WWF at Madison Square Garden (March 23, 1992)

Original Airdate: March 23, 1992

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Opening Match: Tatanka v Col. Mustafa: The announcers hype up the card for WrestleMania, and Bobby actually makes the ‘Arriba McIntyre’ joke two weeks early. Feeling out process to start, and Tatanka gets control. Dropkick puts Mustafa down for some elbowdrops to the leg, and he decides to bash it into the post for good measure. That’s pretty heelish, considering Mustafa hadn’t done anything illegal yet that he’d need to pay back. Mustafa goes to the eyes to turn the tide, and frankly, he’s justified according to wrestling logic. Mustafa with a chinlock, until Tatanka fights free, so Mustafa gutwrench suplexes him for two, and Bobby puts him over as the ‘master of the suplex.’ Boy, that one sure didn’t catch on. Mustafa tries a vertical suplex, but Tatanka reverses, and goes on the comeback trail. Mustafa can barely sell his stuff properly, before getting finished off with a Samoan drop at 8:45. Mustafa was looking pretty rough here, and wasn’t the right guy to let Tatanka have a showcase victory with, even if putting over young guys was the right general role for him. ¼*

Irwin R Schyster v Tito Santana: Feeling out process to start, with Tito dominating. Irwin finds a weapon to help him turn the tide, and he dumps Santana to the outside to send into the steps. Tito tries a slingshot sunset flip on the way back in, but only gets two, and IRS clobbers him. Irwin with a legdrop to the groin for two, as the announcers give us the hard sell for WrestleMania, complete with putting it over as Hulk Hogan’s last match. IRS works an abdominal stretch, but gets busted using the ropes, and Santana schoolboys for two, before getting clobbered again. That allows IRS to apply a chinlock, until Tito fights to a vertical base, so Irwin delivers a legdrop for two. Back to the hold, this time with illegal leverage, with Gorilla ratting him out to the official, but Bobby trying to cover it up. They really had a lot of fun together, and without them, a lot of these shows would be difficult to watch. Tito fights out, so IRS tries a turnbuckle smash, but Santana reverses. Cross corner whip works, but the charge is doesn’t, and Irwin puts the boots to him. Back to the damn chinlock again, and he goes to the top to finish him with a dive, but slips off the ropes. Yeah, well, with all that sweat, it’s hazardous. Santana makes a comeback, but IRS bails when Tito is setting up El Paso. Santana drags him back in by the necktie (which Gorilla is all about, of course), and a right hands gets him two. Vertical suplex gets two, but a splash hits the knees, and Irwin nails him with the jumping clothesline as time expires at 20:35. What was their fascination with lengthy midcard time limit draws in this era? Like, this was a perfectly fine match, but would have been much better with the fat trimmed off. Also, odd booking of the finish, with the heel having the man beat, only for time to run out. *

Rick Martel v JW Storm: JW is dressed like 1993 Sting here. Storm dominates early on, so Rick gives him some stalling, and manages to apply a front-facelock. Storm sets him on the top turnbuckle for the break, but fails to capitalize, and Martel nails him. Storm manages a pair of bodyslams, so Martel bails, but ends up in a wristlock, as the announcers speculate on whether Brutus Beefcake will back Hogan up at WrestleMania. Luckily, they had a better plan, because that would not have made the highlight reels, that’s for sure. Martel dumps him to the outside for a bodyslam on the floor, and he stomps on the back on the way inside. Reverse chinlock is applied, as Bobby basically tells us that if we don’t order WrestleMania to see Hogan’s last match, we’re basically wasting our lives. Talk about the hard sell! Martel with a backbreaker, but Storm blocks a 2nd rope axehandle, and makes a comeback. Corner charge, but Martel sidesteps, and hooks a schoolboy at 9:29. This absolutely did not need ten minutes. ¼*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Bret Hart and The Bushwhackers v Mountie and The Nasty Boys: Bret gets one of the biggest reactions of the night, and they do a funny bit where the Bushwhakcers don his shades and shadow his entrance routine. And then Bret joins them with their taunt, which is pretty funny as well. Hart starts with Jerry Sags, but wants Mountie. Mountie refuses, so Hart calls him a ‘chicken,’ and McFly takes the bait. Hart unloads, so Mountie tries a monkeyflip, but Bret uses a pointed elbowdrop to block. Tag back to Sags, but Bret armdrags him into an armbar, then passes to Butch. Bret helps him work the arm, so Sags goes to the eyes, and passes to Brian Knobbs. Knobbs unloads in the corner, but hits boot on a charge, and Butch bulldogs him. That brings the rest of the heels in, but the babyfaces cut them off, and clean house. The heels decide to walk out, so the referee makes some bullshit ruling that they’ll be fined $15,000 if they don’t return by the ten count. What? Like, I kind of get it if it’s a title match (though even that is problematic), but for just a random match? What’s the point of the countout rule then? The heels come back and immediately get control of Butch, as Bobby triggers Gorilla by talking about how the referee can’t keep track of everything going on, and how it’s going to be much worse when there’s eight men out there in one match at WrestleMania. The heels cut the ring in half on Butch, and it’s so clear from listening to this that not even the announcers were buying that this could actually be Hogan’s retirement match. Knobbs misses a 2nd rope splash to allow the hot tag to the Hitman, and Mountie gets savaged. Nice selling from Mountie here. The Nasties rush in to save, but Bret fights them off, and gets backed up by the Bushwhackers - Roseanne Barr the door! The heels get stacked up in the corner for a few battering rams, then whipped into each other, before Bret polishes off Mountie with a rollup at 11:58. Thankfully, the Bushwhackers were taking their marching orders from Bret here, and the match was considerably better than what they were usually known for. ¾*

Warlord v Jim Brunzell: Warlord didn’t even bother shaving his head that day, so I’m not expecting much out of him. Warlord powers him around to start, but ends him in an armbar. Warlord escapes and plants a big boot on him, then dumps him to the outside for a trip to the post. Inside, Warlord works a bearhug, until Jim escapes, and latches a sleeper on. Warlord quickly fights him off, and a corner whip rattles the ring, and Brunzell ends up on the outside again. Jim sweeps him for a shot into the post, and he makes a comeback, targeting the leg of the big guy. He tries a leglock, but Warlord fights him off, so he tries a high knee. Clothesline and a dropkick follow for one, but he walks into a running powerslam at 10:19. Another one that absolutely did not need so much time. Warlord was on his way out by this point, and this would mark his final televised appearance for the WWF. DUD

Shawn Michaels v Virgil: Shawn is in full stall mode to start, as he's still getting the hang of working heel. Well, that, or maybe he's just trying to avoid getting cornered into one of Virgil's autograph sales pitches. Virgil chases him around ringside and grabs a headlock on the way in, but Shawn escapes in the corner, and forces Virgil into a criss cross - dumping him to the outside to win the exchange. Sherri distracts the referee, allowing Shawn to pull Virgil's protective face mask up for a cheap shot, and boy, Sherri's top is barely containing her gals here. Like, one sharp move, and we're going full Attitude Era. Shawn keeps working the injured face, throwing a kick for two (though not of the 'super' variety), and then grounding Virgil in a chinlock. Virgil escapes, and charges in the corner, but Michaels lifts his boot to block, and covers for two. He keeps pounding the face, but Virgil manages to pull out a backslide for two, so Shawn clobbers him with a clothesline for two. Turnbuckle smash is sold by Virgil like he's been shot, but a backdrop gets countered with a facebuster, and that's finally enough to trigger a comeback effort. A sloppy Russian legsweep gets two, but Virgil misses a charge in the corner, and Shawn gives him a sloppy Teardrop Suplex for the pin at 12:13. This was perfectly serviceable, but Shawn hadn't quite found his voice as a heel yet, and this felt more like he was doing impressions of other people's work rather than his own thing. They actually had a much better match later in the year (by which point Michaels was Intercontinental champion), which made it onto WrestleFest '93. ¾*

Main Event: Ric Flair and Sid Justice v Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan: Lots of posturing to start, and the crowd is pretty jacked up for this one - which did great business around the circuit at the time. Flair and Piper (the WWF Champion and Intercontinental Champion, respectively) start, and engage in a feeling out process, with Piper surprisingly reserved through it. Were they lacking party favors in the back that night, or something? Ric starts working him over with chops in the corner, but Roddy returns fire, and unloads a ten-punch count on the Nature Boy. The camera crew keeps going to a wide angle for extended periods here, which is odd. Like the angle they use when someone got busted open in the mid-90s. Piper with a kneelift, and a corner whip flips Flair onto the apron for Hogan to big boot. Tag to the Hulkster, but Ric passes to Sid before Hogan can catch up with him, and we get the big stare down. Justice shoots first with a knee, and he stomps Hulk down before hitting a bodyslam. Man, anyone watching this must have known that the WrestleMania main event was going to be a dog. They should have kept their interaction as limited as possible, because Sid working Hulk over for an extended period with kick after kick is just terrible. Hogan reverses a turnbuckle smash and hits a cross corner clothesline, but Sid kicks him again, and expands his move set by throwing in some forearm blows. Back to the kicks, but a whip into the ropes backfires when Hogan blind tags to Piper, and he bodyslams Justice on the way out. Roddy capitalizes with a flurry of mounted punches for two, but he runs into a boot as he comes off the ropes, and Sid takes him down in a side-headlock. They actually work a reversal sequence from there, which ends in Justice planting him with a clothesline. Backbreaker follows, and thankfully the big guy passes back to Flair. They cut the ring in half on Piper, but Roddy manages to slam Ric off the top rope for the tag to Hogan! He comes in hot in the Nature Boy, and the big boot sets up the Legdrop, but Sid comes in with a weapon to break the count! The referee misses it, allowing Justice to place Flair on top, but it only gets two - and triggers the HULK UP!! That brings Justice back in, but Piper is there to brawl, and Roseanne Barr the door! The heels dump Hogan to the floor and gang up on Piper, but Hulk sneaks in with a clothesline on Flair for the pin at 18:02. Interestingly, this would mark Hogan's last appearance at the Garden until 2002, as well as both Piper and Sid's final appearances at the venue for several years. * ¾

BUExperience: This ended up being the last televised Garden card (which used to air monthly on local networks in New York) until 1997, as business was getting colder, and they dropped it. They also drastically reduced their MSG schedule going forward, and it’s kind of sad that a huge main event like this one couldn’t even draw 10,000 people, when they were doing B-show sellouts just a few years prior. 

This show wasn’t exactly a big blaze of glory to go out on, but I’d definitely check out that main event.

DUD