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January:

 

#1 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 01/21/92) ****1/4

#2 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue (AJPW 01/24/92) ****1/4

#3 - Jeff Jarrett & Jerry Lawler vs The Moondogs (USWA Kennett, Missouri 01/17/92) ****1/4

#4 - Arn Anderson vs Dustin Rhodes (WCW Saturday Night 01/04/92) ****

#5 - Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 01/26/92) ****

#6 - Jeff Jarrett & Jerry Lawler vs The Moondogs (USWA Mid South Coliseum 01/20/92) ****

#7 - Lightning Kid, Jerry Lynn & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Dos Caras, Silver King & El Texano (Hamada's UWF 01/19/92) ****

#8 - Naoki Sano vs Jerry Flynn (PWFG 01/15/92) ****

#9 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 01/10/92) ***3/4

#10 - Fuerza Guerrera vs Octagon (CMLL 01/31/92) ***3/4

#11 - Tracy Smothers & Terry Taylor vs Brian Pillman & Marcus Bagwell (WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII 01/21/92) ***1/2

#12 - Sting & Great Muta vs Rick & Scott Steiner (NJPW Tokyo Dome 01/04/92)

#13 - Rick Rude, Steve Austin & Bobby Eaton vs Sting, Ricky Steamboat & Marcus Bagwell (WCW Pro 01/18/92) ***1/2

#14 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Stan Hansen (AJPW 01/28/92) ***1/2

#15 - Pegasus Kid vs Villano III (UWA 01/26/92) ***1/2

#16 - Vader & Mr. Hughes vs Rick & Scott Steiner (WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII 01/21/92) ***1/4

#17 - Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude & Steve Austin (WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII 01/21/92) ***1/4

#18 - Pegasus Kid & Negro Casas vs El Hijo del Santo & Villano III (UWA 01/19/92) ***1/4

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What a great month! Jushin Liger is easily wrestler of the month for me, with three ****+ matches. Negro Casas is sneaking up on him. They are my two "Most Outstanding Wrestler" picks for the year right now. We'll see how that plays out as the year goes on.

 

February:

 

#1 - Silver King, El Texano & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Dr Wagner Jr & Rambo (UWA 02/29/92) *****

#2 - Jushin Liger vs Norio Honaga (NJPW 02/08/92) ****1/2

#3 - Jushin Liger vs Pegasus Kid (NJPW 02/10/92) ****1/2

#4 - Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Larry Zbyszko (WCW SuperBrawl II 02/29/92) ****1/4

#5 - Silver King, El Texano & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Dr Wagner Jr & Mike Lozansky (UWA 02/16/92) ****1/4

#6 - El Canek vs Dos Caras (UWA 02/02/92) ****1/4

#7 - Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Yusuke Fuke (PWFG 02/24/92) ****1/4

#8 - Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Masakazu Maeda (UWFI 02/29/92) ****1/4

#9 - Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 02/22/92) ****

#10 - Sting, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham & Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton (WCW Saturday Night 02/22/92) ****

#11 - Jushin Liger vs Brian Pillman (WCW SuperBrawl II 02/29/92) ****

#12 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 02/27/92) ****

#13 - Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat (WCW SuperBrawl II 02/29/92) ****

#14 - Bestia Salvaje vs Huracan Sevilla (CMLL 02/14/92) ***3/4

#15 - Rick Rude vs Brian Pillman (WCW Pro 02/15/92) ***1/2

#16 - Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs Scott Norton & Brad Armstrong (NJPW 02/10/92) ***1/2

#17 - Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler & Junkyard Dog vs Moondogs & Big Black Dog (USWA Mid South Coliseum 02/24/92) ***

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Another really fun month. Because the pendulum wasn't swung so far in the direction of one country or style, this is even easier to get through than previous yearbooks so far. If I had to pick, I would say at this point, the best wrestling in the world is taking place in Mexico.

 

March:

 

#1 - Cien Caras, Mascara Ano 2000 & Sangre Chicana vs Konnan, Perro Aguayo & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. (CMLL 03/01/92) ****1/2

#2 - Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW 03/20/92) ****

#3 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 03/20/92) ***3/4

#4 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen (AJPW 03/04/92) ***3/4

#5 - Masa Chono vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 03/01/92) ***3/4

#6 - Mark Silver vs Masahito Kakihara (UWFI 03/17/92) ***3/4

#7 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue (AJPW 03/31/92) ***3/4

#8 - Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Masa Chono & Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 03/09/92) ***1/2

#9 - Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Bart Vale (PWFG 03/20/92) ***1/2

#10 - Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 03/04/92) ***1/2

#11 - Arn Anderson vs Ricky Steamboat (WCW Pro 03/28/92) ***1/4

#12 - Ricky Morton vs Brian Pillman (WCW Saturday Night 03/14/92) ***

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April:

 

#1 - Jushin Liger vs El Samurai (NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Final 04/30/92) *****

#2 - Octagoncito, Misteriocito & Mascarita Sagrada vs Espectrito, Piratita Morgan & Pequene Pierroth (CMLL 04/17/92) ****1/2

#3 - Blue Panther vs Love Machine (CMLL 04/03/92) ****1/4

#4 - Aja Kong vs Bull Nakano (AJW 04/25/92) ****1/4

#5 - Atlantis vs La Fiera (CMLL 04/03/92) ****

#6 - Ric Flair vs Genichiro Tenryu (SWS 04/18/92) ****

#7 - Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 04/19/92) ****

#8 - Jushin Liger vs El Samurai (NJPW 04/16/92) ****

#9 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW 04/02/92) ***3/4

#10 - Randy Savage vs Shawn Michaels (WWF Munich 04/14/92) ***3/4

#11 - Wild Pegasus vs 2 Cold Scorpio (NJPW 04/16/92) ***3/4

#12 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue, Masa Fuchi & Rusher Kimura (AJPW Fan Appreciation Night 04/18/92) ***1/2

#13 - Rick Rude, Steve Austin & Arn Anderson vs Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes (WCW Pro 04/04/92) ***1/2

#14 - Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper (WWF Wrestlemania VIII 04/05/92) ***1/2

#15 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Terry Gordy (AJPW 04/26/92) ***1/2

#16 - Ric Flair vs Randy Savage (WWF Wrestlemania VIII 04/05/92) ***1/4

#17 - Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue (AJW 04/25/92) ***

#18 - Eddy Guerrero vs Negro Casas (NJPW 04/16/92) ***

#19 - Akira Maeda vs Volk Han (RINGS 04/03/92) ***

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WWFish matches:

 

#6 - Ric Flair vs Genichiro Tenryu (SWS 04/18/92) ****

#10 - Randy Savage vs Shawn Michaels (WWF Munich 04/14/92) ***3/4

#14 - Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper (WWF Wrestlemania VIII 04/05/92) ***1/2

#16 - Ric Flair vs Randy Savage (WWF Wrestlemania VIII 04/05/92) ***1/4

 

I actually liked Hart-Piper the most out of this bunch. Don't know why other than it's a match that has always hit the spot and feels better than it had any business being.

 

Tenryu-Flair is a match that I wanted to see at the time, but when finally seeing it I felt kind of flat. Felt like a perfectly solid match, but didn't grab me. That kind of goes for all of the them other than Bret-Piper.

 

That's sometimes the problem with rankings and star ratings. I look at those and think, "Which of these would I rather watch again in 5 years." It's always been Bret-Piper over Flair-Tenryu and Savage-Flair. I'm glad I saw Savage-Shawn online a few years back, but when I get the 1992 set it's not something high on the list to rewatch. Whereas Bret-Piper is something that is easy to go, "Hey... let's check this out again and see if it holds up."

 

Hence the word "liked". Don't know if it's technically better, but I've always liked watching it.

 

Don't know if that makes sense. There are better Jumbo matches in the 70s than Jumbo-Brisco for the UN Title. But I like it more than just about all of them because in addition to being loaded with the usual good stuff, Jack starts losing his cool. There's a certain extra dynamic there that draws me into enjoying it on repeated viewings.

 

John

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May:

 

#1 - Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko (WCW Wrestle War 05/17/92) ****3/4

#2 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 05/22/92) ****3/4

#3 - Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat (AJPW 05/25/92) ****1/2

#4 - El Hijo del Santo, Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Negro Casas, Horace Boulder & Tim Patterson (WWA 05/16/92) ****1/2

#5 - El Hijo del Santo vs Espanto Jr (UWA 05/14/92) ****1/4

#6 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 05/30/92) ****1/4

#7 - Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase (NJPW 05/01/92) ****

#8 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Tayayuki Iizuka (WCW Wrestle War 05/17/92) ****

#9 - Brian Pillman vs Tom Zenk (WCW Wrestle War 05/17/92) ***3/4

#10 - Steve Austin vs Barry Windham (WCW Saturday Night 05/09/92) ***3/4

#11 - Riki Choshu vs Keiji Muto (NJPW 05/17/92) ***1/2

#12 - Rick Rude vs Dustin Rhodes (WCW Worldwide 05/30/92) ***1/2

#13 - El Hijo del Santo, Atsushi Onita & Mil Mascaras vs Negro Casas, Tarzan Goto & Giant Warrior (FMW 05/15/92) ***1/4

#14 - Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff vs Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko (WCW Saturday Night 05/23/92) ***1/4

#15 - Bill Wilcox vs Freight Train Fulton (UCW 05/01/92) ***1/4

#16 - Arn Anderson vs Big Josh (WCW Saturday Night 05/02/92) ***1/4

#17 - Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright (UWFI 05/08/92) ***

#18 - Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa vs Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida (AJW 05/24/92) ***

 

Overall thoughts: This was the best month so far of any on any yearbook. February was the second best. I think what I'm saying is that 1992 has been the most enjoyable yearbook for me. As far as other stuff not really represented on this list, Eddie Gilbert feels like the best interview in wrestling, but Arn Anderson did a few things toward the end of the month that showed if he got the opportunity, he would be red hot. Between the Windham match and War Games, this is the point when Steve Austin really started putting it all together. Before that, he had been in some strong matches, but he was surrounded by people outworking him. I think when all the 90s yearbooks are complete, the story of Austin from 1990-1999 will be one of the most interesting threads to tie them all together.

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Overall thoughts: This was the best month so far of any on any yearbook. February was the second best.

You didn't hand out star ratings in 1996, but the last two months killed it in your rankings for the year: six of the top seven. November has the #2, #4 and #5 matches of the year for you. December had #1, #6 and #7.

 

#1 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 12/06/96)

#6 - Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin & Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji vs Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Taka Michinoku & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Michinoku Pro 12/16/96)

#7 - El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas vs El Dandy (CMLL 12/06/96)

#15 - Great Sasuke & Masato Yakashiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin vs Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Inoki Festival 12/01/96)

#29 - Katsumi Usuda & Takeshi Ono vs Daisuke Ikeda & Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 12/25/96)

#31 - Nobuhiko Takada vs Genichiro Tenryu (WAR 12/13/96)

#43 - Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin & Gran Naniwa & Tiger Mask IV vs Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Taka Michinoku & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Michinoku Pro 12/09/96)

#82 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (UWFI 12/25/96)

#87 - Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Taka Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki (BattlARTS 12/04/96)

#101 - Steven Regal vs Psicosis (WCW Monday Nitro 12/16/96)

 

#2 - El Dandy vs Black Warrior (CMLL 11/02/96)

#4 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 11/29/96)

#5 - El Hijo del Santo & Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr vs El Dandy & Negro Casas & Hector Garza (CMLL 11/29/96)

#19 - El Hijo del Santo & Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr vs Negro Casas & El Dandy & Hector Garza (CMLL 11/22/96)

#20 - Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (WWF Survivor Series 11/17/96)

#22 - Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (AJPW 11/22/96)

#28 - Rey Misterio Jr vs Ultimo Dragon (WCW World War 3 11/24/96)

#30 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (AJPW 11/16/96)

#73 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi & The Patriot (AJPW 11/22/96)

#86 - Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs The Eliminators (ECW November To Remember 11/16/96)

 

John

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Overall thoughts: This was the best month so far of any on any yearbook. February was the second best.

You didn't hand out star ratings in 1996, but the last two months killed it in your rankings for the year: six of the top seven. November has the #2, #4 and #5 matches of the year for you. December had #1, #6 and #7.

I don't know what the rest of 1992 is going to bring at this point, but right now, the top four matches would be in my top seven for the year to date. I think I started a thread to add star ratings to the best matches each month that I never completed. I'll go back and do that at some point so that comparisons like that are easier. But for purposes of this discussion:

 

#1 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 12/06/96) *****

#6 - Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin & Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji vs Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Taka Michinoku & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Michinoku Pro 12/16/96) ****1/2

#7 - El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas vs El Dandy (CMLL 12/06/96) ****1/2

#15 - Great Sasuke & Masato Yakashiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin vs Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Inoki Festival 12/01/96) ****1/2

#29 - Katsumi Usuda & Takeshi Ono vs Daisuke Ikeda & Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 12/25/96) ****1/4

#31 - Nobuhiko Takada vs Genichiro Tenryu (WAR 12/13/96) ****1/4

#43 - Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin & Gran Naniwa & Tiger Mask IV vs Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Taka Michinoku & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Michinoku Pro 12/09/96) ****1/4

#82 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (UWFI 12/25/96) ****

#87 - Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Taka Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki (BattlARTS 12/04/96) ***3/4

#101 - Steven Regal vs Psicosis (WCW Monday Nitro 12/16/96) ***1/2

Nothing in May 1992 can quite touch the #1 match for 1996. But I would put the top three for the month above the #6 match for 1996.

 

#2 - El Dandy vs Black Warrior (CMLL 11/02/96) ****3/4

#4 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 11/29/96) ****3/4

#5 - El Hijo del Santo & Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr vs El Dandy & Negro Casas & Hector Garza (CMLL 11/29/96) ****3/4

#19 - El Hijo del Santo & Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr vs Negro Casas & El Dandy & Hector Garza (CMLL 11/22/96) ****1/2

#20 - Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (WWF Survivor Series 11/17/96) ****1/2

#22 - Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (AJPW 11/22/96) ****1/2

#28 - Rey Misterio Jr vs Ultimo Dragon (WCW World War 3 11/24/96) ****1/4

#30 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (AJPW 11/16/96) ****1/4

#73 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi & The Patriot (AJPW 11/22/96) ****

#86 - Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs The Eliminators (ECW November To Remember 11/16/96) ***3/4

Another great month. War Games I'd put ahead of Dandy/Warrior, while the AJ 6-man compared to #2, #4 and #5 is a close call at this point that I don't want to answer without putting some thought into it. Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Can-Ams would be higher than #19 for 1996 I can say without thinking about it too much.

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To be clear, Austin was being lapped for the bulk of it. Around the time he got the haircut was the time he started putting everything together, and that was a few weeks before War Games, the unofficial "end" of the DA. (It went on for months afterwards, but never had the same focus and wasn't the same.) These things are usually more gradual, but the Windham match was the first time I thought he didn't look green. Instead, he looked like a young guy who had put some things together.

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Tenryu-Flair is a match that I wanted to see at the time, but when finally seeing it I felt kind of flat. Felt like a perfectly solid match, but didn't grab me. That kind of goes for all of the them other than Bret-Piper.

 

 

John

There are 2 matches back to back on 4/17 and 4/18 (or is it 4/18 and 4/19) so you may have seen the other match.

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On the Nov/Dec 1996, I only pulled in the matches that made the Top 100 and those 5 or so additional honorable mentions. There were a number of other matches that month that you tossed "good" and "very good" at, but didn't make your Top 100 (Dean-Eddy and Toyota-Kyoko are just two examples). Plus there's the Beniot-Jarrett match from Starcade that got droped under the Beniot Rule... and it was a pretty good match.

 

Other Nov matches:

 

Volk Han vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, RINGS 11/22/96

 

"Really good match, but I'd probably call this middle of the pack compared to most of the RINGS on the set. Great drama and some awesome mat exchanges, as usual."

 

Steve Austin vs Mankind, WWF Monday Night RAW 11/18/96

 

"Really good, hard-hitting match."

 

Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin vs Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu, Michinoku Pro 11/12/96

 

"Super Delphin is just awesome. I think this is a guy who had a good singles run in him that never really happened to its full potential. Another awesome match in a long line of them for this group."

 

Didn't make the Top 100... maybe they have so many in the Top 100. But strangely, this wasn't even on the Top 162 that you did through Novemeber, that went all the way down to:

 

#159 - Shawn Michaels vs Leif Cassidy (WWF Monday Night RAW 03/25/96)

#160 - Dean Malenko vs Disco Inferno (WCW Bash at the Beach 07/07/96)

#161 - Ric Flair vs Randy Savage (WCW Monday Nitro 02/19/96)

#162 - Sting vs Scott Steiner (WCW Monday Nitro 05/27/96)

 

Were those really better than the MPro match? Maybe the MPro accidentally got left off the "through November" list, than got forgotten from the Top 100?

 

There aren't a ton of matches from Nov 1996 on the set: 18 of them, some of them highlights/finish. 10 make your Top 100, and three others look like they'd get ***+ from you (or in the case of the MPro tag quite a bit higher than ***+.

 

Other interesting thing about the month: no NJPW and no AJW. That's not saying you missed anything, since NJPW was largely between series (Nov tv was largely eaten up by the Tag League which actually was 10/13-11/1). Don't recall what AJW was up to in Nov 1996... perhap their tag league commercial tape?

 

Not arguing strongly. At the time, May 1992 was considered a really good month. :)

 

I'd toss in April 1993 as a month that is likely better than what's on the yearbook, with a few missing Carny and DreamSlam matches probably pushing it up, especially the semifinal on DS-II (not really sure how that didn't make it). I think we said at the time that 1993 was brutal to cut down because there were so many good/great matches, and also some repitition (Hansen-Misawa have a better match a month later).

 

John

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To be clear, Austin was being lapped for the bulk of it. Around the time he got the haircut was the time he started putting everything together, and that was a few weeks before War Games, the unofficial "end" of the DA. (It went on for months afterwards, but never had the same focus and wasn't the same.) These things are usually more gradual, but the Windham match was the first time I thought he didn't look green. Instead, he looked like a young guy who had put some things together.

I agree with pretty much all of this. I thought it was like the opposite of the "Samson effect"; the less hair he had, the better he got.

 

He's in some strong matches in the first half of the year and the Superbrawl tag is great, but it always feels like he's the least of the guys involved.

 

Then he gets a haircut around the middle of the year and not only is he involved in some good-to-great matches (I'd say more in the second half of the year than in the first), but it feels like he's pulling his weight as much as anybody and really had "put it together".

 

Wargames is excellent and it feels like it's as much to do with him as Arn or Rude or Steamboat -- guys that were clearly better than him a few months before.

 

There's another Windham match from June that is my favourite of all their matches and Austin had become a great opponent for Barry (I love how he sells Windham's taped fist punches. He makes them seem deadly).

 

The Austin/Rude v Barry/Dustin match from the Great American Bash PPV is a match I like a good deal and I thought Steve looked as good as Rude did, which wasn't the case in the Clash tag at the start of the year. He's also great at playing off of Windham in it.

 

There's a Pillman match from a July episode of Worldwide that is really good. It isn't as good as Pillman/Rude from February, but it isn't a blowout and I can't imagine the matches being as close in quality if they both happened in the second month of the year.

 

The TV Title feud with Steamboat around the Fall is great and the Clash XX match is a terrific little match. That's probably the best example his growth that year. Compare it to a ten minute singles match from the first few months (I'm blanking on a decent example offhand) and the change should be pretty clear. He's far more focused and interesting on offence and has WAY more shit in the holster, and he's far better at staying interesting while working from the bottom. Just looks flat out better in general.

 

I mean I'm not sure he'd even be top ten in his own company that year, but he improved leaps and bounds over the course of it and him not being top ten has more to do with the company he was in being *so* good.

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June:

 

#1 - Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat (WCW Beach Blast 06/20/92) ****1/2

#2 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (WCW Clash of the Champions XIX 06/16/92) ****1/2

#3 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 06/05/92) ****1/4

#4 - Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Bart Vale (PWFG 06/25/92) ****1/4

#5 - Hiroshi Hase vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 06/26/92) ****

#6 - Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue (AJW 06/27/92) ****

#7 - Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 06/05/92) ****

#8 - Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada (AJW 06/21/92) ***3/4

#9 - Steve Austin vs Barry Windham (WCW Worldwide 06/13/92) ***1/2

#10 - Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson (WCW Saturday Night 06/06/92) ***1/2

#11 - Jushin Liger vs El Samurai (NJPW 06/26/92) ***1/2

#12 - Aja Kong vs Bison Kimura (AJW 06/21/92) ***1/4

#13 - Sting vs Cactus Jack (WCW Beach Blast 06/20/92) ***1/4

#14 - Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington (WCW Clash of the Champions XIX 06/16/92) ***1/4

#15 - Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Rick & Scott Steiner (NJPW 06/26/92) ***

#16 - Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels (WWF Rampage 06/02/92) ***

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July:

 

#1 - El Dandy vs Negro Casas (CMLL 07/03/92) *****

#2 - Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 07/05/92) ****1/2

#3 - Vader vs Sting (WCW Great American Bash 07/12/92) ****1/2

#4 - Volk Han vs Andrei Kopylov (RINGS 07/16/92) ****1/2

#5 - Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Rick Rude & Steve Austin (WCW Great American Bash 07/12/92) ****1/4

#6 - Yuki Ishikawa vs Kazuo Takahashi (PWFG 07/27/92) ****

#7 - Kiyoshi Tamura & Kazuo Yamazaki vs Gary Albright & Mark Silver (UWFI 07/12/92) ***3/4

#8 - Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff (WCW Great American Bash 07/12/92) ***3/4

#9 - Lizmark vs Satanico (CMLL 07/17/92) ***1/2

#10 - Masa Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka (NJPW 07/31/92) ***1/2

#11 - Shinya Hashimoto & Hiroshi Hase vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 07/31/92) ***1/2

#12 - El Hijo del Santo, Perro Aguayo & Misterioso vs Fishman, Espanto Jr & Cien Caras (AAA 07/04/92) ***1/4

#13 - Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels (WWF Portland 07/21/92) ***1/4

#14 - Rick Rude vs Nikita Koloff (WCW Worldwide 07/25/92) ***1/4

#15 - Negro Casas, Emilio Charles Jr. & Bestia Salvaje vs Atlantis, Lizmark & Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 07/31/92) ***1/4

#16 - Mayumi Ozaki vs Dynamite Kansai (JWP 07/09/92) ***

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  • 2 weeks later...

August:

 

#1 - Atlantis vs Emilio Charles Jr. (CMLL 08/11/92) ****1/2

#2 - Angel Azteca, Solar I & Super Astro vs Blue Panther, La Parka & Rambo (AAA 08/21/92) ****1/2

#3 - Volk Han vs Dick Vrij (RINGS 08/21/92) ****1/2

#4 - Rick Rude vs Masa Chono (NJPW 08/12/92) ****1/2

#5 - Jushin Liger vs Wild Pegasus (NJPW 08/12/92) ****1/2

#6 - Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada (AJW 08/15/92) ****1/4

#7 - Bret Hart vs Davey Boy Smith (WWF Summerslam 08/29/92) ****1/4

#8 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 08/20/92) ****1/4

#9 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs Keiji Muto & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 08/12/92) ***3/4

#10 - Rick Rude vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 08/11/92) ***1/2

#11 - Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoji Anjo (UWFI 08/28/92) ***1/2

#12 - Manami Toyota vs Mariko Yoshida (AJW 08/30/92) ***1/2

#13 - Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJPW 08/22/92) ***1/2

#14 - Ultimo Dragon vs Negro Casas (CMLL 08/27/92) ***1/4

#15 - Grom Zaza vs Shtorm Koba (RINGS 08/21/92) ***

 

Honestly, lots of matches that were solid, but didn't really stand out this month, although the high-end stuff is superb.

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