WrestleWar 92
Jacksonville, FL
Coliseum
May 17, 1992
I was very excited to watch this card. I first watched this event 10 years ago, and I was usually drunk and falling asleep while watching these tapes back then.
Now all these years later, I was really excited to watch it again because I’ve read a lot about it on the net over years. It’s considered to be one of the best in WCW history, and I can understand why. It’s a real old-school, hard-nosed, NWA style event. The shift that I noticed at the end of 91 is really in place by mid 92. The company was back to being pretty much all about wrestling. With so many great workers on the roster, WCW toned down the gimmicks and pushed competition and championships. The wrestlers worked hard, and wrestled hard-fought physical matches. It’s really fun to watch, though I have to admit a little boring at times, as the big personalities like Flair and Luger are still missing.
Just like at Superbrawl, Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura were on commentary, while Tony Schiavone & Eric Bischoff acted as analysts between all the matches. WCW was definitely going for a more sports-oriented feel and it was really clicking by this point. As usual, Ventura was phenomenal on commentary. The crowd in Jacksonville was hot, but WCW just turned off the lights in the arena, creating a dark, NWA-like atmosphere.
1) The Fabulous Freebirds defeated WCW US Tag Team Champions Taylor Made Man & Greg Valentine at 16:00 to win the titles when Garvin pinned Taylor with the DDT as Hayes hit Valentine with the left hand punch
Wow is it weird seeing Greg the Hammer Valentine on a WCW PPV! This was a long, solid tag team match. The Freebirds are faces again after a lukewarm semi-heel turn, and the crowd is just nuts for them. I still can’t get over how stupid the name “Taylor Made Man” is. This reminded me a lot of a late 80s NWA opening PPV match, which was probably the idea. Valentine eats the pin, but man it was fun seeing him in a WCW ring.
2) Johnny B. Badd pinned Young Pistol Tracey at 7:03 with the left hand punch after avoiding a kick to the face
The Young Pistols are finished as a team. Too bad their momentum was killed as the Southern Boys. Tracey Smothers is a solid worker, but this match was boring. I’m really starting to hate Johnny B Badd, and I really hate him even more at the next event.
3) Scotty Flamingo pinned Marcus Alexander Bagwell at 7:11 with a roll over and grabbing the tights for leverage
What a laugh seeing the future Raven here as a preppy surfer or whatever he was supposed to be. Bagwell is being shoved down fans throats Rocky Maivia style, so there are a lot of cheers for Flamingo in this one. Fun, fast-paced action between these two lightheavyweights. Flamingo picks up a big win, which puts him in line for a title shot.
4) Ron Simmons pinned Mr. Hughes (w/ Cactus Jack) at 5:28 with a tackle to the knee after knocking an interfering Cactus to the floor; the bout was scheduled as Simmons & the Junkyard Dog vs. Hughes & Cactus Jack but Cactus attacked JYD before the match, knocked him off the ramp onto the floor, and hit the elbowsmash onto the concrete; moments later, officials and Simmons helped JYD to his feet and helped him backstage; Simmons then returned and cleared the ring before the one-on-one match took place
What a mess this was. It was scheduled to be a tag team match based on the events at SuperBrawl, but Cactus inexplicably attacks JYD before the match and it’s turned into a one-on-one battle. I guess JYD was too out of it or injured to actually wrestle. It’s weird, I used to think Hughes was an unstoppable monster, but he’s lost most of his big event 92 matches. Simmons powers through and keeps on winning, though his push has cooled off significantly. That would change in the months to come however.
5) Super Invader (w/ Harley Race) pinned Todd Champion at 5:27 with a powerbomb after dropping Champion throat-first across the top rope
LOL – Super Invader is just the former Hercules in a terrible looking suit with a red faceless mask. This match is a slow, plodding mess. Ross and Ventura try to put over that Harley Race found the Super Invader in Singapore or Taiwan or something and that he’s an international menace. Uh yeah right. The former poster boy of 91 Todd Champion is just a jobber with music. All of those 91 gimmick wrestlers failed out the door for the most part.
6) Big Josh pinned Richard Morton with a clothesline and the Northern Exposure at 7:29
Speaking of 91 gimmicks, Big Josh is slowly nearing the end of his run, as he’d be in the WWF in a couple of months as Doink. This match was surprisingly decent, and the fans are behind Josh. Still, it wasn’t anything special. I was really beginning to doubt the internet fans opinion of this card, but the big matches were yet to come.
7) WCW Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Pillman pinned Tom Zenk at 15:28 with a roll over after avoiding Zenk’s missile dropkick
The gimmick here was that both Pillman and Zenk were teasing turning on the other, leading to a lot of intrigue for this match. And it delivered big time. The fans were really hot for Pillman and Z-Man, and they tore down the house in Jacksonville. Lots of crisp wrestling and heated exchanges. Overall great action from bell to bell. I was surprised when Pillman picked up the win as I thought maybe he would turn on Z-Man, but it wasn’t time for his heel turn yet.
8) WCW Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizuka at 18:15 when Rick pinned Iizuka with a belly to belly suplex off the top; due to pre-match stipulations, the Steiners became the #1 contenders to the IWGP Tag Team Championship
Fans on the net rave about this match, and there’s a lot to love about it. It’s an extremely stiff, Japanese style match, with a very Japanese flow. Its basically tons of strikes, suplexes, and grinding it out on the mat with random tags. I still prefer the American style, but this was a great match to watch. The Steiners were second only to Sting in popularity, and these Japanese feuds would continue until the end of the year. Fujinami has been on a lot of PPVs, and he’s always awesome. A hot finish makes this one a classic.
9) WCW World Champion Sting, Dustin Rhodes, WCW TV Champion Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, & Nikita Koloff defeated WCW US Champion Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, & Larry Zbyzsko (w/ Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa) in Wargames at 23:24 when Eaton submitted to an armbar from Sting after Zbyzsko accidentally hit his partner with a steel bar from an unhinged turnbuckle
Before getting into this match I have to comment on an issue that was discussed all show. Sting was attacked and injured by Big Van Vader a month before, and Vader was campaigning for a shot against Sting. So where the hell was Vader on this card? I was always under the impression that Vader was a mainstay in WCW from 91 on, but he’s only been wrestling part time, spending most of his time still in Japan. A couple months later he would switch to WCW pretty much full time, but damn it’s weird that we’re not seeing more of him on these big events especially since he was being hyped as a main eventer.
The WarGames match was awesome as usual. A lot of long running feuds raging in this one. The Dangerous Alliance were a real exciting group, with five of the most awesome workers in the company. The action in this was bloody and brutal. Austin was in early and bled buckets, a disgusting amount that rivals his Mania 13 blade job. Half the wrestlers in the match were bleeding throughout the contest. Of course the heels won the coin toss, did the faces ever win one? I don’t think so! The pace went back and forth, and the ending was really unique as the Alliance dismantled the top rope and pulled apart the turnbuckle bar. Zybysko screwed up and hit Eaton leading to the finish, and they teased the breakup of the Alliance after the match was over.
Overall this was a solid and entertaining event, but I wouldn’t rave about it as much as the net fans do. It was good, but not nearly as great as a lot of those NWA events from 89 and 90.
the RepoDan Wrestling Institution 