klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Since Ive done a grand total of two WCW shows, I figured it was time to do a series here, so here we are: SuperBrawl. This was one of their main shows, traditionally held in February although the first is in May for no apparent reason. They treated this like a major show and it usually was pretty big indeed.
Its not quite Starrcade but its close, which makes me wonder why they would have two major shows like this on back to back months but whatever. Ill be looking at all 11 shows in order as youre used to me doing so lets get going with the first, held in 1991. One note: this wont be a consecutive days thing, so dont expect it to be. Ill be putting them up as I get them done, which is likely going to be my pattern from now on.
SuperBrawl I
Date: May 19, 1991
Location: Bayfront Arena, St. Petersburg, Florida
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes
So here we are. At the time, theres not a ton at all going on in the company as usual so they went overseas and got Japanese legend Tatsumi Fujinami. At this time, WCW was officially still part of the NWA and while there were two titles, they were both held by Flair, until he lost the NWA belt to Fujinami in Japan.
However, he didnt lose the WCW title because Flair got dumped over the top rope which is clearly an evil thing to do and he kept the title because of it. Other than that theres a dream match with the Steiners vs. Sting and Luger and yeah thats all that matters here so lets get to it.
The theme here is obviously worlds colliding so we have Japanese and American flags mixed in with bad music and pictures of the wrestlers. Good night there are 12 matches on this show? Do you think thats enough??? Dusty is either coked out of his mind or is just REALLY excited to be here.
US Tag Titles: Freebirds vs. Young Pistols
Ok now hold on because this one if about as confusing as possible. Actually this match isnt but the story leading up to it is cool so I might as well go into it anyway. As for this match, the Steiners were the US champions but when they won the world tag titles from the Freebirds the US belts were stripped and put up in a tournament, which this is the final of. Ok, thats very standard stuff.
The WEIRD part is how the Steiners got the world tag titles. The Freebirds won them on February 24, 1991 and lost them February 18, 1991. You read that correctly. See, back in the day WCW would tape MONTHS of shows in advance over about a three week period. Think of what TNA does now but on a much bigger scale.
Anyway, the Freebirds won the titles at a PPV called Wrestle War which we might get to later as theres a great WarGames match on there, which is of course the greatest gimmick match of all time. Anyway, they won the belts on a Sunday, but the taping where they lost the belts (which no one had seen them win yet) took place on the Monday BEFORE the PPV where they won them.
I think you can see the problems that this could cause and it bit them in the ass in late 1993 when Sid was supposed to win the world title at Starrcade but at a show in England he legitimately stabbed Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors so obviously he was fired. WCW had about three or four months of tapes set up with him as world champion, so those were now worthless and they had to scrap the whole thing.
This is why in the mid to late 90s on syndicated shows like Worldwide or the Main Event, you never see guys with belts as the commentary could easily be redone. So yeah, the Freebirds lost a pair of titles almost a week before winning them. Their reign lasted -6 days, which is how its recorded in a lot of sources. Oh yeah theres a match here.
The Young Pistols were a cowboy kind of tag team that did nothing at all. It was Tracy Smothers, who would become far more famous and I use that term very loosely, and Steve Armstrong, whose brother is Brian, or Road Dogg. The Freebirds were legendary heels in WCCW out of Dallas and revolutionized heel tag team wrestling. This pairing is nowhere near that as theyre both old and more or less worthless at this point.
The original trio of Buddy Roberts, Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy is gone and its now Hayes and Jimmy Garvin who by law had to have made at least 5 porn movies in the 70s looks like he does. Anyway, this is for the midcard tag titles. Thats saying a lot about the tag title scene. Not only was there a strong world tag title scene, but there was enough of one to warrant a midcard tag title. Thats saying a lot.
If nothing else the Freebirds have the greatest theme song ever with Badstreet USA. Oh and theyre part of a stable called the Diamond Mine, which is run by one Diamond Dallas Page. Oh and they have a manager named Big Daddy Dink, who you would know from the 80s as Oliver Humperdink. Ok most of you wont but he existed. Page is just a manager here and is already in his mid to late 20s here so he started WAY late.
The Birds are supposed to be a rock band here and to their credit Hayes sings their theme song so there we are. The Pistols are from Wyoming of all places. My goodness this has to be a record for longest amount of writing just to set up a match. Theres the bell and its Armstrong and Hayes. I cant tell the Pistols apart which is likely because I dont want to. Uh oh Ross is using football analogies. This could be a long night.
Brad Armstrong, Steves other brother and the most talented of the three comes out to balance out Dink which makes sense at least. The referee throws Dink out so thats good as Brad leaves also. Steve completely misses a clothesline but Hayes sells it anyway. Have to love that old school mentality and experience shining through there. The Pistols actually arent terrible. Theyre not good but there are far worse teams.
Ah there we are with some nice cheating to get the advantage swung. Sometimes all it takes is pulling a rope down and the heels are very heelish. Tracy freaking DIVES for a tag which looked a lot funnier than it should have. In a bad looking spot, the Pistols both go for missile dropkicks. Armstrong misses completely and Smothers hits Garvin but Garvin doesnt do anything and Smothers goes down.
The Pistols are all over the place but theyre not hitting a lot of stuff. Dusty says there are going to be new champions here. Gee Dusty you think? In a tournament final there will be new champions?
After a ref bump, a masked guy in what would be called a black chicken suit comes out and beats up the Pistols, hitting both with DDTs from the middle ropes which would be the same as they stand on the mat while he does them but whatever. That gets the Birds the titles. While it was never revealed on TV, the guy in the suit was Brad Armstrong.
Rating: B-. I liked it. Its a very formula based match but thats often times the best thing you could ask for and this is no exception. Its basic heel vs. face stuff but it held my attention for ten minutes which is more than most modern tag matches do. This was fine, but some people would be bored with it I think.
Dan Spivey vs. Ricky Morton
Oh I wonder whats going to happen here. Spivey was a big man that was incredibly generic but was pushed for his size. Morton was much more famous as a tag wrestler but would turn heel soon after this in something no one cared about. Yeah its a squash that goes about three minutes and ends with a powerbomb. That was easy.
Rating: N/A. These happened a lot on these shows and were more and more pointless every time. This and the next four matches are cut from the video release and I can understand why.
Nikita Koloff vs. Tommy Rich
Its another squash but this has a purpose. Here, Koloff was going to be involved in the title match later on and this justifies him being at the show. Its a total squash of a former world champion here which does nothing at all for the show other than validate Nikita showing up, which is key.
Oh wait that might be a .nah I thought Rich was going to do something there but he takes the Sickle (clothesline with the arm twisted a bit) to end this in about four minutes. Rich would be in the same stable as Morton in about two months and would be about as meaningful.
Rating: N/A. Again, in a squash, what can I really say?
Johnny B. Badd debuts, with the line Im so pretty I should have been born a little girl. He was the first modern gay wrestler that never said he was gay but you knew it. Hes debuting here and few care. Somehow even fewer would care in about 8 years if thats possible. Teddy Long is his manager which didnt last long.
Terrance Taylor vs. Dustin Rhodes
Ah here we its a Terry Taylor match. DAMN IT ALL TO FUCKING HELL. Oddly enough, hes part of the same stable that the other two jobbers would join and they recruited Dustin. He has Mr. Hughes as his bodyguard that never did anything and Alexandra York as his manager, who is more commonly known as Dustins real life wife, Terri. Something tells me Im going to hate this match. Hmm I wonder why.
Maybe because neither ARE ANY FUCKING GOOD??? Also, Taylor keeps asking for stuff from the computer, which makes sense for the character but further proves why the character fucking sucks. The idea was that York would get readouts from the computer that told her how the match would go. Its dumber than it sounds somehow. Im trying to type a lot so I dont have to watch this abomination as I hate Taylor very much.
Granted Dustins generic as hell offense isnt helping much here either. Its all simple and southern based stuff like headlocks and punches and attempts at bulldogs. Oh wait something might be happening. Yep, a missed shot from a foreign object by Hughes ends this, thankfully.
Rating: D-. Are they trying to bore the hell out of me here? I mean really, this is the second best match of the night and I wanted to scream during it to break the monotony.
Black Bart vs. Big Josh
So we have a guy thats a lumberjack and dances with bears vs. a member of a team called the Desperadoes who actually didnt mind losing, but simply wanted to meet Stan Hansen. I wish I was making this up. Big Josh is more commonly known as the guy that would become Doink the Clown. Egads its a THIRD FUCKING SQUASH. Bart gets in zero offense here and Josh wins with a Stage Dive from the top. This show isnt going to go well is it?
Rating: N/A. This cant go well can it?
Heyman is here for the Danger Zone where he yells at Stan, which doesnt go well. Can we please get rid of the old guys?
Oz vs. Tim Parker
And here it begins. For the life of me, I will never understand this. Ted Turner bought up the rights to a ton of movies, so he decided to use WCW to build up hype for them, like hes doing here. When I say Oz, I mean the title character from the movie. Kevin Nash is billed as being from the Emerald City and has Merlin the Wizard (Kevin Sullivan) with him. We actually have Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion and Toto, in costume.
I wish I was making this up but sadly, its true. Theyre actually doing a scene with the movie on the stage. The fans are LIVID. I mean this goes on nearly 5 minutes, until Oz says hes going to go show people who he really is. He comes to the ring in lime green pants and with a big white wig and reveals himself to be the at the time unknown Kevin Nash. The match goes thirty seconds as he puts him up for a powerbomb and then just spins him around and lets him go so he crashes in a great visual.
Rating: F-. Since this went on for three months plus. I mean dude, the Wizard and Oz? Who in the world thought this was a good idea? Also, Merlin in the Wizard of Oz? Read a damn book or watch a damn movie people!
Missy Hyatt walks in on Stan in the shower, who is sweaty from talking a lot I guess? She gets spanked for some reason. Knowing her she fucked Stans horse or something. On the home video, we go from the US Tag Title match to this. Thats a lot of cutting, but its not like anything of note was left off. Missy is as annoying as hell. Also they point out that Taylor just had a match, but no one would have seen it.
Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman
This is a taped fist match, which makes great sense for a gimmick right? Theyre feuding mainly because Pillman is small and Windham is big. Pillman had lost a loser leaves the company match and then a guy in a mask called the Yellow Dog had shown up. Yeah, he was called the Yellow Dog. Thats all I need to say. Brian of course is the huge face here and rocking the Bengals tights as I have the Bengals game on.
Windham would be thrown into the main event a few months after this as Flair would bail after some of the dumbest backstage stuff in wrestling history and take the world title with him. Windham got it, so he goes from this to the world title in about two months. Barry had so much natural talent its insane. The fists have played absolutely no role at all so far as everyone tapes their fist but here its a lot stronger I guess?
The punches are just standard right hands that arent doing anything special at all. Both guys are bleeding a bit as they keep going outside. Theres one of those WCW ramps that is the same height as the ring which Ive always liked. Pillman hits a spinning heel kick which was unheard of at the time.
They hit head to head as there is just no flow to this thing at all. To end it quickly for no apparent reason, Windham hits the top rope superplex for the pin. That came from nowhere. He beats on him after the match ends.
Rating: D+. The gimmick was just completely worthless here and the match wasnt worth much at all. It just wasnt interesting really and it didnt help at all. This was the, ahem, blow off to their feud and thank goodness for that. How could two guys with this much talent have such a boring and sloppy match?
We have the Diamond Mine, which is DDPs talking segment. He has a new guy called the Diamond Stud. He has a bit of stubble on his face. Id say a razor would take care of that.
El Gigante vs. Sid Vicious
This is a stretcher match, which means regular rules but the loser gets taken out on a stretcher. Sid was leaving after this to head to the WWF so the ending is about as much of a given as possible. Sid is of course from anywhere he darn well please which is always funny. Gigante was bigger than Khali but with less talent. He was just a freaking monster but he was incredibly over.
Later he would be known as Giant Gonzalez which hes a bit more known for. And its a 2 minute match. GOOD FREAKING NIGHT WILL YOU CUT THIS OUT? One Man Gang waddles out and does nothing but get his ass kicked, as does Kevin Sullivan. Thanks for that guys. Sid gets the goodbye song as Gigante rolls Gang out on the stretcher but hey, Sullivan has powder. Sid is gone by the way. That was completely pointless.
Rating: F+. That was just a waste of 5 minutes of my life. This show is fucking garbage. No that wouldnt be fair to the garbage. This show is unfuckable. The match was terrible and El Gigante was just a comedy character for the most part. Actually not comedy but lovable. That's a good word I guess.
Butch Reed vs. Ron Simmons
They actually call this a Thunder-Doom cage match. Basically they were a dominant tag team but Simmons turned face so were having a cage match. Their old manager, one Teddy Long, is going to be in a small cage above the ring. They come out to the same music for no apparent reason. You could tell they had something big in store for Simmons but I dont think anyone knew how big it was going to be.
The music suits a face far better than it does a heel too but whatever. Twice in a minute Ross lets us know that Simmons jersey was retired by Florida St. Thats impressive, but we get it. Ron is just a freaking BEAST. Im completely failing to see the point of the cage here. Theyre using it a bit, but this seems like something that could have been a normal one on one match with Long in the cage.
If hes in one, whats the point of them being in one and vice versa? Why am I trying to figure out Jim Herd and his booking? Reeds nickname is Hacksaw which is annoying as I keep thinking of Duggan. Reed was almost about to be a Horseman at one point also. Thats nearly stunning. This might be the most boring cage match Ive ever seen in my entire life.
Apparently Reed has a lot of experience in cage matches. Not that such a thing makes a difference but whatever. Oh and Simmons has been bleeding for awhile. We get a GO RON GO chant as Reed uses the LAZIEST chinlock that I have ever seen.
Hes just got his hands over Simmons throat and nothing more. Seriously, flex your arms or something at least. Simmons keeps having his comebacks stopped and its really hurting the match. They get a double clothesline and Long throws a chain to Reed, who gets hit with a spinebuster for the pin instead.
Rating: D. If there was no cage this is a C+ or so. It was just a boring as hell match with zero need for the stipulation and gimmick. It blew off the DOOM EXPLODES feud but thats about it. Simmons would go on to become world champion relatively soon and Reed would fade away. See what one cage match can do for you?
We take a look at both tag teams, and by that I mean just clips of their matches and moments to stupid music with no talking at all. Thats rather pointless. Not to mention long. This is about 5 minutes of just clips of them fighting various people.
Tag Titles: Lex Luger/Sting vs. Steiners
Its face vs. face here and Luger is US Champion. I freaking love the way Capetta (the ring announcer) says someone is a world champion. He pauses before saying world very loudly. Ross says were starting with power vs. power but all four of them can do power stuff with I guess Rick being the weakest one? Geez there are a lot of titles in this match. It amazes me to no end that Luger would be top heel in less than a year, defending the title against Sting in February at SuperBrawl II.
The crowd is actually reacting to this match unlike almost every other match on the card which is really not a good sign. Theyre doing a lot of technical stuff here which is a nice change of pace. In a bad looking spot, Steiner throws a shoulder at Luger and hits him solidly but Lex just shrugs it off and Steiner stays down. Sting jumps over the rope which is a spot that was more or less unheard of at the time and he nails it.
Hes the only person in wrestling history that I would put against RVD as far as leaping ability goes. Also considering his size (63 so just under Ortons height) its even more impressive. Magnum TA put Sting about as perfectly as anyone Ive ever heard: he had so much charisma and talent when he first got going that he didnt know what to do with it. Thats absolutely spot on too.
A year or so before this he would have been lost out there. Not due to a lack of ability, but simply because he didnt know how to channel his energy. Imagine a guy like Shelton Benjamin but with Edges charisma and you have Sting. Now within a year or two, he had the ring sense of a guy like Eddie Guerrero, making him one of if not the absolute best wrestler in the world. Hes maybe my 2nd favorite wrestler of all time and was easily the top face in the company around this time.
About a year or so from now, he would be the undisputed king of WCW and was even bigger than Flair when he returned from that other company. Anyway enough about Sting as I just rambled for five minutes over a plancha. This is a great match that Im not going to do a lot of commentary on. It goes about eleven minutes and the longest dead spot is about 20 seconds.
They work their asses off out there and it makes things go well. After things break down and we have a ref bump, we go to a camera shot that would be like someone looking at the ring from the entrance and we see a big bald guy walking to the ring. Its Koloff from earlier and he has a chain around his arm. He gets a running start at Luger who has his back to him. Sting shoves him out of the way and takes the chain which lets Scott get the pin.
I love that ending as it furthers Sting and Koloff, or actually starts it I guess. After that theres no way to put one team over the other so Im actually fine with it. Sting goes after Koloff in the back and they fight outside.
Rating: A. This is a great tag match all around as you have four guys that can legitimately go with each other out there, a good story as its respect all around, and the workrate is off the freaking charts here. All four guys worked very hard and the crowd was itno it all the way. What more can you ask for here?
TV Title: Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton
Eaton is freshly face here for no apparent reason and Anderson is the champion coming in. Theyre still using the NWA TV belt which is far better looking if nothing else. Eaton is vastly underrated in the ring so this should be good. This is a very old school, NWA mentality match meaning its rather slow for the majority of peoples tastes, but its working pretty well. Eaton works on the arm and Arn works on the leg which is just odd as hell for an arm man like himself. At least the leg work makes sense here as Bobby is a high flier.
Anderson works on the leg. And I mean for about 5 minutes straight. Ok, we get it: his leg is messed up. We of course get the big face comeback but as hes going for the Alabama Jam (top rope leg drop) Barry Windham comes out but is stopped by Pillman and they have no bearing at all on the match, making their appearances completely pointless other than to make us miss the pin as we see Brian chasing him to the back when the pin happens. Thats BRILLIANT guys.
Rating: D+. It wasnt bad, but it was boring as all hell. Almost half of this is Anderson working on the leg which makes sense but damn it was boring and Im an Anderson fan. This just wasnt anything special, although Eaton winning a singles match was a big deal. Some people will love this but it wasnt that great.
Tony is with Fujinami. Actually hes not but he says he is. This was a waste of 40 seconds.
WCW World Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair
Ok, so this is complicated (of course). Fujinami is NWA Champion here, but at the time WCW considered the NWA Title and the WCW Title the same thing and called it the same thing, so when they say Flair is WCW Champion, they mean theyre saying hes both. However, the NWA, which meant jack shit at this point, says Fujinami is the champion, which he really is.
The NWA name is never used here, and its billed as just a WCW Title match. In other words, it was WCW acknowledging that they were bigger than the NWA which everyone but the NWA knew already. So yeah, according to WCW, this is just for the WCW Title but according to the NWA and realistically, its title for title. Fujinami is a Japanese legend that a lot of you have likely never heard of, but the guy is AWESOME.
Flair uses different music here for no reason at all. We have a Japanese and American referee here, with the American being Bill Alfonzo. This right here exemplifies everything that was wrong with the NWA and why it died so badly. Fujinami is great, take my word for it. Why should you be taking my word for it? Because odds are, youve never heard of him.
Thats the thing: these guys are great wrestlers but thats not what American fans want to see, but the NWA insisted on it. Seriously, to any big time smart fan, this is a dream match. To any average fan, for the most part no one cares here, and thats why WCW survived and the NWA didnt. Yes I know its still around, but its dead, trust me. They do shake hands which is fine with me.
Rics hair looks odd here for some reason that I cant place. Fujinami is known as the Dragon and invented the suplex and sleeper that go with that name. I love Dusty trying to talk like hes in these guys league. Thats just amazingly funny. The non-American goes for a Boston Crab but doesnt turn it over immediately so its kind of like a Liontamer for a bit which is cool.
The fans only seem to care when Flair is in control. He would have been a face at this time, but the problem here is that there really isnt a face or a heel in this. Fujunami hits a weird looking funning forearm to the ribs. That just looked weird. Flair gets control and goes onto the leg of course as you would expect him to. The figure four is on to a very nice pop indeed. While hes got it on, we go to a totally pointless crowd shot.
Thats one of my annoyances in wrestling. Seriously, is it that hard to STAY ON ONE DAMN SHOT??? Fujinami puts on a Sharpshooter. Oh wait this is WCW. He puts on a Scorpion Deathlock, which to be fair, Sting used first. In something Ive never seen before, Fujinami tries to bridge up into a backslide but he cant do it despite trying three times. We hit the floor as were getting into an American style again. Yep, Flair is bleeding.
This was before his skin became so weak that a hard stare would bust him open. This is another slower paced match but its not boring at all. Its not a great match for a reason Ill get into later though. To the shock of no one, Flair is slammed off the top rope with one hand, actually drawing a lot of boos. Flair gets put in a hold called the Octopus, which is like an abdominal stretch on steroids. Thats a move that maybe 5 Americans have used, ever.
Actually scratch that. 5 people have used it in American, as three of them were Dynamite Kid, Benoit and Owen and another was one of the Jumping Bomb Angels. Its one of Inokis signature moves if that tells you anything.
We go even more insane but off a rollup the Japanese referee goes down for about 5 seconds and the American referee counts the pin, resulting in that being the most pointless ref bump ever. That means the WCW and NWA titles are one and the same again, even though WCW and the NWA dont want to admit it.
Rating: B+. This started off a bit slow but once it got going it was solid. However, the crowd was bored for about the first 15 minutes, which again is because they have no reason to care about Fujinami as most of them have likely never heard of the man, yet were supposed to buy him as being a big time guy based just off what some announcers said about him. While its all true, it doesnt help things at all. This was a good match but horrible booking if that makes sense,
Overall Rating: D+. You have two good matches out of 12. That cant be a good thing. Seriously, I couldnt grade 4 of these which is a third of the card. That says very little about the direction of the company. The other thing here that isnt on the show is that Flair would be gone in less than two months after Herd decided that he didnt fit in anymore and should shave his head and become a gladiator character.
Thankfully Herd didnt last long. Anyway, other than the world and tag titles, theres just nothing at all here, and I mean nothing. Its a terrible show with two good matches. Normally that would be ok, but not when the card has 12 on it. Dont watch this, but watch the tag as its great.
Its not quite Starrcade but its close, which makes me wonder why they would have two major shows like this on back to back months but whatever. Ill be looking at all 11 shows in order as youre used to me doing so lets get going with the first, held in 1991. One note: this wont be a consecutive days thing, so dont expect it to be. Ill be putting them up as I get them done, which is likely going to be my pattern from now on.
SuperBrawl I
Date: May 19, 1991
Location: Bayfront Arena, St. Petersburg, Florida
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes
So here we are. At the time, theres not a ton at all going on in the company as usual so they went overseas and got Japanese legend Tatsumi Fujinami. At this time, WCW was officially still part of the NWA and while there were two titles, they were both held by Flair, until he lost the NWA belt to Fujinami in Japan.
However, he didnt lose the WCW title because Flair got dumped over the top rope which is clearly an evil thing to do and he kept the title because of it. Other than that theres a dream match with the Steiners vs. Sting and Luger and yeah thats all that matters here so lets get to it.
The theme here is obviously worlds colliding so we have Japanese and American flags mixed in with bad music and pictures of the wrestlers. Good night there are 12 matches on this show? Do you think thats enough??? Dusty is either coked out of his mind or is just REALLY excited to be here.
US Tag Titles: Freebirds vs. Young Pistols
Ok now hold on because this one if about as confusing as possible. Actually this match isnt but the story leading up to it is cool so I might as well go into it anyway. As for this match, the Steiners were the US champions but when they won the world tag titles from the Freebirds the US belts were stripped and put up in a tournament, which this is the final of. Ok, thats very standard stuff.
The WEIRD part is how the Steiners got the world tag titles. The Freebirds won them on February 24, 1991 and lost them February 18, 1991. You read that correctly. See, back in the day WCW would tape MONTHS of shows in advance over about a three week period. Think of what TNA does now but on a much bigger scale.
Anyway, the Freebirds won the titles at a PPV called Wrestle War which we might get to later as theres a great WarGames match on there, which is of course the greatest gimmick match of all time. Anyway, they won the belts on a Sunday, but the taping where they lost the belts (which no one had seen them win yet) took place on the Monday BEFORE the PPV where they won them.
I think you can see the problems that this could cause and it bit them in the ass in late 1993 when Sid was supposed to win the world title at Starrcade but at a show in England he legitimately stabbed Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors so obviously he was fired. WCW had about three or four months of tapes set up with him as world champion, so those were now worthless and they had to scrap the whole thing.
This is why in the mid to late 90s on syndicated shows like Worldwide or the Main Event, you never see guys with belts as the commentary could easily be redone. So yeah, the Freebirds lost a pair of titles almost a week before winning them. Their reign lasted -6 days, which is how its recorded in a lot of sources. Oh yeah theres a match here.
The Young Pistols were a cowboy kind of tag team that did nothing at all. It was Tracy Smothers, who would become far more famous and I use that term very loosely, and Steve Armstrong, whose brother is Brian, or Road Dogg. The Freebirds were legendary heels in WCCW out of Dallas and revolutionized heel tag team wrestling. This pairing is nowhere near that as theyre both old and more or less worthless at this point.
The original trio of Buddy Roberts, Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy is gone and its now Hayes and Jimmy Garvin who by law had to have made at least 5 porn movies in the 70s looks like he does. Anyway, this is for the midcard tag titles. Thats saying a lot about the tag title scene. Not only was there a strong world tag title scene, but there was enough of one to warrant a midcard tag title. Thats saying a lot.
If nothing else the Freebirds have the greatest theme song ever with Badstreet USA. Oh and theyre part of a stable called the Diamond Mine, which is run by one Diamond Dallas Page. Oh and they have a manager named Big Daddy Dink, who you would know from the 80s as Oliver Humperdink. Ok most of you wont but he existed. Page is just a manager here and is already in his mid to late 20s here so he started WAY late.
The Birds are supposed to be a rock band here and to their credit Hayes sings their theme song so there we are. The Pistols are from Wyoming of all places. My goodness this has to be a record for longest amount of writing just to set up a match. Theres the bell and its Armstrong and Hayes. I cant tell the Pistols apart which is likely because I dont want to. Uh oh Ross is using football analogies. This could be a long night.
Brad Armstrong, Steves other brother and the most talented of the three comes out to balance out Dink which makes sense at least. The referee throws Dink out so thats good as Brad leaves also. Steve completely misses a clothesline but Hayes sells it anyway. Have to love that old school mentality and experience shining through there. The Pistols actually arent terrible. Theyre not good but there are far worse teams.
Ah there we are with some nice cheating to get the advantage swung. Sometimes all it takes is pulling a rope down and the heels are very heelish. Tracy freaking DIVES for a tag which looked a lot funnier than it should have. In a bad looking spot, the Pistols both go for missile dropkicks. Armstrong misses completely and Smothers hits Garvin but Garvin doesnt do anything and Smothers goes down.
The Pistols are all over the place but theyre not hitting a lot of stuff. Dusty says there are going to be new champions here. Gee Dusty you think? In a tournament final there will be new champions?
After a ref bump, a masked guy in what would be called a black chicken suit comes out and beats up the Pistols, hitting both with DDTs from the middle ropes which would be the same as they stand on the mat while he does them but whatever. That gets the Birds the titles. While it was never revealed on TV, the guy in the suit was Brad Armstrong.
Rating: B-. I liked it. Its a very formula based match but thats often times the best thing you could ask for and this is no exception. Its basic heel vs. face stuff but it held my attention for ten minutes which is more than most modern tag matches do. This was fine, but some people would be bored with it I think.
Dan Spivey vs. Ricky Morton
Oh I wonder whats going to happen here. Spivey was a big man that was incredibly generic but was pushed for his size. Morton was much more famous as a tag wrestler but would turn heel soon after this in something no one cared about. Yeah its a squash that goes about three minutes and ends with a powerbomb. That was easy.
Rating: N/A. These happened a lot on these shows and were more and more pointless every time. This and the next four matches are cut from the video release and I can understand why.
Nikita Koloff vs. Tommy Rich
Its another squash but this has a purpose. Here, Koloff was going to be involved in the title match later on and this justifies him being at the show. Its a total squash of a former world champion here which does nothing at all for the show other than validate Nikita showing up, which is key.
Oh wait that might be a .nah I thought Rich was going to do something there but he takes the Sickle (clothesline with the arm twisted a bit) to end this in about four minutes. Rich would be in the same stable as Morton in about two months and would be about as meaningful.
Rating: N/A. Again, in a squash, what can I really say?
Johnny B. Badd debuts, with the line Im so pretty I should have been born a little girl. He was the first modern gay wrestler that never said he was gay but you knew it. Hes debuting here and few care. Somehow even fewer would care in about 8 years if thats possible. Teddy Long is his manager which didnt last long.
Terrance Taylor vs. Dustin Rhodes
Ah here we its a Terry Taylor match. DAMN IT ALL TO FUCKING HELL. Oddly enough, hes part of the same stable that the other two jobbers would join and they recruited Dustin. He has Mr. Hughes as his bodyguard that never did anything and Alexandra York as his manager, who is more commonly known as Dustins real life wife, Terri. Something tells me Im going to hate this match. Hmm I wonder why.
Maybe because neither ARE ANY FUCKING GOOD??? Also, Taylor keeps asking for stuff from the computer, which makes sense for the character but further proves why the character fucking sucks. The idea was that York would get readouts from the computer that told her how the match would go. Its dumber than it sounds somehow. Im trying to type a lot so I dont have to watch this abomination as I hate Taylor very much.
Granted Dustins generic as hell offense isnt helping much here either. Its all simple and southern based stuff like headlocks and punches and attempts at bulldogs. Oh wait something might be happening. Yep, a missed shot from a foreign object by Hughes ends this, thankfully.
Rating: D-. Are they trying to bore the hell out of me here? I mean really, this is the second best match of the night and I wanted to scream during it to break the monotony.
Black Bart vs. Big Josh
So we have a guy thats a lumberjack and dances with bears vs. a member of a team called the Desperadoes who actually didnt mind losing, but simply wanted to meet Stan Hansen. I wish I was making this up. Big Josh is more commonly known as the guy that would become Doink the Clown. Egads its a THIRD FUCKING SQUASH. Bart gets in zero offense here and Josh wins with a Stage Dive from the top. This show isnt going to go well is it?
Rating: N/A. This cant go well can it?
Heyman is here for the Danger Zone where he yells at Stan, which doesnt go well. Can we please get rid of the old guys?
Oz vs. Tim Parker
And here it begins. For the life of me, I will never understand this. Ted Turner bought up the rights to a ton of movies, so he decided to use WCW to build up hype for them, like hes doing here. When I say Oz, I mean the title character from the movie. Kevin Nash is billed as being from the Emerald City and has Merlin the Wizard (Kevin Sullivan) with him. We actually have Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion and Toto, in costume.
I wish I was making this up but sadly, its true. Theyre actually doing a scene with the movie on the stage. The fans are LIVID. I mean this goes on nearly 5 minutes, until Oz says hes going to go show people who he really is. He comes to the ring in lime green pants and with a big white wig and reveals himself to be the at the time unknown Kevin Nash. The match goes thirty seconds as he puts him up for a powerbomb and then just spins him around and lets him go so he crashes in a great visual.
Rating: F-. Since this went on for three months plus. I mean dude, the Wizard and Oz? Who in the world thought this was a good idea? Also, Merlin in the Wizard of Oz? Read a damn book or watch a damn movie people!
Missy Hyatt walks in on Stan in the shower, who is sweaty from talking a lot I guess? She gets spanked for some reason. Knowing her she fucked Stans horse or something. On the home video, we go from the US Tag Title match to this. Thats a lot of cutting, but its not like anything of note was left off. Missy is as annoying as hell. Also they point out that Taylor just had a match, but no one would have seen it.
Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman
This is a taped fist match, which makes great sense for a gimmick right? Theyre feuding mainly because Pillman is small and Windham is big. Pillman had lost a loser leaves the company match and then a guy in a mask called the Yellow Dog had shown up. Yeah, he was called the Yellow Dog. Thats all I need to say. Brian of course is the huge face here and rocking the Bengals tights as I have the Bengals game on.
Windham would be thrown into the main event a few months after this as Flair would bail after some of the dumbest backstage stuff in wrestling history and take the world title with him. Windham got it, so he goes from this to the world title in about two months. Barry had so much natural talent its insane. The fists have played absolutely no role at all so far as everyone tapes their fist but here its a lot stronger I guess?
The punches are just standard right hands that arent doing anything special at all. Both guys are bleeding a bit as they keep going outside. Theres one of those WCW ramps that is the same height as the ring which Ive always liked. Pillman hits a spinning heel kick which was unheard of at the time.
They hit head to head as there is just no flow to this thing at all. To end it quickly for no apparent reason, Windham hits the top rope superplex for the pin. That came from nowhere. He beats on him after the match ends.
Rating: D+. The gimmick was just completely worthless here and the match wasnt worth much at all. It just wasnt interesting really and it didnt help at all. This was the, ahem, blow off to their feud and thank goodness for that. How could two guys with this much talent have such a boring and sloppy match?
We have the Diamond Mine, which is DDPs talking segment. He has a new guy called the Diamond Stud. He has a bit of stubble on his face. Id say a razor would take care of that.
El Gigante vs. Sid Vicious
This is a stretcher match, which means regular rules but the loser gets taken out on a stretcher. Sid was leaving after this to head to the WWF so the ending is about as much of a given as possible. Sid is of course from anywhere he darn well please which is always funny. Gigante was bigger than Khali but with less talent. He was just a freaking monster but he was incredibly over.
Later he would be known as Giant Gonzalez which hes a bit more known for. And its a 2 minute match. GOOD FREAKING NIGHT WILL YOU CUT THIS OUT? One Man Gang waddles out and does nothing but get his ass kicked, as does Kevin Sullivan. Thanks for that guys. Sid gets the goodbye song as Gigante rolls Gang out on the stretcher but hey, Sullivan has powder. Sid is gone by the way. That was completely pointless.
Rating: F+. That was just a waste of 5 minutes of my life. This show is fucking garbage. No that wouldnt be fair to the garbage. This show is unfuckable. The match was terrible and El Gigante was just a comedy character for the most part. Actually not comedy but lovable. That's a good word I guess.
Butch Reed vs. Ron Simmons
They actually call this a Thunder-Doom cage match. Basically they were a dominant tag team but Simmons turned face so were having a cage match. Their old manager, one Teddy Long, is going to be in a small cage above the ring. They come out to the same music for no apparent reason. You could tell they had something big in store for Simmons but I dont think anyone knew how big it was going to be.
The music suits a face far better than it does a heel too but whatever. Twice in a minute Ross lets us know that Simmons jersey was retired by Florida St. Thats impressive, but we get it. Ron is just a freaking BEAST. Im completely failing to see the point of the cage here. Theyre using it a bit, but this seems like something that could have been a normal one on one match with Long in the cage.
If hes in one, whats the point of them being in one and vice versa? Why am I trying to figure out Jim Herd and his booking? Reeds nickname is Hacksaw which is annoying as I keep thinking of Duggan. Reed was almost about to be a Horseman at one point also. Thats nearly stunning. This might be the most boring cage match Ive ever seen in my entire life.
Apparently Reed has a lot of experience in cage matches. Not that such a thing makes a difference but whatever. Oh and Simmons has been bleeding for awhile. We get a GO RON GO chant as Reed uses the LAZIEST chinlock that I have ever seen.
Hes just got his hands over Simmons throat and nothing more. Seriously, flex your arms or something at least. Simmons keeps having his comebacks stopped and its really hurting the match. They get a double clothesline and Long throws a chain to Reed, who gets hit with a spinebuster for the pin instead.
Rating: D. If there was no cage this is a C+ or so. It was just a boring as hell match with zero need for the stipulation and gimmick. It blew off the DOOM EXPLODES feud but thats about it. Simmons would go on to become world champion relatively soon and Reed would fade away. See what one cage match can do for you?
We take a look at both tag teams, and by that I mean just clips of their matches and moments to stupid music with no talking at all. Thats rather pointless. Not to mention long. This is about 5 minutes of just clips of them fighting various people.
Tag Titles: Lex Luger/Sting vs. Steiners
Its face vs. face here and Luger is US Champion. I freaking love the way Capetta (the ring announcer) says someone is a world champion. He pauses before saying world very loudly. Ross says were starting with power vs. power but all four of them can do power stuff with I guess Rick being the weakest one? Geez there are a lot of titles in this match. It amazes me to no end that Luger would be top heel in less than a year, defending the title against Sting in February at SuperBrawl II.
The crowd is actually reacting to this match unlike almost every other match on the card which is really not a good sign. Theyre doing a lot of technical stuff here which is a nice change of pace. In a bad looking spot, Steiner throws a shoulder at Luger and hits him solidly but Lex just shrugs it off and Steiner stays down. Sting jumps over the rope which is a spot that was more or less unheard of at the time and he nails it.
Hes the only person in wrestling history that I would put against RVD as far as leaping ability goes. Also considering his size (63 so just under Ortons height) its even more impressive. Magnum TA put Sting about as perfectly as anyone Ive ever heard: he had so much charisma and talent when he first got going that he didnt know what to do with it. Thats absolutely spot on too.
A year or so before this he would have been lost out there. Not due to a lack of ability, but simply because he didnt know how to channel his energy. Imagine a guy like Shelton Benjamin but with Edges charisma and you have Sting. Now within a year or two, he had the ring sense of a guy like Eddie Guerrero, making him one of if not the absolute best wrestler in the world. Hes maybe my 2nd favorite wrestler of all time and was easily the top face in the company around this time.
About a year or so from now, he would be the undisputed king of WCW and was even bigger than Flair when he returned from that other company. Anyway enough about Sting as I just rambled for five minutes over a plancha. This is a great match that Im not going to do a lot of commentary on. It goes about eleven minutes and the longest dead spot is about 20 seconds.
They work their asses off out there and it makes things go well. After things break down and we have a ref bump, we go to a camera shot that would be like someone looking at the ring from the entrance and we see a big bald guy walking to the ring. Its Koloff from earlier and he has a chain around his arm. He gets a running start at Luger who has his back to him. Sting shoves him out of the way and takes the chain which lets Scott get the pin.
I love that ending as it furthers Sting and Koloff, or actually starts it I guess. After that theres no way to put one team over the other so Im actually fine with it. Sting goes after Koloff in the back and they fight outside.
Rating: A. This is a great tag match all around as you have four guys that can legitimately go with each other out there, a good story as its respect all around, and the workrate is off the freaking charts here. All four guys worked very hard and the crowd was itno it all the way. What more can you ask for here?
TV Title: Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton
Eaton is freshly face here for no apparent reason and Anderson is the champion coming in. Theyre still using the NWA TV belt which is far better looking if nothing else. Eaton is vastly underrated in the ring so this should be good. This is a very old school, NWA mentality match meaning its rather slow for the majority of peoples tastes, but its working pretty well. Eaton works on the arm and Arn works on the leg which is just odd as hell for an arm man like himself. At least the leg work makes sense here as Bobby is a high flier.
Anderson works on the leg. And I mean for about 5 minutes straight. Ok, we get it: his leg is messed up. We of course get the big face comeback but as hes going for the Alabama Jam (top rope leg drop) Barry Windham comes out but is stopped by Pillman and they have no bearing at all on the match, making their appearances completely pointless other than to make us miss the pin as we see Brian chasing him to the back when the pin happens. Thats BRILLIANT guys.
Rating: D+. It wasnt bad, but it was boring as all hell. Almost half of this is Anderson working on the leg which makes sense but damn it was boring and Im an Anderson fan. This just wasnt anything special, although Eaton winning a singles match was a big deal. Some people will love this but it wasnt that great.
Tony is with Fujinami. Actually hes not but he says he is. This was a waste of 40 seconds.
WCW World Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair
Ok, so this is complicated (of course). Fujinami is NWA Champion here, but at the time WCW considered the NWA Title and the WCW Title the same thing and called it the same thing, so when they say Flair is WCW Champion, they mean theyre saying hes both. However, the NWA, which meant jack shit at this point, says Fujinami is the champion, which he really is.
The NWA name is never used here, and its billed as just a WCW Title match. In other words, it was WCW acknowledging that they were bigger than the NWA which everyone but the NWA knew already. So yeah, according to WCW, this is just for the WCW Title but according to the NWA and realistically, its title for title. Fujinami is a Japanese legend that a lot of you have likely never heard of, but the guy is AWESOME.
Flair uses different music here for no reason at all. We have a Japanese and American referee here, with the American being Bill Alfonzo. This right here exemplifies everything that was wrong with the NWA and why it died so badly. Fujinami is great, take my word for it. Why should you be taking my word for it? Because odds are, youve never heard of him.
Thats the thing: these guys are great wrestlers but thats not what American fans want to see, but the NWA insisted on it. Seriously, to any big time smart fan, this is a dream match. To any average fan, for the most part no one cares here, and thats why WCW survived and the NWA didnt. Yes I know its still around, but its dead, trust me. They do shake hands which is fine with me.
Rics hair looks odd here for some reason that I cant place. Fujinami is known as the Dragon and invented the suplex and sleeper that go with that name. I love Dusty trying to talk like hes in these guys league. Thats just amazingly funny. The non-American goes for a Boston Crab but doesnt turn it over immediately so its kind of like a Liontamer for a bit which is cool.
The fans only seem to care when Flair is in control. He would have been a face at this time, but the problem here is that there really isnt a face or a heel in this. Fujunami hits a weird looking funning forearm to the ribs. That just looked weird. Flair gets control and goes onto the leg of course as you would expect him to. The figure four is on to a very nice pop indeed. While hes got it on, we go to a totally pointless crowd shot.
Thats one of my annoyances in wrestling. Seriously, is it that hard to STAY ON ONE DAMN SHOT??? Fujinami puts on a Sharpshooter. Oh wait this is WCW. He puts on a Scorpion Deathlock, which to be fair, Sting used first. In something Ive never seen before, Fujinami tries to bridge up into a backslide but he cant do it despite trying three times. We hit the floor as were getting into an American style again. Yep, Flair is bleeding.
This was before his skin became so weak that a hard stare would bust him open. This is another slower paced match but its not boring at all. Its not a great match for a reason Ill get into later though. To the shock of no one, Flair is slammed off the top rope with one hand, actually drawing a lot of boos. Flair gets put in a hold called the Octopus, which is like an abdominal stretch on steroids. Thats a move that maybe 5 Americans have used, ever.
Actually scratch that. 5 people have used it in American, as three of them were Dynamite Kid, Benoit and Owen and another was one of the Jumping Bomb Angels. Its one of Inokis signature moves if that tells you anything.
We go even more insane but off a rollup the Japanese referee goes down for about 5 seconds and the American referee counts the pin, resulting in that being the most pointless ref bump ever. That means the WCW and NWA titles are one and the same again, even though WCW and the NWA dont want to admit it.
Rating: B+. This started off a bit slow but once it got going it was solid. However, the crowd was bored for about the first 15 minutes, which again is because they have no reason to care about Fujinami as most of them have likely never heard of the man, yet were supposed to buy him as being a big time guy based just off what some announcers said about him. While its all true, it doesnt help things at all. This was a good match but horrible booking if that makes sense,
Overall Rating: D+. You have two good matches out of 12. That cant be a good thing. Seriously, I couldnt grade 4 of these which is a third of the card. That says very little about the direction of the company. The other thing here that isnt on the show is that Flair would be gone in less than two months after Herd decided that he didnt fit in anymore and should shave his head and become a gladiator character.
Thankfully Herd didnt last long. Anyway, other than the world and tag titles, theres just nothing at all here, and I mean nothing. Its a terrible show with two good matches. Normally that would be ok, but not when the card has 12 on it. Dont watch this, but watch the tag as its great.