Dark Pegasus Video Review: UK Rampage ’92

WWF UK Rampage ’92 by J.D. Dunn This is just after WrestleMania VIII. Savage regained the WWF Title, the Ultimate Warrior returned after a long hiatus, Bret reclaimed his Intercontinental Title, and Sid tested positive for steroids. April 19, 1992 Live from Sheffield, England. Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. Opening Match: Tatanka vs. Skinner. Tatanka controls with a headlock for a while. This match is surprisingly not bad early on. Tatanka was still very motivated here. It wasn’t until he realized that they weren’t going to do anything with him that he went downhill. Eventually, Skinner gets tired of selling an armbar and yanks Tatanka into the turnbuckle. Skinner works Tatanka’s leg with a hamstring stretch, even using the ropes on occasion. Skinner suplexes him into the ring and goes for a double ax-handle, but Tatanka gets his foot up. The Samoan Drop picks up the win at 11:52. Nothing spectacular, but both guys looked motivated. **1/4 The Legion of Doom vs. Colonel Mustafa & Dino Bravo. I can only assume that someone didn’t show because otherwise Bravo’s presence makes no sense. He’s also lost the blond dye-job, which takes several years off his appearance. I believe this would be his last appearance for the WWF. The LOD dominates early, but Hawk charges right into the post. The heels cut the ring in half, but Hawk and Bravo clothesline each other for the double KO. Animal gets the hot tag and tosses Bravo to the floor. That allows Hawk to hit the flying clothesline for the win at 4:28. 1/2* Sid Justice gives a book review of “Night of the Juggler.” Undertaker, who just turned face a few months earlier, lets Paul Bearer do most of his talking. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Sid Justice (w/Harvey Whippleman). This is odd because Sid, for all intents and purposes was on the outs with the WWF, having failed a drug test just before WrestleMania VIII. Sid coins the name “Psycho Sid” for himself on his way to the ring, which is odd because he complained that the WWF gave him that name to make fun of him for the scissors incident. Sid attacks Taker from behind and clubs him a lot. Taker no-sells everything and comes back with a Tombstone attempt, but Whippleman breaks it up. They fight on the floor where Taker goes into the post. Taker apparently gets counted out at 5:16. Sid tries a beatdown afterward, but Taker makes his own save and Tombstones Sid right out of the WWF. * WWF Heavyweight Title: Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Sensational Sherri). Randy’s coming in with an injured leg at the hands of Ric Flair. He’s very successful early, outwrestling Shawn and clotheslining him over the top. Sherri gets desperate and goes after Elizabeth to distract Savage long enough for Shawn to jump him from behind. Savage sends Elizabeth to the back so he doesn’t have to worry about her. Shawn takes over and works the leg in between bouts of being an arrogant ass. Savage slingshots him into the post and clotheslines him on the top rope. He hits the double ax-handle from the top to the floor. Shawn takes a big bump into the post. Back in, Shawn blocks a hiptoss and clotheslines Savage down. Sweet Chin Music only gets two because it wasn’t his finisher yet. He tosses Savage to the floor and lets Sherri have her way with him. Back in, the ref gets distracted by Sherri and doesn’t see Savage running the ropes. Poor Hebner gets run over by Savage. FLYING ELBOWDROP! No ref, though. Sherri comes in and kicks Savage until he scares her off. The ref recovers. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Shawn has had time to recover. Elizabeth returns and yanks Sherri off the ropes as Shawn hits a sunset flip off the top for two. Savage goes up, but Shawn has closed the distance, so he hops over him and comes off the other side with a crossbody for the win at 16:21. They didn’t quite have the chemistry here I was hoping for, but it’s still a good match. Shawn didn’t quite have his singles style down yet, but he’d take off like a rocket the following year. ***1/4 The Bushwhackers bond with Sean Mooney. The Mountie and Virgil trade promos. The Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Virgil. Virgil is wearing a nose protector thanks to Sid Justice. Virgil starts out hot with a few gut shots and a backdrop. Gorilla and Brain get into an argument over which one should leave because they’re getting on each other’s nerves. Mountie seeks solace in the arms of Jimmy Hart, but Virgil gives chase. Back in, Mountie begs of, but Virgil rips his shirt off him and whips him with it! He yells for Mountie to shine his shoe. Hey, Virgil has an edge! Mountie cowers in the corner and then rips off Virgil’s protective mask and punches him right in the nose. I AM THE MOUNTIEEEE! Virgil sells like his nose has been caved in. A bulldog doesn’t help matters. IIIII AM THE MOUNTIEEE! Mountie puts his shirt back on and rams Virgil’s face into the buckle with a Half-Nelson so he can’t defend himself. Nice, in a sadistic way. He commandeers the house mic. IIIIII AAAAAM THE MOUUUUNTIEEE! That allows Virgil to come back, though. Jimmy Hart trips him up, though, allowing Mountie to grab the shock stick and zap Virgil for the win at 8:56. Pretty good match. I was shocked. BUT NOT AS MUCH AS VIRGIL! BWAHAHAHAHAH! **1/4 Intercontinental Championship: Bret Hart vs. The Model. Stiff lockup to start. Martel cartwheels away from a backdrop. The Model slaps Bret in the face and then ducks out between the ropes. Model gloats too long and gets clotheslined out. Back in, the Model grabs a front facelock. Bret ducks a clothesline and starts working Martel’s leg over. Martel pushes out of a stepover toehold. Bret counters a hiptoss and goes back to the leg grapevine. Gorilla foreshadows Perfect’s face turn by mentioning he may be unhappy with Heenan. Martel pounds Bret to the canvass, but Bret punches the leg and goes back to the leg grapevine. Bret gets a shinbreaker and pulls Martel to the ringpost to wrap his leg around the post. Martel goes to the eyes to counter and slams Bret’s back into the ringpost. Back in, Martel whips Bret into the ringpost and targets Bret’s back with a series of ax-handles. Hart pops up suddenly with an atomic drop. Vertical Suplex for two. Pendulum Backbreaker. Second rope elbow drop. ONE, TWO, THR–NO! Bret argues the count. Bret tries to reverse rollup Martel, but Martel ducks, sending Bret to the floor. Back in, Bret tries it again, but Martel holds the ropes causing Bret to land on his head. Martel gloats, but Bret pops up and small packages him for the win at 13:02. Lots of psychology that didn’t go anywhere, but the wrestling can’t be faulted. **1/4 Jim Duggan vs. Repo Man. Repo is Barry Darsow (aka Demolition Smash) after a case of server jobberitis. Sadly, it proved to be a fatal case because Darsow never recovered, following this lame gimmick up with the Blacktop Bully, and Mr. Hole-in-One. Repo tries to brawl with Duggan early and then settles for cheating. Repo’s repeated cheating just fires Duggan up more, though. Hacksaw misses a charge to the corner, and Gorilla rightly says Repo is an idiot for trying to sneak around when there’s only one other guy in there. Duggan comes back with a slam, but his 3-Point Clothesline knocks Repo to the floor. Repo clocks Duggan with his chain in full view of the ref for the DQ at 7:14. After the match, Repo tries to strangle Duggan with the chain, but the ref makes the save long enough for Duggan to get his 2×4. 3/4* Randy Savage puts over Shawn Michaels but says it’s party time. He says he’s planning his and Elizabeth’s second honeymoon, which is odd because Liz was busy planning their divorce. Apparently, Randy was fond of locking Liz in closets before heading out to the ring. Davey Boy Smith vs. Irwin R. Shyster (w/Jimmy Hart). Rotundo never really impressed me as a wrestler during his IRS run, but he was proof that you didn’t have to work hard to get heat. In fact, he got the cheapest of cheap heat here, coming out and saying that England was the tax-cheat capital of Europe. That’s it! And he did that *every* night! Of course, once the match starts, it’s all stalling. Davey Boy leapfrogs him twice, so Irwin just bails before finding out what he was plotting. Finally, Irwin hits an enzuigiri to take over. The rope-assisted abdominal stretch drains the clock. Then it’s on to the chinlock. DBS elbows out of it but runs into a knee to the gut. Davey reverses a vertical suplex but his splash finds Irwin’s knees. Irwin tries to scoot out of the ring, but Davey steps on his tie. They reverse whips, and Smith takes the “Bret Bump.” Jimmy distracts the ref while Irwin grabs the briefcase. Davey Boy blocks a swing and finishes with the powerslam at 12:48. The fans go home happy even if the match was dull. *

The 411: The WWF was in limbo at this point, waiting for Hogan to decide what his long-term plans were and hoping that the federal government wouldn't investigate their drug problems too thoroughly. The summer proved to be quite interesting with Flair playing both sides of the fence of paranoia between Savage and Warrior. Unfortunately, there was no Flair here, so what you get is a lot of squashes and one pretty good title match. I can't really recommend it on that alone, though, because that match is available on one of those Coliseum cheapies. Thumbs down here.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]