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This week, our special look at nostalgia takes us back to May 17, 1992 and WCW's WrestleWar 1992. The event was held in Jacksonville, Florida in front of 6,000 fans. This was the second PPV event promoted by K. Allen Frey and featured two excellent matches that are must see matches in my opinion. The show featured nine matches that all ended with a conclusive finish. The main event was the War Games with Sting's Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance. This match finished third on the PW Torch match of the year award. The buy rate was .61, down from the previous year's WrestleWar, which drew a 1.20 buy rate. In comparison, the 1992 Wrestlemania drew a 2.3 buyrate.

Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura are the broadcast team.

The dark match was Dallas Page and Thomas Rich tagging to defeat Bob Cook and Firebreaker Chip in 8:05.

Opening match was for the WCW U.S. Tag Team title. Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine were the U.S. tag champions at the time and defended against the Freebirds of Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin. You have four experienced workers in the match that worked hard throughout the match, making this a decent PPV opener. Finish came when Garvin hit Taylor with the DDT and pinned him in 16:04 to win the titles. Crowd popped big for the title change.

In the next match, Johnny B. Badd pinned Tracy Smothers in 7:03 following a left hook.
Badd was a young, green worker at the time that had charisma and was developing as an athletic talent. Smothers was a much more experienced worker and carried the match to a passable, but not exciting match.

Next match pitted two young stars in the making. Scotty Flamingo, who would go on to achieve huge success in ECW as Raven, wrestled Marcus Bagwell. Flamingo was in line for a push for the WCW World Light Heavyweight title, despite not being over with the fans. They put together a very basic match with lots of punches and rest holds. The match was not anything spectacular and the finish came when Bagwell went for his Yellowjacket Suplex but Flamingo was in the ropes. Bagwell ran Flamingo into the corner and then rolled Flamingo up for a near fall, only to have Flamingo roll through and hold the tights for the pin in 7:11.

The next match was supposed to be Ron Simmons and the Junkyard Dog vs. Mr. Hughes and Cactus Jack. However, during the pre-match introductions, Cactus Jack attacked JYD and JYD was unable to work the match from the beating Cactus put on him. So the match was changed to a singles match of Simmons vs. Mr. Hughes. As bad of a worker JYD was at this point, it was a blessing to have him out of the match. Simmons showed a lot of fire and intensity in the match, two of his better wrestling qualities. Finish came when Simmons pinned Hughes following a Spinebuster and football clip in 5:22.

Next match was the Super Invader against Todd Champion. The Super Invader was Hercules under a nylon mask, billed from Bangkok, Thailand. Champion was a big guy with little to no charisma or wrestling ability. This was a bad match that went too long. Invader pinned Champion in 5:26 following a power bomb. Crowd was dead for this match.

Big Josh pinned Rickard Morton in 7:33 following a Northern Exposure. Josh was Matt Borne, a good wrestler saddled with a terrible Lumberjack gimmick. Of course, it would get worse for Borne when he went to the WWF and became Doink the Clown. Crowd was dead for this match as well.

Next match is for the WCW World Light Heavyweight Title. Brian Pillman was the defending champion and Zenk was trying to win his first Light Heavyweight title. Story was Zenk and Pillman were former tag team partners and friends. Pillman played the subtle heel in this match, foreshadowing his heel turn that would occur later in 1992. I loved this match and was surprised when this match did not make the WWF Brian Pillman DVD. Since Zenk and Pillman were such good friends and former partners, they "knew" what the other man was going to do. Early action was basic mat wrestling and each countering the others moves. Crowd was really into Pillman and popped for any of his moves. Zenk worked on Pillman's back while Pillman worked on Z-man's leg. Cool spot occurred when Pillman went for a slingshot cross body block on Z-man who turned it into a powerslam for a nearfall. This was the start of the build to the finish as they traded several nearfalls. Crowd was really into this match, standing on their feet throughout the match. Finish came when Zenk went to the top rope but missed a missile drop kick, Pillman then cradled Zenk for the pin in 15:30. Great match.

Next match was for the WCW World Tag Team titles, Rick and Scott Steiner vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka. To say this match was stiff would be an understatement. If this match would have been on the streets, the Steiners would be serving time. The Steiners thought Fujinami and Iizuka were not selling for them and decided to take the physicality up a notch. Iizuka's left eye was swollen shut and had a bloody nose. Finish came when Rick Steiner gave Iizuka a belly to belly suplex off the second rope for the pinfall.

Barry Windham [artist Joseph Borzotta (c) PWTorch]

Final match of the evening is the War Games. The Dangerous Alliance of Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Larry Zbysko faced off against Sting, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes. The War Games match was a two ring, no rules fight within a cage. Each team would have a man enter the cage for the first five minute period. At the end of the first period, one team would send in another team member for a 2 on 1 advantage for two minutes until a member of the other team was able to send in a member to even the odds. Every two minutes a new team member would enter until all five members were in the ring. At this time, the War Games would begin and the only way to win was by submission or surrender. First two men in the ring is Barry Windham and Steve Austin. At the end of the first period, the Dangerous Alliance won the coin toss and sent in Rick Rude. Ricky Steamboat was in next, followed by Arn Anderson, Dustin Rhodes, Larry Zbysko, Sting, Bobby Eaton, and Nikita Koloff. Storyline was going in was could Sting trust Nikita. That question was answered when Koloff pushed Sting out of the way of a sneak attack by Anderson and Austin and took the blow himself. Finish came when Zbysko undid the turnbuckle and went to hit Sting with the steel turnbuckle hook. Sting moved and Zbysko hit Eaton instead. Sting applied an armbar to Eaton and Eaton submitted in 23:27 of an awesome match to give Sting's Squadron the win. This was a very bloody, physical match that earned 3rd place in the match of the year category in the PW Torch year end awards. After the match, Paul E. Dangerously and the Alliance argued with Zbysko in the ring, teasing Zbysko being thrown out of the Dangerous Alliance. Another outstanding match.

Summary: This was another very strong PPV and I would highly recommend it. The Pillman-Zenk match and the War Games are both must see and the rest of the PPV is solid, but not spectacular. Of the nine matches, all nine had a pin fall finish.

Next week, we will look at a Halloween themed show, "Pumpkin Brawl" promoted by the AWF in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1995.

I hope you enjoyed this week's column. As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at bhoops@iw.net.

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