1992 might be my favorite WCW year ever, I prefer the Kip Allan Frye period as the performance bonuses had everyone working hard. Watch some WCW TV from that period, you start saying things like "Am I crazy or does this Nikita v. Mr. Hughes match rule?" This PPV was early Watts WCW which was still pretty great, the NWA tag tourney may be the greatest tourney in wrestling history, the Steiners v. MVC match from the Clash was one of my favorite WCW matches ever, and this was a PPV I remember getting in high school and watching a bunch of times on tape. The talent in WCW at this point was pretty amazing, consider who was on this show, and then add to that the guys who weren't here, Arn, Eaton, Cactus, Slater, Barbarian, Brad Armstrong, Greg Valentine and the Steiners, I mean they ran a tag team tourney PPV this good without even using arguably their best and easily most over team. Shit even the commentary was stacked, Ross and Ventura were very good on this show (and I wouldn't consider my self a huge fan of either) but they mention that on the WCW hotline the commentary was being done by Lance Russell and Gordon Solie, and I can't imagine they had more then a hundred people listening to them.
Show starts with Watts explaining the difference between the NWA and WCW rules. After watching so much Mid-South TV I am guessing the top rope rule wouldn't bother me as much as it did in 1992, but I am still glad the tag tourney allowed the top rope.
Nikita Koloff + Ricky Steamboat v. Brian Pillman + Jushin Liger
Really fun match, this was worked face v. face and felt more like a Japanese tag then a US tag. Wasn't a real face in peril, lots of quick tags and big moves. It was really fun to watch Steamboat work with Pillman and Liger, you get the sense Steamboat would have had an awesome run as a New Japan Junior. He used a lot of power offense, including multiple back breakers into an over the shoulder powerslam, you could tell he had been watching MVC matches and always wanted to try out their spots. This was during the brief period when Nikita was pretty damn good, he was surprisingly adept at working a workrate tag. They had a couple of slip ups, but pretty much all you want in an opener.
Shinya Hashimoto + Hiroshi Hase v. Freebirds
Shinya Hashimoto may be my favorite wrestler of all time, watching him beat the shit out of Gary Steele, Dylan Knight and Steve Corino in a four way is easily the best live wrestling experience of my life. I have fond memories of this match, as I remember watching this live and freaking out over this fat dude kicking the lungs out of Jimmy Garvin. Rewatching it after seeing hundreds of Hash beatings, this isn't the Masato Tanaka, Dylan Knight, Chris Frazier level bear mauling I remembered, still you get the sense that the Birds really didn't sign up for what Hash was giving them. Not a great match, washed up heel Freebirds had enough poor mans John Tatum shtick to make a match entertaining, but face Freebirds v. Hase and Hashimoto is a pretty big style clash. It almost feels like Watts was booking the Birds in this tourney as rib, he was still pissed about them blinding the Dog, so he put them in against Silver King and Texano in the first round and Hase and Hashimoto in the second.
Steve Austin + Ric Rude v. Barry Windham + Dustin Rhodes
Dangerous Alliance vs. Steamboat/Windham/Rhodes/Sting et all is one of the coolest feuds in wrestling history. They had multiple great tags and single matches on TV every week, you could pretty much slot in any of the heels against any of the faces and it would be great. The Dangerous Alliance era of WCW was coming to an end, and this was a great PPV swansong for that feud. This was a mix of Watts style high impact heavyweight wrestling with traditional Southern tag wrestling. Lots of great looking high impact moves, Windham and Austin have one of the best double clothesline spots I ever seen, it looked like a double KO. Dustin and Rude also do the Dynamite/Sayama tombstone reversal which is impressive as fuck for a pair of big dudes like that. Not as much Dustin in this match as self proclaimed Natural mark like me would prefer, but you can't go wrong with Barry Windham face in peril. When Tomk and I watched a ton of this era for the Dustin of the Day you could really see Steve Austin grow, there was a point when he was clearly the least of the DA, but by now he was as good as anyone in this match, he and Rude are great at cutting off the ring and working over Windham and the crowd goes justifiably nuts for the tag. Totally loved this match.
Nikita Koloff + Ricky Steamboat v. Terry Gordy + Steve Williams
This was another damn good match, the opening had Steamboat do some very cool mat wrestling with both Doc and Gordy, which is an aspect of his game you don't see very much. He would squirm in and out of holds using his speed to avoid the power of the MVC. Gordy and Williams then have a long section of beating on Steamboat. Few give beatings like Gordy and Williams and few take them like Ricky Steamboat, Williams hits a nasty backbreaker, and Steamboat spends much of the FIP section selling his ribs. When he finally tags Nikita, Koloff comes in with some cool shoulder blocks, before being spiked head first into the mat by Gordy. They then work over Nikita until the big cluster finish with Williams hitting an awesome Stampede spinebuster. This was a little one sided, with MVC really dominating, but the bursts of Steamboat and Nikita offense were great and it never dragged.
Hiroshi Hase + Shinya Hashimoto v. Dustin Rhodes + Barry Windham
Boy the matches keep getting better on this show.I love how all of the matches on this show start with solid mat wrestling. I have watched a ton of Dustin Rhodes matches over the last couple of years and I never seen him look this slick on the mat, lots of sharp little exchanges with Hase. There was a cool section between Hashimoto and Dustin (arguable the two 90's heirs to Dusty Rhodes throne) where Hash challenges him to a Karate stand off and Dustin pops him with the classic quick repeated right hands and bionic elbow combo. I imagine that must have been a Dusty/Kabuki spot. Dustin is face in peril here, and much like other great Dustin face in perils, he is always active, moving, slipping, firing back. Hash and Hase lay in a pretty solid beating including a classic high Hash elbow drop to the heart. Nice finish too, with Barry laying in the lariats for all.
Big Van Vader v. Sting
Truly a classic match, this was their first big match up and it was truly epic. It really felt like a heavyweight title match, like Rumble in the Jungle if Foreman won. Match started with a really cool face off with both guys doing some shit talking. Sting then explode with some big offensive combos which sent Vader flying out of the ring. The whole match was built around Sting landing fast combos and moves and Vader cutting him off with one shot. Sting could land five, but Vader only needed one. Vader's beatdown on Sting was nasty, this was a show full of big dude laying in asswhippings, but Vader is Vader. Stings comebacks looked great though, a crazy koppo kick, awesome looking samoan drop, and an incredible German suplex, his big moves were big moves. The German suplex was especially neat, as Pee Wee Anderson got bumped briefly which led him to be a second too late on the count, one of the better realistic ref bumps I have seen. The finish is legendary, as Sting has Vader rocking, he goes for a Stinger splash and slip and slides on Vaders back off into the ring post. Powerbomb and it is over. You rarely ever saw faces lose title matches that clean, and it really silenced the crowd. Amazing, amazing stuff and as good an WCW title match as that belt ever had.
Barry Windham + Dustin Rhodes v. Terry Gordy + Steve Williams
These two teams have a classic match up a month or so later on WCWSN, but this was a little disappointing . Crowd was deflated after the huge world title match which precedes it. Format was similar to the other Gordy and Williams match,with more greco wrestling then mat wrestling at the beginning, but Gordy and Williams really took about 80% of the match, Dustin is really great at face in peril as is Windham but I think they needed a bit more offense to really make this a great match. I did like the last couple of minutes with Dustin have a great firey comeback to almost get the tag before being cut off, and Windham dropkicking Rhodes in the back when Williams had him up for the Stampede. Still the first half of this match was a little dull. Still a fine match, but this PPV set a hell of a standard
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