WCW SuperBrawl V

With Hulk Hogan putting Ric Flair into ‘retirement’ at Halloween Havoc, SuperBrawl V was built and sold solely on their next most anticipated main event showdown - between Hogan and Vader for the WCW World Title. Though I had just started watching WCW a few months prior, when Hogan entered the picture over the summer, I had already learned enough to know that Vader was WCW’s resident monster, and was sure to be a formidable challenge for the Hulkster.

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Match: Paul Roma v Alex Wright: Wright was fifteen years before his time, what with the whole electronic dance craze. Back then, we all just thought of him as 'that weird Euro trash dancing guy' - today he'd be Top 40. Roma jumps him coming in, and slams him around. Wright tries to make a comeback, but Roma shrugs him off, and they fight over an armbar as Paul Orndorff (Roma's tag partner) heads to ringside. Wright with the armbar, but Roma just sits there - not even bothering to grimace. Roma starts throwing elbowdrops, and hits a series of backbreakers before casually dumping Wright to the floor. Wright tries a sunset flip back in, but Roma dodges him. Wright with a backslide for one, and an inside cradle for two, but Roma starts unloading on him, and hooks a chinlock. Wright tries a dropkick, but Roma dodges that, too, and hits a well executed flying elbowdrop. He covers - pulling Wright up at two - but misses a blind charge. Wright tries a hiptoss, but Roma doesn't cooperate. Spinkick gets two, and a springboard bodypress gets two. Roma shrugs him off again, but gets into a miscommunication with Orndorff ('do your job!'), and Wright schoolboys him for the pin at 13:21. Roma was fired after this, as he was put out there as enhancement talent for Wright (who was getting an 'undefeated rookie' push), and instead, purposely made him look like a jobber (not to mention stiffing him) out of resentment. Match was a complete train wreck, but certainly interesting from a smartened up perspective. Poor Wright - while actually more experienced than WCW sold him as - didn't know what to do out there. I mean, can you imagine Roma trying to pull that shit with Harley Race? Not only did his performance thumb his nose at WCW, but served as a very misguided tryout for the WWF. ¼*

Bunkhouse Buck v Jim Duggan: Buck tries to jump Duggan while he's waving the flag, pissing Duggan off so much he kicks his ass one-handed - while still waving the flag. Buck bites at him, but Duggan clotheslines him to the floor to keep his mouth shut. Slugfest on the floor goes Duggan's way, and Duggan with a chinlock back in the ring. That fails to get the victory, so Duggan with a series of turnbuckle smashes - but Buck clocks him with his bullrope to slow him down, and hooks a chinlock of his own. He also fails to pick up the win with it (he had to try!), and another slugfest goes Duggan's way, setting up another chinlock. A long, long chinlock. Restholds have their place in a wrestling match, but what are these two resting from? That's like taking a week off from being retired. 3-Point Stance finally finishes at 11:58. Really dull, and way too long for their chinlock exhibition. -*

Kevin Sullivan v Dave Sullivan: Slugfest coming in goes Dave's way, and he unloads mounted punches before dumping him. Turnbuckle smashes, and a ten-punch count set up a backdrop for two. Dave keeps going, but The Butcher gets involved to slow him down, and Kevin dumps him for some proper butching. Another slugfest goes Dave's way when he bites Kevin's tummy (Oh! Somebody call mommy!), and more turnbuckle smashes, but Butcher gets involved again, and Sullivan schoolboys him at 7:18. Energetic. Crappy punch-kick stuff, but energetic. DUD

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Harlem Heat v The Nasty Boys: These two teams had about six months worth of matches around this period (most on pay per view), with all of them overlong, and horrible - so I'm not expecting much going in. Booker T and Brian Knobs start, as Tony Schiavone does damage control, and tries to put over Alex Wright. Slugfest, and Booker tries the Harlem Sidekick - but ends up crotched on the top rope. The Nasties double-team - working on the leg - but a poke in the eyes allows the tag to Stevie Ray. He walks right into a hiptoss, however, and he gets a chance to get Nastisized. They decide to work his leg, too, but Booker gets involved, and Stevie dropkicks Jerry Sags to the floor. Inside, the Heat trade off working a chinlock to cut the ring in half, but the crowd gets bored, so they switch to a front-facelock. Booker misses a 2^nd rope splash, and Sags gets a powerslam, allowing the tag. Knobs is an outhouse of fire, so Heat manager Sherri runs in with the loaded purse, but misses her mark, and Knobs wins the titles at 17:08. Hey, long and horrible - how surprising. Wait, looks like the referee decides he saw the Nasties toss Booker over the top (illegal) in the melee, and disqualifies them for it. I still don't get the point of this series, as it was just bad match after bad match after bad match for months. The tag division was anorexiclly thin at this point, yeah, but there's no excuse for marrying these four for over six months. ¼*

Dustin Rhodes v The Blacktop Bully: Bully tries a cheap shot before the bell, but Rhodes sees him coming, and unloads. Jumping clothesline and a ten-punch count leave the Bully reeling, and Rhodes dumps him. Back in, Dustin with an armbar, as the fans try to stay awake by with a 'KFC' chant. Not sure if that was to antagonize Bully manager Robert Parker, or if they were hoping they could just shout out orders to the concession stands. Dustin with a suplex for two, and a sunset flip for two. To the floor, Bully's bullying backfires, and he gets sent into the steps, but manages a lariat coming back in. Bully with a suplex, but he gets nailed coming off of the 2^nd rope, and Rhodes backdrops him. Inverted atomic drop, and the bulldog to finish - but Parker gets involved, and Bully gets the pin at 16:10, with Parker holding Rhodes' foot down. Too long for what they were going for (a six minute match if I've ever seen one), plodding, and very sloppy. This did serve to set up their infamous King of the Road match at Uncensored, however, so there's that. ¼*

Sting and Randy Savage v Big Bubba Rogers and Avalanche: Last time Randy Savage was in this arena, he was between Art Donovan and Gorilla Monsoon. This is only a very small step up. Sting starts with Avalanche, and gets overpowered, so he starts throwing clotheslines. Rogers nails him with a cheap shot off of a criss cross, and tags in to hit a backbreaker. Flying splash, but Savage crotches him on the top, and the Stinger superplexes him off. The faces pinball Bubba in the corner, and Savage creams him with a flying axehandle. Inside, Bubba returns fire on Savage, but misses a buttsplash, and gets rolled up for two. Tag to Avalanche, and he topples Savage during an ill-advised bodyslam attempt, but misses a blind charge. Sting with the Scorpion Deathlock, but Bubba gets involved, and a four-way brawl breaks out. Stinger Splashes all around, but he tries to buy a second round, and gets slammed by Avalanche. Way to be anti-social, man named after a natural disaster. Sting responds by slamming him, and Savage with a flying axehandle to trigger another brawl. Sting flying bodypress finishes Avalanche at 10:18. Well paced, and a nice deviation from standard tag formula matches, but would have unquestionably been better if Art Donovan showed up. ¾*

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Vader: This is going to have to be four stars, or better, to even have a shot at saving the show at this point. Both guys circle each other, and the initial lockup ends in a stalemate - with a slight edge for Vader. Vader takes off his mask to get down to business, but Hogan takes him into the corner, and starts literally slapping him around. Cross corner clothesline, but Vader totally no-sells it, and Hogan backs off. Hulk manages an armbar, but Vader steps on his throat to break it up, and forces him into the corner for some body shots. Short-clothesline, and an avalanche puts Hogan on the floor. Vader gives chase, but Hulk reverses a whip into the rail, and Vader ends up in the first row - right in the lap of the retired Ric Flair, who is observing. That really pisses the big guy off, and he breaks the guardrail apart on his way in - but still gets railroaded into the corner for a ten-punch. Cross corner clothesline, and a big boot/clothesline combo dump Vader over-the-top, and back in, Hogan continues to unload, but Vader topples him during a bodyslam attempt. Vader fires forearms, and the Vaderbomb gets two. He tries to properly flatten him with a flying moonsault instead, but - as he does almost every time he runs that sequence - falls flat on his face. Hogan drags him to the outside for a pair of chair shots, but misses a clothesline, and Vader chokeslams him. More body shots, and a hanging vertical suplex gets two, 'cause Hogan's HULKING UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! - but it only gets two! Hogan argues the count, allowing Vader to jump him with a powerbomb, but the referee gets bumped in the process. Ric Flair jumps the rail to revive him, while Vader splashes Hogan - but that only gets two, so Flair starts openly attacking Hogan, and there's the disqualification at 15:09. Flair and Vader do a beat down afterwards, but Randy Savage and Sting run in with chairs to make the save. Good effort from these two (far better than their later matches), and suitably epic for the build - but marred by a bad ending. There was lots of talk at the time (and some continues today) that Hogan made Vader look bad, but that isn't the case at all. It was back-and-forth throughout, Vader's 'Vaderbomb gets two/moonsault misses' bit was done with everyone from Sting to Big Bubba Rogers before, and he even kicked out of the Legdrop. Vader wouldn't come off as well in their future meetings (these two would continue to feud for months, finally blowing it off with a Cage Match at Bash at the Beach) but this was good stuff. ***

BUExperience: Well, it wouldn’t be ’95 WCW if nothing went into negative stars! The show did solid business for the promotion (as noted, I had only started casually watching WCW months prior, and was begging my parents to order this show), but aside from the main event, it is uniformly bad. The opener is fun in a train wreck sense, and the main event is fun in a good match sort of way, but it bookends a load of unfettered, historically insignificant crap. DUD