Fall Brawl '96

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '96

September 15, 1996 from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

 

The big question going into tonight's huge WCW vs NWO War Games match is what side is Sting really on? Last week on Nitro, Lex Luger was hanging around the NWO limo in the rain and was jumped by a man coming out of the limo that certainly looked like Sting. Sting's clothes, Sting's face paint. Everyone in WCW is 100% convinced it was Sting, especially commentary, which will be very important in the near future. The follow up question is if Sting has turned, who will WCW's 4th man be in the match? Version 1.0 of the classic NWO shirt has been created and put on sale for the masses, and the arena is covered in them tonight.

Diamond Dallas Page def Chavo Guerrero Jr in 13:07- This got going at the last Clash, where DDP lost to Chavo's uncle Eddie but laid both Guerreros out after the match. Quick Chavo clothesline duck and he dropkicks DDP into the ropes (the Andrade in ropes "tranquilo" pose DDP liked to do), then dropkicks him again out to the floor. Somersault plancha! Rail whip. Chavo whips DDP into the stairs but DDP misses. He kind of sells it anyway. Chavo gets a belt from somewhere and whips DDP with it! Chavo slingshot splash back in for 2. Crossbody for 2. Chavo armdrag into some arm work to let things breathe for a minute. I think Chavo hair pulls DDP a bit, but I was completely distracted by a couple of guys dressed up as Razor Ramon and Ric Flair posing in the crowd. Drop toe hold from Chavo and back to the arm. Another dropkick into the ropes. This time DDP dodges the follow up dropkick and Chavo falls to the floor. It's weird hearing commentary talking about DDP having the experience edge in the match. Big clothesline off the top back in from DDP. That got a pop, and not the last one DDP will get in this match. DDP works a front facelock a bit and goes into beatdown mode. Chavo gets a small package counter for 2 before DDP continues the slow beatdown. Chavo Bret bumps and DDP looks like he's going for a back suplex, but instead completely flips Chavo over and faceplants him! DDP puts on a kind of cobra clutch. A Chavo comeback is cut off with a back elbow for 2. Some crotch thrusts to the face set Chavo off. Kneelift from Chavo. Springboard crossbody. Missile dropkick for 2. Flying headscissors off the top for a long 2. DDP gets a back elbow in the corner and tries a leverage pin for 2. He tosses Chavo over both top ropes into ring 1! DDP goes over to join him as the match switches rings. Side suplex from DDP for 2. Chavo hits a tiltawhirl headscissors, or a "whirlybirdaround" per Dusty. Chavo dodges in the corner and rolls DDP up for 2. HUGE DDP gutwrench powerbomb for 2. He calls for the Diamond Cutter. Chavo tries to counter with a backslide. DDP blocks, stomps on his foot, and hits the Cutter! It's all over. Clean win for DDP. Good stuff, and very interesting crowd reactions as they were at worst split 50/50 with DDP getting quite a bit of fan support. ***1/4

We go to a WCW Special Report with Mean Gene, recapping the whole NWO angle to this point. Kevin Nash's infamous "look at the adjective" line has been cut out of his introductory promo. Since the last PPV Ted DiBiase has been revealed as the NWO's money man, and just last week the Giant turned and joined the NWO. We also get another recap of the Sting incident. It's a little bit long, but a very good summation of everything that's happened so far. Okerlund was the best at this sort of thing with his crisp, concise professionalism.

 

Submission Match: Ice Train (w/Teddy Long) def Scott Norton in 7:08- Somehow this feud continues despite no one in the world giving a damn about it. Norton beat Train by submission in their last PPV match at Hog Wild, so now we get a full on Submission Match this time despite neither guy being anything close to a submission wrestler. Teddy Long's still hanging around WCW as a babyface manager. Basic but spunky start with lots of high impact power moves and decent stiffness. Dusty tries to say "ventriloquist" and it's an absolute hilarious disaster. Train tries to put Norton in something as basic as a chinlock and can't get it right. Long tries to start an "Ice" chant and gets absolutely nowhere. After some more snug back and forth Norton puts a cross armbreaker on. Long teases throwing the towel in but the ref says that won't matter anyway. Heenan gets a good laugh out of me by saying the towel's there so Long can shine his head. Train responds with an almost Fujiwara armbar. As almost as the one that Norton made him tap out to at Hog Wild. Norton hits an Alabama slam into a Boston crab. After some more arm holds Long gets in the ring. Norton grabs him. Train sneaks up and slaps a full neslon on Norton, grounds him, and Norton taps out despite the ref having a mic you're supposed to say "I quit" into. Make this a regular match without trying to "square peg into round hole" these guys into submissions and it could have been a halfway decent power match. *1/4

 

AAA Heavyweight Championship: Konnan (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) def Juventud Guerrera in 13:45- This is for the "Mexican Heavyweight title" per WCW. Mike Tenay joins the booth for this match. Konnan was originally scheduled to defend against Psychosis, but he got hurt so instead Juvy is making his WCW PPV debut. Since Hog Wild Konnan's slow burn heel turn has completed, and he's now part of the lurching zombie corpse that was the Dungeon of Doom at this point. Konnan tricks Juvy into a Code of Honor fist bump and then attacks him. Juvy tries to go into dodge mode but Konnan plants him with a huge German suplex. Konnan lifts Juvy and just TOSSES him out to the floor. Back in Juvy uses the double rings to springboard off three ropes and hit a somersault for 2. Corner kick flurry from Juvy and Konnan goes out to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! Juvy damn near leaped into about row 5 on that and is just as shook up as Konnan. Juvy tries springboarding off the guardrail but Konnan catches him and plants him with a powerbomb on the floor! Rolling clothesline from Konnan back in. Basement dropkick for 2. Speed run and Konnan literally kicks Juvy in the ass to send him into the dead zone between rings. Flying headscissors from Juvy back into the ring that they didn't pull off 100% right. A kick sends Konnan out and Juvy hits another dive, largely off camera. Springboard dropkick back in. Konnan backdrops Juvy over the top and he lands gut first on the top rope in the other ring! Then Konnan powerbombs him back in! Legbar into an STF from Konnan. Juvy tries a springboard moonsault but comes up short. I think he was supposed to hit that but was so far off target they continued playing it as a miss. Another Konnan powerbomb. He hits a couple of rolling Germans. Juvy rolls out and takes a walk, and surprisingly Konnan lets him. Coming back in Juvy hits another springboard dropkick. Legdrop and cover for 2. They do some maneuvering on the apron and Juvy tries a sunset flip on the floor, but Konnan fights it off and hits a dropkick off the apron. Back in Juvy crotches Konnan and spends a lot of time working him over on the top rope, then backflips off just to let Konnan hit him with a missile dropkick? OK then. Juvy gets a cradle for 2. Konnan tries a suplex but Juvy slips out on the apron and hits a springboard spinning heel kick with a slow cover for 2. HUGE Konnan German. Juvy's too close to the rope but Konnan tries to cover anyway. After about 30 seconds he finally gets it. Yet another Juvy springboard dropkick. Somersault legdrop off the top rope. Konnan gets a foot on the rope. Juvy goes up top and hits a 450 splash for 2. Up top again and he does some weird spinny dive thing for 2. Konnan Alabama slam with a jackknife cover for 2. He sets Juvy up top. Muscle Buster! Well, close to one anyway. Juvy kicks out! Konnan hits Splash Mountain! Juvy's not kicking out of that. Well it was certainly ambitious with a lot of crazy looking spots, and Konnan looked as motivated as at any point in his WCW run (a rarity), but like a lot of lucha stuff on American soil had quite a few points that were either sloppy or very obviously staged, and there was a lot of spottiness with not much glue holding it together. ***

 

Chris Benoit def Chris Jericho in 14:36- A bit of history here as young future legend Jericho makes his WCW PPV debut. At only 26 he was already a seasoned veteran with stops in his native Canada, Mexico, Germany, multiple promotions in Japan and ECW. Jericho's supposed to be the face here and Benoit the heel, but newbie Jericho gets nothing from the crowd while Benoit gets a nice pop in Horsemen country. Besides, WCW's whole face/heel dynamic had been thrown askew company wide thanks to the NWO. They jaw at each other in Canadian after the bell (I'm not your buddy, guy, I'm not your guy, friend. etc). That leads to Canadian slapping, and Benoit plants Jericho on his Canadian posterior. Backdrop from Benoit. Back suplex. He teases another backdrop but hits an Alabama slam instead. That's been a popular move tonight. Benoit puts Jericho into a stacked Boston crab, much like Jericho's own Liontamer. He goes for a powerbomb but Jericho rolls through it. Dropkick from Jericho. Benoit hits some more punches. Jericho responds with a dragon screw. He tries for a clutch but Benoit escapes. Dropkick to Benoit's back. Benoit goes to the apron and Jericho hits his trademark springboard dropkick, but he's still young so he makes it off the top rope instead of the second. Jericho goes up top and hits a big dive, but didn't come down right and splats himself on the apron on the way down. Both guys recover on the floor. Benoit selling, Jericho for real. Coming back in Jericho goes to the top rope to play to the crowd and gets roundly booed. Missile dropkick for 2. Powerbomb for 2. Jericho with a tiger suplex! Benoit's feet are in in the ropes. Slugfest and chops. Jericho hits a spin kick. Benoit back suplexes Jericho from the apron down to the floor! Post shot for Jericho with a nice flop sell. Back in Benoit suplex drops Jericho over the top rope. Back elbow for 2. Another chop exchange. Benoit hooks on an abdominal stretch. Jericho armdrags out. Benoit setup slam with much authority. The flying headbutt hits! He's slow to cover and Jericho kicks out. Jericho gets a small package for 2. Backslide for 2. Benoit butterflys Jericho's arms for a bit, then hits some hard chops in the corner. Another Jericho cradle counter for 2. Standing switches and Jericho gets a northern lights suplex for 2. More slugging. This time Jericho breaks out the chops. Tombstone reversal with Jericho hitting it. He goes for the Lionsault, sees Benoit dodging and lands on his feet, and hits a huge clothesline for 2. Top rope hurricanrana from Jericho for 2. He goes up top again. Benoit counters and Jericho is crotched. Back superplex! That gets Benoit the pin. Good match with lots of promise, but Jericho did have a bit of that "not quite ready for primetime" look in some places, plus being DOA with the crowd as a white meat babyface. We all know he'd get there (starting with his heel turn the next year), and these two would have some absolute barnburners down the road over in Vinceland, the ladder match at the 2001 Royal Rumble probably being the best. ***1/4

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Mysterio Jr (c) def Super Calo in 15:47- Calo's another one of Konnan's AAA guys but he didn't stay in WCW long enough to really make any kind of impact. I like how his cap is sewn onto his mask to make sure it stays on the whole match. Tenay jumps in the booth again for this one. They should really just leave him in the whole show and shuffle Dusty off somewhere else if you have to have a third man. Both guys are faces so quick Code of Honor handshake to start. Mysterio gets a quick armdrag out of the lockup. Calo slides out and seems to shake his knee off real quick. Back in he works Mysterio's arm for a bit. Running powerslam from Calo. Elbow off the second rope, followed by some more arm work. Counter run and Mysterio gets another armdrag. Mysterio starts to get rolling and hits a springboard flying headscissors. Calo goes out again and Mysterio does the dive tease and 619 spin. Back in Calo hits a shotgun dropkick. Powerbomb for 2. Tackle off the top rope and he clotheslines Mysterio 360 to the floor. Calo missile dropkick off the top to the floor! He slams Mysterio on the floor. Slingshot senton onto Mysterio on the floor! Calo rolls him back in and covers for 2. Side slam for 2. He tosses Mysterio over to ring 2. Hurricanrana off the top for 2. Calo runs Mysterio's shoulder into the top turnbuckle, then snaps it over the top rope and starts picking it apart. Hiptoss into a short arm scissors. Dropkick to Mysterio's shoulder. They both run into each other in the middle of the ring and both go flying. Not sure what that was supposed to be. Surfboard from Calo. Mysterio rolls out to recover. Slide under and dropkick from Mysterio. Crossbody against the ropes. Calo dangles over the top rope forever with Mysterio stretching him out in a gruesome looking way, and he finally falls to the floor. Not sure if that went to plan or not. Mysterio somersault plancha. Back in Mysterio springboards again. Calo dropkicks him in midair! He goes back to work on Mysterio's arm, snapping it all over every piece of the ring and even the guardrail. While Calo's on the apron Mysterio gets on the ropes and hurricanranas him down to the floor! Baseball slide. Springboard somersault. Mysterio sunset flip back in for 2. Springboard corkscrew for 2. He gets up on Calo's shoulders, but Calo electric chair drops him down. Mysterio dodges a crazy dive, goes into the other ring, springboards off BOTH top ropes, hits a hurricanrana and gets the pin! Crazy finish. Another good lucha style match with more crazy ass spots, still with some rough moments, but overall it's a better cohesive whole than the previous lucha match. ***1/2

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Sister Sherri and Col. Robert Parker) def The Nasty Boys in 15:31- Oh lord, they really did let the Nasty Boys back in the tag title picture. Fine, let's get this over with. Once again I ask why WCW didn't just put the tag belts on the Outsiders at the start and let the NWO roll with all the top gold. Ray and Sags start. Corner pound down from Ray. Sags hits a back elbow and clothesline. Sherri gets on Sags nerves and he rolls out to have a word with her. Ray and Booker shield her while Parker makes it clear Sags is in for a southern fried ass whoopin' if he lays a hand on his chicken pot pie or whatever the hell he called her. After an indecent amount of stalling Ray and Sags lock back up. Ray gets caught in the Nastys corner. He gets a kick on Knobbs and tags Booker, who also lays in some kicks. Knobbs pounds Booker with elbows and hits a clothesline for 2. Nasty double team on Booker. Sags neckbreaker. Knobbs hits another big clothesline with a Booker 360 sell. The Nastys set up for that nastiest of all spots, the pit stop. Sherri gets up to block it and off the distraction Ray hits Knobbs from behind. The champs work Sags to get double teams in. Ray pump kick on Knobbs. They work Knobbs outside and Sherri gets a shot in. Sags goes after Sherri and after some confusion everything resets with Knobbs still in peril. Ray legit can't lift Knobbs for a double team. Knobbs dodges and Booker tumbles to the floor. Tag to Sags, who takes out everyone. He flips Sherri in the ring, then rolls Booker up for a very long 2 that the crowd bit hard on. Piledriver from Sags. Ray breaks the pin up. Everyone in the pool! Sags goes up top. Parker trips him with his cane. It feels like the match is closing in on a finish, but instead they tack on another 5+ minutes with Sags in peril this time. Booker hits the scissors kick and both Sherri and Parker get shots in on the floor. Sags refuses to die and keeps kicking out. Sags ducks a double clothesline, hits a sloppy double faceplant and tags Knobbs. Another house cleaning. He hits Booker with the big splash but the pin is broken up. Water's great, everyone get in the pool again! Parker distracts the ref while the Nastys hit their finisher. Sherri whacks Sags with Parker's cane, and Booker covers for the pin. Meh. It could have been much worse. The Nastys looked like they were actually trying. The Nasty Boys AND Konnan both actually showing some effort? On the SAME SHOW?! What did Bischoff put in the water in the summer of '96? *3/4

 

The Giant def "Macho Man" Randy Savage in 7:47- Savage already has a World title shot at Hogan booked for Halloween Havoc. Nick Patrick is reffing this match, a questionable call seeing how he's all but confirmed to be on the NWO's payroll at this point. Giant comes out to his original Dungeon of Doom music at first, then someone remembers and the NWO's music starts up. Savage punches Giant off the apron, not letting him in the ring. After a few of these exchanges Giant says OK and drags Savage out to the floor. Savage gets the jump on the floor and tries to slam Giant out there. Nothing doing. Giant drags Savage back in the ring and begins the slow beatdown. Giant sized backbreaker and he drapes Savage over his knee. The crowd gets distracted by something happening off on the opposite side of the entrance stage. We never find out what so it must have been someone being stupid. Giant puts on a Boston crab. Savage grabs a rope. Giant thinks Savage gave up and argues with Patrick. One of the good things about this whole "Patrick as the NWO's referee" angle is, at least here at the start, Patrick would still call matches straight up until the point he needed to step in, so it's not as egregious as it could be. Giant hooks on the inevitable bear hug. Savage almost pulls Giant's eye clean out of its socket to get out. He tries coming off the top but Giant catches and slams him. A Giant kneedrop misses and Savage starts working on that knee. For as long as Savage's attention span can last anyway. Savage slams Giant! He goes up top. The elbow hits! Hogan is out and distracts Savage. Savage chases and gets jumped by the Outsiders coming out of the entrance stage, who work him over with a chair. While all this is going on Patrick's having a conversation with Giant about whether the Cowboys can go back to back again and if Barry Switzer really was that good a coach or if he just won with Jimmy's team (the answer is he just won with Jimmy's team). Hogan drags Savage's carcass back and Giant pins him. **

Mike Tenay is in the back with what's left of Team WCW. Sting crashes the promo to plead his case that whoever attacked Luger last week, it wasn't him. Luger doesn't believe him. Sting says "whatever, man" and walks off.

 

War Games: Team NWO def Team WCW in 18:15- Of course Buffer skips over the classic "LET THE WAR GAMES BEGIN" to do his own shtick instead. Greatest ring announcer ever.....at getting himself over. The NWO are keeping their 4th man a secret, while no one's sure if WCW even has a 4th man, including the guys on the team. To help keep the surprises in this match each entrant comes out only when they're getting in the match, the teams aren't at ringside like War Games previous.

P1. Scott Hall and Arn Anderson- No one has more experience in War Games than Arn Anderson. Four Horsemen, Dangerous Alliance, he's been in almost all of them. He gets a hero's welcome in Horsemen country too. Once again Nick Patrick is the referee for this match. Quick and intense back and forth corner slugfest. Hall takes the first cage shot. Corner clothesline from Hall. The back of Arn's head is rammed into the cage. Arn clips Hall's knee and goes to work on it. They swap rings with some more back and forth brawling. Arn puts on a sleeper. Hall back suplexes out. World's Greatest Spinebuster! What a shock, the NWO wins the coin toss. Arn puts on a half crab as time runs down.

P2. Kevin Nash- Arn tries but the Outsiders get a quick 2 on 1 edge. Arn gets run HARD into the cage! The whole wall moved. Nash hits him with snake eyes. The next entrant comes out a good 30 seconds early. With guys coming all the way from the back the adherence to period timings in this match is....not good.

P3. Lex Luger- Luger goes nuts, running the Outsiders into the cage and pummeling them with clotheslines and forearms (he still got that steel plate in there?). Hall gets run into the cage a ton. Nash attacks but Arn is back up and in the fray, kicking off a big 2v2 brawl.

P4. Hollywood Hogan- He also comes out a bit early but steps in the ring literally as the clock hits zero. Luger and Arn gang up on Hogan after he gets in but before long the numbers are too much. They split up with Hogan working Arn over in one ring, the Outsiders all over Luger in the other. They all get back in the same ring with the NWO in control as the period winds down.

P5. Ric Flair- He gets in the empty ring and tells the NWO to come to him. Hogan does. Flair has knucks! Hogan takes a knucks shot. So does Nash. Hall gets low blowed. Figure four on Hogan! Near the end of the period Tony says dejectedly "It's Sting".

P6. NWO Sting- The crowd is instantly deflated. From a distance the look is convincing, but a few fans on the floor can see what's what and start a small "We want Sting" chant. For the record NWO Sting is Jeff Farmer, a jobber/lower midcarder for most of the Bischoff era who had previously been Cobra. He's got some of Sting's moves down, doing a faceplant and hitting the WCW team with Stinger splashes. Again, from a distance in the stands it'd be fairly convincing. Hogan runs Flair into the cage and hits him with the legdrop.

P7. Sting- WHAT?! TWO Stings? The real Sting gets in the ring and stares down fake Sting! It's Undertaker vs Undertaker all over again. Sting on Sting slugfest! Sting helps the faces take back control. Real deal Stinger splashes! His teammates still seem unsure what's going on, especially Luger. Sting sees the looks he's getting, says "That good enough for ya?", gives his teammates a Spaceballs salute and walks out! Damn. The NWO trying to bamboozle everyone with a fake Sting isn't much of a shock. What is a shock, and great storytelling, is the real Sting being so upset no one believed him that he says "fuck all of ya'll" and walks away. The next night on Nitro Sting would give a promo for the ages defending himself, lambasting everyone that didn't trust him and declaring himself a free agent, then vanish for months. When he came back, he'd be a very, very different man. But back to this match. Luger has no idea how to react. Before he can muster up much of a thought Hogan plants him with a big boot, drops the big leg on him and bites Luger's nose. NWO Sting comes over and puts Luger in the Scorpion Death Lock. Hogan adds on a facelock. Patrick comes in, does things right by consulting Randy Anderson for a second opinion, and calls the match because Luger passed out. The NWO win again to the horror of commentary. It's not a top tier War Games up there with the classics, but it's not too far off and definitely the best War Games in several years. As always I'll lament the complete lack of blood in a War Games, but Turner corporate was very strict about such things. ***3/4

After the bell the fight continues. Luger crawls up the aisle calling for and reaching out to Sting. The NWO presses the attack. Savage runs out to join the fray, backing Hogan back to the rings. Hogan begs off. But it's a RUSE, as he sees the Giant coming in to jump Savage from behind. Chokeslam on Savage. The NWO gathers in the ring for the traditional spraypaint ceremony. Elizabeth runs out! She begs Hogan to stop! She even goes so far as to cover up Savage! Hogan says fine and spraypaints the back of Elizabeth's dress instead! A new low. Hogan gets a mic and runs Savage and Elizabeth down as two pieces of trash, and promises to make the "till death do us part" bit true at Halloween Havoc. The main event must have run really short because there's a lot more crowd playing and Liz scaring. Savage eats one more chokeslam. Finally the NWO go over and do a good old fashioned takeover of commentary to close the show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WCW's red hot second half of 1996 continues with another show featuring consistent top to bottom quality. Many of the undercard matches deliver, the ones that don't aren't too horrible, and while the main event just misses out on being a truly great War Games it was certainly a very good one, and very effectively set the stage for the next part of the NWO angle, including planting some seeds (namely Sting) that wouldn't come to fruition for a very long time.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+