[1992-02-09-WCW-Main Event] Big Van Vader & Cactus Jack & Mr Hughes vs Sting & Rick & Scott Steiner

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Fun match, with lots of heavyweight highspots, just as you'd expect.

[Tim Evans]

Sting body slamming Vader about 5 minutes into the match to no reaction kinda hurts the match. I mean I know Vader always took that from guys but it's still annoying. Otherwise fun match.

[shoe]

I thought this was solid, kinda dissapointing considering the talent level. The thing that got the biggest reaction was Scott doing the slow tag to get Sting in the bout. So far on this set Hughes can really take some big bumps.

[Kevin Ridge]

It's strange to see Vader getting thrown around so much and not getting the desired reaction. It's impressive looking but you think it should mean more for a guy his size. Hoping for a bit more in this match but was alright.

[MikeCampbell]

Wow, the crowd seems almost apathetic when Rick tosses Vader and then drops him with the Steinerline. Sting does get a bit of a reaction when he slams Vader, but not nearly what he should have.

 

Tony: Could you imagine a match with these two (Vader and Sting)?

[Zenjo]

Reasonable apart from Mr Hughes stinking things up. If someone can't be carried in a 6 man tag you know they're bad.

[FLIK]

Reasonable apart from Mr Hughes stinking things up

No clue how you could come to that conclusion. Just watched this and I thought Hughes was clearly the workhorse of the match, like Shoe mentioned bumping all over as a super fast pace for a guy that big.

 

Match coulda used 5 more mins but other then that it was really good for the short amount of time they got.

[WingedEagle]

Rick actually does a decent job selling for Vader, moreso than he would for most opponents. Sting & Vader always worked well together and this was no exception. Some pairings just gel. As noted above this could've used a few more minutes.

 

**3/4

[concrete1992]

Trying to get back into 1992 and while this is by no means a great match it is fun enough to totally launch me in the mood for it.

 

This match made me feel that if I was around during this period of wrestling I'd more likely have been a WCW fan rather than a WWF fan I grew up as. This match was so much fun with the big men doing them big men moves. I need more Vader. Like a lot more Vader.

[WingedEagle]

This, and most of WCW's in-ring product at this time, was a cut above what was being offered in WWF outside of Flair/Savage.

 

Watching the year unfold (I'm through August), what's standing out to me is the night and day difference in production and professionalism between the two companies. WWF is so far ahead of WCW in lighting, TV sets, interview / promo segments. Its such a disparity that for the casual fan I can easily see why one simply looks like a minor league outfit.

[Loss]

To that point, WCW using the white mat on some shows during the early part of the year was a drastic improvement, as it made the arena look bigger and all the characters look more colorful. I wish they had stuck with it. It's a stark difference between wrestling and theatre, where a black floor is usually ideal for that reason. It's amazing how much more "alive" wrestling looks in general with a white mat.

[concrete1992]

I feel too young watching this stuff. Certainly picking up on the in-ring product being better. Can't wait until I get to War Games. Still quite a bit off but I refuse to go into without at least seeing everything from WCW up to that point. Watched the match once on YouTube probably 4-5 years ago when I was in my awkward teen years of wrestling fanhood when I LOVED RoH. This time I want to go in seeing all I've got on hand.

 

Probably why my dad was more attracted to WWF with regards to production and possibly Hulk Hogan. He was much more of a casual fan then I'd say I am.

[PeteF3]

Not a MOTYC or anything but it says a lot for the WCW in-ring product that a match can be this good and heated and still not really stand out in the face of what else is on TV and PPV for this company. And hey, it's a high-quality 6-man with nary a Dangerous Alliance member in sight. The WCW roster has some depth again.

[garretta]

I agree that the in-ring action was much better than you'd see in the WWF at this time, but WCW could have taken some characterization lessons from Vince, particularly in regard to monster heavyweights. Simply put, you don't throw them around like midgets, because if you do, they're not monsters anymore; they're just fat slobs who need to hit the gym more and lay off the second helpings of dessert. I get that Sting and the Steiners are well-conditioned athletes who should be able to do things normal guys can't, but it still shouldn't be as easy for them to suplex and slam guys like Vader and Hughes as we saw it was. Sure, they sold when the time came, but it didn't really mean much because the fans already knew that they were the superior athletes and would reassert themselves when the chips were down, as they did.

 

Does this stuff really matter, some of you may ask? If you think it doesn't, ask yourself this: suppose that instead of slamming Andre just before dropping the leg and getting the pin at Mania III, Hogan slammed him the first time he went for it about ten seconds in. Would Andre have looked nearly as unbeatable? Would the drama of seeing him slowly squeeze the life out of Hogan midway through the bout have been nearly as great? Would the slam at the end have meant anything at all? If you want another example, think of their rematch. Why was there a sense of things going wrong for Hogan, even before the evil twin Hebners? Because no matter what he tried, Andre wouldn't go down. We know that he couldn't now, of course, and we know why. Still, watching it in the moment, Hogan's inability to take Andre off his feet until late in the bout was a great way to signal to the little Hulksters even before Earl and Dave got involved that Hogan might not have an easy time.

 

This is really going to haunt WCW when they have to inevitably build Vader up as an unstoppable monster going after Sting later in the year. Do they really think most of the fans are going to forget seeing Sting handle Vader with ease in this bout? You can play the "trouble in River City" card that I referenced above once or twice as far as Sting having trouble moving or lifting him goes; after that, the fans will wonder what's wrong with their hero. He slammed Vader like nothing in February, so why can't he do it now? Hmmm, something's not kosher about this...........

 

In other observations, it's odd to hear Tony doing JR's shilling for him. What's even odder is that he promotes the Omni card for that night on one hand, then encourages the fans in the Atlanta area to call in to JR's show on the other. If someone's at the Omni enjoying the matches, they aren't listening to JR's show, or so you'd think. Besides, wouldn't JR presumably be at the Omni himself, since he's WCW's top announcer? Even if he's not working, wouldn't he want to go there to keep up with what's going on? (Knowing this outfit, the answer to the last two questions is probably no.)

 

Tony calling an Irish whip an armdrag simply shouldn't have happened, and it definitely shouldn't have made air. It's amazing how many stupid mistakes a veteran like him can make. He didn't wait to go downhill until the Nitro era; his fall was already well underway, and didn't happen from nearly the height that many assume it did in the first place.

[Childs]

You're asking Vader to be a different kind of wrestler than he actually was. He stood out from the monsters of the past because he could create so much movement at his size and still come off as a killer. Trying to make him '87 Andre would have wasted a lot of what made him special.

[garretta]

Booking him as unable to be picked up and tossed around like a guy half his size doesn't turn him into '87 Andre, Childs. He can move around as much as he likes on his own; I just don't want Sting or Rick Steiner picking him up more than once a match, if even that. There should be a question of "What the hell do you do with this guy, anyway? He moves like a lightweight, yet not even Sting can move him without almost killing himself. This guy's completely unstoppable!"

 

To further your analogy, maybe late seventies Andre would suffice. I know he was probably in decline even then, but that's the earliest I've seen more than a clip or two of him.

[Childs]

I still think you're trying to hammer Vader into someone else's hole. He didn't want to work as an immovable object, and he went on to have a great series with Sting--best of Sting's career and one of the best in WCW history--working the way he worked. I know this is the eternal debate with Vader, and you're certainly not alone in your opinion.

 

But if your argument is that Vader bumping around in a match like this took steam out of his later singles feud with Sting, that's not borne out by reality.

[PeteF3]

There are definitely instances of Vader calling himself to get tossed around where it didn't make sense, particularly against Flair. Still, the vast majority of his WCW babyface opponents were guys who were pushed as believably being able to do that--the Steiners, Sting, and Davey Boy.

[garretta]

I guess it depends on how JR and the other announcers try to sell Vader when the time comes for him to challenge Sting. As long as they don't oversell how awesome he is and how Sting has almost no chance against him barring a miracle, I won't complain too much.

[dawho5]

Fun heavyweight match with Ricky actually playing a decent FIP. Scotty seemed like an afterthought for 90% of the match here, which probably helped. Vader never truly looked like the big man monster in the States. He always let himself get tossed around a little more. No big deal though, it seemed like it worked.

[JKWebb]

The Vader show - A really fun match, and you get to see Vader showing off his legendary athleticism.  He has great chemistry with Rick Steiner and Sting here (although it's not a very long match or anything).  It's great to revisit.  The Vader/Sting matches are some of my favorite of all-time, so I'm always excited to see them face off in any capacity.  This was no different, and it was pretty cool because I don't think I had ever seen this match before (prior to tonight).