Superbrawl I

Legacy Review

Superbrawl I

May 19, 1991 from the Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg, FL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes

Vacant WCW United States Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Big Daddy Dink) def The Young Pistols in 10:19- The Steiners had to vacate the US belts when they won the world tag titles. Armstrong and Hayes start. Hayes hits an armdrag and celebrates. Armstrong gets a sneaky roll up for 2. Hayes throws Armstrong out and the heels try to double team on the floor, but Armstrong ducks Dink's clotheline attempt and takes all three guys out with clotheslines. Dink retaliates by tripping him. Steve's brother Brad Armstrong runs in and talks the ref into tossing Dink. After things calm down Garvin fights Smothers into the heel corner and the Birds pound away on him. Smothers squeaks out. A sloppy Pistols double team sends Garvin out. Double shoulderblock on Garvin for 2. Garvin pulls the top rope down on Smothers and he tumbles outside. The Freebirds give him a double team backdrop onto the guardrail. There's a small but noticeable "Badstreet" chant. Smothers hits the mounted punches on Hayes. Hayes tries an inverted atomic drop counter but Smothers blocks it, goes for a clothesline that Hayes ducks, and Hayes pops him with his patented left hand. Smothers gets out of pistol in peril with a superkick on Garvin. Donnybrook! The heels are rammed into each other but dodge the Pistols' dropkicks off the top rope. As they celebrate Smothers gets back up and hits them with a double clothesline off the top. Smothers clotheslines both Freebirds over and out (with Garvin looking lost for a second before finding his spot). Armstrong hits them with a crossbody off the top down to the floor! Huge spot for the day. The Pistols hit their back elbow Doomsday Device-like finisher on Hayes but don't cover. Garvin takes the finisher as well, but he falls back onto the ref. A masked man wearing a jacket covered in bird feathers runs in and hits both Pistols with DDTs. He has a shirt that says Fantasia on it, a name the Freebirds had been referencing. (In fact, it's Brad Armstrong following a quick change from his previous run in) Hayes covers and gets the 3. A guy in bird feathers named Fantasia would turn out to be too abstract even for Jim Herd, so he'd lose the feathers and take the name Badstreet to, for a time, make the Freebirds a trio again. The fact it's Brad Armstrong is just a coinkydink in the long run, there was no story behind it or even an on screen unmaksing. The match had some moments, but there was also quite a few times that both teams struggled to get on the same page. **1/2

 

"Dangerous" Dan Spivey def Ricky Morton in 3:11- Morton's still killing time while Robert Gibson recovers from knee surgery. Spivey hits forearms in the corner with some good pops and throws Morton out several times with Morton jumping right back in every time. Spivey counters a backdrop with a DDT. Diving clothesline for 2. Spivey hits a Razor's Edge. Morton tries to come back. Spivey catches a crossbody attempt and turns it into a fallaway slam. Legdrop for 2. Morton hits a Japanese armdrag and tries to turn things up again. Spivey stops it dead, hits the powerbomb, and covers Morton with one foot to win. All Spivey in kayfabe, all Morton in watchability. Morton as the underdog babyface could have really worked as a singles run, but instead of doing that or running with the Rock N Roll Express proper after Gibson came back, Herd would turn Morton heel. Spoiler: didn't work. *

Tony is with a couple of randomly paired guests. Tom Zenk says he's about ready to come back from his torn bicep. Missy Hyatt is going in the locker room again. Well, on camera. We even get the video of her getting kicked out of the locker room from Wrestle War like it was some great moment or something.

 

Nikita Koloff def "Wildfire" Tommy Rich in 4:27- This is Koloff's reintroduction match after his return and heel turn at Wrestle War. Rich gets a quick crossbody for 2. Koloff takes over with power. Rich hits a charging bionic elbow in the corner. He tries for another one, but Koloff dodges and Rich goes face first into the post. More Koloff power. He dodges a Rich reverse crossbody off the second rope. The Russian Sickle connects and we're done here. 1/2*

Tony brings out Johnny B Badd for his TV debut. A closeup shows just how much makeup he's wearing. The crowd doesn't particularly care.

 

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def Terrance Taylor (w/Alexandra York and Mr Hughes) in 8:05- Rhodes wins a mat sequence. Taylor consults the computer. Rhodes with a shoulderblock for 2. Taylor runs into an armdrag. Lots of fisticuffs teasing but Nick Patrick shuts it down. Bad miscommunication on one spot: Rhodes cocks for the Bionic Elbow, but Taylor jumps like he was about to take another armdrag. They recover into a headlock. Taylor rolls out and checks the computer again. Rhodes goes so fast on a speed sequence he about goes right through the ropes and barely gets turned around in time. Then he misses a crossbody and rolls to the ramp. Taylor suplexes him back in. He comes off the second rope but Rhodes gets a boot up. Bulldog! York's distracting the referee with the new website she just launched on her computer. It's "adult". Hughes gets on the apron and holds Rhodes for Taylor to hit him. Then Hughes puts on the Loaded Glove of Dubious Origin ("international object") +2 but accidentally hits Taylor with it. Rhodes covers for the pin. Too much overbooking to protect Taylor (or more accurately the York Foundation, who there was big plans for). Rhodes' inexperience showed in a few spots, but again Taylor was in super eager selling mode. **

 

Big Josh def Black Bart in 3:46- This is Big Josh's (Matt Bourne) PPV debut. He comes out with two bears. Bears! Real live trained bears with muzzles, leashes and a handler. Unfortunately no one is wrestling a bear tonight. Stu Hart and Daniel Bryan are very disappointed. The trainer quickly takes them to the back as soon as Josh hits the ring. Lots of punchy from Bart. Josh reverses a hip toss and does the log roll. Some decent chops from Josh. He works the arm a bit. More punchy eye pokey heel 101 offense from Bart. Slugfest. Josh hits a running double ax handle. The Earthquake splash (or Northern Exposure as Josh would soon call it) gets the pin. Yeesh. 1/4*

Paul E Dangerously hots Stan Hansen in the Danger Zone. It's every PPV talk show segment ever: pointless. Hansen challenges Dustin Rhodes. Paul E's mic keeps going out thanks to the usual crack WCW production team.

 

Oz (w/The Great Wizard) def Tim Parker in :26- While Paul E was killing time the castle backdrop for Oz's super special debut entrance was set up. It's the whole package: Lights. Smoke. Cheesy narrator. Ripping off Wizard of Oz. Kevin Sullivan appears as the Great Wizard with a (hopefully) trained monkey on his shoulder. As well as Sullivan can keep it on his shoulder anyway. Fortunately it's also on a leash. And there's actors playing all the other Oz characters. My word this is awful. The crowd is shitting all over this something fierce. Sullivan leads "Dorothy" and her friends to the gates of the "Emerald City" saying "Welcome to Oz" over and over again. Finally they get there and Oz (Kevin Nash) scares them off. Oz walks to the ring, gives the jobber a massive helicopter spin, and pins him with one foot. More complete apathy from the crowd. NR for the match, MINUS FIVE STARS for the entire horrendous package.

And now for Missy Hyatt's Locker Room Escapades Part II. She talks to a dismissive Terry Taylor for a bit until Stan Hansen comes out of the shower in his boxers and throws her out again (making sure to put his hat on first because otherwise that'd be rude). Somehow that was even worse than last time.

 

Taped Fist Match: Barry Windham def "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 6:08- This is the final smoldering embers of the Horsemen's attack on Pillman before Wrestle War. It's a taped fist match, so they start out with....wrestling. Pillman hits a hiptoss and flying tackle, then lets loose with some punches. Windham hides in the corner. Windham gets some punches in Pillman's ribs. He goes up top. Pillman dropkicks him off! Pillman with a diving fist off the top to the floor. Windham pulls Pillman face first into the post. Both guys are bleeding. Windham drops Pillman off the ramp face first into the guardrail. Back in, Pillman connects with a spinning heel kick. Windham drops Pillman throat first on the top rope. Pillman with some .8 Flair chops. Windham hits a Saito suplex. They ram heads and both guys go down. Pillman reverses a suplex and goes up top. Windham hits him with a low blow. Superplex! Windham gets the 3. Pretty good for the time they got. **3/4

And now talk show segment #2 on this PPV, The Diamond Mine with DDP. He hilariously asks "Are we live?" before jumping into character. We're live, pal. He cues up a pretaped promo from Sting and Luger. After that is yet another new wrestler introduction on this show: the Diamond Studd (Scott Hall).

 

Stretcher Match: El Gigante def Sid Vicious in 2:13- Who did we piss off to get punished with this match? Gigante carries the stretcher out. No mention of any unique rules for this match so I expect some sleight of hand here. Shoulderblock standoff. Vicious hits a kick and some uppercuts and we're treated once again to Gigante's fantastically awful selling. Sid takes what may be the biggest bump of his career off a Gigante clothesline. He tries to work Gigante's leg. Gigante gets a knee up on a charge, locks in the claw, and pins Sid with it. The One Man Gang and Teddy Long run in and attack Gigante. Sid rolls out and disappears so quickly you'd think the Black Scorpion did another magic trick. The next time he'd be seen or even mentioned would be on WWF programming. OMG drops the stretcher on Gigante's back. The advertised stretcher match ends with nobody riding out on said stretcher. Pure WCW. DUD

 

ThunderDOOM Steel Cage Match: Ron Simmons def Butch Reed in 9:39- Doom exploding puts the DOOM in ThunderDOOM. Despite the over the top name it's your typical cage match. Teddy Long is suspended above the ring in the mini-cage. Both guys come out to Doom's old music. Slugfest start. Simmons hits an atomic drop. Reed jumps backward into the cage after being whipped by Simmons. Simmons charges and eats cage himself when Reed dodges. Reed hits an elbow off the second rope. Simmons goes face first into the cage and gets busted open. Cheese grater spot. Reed shouts to Long that he's got this. Double ax handle off the second rope. Simmons tries to come back and runs Reed face first into the cage. Reed pulls Simmons' tights to give him another cage shot. A Reed piledriver gets a 2 count. Another Simmons comeback is cut off with a swinging neckbreaker. Reed hits the tackle off the top rope, but Simmons gets a foot on the rope on the pin attempt. Simmons gets his knees up on a big splash. Reed kills another comeback with a jumping knee. Double clothesline. Long drops a chain into the ring. Reed gets it. Simmons ducks a punch with the chain, hits the spinebuster, and gets the 3 count. Bit of a letdown, considering the good matches Doom were having as a team. Simmons was clearly not comfortable working singles matches yet. This would be Reed's last significant appearance for a major company. *1/2

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) def Sting & "The Total Package" Lex Luger in 11:09- The new WCW US title belt is making its PPV debut here. It's mentioned on TV that the Steiners won the IWGP tag titles at the Tokyo Dome show. It's face vs face so we get the Code of Honor handshakes. Rick and Luger start. Rough lockup. Rick gets an amateur takedown. Luger gets in the ropes. Clean breaks. Rick tries a jumping shoulder tackle, but Luger runs right through him, pushes him, and Rick spins around and splats on the mat! That was a legit collision. Not an accident, they're just working stiff. Luger powerslam for 2. Rick dodges a charge. Luger Bret bumps, and Rick wraps him up off the rebound with a German suplex! Steinerline! Gets a 2 count. Luger gets whipped to the corner and charges out with a massive clothesline that Rick almost 360 sells. Press slam. Tag to Sting. Rick gets clotheslined 360 over and out. Sting runs and dives over the top with a MEGA plancha! Back in the ring Sting faceplants Rick. No sell! Sting scoops Rick up in a Canadian backbreaker, runs, and drops him face first into the corner! Rick dodges the Stinger Splash! Tag to Scott. Scott hits a double underhook power bomb and a tiltawhirl slam. Sting hot shots Scott. Luger hits a suplex. Sting tags back in, but Scott immediately grabs him and gives him an inverted atomic drop. Belly to belly suplex off the top rope! 2 count. Scott positions Sting on the top again, charges, but Sting dodges and Scott flies out almost into commentary's laps. Luger suplexes him back in for 2. Another powerslam. Luger calls for the rack. Scott counters with a Russian leg sweep. Blind tag to Rick. Rick blindsides Luger with a bulldog off the top rope! Sting responds by coming in illegally with a dropkick of the top. Scott is pissed and it's starting to break down. As Sting gets back on the apron Rick nails him in the back. Luger/Rick slugfest. Midring collision. Tags. Scott goes for a tombstone. Sting reverses it and hits his own! Rick breaks the pin up. Luger charges in, taking out both Rick and the ref. Stinger Splash! Nikita Koloff comes down the ramp. He charges forward, aiming to take out US champ Luger again. Sting sees him, pushes Luger out of danger, and gets nailed with a chain enhanced Russian Sickle. Scott recovers and covers for the pin. Sting's gushing blood. What an incredible match. ****3/4

We cut right to Tony with Koloff backstage. Before he can get two words out Sting jumps him from behind. They brawl through backstage and out into the parking lot.

 

WCW World Television Championship: "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton def Arn Anderson (c) in 11:50- After some apparent confusion at the last PPV, Eaton's officially a face now. Fortunately the fake chants are gone. Headlock/headscissors standoffs end with a hard Eaton right hand. Arn's wobblelegged. When he recovers he looks shocked Eaton had that in him. Arn pounds away on him in an "you're going to learn your lesson, kid" way. Eaton kills Arn with a clothesline. Arn hits Eaton in the ropes and he falls to the floor. They fight on the apron with the turnbuckles in between them. Eaton goes up top. Arn throws him onto the entrance ramp! He goes for a piledriver on the ramp. Eaton backdrops out and another backdrop sends Arn back in the ring. Eaton double ax handle off the top. Arn has been in super selling mode the whole match. Arn gets another cheap shot in on a corner break and posts Eaton's knee. Target acquired. After softening the knee up Arn goes for a figure four. Eaton pushes out and Arn runs into the corner. Eaton gives him buckle shots all the way down all three levels. Arn punches the knee to take control again. Eaton comes back with punches that stagger Arn, but he gets back on the knee. Single leg crab. Eaton reverses a suplex, but sells the knee and drops Arn down halfway through. Well done. Eaton kicks Arn in the back to get out of a hold. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Eaton kicks out! Arn comes off the second rope but Eaton catches him with a shot on the gut. He sets up for the Alabama Jam. Barry Windham comes to ringside to try to save Arn, but Brian Pillman is there to stop him! Decks are cleared for Eaton! Alabama Jam! Eaton gets 3 and wins his first singles title! Just two of the (most underrated) best ever getting together and doing what they do. ***3/4

 

MAIN EVENT TITLE HISTORY RECAP- OK kids, strap in, this is where it gets complicated. Shortly after Flair won the world title back in January, WCW split from the NWA, but the NWA still recognized Flair as champion because, well, they didn't have any other options. In March, WCW and NJPW held a joint show in the Tokyo Dome, main evented by IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujimani vs Flair with both titles on the line. Fujinami won the match. Both the NWA and NJPW recognized the title change and named Fujinami the NWA world champion. WCW did not, using the "over the top rope rule" loophole to get out of it, and said Flair was still WCW champion. To Japanese audiences Fujinami is the world champ. To American audiences Flair got out of Japan on a technicality and is still the world champ. Clear? Excellent.

And if you think this is complicated, wait until we get to the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.

 

WCW and NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c-WCW) def Tatsumi Fujimani (c-NWA) in 18:39- Tiger Hattori is the referee, with a WCW ref stationed outside as a "backup". I smell shenanigans coming. Fujinami is introduced as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion but doesn't have the belt. Tentative Code of Honor handshake to start. Big shoulderblock from Fujinami. Flair turns a hammerlock into a drop toe hold. Fujinami escapes. WOOOOOOOOOOOO! More crisp mat wrestling. Flair chops. Fujinami responds and hooks Flair in a bow and arrow. There's a miscommunication on a sloppy rollup spot that would have been really cool if done right. Fujinami puts on Young Lion Submission Hold 1A, the Boston Crab, then turns it into an Indian Deathlock. Flair gets up and hits a suplex. Eye poke to get some space. Fujinami gets a flying forearm for 2. They have to have two tries at another flying forearm sending Flair over the top and out. Flair crotches Fujinami on the guardrail! Back in Flair goes to work on the knee. Kneebreaker. Figure four! Flair slaps Fujinami while in the hold. Don't think that's the best move. Fujinami reverses and Flair lets go. Chop exchange. Fujinami gets a leg takedown and hooks in the scorpion deathlock. Saito suplex for 2. Flair side suplexes out of a headlock. They try for the bridge up spot, several times, but I can't tell if it's a deliberate sell of how worn out they are, or if they just can't get it right. Flair tosses Fujinami out. Fujinami blocks a guardrail shot and Flair takes it. Flair also gets posted and is bleeding. Fujinami plays to the crowd and Flair chops him in the back. Flair flip! But, as this match has gone, he doesn't get all the way over. Big hiptoss out of the corner. There's another stretch where they seem to be regrouping a bit, so Flair rolls out and does a Flair Flop on the floor. He goes up top and gets thrown off. Fujinami hooks in an octopus. Finally the crowd wakes up a bit with a USA chant. Flair flips out. Slugfest. Flair Flop 2! Midring collision. Fujinami falls to the floor, Flair to the ramp. Big Flair chop. He goes for a slam but Fujinami falls on top of him for a LONG 2 count. Gasp from the crowd as Flair just kicked out. Fujinami rolls Flair up. Flair kicks out, but it sends Fujinami into Hattori. Flair rolls him up, with a handful of trunks. The US ref comes in and counts the 3! Despite another controversial finish this would be the end of the feud. It's also Flair's last WCW PPV before his arguments with Herd reached a boiling point and he bolted for the WWF. The match was one of those deals where two of the absolute best ever, for whatever reason, didn't mesh well. It happens. The crowd also had no idea how to react, as Flair was a heel and Fujinami was a ferrigner. Still, too much talent in there for it to be outright bad though.***

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Most of the first half of the show is a sad indicator of where Jim Herd was taking the company. Once it hit the big matches though, the talent won out. The world tag title match is an absolute must see, and I would recommend the last two matches as well.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C