WCW in 1992 and 1993... surprisingly not terrible

[The Following Contest]

Hey folks, I'm new.

 

I was born in the suburbs of Toronto in 1980 and grew up a Hulkamaniac. My exposure to WCW was limited and it wasn't until my late teens. during the attitude era, that I went hunting for NWA/WCW footage.

 

Loved everything 80's from Crockett, and saw bits and pieces of early 1990's WCW, but was never intent on seeing more because of the Wrestlecrap.com, WWE DVD "histories" and Ric Flair's of the world making me believe that everything during the Frey/Watts/Bischoff era was the drizzlin' spits.

 

But, over the past year, I went through it all, everything on WWE network for WCW between Sting winning the title in '90 to Hogan showing up in '94.... and ya know what, 1992 and 1993 WCW was kind of awesome.

 

For every Oz and White Castle of Fear, there was a classic from Steamboat or Rude or Vader or Austin and Pillman. The New Japan involvement and the credibility given to solid workers, both tag and singles, really makes it stand out against the (IMO) very weak WWF product during the same era.

 

And the booking in 1993? It's really great at the upper levels of the card. Windham-Flair-Rude NWA title scene was great and the Vader title reign was so badass and well executed. Mix in the fateful and unexpected gift of Flair getting the title shot at Starrcade '93, and it is one helluva solid year, with Mene Gene and Jesse Ventura giving the television product a polish it had lacked previously.

 

So, I'm sold on WCW 92 and 93.

 

What are your memories/impressions of WCW during 1992 and 1993?

[C.S.]

I loved WCW toward the end of 1991 and into 1992 and 1993. Other than a few dubious angles and some front office musical chairs, I didn't necessarily realize those years were thought of poorly.

[Infinit]

I'm a couple years older than you and grew up in Toronto. I didn't have pay TV, so the freebie weekends we got were such a treat from Sept 91 onwards. The one year of the Dangerous Alliance ( Halloween Havoc 91 to 92) had some incredible stuff. All the upper midcard faces (Steamboat, Rhodes, Windham, Simmons, Koloff, Pillman,Steiners) vs the DA. Sting vs Luger overlapping Sting vs Vader. The beginning of the CW division with Pillman and Liger, the debut of Jake The Snake Roberts, Steiners vs MVC, Simmons upsetting Vader. So many great memories from an amazing year.

[JerryvonKramer]

I'm a little shocked that the idea of WCW 1992 being good is surprising.

 

For my money, the greatest year in that company's history -- not from a box office or even booking / storyline point of view, but purely from in-ring. I mean their roster was just PHENOMENAL. Personally, it's probably my favourite year of any promotion. 1989 NWA, 1989 All Japan and possibly one of the years from the mid-90s of All Japan might be "better", but Dangerous Alliance, Rude vs. Steamboat, Pillman vs. Liger, War Games ... forget about it. I love that period.

 

Kip Allen Frey is my hero.

[NotJayTabb]

Growing up in the UK in the 90's, my first exposure to wrestling was 1992 WCW on ITV, so my memories of this era are positive. I remember watching Steve Austin win the TV title from Barry Windham on my second ever episode of Worldwide, and I was hooked from that moment on. For my blog I've been revisiting 1992 WCW (admittedly at a very slow rate) as we didn't get the PPV's or Clash's over here, and it all more than holds up. I was watching the start of WrestleWar 92 last night, and the second match is Johnny B Badd vs Young Pistols-era Tracy Smothers. A green guy with a colourful gimmick taking on a lower-card tag wrestler, and it's a load of fun. The crowd are into it, Smothers looks fantastic on offence as well as stooging for Badd, whilst Badd plays the gimmick to the hilt and more than carries his own. WCW was chock full of talent in this period, and the shows have been a load of fun to watch.

[drew wardlaw]

Lots of good tv in 1992. 93 too but I've seen less of it. There's a Windham vs Arn 2/3 falls match in like June or something that is unreal.

[The Following Contest]

Oh, and Jake Roberts! I thought that angle was excellent, so much heat for his debut. Too bad the "demons" derailed things.

[thebrainfollower]

I think 1992 gets a free pass unfairly sometimes. The first half is great, the 2nd half has some really strange booking the mega push of Doc and Gordy I cannot stand and some really really just awful PPV shows. Great TV matches and roster though.

 

93 Likewise has some great great TV matches but some lousy big shows and bad booking decisions (Vader drew terrible all year, you COULD argue that's WCW's fault but you could ALSO argue trying something different would have been a good idea)

 

Also in 92 why did Sting drop the belt so fast? Was he tanking that badly with gates compared to how business was in 91? Or did Bill Watts just see more money in Ron Simmons?

[Ricky Jackson]

Part of it was Watts' never ending quest to recapture the phenomenon of early 80s JYD

[Infinit]

I loved how the Dangerous Alliance kept the whole upper midcard relevant and exciting and was separate from the World title picture. You could have a weekend full of 4/6/8 man tags of DA vs faces main eventing Pro, Worldwide, WCW & Main Event and it all felt part of the big picture of the Paul E's war on WCW's heroes.

[victory]

92 WCW is one of my favorite years for that company. Solid tv and ppv, it does drop off by the fall like has been mentioned. Halloween Havoc was the first bad ppv after having some great ones. Starrcade kind of redeems itself with the Sting vs Vader match.

 

93 WCW is kind of hit or miss for me. The ppv's are solid, it's the TV that can be kind of rough.The Hollywood Blondes are fun along with the Vader vs Cactus stuff. I don't really care for the Rude vs Flair series. They just don't really click to me in the ring.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm a little shocked that the idea of WCW 1992 being good is surprising.

 

Go back and read the stuff Scott Keith used to write about 1992-93 WCW, which was more or less parroting what he'd read on rspw.

[C.S.]

I think 1992 gets a free pass unfairly sometimes. The first half is great, the 2nd half has some really strange booking the mega push of Doc and Gordy I cannot stand

 

I'm surprised to hear you say this. I loved the hell out of the Doc and Gordy push. They were world-beaters who just ate everyone up - a tag team version of Goldberg years before Goldberg - and it didn't hurt that they were steamrolling over the overrated, underwhelming, and completely disappointing Steiner Brothers, who I never thought even came close to to the hype I read about them in the magazines.

[JerryvonKramer]

I'm kinda with brain on that, as you'll hear on the next few WTBBP.

[Loss]

Watts found his way toward the end of his run. You can't call a guy out of touch bringing in Benoit, Regal, Van Dam, Scorpio and Douglas while increasing pushes for Austin, Pillman, Foley, Dustin and Vader, especially in retrospect. The problem is that it took him a few months to realize that guys like Dick Slater and Terry Gordy weren't the same in 1992 that they were in 1986 or 1987, and that Ron Simmons was not JYD. By early '93, he was mixing the above-mentioned younger guys in with WCW mainstays like Sting, Windham and Steamboat with Flair on his way back in. I still think it would have worked with more time.

[thebrainfollower]

I HATED Gordy and Williams as a team in WCW. You compare them to Goldberg..........but Goldberg, at least as soon as a serious push began, was a babyface. Monster heels eating up and destroying everyone are fine but they have to get theirs at some point and not ALWAYS be booked as totally invincible.

 

Hear me out. Let's say Kane pins UT clean at WM XIV and then destroys Austin easily to win the title. Okay fine.........where do you go from there?

 

IF the idea was the Steiners are terrible (I don't agree) and we have a new babyface team to fill their role and are using Doc and Gordy to get them over that's fine but if the final idea is just "make the Steiners miserable till they quit" (and YES I think that was Bill's idea) with no final ending of sending the fans home happy I am not and NEVER for it. Which is why the Vader thing in the end works, because even though his run was too long, the final pay off with Flair is worth it.

[C.S.]

I HATED Gordy and Williams as a team in WCW. You compare them to Goldberg..........but Goldberg, at least as soon as a serious push began, was a babyface. Monster heels eating up and destroying everyone are fine but they have to get theirs at some point and not ALWAYS be booked as totally invincible.

 

Hear me out. Let's say Kane pins UT clean at WM XIV and then destroys Austin easily to win the title. Okay fine.........where do you go from there?

 

IF the idea was the Steiners are terrible (I don't agree) and we have a new babyface team to fill their role and are using Doc and Gordy to get them over that's fine but if the final idea is just "make the Steiners miserable till they quit" (and YES I think that was Bill's idea) with no final ending of sending the fans home happy I am not and NEVER for it. Which is why the Vader thing in the end works, because even though his run was too long, the final pay off with Flair is worth it.

 

But Williams and Gordy did eventually "get theirs" - via a shocking loss to Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes, which set in motion the chain of events for Barry's awesome heel turn and great feud with Dustin. You can't say there was no "final ending" just because the overrated Steiners weren't the recipient of it. Doc and Gordy were better than The Steiners, period (kayfabe), and then they met their match in Windham and Dustin. Seems fairly conclusive to me.

[Parties]

The coolest K. Allen Frey aspect of things were the Best Match bonuses, which I don't think I've heard of anyone else in wrestling doing. Genuine environment of letting guys get themselves over.

[PhilTLL]

The Frey half of 1992 is better than the Watts half, at least what I've seen of the latter so far. Some of the early Watts stuff goes over like a lead balloon, old and stodgy as soon as it happens. The quickly abandoned Head Ref Ole Anderson thing, the overall emphasis on law and order, the baffling top rope rule. The TV gets repetitive due to the budget cuts reducing the amount of TV tapings, though that's not Watts' fault as such.

 

Totally agree with the match bonuses. The extra effort from pretty much everybody is palpable in that period. Of course, the gates didn't magically turn around in that time, and free spending is one of the things that got Frey fired.

[Infinit]

Totally forgot about 2 Cold Scorpio. His debut at the Clash was freaking awesome.

[Loss]

The mentality behind the top rope rule was always to lift the ban several months later. Watts didn't think people were popping enough for moves off the top rope, so making it an outlaw thing would make it mean more. He also thought it was an easy way for heels to get heat -- by doing top-rope moves during a ref distraction.

 

He was concurrently trying to make matwork matter again and was willing to sacrifice show quality in the short term to get holds over. He thought more about the artform of wrestling than anyone in any decision-making capacity in wrestling has since. He basically wanted everything to matter.

 

That he was succeeded by Bischoff, who had no clue on stuff like that, is interesting. Bischoff was hugely successful, of course, but not with a model that was built to last.

[funkdoc]

the thing is that a goldberg push just doesn't work with guys who rely so much on chinlocks and front facelocks. monsters need explosive offense!

[thebrainfollower]

CS - To what you said earlier about my not pointing out the Gordy/Williams loss to Dustin/Windham. I was not covering up it was simply something I had forgotten. I thought Windham/Rhodes beat a surrogate team not the MVC.

 

 

Also what funkdoc said

[JRH]

The problem with banning the top rope moves to make it an "outlaw" move, was that it crippled the light heavyweight dvision, which, at the time, was built off high flyers like pillman and liger. By getting rid of that move, you make LHW matches the same as every other match in the promotion. That aside, there was enough good in 1992 wcw to make it worthwhile. 1993, while i liked it while watching, had those atrocious Disney tapings where they pretty much booked the rest of the year right then and there (WWF did the same thing in the late 80s/early 90s, but never on such a large scale), therefore making it useless for any wrestler to try to get over since theyve already penciled in the new champs. Im also kind of bitter that Cactus Jack never got his revenge on Vader (at least have him win a non-title match).

[Loss]

In the case of the LHW championship, I'm not sure how much it meant to WCW at the time. Yes, Watts gutted the division, but Tony Schiavone talking about how it's good that there was now a title for "people like Brad Armstrong" who couldn't hang with the top stars was probably more detrimental. I don't entirely agree with it, but I see the idea behind it, if you think moves that once would have been "wow" moves mean zero because they are too commonplace and not put over properly.