WrestleWar (1992)
WrestleWar 1992: WarGames was the fourth and final WrestleWar professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on May 17, 1992 from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.
| WrestleWar (1992) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 VHS cover featuring Sting's Squadron and The Dangerous Alliance | |||
| Promotion | World Championship Wrestling | ||
| Date | May 17, 1992[1] | ||
| City | Jacksonville, Florida[1] | ||
| Venue | Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum[1] | ||
| Attendance | 6,000[1] | ||
| Tagline(s) | Destroy Or Be Destroyed! | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| WrestleWar chronology | |||
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Ten matches were contested at the event including one dark match. The main event was a WarGames match, in which Sting's Squadron (Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff) defeated The Dangerous Alliance (Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko). Other featured matches on the card were Brian Pillman versus Tom Zenk for the Light Heavyweight Championship, Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine versus The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) and The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) versus Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka to determine the number one contenders for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[1][2][3][4]
In 2014, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.
Storylines
The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[5]
At SuperBrawl II, Sting defeated Lex Luger in the main event to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Also at the event, Dangerous Alliance member Rick Rude successfully defended the United States Heavyweight Championship against Ricky Steamboat while Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes defeated Alliance members Steve Austin and Larry Zbyszko in a tag team match. On the March 7 episode of World Championship Wrestling, Sting discussed his potential contenders for the title during a SuperBrawl II press conference until Dangerous Alliance interrupted him and Rude threw a drink in Sting's face which led to a brawl between Sting and Dangerous Alliance and Nikita Koloff made his return to WCW by coming to Sting's rescue. Steamboat continued his feud with Rude while Windham and Rhodes also resumed their rivalry with Austin and Zbyszko. On the March 21 episode of Worldwide, Big Van Vader attacked Sting after his match, causing Sting to suffer a rib injury and be out of action. Koloff would reveal his allegiance to Sting on the April 25 episode of Saturday Night by considering Sting, his favorite wrestler. This would lead to a WarGames match between Sting's Squadron (Sting, Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat against Dangerous Alliance at WrestleWar.
On the April 11 episode of Saturday Night, Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine defeated The Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) in a two out of three falls match to retain the United States Tag Team Championship. Two weeks later, on the April 25 episode of Saturday Night, Eric Bischoff announced that Taylor and Valentine would be defending the titles against Hayes and Garvin at WrestleWar.
Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Jim Ross |
| Jesse Ventura | |
| Ring announcer | Gary Michael Cappetta |
| Referees | Bill Alfonso |
| Randy Anderson |
Preliminary matches
The fifth match of the night was originally announced as Ron Simmons teaming up with the Junkyard Dog to face Mr. Hughes and Cactus Jack in a tag team match, but before the match Jack attacked the Junkyard Dog, leading to Simmons taking on Hughes.
The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) did not put the WCW World Tag Team Championship on the line against Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka, instead it was to determine the next team to challenge for New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Tag Team Championship.
Main event match
The main event was a WarGames match featuring Sting's Squadron (Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff) against The Dangerous Alliance (Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko). The match ended when Zbyszko accidentally hit Eaton in the shoulder with the metal connector from a turnbuckle, this left Eaton open to an armbar submission hold from Sting to win the match for Sting's Squadron.
Aftermath
Steiner Brothers received their IWGP Tag Team Championship at a New Japan Pro-Wrestling show on June 26, 1992, where they defeated Big, Bad and Dangerous (Big Van Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On July 5, Steiner Brothers lost their WCW World Tag Team Championship to Terry Gordy and Steve Williams at a live event.
Results
References
- "WrestlWar 1992". Pro Wrestling History. May 27, 1992. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
- Cawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
- "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling’s Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 135.
- "WCW Ring Results 1992". The History of WWE. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
- Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
- Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Stone Cold Truth (p.90)