1992 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[JaymeFuture]

So, for our podcast this week the subject for discussion is looking at the wrestling landscape in 1992, and the good, bad and ugly elements that comprised it, a fun way to do a year in review, and I figure this will be especially good here with the yearbooks breaking down different stuff.

The idea being that out of everything that happened on a worldwide basis in this year, what ONE thing epitomises each for you personally (if you had to choose a match, promo, angle, feud, theme or company that summed each up), and why?

For example, if we were talking 93, we could say:

The Good - Kobashi Vs. Hansen matches

The Bad - Hogan plunger raping Bret at Mania IX

The Ugly - Big Sky, Charlie Norris, Shockmaster, Equaliser and others stinking up WCW.

Apply for 1992, and please go into as much depth on why things were the best or the worst as you'd like. As always I'll read the feedback and credit the fine folks who do.

[BillThompson]

Good - Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon throughout the year, but mainly their Rumble match call. I don't care what misgivings others have with Gorilla or Bobby, I've always loved them as a team and their Rumble work has always had a special place in my wrestling world.

 

Bad - Jimmy Garvin, just awful in every regard the entire year, whether in the ring, doing vignettes, or simply breathing, Garvin managed to look bad all the time.

 

Ugly - Rocco. I'm not a fan of LoD, but giving them a ventriloquist dummy as their new driving force, horrible in the way that only wrestling can be horrible.

[ohtani's jacket]

Good -- WCW Dangerous Alliance era produces probably the best period for television wrestling in company history (barring the NWA years.) Negro Casas jumps to CMLL and we finally get to see him work on a regular basis including a legendary feud against Dandy. 90s All Japan Women comes of age with their November Dream Rush show.

 

Bad -- Wrestling hits a low in the US with the steroid trial. Pena's AAA deal with Televisa ends the golden era of 1989-92 lucha. Jumbo Tsuruta becomes ill.

 

Ugly -- Ultimate Warrior vs .Papa Shango? The finish to Wrestlemania VIII? Rude vs. Chono?

[Petey]

Good: Dangerous Alliance angle culminating in one of the great War Games matches ever.

 

Bad: 103 year old Cowboy Bill Watts replacing Kip Frey and taking WCW back to 1977.

 

Ugly: The Survivor Series buyrate?

[PeteF3]

The Good: Killer feuds involving small-time promotions. Specifically the Moondogs vs. every babyface in the USWA, Tenryu and WAR stirring shit up in New Japan toward the end of the year, and the AJW vs. JWP feud leading to Dream Rush, probably the best wrestling card ever.

 

The Bad: The WWF's attempts at pushing Papa Shango, the Berzerker, and Nailz as major heels feuding with top babyfaces. I liked some of Shango's antics but he turned off a lot of longtime fans, especially when the Warrior puked on an EMT. Berzerker was impossible to take seriously as a threat but was basically harmless. Nailz, despite a fairly hot debut and a workable idea, was a disaster.

 

The Ugly: There was a lot less of this than in '91 or '93. However, Global had some stuff that was so undignified that it made Papa Shango and Nailz look like something out of All-Japan. The Rude Dog, Sebastian, Manny Villalobos' broke gimmick, Mike Davis, etc.

[flyonthewall2983]

Good: Royal Rumble. It's basically the swan-song of their first golden era under Vince, Jr. utilizing nearly all of the top-level guys, and a lot of their long-term mid-card talent. Also gave Flair a chance to show off his wares before a world-wide audience, and a rather historic title win (being the 2nd guy to Buddy Rogers to have held both NWA and WWWF/WWF titles)

 

Bad: The lack of Hogan in WWF was felt pretty deeply throughout the year. Making Savage the top guy made more sense in '88 then it did here, and Warrior looked ragged and was held down by the Shango feud until he was in a better position by the summer.

 

Ugly: The demoralizing effect of the steroid controversies, as well as the sex scandal which came to light that year.

[Tim Evans]

Good: 1992 was USWA's best year since probably the mid 80's. The Moondogs/ Lawler feud really helped spike interest in the group. Then you had guys like Brian Christopher and Eric Embry having good feuds and being really entertaining. Also WCW was having great matches week in and week out with the Dangerous Alliance.

 

Bad: Eric Embry getting injured and then turning babyface to face the Moondogs. The babyface turn was good but it didn't last long and then he had the career ending injury. Also the Moondogs/Lawler feud went on too long when it started including guys like Big Black Dog and the King Killer.

 

Ugly: CMLL after Pena left. I love Dandy but some of his singles matches in 92 were disappointing. Also WWF after Mania 8.

[JaymeFuture]

Good - Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon throughout the year, but mainly their Rumble match call. I don't care what misgivings others have with Gorilla or Bobby, I've always loved them as a team and their Rumble work has always had a special place in my wrestling world.

 

Bad - Jimmy Garvin, just awful in every regard the entire year, whether in the ring, doing vignettes, or simply breathing, Garvin managed to look bad all the time.

 

Ugly - Rocco. I'm not a fan of LoD, but giving them a ventriloquist dummy as their new driving force, horrible in the way that only wrestling can be horrible.

A mutual disgust of 92 Jimmy Garvin bonds us. Just completely insufferable.

[Mr. Lacelle]

The Good: Vader's super push, it was the first time I can recall as a fan that a rulebreaker was getting clean wins over fan favourites. No feet on the ropes, no salt in the eyes, no crooked officials, just straight up dominance and Sting didn't lose a bit of his shine. This proved that fans would accept a dominant heel.

 

The Bad: WCW was having some great matches and moments that were sadly tainted by happening in a vacuum, either their PPVs were doing awful numbers (this is kinda like how 97 WWF was incredibly interesting and fun but WCW had a larger audience) Stuff that happened on one syndicated show was not being acknowledged on other shows so it felt like what you were watching was inconsquential.

 

The Ugly: Erik Watts' push was abysmal and the fans rightly shit on it and rejected it.

[Johnny Guitar]

The Good: In ring wrestling makes a comeback across the board in North America. WCW has a banner year in ring. WWF pushes Flair, Savage, Bret and Micheals, who all deliver for the most part. Bob Backlund returns to the surprise of everyone and Vince decides to acknowledge other companies. Smokey Mountain debuts with wrestling how you remember it. USWA has the Moondogs feud.

 

The Bad: None of the above really draws, because the public perception of wrestling goes in the shitter, thanks to the sex and steroid scandels.

 

The Ugly: Papa Shango wasn't the worse character ever created, ( see Baron samedi). But how he was portrayed was a step too far and turned alot of people off.

[JaymeFuture]

Want to thank everybody for the responses - the podcast is up and ready in that forum, or you can check out the link in my sig. Was a really fun show, discussing the Royal Rumble, The Dangerous Alliance, WWF Scandals, The Kip Frey and Bill Watts Eras, Bret Hart and Ron Simmons, The Barber Shop, Summerslam in Wembley, Bad Gimmicks, Sting Vs. Vader and more.