wrestling / Columns

The Best Of Times 3.20.08: November 1992

March 20, 2008 | Posted by Matt Adamson

I just gave myself a pat on the back. This is my 10th edition of The Best Of Times. It’s been fun, and I’m looking forward to more. If anybody has any ideas for a month I should do, I’d love to hear ‘em. If I have enough information about that time you can guarantee you’ll see it. I’m looking for anything prior to 1998, but I’d prefer stuff before mid-1994. At any rate, hope you’ve enjoyed the first ten.

If you’re new to the column, this is what it’s all about. The Best of Times is a column in which I will be evaluating several wrestling promotions during a selected month from the past. I’ll take anywhere from 3-5 promotions that were thriving during the period I’m covering and go over what went down in each promotion during that month including results of big shows and major angles going on at the time. I’ll give my opinion of each and then choose the best wrestler, tag team, match, feud, show and promotion of the month. I hope to give this is slight old school kayfabe feel with a lot of modern analysis. Well, on with the show!

November 1992

November is always an important month every four years in the lives of those who live in the USA. November 1992 was an election month and Bill Clinton was elected to his first term as president of the United States. While the U.S. was torn apart politically by elections, Czechoslovakia was torn apart physically as the Federal Assembly voted to turn the nation into two nations, The Czech Republic and Slovakia. A China Southern Airlines flight crashes killing 114 and this happened in professional wrestling…

WWF

1992 was a successful year in the ring for the WWF. With the addition of Ric Flair and an expansion of Pay Per View to air from England, the WWF was in great shape. Once the year started to wind down a long time tag team wrestler was put in the position of WWF Champion. It was Bret Hart, and November 1992 was his first full month as WWF Champion. The month of November saw a lot of action. On the 8th, the WWF ran their final Saturday Nights Main Event for over a decade. Here are the results from that event…

1. WWF Tag Team Championship: Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage def. Ted Dibiase and IRS © by countout
2. Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels def. The British Bulldog © to win the title
3. WWF Championship: Bret Hart © def. Papa Shango

Not exactly a loaded card, but an important one as it was here that Shawn Michaels made himself into a major player. The match was good and the result would lead to many more like it. This would also be Hart’s first major title defense. That wasn’t all for November. As most wrestling fans know, November is Survivor Series time and November 1992 was no exception. On November 24th, WWF ran their annual Thanksgiving Pay Per View and here are the results…

1. The Headshrinkers def. High Energy (Owen Hart and Koko B. Ware)
2. Nightstick Match: Big Bossman def. Nailz
3. Tatanka def. Rick Martel
4. Randy Savage and Mr. Perfect def. Ric Flair and Razor Ramon
5. Yokozuma def. Virgil
6. The Nasty Boys and The Natural Disasters def. Money Inc. and The Beverly Brothers
7. Coffin Match: The Undertaker def. Kamala
8. WWF Championship: Bret Hart © def. Shawn Michaels

The show had two fantastic matches and the rest was more or less throwaway, but it was top notch stuff in those two matches. This would be Flair’s final appearance on PPV for the WWF for another 9 years. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were legitimate stars in the making and this was the first big show for the both of them. Interesting how it all began and ended between the two at Survivor Series.

WCW

In late 1992, WCW was in a strange spot. Following about 5 months of terrible booking decisions but fantastic wrestling, the board was more or less done with Bill Watts. Watts had one last thing to do to prove himself, that was Starrcade. With Ron Simmons as World Champion, November 1992 was to set up the big end of the year show and possibly save Watts job. As WCW always did in November, they ran their pre-Starrcade show. This year it was Clash of the Champions XXI. Some of the big stuff going into this show was a fierce sexism battle between Medusa and Paul E. Dangerously, who was AMAZING on the mic during this period, degrading women and the like, and people HATED him. There was also the King of Cable Tournament, which was a meaningless tournament, but provide two amazing matches. Lastly, Barry Windham began to hint that he was sick of being Dustin Rhodes’ partner and was wanting to go out on his own. The Clash of the Champion XXI happened on November 18th 1992, here are the results…

1. Brian Pillman def. Brad Armstrong
2. Boxing Match: Scotty Flamingo def. Johnny B. Badd
3. Erik Watts and Kensuke Sasaki def. Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton
4. Handicapped Match: Ron Simmons and Too Cold Scorpio def. Tony Atlas, Cactus Jack and The Barbarian
5. Medusa fought Paul E. Dangerously to a no contest
6. Sting def. Rick Rude by judges decision after a time limit draw
7. World Tag Team Championship: Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas def. Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes

Well it happened, Windham did turn on Rhodes and set up what could have been a great feud, but Watts logic said, “BRING ON BATTLEBOWL”. What a dumb ass decision that was. So, we got a couple brutal TV matches and some passive feuding between the two. The World Tag Title match was GREAT and Windham was incredible in his long term psychology during the Steamboat crotch hit during the match in reversed rolls from his stance against Steve Williams at Starrcade ’87 in the leap frog heard round the world. If you haven’t seen that match from Starrcade, you must! It has the greatest nut spot in the history of wrestling (I know, not November 1992, but I HAVE to plug it, since it was relevant).

SMW

Oh, I bet you were wondering who the third promotion would be in this time clearly dominated by WWF and WCW. Well, thankfully there was Smokey Moutain Wrestling, a good sized regional promotion run out of Tennessee and Kentucky by Jim Cornette. SMW had had some success both in TV and in attendance. In November 1992, they ran their biggest show to date, Thanksgiving Thunder in Knoxville, which featured one of the best matches the promotion ever ran. They were doing well, and even getting a little press, but it was only the beginning. Here are the results from Thanksgiving Thunder…

1. The Nightstalker def. Robbie Eagle
2. Tracey Smothers def. Dutch Mantel
3. Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden def. Dixie Dynamite and Bobby Fulton
4. Handicapped Match: Ronnie Garvin and Danny Davis def. Paul Orndorf by DQ
5. Smokey Mountain Championship/Lumberjack Match: Dirty White Boy def. Tim Horner
6. Mongolian Stomper def. Kevin Sullivan by DQ
7. Ronnie Garvin won a 14-Man Battle Royal
8. Barbed Wire Cage Match: The Rock and Roll Express def. The Heavenly Bodies

The show was fantastic and with the exception of a couple of matches, solid in the ring from beginning to end. It didn’t matter for much but the Rock and Roll Express and the Heavenly Bodies put on a great show that more or less put Smokey Mountain Wrestling on the map. Heck, the promotion was even recognized by WWF and WCW during the next year.

The Best of Times: November 1992

Best Wrestler: Shawn Michaels (WWF)

This month was tough all around, but I must say, Shawn Michaels had a great month. First, he had two huge matches that were a lot of fun to watch. He also had his first taste at real success (meaning gold) in the WWF. There is no denying that November 1992 was one of the most important months in the career of the Heartbreak Kid.

Best Tag Team: The Rock and Roll Express (SMW)

The Rock and Roll Express deserve some credit here. The match was NARROWLY short of getting my best match pick, and while Steamboat and Douglas deserve it just as much and the R&R, I believe Morton and Gibson really put it all on the line. It was bloody and brutal and showed that they could wrestle just about any type of match you can imagine.

Best Match: Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas vs. Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes (WCW)

There’s no denying that 1992 was loaded with fantastic wrestling. You could switch this match out with just no less than 3 other matches from this month and I’d be happy with the answer. Rude vs. Sting, Express vs. Bodies and Hart vs. Michaels were all great. However, this match gets the nod due to the long term psychology by Windham regarding the nut shot and the break up of his team. It also helps that it was a title change.

Best Feud: Dustin Rhodes vs. Barry Windham (WCW)

This feud was awesome at the time and for the month of November was headed in the right direction. Rhodes wanted Windham dead, simple as that and they wrestled a couple TV matches to no contests because there was no semblance of control to the matches. It all went to the toilet in December, but for one month, Rhodes and Windham had magic.

Best Show: Survivor Series (WWF)

With 4 major shows during November 1992 and lots of great matches, no show really stood out above the rest, but one of them did have a lasting effect. It was at Survivor Series 1992 that Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels really kicked off their path to the top. Sure, Hart worked the main event at Summerslam, but he wasn’t WWF Champion at the time. This show was the cornerstone to the careers of both men.

Best Wrestling Promotion: WWF

The WWF has for the last 20 years been in the business of making superstars. IN November 1992 they must have been extra serious because two of their major stars of the future would be taking the plunge into the murky waters of the top tier of the WWF. All three of these promotions were good, but none had the lasting impact of the decisions made by the WWF during this month.

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Matt Adamson

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