WCW SuperBrawl (May 1991)

In 1991, WCW introduced a new pay per view to their lineup in an effort to create a non-NWA associated flagship show: SuperBrawl. Over the next few years, WCW would push to establish SuperBrawl as its flagship blowoff show – turning Starrcade into a non-blowoff concept card for ’91 and ’92 – and even releasing a videogame named after the event.

The first SuperBrawl was less this structure of a new flagship program (as WCW had just run Starrcade a few months earlier), but built around a rematch between WCW World Champion Ric Flair and NWA World Champion Tatsumi Fujinami – after Flair had lost the latter title to Fujinami in a WCW/New Japan cross promotional event in March.

From St. Petersburg, Florida; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes.


Opening WCW United States Tag Team Title Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v The Young Pistols: This was over the vacant US Tag Titles, as the Steiner Brothers had won the World Tag Titles, and were stripped of the lesser titles. Michael Hayes and Steve Armstrong start, and not surprisingly, Hayes stalls. By dancing. That eventually gets him rolled up for two, so he starts taking his title match more seriously, dumping Armstrong to the floor for manager Big Daddy Dink to mess with. That draws brother Brad Armstrong out to protest, but the referee doesn't want to put up with their hijinks, and sends Dink and Brad to the dressing rooms. Meanwhile, the Pistols clean house with a double dropkick effort, and we end up with Jimmy Garvin and Tracey Smothers. The Pistols control with a double shoulderblock, so Garvin bails to Hayes - who proceeds to stall some more. He eventually dumps Smothers to the floor, where Garvin stunguns him on the rail - going for the countout victory. He beats it, but runs into a Garvin slam coming in. Headvice, but the Freebirds fail to properly cut the ring in half, allowing Smothers a superkick. Tag to Armstrong, and he's a house of arson, bodyslamming everything in sight. Well, not everything - just the Freebirds. Double missile dropkicks miss, however, and the Freebirds dump them again. Smothers makes it back in to dump them (again, ‘them’ being The Freebirds, not the band), and Armstrong hits a flying bodypress to the floor. Inside, the Pistols look to finish with a spinebuster/flying dropkick combo, but Badstreet (Brad Armstrong, under a mask) runs in and DDT's everyone, allowing Hayes to get the pin at 10:19. The Pistols were ready to work. The Freebirds were ready to stall and rest. Not a perfect storm. ½*

Dan Spivey v Ricky Morton: Spivey slaughters him to start, and hits a beautiful DDT. Shoulder Powerbomb, and a blockbuster, but it's Ricky Morton - he can take a beating for hours – fuck you and your blockbuster. Morton manages a rollup for two, but misses a dropkick, and Spivey powerbombs him for one foot on the chest pin at 3:11. Someone order the squash? Energetic one, though. ¾*

Nikita Koloff v Tommy Rich: Rich with a bodypress early, but Koloff shrugs him off. He tries a side-headlock next, but a blind charge misses, and Koloff slams him. Rich tries again with a ten-punch count, but a 2^nd rope bodypress misses, and Koloff with a lariat for the pin at 4:27. Highlight of the match was a shot of a dude in the front row wearing a Bart Simpson t-shirt. ¼*

Dustin Rhodes v Terrance Taylor: The first couple of tie-ups go to a stalemate, so Taylor bails to consult his laptop - working a gimmick where he had a computer compute facts on all his opponents, giving him every modern advantage. It doesn't seem to work (well, they didn't have Wikipedia yet), so Rhodes continues to dominate. He checks the laptop again, but gets locked in an armbar. More computer consulting (‘stop being a chicken’), but Dustin reverses his suplex attempt for two. Bodypress, but Taylor ducks him, and they end up on the ramp way. Taylor suplexes him back in, and drops a knee for two. 2^nd rope axehandle, but Rhodes decks him on the way down, and hits a backdrop. Jumping clothesline, and an inverted atomic drop get two, so he bulldogs him - but the referee gets caught up trying to navigate Netscape, and fails to count. Taylors bodyguard - Mr. Hughes - tries to get involved, but his shot with the brass knux backfires, and Rhodes gets the pin at 8:05. Once they got past the constant bailing to check the computer, they worked a nice, well paced little match - but certainly not one for any DVD Compilations. ½*

Black Bart v Big Josh: Josh brings two actual bears with him to ringside - as apparently lighting farts with Ted Turner's money wasn't considered a constructive use of their budget. Slugfest to start, and Josh works an armbar. Bart tries to come back, hammering the lower back, but takes a butt splash from Big Josh at 3:46. Another squash that had no place on pay per view. Even Jim Ross essentially apologized for it on commentary. DUD

Oz v Tim Parker: This was one of WCW's dumber, though ambitious, ideas, as they created 'Oz' - a literal Wizard of Oz character to be played by Kevin Nash. This is his debut, and they do an elaborate Emerald City opening - which comes off like a school play (middle, not even high) - featuring Dorothy, the Tin Man, etc cowering in front of Oz. Normally, this would get the pants sued off of them, but this whole thing stemmed from Ted Turner owning everything, and with the rights to the Wizard of Oz in his pocket, he could rape classic film at his leisure. Oz with a big boot right away, and a helicopter powerbomb finishes at 0:26. DUD, but the debut was so bad it's a must-see. Shockingly, this character lasted for quite a while before the scrapped it - likely because the pyro for entrance alone was half of the budget for this show, and they needed to justify the cost.

Taped Fist Match: Brian Pillman v Barry Windham: Windham tries to shove him around to start... and succeeds, as Pillman is almost comically tiny. He comes back with a diving shoulderblock, and the fists of taped fury. Windham hides in the ropes to stop him, and unloads some taped shots of his own. He heads up top, but Pillman nails him with a dropkick to knock him to the floor, and follows with a flying clothesline to the outside. He uses the taped fists - drawing blood - but Windham posts him to stop the effort. Windham rams him into the rail - allowing Pillman to follow suit with his own bladejob (that was inevitable, considering the gimmick is literally a built in hiding spot for the razor) - but gets caught with a spinheel kick back inside. Slugfest goes Windham's way, and a side suplex hits, but Pillman reverses a standard version. Pillman goes up top, but gets violently crotched, and Windham finishes him with the superplex at 6:08. Fun match, though somewhat limited due to the gimmick. * ¾

Stretcher Match: Sid v El Gigante: This isn’t a standard Stretcher Match (where the winner must get the other guy onto a stretcher, and roll him past a finish line), but rather a standard match, with the loser having to ride out in a stretcher. Staredown, leading to probably the only time Sid has ever had to stare up in that situation. Gigante overpowers him, clotheslining him to the outside, but Sid blows him low. He clips the knee a couple of times to try to get Gigante off of his feet, but no go. Gigante with a big boot and a clawhold for the win at 2:13. Just a squash, as Sid was already WWF bound at this point. Still, worth seeing if only for the visual of Sid being dwarfed. DUD

Cage Match: Ron Simmons v Butch Reed: In a cute twist, WCW has dubbed this a 'Thunder-Doom Cage Match.' To add to the excitement, Doom manager Teddy Long is suspended in a shark cage above the ring to prevent interference, though you'd think the fact that they're already wrestling inside an enclosure would be enough of a preventative measure. Maybe they were worried he'd feed them snacks? Slugfest to start, won by Simmons with an atomic drop. He bounces Reed off of the cage a couple of times, but misses a blind charge right into it. Reed with a 2^nd rope elbowdrop for two, so he starts bouncing him off of the cage to try to net a better result. Reed with a 2^nd rope flying axehandle, and a pair of fistdrops get two. More shots into the cage get two, and Reed piledrives him for two. Battering ram into the cage isn't enough, so Reed goes to the most deadly move in all of wrestling: the chinlock. Somehow, that doesn't work, so he heads to the top rope for a flying bodypress. Simmons still kicks out, so Butch tries a splash, but hits knees. Simmons with the fists of fury, and a backdrop. Double knockout allows Teddy Long to toss a chain into the ring (I think it would have been more effective if you didn't hang the dude directly over the ring - or at least searched him first), but Simmons ducks the shot, and hits a spinebuster for the pin at 9:39. Very plodding match, thankfully kept under ten minutes, as it was surprisingly dull for what was a big blowoff at the time. They performed with so little intensity, even the crowd wasn't into it. ¼*

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers v Sting and Lex Luger: Rick Steiner starts with Lex Luger, and they work a couple of fierce tie-ups to establish that they're both strong. Luger catches him with an armdrag to try and faze him, but Steiner responds by taking him to the mat. Luger bails to the ropes, so Steiner supermarket sweeps him, and tries to tie him up on the mat again - but Luger dives for the ropes. Luger finally escapes Steiner's mat wrestling clinic with a powerslam, but a blind charge misses, and Rick drops him with a well executed release German suplex. Clothesline gets two, and a backdrop leaves Luger reeling, but he fires off a lariat out of nowhere. Press slam, and he gets the tag to Sting - who clotheslines him to the outside. He dives out after him with a bodypress, and hits a bulldog inside - only to get no-sold. Sting responds with a Stinger Splash - but misses – and Scott Steiner tags in to hit a butterfly powerbomb. Tilt-a-whirl slam, but Sting catches him with a stungun. Scott returns the favor with an inverted atomic drop, and an overhead superplex. Blind charge, but Sting dodges, and Scott flies over the top. Luger suplexes him back in, and hits a powerslam. Torture Rack, but Steiner Russian legsweeps him to counter, and tags Rick - who flies in with a flying bulldog for two. Sting responds with a missile dropkick to the back of the head, and we have a double knockout. Both men tag, and Sting wins a slugfest with a sloppy side suplex. Backdrop, but Scott counters with a tombstone, only to have Sting reverse. That leads to a four-way brawl, with Sting hitting Scott with a Stinger Splash, but Nikita Koloff runs in to nail Sting with a chain - giving the Steiners the win at 11:09. Fantastic, well paced back-and-forth action - avoiding the standard heat segment formula - and getting the crowd into it big time, as they took all the intensity missing from the cage match, and packed it in here. No real psychology to speak of, as they worked a power spotfest – but it was certainly entertaining, as everyone put in a good effort. *** ½

WCW Television Title Match: Arn Anderson v Bobby Eaton: Back-and-forth to start, but Anderson misses a blind charge, and gets caught in an armbar. He dumps him to break, and slams Eaton off of the ropes, and onto the ramp way. He tries a piledriver out there, but gets backdropped, and Eaton backdrops him again - into the ring. Flying axehandle gets two, and he goes to the arm again. Anderson to the ropes, and he nails him with a cheap shot when the referee orders a break, allowing Double A to post Eaton's knee. Rope-assisted leglock, but Eaton eventually tosses him off, and rams his head into the turnbuckle like it's going out of style, in a nice bit. The leg is still hurt, though, and Anderson pounces right back on it - driving his knee into Eaton's. Another leglock, and Anderson spinebusters him to finish - but it only gets two! 2^nd rope axehandle doesn't work, and Eaton hits a swinging neckbreaker, before winning the title with the Alabama Jam (a flying legdrop - using the other leg) at 11:50. Psychologically sound, but a ring veteran like Anderson should have known to work on the leg Eaton uses for his finisher. **

Main Event: WCW World Title v NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Tatsumi Fujinami: Flair is the only one with a title belt coming in, as the NWA and WCW Titles were both represented by the Big Gold Belt, and WCW didn't want to leave it in Fujinami's possession, so they worked an angle where Flair 'stole' the belt back. Fujinami dominates with power, so Flair tries to take him to the mat - but Fujinami outwrestles him. Flair tries to school him with chops, but gets backdropped, and hooked in a surfboard. Fujinami tries a cradle, but Flair reverses for one. Fujinami with a Boston Crab, but Flair finds a suplex. Fujinami keeps coming, so Slick Ric goes to the eyes. Undeterred, Fujinami hits a diving forearm for two, and a suplex of his own. A pair of forearms puts Flair on the floor, but Ric crotches him on the rail when he tries to follow out. Inside, Flair clips the knee to even them up in damage, and goes to work. Kneebreaker, and Flair hooks the figure four - only to get reversed. Chopfest goes Fujinami's way, and he hooks a Sharpshooter to try to finish - but Flair makes the ropes. Side suplex gets a series of two counts, so Flair hits his own. Shindrop, and Flair tries a cradle, with Fujinami's attempts at bridging out failing, but keeping his shoulder off of the mat enough to get Flair to let off. They spill to the outside, where Fujinami reverses a shot to the rail, and follows with one to the post - busting the WCW Champion open. Inside, Flair desperately tries to chop at him, but takes a Flair Flip. Flair is completely dazed, Flopping to the floor, but it was a ruse to allow him to rake the eyes. Up top, but Flair gets slammed off, and Fujinami hooks an octopus submission. Flair manages to wrestle out, but a double knockout puts both champions on the outside. Flair tries a slam on the way in, but the leg gives out, and he gets toppled for two. Fujinami with an inside cradle for two, but a rollup bumps the referee. Fujinami goes to check on him, allowing Flair to schoolboy him for the pin at 18:39, to reunify the titles. Well, until he decided to bolt to the WWF less than two months later, again fucking up the lineage. Match was well paced, and similar to the one that set it up – though this one was slightly less sound. Interesting crowd, as well, as Flair became the de facto babyface as a result of being white, and no amount of cheap shots and eye rakes could kill the jingoism in Florida. **

BUExperience: Some decent stuff, but way too many squash matches for a major pay per view. The Turner Home Video version actually cuts the fat off – leaving only the major matches – which is certainly a more watchable, if still unspectacular card. Certainly not bad, and even somewhat historically significant for being the first of one of WCW’s more notable events, the infamous Oz debut, and Ric Flair’s last WCW pay per view appearance until 1993. *