Pro Wrestling Love vol. 17: Best of WCW 1991-1994 (Sting, Vader, Rick Rude, Ricky Steamboat)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 17:

The Best of World Championship Wrestling 1991-1994

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at gwe.freeforums.project.net) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This seventeenth volume of Pro Wrestling Love completes the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in World Championship Wrestling from 1991-1994. Originally, I wanted to go from July of 1991 to July of 1994. July of 1991 is when Ric Flair the most important, biggest star of Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW left for the WWF after a dispute with Jim Herd and management. July of 1994 is when Hulk Hogan debuted in WCW. Both are landmark events in WCW history and bookend what I consider the classic Turner era of WCW. The year 1989 still feels very Crockett. With Flair’s departure, it really feels like a fresh promotion. The returns of Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat in November of 1991 are the shot in the arm for WCW to lead it to its best in-ring year in 1992. Of course, the debut of Hulk Hogan changes the complexion of WCW forever shedding its Southern roots and becoming a national promotion. For ease, I chose to use the calendar years of 1991-1994. You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

Rest In Peace, Brutha

In the first volume of Pro Wrestling Love, I talk about how I wanted this to a celebratory series of Pro Wrestling. However, while I do love Pro Wrestling, I do not love every pro wrestling match. Probably my most controversial opinion about wrestling is that Wargames 1992 pitting the Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Larry Zbyszko) vs Sting’s Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, and Nikita Koloff) is merely a great match, not a classic. This is usually heralded as the greatest match to take place in WCW in the 90s and while I enjoy it. It just doesn’t do much for me. It is such a highly acclaimed match that I wanted to give my thoughts on it in full. It is a bit of a ramble as I was using this writing to try to ascertain why I did not feel as passionately about this match as so many others.

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

WrestleWar 1992 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 songs 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 collection of exciting one minute spurts rather than a great match as a whole. I am sticking with that. ****1/4 

#6. Dustin Rhodes vs Bunkhouse Buck – Spring Stampede 1994

Just a down home, Southern brawl that is a totally lost art in today's pro wrestling landscape. Incredible match. The Brain was gushing over this match talking about how this was the wrestling he was raised on. It was not the wrestling I was raised on, but damn if it was not the wrestling I truly love. Dustin sets the tone perfectly coming flying over the top rope onto Buck from the ramp. He just whups Buck, who is great at selling. It is so weird watching Jimmy Golden and Robert Fuller just absolutely own WCW in 1994 putting on the best quality act in the promotion. Dustin crashes and burns on the crossbody attempt. Now it gets real good. Parker choking Dustin with the handkerchief and then Buck absolutely blasts Dustin with a stick. I mean that thing went flying into the crowd. Dustin is bleeding and of course wearing a white Texas shirt. Buck chokes him and tries to destroys the leg, but Dustin fights back. Dustin is such a fucking good babyface. Powder to Buck! Buck responds by whipping Dustin with a belt while he is standing. Holy shit! He is rifling him. God Bless This Match! Buck gets caught up in the ropes and here comes Dustin with a MONEY firey comeback. He blasts him with his belt buckle drawing blood and then with the heel of his cowboy boot. This is so damn Southern! Then he whips Bunkhouse Buck like the dog he is. Bionic Elbows in the corner complete with crotch thrust! BULLDOG! Parker is in the ring and Dustin whips him. Dustin seems to have command of the match, but Parker gets a pair of knuckledusters to Buck who cleans Dustin's clock for the win. Brain makes a big deal about a Rhodes losing a Bunkhouse match, which is pretty legit shocking.

There is a moment between beating Parker and where Parker gives Buck the foreign object that match seems to lose its way. That aside, fucking incredible heated Southern brawl. One of the last of its kind. Looking forward to the rest of the feud!

#5. Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat – WCW Saturday Night 5/14/94 

Vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship

WCW Match of the Year, 1994

Flair and Steamboat put on one last classic before Steamboat's forced retirement that contends with the Ladder Match and Bret/Owen for American MOTY. The Spring Stampede match was wrestled a little too straight for me and had its lulls. This really felt like a high-octane match with plenty of cool new spots that built on the classic canon of Flair/Steamboat. Flair playing the heel more strongly in this match avoided them playing it too straight and added more dynamic elements to the match. It also never feels like a nostalgia match. They still are wrestling at a very high level. It is a cardio tour de force and they are adding spots and nuances to their already well-developed series.

I love, love the amateur riding sequences that usually start their matches. They just see where it goes and when Flair picks an ankle he turns it over into a half crab, but then misses the flying knee on Steamboat's knee. It is so organic and logical, but when has Flair ever picked an ankle and gone to the half-crab. It manifested itself naturally out of the riding sequence. Flair is so good at creating movement in his matches to let his opponent shine, the press slams and armdrags were great ways to establish Steamboat's control. However when there is motion, there are times to take advantage. A well-timed Flair punch to the gut ends Steamboat's energetic work. From there, it is 1989 again, baby! Flair hits wicked chop after wicked chop. Flair has such an underrated punch. There is one punch after inverted atomic drop that just looked so picture perfect. You gotta love Flair in the corner. It has to be either Flair or Vader as the greatest corner wrestler ever. Steamboat is milking this for all its worth and I thought the Center Stage crowd was behind The Dragon during the entirety of this match. Every time Steamboat starts to light up Flair they are ready to get behind him. These are some amazing chop exchanges, lots of fire and fury behind them. One of my favorite spots ever was when Steamboat had taken so much punishment that he nearly collapses on the apron, but catches the ropes. I love, love that spot. Someone needs to crib that for a big time match. (2017 me is marking out so hard for these chop exchanges)

Among the many things I love about this match is they forget the crux of the match. It is for a vacant championship. There is no championship advantage. So both men are very aggressive and very offensive. Not only that, they are always going for pinfalls to catch their man unawares, but they also work hard to negotiate their pinfalls. Flair is using amateur cradles and jackknifes (using the ropes for leverage when he can) while Steamboat is using flash. Their goal is to win the match and you win the match by pinfall. There is no wasted motion in excessively beating someone up because a mistake on a home run could cost you the title. So many times you will see a disconnect from the story of the match and the action nowadays. Flair and Steamboat always remember that is about pinning a man's shoulders down for a three count.

Flair looks to sap all the energy out of Steamboat with a nice long sleeper and the crowd really gets behind the Steamer at this point. They move to the next chapter of the match where Steamboat works over the knee. It begins with a Flair Flip to the outside only to catch Steamboat in the midsection when he comes off the ropes with a chop only to fall prey to a Steamboat suplex on the floor and then float over on a Steamboat suplex and Flair misses a kneedrop. Thus begins the awesome part where Steamboat builds to applying the figure-4 on Flair. So many times the babyface just slaps on the figure-4, which gets a pop, but for Stemaboat to work over the knee to build to it just made it that much better. I am still a sucker for stuff like Flair pushing Dragon away during a series of chops only to do the Flair Flop. (Im rewatching this in 2017 and sprucing up this review. I popped again for this Flair Flop.) 

Back from commercial break, The Steamer misses a top splash and Flair immediately double stomps him in the abdomen. Flair is still selling so fucking well. Delayed vertical and Flair is still selling like a million bucks. Flair goes for multiple pinfall attempts, but still cant negotiate a win. Flair hits the knee crusher and now we go to school! The ref catches him using the ropes for leverage so he goes for the kneecrusher again, but Steamboat hits an enziguiri. I loved the Flair Flip where he actually ducks the chop on the apron, but gets nailed coming down from the top rope. Huge mark out moment! At about the 35 minute mark, they are still flying around and they do the bridge spot because they are Cardio Gods. Steamboat gets the superplex, but Flair foot on the ropes. Steamboat was the king of the frenetic finish. He is flying off the top rope. He is throwing a ton of cradles at Flair. I am outta breath just watching all this unfold. I loved the finish with the flying around during a criss cross 38 minutes in and Flair headbutting Steamboat in the midsection on a leapfrog attempt. It is simple but stays true to the match being about getting the pin at all costs. I think if Steamboat actually sold it more with writhing it would have helped.

The constant thread throughout the entire match was two champions trying to win the match by throwing out everything they had in their arsenal. From beginning to end, it was about negotiating a pinfall. They occasionally lost their way in order to fit in Flair signature bumps and spots, but overall they stayed true to the match. I thought right up to Flair's figure-4 at 30 minutes they were wrestling at insanely high level and had me totally hooked. The first Flair press slam was when they kinda lost it and it started to peter out. I think if they went 32 minutes instead of 36 minutes this would be a perfect match. That's my nitpick complaint. I loved how Steamboat was just pouring it on at the end. Top rope chops, constant motion. You see Flair throw these wicked chops and then nearly collapse. Steamboat had Flair down from almost sheer exhaustion. He was trying to sap Flair's energy with a barrage of quick cradles, but his plan backfired because when he is not able to get high enough on his leapfrog and Flair is able to get the win. They were such equals in every way that it was just a small mistake that separated them. I have this ahead of the Ladder match, just behind Bret/Owen as the number two match in the US during 1994. It is just an excellent championship style match that I wished still existed to this day. 

#4. Sting vs Vader – Starrcade 1992

"That's got to be depressing as hell when you do the move and the other guy's up first" - Jesse Ventura, Vader covers on after a Sting Suplex.

There was a period of time when this was my favorite match of all time and still is one I will just give it a spin when I need a pick me up. A couple years ago, one of my cousins (11-12 years old at the time) was getting feisty about whether pro wrestling was real and was on the verge of ruining it for my younger cousin. I played this match and he was totally hooked all over again and thought Vader was the toughest badass to ever walk the planet. He still talks about Vader to this day. I love this match.

It is almost the ideal David vs Goliath match with Sting giving his career performance in this match.From there the very beginning, he conveys the daunting task that stands before him. He is not going to cower, but he also realizes the gravity of the situation. When he tries to unload with punches early and Vader shouts back the classic "NO PAIN!" "NO PAIN!", I still get chills. Unlike the Great American Bash, there is no hot start for Sting. Vader is going to bulldoze him and throw him around at will. Sting tries to run at him and is that awesome Vader body attack. It is one of my favorite spots in wrestling. Vader takes a page out of Akira Taue's book and Vader drops him throat first across the ring ropes. Sting starts to stick and move. He avoids the clotheslines and hits a Kappo Kick, jumping Kawada kick! Vader was really good at selling the missed clotheslines and the beautiful German suplex and making it believable. They both spill to the outside and the crowd is rocking! Vader takes off the match and starts swearing. The front row loves this and gets on his case. Sting comes flying over the top to crash down on Harley and Vader.

This brings me to my favorite part of this match and that was Sting's strategy. Jim Ross starts off the broadcast explaining Sting was going to try extend the big man and fatigue him. Jesse pointed out if the victory presents itself you got to take it. Sting amalgamates both points into a perfectly wrestled match. When the opportunity was present after the Kappo Kick, he was absolutely suffocating Vader. It was a full court press, giving Vader minimal time to recover. Sting simply would not be denied as he fought through Vader's counters to hit DDTs and apply the Scorpion Deathlock. It was only Vader's size that saved him from a quick exit. It is crucial how urgent Sting's actions are because it sets up the big turning point. He goes for the Stinger Splash on the railing and eats steel. Now that full court press has backfired and Vader smells blood. What follows may be one of the greatest exhibitions of selling in wrestling history as Sting was just so on point with modulating selling throughout the rest of the match.

Vader dominates Stinger, but not all the credit can go Sting's way. The fact that Vader was selling the effects of Sting's offense allowed for the comeback to make more sense. Vader was beating the shit out of Sting with clotehslines, strikes and splashes, but Vader was not staying on Sting as well he should have because he was recovering from the attack. Sting looked resilient and the finish was not jeopardized by overkill in the heat segment. I loved Vader being overzealous on a pinfall after a splash that basically pulled Sting's shoulders off the mat. My favorite moment of the match and my favorite Ventura call (quoted above) was Sting finally gets a suplex, but it takes so much out of him that Vader is able to cover him. That is a totally ingenious spot! Sting now executes the second part of his strategy as he retreats to a corner and puts his arms up to block. Vader is throwing heavy blows, but is not landing as much damage. This whole segment is so dramatic. You can actually see the shift in Vader and Sting. Vader is being sapped of his power and Sting becomes emboldened as Vader no longer has much behind his punch. Now Sting is punching Vader in the face. He has him rocking! He has him reeling! He knocked him down! Samoan Drop! FLYING STINGER SPLASH! 1-2-NO! Can David do it? Harley is nervous for his investment and tries to buy time for his charge. It works as Vader clobbers Sting from behind. Damn, it was a good run. Vader splashes Sting from the middle rope, but he bounces off instead of hooking a pinfall. Vader is beside himself. He goes again, but this time from the top and Sting is able to catch him with a slam and cradle to win!

Sting wrestled the match of his life. His offensive strategy was pitch perfect as discussed and his selling was even better. At beginning, he sells the enormity of the task, in the middle he sells the beating, but he is still defending himself. Then as he is staggering around with his arms up trying to drain Vader was absolutely perfect. Then when the moment was right he mounted an electric comeback. Vader was no slouch himself and was timing his offense perfectly for great damage, but also to make a Sting comeback credible. My slight qualm that keeps this from the tippy top is that the finish is clearly just Vader doing a flying somersault. It takes a bit of steam out of the match, but still one of the best matches in the history of pro wrestling.

#3. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Sting – SuperBrawl III Strap Match

WCW Match of the Year, 1993

Often it is overstated when a commentator says a wrestler is trying to end his opponent's career, but here you really feel that to be the case. Vader is the World Heavyweight Champion, but this is a non-sanctioned strap match. Just as Vader lured Sting into the White Castle of Fear, he lured him into this match. With no championship to lose, Vader could all out assault Sting, his archnemesis, and effectively eliminate him from the title hunt. Like in the other Sting vs Vader encounters, Sting had to survive and find a way to thrive in this environment.

I love the elimination of a babyface shine at the outset. They set the tone that this is Vader's match and he will dominate Sting. He was throwing him around and whipping him at will and splashing him. NO PAIN! WHOS DA MAN! FLEX CITY! Vader's bully arrogance is his fall and Sting pulls the strap causing Vader to punch himself in the balls. Why you punching yourself? Sting with some nice punches and a big splash from the top of his own. Time for Vader's receipt with the lashes of the strap (he could have hit him harder). One of the more famous moments is when Harley blades Vader's back. Sting throws Vader down on the outside. This establishes Sting is strong enough to carry Vader to all four corners. In a neat moment, he attempts to do just that around the outside, but Vader uses the strap to pull him into the railing hard. OW! Sting hits a Samoan Drop, but he is clearly worse for wear and Vader hits some his Vader Body Attacks. Sting misses his top rope flying splash and finally Vader takes over.

I think that is what this match does so well is it takes so much for one man to earn control. Vader had to whip Sting into railing, hit two body attacks and get out of the way of the splash. During Vader's control, Vader missed a VaderBomb, crotched on the top rope and did a somersault off the top. It made the match feel like a real war of attrition. Sting felt desperate. The way Vader arose from each big bump made him feel like a massive monster. Vader was kicking the dogshit out of Sting. He did not settle for just one VaderBomb, never really attempting to win the match, but rather pounding Sting at every turn. Victory for Vader meant the end of Sting not just touching four corners. Vader hits a massive superplex and finally looks to try to win the match, but Sting hooks the bottom rope with his feet. Vader beats Sting mercilessly in the corner and then pulls him for more Vader Body Attacks, but on the third one Sting hits a KAPPO KICK! The great equalizer that kick has stunned Vader before. Release German! A Beauty! DDT! Everything is to the head to destabilize him. Sting SNAPS~! He beats the shit out of Vader in the corner who blades his ear, which even nastier than his back! Sting hoists the big man onto his back and the ref is bumped. Sting carries around three corner, but trips over the ref on the fourth corner. Damn! Sting has collapsed after that surge of energy. Vader lands with his ass right down on Sting's lifeless carcass. Vader feeling he had destroyed Sting carries him around three corner, but on the fourth Sing holds onto dear life and kicks Vader into last corner. Vader may have won the match but it is Pyrrhic at best as he is a bloody mess and does not look like a winner.

Vader escapes with a win is not the finish I would have gone with. I think a Sting victory makes a lot of sense here especially since Sting never got that big victory over Vader. The story they were telling was Vader trying to destroy Sting and Sting desperate to survive. In my opinion, either Sting survives the beating and takes the victory OR he falls short Vader squashes with his ass and wins the match. This whole trying to protect Sting was lame, Vader already looked like a bloody mess the kick back into the corner was just lame. A total war of attrition and really compelling and dramatic. Loved all of Sting's hope spots and Vader just keeps getting back up. You really feel a sense of hopelessness before the Kappo Kick. It is hard to generate that in wrestling knowing a comeback is coming, but here they do a great job. Sting's comeback is AWESOME! Definite classic and easy 1993 US Match of the Year!

#2. WCW US Champion Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat – Beach Blast 1992 Ironman Match

You know what always surprises me about this match is how it is never touted as the first Ironman match ever. It is, right? Like I cant think of anything before. That's a big deal and no one talks about that. This really shows the difference between WCW and WWF. WWF would be putting this new gimmick over huge. You listen to Jim Ross call this match you would think Ironman matches are a weekly occurrence. There is no discussion about how the strategy of this match differs from a routine one fall match. Honestly, I am starting to believe even Michael Cole is better than Jim Ross.

First Fall: Tremendous textbook execution of elementary pro wrestling. I don't think doing the obvious things right is lauded enough. It could have been so easy for Steamboat to lose focus or Rude to blow off selling. This match is exemplary it is commitment to body part psychology. Rude tries to jump Steamboat at the bell and pays for it with a gutbuster. The way Rude sells his ribs you know this is not a register, but that he is seriously hurt. Steamboat zeroes in on them. We do not think of Steamboat as a great on top worker, but he was phenomenal here. Great creative moves that incorporate movement, charging shoulder, throwing Rude into a belly flop and holds like bearhug and Boston Crab. I loved the splash after the Boston Crab. It was a team effort as Rude was really giving one of the best sell jobs ever. It was never sympathetic either. You wanted to see Steamboat pour it on. That's tough for a heel. I loved the finish with the flash knee. You ram your head into someone's hard ass knee that sure as heel can knock you out for three. Great finish. Steamboat gets his shine, we have a thread to weave the falls together, but somehow by luck the heel gets a quick pin and the babyface is in an early hole. That's great pro wrestling.  

Second Fall: Jesse has a tremendous hockey analogy. Steamboat is like the team that has had ten shots on goal, but nothing to show for it. While Rude's first shot when in. I loved the balance between urgency and pain from Rude. Rude Awakening as he fights through the pain for the second fall. This is a lot better than I remembered and I already remembered it as a classic.

Third Fall: Rude hits a backbreaker. Jesse says Rude should tie up Steamboat and run the clock out. Rude does the exact opposite and hits a flying knee drop. Perfect. He gets DQ'd but Jesse & JR knows what he is doing.

Fourth Fall: Rude gets his fall back with an inside cradle. JR & Jesse think after that Bombs Away Knee Drop that the Dragon is toast.

Fifth Fall: This match is a competition of who can sell the ribs better. This match should be shown to every aspiring wrestler because it really shows the nuanced differences between how a babyface and heel should sell a body part injury. It is hard to articulate, but watch how Steamboat sells the ribs how much more sympathy garners in you as a viewer and how much more you want him to make that comeback. We see some flickers of fire from the Dragon as he tries to attack the ribs of Rude, he hits some wicked chops and even gets the Electric Chair Drop (a Rude bump favorite), but at each turn Rude snuffs out the comeback whether with his favorite camel clutch or knees to the midsection on a splash. The finish to this fall is riveting. Rude gets a wicked piledriver, but only two. He goes for the tombstone, but they do that trademark WCW tombstone reversal spot and it is Steamboat who nails it to get his second decision. It is a nailbiter with 12 minutes to go!

Sixth Fall: A superplex and a double clothesline are great spots to put over the grueling contest and the eveness around the ten minute mark. Steamboat gets a backslide for a three count. It is all knotted up with ten minutes to go. You gotta believe next fall wins!

Seventh Fall: Steamboat goes for pinning combination barrage. It is hot and heavy! Rude slows him down with a jawbreaker. Taunting and posing with one arm because his left side hurts so bad. Rude is thinking Rude Awakening, but Steamboat steals his finish, foot on the ropes! Great nearfall. Steamboat builds momentum only for Rude grabs a sleeper. They milk this bad boy. Great selling by Steamboat and great job by Randy Pee Wee Anderson checking Steamboat's eyes. Steamboat hulks up and kicks off the buckles to get a pin!

Eighth Fall: Rude is besides himself. Electric 30 seconds as Rude keeps bowling Steamboat over four times and each time Steamboat kicks out. No decision rendered as time expires. Steamboat wins 4-3!

Small detail is I would have Rude get three of those nearfalls, but with about 10 seconds left have Steamboat get the last offensive move a chop and send Rude on his back as the bell rings. You want your babyface victor to be standing tall at the end of the match. Not on his back. It is a small detail, but I think the match a lost a little something because of that. I have seen this a bunch and already had my star rating in my head of ****3/4, but they really impressed me and I am going the full monty *****. I think it was a combination of tremendous selling from both men, great pacing throughout, and a ton of well-built drama. It is easy to lose your attention in 30 minutes but they had me the whole time. At worst, a top five WCW match of the 1990s. It could be the best, Sting vs Vader and Eddie vs Mysterio are the other contenders. I will have to mull this over. 

#1. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Vader – Great American Bash 1992

WCW Match of the Year, 1992

What I love about this trilogy is that any order of the matches is the correct order they are all so awesome in their own way. For me, when I first watch these as a teenager, it was Starrcade '92 that stuck out to me. Then in college it was the brutality of the Strap match, but for the past couple years it is this one that is my favorite. In my mind, this is the perfect David vs Goliath match. You always believed Sting, but in the end he does himself in. These matches are always so selfless. Vader gives as much as he gets. Sting puts over the new monster heel huge. Early on when Sting is getting rocked, that does so much for Vader's credibility and makes him a mountain for Sting to climb. When Vader misses the charge and Sting explodes with the suplex and then big clothesline, the place comes unglued. Because he earned it. They made Vader an unstoppable force and here was Sting overcoming that challenge. I loved Sting's response to Vader's knucklelock challenge to stomp the foot. It made so much sense for Vader to reset and force Sting into his game, but Sting outfoxed him. It leads to another great flurry. Also, I love how much struggle. Vader just doesn't take it. He still hits that Vader body attack. He is giving a lot to Sting and making Sting look like a superstar, but also getting his. Then comes the massive sitdown splash. You can hear the air not just evacuate Sting's lungs, but the building. How about that for an emphatic transition to a heat segment? You all know I am a mark for transitions and that has to go down as one of the best. Vader's posing was always one of my favorite things. FEEL NO PAIN! Vader is so great working on top and bruising. He makes clobbering an art. Stealing the Scorpion Deathlock was a great spot especially letting Sting muscle out. Sting's fiery comeback coming out of the corner with fists of fury when all hope looked lost was rousing. KAPPO KICK! That always gets me. What a great fucking move! DDT! I love that Sting is going for headshots to rock the Big Man. He has taken a lot of punishment he needs home runs. The Fireman's Carry is just damn impressive. German Suplex with Bridge looked fantastic. Your blood is really pumping during all this. You really believe Sting has a chance to slay the monster. Stinger Splash. I love how kicks Vader into the back to set up the next. He is so keyed up he overshoots his target and busts himself open on the turnbuckle. Wow! What a finish! Vader throws him down with a powerbomb to seal the deal. It is funny that Vader was just a one month transitional champion for Ron Simmons, but in the short term that's all this was. The match is so great and Sting/Vader trilogy has become the stuff of legend that this match seems so much more important than it actually intended to be. That is a true testament to the workers in this match who gave an A+ effort bell to bell. Sting was the consummate babyface looking the monster in the eye, marching forward and never backing down. Vader is the stuff of nightmares that Wooly Mammoth that can KO you in one shot. I loved how smartly the shine was built with Sting overcoming Vader early in raucous fashion. Then that transition to the heat segment where the sitdown splash was a metaphor for how every fan in that building felt. Then that absolutely tremendous finish so much excitement and drama. When pro wrestling is done this well, it is hard to beat.