The Wrestling Analysis

[Guest Dmann2000]

The WarGames Match 1992 (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham and Nikita Koloff vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson and Larry Zybysco)

 

Length: 23:27

 

Winners: Sting's Squadron

 

Rating: *****

 

Analysis: In my first analysis, I mentioned how growing up I was not a follower of WCW. I knew of many of the wrestlers working there, such as Sting, Steve Austin, Cactus Jack, etc, but if you asked me who was fueding with who I'd have responded with dead silence. In many ways my resistance to following anything except the WWF was similar to how I listened to a CD then. I would listen to whatever was the single and then nothing else, unless it later became a single. I guess I stuck with what was familiar to me, and I was weary to try anything outside of that familiarity. So I kept a distance from WCW.

 

I mention this because it's only over the last few years that I've become aware of the many angles and storylines that populated WCW in the pre-Hogan days (yes I'm ashamed to admit it was only when Hogan popped up that I started to pay more attention, and I'm not even a Hogan mark). So what exactly was going on leading up to WarGames 1992 I cannot recall from memory. But if a match is truly great, you can come in blind and know all you need to know from the match itself.

 

And yes, the 1992 edition of WarGames is a bloody, wild exciting match. The WarGames concept is so simple and brilliant that regardless of the dumb stuff he's responsible for we should always thank Dusty Rhodes for the idea. Stick 2 five men teams who hate each others guts into two rings surrounded by a steel roofed cage, let them come in one at a time so that one team will have an advantage for part of the match and let them beat the holy hell out of each other till someone cries uncle.

 

Workrate might not seem as important in a match like this, but what's important isn't so much what is done but how, why and when its done. The Dangerous Alliance had run amok on WCW for over six months by the time the match came around. They'd monopolized nearly every title in WCW, and targeted #1 fan favorite Sting for complete destruction. Behind this focused attack was Paul E. Dangerously, spurnned color commentator with a deep hatred for WCW and a desire to overtake it. This was a good 4 years before the nWo, so it just shows that THAT idea wasn't too original.

 

There's not much too the match itself. Sting and his team were consumed with a blind rage to destroy the Alliance once and for all. The Alliance wanted to prove once and for all that they ruled WCW. Over the course of 20 minutes these guys used every part of the cage as a weapon, several of the guys (Austin, Anderson, Rhodes) let their blood spill. Sometimes these days it seems matches have blood for the sake of blood. Here the blood was a visual representation of the deep hatred both sides had for the other.

 

The ending is again another example of simple storytelling put to dramatic effect. Zybysco removes the hook connecting the turnbuckle to the post in an attempt to wallop Sting, being held by teammate Eaton. But Sting's desire allows him to duck, leaving Eaton's shoulder to take the blow from Zybysco. Sting takes out Zybysco and applies a standard armbar on Eaton, shifting his weight to put pressure on Eaton's injured shoulder, gaining the submission.

 

Other highlights: Paul E's franticly stratagizing battleplans from the outside, a general leading his troops into War. Madusa's climb onto the cage to hand the Alliance Paul E's phone, and then chased away by Sting (two people on top of a cage and no one is thrown off? How times have changed). The mini-storyline about Koloff's agenda (would he turn on Sting?) and the payoff with him taking an attack meant for Sting.

 

And finally hats off to all ten men for SELLING everything from everyone. There were no egos in this match, no one minded looking like they were getting the crap kicked out of them. And no one looked weak because they all dished out as much as they took. If ever the cliche "pier six brawl" had a place to be used, this is the place.

 

WarGames was WCW's equalizer, the only match that could settle blood fueds between wrestlers who'd been fueding for months. WCW may have shot themselves in the foot to the point of going out of business, but every now and then they got things right. The games may be over, but rewatching this match lets the war rage on.

[Guest dvkorn]

That is really good stuff. Good Work