WWF at Knickerbocker Arena (December 26, 1992)

 

Original Airdate: December 26, 1992

From Albany, New York

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Money Inc v The Nasty Boys: Ted DiBiase starts with Jerry Sags, and they posture. DiBiase, of course, is a master at taking cheap shots, and then bailing before Sags can get revenge. Jerry reverses a turnbuckle smash, but misses a corner charge, and Ted goes after the arm. Tag to Irwin R Schyster for some abuse to the part, and back to DiBiase for more. Ted with a hiptoss, but a fistdrop misses, and Sags is able to tag out. Brian Knobbs goes to a wristlock, and he drops DiBiase with a backelbow. Knobbs works a hammerlock from there, but Money Inc double up to end the effort. Tag to IRS, but he misses an elbowdrop, and Knobbs works a wristlock on him. IRS forces a criss cross and uses a drop-toehold to win it, but misses an elbowdrop, and Knobbs goes back to the wristlock. A cheap shot allows the tide to turn, and the champions go to work on Sags. Sags fights off a double team for the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! The Boys clean house, so Money Inc decide to simply walk out, but the referee rules that if they don’t return, they’ll lose the belts along with the match. Gosh, we haven’t seen that bit in years. It was a very Money Inc thing. Back in, the dust settles, and the Boys cut the ring in half on DiBiase, but can’t put him away. Finally, IRS trips Sags up, and Ted gets the cobra clutch on. Jerry fades, but Knobbs saves before the final arm drop, and Sags is able to respond with a facebuster. Both men are left looking up at the lights, and they crawl for tags - both successful. Knobbs runs wild, and Roseanne Barr the door again! Sags hits IRS with a flying elbowdrop, but Ted breaks the pin at two. Meanwhile, Jimmy Hart distracts everyone, and Ted wallops Sags with the briefcase for Irwin to pin at 15:26. Very basic, very cookiecutter. ¾*

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Ric Flair: Some posturing to start, as Flair plays mind games with the new champion. Bret takes him to the mat in a side-headlock, but Flair gets to a vertical base, and into the ropes. Flair with a takedown into a headlock, but Hart is quick with a counter to a headscissors, so Flair complains of a hair pull. They continue feeling each other out, with Hart dominating, but Flair hanging, waiting for an opening. Hart manages a backslide for two, so Flair takes a cheap shot in the corner on a rope break, and he unloads on the champion there. Flair tries a vertical suplex, but Bret reverses, and slaps on a figure four. Flair makes the ropes, so Bret tries an elbowdrop, but Ric rolls out of the way. Flair stays on him by raking the eyes, and a cross corner whip rattles the ring. Flair with a few more corner whips, and the challenger hooks a leveraged pin for two. Flair with a series of leveraged pin attempts that don’t put it away, so he takes Hart into the corner, and unloads on him. Another leveraged pin for two, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Ric rebounds into a backdrop from the champion. Bret hammers him into the corner for a ten-punch count, and a headbutt flops Flair. Ric goes low to slow the Hitman down, but starts slugging, and Bret responds in kind. Hart gets a sleeper on, but Flair uses a side suplex to escape, getting him two. Flair with a chop, but Hart responds with a fist, so Flair uses a kneebreaker into the figure four. Ric is quick to use the ropes for leverage, but eventually gets busted, but Bret suffers a lot of punishment, and the knee is in a bad way. Ric stays on the part, and Hart is in full sell mode for him here. A kneebreaker connects, but Bret throws a punch on the landing, buying time. Flair goes up top, but Hart slams him off, and makes a comeback. A suplex gets two, and a backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. The Sharpshooter looks to finish, but Flair blocks. That allows the challenger to try for the figure four, but Hart counters with a cradle at 26:20. Well, I can certainly see why Bret was disappointed with this series. The thing is, these two were capable of having good matches together, but I don’t think they were capable of having great ones. This one wasn’t even really ‘good,’ following a lot of the same beats as the title switch, but not as engaging. *

BUExperience: This version of things is missing way too much of the card to properly rate (Jim Duggan/Brooklyn Brawler, Repo Man/Lance Caddidy, Tito Santana/Damien Demento, Tiger Jackson and The Bushwhackers/Little Mickey Moses and The Beverly Brothers, and Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty), which is a shame, since it’s the bulk of the card. Obviously, it’s great that Hart/Flair is intact, and I’m certainly not broken-hearted that I missed that Bushwhacker six-man, but Michaels/Jannetty sounded interesting.