1992 Was An Incredibly Underrated Year In WCW History

When wrestling fans think of WCW, their minds tend to go to the Monday Night War era—particularly to the New World Order, the Crow version of Sting, Goldberg, and the like. While this era did create some provocative storytelling moments, it has also been maligned for crash booking and often as not failing to deliver in the ring, with an over-reliance and big names who weren’t all that great from bell to bell. 1992 told a different story for WCW. In a pre-Hulk Hogan era, the company had a noteworthy crop of homegrown talent, a number of strong workers, and some historically important—and now wildly underrated—matches, angles, teams, and moments.

Paul Heyman's Dangerous Alliance Was On Fire

When fans think of the defining heel factions of WCW, they leap to the Four Horsemen and the New World Order. Indeed, these two group had multiple iterations, longevity, and championships accomplishments that put them in a league of their own. In between the heyday of these two groups, however, The Dangerous Alliance offered one of the dominant angles of 1992. Paul Heyman was in his element as the mouthpiece for the group. Rick Rude was the main event star and Steve Austin was the mid-card up and comer, rich in potential. Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Bobby Eaton were remarkably skilled role players to filter through the tag team and mid-card title ranks. That’s all in addition to a hyper-talented Madusa, who didn’t wrestle much in this era, but was a unique source of outside interference. The combined history of this collection of talent, as well as where they were going in the wrestling business is truly remarkable.

This faction tends to go overlooked for being limited to about a year together as a unit, in addition to WCW largely erasing Paul E. Dangerously from the record when he left the company. Still, the group got a proper send off between arguably the last great War Games matches in WCW history opposite Sting’s Squadron, and an entertaining sub-plot of Madusa beating up Heyman as the group dissolved.

Big Van Vader Emerged

The legacy of Big Van Vader has faded a bit with the passage of time, but there’s a real case that he was the greatest super heavyweight in wrestling history. He emerged as a dominant force in WCW in 1992, including not only taking the WCW Championship off Sting, but doing so via outright destruction, pummeling The Franchise until he couldn’t take any more.

Vader would be the top star for WCW throughout 1993, including two reigns as champion that spanned all but nine days of the year, and saw him fend off challenges from Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Cactus Jack, and others. 1992 laid the foundation for that run as it was clear WCW had something special on its hands with a stiff-working, uncommonly athletic monster heel.

Ron Simmons Won The WCW Championship

There aren’t too many moments from WCW that WWE regularly recognizes and celebrates. One among them, though, is Ron Simmons becoming the first African-American man to win an undisputed world title in pro wrestling. Simmons did so in 1992 with a victory over Big Van Vader.

Related: The Story Behind Ron Simmons’ "Damn" Catchphrase in WWESimmons’ success was tempered by a less than remarkable title reign, for which he largely felt like he was still booked in the mid-card. It was nonetheless a special moment when he got his hands on the title and represented one of the best versions of the legend. Moreover, it did feel like a somewhat uncharacteristically progressive choice to put the top title in the company on a black man in that era. Simmons was more than deserving of the honor as a well respected powerhouse and talented performer.

The WCW Tag Team And Light Heavyweight Divisions Clicked

A part of WCW’s quality in 1992 can be attributed to strong supporting divisions beyond the main event picture. The tag team division featured a hard hitting rivalry between The Steiner Brothers around their physical peak opposite The Miracle Violence Connection—the stiff pair of Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, coming off major successes in Japan.

The Light Heavyweight Championship picture also featured some great talent. Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger carried over a special in-ring rivalry from 1991 into early 1992. Later in the year, Scotty Flamingo—the man who would become Raven—achieved one of his biggest early career successes when he captured the belt. These high points for the division come with the caveat that a Bill Watts edict to ban offense from the top rope hamstrung the division, and the title was ultimately deactivated in the fall. Nonetheless, the first half of 1992 included some highlights.

WCW's business didn’t exactly thrive in 1992, which set the stage for the company to make major adjustments in the years to follow. Eric Bischoff rose to power, WCW signed Hulk Hogan, and the Monday Night War was on its way. Nonetheless, with The Dangerous Alliance and Vader holding things down on the heel side, Ron Simmons and Sting each around their peak as babyface in-ring performers, solid tag team and light heavyweight action, there was a lot to admire about WCW in 1992.