of their reign] – previous champions: Legion of Doom
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE &
The hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan
Tatanka vs. Skinner
IMG credit: WWE & bastionb.com
They start off with a popularity contest easily won by Tatanka, who takes control early on by holding on to a chinlock. Clothesline into a sunset flip gets two, and Tatanka works a headlock while Bobby Heenan wonders how to pronounce ‘Tatatatatatatanka’! Clothesline gets two more and Skinner finally gets some offense in with a couple of chops, but Tatanka blocks another one and nearly steals it with a roll-up, and Skinner takes a powder. Skinner wants a handshake back inside, but Tatanka kicks him down and goes to work on the left arm. Skinner rams his head into the buckle to escape and bites him, before taking him down with a drop toehold and going to work on the leg. Skinner rams the leg into the apron and the post outside, then goes back in to dump Tatanka hard to the floor. A vertical suplex from the apron brings Tatanka back inside, and Skinner goes up but only finds Tatanka’s boot. Tatanka’s fired up and he makes the big comeback with the chops. The backbreaker and diving karate chop set up the NOT SAMOAN INDIAN DROP OF DOOM to finish Skinner at 11:53.
Rating: A perfectly decent house show opener, with Skinner getting a lot more offense than I expected after jobbing to Owen Hart at WrestleMania in a one-minute match. It was nothing special, but the crowd was very much into Tatanka and enjoyed watching him make his fired up comeback and get the win at the end, so it accomplished its goal. **
Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) vs. Dino Bravo & Col. Mustafa
IMG credit: WWE & bastionb.com
Sheiky-Baby cuts his usual pre-match promo dissing England. Mustafa pounds away in the corner to start, but LOD quickly dispatch them with clotheslines and they take a powder. Bravo tries to knock down Animal but gets overpowered rather easily. Hawk comes in with a flying clothesline, but then misses a blind charge in the corner and eats post. Mustafa adds a gutwrench suplex and works an abdominal stretch, until Animal comes in and breaks it up. Hawk reverses a suplex attempt and delivers one of his own, but Bravo comes in and prevents the hot tag. A double clothesline puts both guys down, and this time Animal fires away with a series of dropkicks off the hot tag. Hawk eliminates Bravo from the equation with a whip into the post outside, then finishes Mustafa with a diving clothesline at 4:29.
Rating: An easy squash win for the LOD over two heels past their primes. It would turn out to be Dino Bravo’s last appearance with the WWF, who would unfortunately pass away the following year. A glorified Superstars-like squash. 1/4*
Sid Justice wants Undertaker to open his eyes and realize that he rules the world after their match tonight.
The Undertaker & Paul Bearer remind Sid Justice that there’s no justice in death, and he must answer to The Undertaker’s Tombstone tonight. Quite the promo from Bearer here.
The Undertaker(w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Sid Justice(w/ Harvey Wippleman)
IMG credit: WWE & tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com
Sid attacks from behind before the bell and starts by slugging away in the corner. However, Undertaker no sells it and comes back with a powerslam followed by an elbowdrop, which he misses. Sid chokes UT on the apron but gets caught with a top rope necksnap, and it’s Old School already back inside. The flying clothesline looks to set up the Tombstone Piledriver, but Harvey Wippleman gets up on the apron for the distraction, allowing Sid to hit the one-hand chokeslam. A side slam drops UT as Sid pounds away, eventually taking the fight to the floor, where Sid posts Undertaker for the lame count-out win at 5:15.
Afterwards, Sid attacks Undertaker with a chair and hits a neckbreaker, but Undertaker sits up and hits the Tombstone. This would lead to nothing as Sid would quit the WWF exactly one week later, unhappy that The Ultimate Warrior wanted to no sell Sid’s Powerbomb and then completely run over him (à la what he did to HHH at WM 12 in 1996) at house shows. And so both the WrestleMania main-eventers are gone from the company (and wrestling) for the rest of the year… two weeks after the show. In case it wasn’t bad enough already.
Rating: It was exactly what one would expect from these two in 1992, a slow five-minute match with them exchanging their big moves, and Undertaker sitting up a couple of times. The non-finish was predictable and it made sense to protect both guys (assuming Sid stays, of course), but that doesn’t mean it makes this particular match any better. 3/4*
Shawn Michaels will make sure Macho Man has one of the shortest ever WWF title reigns tonight.
WWF Championship – Randy Savage(c)(w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. Shawn Michaels(w/ Sensational Sherri)
IMG credit: WWE & tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com
For all the trivia lovers out there, this is Miss Elizabeth’s very last appearance with the WWF. They start with a hard lockup that goes all the way into the corner, where Savage escapes a telegraphed HBK cheapshot on a clean break. They fight over a wristlock and Shawn whips Savage into the corner, where he ends up charging into a knee. Michaels bails and is apparently successful in pissing off Savage, who throws a chair into the ring. A criss cross sequence back inside sees Savage dumping Shawn, who skins the cat back inside only to get clotheslined all the way out. And Macho Man meets him there with the diving double axehandle. Savage attempts a piledriver but gets distracted with Sherri going after Liz, who gets sent back to the dressing room by Savage, allowing Michaels to sneak attack Savage outside and ram him into the railing. HBK introduces Savage into the steps too, and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker back inside for two. Michaels pounds away and a swinging neckbreaker gets two. Savage turns things around with a slingshot right into the post for two.
Savage’s classic necksnap rocks HBK, setting him up for the high knee to the back that dumps Michaels, where Savage meets him with another diving double axehandle. Savage introduces him into the post and brings him back inside for a third diving double axehandle for two. A Savage hiptoss is blocked and turned into a clothesline, and Michaels hits the superkick for two. HBK powerslams Savage and goes up for a diving fistdrop, with Savage rolling out for a powder afterwards, where Sherri adds a kick to the midsection. HBK goes to work with a necksnap on the top rope followed by an elbow to the throat, but a criss cross sequence back inside ends up with a ref bump. Savage takes Michaels down with a stungun, and the powerslam sets up the Macho Elbow but there’s no referee to count. Sherri jumps in and gets a few shots in, and eventually the referee comes back to life for the count but it only gets a nearfall. Savage spits in Sherri’s face and gets her all worked up on the apron, just in time for Liz to come back to ringside and toss her inside the ring over the top rope, and a Savage high crossbody gets two. Sherri gets back up on the apron, with Liz knocking her back down. Michaels gets two with a quick sunset flip, but Savage then catches him with another crossbody to retain the title at 16:21. The heels try to attack Savage, but Sherri’s high heel hits Michaels instead and Macho cleans house with a double noggin knocker.
Rating: It’s quite the interesting match on paper, and would unquestionably be an all-timer in a perfect world with both of them in their prime. This was a really good WWF Title match, with the company smartly and effectively using it as a platform to elevate the young Shawn Michaels. Heck he even got to kickout of the Macho Elbow (a delayed count after a ref bump sure, but he technically still kicked out), which is something you don’t see everyday. The final sequence was really exciting, including the sequence between Sherri and Elizabeth outside, and it was an overall great match to kick off Savage’s second WWF Championship reign. ***3/4
The Bushwhackers do Bushwhackers stuff for a while in an interview with Sean Mooney on the platform.
The Mountie and Jimmy Hart mock Virgil and England.
Virgil loves working hard to earn a payday. You don’t say!
The Mountie(w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Virgil
IMG credit: WWE & bastionb.com
Virgil comes out still wearing the protective nose guard from Sid’s attack shortly before WrestleMania. Virgil starts with a backdrop and a clothesline, and he rams Mountie’s head into the buckle a number of times. The Mountie takes a powder outside, but Virgil follows him out there and brings him back inside, where Virgil rips his shirt off. Virgil gets caught up thinking about different ways to sell it at a subway station in Montreal years later, that it allows The Mountie to get back in control and put the shirt back on. He even removes Virgil’s nose guard. Damn it, why does it always happen to Virgil? The Mountie stops to take the mic and sing his theme song for a while, giving Virgil enough time to make the MEATSAUCE COMEBACK OF DOOM. Jimmy Hart trips up Virgil on a criss cross, though, allowing The Mountie to shock Virgil and steal the win at 8:57.
Rating: Another typical house show match. It was fun at times, the crowd were having a good time and the right person went over in the end. 1/2*
Rick Martel guarantees the world will see the best looking Intercontinental Champion in history after tonight.
Bret Hart says it’s about how good you can wrestle, not at fashion. Tonight, he means business.
WWF Intercontinental Championship – Bret Hart(c) vs. Rick Martel
IMG credit: WWE & WhatCulture
Knee to the gut off an early lockup gives Martel the edge to start, and Martel blocks a backdrop with a cartwheel. A second lockup goes all the way to the ropes, Martel bitchslaps Bret on the clean break and hides in the corner. Martel gets another cheapshot on a clean break in the corner, and he unloads on Bret. O’Connor roll is reversed by Bret who hangs onto the top rope, Martel reverses the reversal with an arrogant backward roll, but Bret runs over him with a nasty clothesline with extra mustard. Martel bails for a second, as the crowd just can’t stop yelling HITMAN over and over again. Back inside, Martel works a front facelock that Bret nearly escapes, but Martel is one step ahead this time and meets him with a clothesline, before going back to the front facelock. Bret escapes again and blocks a second clothesline, hitting one of his own this time around, followed by the classic abdominal stomp. Martel hurts his knee on a missed blind charge in the corner, and Bret immediately goes to work on the leg.
Martel kicks Bret off a leg hold and goes for a hiptoss, but Bret blocks and turns it around into his own hiptoss, before going back to work on the leg. Martel kicks Bret away using the good leg yet again, this time sending him face-first into the buckle. Martel slugs away but his leg is too hurt, and Bret kicks him right in it before locking in a headscissors, which Martel escapes via choking. He can’t capitalize because of the leg once again, though, and Bret hits a legbreaker. Bret tries to ram the leg into the post outside, but Martel rakes him in the eyes and rams Bret’s back into the post instead. A hard whip into the buckle takes Bret down off the Bret Hart bump, but Martel misses a backdrop and Bret hits the atomic drop. Russian legsweep gets two. Suplex gets two. Backbreaker sets up the middle rope elbow for two more. Bret tries an O’Connor roll, but Martel pumps the brakes and allows the momentum to send Bret all the way to the floor. Martel brings him back inside with a vertical suplex that Bret blocks, but Martel blocks yet another O’Connor roll, this time by holding the rope. Martel gets too cocky and takes too long setting up a powerslam, however, and Bret small packages him to retain the belt at 13:02.
Rating: Really good Intercontinental Title match between two extremely solid professional wrestlers. The work was incredibly good as expected, the crowd was REALLY into Bret the whole time. Martel’s selling of the leg was fantastic, though I’d wish the leg work would factor into the finish in some way. With that said, however, I do agree that a Sharpshooter loss for Martel wasn’t necessary on the show, so I totally understand. Very good stuff. ***1/2
Usual crazy Jim Duggan promo backstage.
Jim Duggan vs. Repo Man
IMG credit: WWE & bastionb.com
Duggan somehow gets the English crowd chanting USA at the start. Heenan: “these idiots don’t even know where they are”. After two minutes of OOOOOOOHHHH and USA chants, they finally go at it with Duggan hitting a series of clotheslines, and Repo Man bails. Duggan shrugs off Repo Man’s cheapshot attempt back inside, hitting an atomic drop and a clothesline as Repo Man takes another powder. A necksnap takes Duggan down and Repo Man removes the turnbuckle pad, before whipping Duggan headfirst into it. Repo Man slugs away for a while and then introduces Duggan’s head into the exposed buckle a second time. Repo Man hits a legdrop for two, and works a facelock from there (really?). With Duggan not selling any of it and pushing the USA chant while in the hold. Because who would get hurt after TWO consecutive headshots onto exposed steel, right? A cheapshot keeps Repo Man in control but a third whip into the buckle misses, this time eating it himself instead. Duggan follows it up with a hiptoss and a powerslam. The Three Point Stance Clothesline connects but Repo Man falls to the outside, where he grabs his rope and hits Duggan for the DQ at 7:14. Sure, why not. Hacksaw cleans house afterwards with the 2×4 and stands tall in the end.
Rating: Absolutely awful match. Seven minutes of a nothing undercard comedy match just to end on a DQ. It took them nearly two minutes to even get going! From there it’s a festival of whips into the exposed turnbuckle, with Duggan no selling them and doing chants during the match, then making his comeback and hitting his finisher just before the DQ. Bleh. DUD
Randy Savage puts Shawn Michaels over as a tough opponent and talks about how great the European tour was. Coming down the aisle in front of these fans tonight gave him the same goosebumps as beating Flair for the title at WrestleMania did. He’s not done with Flair, “first time ever the champion challenging the challenger – HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT FLAIR HUH”! Usual entertaining Macho Man promo to thank the local fans as apart of the organization, while also promoting his upcoming business and putting over younger talent.
The British Bulldog says it’s been a really successful tour for him thus far, and it’s going to end with IRS going down.
Main Event – The British Bulldog vs. Irwin R. Schyster(w/ Jimmy Hart)
IMG credit: WWE
The pop for Davey here is exactly what you expect. Bulldog overpowers IRS to start and strikes with a couple of shoulderblocks. IRS takes a time to rethink his strategy, but the UK crowd gets even louder. Hiptoss by IRS but Bulldog kicks him off, follows it up with his own hiptoss and a clothesline, and IRS bails. Davey meets him there for a double noggin knocker on Jimmy, however. Bulldog gets a couple of quick leapfrogs on a criss cross sequence back inside, making IRS take another powder. He finally gets something in with an enziguiri, dumps Davey for some punishment on the floor and then works the rope assisted abdominal stretch back in the ring. He gets caught by the ref and stops to argue with him, allowing Bulldog to nearly catch him with a roll-up. The flying clothesline takes Davey back down, though, and gets two. IRS works a chinlock while Gorilla calls Jimmy Hart “a walking advertisement for birth control” on commentary”!! Bulldog escapes the chinlock only to walk right into a knee to the gut. Bulldog gets a sunset flip for two, but IRS hits a low legdrop for two. Schyster tries a vertical suplex from the apron all the way to the floor, but Davey blocks it and turns it into his own vertical suplex onto the middle of the ring for two. A Bulldog splash only finds IRS’ knees, but he quickly comes back to ram Schyster’s head into the buckle a few times. Headbutt gets two. Jimmy climbs up on the apron while IRS grabs his briefcase, but Bulldog kicks it off his hands and powers him up into the Running Powerslam to finish IRS at 12:48.
Rating: Quite the simple house show style match, yet very effective. No one was expecting a classic here, nor did it have to be one. It was exactly what it had to be, a dominant Davey Boy Smith performance over a big name (and tag team champion) in front of his people. Great reception for Davey Boy. **1/4
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: A really tough one to rate, since it was somewhat of a “special” rather than a regular show, PPV or even a SNME. It felt like a house show sometimes, and that’s exactly what it was – a glorified house show on the final night of the European tour that happened to be televised! With that said, though, the fact that there are two really strong recommended matches says a lot, and easily elevates the quality of this UK Rampage, despite the undercard obviously not being the strongest. Undertaker/Sid is an interesting confrontation as well, especially knowing it would turn out to be a WrestleMania main event a handful of years later, so there is some appeal in it. And, of course, the final match with British Bulldog wrestling in England, which is always fun to watch. Overall, a very interesting watch with a lot of stuff to see. (Yes, I’m taking it easy on this one because of the circumstances) 6/10
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That’s all from me today. The WWF side of things is going to take a break for a while now, until August where they’ll be taking over the UK once more for a very special edition of SummerSlam. Until then, there are a number of shows and PPVs coming from WCW’s side, including WrestleWar featuring a WarGames main event, which is coming up next. Stay safe and happy holiday season everyone!
Hello everyone. Having recently reviewed WWF WrestleMania VIII, I come to you today with a different post.
I’ve been asked by readers a few times to add reviews of weekly programs to the blog. My original thought was to wait until I reach January 1993 to introduce them, at a time when WWF debuts Monday Night RAW. About two years after that, I should also introduce WCW’s Monday Nitro.
Would you prefer waiting until then? Or would you like me to start immediately following WrestleMania VIII, reviewing shows such as WWF Superstars of Wrestling? Let me know in the following poll. Thanks!
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