WCW Worldwide 1992 YouTube Playlist

When asking a longtime WCW fan what their favorite year of the company was, you would likely get a large contingent proclaiming it to be 1992.

1992 brought great change to the company. From the ousting of Jim Herd to the start of the K. Allen Frey regime all the way through the post-UWF Bill Watts era, it was a very eventful year. We will break down the effects of the changes through the eyes of the WCW Worldwide syndicated show. The above playlist contains over 50 videos arranged in chronological order. This article will walk through the more notable videos, but be certain there is a lot more to discover in the playlist.

Going into the year, the main feud pitted Paul E Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko, and Madusa) against the likes of Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, the Steiner Brothers, Ron Simmons, and others.

This struggle is illustrated during the first three matches of the playlist . . .

• Ron Simmons vs Steve Austin – January 4th
• Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, & Ron Simmons vs Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, & Steve Austin – January 11th
• Ricky Steamboat vs Steve Austin – January 18th

March 14th saw the Steiner Brothers have to pass a test to receive a WCW Tag Team Title shot. That test would be Larry Zbyszko and Bobby Eaton. Safe to say you can’t call it a popcorn match since the popcorn wouldn’t even have started popping by the time this one ends.

Another brief but action packed match saw Brad Armstrong unleash everything in his arsenal to try to score an upset victory over Cactus Jack on March 28th.

The most violent incident of the year on Worldwide took place on April 4th when Ricky Steamboat took on Bobby Eaton. With the referee down, Madusa interfered by slapping Steamboat. Acting on instinct, the Dragon slapped her back. This caused the rest of the Dangerous Alliance to circle the ring resulting in Rick Rude giving Steamboat a blood curdling chair shot to the back. From there, Rude rubbed the Dragon’s face in the concrete. When the results from the assault were shown, Steamboat’s bloody face was completely pixelated adding to the drama of the events.

Through April 4th, Tony Schiavone called WCW Worldwide by himself. That would change on April 11th, as he would be joined for the rest of the year by the one and only Jesse “The Body” Ventura. The future Governor added some much needed color to commentary (never been a fan of one man commentary booths, personally). Their first match together would be Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas.

A hard hitting encounter saw the Super Powers reunite when Dusty Rhodes would accompany Nikita Koloff to the ring for his match against Big Van Vader (with Harley Race) on May 16th.

On June 13th, we would see Stunning Steve Austin receive his rematch against the WCW TV Champion Barry Windham. Windham defeated Austin for the title on the May 9th edition of WCW Saturday Night, and this was Austin’s chance to win it back.

More gold would be on the line on July 25th when Ravishing Rick Rude defended his WCW US Title against Nikita Koloff. This match came about in part due to an encounter between the two on June 27th which is also on the playlist and well worth a watch for its intensity.

By this time, Bill Watts was in charge of WCW wrestling operations. On September 26th, Bill Watts went over the details of the new top rope rule in WCW. It really does play out like something the NFL would produce to illustrate the rules for hitting the quarterback.

Later in the hour, we would see the latest chapter of the Steiner Brothers vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy rivalry during this non-title match.

The short lived heel turn of Scott Steiner would begin on October 10th when Marcus Bagwell filled in for Ric Steiner in a tag match against Steve Austin & Brian Pillman. Scott Steiner showed little patience with the reigning WCW Rookie of the Year by attacking him before walking out late in the match.

This led to a WCW TV Title match for Scott Steiner when he challenged Ricky Steamboat on October 17th. Steiner used his new sour attitude to win the title from the Dragon. We would not see the Steiner Brothers or the TV Title on Worldwide for the rest of the year. The TV Title would be decided in the finals of a tournament on Worldwide in 1993 . . . but that is a YouTube Playlist Spotlight for another day.

America’s Sweetheart (ok, maybe not) Erik Watts took on The Mambo Warrior who acted as a hired gun by Paul E Dangerously and Michael Hayes on November 21st.

Sting made a rare in ring appearance on Worldwide when he squared off against The Barbarian (with Cactus Jack) on November 28th.

The first ever Jesse The Body Ventura Strongest Arm Tournament culminated on December 19th when WCW Champion Ron Simmons locked hands with Van Hammer.

The playlist concludes when all hell would break out during a tag team main event from later in the hour when Ron Simmons teamed with Dustin Rhodes to take on former WCW Champion Vader and Barry Windham.

No need to adjust an antenna to take in some of the best matches from WCW’s top syndicated show from 1992 . . . just give the above link a click to take it all in!

Monsoon Classic

A Gorilla Monsoon mark who has a YouTube channel that ironically features more WCW matches than WWF ones. @Monsoon_Classic