Dangerous Alliance vs Sting's Squad (WCW - 5/17/1992)

Second

THIS is my favorite War Games. It has a good shot at making the back end of my list. I agree that the end has always felt a touch anti-climactic, but the rest of the match is perfect. I think in hindsight, this type of match is harder to pull off than one might expect and this one pulled it off to a tee.

Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Bobby Eaton) vs Sting's Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes) - WrestleWar '92 WARGAMES

We all have those opinions. That just dont jive with the rest of the crowd. That one movie, that one song, that one TV show that everyone else loves, but you think yeah it is great but there's a hundred or so movies or sings or TV shows that are better. It is not that you think it sucks. It is just you think it is great, but it is not the best thing ever. Everybody kinda looks at you like you got three heads when you say it. Wrestlewar '92 Wargames is that match for me. It is a great match, 100%. But match of the decade in the US. Nope. Match of the decade for WCW. Nope. Match of the Year for WCW. Nope. I am not ever sure it is my Match of Night, I really like that Steiners vs Fujinami&Iizuka match. What makes this so weird for me is that I am usually the dude with the opinions in the opposite direction. Like this match totally rocks, why does no one talk about it. I am not the guy who cries about things being overrated. What is also weird is this is like the least polarizing match of all time. Like everyone loves it. So there is one big thing I inherently don't like about WARGAMES is that you miss a lot of stuff. I don't like missing stuff. This is why I dont like three ring circuses. I want all my attention invested so I can understand the plot and action/reaction. I will say this WARGAMES does better with plot than most stuff. You have Larry Z as the only wrestler who did not turn the tide in the favor of his team and ultimately screw the pooch at the end. Also, they have the Sting/Koloff hug which got a big reaction. WARGAMES are more about action than plot. Another thing is the universe of gimmick matches, I prefer street fights to cage matches. Dont get me wrong there are many great cage matches that I will vote for my GME but overall I think it is a restrictive, claustrophobic atmosphere that wrestler has to overcome compared to the freedom of a street fight. Now add ten men instead of 2-4 and you have only increased the claustrophobic nature and thankfully someone was smart to add a second ring or they really would have been fucked. WARGAMES follows a great formula. It is basically a string of hot tags. People love hot tags. I thought Steamboat, Dustin and Arn really stood out. I find that there is always a 30-60 second lull before the next entrant though. I remember watching Larry Z was in a figure-4 towards the end of the match and I just was not moved at all. Like why should I care? I feel like in a single or tag match they would have built so much ground work for me to care. I have given WARGAMES '91 and '94 high ratings. '94 was really carried by the Rhodes family reunion. '91 I thought Brian Pillman and Barry Windham gave outstanding performances. Here a lot of people bled when did the cuts happen. I am pretty observant person I cant even tell you when half bladed. In a way that match almost feels incomplete. There are things I loved I remember really liking Rude tearing at Steamboat's nose. I really liked those hot tags. I think I know what it is. There is a lack of connectivity. It feels like a bunch of isolated segments that are hot. Rather than a great match as a whole. I am sticking with that. ****1/4 

The reason this will continue to miss my list is in the final stretch of the match. I think they do a pretty great job of balancing all the moving parts throughout and then at the end thigns get a touch sloppy right before the finish. A lot of it does have to do with the contrived Sting/Nakita stuff. Big multi-person matches like this tend to cap just below the ***** mark for me because I think it is so so so hard to achieve the things I like in wrestling without taking me out of it with that many cooks in the kitchen. This is one of the best examples of success in my book, but then ultimately a great example of why it is so challenging.

This is probably the most talent-laden match in North American wrestling history alongside perhaps Canadian Stampede in 1987. I’ve loved all of the other Wargames matches but this not having managers in it takes it up a notch. There were also generational talents in Austin and Rhodes and they were having a bleeding contest while veterans like Rude, Windham, Anderson and Steamboat kept things going. I really enjoyed the interactions with Sting and Koloff as well. This was perfect. My new working # 1.

Ya got me