Superbrawl II

Legacy Review

Superbrawl II

February 29, 1992 (why didn't they call this show Lethal Leap Year, Chett?) from the MECCA in Milwaukee, WI

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura in his WCW debut

Welcome to the first PPV of the short but glorious Kip Frey era. Frey took WCW over in late '91 on an interim basis after Jim Herd was finally run out of town (hopefully by a pitchfork wielding mob) and oversaw the company's hottest creative period in between the excellent Flair-booked and spearheaded 1989, and the start of the NWO. One of the main reasons for the success of this period, the Dangerous Alliance, is just starting to hit its peak.

Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff open it up from the then-traditional host position. They cut to Missy Hyatt, who says she's going to get the backstage interviews only she can get. I don't want to know how, and I'm pretty positive the answer's not appropriate for a PG show. Next we cut to JR in the ring. He announces the newest member of the WCW announce team, Jesse "The Body" Ventura! Small pyro flash and Ventura rides down the entrance ramp on a motorcycle. Pretty good reaction for him, even before he gets a cheap pop by mentioning Harley Davidson to the Milwaukee crowd. He tells JR he should wear a cowboy hat. Obviously that stuck in JR's head.

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship: "Flyin'" Brian Pillman def Jushin Thunder Liger (c) in 17:00- Liger beat Pillman for the title on a Christmas Day house show in WCW's home arena, the Omni in Atlanta. Liger gets a pretty nice pop. Like Great Muta before him he was getting over with the US fans through sheer awesomeness. Feeling out start. Speed run with both guys doing leapfrogs, and both try a dropkick at the same time! While Pillman does some mat work JR mentions Liger is a "former" IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion. Nothing former about it, at the time of this show he was on the 5th of his record 11 reigns. Pillman leaps over Liger in the corner, grabs a flying headscissors, and dropkicks Liger to the floor. Nice rope assisted modified baseball slide that sends Liger into the guardrail. Liger takes a moment to recover. Now it's Liger's turn to control some mat work. Pillman hits the match's first strikes. Liger floats over Pillman in the corner, runs across, springs up to the top rope and hits a quick moonsault for 2! He dropkicks Pillman to the floor, tunes up a dive, but Pillman starts to dodge so Liger handsprings off the ropes back to the middle of the ring instead. That gets a really nice cheer from the crowd. Pillman works a headscissors. Liger escapes and tries to hook on the surfboard but Pillman quickly gets to the ropes before it's applied. Corner dropkick from Liger. Quick Pillman crucifix for 2. Liger slips out of a slam, flips over and cradles Pillman for 2. Pillman back suplex, almost a Saito, for 2. Liger dodges a high knee in the corner and Pillman knees the top turnbuckle. Liger immediately starts picking the new target apart. Figure four! Liger gets a near fall out of it, then Pillman hulks up. Open hand slap slugfest. Pillman fights and reverses it. Rope break. Pillman tries to hit chops but Liger kicks his leg out of his leg again. Single leg crab from Liger. Pillman fights up and nails Liger with an enzuguri! Pillman tiltawirl flying headscissors. Liger backdrops him down to the floor. Cannonball off the top to the floor! Again the crowd shows Liger plenty of love. Apron suplex fight. Liger tries to switch gears and run Pillman into the turnbuckle but ends up taking the shot instead. Pillman springboard clothesline! He moves to the apron and suplexes Liger from the inside down to the floor! Crossbody off the top to the floor! More Pillman chops. He sets Liger up on the guardrail and dives off the apron. Liger dodges and Pillman crashes into the rail! Liger rolls Pillman back in and goes up top. Pillman intercepts him in midair with a dropkick! Pillman goes up top. He goes for a missile dropkick, but Liger tries to counter with his own dropkick and they both crash to the mat! Simultaneous spinning heel kick attempts! JR gets his football talk in by saying this is like two teams both running the run & shoot offense. Pillman powerslam for 2. Liger German suplex for 2. Pillman fights off a superplex attempt and hits a crossbody off the top for 2. Liger counters a backdrop into a powerbomb for a long 2. He goes for another one, but Pillman does a nice escape and rollover into a cover for 2. Pillman DDT. Liger gets a hand on the ropes at 2. Long speed run and midring collision! Pillman goes up top again, but Liger hits the ropes to crotch him. Superplex! Pillman kicks out! Liger goes up again. Pillman dodges and Liger splats on the mat! Pillman wraps Liger up in the Euro clutch. It looks like Liger might have just squeaked out, but the ref counts 3! Pillman wins the title back! Standing ovation from the crowd after that incredible match. They hug it out after. The Japanese junior heavyweight style comes to the US with a match years ahead of its time. ****3/4

Marcus Alexander Bagwell def WCW United States Tag Team Champion "The Taylor Made Man" Terry Taylor in 7:38- The random veteran team of Taylor and Greg Valentine had just won the rapidly dying US tag belts on weekly TV (a title that I've honestly grown a big soft spot for, done right there's a place for secondary tag titles). Rookie Bagwell refused Taylor's offer of mentorship to set this match up. Taylor plays mind games by clean breaking in the corner off a lockup. He tries some mat wrestling but Bagwell escapes. Bagwell hits a hiptoss and Taylor did not like that. Lots of jawing and shoving. No clean break in the corner this time. Bagwell responds by decking Taylor with a right hand! Now Taylor's really mad. He tosses Bagwell out onto the ramp. Bagwell intercepts him with both an inverted and regular atomic drop, then clotheslines Taylor 360 back in the ring. Crossbody off the top from Bagwell for 2. Taylor fights out of a headlock and tosses Bagwell out again. Bagwell springs right back up, sneaks behind, and.....puts the headlock back on. The kid's still learning. Bagwell shoulderblock and quick cover for 2. Taylor slides out to cool off the kid's momentum. Some fans are chanting "Rooster!" at Taylor. See, there were smarks before the internet. Bagwell slips out of a suplex attempt and locks in a sleeper. Taylor gets to the ropes, then flips Bagwell back out to the floor. Rail shot. Taylor jawbreaker back in. He gives Bagwell some arrogant slaps. Bagwell tries fighting back. Taylor gets a gutwrench powerbomb for 2. Corner clothesline and kneedrop for 2. Bagwell badly overshoots a sunset flip but Taylor sticks with him. Taylor suplex. Splash off the top for a long 2. Bagwell backdrops out of a piledriver. Taylor turns to the old eye rake and hits a reverse neck snap for 2. Both guys standing switch. Bagwell gets the advantage, rolls Taylor up, and gets a pin! After the bell Taylor waffles Bagwell with the fivearm (or Taylor Made Forearm as it was called then), then plants him with a DDT. Watchable. As I've always said it was almost impossible to have a bad match with Terry Taylor, and he walked a green but game Bagwell through it fine. *3/4

"The All American" Ron Simmons def Cactus Jack in 6:34- After the big Doom breakup and getting a title shot against Luger at Halloween Havoc Simmons has been relegated to midcard hell a bit. Midcard purgatory? Simmons got Doom's music in the divorce. As always, JR gushes over Simmons' Florida Sate football history. Jack gets a cheap shot in the corner and it's a brawling start. Simmons dodges a Cactus Clothesline and Jack gets hung in the ropes! Literally. By the neck. The ref has no luck getting him out so Simmons does it while making it look like he's attacking Jack. Back in Simmons counters a backrop with a faceplant, then hits a slam and legdrop for 2. Jack hits a back elbow in the corner and a clothesline. We get a shot of Junkyard Dog in the crowd. WAY up in the crowd. Could they not afford a better seat for him? Nice white tux though. Double underhook DDT from Jack. Legdrop for 2. Jack takes it to his playpen outside and hits the Cactus Elbow off the second rope to the floor. He snaps Simmons over the top rope coming back in. Simmons does an amateur takedown out of a chinlock and hits an ugly dropkick. 3 point stance charge. Jack dodges and Simmons goes out onto the ramp. Jack chases. Simmons spinebuster on the ramp! Jack misdirection faceplant back in. He comes off the second rope, but Simmons catches and powerslams him! That gets the pin. The fight continues after the bell as Abdullah the Butcher waddles his way down. Jack and Abdullah were either best friends or mortal enemies depending on what day it was. Abdullah whacks Simmons from behind with a stick it looks like he stole from Papa Shango so I guess it's friends today. JYD makes his way down from the crowd, fights off security, and makes the save. **1/4

"Heavy Metal" Van Hammer and "The Z Man" Tom Zenk def Vinnie Vegas snd Richard Morton in 12:01- If you want to know why anyone is teaming with anyone else in this match....so do I. Morton is still "Richard" even though the York Foundation is no more. Vinnie Vegas was attempt number 53 by WCW to find a gimmick that would get Kevin Nash over, and they're getting closer. It's a damn sight better than Oz. Hammer is disturbingly over. I say it's because people like stomping their feet in rhythm. Hammer and Morton start. Morton tries the heel 101 eye rakes early but runs into a Hammer press slam. Being Morton, he sells the hell out of it and tags out. Vegas runs into a Hammer armdrag, then they discus things a bit. With shoving. Long, rough lockup all over the ring. Vegas does a cheap thumb to the eye and goes onto the attack. They badly botch a spot where Nash goes for a leapfrog but Hammer doesn't duck down and they crash into each other. Fugly. Hammer recovers to work a hammerlock. No pun intended. Slugfest and Hammer mounted punches. Vegas counters by running him all the way over to the opposite corner, but Hammer pops back out with a clothesline. Tag to Zenk and he comes right in with a missile dropkick for 2. Vegas fixes his hair and tells Zenk to bring it. Zenk and Morton do a nice speed counter sequence that ends with Zenk clotheslining Morton 360 to the floor. Zenk plancha! He hiptosses Morton on the floor! Morton begs off back in to get an eye poke. It looks like the heels are going to pound Zenk down in their corner but Zenk squeaks away. Vegas wants Hammer back in. Ignore the guy that can make you look good through talent and go straight for the lout that can't wrestle to make you look good by default. Typical Nash. Vegas back suplexes out of a headlock. Short clothesline for 2. Hammer goes face in peril. The heels sucker Zenk in to double team and Vegas hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. Big boot. More heel quick tags and double teams that Zenk doesn't help any by running in. Hammer gets a flash powerslam for 2. Morton takes Zenk out before he can tag and the heels double team again. Flying tackle from Vegas. Nash did not keep that in his moveset. Hammer tries to fight back but Vegas suplexes him for 2. Midring collision. Nice wobbly selling from Vegas as he tags. Hammer hot tag to Zenk! Big backdrop on Morton. He takes Vegas out. Powerslam on Morton. Morton kills the momentum with a thumb to the eye. Zenk floats over Morton the corner, rolls him up, and gets the pin! Not a bad little match, especially considering who was in there. Those nightly best match bonuses Frey gave out certainly made a difference. You can see Nash is slowly starting to realize his potential. **1/2

Barry Windham and "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def WCW World Television Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin and Larry "The Cruncher" Zbysko (w/Medusa) in 18:23- Our first Dangerous Alliance match of the night. This is a grudge match set up when Zbysko and Arn Anderson jumped Windham and Dustin in the parking lot at Halloween Havoc, crunching Windham's hand in a car door. Hence Zbyszko's new nickname. Dustin and Austin had also been feuding over the TV title. The heels try to jump at the bell but get jumped instead. Windham backdrops Zbyszko and tosses him to the ramp, then drops him down to the rail. Austin goes out and Windham clotheslines him back in. Dustin backslide on Austin for 2. Austin blocks a monkey flip and tries to come off the top. Dustin clotheslines him in midair for 2. Windham hits Austin with a dropkick, then deposits him in the heel corner and demands he tags Zbyszko. A Zbyszko eye rake and back kick send Windham to the ramp. Windham backdrops out of a piledriver on the ramp, hits a clothesline and tosses Zbyszko back in. Windham is all kinds of fired up and refuses to even try a pin on Zbyszko, he want to hurt him. Big leaping DDT. Double backdrop from the faces. Dustin pounds Zbyszko with some great selling. No Zbyszko stalling tonight. Windham gutwrench suplex for 2. He hooks up for a Gotch style piledriver, but Austin runs in and takes him out with a clothesline! Dustin comes in to argue and the heels toss Windham over the top to the floor. Austin double ax handle off the apron. Zbyszko lifts and crotches Windham on the rail. Short clothesline and suplex from Austin back in. Windham misses a running knee and flops over the top to the floor again. That miss looked accidental but the way they play it I guess it was intentional. Zbyszko pounds him on the floor again. Swinging neckbreaker from Zbyszko back in. Austin back suplex for 2. Ventura tries to get JR worked up by running down OU football. Zbyszko hooks on a sleeper. Windham jawbreakers out. He still wants to punish Zbysko and doesn't even try to tag. Midring collision. Windham falls backwards from a charging Austin and uses his long reach to get a tag. Dustin inverted atomic drop and dropkick on Austin. Big diving lariat with a 360 Austin sell. Zbyszko breaks the pin up. Windham and Zbyszko take it to the ramp again. Austin blocks a roll up and MURDERS Dustin with a clothesline, getting his own 360 sell in. Now Dustin is in peril. Zbyszko swinging neckbreaker for 2. Dustin chops back. Zbyszko DDT for 2. Dustin counters a backdrop with a kick, then flops down exhausted. Medusa slaps Dustin! Dustin stalks her up the ramp. Austin charges in from behind with a clothesline. Watching Austin fly around the ring before his knees were shot was really something, rope to rope he's still one of the quickest moving guys I've ever seen. Chinlock to slow things down and let things simmer. Not a bad spot for that the way this match has been. Dustin fights out. Long speed run. Both guys go for crossbodys with Dustin winning for 2. Another big Austin clothesline with another 360 sell. Dustin reverses a Zbyszko suplex. Zbyszko uses a drop toe hold to cut a tag off. The heels sucker Windham in, and while the ref is with him Dustin gets a small package with no count. Austin chinlock with rope leverage. More speed and Dustin hot shots Austin! Austin barely got the rope on that. Straight right from Dustin on Zbyszko and tag to Windham! Pummelings for everyone. Lariat on Zbyszko for 2. Zbyszko fights off the superplex but Dustin knocks him off the top rope. Windham lariat off the top! That gets the pin! Four of the best doing what they do, but it was missing that something extra to get it to the next level. ***1/2

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton (c) (w/Paul E Dangerously Medusa) def The Steiner Brothers by DQ in 20:06- Paul E comes out with the champs, but he had already been banned from ringside for the US title match so he's being kicked out here too. Medusa comes out and takes his place. Commentary plays up the fact that the Steiners had to drop the titles due to Scott getting hurt (legit), they were never defeated, and the champions are generally considered the underdogs here. How great a tag wrestler was Arn Anderson? He's won the tag titles twice since the Steiners dropped them in July, with two different partners. Eaton and Scott start. Scott gets a fireman's carry takedown and lets Eaton think about it. Double leg pickup and slam, almost a spinebuster from Scott. He works Eaton on the mat a bit. Eaton gets a swinging neckbreaker. He comes off the top rope, right into Scott's waiting arms and gets belly to belly suplexed! Tag to Arn, who wants Rick. Arn drops down on a speed run. Rick drops right next to him, smiles, gets up and kicks Arn right into the head, backing Arn into the post crotch first. Ouch. Arn leapfrog. Rick caches him in midair and powerslams him! Arn tries to get Rick in the heel corner but Rick fights out. Arn has enough and rolls out to rethink. Scott/Arn wristlock leverage fight. Eaton comes in to help. Scott flips out, and a Rick double Steinerline sends the champs 360 and out! The Steiners strike their pose while the crowd goes bonkers. Quick kick from Arn and he tosses Scott out to the floor, signals Eaton to go down and gets Rick in to distract the ref. Scott reverses Eaton's whip. Arn just dodges Eaton, but gets inverted atomic dropped and Steinerlined by Scott. The heels get Scott in their corner and Eaton takes him to the ramp. Scott gives Eaton a tiltawhirl slam on the ramp! Eaton goes for Rick's eyes to try to get going. He gets up to the second rope, but that only lets Rick get him up on his shoulders. While he's up there Scott jumps off the second rope with a doomsday device clothesline! Not the turnbuckle. The middle of the rope. Rick goes for the bulldog off the top but Eaton subtly catches him in the Steinerfruits out of the ref's view to finally slow the Steiners' momentum. Rick gets worn down for a bit. He catches Eaton with a back elbow but runs into an Arn forearm for 2. Rick blocks an Arn suplex. Eaton and Scott both run in, and the Steiners hit stereo suplexes on both heels! Brock Lesnar built Suplex City, but Kurt Angle drew up the blueprints, and the Steiners wrote the original founding documents. Eaton gets a punch on Rick leaving the ring to put him down again. Arn comes off the second rope...right into a Steinerline! Tag to Scott. Big backdrop and suplex for 2. Wily Arn sacrifices his own partner by ramming Scott's head right into Eaton's! Classic Anderson trick. Now Scott goes Steiner in peril. Eaton kneedrop off the top for 2. Arn plants Scott with a DDT but can't keep Scott down for 3. Scott counters a mat leverage fight with a body scissors. Arn uses that to turn him over into a Boston crab. Eaton drops an elbow while Scott's in that then hooks in a double chinlock. Scott tries to drag Eaton over to tag but Eaton takes Rick out. The champs set Scott up on the ramp and hit him with a rocket launcher out there! Arn goes to ram Scott's head into Eaton's knee but Arn gets it instead. Hot tag to Rick! STEINERLINE! STEINERLINE! Rick sets Eaton up for a belly to belly superplex. Arn breaks it up and lifts Rick on his shoulders. Eaton comes off the top, but Rick flips him over in midair into a cover for 2! Bulldog off the top on Arn! DONNYBROOK! Medusa slips Arn some powder and Arn gets Rick with it. A blinded Rick gives the ref a belly to belly suplex! He's dead. Scott hits Eaton with a double underhook powerbomb as a backup ref runs in. Frankensteiner! The backup ref counts 3! New champs!......But wait, here comes senior ref Nick Patrick. He has a conference with the other two refs, then reverses the decision and DQs the Steiners for Rick suplexing the original ref. Hello Dusty Finish, but with the Dangerous Alliance being involved it works a little bit better. The Steiners would win the tag titles back on weekly TV just before the next PPV, Wrestle War in May. Dusty Finish aside this match was fantastic. I would have watched another 20 minutes with no complaints. ****

Speaking of the next PPV, we get an ad for Wrestle War. WAR GAMES! You read that in Regal's voice. After that Tony says Missy Hyatt and "abreast" in the same sentence. Well, I laughed.

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude (c) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (w/the Ninja) in 20:02- As stipulated, Rude is out by himself. He gets NUCLEAR heat trying to get his normal prematch shtick out, getting interrupted by loud boos several times. Fantastic. He was unquestionably the right choice to be the frontman for the Dangerous Alliance. I can't remember where exactly Steamboat picked this masked Ninja guy up but since Steamboat trusts him I'm sure we all can too. Rough roll around lockup. Speed run and Steamboat whips out the DEEP armdrags. Kick and faceplant for 2. Steamboat goes to the arm and Rude sells an ARMBAR like his arm is being ripped off. Steamboat posts his arm! He is not messing around tonight. More arm work. Rude gets out with some hard forearms and a shot to Steamboat's throat. Steamboat kicks the hurt arm and gets back on it. Hammerlock slam. Long speed run. Steamboat crossbody. Rude kicks out quickly but then takes another DEEP armdrag. The camera tries to get a close up shot of Ninja, who tries to hide his already covered face. That's weird. Still, being a ninja I'm sure privacy and anonymity are important to him. I'm sure it's on the up and up. Steamboat continues to crank the arm but both guys are plenty good enough to keep this basic work interesting. Chops from Steamboat. In a rare mess up for either guy, they badly botch a spot where Rude is supposed to crossbody them both over the top, but Steamboat bounces off the ropes instead of going over and they both drop down in the ring. Rude stomps Steamboat out to get back on track and drops him on the guardrail. Rude's still selling the arm. He suplexes Steamboat back in. Steamboat tries to chop back. Rude pummels him with clubbing blows and hits a clothesline. He's still selling the arm. I just noticed the belt is sitting in a corner of the ring. That's weird. Steamboat puts his head down for a backdrop. Rude kicks him and kills him with another clothesline. Stiffness was a very underrated part of Rude's game. He drops Steamboat on the top rope and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Piledriver. Steamboat kicks out! He tries a headlock but Rude instantly drops him with a back suplex for 2. Steamboat kneebreakers out of a headlock and quickly hooks on a figure four! Rude gets to the ropes. Steamboat goes for it again but Rude pushes out and hits him from behind with a clothesline. Ax handle from the top with an incredible slow rolling flop sell from Steamboat. Another fist off the top and clothesline for 2. Steamboat powers out of a double chinlock and electric chair slams Rude down. Slugfest. Simeltaneous leapfrog collision! Rude sleeper. Steamboat goes down and fights back up. Escape and Steamboat hooks on a sleeper! Rude jawbreakers out. He goes up top but Steamboat kicks his leg out and he gets crotched. Superplex (with a little difficulty)! Rude kicks out! Clotheslines from Steamboat and a kind of enzuguri to Rude's back. Backdrop and diving clothesline for 2. Vintage Steamboat chop off the top rope. Ninja jumps on the apron. He's got a portable phone. He nails Steamboat with it! Isn't that Paul E's phone? What's going on? Rude crawls over and gets the pin. Hell of a match. These guys gelled perfectly. The finish works in context of the whole Dangerous Alliance angle. They'd have an even better rematch at Beach Blast in a 30 minute Iron Man match. ***3/4

Missy Hyatt is way too excitedly headed for Rude's dressing room (insert your own joke here). The whole Dangerous Alliance is in there and they quickly slam the door, because, quoth Missy, "Owe my gawd, that was Paul E Dangerously in a neenjah outfeet!"

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Sting def "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) (w/Harley Race) in 13:02- Super special entrance for Sting with a tall ladder of stairs, smoke, and as much pyro as WCW could afford. Even walking down the ramp Luger already looks checked out, summing up his whole title run. The bell rings and Luger....slowly meanders around the ring. Then they stand in the middle of the ring have what looks like a whole conversation. Luger's probably telling Sting how much Vince is going to pay him to just oil up and flex. Finally, Luger shoves Sting, Sting shoves back, and they have a vicious lock up. Ref Nick Patrick gets in the middle to physically break it up. Luger gets the first shots in. Sting dodges in the corner. Corner whip and early Stinger Splash! Luger no sells it and kills Sting with a clothesline! Powerslam. Now Luger goes for the Torture Rack early but Sting flips out, hits a German, and puts Luger in the Rack! Luger fights out pretty easily. Huge leaping DDT from Sting. Luger takes a powder. After a minute Luger drags Sting out and tries to give him a rail shot but takes it instead. Sting goes for the Scorpion Death Lock! Luger quickly gets over to the ropes before Sting can fully get it on. Luger very slowly gets up and gets a cheap eye poke over the ref. Now we get the typical '91 checked out Luger, er, "methodical" power offense. Sting chokes Luger in the corner. Luger uses Patrick trying to break that up to get a low blow behind his back. Press slam. Luger's spending way more time playing to the crowd than doing anything with Sting. He hits the Attitude Adjustment piledriver. Sting kicks out! Luger drops some unenthusiastic elbows and covers again for 2. Sting starts slugging back and backs Luger into the corner. Luger pretty much goes "OK, fine, whatever". Sting does as much of a pillar to post beating as Luger will give him. He even gets some back rakes in. Luger dodges a dive and Sting goes over the top to the floor. Race tries to piledrive Sting on the floor but Sting backdrops out. He goes up top, hits a crossbody, and gets the pin for his long overdue second world title win! Luger doesn't sell for a second, he pops right back up and gets the hell out of town. He was probably halfway to Stamford before Sting even finished his shower. Think the match ran short too because Sting spends more time than usual celebrating for a WCW show. That sure felt like a mercy killing of Luger's awful first world title reign. He'd head to Vinceland, where the initial plan was for him to be the face of Vince's new World Bodybuilding Federation, but after that folded he'd get back in the ring for WWF. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The main event is a bit of a disappointment, though not a surprise given what Luger had been doing, and Sting's title win is a great moment and definitely a promise of better things to come. But outside of that, this show has the complete top to bottom quality that's associated with the Kip Frey era and is a great kickoff for a short but red hot run for WCW.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-