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With the WWE Championship vacant for the second time in it's three decade history, the strap was put up for grabs in the 1992 Royal Rumble match.
Vince McMahon had to decide who would be his company's next figurehead, with four time WWE Champion Hulk Hogan due to head for the exit door.
Hogan was considering retirement post-WrestleMania VIII on April 5, 1992, incredible as that might sound now. I was for a myriad of reasons, not the least beaing bad publicity over his appearance on The Arsenio Hall show on July 16, 1991. During that interview he lied about his steroid usage, against company orders. Suffice to say, Hogan was feeling the heat and wanted to depart the grap game for a minimum of 12 months, if not permanently.
McMahon had to replace him. The Ultimate Warrior had been fired in August 1991, after a financial dispute, which left just Ric Flair and Sycho Sid as viable options for McMahon.
He was undecided.
However, what McMahon did want to do is run the dream match of Hogan versus Flair, before Hogan departed. The first ever meeting between the WWE figurehead versus the NWA flag bearer took place in a dark match at a television taping on October 22, 1991. Flair would win that one via countout.
WWE, encouraged by the favorable responses in the arena, decided to run the match in all of its major markets. It drew their best live event numbers in well over a year. So much so, WWE kept booking the bout until the end of January. By which time, Flair was WWE Champion and McMahon had to begin arranging the WrestleMania VIII card.
Sycho Sid was seen as a potential heir to Hogan, given his massively muscular frame and electric personality. After WWE realized, they had overexposed the Hogan/Flair match, they opted to book Sid against Hogan, in a passing of the torch match-up akin to the Hogan/Warrior bout two years earlier. However, a failed drugs test by Sid, just prior to the 'Mania card, delayed those plans. They were scuppered completely, when Sid walked out on the company rather than serve a suspension.
The returning Warrior was revisited as an option to succeed Hogan, but his first feud following his comeback with Papa Shango bombed and Warrior's star power reduced as a result. He, too, would soon be shown the exit and fired, when he failed a drugs test in late 1992.
In a bind, McMahon had to look to his mid-card for a Hogan replacement. He would find him in the shape of Bret "Hitman" Hart.
In part 4 of my series - part 1, part 2 and part 3 can be found here - I will cover the reigns of Flair through to Yokozuna's final run as champion.
Ric Flair (January 19, 1992 - April 5, 1992)
Former eight time NWA World Champion, Ric Flair, added the WWE Championship to his World title resume at the 1992 edition of the Royal Rumble.
The vacant WWE Championship was up for grabs in the 30 Man Royal Rumble match and Flair entered the bout as the number three entrant. He lasted one hour and entered one of his best ever performances as he survived to win the bout, last eliminating Sycho Sid (with a little help from Hulk Hogan, whom Sid had ejected from the match moments earlier).
Flair was champion. However, the buy-rate for the 'Rumble wherein Flair had been positioned as one of the favorites drew a calamitous 225,000 buys on pay per view. Flair next defended the belt on the road against Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper with mixed results at the box office.
Flair was not the draw WWE had hoped for, and when the planned Flair/Hogan clash was scrapped, Macho Man Randy Savage was installed as an opponent for Flair in the WrestleMania title clash. However, that bout would be placed in the upper mid-card. Hogan versus Sid would be the final match on the show. Flair's reign was over.
Macho Man Randy Savage (April 5, 1992 - September 1, 1992)
Macho Man Randy Savage's first WWE Championship run between 1988 and 1989 was a incredible success in the ring and at the box office.
So, with a natural successor to Hulk Hogan as company figurehead unavailable, Savage seemed to be the perfect stopgap.
The feud between Savage and WWE Champion Ric Flair was supported by a soap opera-like storyline in which Flair claimed he had had an intimate relationship with Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth prior to her meeting the Macho Man.
The notoriously jealous, Savage (in storyline and real life) was livid and driven mad with rage by Flair's claims.
In a double victory for Savage, it was revealed that Flair was lying and in a strong match-up the Macho Man lifted the WWE Championship for a second time.
Savage's post-WrestleMania business with Flair drew poorly however, and Savage was next pitted versus the man who had ostensibly "retired" him the previous year at WrestleMania VII, The Ultimate Warrior.
Their bout at SummerSlam in London, England at the old Wembley Stadium also took place on the undercard. That match couldn't hold a candle to their WrestleMania classic and was completely overshadowed by the Bret Hart versus British Bulldog Intercontinental Title main event contest.
Hart's performance in that match did not go unnoticed by Vince McMahon and Savage's reign would end three days later.
Ric Flair (September 1, 1992 - October 12, 1992)
Ric Flair's first WWE Championship reign had under-performed at the box office and his second existed solely to act as a transition between Macho Man Randy Savage and Bret "Hitman" Hart.
Flair defeated Savage with assistance from Razor Ramon to lift the strap again. At the time of his victory, Flair was not aware that his reign was to serve solely as a transition. Flair's second title run is well remembered only for who he lost the belt to, the aforementioned former Intercontinental Champion.
Following his eventual title loss, The Nature Boy saw the writing on the wall.
Fearing his headline career in WWE was over, Flair requested, and was granted his release from the company- on the condition that he put over "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig in a "Loser Leaves WWE" match on Raw - three months later.
Savage, too, was finished as a main event performer. In Vince McMahon's eyes, anyway.
The future of WWE and the WWE Championship was pink and black.
Bret "Hitman" Hart (October 12, 1992 - April 4, 1993)
Bret "Hitman" Hart was called into Vince McMahon's office on October 12, 1992. Fearing he was about to be fired, Hart was shocked when McMahon advised him that he was to become the next WWE Champion that very night.
Hart upset Ric Flair in a decent match and cut an impassioned promo following the contest in which he stated: "dreams do come true."
For Hart, it was a dream come true. He had hoped to be the main man in WWE for a decade, but due to his smaller stature in a land of the giants, he never expected it to happen.
Here he was, at 35 years of age, at the top of the mountain. Warrior had been fired, Flair left at the end of January and Savage became a part time wrestler and semi-permanent fixture behind the announce desk. Hogan was still on sabbatical. Hart had no obstacles in his path. He was free to be the "Man."
However, being the only top line star in the company meant Hart was crying out for worthwhile challengers. He contested a brilliant, technical battle with Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1992, but Michaels at that point was a mid-carder and no threat to the title and the fans knew it.
The WWE audience was similarly not invested in Hart's title defenses versus the likes of Virgil and Papa Shango.
His defenses drew poorly as well by the standards of the time.
When the champion is not drawing he has to replaced. That's what Vince McMahon did earlier than expected at WrestleMania IX.
Shango, although he did contest a well received battle with Razor Ramon at the 1993 Royal Rumble.
Hart had been promised a long title reign by McMahon and was shocked when McMahon told him he was set to drop the title six months after winning it. However, the truth was that Hart was not drawing as champion, and wrestling is a business first and foremost.
Therefore, he had to be replaced.
Yokozuna (April 4, 1993 - April 4, 1993)
Yokozuna's first reign as WWE Champion was as brief as one could be.
The purportedly Japanese sumo wrestler (he was actually Samoan) was undefeated since his debut on WWE television six months earlier and had squashed every superstar he had come into contact with, most notably Macho Man Randy Savage in early 1993.
However, despite the win streak, most onlookers expected WWE Champion, Bret "Hitman" Hart to turn back the challenge of the foreign menace.
'Zuna, who rarely spoke and had the long past his prime, Mr Fuji as manager did not appear to be WWE Championship material.
Therefore, many fans were shocked when 'Zuna pinned Hart to win the title after salt had been thrown into Hart's eyes, subduing him for 'Zuna's big legdrop.
Perhaps overconfident from his upset win, Yocozuna immediately challenged Hulk Hogan post-match. That decision would come to haunt him just a few minutes later.
Hulk Hogan (April 4, 1993 - June 13, 1993)
Hulk Hogan's record extending fifth WWE Championship reign was a calamity in all honesty. In April 1993, Hogan had little interest in the wrestling business.
Hogan had opportunities outside of wrestling and the grind of being on the road as WWE Champion no longer appealed to him.
He wrestled on the undercard of WrestleMania IX - a tag match with Brutus Beefcake (returning following a horrifying injury) against Money Inc. - as a favor to Vince McMahon, who did not feel the card was a strong one and the Bret Hart/Yokozuna headliner lacked pizzazz.
McMahon was right, of course. WrestleMania IX was the worst 'Mania ever at that point (and still is in 2019). Due to Hogan's return, it did fair business on pay per view at around 400,000 buys. Without Hogan, the buyrate would have been a disaster.
However, when Hogan accepted an impromptu challenge from brand new WWE Champion, Yocozuna and squashed him to win the title in 30 seconds, the card ended on a sour note.
Hogan was the past and not the future. To make matters worse, Hogan refused to go on the road as champion and made just a few house show appearances during his two month reign, where he allegedly larked around and did not take his bouts seriously.
Bret Hart has long stated that he believed Hogan was due to drop the belt to him at King of the Ring 1993 to establish Hart as Hogan's successor. If that was true, Hogan turned the bout down. He would also later refuse to wrestle (and lose) to Hart in WCW, five years later.
Hogan would finally make his first title defense at King of the Ring. It would be his last WWE title match for a decade.
Yokozuna (June 13, 1993 - March 20, 1994)
Yokozuna earned a measure of revenge versus Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring 1993 and defeated him in a colossal screwjob to regain the WWE Championship he had lost to the Hulkster two months earlier.
WWE had quickly realized the decision to make Hogan champion had been an error in judgement and plans were made to relieve him of the gold. The reason why Yokozuna was chosen and not someone else, was that Hogan was happy to lose to an opponent who was so much larger as opposed to the smaller Hart or Razor Ramon. Even so, Hogan would only agree to lose after a fireball had been fired into his face.
After a decade, WWE finally moved on from Hulkamania as he departed a couple of months later after a European tour. He never appeared on WWE television again that decade and would sign for rival, WCW, just over a year later.
The new champion's first major title defense was versus Hogan mark 2.0, Lex Luger at SummerSlam. Luger had gotten over as a face with a patriotic gimmick and the WWE paid a fortune for the Lex Express bus to tour the States to garner support for his title bid. All signs pointed to him relieving 'Zuna of the gold at the big show. That never happened.
Instead, 'Zuna would clash with The Undertaker at the 1994 Royal Rumble, wherein he would enlist the help of ten of WWE's heel squad to lock 'Taker in a casket to retain the belt in a Casket Match.
'Zuna's reign would end at WrestleMania X, when after successfully retaining the belt against Luger once again in a mid card encounter, he finally dropped the strap to Bret Hart in a re-match of their WrestleMania IX encounter.
The Pink and Black is back in Part 5 - coming soon!
