1992 saw scandals as well as other departures put a black eye on the WWF. There was already widespread knowledge that there was steroid use among many of the wrestlers. Then in early 1992, there was a major sexual scandal that involved a ring announcer, a ring boy (a teenage boy who helps sets up the ring before a show), a wrestler, and a female referee.
Those accused in the sex scandal were WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson, who was Vince McMahon's long-time right-hand man (no homo and sex jokes please) and then-road agent Terry Garvin.
Ring announcer Murray Hodgson filed a lawsuit against the company claiming he lost his job because he rejected Patterson's sexual advances. Then ring boy Tom Cole was let go because he rejected Garvin's sexual advances as apparently Garvin had been involved in several incidents involving young ring boys.
Wrestler Barry Orton (brother of "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. and uncle of Randy Orton) was asked on a radio show if Cole was fired and he said yes and talked about a story of being sexually harrassed by Garvin in a car while working at an NWA territory years prior. McMahon fired Orton because he felt Orton was the problem.
Orton and Cole joined Hodgson in filing lawsuits against McMahon and the WWF, which was settled later on. Both Patterson and Garvin resigned after the scandal broke out, but Patterson rejoined the company later. They felt Patterson was a target because he was openly gay.
Rita Chatterton, who was the first female referee in WWF/E history, went on Geraldo Rivera's then-show "Now it Can Be Told" and said Vince McMahon forced himself on her sexually. Vince and his wife Linda McMahon filed a lawsuit against Chatterton, Rivera, and anyone involved in the show. The lawsuit was eventually dropped and no one knows if everything was settled out of court. This can be read here.
There was also a steroid scandal brewing over from 1991 that ultimately saw McMahon go to trial in 1994. McMahon appeared on the Phil Donahue Show and Larry King Live to discuss these issues going on in his company.
McMahon's hellacious 1992 continued up until the very end of the year as this involved wrestler Kevin Wacholz. Wacholz was known as an "ex-convict" by the name of "Nailz", who escaped prison and viciously beat the living fuck out of the Big Boss Man, who portrayed a corrections officer for his wrestling character as he was legitimately a corrections officer prior to becoming a wrestler.
Nailz claimed he was innocent of the crimes he was sent to jail for and claimed that the Boss Man was abusive and attacked him in jail and he was coming after him for revenge. On an episode of WWF Superstars in May 1992, Nailz made his way to the ring and attacked the Boss Man after his match.
For about a good five minutes or so, Nailz unleashed a beating unlike any I ever seen before. He took the Boss Man's handcuffs and handcuffed him to the ropes and eventually his hands behind his back and just viciously attacked him with the nightstick, both hitting him and choking him with it as the Boss Man was completely helpless.
As a 10-year-old kid, I'm watching thinking it was the worst thing I ever seen and this was really happening. Of course now, or really not that much later, if this were legitimate, someone would have shot his ass dead if he, especially an ex-con, even tried getting into the arena but I did not know that then.
Wacholz continued on as his Nailz character for the rest of 1992, feuding with the Boss Man and others. In December, Wacholz was apparently furious with Vince McMahon over a pay dispute where Wacholz attacked and choked McMahon until eventually he was stopped by WWF officials and wrestlers.
This led to a series of lawsuits between Wacholz and the WWF. Wacholz claimed McMahon supplied him with steroids, which McMahon denied. Wacholz would take the stand and testify against McMahon in McMahon's steroid trial in 1994. Wacholz basically helped McMahon from going to jail, more on that in the WWF year in review.
As a 10-year-old, I had no idea all this shit was going on as I was just enjoying watching the product. Years later you find out and you're in total shock but also you know what kinds of shit is going on behind the scenes like Penn State for example.
In attempt to further distance themselves from the steroid scandal, the company phased out its big muscular performers throughout the year such as The Warlord, Kerry Von Erich, "The British Bulldog" Davy Boy Smith, Sid Justice, The Ultimate Warrior, and the biggest was Hulk Hogan.
In their places were some really lame gimmicks and characters such as The Berzerker, the resident WWF viking, Skinner, the alligator hunter, but nothing was worse than The Repo Man (if you include "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Virgil).
The Repo Man was Barry Darsow, who used to be Smash in Demolition and was repacked as The Repo Man, a weird guy who ran around with a strange laugh and stole things, well "repossessed" them. Yeah that happened!!
Darsow's Demolition teammate Crush (not Ax as he was battling health problems and would soon be wrestling independents) remained as Crush, but not in Demolition. He was repackaged as a Hawaiian surfer guy who was a big powerful man who was a gentle giant.
Hulk Hogan was supposed to take on WWF World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair for the title at WrestleMania VIII at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The card was later changed to Flair defending the title against "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Hogan took on Sid Justice.
After reports came out about Hogan using steroids through numerous media outlets, the WWF decided to change the PPV card and forced Hogan to take a hiatus from the company after WrestleMania. They billed this on TV as Hogan's "retirement" match as he was supposedly going to retire to explain his disappearance following WrestleMania.
With Hogan on his way out, Vince McMahon reached out to The Ultimate Warrior to come back to the company after Warrior was out since SummerSlam '91 due to a pay dispute. Warrior returned at WrestleMania and helped Hogan from a double-team attack by Sid Justice and Papa Shango.
SummerSlam '92 originally saw Randy Savage, who won the WWF Championship from Ric Flair at WrestleMania, defending the title against Flair in a rematch. The Ultimate Warrior was going to take on Papa Shango.
SummerSlam was originally going to be at the Capital Centre in Washington, D.C. However, it was changed to Wembley Stadium in London, England as this was the first WWF PPV to be held in Europe and the first not held in North America.
The card would be changed as Savage now defended the title against The Ultimate Warrior in a rematch from WrestleMania VII even though the two were babyfaces. Flair and Mr. Perfect would play an angle conspiring both men against each other and said they would be on one man's corner, but would not reveal who leading up to the event.
There would be a co-main event as Bret Hart would take on Englishman and Hart's brother-in-law British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith for the Intercontinental Championship. The original plan was for Hart to drop the title to Shawn Michaels before it was changed to Davey Boy due to it being in front of his home crowd. Before we get into SummerSlam, let's back track a little bit.
The WWF Championship was declared vacant after controversial finishes between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker at the end of 1991. The title would go to the winner of the 30-man Royal Rumble match held at the 1992 Royal Rumble PPV. Hogan and Undertaker were of course two of the 30 men in this event.
Ric Flair entered the event number three and after dealing with 29 other superstars, Flair outlasted them all as he lasted a then-record of just over one hour to become the WWF World Heavyweight Champion.
He became the first wrestler to win both the WCW and WWF World Heavyweight Championships and joined his namesake "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers as the only men to win both the NWA and WWF World Championships.
Flair was left with both Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice at the end and looked to be in trouble. Sid would throw Hogan over the top rope when his back was turned, eliminating him. Despite turning heel, Sid actually got a loud standing ovation for eliminating Hogan as fans were sick of Hogan.
The WWF would edit this out on their 1992 Royal Rumble video. Hogan grabbed Sid's arm from the outside as he was trying to pull him out of the ring. Flair threw Sid over the top rope to win the Royal Rumble and the title.
Hogan and Sid soon began feuding after Sid fully turned heel by abandoning him during their tag team match on the February 8 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. The WWF used this as a story to change the main event at WrestleMania VIII from Hogan vs. Flair to Hogan vs. Sid in his "retirement" match.
Flair would defend the WWF Championship against "Macho Man" Randy Savage in the other main event. To build up their story, Flair claimed to have had a previous relationship with Savage's wife Miss Elizabeth. Flair would even go as far to have pictures where he was photoshopped over Savage with Elizabeth as WWF Magazine would reveal this as a lie.
Flair and Savage put on a really good match where Flair would get fined for "blading" (making himself bleed) and violating the company's no blood policy. The match had a so-so finish where Savage rolled up Flair (seriously they could have come up with a better finish) and pinned him to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship for the second time.
After the match, Flair kissed Elizabeth, causing Savage to go after him, only to be double-teamed by Flair and Mr. Perfect. Savage tries to go after Flair, who escaped as Savage celebrates with Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth would leave the WWF shortly after as she and Savage were about to separate and the two divorced later in the year. Savage would continue to feud with Flair for most of 1992.
Hulk Hogan's "retirement" match with Sid Justice featured a botched finish as newcomer Papa Shango (later known as The Godfather) was supposed to run in as soon as Hogan hit Sid with his leg drop finisher. However, Shango was late for his entrance and Sid was forced to kick out.
Shango finally ran into the ring and attacked Hogan, getting Sid disqualified. Shango and Sid double-teamed Hogan until The Ultimate Warrior made his return and helped Hogan by chasing the heels away. Hogan celebrated with the Warrior as Hogan would not be on WWF TV for a year.
The Warrior was supposed to feud with Sid, but Sid left the company shortly after WrestleMania in the midst of the steroid scandal. Warrior now feuded with Papa Shango after he made Warrior "vomit" and "bleed" after putting a voodoo curse on him. After the two took on each other at house shows in the spring and summer, the feud came to an abrupt end.
WrestleMania VIII also saw the departures of two superstars as Jake "The Snake" Roberts and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper left the company following the event. Piper actually went on hiatus and would go away for two years and would even play the bagpipes at SummerSlam '92 before returning two years later at WrestleMania X.
Roberts took on his former ally The Undertaker after The Undertaker stopped Roberts from an attack on Savage and Elizabeth, turning Undertaker babyface. The Undertaker defeated Roberts as Undertaker improved his WrestleMania streak to 2-0.
Roberts left the WWF after he believed Vince McMahon offered him a spot on the writing team. However, after Pat Patterson stepped down after the sexual harassment scandal, McMahon left that spot vacant out of respect to Patterson. Roberts negotiated and got his release from the company. Roberts would briefly join WCW and would come back to the WWF in 1996.
Roddy Piper defended the Intercontinental Championship against Bret "The Hitman" Hart at WrestleMania. Piper won the Intercontinental Championship from The Mountie (Jacques Rougeau) at the Royal Rumble. The Mountie was a take on a Canadian Mountie who was abusive with his power and had the funniest theme ever!!
The Mountie won the title from Hart a couple days before the Royal Rumble at a house show when Hart storyline had a 104 degree fever.vIn reality, Hart was given an offer by WCW according to Dave Meltzer and was about to leave before he realized he couldn't get out of his contract for a few more months. Hart stuck it out so he dropped the belt to The Mountie, who lost it to Piper.
Hart won back his Intercontinental Championship from Piper in a very classic match where Hart even drew some blood, but he did it a very subtle way where it looked like an accident unlike Ric Flair who did it so obvious in front of the camera.
The tag team division fell off big time in 1992 as there were no amazing teams like The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, Demolition, and The Rockers. The Legion of Doom would still be the top tag team, but they lost their Tag Team Championship to the newly formed Money Inc. of "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster (better known as IRS which was actually Mike Rotunda as a person of the IRS).
The Legion of Doom would leave the WWF shortly after SummerSlam. Hawk was upset over things like money and the use of a dummy named "Rocco" brought to the ring by their manager Paul Ellering. Animal stayed but eventually he left due to a back injury that forced him to retire for a while.
Money Inc. was a cool concept but too many thought of them as primarily singles wrestlers and not a legitimate tag team. The WWf did sign one of the best tag teams ever in the Steiner Brothers, who came over from WCW in late 1992 and they would be a force to be reckoned with in 1993.
The company soon began to transition to smaller, athletic, and better in-ring technicians than the muscular giants of the last several years due to the steroid scandal. Bret Hart got a major push in the company and so did what would be his arch nemesis for years to come; Shawn Michaels.
Michaels started the year still with his friend and teammate Marty Jannetty in The Rockers, but the Rockers were having their problems in the ring and even out of the ring. Michaels and Jannetty were always seen arguing in the ring and it appeared that the Rockers split would occure as the WWF wanted to push Michaels in singles competition.
On an episode of The Barber Shop of WWF television, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake called both of the Rockers to the show to settle their differences and patch things up. Eventually, Michaels and Jannetty made up and both embraced as The Rockers looked to remain together.
However, Michaels hit Jannetty with a superkick. Michaels then grabbed Jannetty and threw him face-first through the glass window of "The Barber Shop" as The Rockers split up and Michaels turned heel. Jannetty was let go shortly after due to legal problems.
Michaels got a total makeover as he became known as "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels due to the suggestion of Curt Hennig. Michaels was know a vain, arrogant pretty boy who only cared about one thing: himself and how he looked.
Michaels was paired with a new manager in "Sensational" Sherri, who carried a mirror so Michaels can look at himself before, during, and after matches. Sherri was infatuated with Michaels, who barely reciprocated the feeling back to her and she even sang his first song "Sexy Boy" before Michaels sang the song himself, which he still uses to this very day.
Anytime Michaels left the arena following his match, the ring announcer would announce to the crowd that "Shawn Michaels has left the building" just like how Elvis Presley would do as "Elvis has left the building."
Michaels got over big and after defeating veteran Tito Santana at WrestleMania VIII, Michaels was named number one contender to Bret Hart's Intercontinental Championship and two feuded throughout the summer of 1992. Michaels even got a shot at WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage in April 1992 at the British event UK Rampage at the Sheffield Arena, where Michaels lost.
Michaels and Hart fought each other in the WWF/E's first-ever Ladder match at a TV taping in July 1992. Hart suggested this match to Vince McMahon since these matches were run in Hart's father's Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary and even planned on doing this at SummerSlam so they used this as a test run.
Hart defeated Michaels in a thrilling Ladder match as the match would be put on Coliseum Home Video. Ladder matches would be a thing in the future of the WWE. However, the Ladder match at SummerSlam '92 would not take place and the next Ladder match would not take place for another two years.
Hart was supposed to drop the Intercontinental Title to Michaels at SummerSlam, but since the event was being held in London, England, the decision was changed to Hart dropping the title to "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith.
Michaels instead was put into a match with another pretty boy arrogant heel Rick "The Model" Martel in a very rare at the time heel vs. heel match over who was the better looking wrestler and over the affection of Sensational Sherri after Martel was caught flirting with Sherri.
The match was supposed to have neither man hit each other in the face, but both lost their cool and Sherri fainted to get both men to pay attention to her. They both attempted to carry a lifeless Sherri to the back only for the other man to attack him and carry her to the back. Martel eventually woke Sherri up by splashing water on her as Michaels dropped her and ran after him as Sherri sat there in awe and was upset.
Hart and Bulldog's match closed the show at Wembley Stadium as the second of a main event double-header. Bulldog was accompanied to the ring by London native and future World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Lennox Lewis. Hart's sister and Bulldog's wife, Diana Hart, was shown sitting at ringside torn on who she was rooting for: her brother or her husband.
The match was a thriller and is considered one of the best matches ever. Despite both being babyfaces, the crowd was very much pro-Davey Boy Smith as their countryman over Hart as Hart kind of played the role of heel.
According to Hart, he carried the match because Smith was going through some personal things such as drugs leading up to the event and forgot how the match was supposed to go and Hart basically carried the entire match to make it look like a classic. If Smith was not prepared, he sure didn't look it as Bret did an amazing job carrying this match.
The end came when Hart tried a sunset flip only for Smith to counter it into a pin for the 1-2-3 and the Intercontinental Championship as 80,000+ screaming fans at Wembley Stadium cheered for their countryman.
After the match, Smith offered his hand for a handshake. At first Hart looked like he wasn't going to shake his hand, but changed his mind and hugged him as well as his sister Diana and three embraced in the middle of the ring.
Hart's career was going to take a totally unexpected path, even he didn't expect this as he was going to be the top man in the company. Shortly after SummerSlam on September 1, 1992 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Ric Flair defeated "Macho Man" Randy Savage to win back the WWF Championship.
This match aired on the September 14 edition of WWF Prime Time. Flair had some help from newcomer Razor Ramon, who had attacked Savage's "injured" leg he suffered at the hands of Flair and Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam.
Scott Hall left WCW and with help from Vince McMahon created the Razor Ramon character, arguably one of the greatest characters ever. Hall talked with a Cuban accent and mimicked Tony Montana and some of his mannerisms.
Razor Ramon had some of the funniest and most awesome vignettes leading up to his debut in the WWF. Check out YouTube!! Razor Ramon wore tons of gold chains around his neck and gold-plated razor blade-shaped rings on his fingers and had a tooth pick in his mouth that he would throw in people's faces.
Ramon would enter his first high-profile feud with Randy Savage right off the bat. Flair meanwhile would enter a surprise feud with Mr. Perfect for the rest of the year going into 1993 as Curt Hennig returned to the ring after not wrestling for over a year with a serious back injury.
Perfect joined Savage to take on Flair and Ramon after Savage asked Perfect to be his tag team partner at Survivor Series to replace the departed Ultimate Warrior. Perfect accepted after being insulted by Bobby Heenan and Perfect responded by dumping water on Heenan causing him to turn on Heenan and Flair and turn face.
Bret Hart was now booked to win the WWF Championship from Ric Flair. He defeated Flair in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on October 12, 1992, which was Canadian Thanksgiving. Hart was the second wrestler to win the WWF Triple Crown (WWF, Intercontinental, and Tag Team Championships) joining Pedro Morales, who was the first one to accomplish this feat.
Shawn Michaels beat The British Bulldog to win the Intercontinental Championship on the October 27, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event just before Davey Boy Smith left the WWF. This would be the final edition of Saturday Night's Main Event until the WWE brought it back in 2006. Michaels would have someone from his past haunt him.
On an episode of WWF Superstars in October, Michaels was celebrating a win when Marty Jannetty returned and appeared and attacked Michaels. He was going to hit Michaels with his own mirror as a measure or revenge from when Michaels threw him through a glass window, but Michaels threw Sensational Sherri in front of him and she was hit with the mirror, knocking her unconscious.
Michaels defended the title against Jannetty at the 1993 Royal Rumble with Sherri, who was battling a brief bout of "amnesia", undecided on who's corner to be in. She eventually turned on Michaels, trying to help Jannetty and was about to hit Michaels with her shoe, but he ducked and she hit Jannetty, allowing Michaels to win the match. Jannetty again left the WWF shortly after.
As I-C Champion, Michaels was named number one contender to Hart's WWF Title. Hart had his first high-profile WWF Title defense against Michaels at Survivor Series as Michaels was in his first main event caliber match as a singles wrestler.
Hart defeated Michaels with the Sharpshooter to retain the WWF Title. This would not be the first time these two legends would lock horns in the ring and it certainly wouldn't be the last time they face each other for the WWF Championship at the Survivor Series.
The year started like it had been for the past decade or so with the big muscular giants ruling the industry and being the top dogs. However, the steroid scandal saw the company transition to smaller and better in-ring technicians as Hart is the WWF Champion with Michaels not far behind by year's end.
Another one of Vince McMahon's projects, the WBF, folded in the middle of 1992. McMahon tried to get legendary bodybuilder and the person who played The Incredible Hulk in the 1970s TV show, Lou Ferrigno, to come in and be a competitor. But the two could not come to terms.
McMahon signed Lex Luger from WCW and Luger joined the WBF because of a no-compete clause when he left WCW. This was a way to keep Luger on screen while he can't wrestle. He co-hosted along with McMahon the WBF BodyStars TV show that was shown on weekends that featured the lifestyles of the bodybuilders and bodybuilding tips.
Luger was set to compete at the June 13, 1992 competition live on PPV, but Luger was injured in a motorcycle accident and he was unable to participate at the event. Luger appeared via satellite from his home to do an interview. Last year's WBF Champion Gary Strydom repeated as WBF Champion.
Strydom would be the only champion in the WBF as the WBF disbanded shortly after the PPV due to a low buy rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment