Random Network Reviews: WCW WrestleWar 1992

WCW WrestleWar 1992
May 17th, 1992 | Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida | Attendance: 6,000

I’ve said it before but WCW in 1992 produced some gems. I reviewed Beach Blast a while back and it was one of the best Pay-Per-Views in WCW history. This show is also held in very high regard, featuring a great tag team match and what many consider to be the best War Games ever. This is the fourth and final WrestleWar event.

A simple video opens things that plugs the War Games main event. Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff host the show and hype the card before sending it to the commentary duo of Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura.

WCW United States Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds def. Greg Valentine and The Taylor Made Man (c) in 16:02
For those unaware, the Taylor Made Man is Terry Taylor. The Freebirds don’t come out to Badstreet USA and whatever this song is garbage. Bill Alfonso is the referee. The Freebirds start in control and Hayes causes the champions to flub and run into one another. Hayes doesn’t tag out, enjoying his early success. This is domination by the challengers for most of the match to be honest. Each time the champions get something going, the Freebirds have an answer. Finally, Valentine and Taylor take over and use some good old fashioned heel tactics. Eye rakes and distracting the referee, that kind of stuff. Garvin eventually gets the tag and hits the DDT to capture the titles. A bit too one-sided early and when the heat came, it wasn’t very engaging. It felt more like a Freebird showcase than a competitive Tag Title match. The crowd ate it up though. **

Johnny B. Badd def. Tracy Smothers in 7:03
Badd doesn’t have the “HE LOOKS LIKE LITTLE RICHARD” line in his theme song yet. That doesn’t stop Ventura from mentioning him though. They work at a quick pace early with Badd getting the upper hand. Tracy turns it around and nails a flying back elbow for a near fall. Ventura takes time to question the lips logo on Badd’s tights. He thinks it means kiss my ass. Badd goes into a flurry with a powerslam and big diving sunset flip for two. Badd wins with the Kiss That Don’t Miss, while Ventura complains about it being a closed fist. Decent little sprint worked at a fast pace. **¼

The Freebirds are interviewed about winning the titles. Hayes does a lot of shouting about adding more Tag Titles to their collection.

Scotty Flamingo def. Marcus Bagwell in 7:11
It’s Raven vs. Buff Bagwell! After some basic exchanges, this gets surprisingly heated with both guys slapping each other. Flamingo took over and worked a rest hold, taking Bagwell to the mat. Both men go over the top, but with none of them doing it intentionally, no DQ is called. That rule was always weird to me. Back inside, Bagwell thinks he wins but Flamingo gets his feet on the ropes. Flamingo counters a rollup into one of his own with a handful of tights to steal it. Nothing match. *

We get a recap of Junkyard Dog appearing to help his friend Ron Simmons.

Ron Simmons def. Mr. Hughes w/ Cactus Jack in 5:22
Ventura makes the obvious observation to question why Cactus needs a bodyguard. Cactus hides during the entrance and attacks JYD. This is supposed to be a tag match but Cactus sends JYD ribs first into the ramp before hitting an elbow off it. With JYD out, we get Mr. Hughes vs. Simmons. Yikes. Hughes clobbers Simmons and that’s basically his entire moveset. Punches, kicks and an elbow drop. Ventura is confused since no official announcement was made about this being a singles match. Ron weathers the storm and impresses JR with a hip toss. JR probably liked it so much because of Ron’s football background. He hits a spinebuster, stops a Cactus run-in and beats Hughes with a three point stance knee clip. Boring stuff. Simmons was at his best with superior workers and Hughes doesn’t fit that billing. *

The Super Invader w/ Harley Race def. Todd Champion in 5:26
Super Invader is Hercules under a mask. Champion screams generic. Also, the Invader is supposed to be Asian. His mask is pretty much just a red stocking. These two work an incredibly lifeless match. There’s no heat from the crowd and nothing interesting happens. Champion rallies after taking a bench of rest holds but goes to the well too often and fails. A powerbomb wins it for the Super Invader. Horrible match that felt twice as long as it was. -*½

Big Josh def. Richard Morton in 7:33
Big Josh’s gimmick is a lumberjack. He overpowers Morton early and busts out the log roll. He stands on his opponent’s chest and stomps on it as if he’s doing a log roll. Kudos to him for trying with the gimmick. Morton comes back with a back suplex for a breather. The work they do isn’t bad, it just doesn’t interest me much. Josh pulls out a belly to belly suplex but doesn’t cover. Big Josh finally wins with the Northern Exposure (Whoopee Cushion). That went on for far too long. This crowd only gets excited for the big stars and with a good chunk of them in the main event, matches like this happened to no reaction. ¾*

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship: Brian Pillman (c) def. The Z-Man in 15:30
These men know each other well but things got a bit heated when Zenk said he would give a title shot to his rival. Pillman was all “Excuse you, I’m the champion.” In the early stages, they feel each other out while showcasing that knew what the other one brings. Lots of early mat work but it all makes sense and looks good. Pillman hits the first big blow, making things a bit more physical. He misses a senton and Zenk works the back. Zenk misses a running knee in the corner so Pillman slaps on a figure four. They dish out dueling slaps while in the hold, adding to this getting more heated. Following that, Pillman tries a slingshot move but gets caught in a big powerslam for two. Jesse begs for one of them to cheat. Pillman takes a big bump when shoved off the take and gets turned inside out on a diving cross body for two. The crowd is eating everything up. Brian tries a cross body but dives right into a boot from Zenk. That nearly ends it but Pillman is under the ropes. Zenk goes to the well one too many times and Pillman avoids a missile dropkick. He jackknifes Zenk into a pin for the 1-2-3. Awesome match that exceeded expectations. Not just great ring work but they also told a top notch story with crisp work. ****

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) def. Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka in 20:01
If the Steiners win, they get a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Titles. Ventura takes time to mention the Steiners being from Detroit and the car companies based there vs. Japanese car companies. It’s a stretch. Scott goes wild early on until he’s grounded by a Boston crab from Iizuka. Seeing Iizuka in bright pink tights is crazy considering his persona in the present day. Scott counters and hits a butterfly suplex. All four men spend most of the match beating the shit out of each other. HAHA I LOVE IT MAGGLE! The Japanese duo attempts a doomsday cross body but Rick counters with a huge powerslam. Since Rick landed on him, Iizuka has a busted nose and swollen eye. At one point, Fujinami and Rick just trade brutal strikes and Rick isn’t even the legal man. Scott takes the heat for a while until Rick gets the tag. STEINERLINE! All four men go at it when Rick hits a super belly to belly to earn the win. Fantastic tag team wrestling here. Four guys in a psychical war. Iizuka has the battle scars to prove it. I love me some hard hitting wrasslin and this was just that. Early 90’s Steiners were on another level. ****¼

War Games: Sting’s Squadron (Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat and Sting) def. The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, Rick Rude and Steve Austin) w/ Paul E. Dangerously and Madusa in 23:37
In a great touch, Paul E. has a game plan written up like he’s an NBA head coach. Steve Austin and Barry Windham enter first and just go at it. Great way to open. Austin nearly sends him into the steel but Barry stops in his tracks. Since the cage is so short, Austin hangs from the ceiling for offense but it fails and he gets slammed hard. Barry grates Austin’s face on the steel, busting him open. The first interval is up and of course; the coin toss goes to the heels. Rick Rude, the US Champion, joins the fray. The intervals are shorter now, so Windham’s beating doesn’t last too long. Steamboat enters to a HUGE OVATION. He and Rude would have a classic at the next PPV. He comes in on fire. He hits both heels with DDTs and the crowd goes nuts. He successfully hangs from the cage for a dropkick and rana. Arn Anderson is next in to give the DA the advantage. He instantly hits a DDT and Sting’s crew is in trouble again. Dustin Rhodes joins next with strikes. Austin gets hurt when an atomic drop sees him hit his head on the ceiling. After what happened to Pillman a year earlier, you’d think they’d try to add height. In a great moment that the cameras don’t focus on, Windham traps Arn’s head between the two rings and twists it. Larry enters next but gets lit up by Dustin. Madusa climbs the cage to drop Paul’s phone to Arn. Sting follows her up there as the crowd is rabid. She comes down with no harm done though. Sting comes in and press slams Rude into the ceiling a few times. Sting rules. He absolutely launches Arn with a backdrop into the steel. Eaton, with taped fists, is the final entrant for the DA. They’re in control until Koloff enters. He helps Sting up and saves him from an attack, cementing that their past issues are over. They take out two members before embracing. The crowd loves it. Sting slaps the Scorpion Death Lock on Arn but it gets broken up. The bottom turnbuckle gets broken and nice guy Eaton repairs it according to Jesse. Austin is a bloody mess. Dustin puts Larry in the figure four and uses the ropes for leverage. HEELDOM! Larry has the support from the turnbuckle but misses with it and hits Eaton on the shoulder. Sting takes out Larry and puts Eaton in a step over armbar. Eaton gives up and that’s all. Incredible. The best match I’ve ever seen in WCW and the best War Games in history. Tons of action with great subplots and angles being worked in. Paul E. and Madusa both played their parts well without overdoing it. Lots of violence and you could feel the hatred between these teams. The faces winning was the cherry on top because that’s how the blowoff is supposed to finish. *****

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

If the WWE Network had the condensed version of the show, it would have been a classic. That version cuts out the mundane mid-card stuff. Even with it though, this is a winner. If you can make it through the lackluster middle, you’re treated to an incredible finish. Pillman/Z-Man is an excellent wrestling match, Steiners/Iizuka and Fujinami is hard hitting greatness and the main event is the GOAT WCW match. A perfect War Games battle that felt like a legitimate war. I can’t say enough about those final three matches.