SuperBrawl II
Date: February 29, 1992
Venue: Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 5,000
Announce Team: Jim Ross/Jesse Ventura
WCW presented a major match for the main event of the second SuperBrawl: Sting and Lex Luger, close friends, meeting against each other for the biggest prize in the company, the world championship. Before that match, though, were another seven matches. Kicking things off was Flyin' Brian Pillman beating Jushin Liger for the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship.
Following that, Marcus Bagwell beat Terry Taylor and Cactus Jack beat Ron Simmons. In a bizarre tag team match, Tom Zenk teamed with Van Hammer to face Ricky Morton and Vinnie Vegas, a mobster-type character portrayed by Kevin Nash, with Zenk pinning Morton.
The Horsemen once again were put under the services of a new manager, this time Paul E. Dangerously. Three of the members joined the Dangerous Alliance, with Barry Windham as the only holdout. Windham was subsequently kicked out, joining forces with Dustin Rhodes. The two met against Alliance members Steve Austin and Bobby Eaton, Windham getting thee pin on Eaton.
In the title matches, the Enforcers Arn Anderson and Larrry Zbyszko, defend their WCW World Tag Team titles against the Steiner Brothers, retaining via disqualification. Rick Rude keeps the United States title in the Alliance after a match against Ricky Steamboat. In the main event, Sting won his third WCW World Heavyweight Championship, beating Lex Luger, with both men shaking hands afterwards.
This would be the last major American appearance of Lex Luger. While he would negotiate with Vince McMahon for McMahon's World Bodybuilding Federation, the plans were shuttered as TitanSports faced greater scrutiny after the release of the Hogan book (which came out nine days after the first WBF PPV) over the use of anabolic steroids by its wrestlers. While the WWF were able to argue for deregulation of wrestling in 1987, the heat was coming in strong and bringing on Luger was too great a risk.
The Total Package would take off for Japan, the only place that could afford him, and would tour there for the near future.
WrestleMania VIII
Date: April 5, 1992
Venue: Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana
Attendance: 62,167
Announce Team: Gorilla Monsoon/Bobby Heenan
In spite of the growing bad publicity, the WWF manages to pack the Hoosier Dome to capacity on the back of one of the biggest matches in wrestling history: The Macho Man, Randy Savage vs. the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Savage's fifth consecutive WrestleMania main event, the most of any main eventer. Flair enters as the World Champion, having come into the company with the NWA World Title. Flair is also the second man to hold both belts, the first being Buddy Rogers, the original Nature Boy. Many have noted that if Savage wins this match, it will make him the first ever three-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Curiously, Sting had become a three-time WCW World Champion just two months ago.
The seven-match card began with Shawn Michaels continue his momentum as the Heartbreak Kid with a victory against Tito Santana. Another young up-and-comer would follow him as Owen Hart, now shedding the Blue Blazer mask and on his own, gets an upset victory off Jake Roberts, reversing the DDT into an inside cradle for the three count. The Harts would continue their winning streak as Bret reclaimed the Intercontinental Championship from Roddy Piper. It was the beginning of a youth movement within the Federation as leaner, faster, more technical athletes are given more of a chance to shine.
The seeds are being planted for a New Generation...
But that's all on the undercard at the moment. The match afterwards was an eight-man tag as the team of Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, the Big Boss Man and Virgil face off against the team of the Mountie, Repo Man and the Nasty Boys. The American babyfaces won the match, which would be followed by the pay-per-view debut of Tatanka as he scores a win against Rick Martel. The last match before the main event saw the Natural Disasters face Money Inc. while the Disasters came close to claiming victory, a figure in street clothes jumped in from the crowd while the ref was down (due to an errant corner splash from Earthquake) and blasted typhoon with a chain wrapped around his fist, allowing Ted to steal the win. The man would be formally introduced on television as Kama Mustafa, Ted's newest enforcer to replace Virgil.
Finally, the main event. Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair. A 30-minute, five-star match between two of the finest wrestlers to ever lace up. Savage is backed by Elizabeth, while Flair is backed by his executive consultant Mr. Perfect and the towering mass of Sid Justice. The two put everything they can into the match, with Flair even bleeding to ramp up the drama (which would get him fined as Vince was already tense from the heat the company was getting over steroids and didn't need blading on top of that.) The match would end with Savage overcoming the machinations of Perfect, Sid and Flair and landing the elbow drop, covering the Nature Boy to score the three count and win the match. Savage stood at the mountain top once more in the WWF, now becoming a three-time World champion. For a moment, Vince could breathe a sigh of relief, for even while the threat of litigation loomed over him, his company was still standing strong.