WCW SuperBrawl VI

In early 1996, months before the beginning of the nWo angle, WCW had already become quite competitive with the WWF. Bolstered by the addition of ‘Nitro’ as a live weekly television program going head to head with the WWF’s ‘RAW,’ ratings and buyrates were steady, and neck-and-neck with the WWF. Going into SuperBrawl – the last year it would be promoted as WCW’s flagship show, before reverting back to Starrcade later that year – the build focused on a blowoff for the Hulk Hogan/Giant feud, and a WCW World Title match between Randy Savage and Ric Flair – both in a cage.

From St. Petersburg, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Street Fight: The Nasty Boys v The Public Enemy: Everyone ends up on the floor right away, and Rocco Rock goes for a table, but Jerry Sags stops him in the aisle starts unloading some solid chair shots. Johnny Grunge returns the favor, but Brian Knobs still manages to slam Rock through a table for two - saved by a Grunge chair shot. Sags starts unloading with a trashcan lid (great weapon, 'cause it's totally safe (these are made of flimsy aluminum), but it looks and sounds great), and then piledrives Grunge on the can itself for two. Brawl over to the 'concession stands' (see: a cordoned area where WCW has set up a mock concession stand) for Knobs to suplex Rocco through another table, but the Public responds with more chair shots. Everyone trade assorted weapons shots, and the Public try to finish Knobs with Rock climbing the concession stand, and diving off with a somersault senton through a table - but Knobs moves, and gets the pin at 7:49. At eleven years old, I thought Public Enemy was pretty cool (the table breaking, the somersault moves), and while their act hasn't aged well, this was the perfect use of them, as well as the Nasties. Fast paced, fun weapon spots, kept short - good opener. **

WCW Television Title v $6,600,000: Johnny B. Badd v Diamond Dallas Page: Badd's entrance takes a disproportionately long amount of time, but he has Kimberly dancing around in spandex as part of his routine, so all forgiven. Page tries to hit on her (his real-life wife), but she rejects his Valentine's Day flowers, and Badd jumps him on the floor. Johnny with an axehandle off of the apron, and a slingshot legdrop coming in gets two. Page cowers, so Badd hooks him in an armbar, but Dallas goes to the eyes (Literally. He took the time to go to an optometrist rather than sit around in a resthold), and stunguns the champ. Floatover DDT leaves Badd laying, but Page gets caught up with Kimberly, and rolled up for two. He goes ballistic on Badd with a choke, and hooks a chinlock. Glad to see he's bringing best when WCW gold, and $6.6 million in cash is on the line. Wait, no, what's nice is to see him bothering with basic wrestling holds on the guy openly fucking his wife. Badd powers out into an underhook cradle, and unloads fists of fury. Flying axehandle, and a flying sunset flip gets two. Gutwrench powerbomb for two, so Page goes to the eyes again, and catches him with a backelbow for two. Tilt-a-whirl tombstone gets two, and he tries a sleeper, but Badd stuns him, and reverses. Page railroads him into the corner to break, and tries the tombstone again, but Badd reverses again, and gets the pin at 14:59. This was the last of their long series, though another rematch was planned for Uncensored, but this ended up being Badd's final WCW pay per view appearance - as he headed to the WWF, debuting at WrestleMania XII. Decent back-and-forth match otherwise, if unspectacular. * ½ No word on the $6.6 million, but I'm guessing most went into Sable's various body parts.

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Sting and Lex Luger v Harlem Heat: Sting and Luger are set to face the Road Warriors later in the show - whether or not they keep the titles here. Sting starts with Booker T, and gets railroaded into the corner for some abuse. Booker takes him to the mat in a headscissors, so he tags to Luger to fire off some closed fists. Blind charge misses, however, and Booker tags Stevie Ray. Double-team backelbow puts Luger on the floor, so he hustles over to tag back to Sting. Stevie Ray responds by kicking the shit out of them both, but Sting catches Booker with a bulldog, and bails to Luger. Kneelift gets two, and a side suplex for two, but the leaping elbow misses, and Booker sidewalk slams him. Harlem Sidekick, and he tags Stevie to help cut the ring in half with his nerveholds. Luger - a regular opponent of Yokozuna - is well prepared, though, and powers out, but still walks into an axekick from Booker. Sting finally reaches his limit, and runs in with a Stinger Splash on Booker, but Stevie tosses him over-the-top, and Booker looks to finish Luger with a powerbomb. That draws Animal in to wallop Booker with a pipe (to ensure they don't lose the title shot), and Luger falls on top to retain at 11:49. Fine when they were going hard, but totally killed by the long, dull, restholdy heat segment. ¾*

WCW United States Title Match: Konnan v One Man Gang: Konnan had defeated Gang for the title a few weeks prior on TV - given the belt as a 'reward' for helping facilitate a relationship between WCW and many of the Mexican cruiserweights that would soon become a fixture of the program. Gang jumps him at the bell, slowly laying in forearm shots, but misses a blind charge, and Konnan dropkicks the knee. Spinkick, and another dropkick, but Gang won't go down - so Konnan spears him through the ropes. He somersaults out after him, but gets his neck snapped across the ropes on the way back in, and Gang goes back to plodding. Konnan tries another pair of dropkicks, but trips up, and Gang hits the 747 Splash. He wants to flatten him with a 2^nd rope version, but Konnan gets out of the way (before Gang even jumps, which looked ridiculous), and hits a flying somersault bodyblock to retain at 7:27. Konnan was game, but Gang (on the way out of the promotion) barely even put in an effort - giving a really lazy, sloppy, sluggish performance. His offense was so slow, it could practically be considered a series of restholds. - ½*

Respect Strap Match: Kevin Sullivan v Brian Pillman: The idea here is that the first to make the other say, 'I Respect You' wins. Pillman charges right in, and they scuffle on the mat until he can unload a couple of shots with the strap. The referee struggles to try to get them to tie it onto their wrists, but they just keep slugging away, until Pillman pulls back, grabs the mic, and ends it with 'I respect you... booker man' before hightailing it out of there at 1:36. Very infamous angle here, as Sullivan (a booker for WCW at the time) worked out this 'shoot' angle with Pillman in secret to stir up the smartened up portion of the crowd (one of WCW's many such references around this period, which included Hulk Hogan burning a copy of The Observer on pay per view), but they kept it so secret (pretty much only between themselves) that everyone (the other bookers, the wrestlers, the announcers, the referee) thought it was an actual shoot from Pillman. As part of the angle he worked out with Sullivan, Pillman then asked for a release from his contract (to stir up rumors that it was real), but since the higher-ups weren't aware it was an angle, they gave it to him, and he bolted to ECW for a bit, before winding up in the WWF for the rest of his life. Eric Bischoff later claimed he was in on it, and sent Pillman to ECW as a mole, but he was just trying to save face - they worked everybody with this bit. DUD

Respect Strap Match: Kevin Sullivan v Arn Anderson: This is a legitimate impromptu match, as Anderson (Pillman's fellow Horsemen, and not in on it) runs out (in shorts and a dress shirt) to try and improvise something with Sullivan to fill time. They actually tie on the strap, and Anderson starts unloading - both with his fists and with the strap. Sullivan rakes the eyes to stop him, and crotches him with the strap. They go on for a bit longer, until Ric Flair (also not in on it) runs in and breaks it all up at 3:45. I didn't know what to make of this at eleven years old (still a total mark), but I knew something happened that wasn't part of the show, and it was exciting. It seems tame today - with kayfabe completely shattered - but it was pretty intense at the time, and very memorable. DUD

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Sting and Lex Luger v The Road Warriors: The Warriors had just reunited, after taking three years apart for Animal to recover from a back injury/collect insurance payouts. Luger is anxious about getting in because the Warriors have those spiked shoulder pads, and spends a long while stalling on the floor, as everyone else hangs out in the ring waiting. Sting starts with Hawk by default, as Luger is still teasing jumping off of the apron and heading home. Hawk levels Sting with a dropkick, and hooks a horribly loose chin'lock'. Animal with an armbar, so Sting bails to Luger, who in turn plain bails. Inside, Animal calls for a test-of-strength, but Lex kicks him in the nuts, and hammers. Animal shrugs it off with a big boot, and a powerslam gets two. Tag to Hawk for a pair of cross corner clotheslines, and he dumps Luger to the floor (you just got him in!) for Animal to whip into the rail. Inside, Luger goes to the eyes (he must have great insurance), and tags Sting to handle things. Suplex gets two, to he tags to Animal, and they quickly end up in a double-knockout. Sting finds a bulldog, but a flying splash hits the knees, and both guys tag. Hawk goes nuts on Luger, and hits a diving shoulderblock for two. Pair of fistdrops get two, and he goes to a chinlock to really get things going. Luger stuns his way free, and both tag again, and Sting quickly hits the Stinger Splash - but a Deathlock attempt draws Hawk in. Chinlock time for Sting, as the Warriors work to cut the ring in half. Four-way brawl breaks out, and they do a no-sell stalemate - until everyone ends up on the floor, and we have a double countout at 13:56. This could have been so much fun under the right circumstances, but instead it was stalling, restholds, and completely lacked the intensity it might have had if Luger wasn't such a tweener. ¼*

WCW World Title Cage Match: Randy Savage v Ric Flair: Flair stalls on the floor, trying to talk Elizabeth into kissing him so he'll go easy on her man. Savage actually keeps his cool (relatively), and backs off long enough to get Flair into the cage - and then goes ballistic. Flair manages a cheap shot to slow him down, and a shindrop hits. Flair throws him into the cage, but the referee decides to object, so Flair decks him. Savage sneaks up with a backdrop, and a series of clotheslines gets two. Side-headlock (because nothing says 'blood feud' like a side-headlock!), but Flair rams him into the steel, and hits a backelbow for two. Chops in the corner, and he goes to the top rope for Savage to slam him off. Savage with a figure four, and Flair tries the ropes - but no break 'cause it's a cage match. Savage eventually lets off, so Flair levels him with a chop for being an idiot. Savage still manages to scale the cage, and dives off with a flying axehandle - but Flair decks him on the way down. Hanging vertical suplex gets two, so Flair tosses him into the cage to properly wear him down. Figure Four, and Savage makes the ropes - but the referee decides that now that constitutes a break. Flair tells him to go fuck himself (and rightly so), and the referee actually has the balls to break it up by pulling Flair off by his hair. Undeterred, Ric drags him to the middle for another Figure Four, but Savage cradles him for two. Slugfest goes Savage's way, and he grates Flair's face on the mesh, as that Woman Benoit killed shrieks. Loudly. She’d tie with Jimmy Hart (and his damn megaphone) for 'Most Annoying Ringside Presence' any day. Flair goes to the top again, so Savage tugs his tights down WAY too far (perhaps Flair misguidedly thought he had to show up Shawn Michaels), and Flair falls crotch first onto the top rope. He doesn't bother to pull his tights up for a good couple of minutes, and even when he does, Savage just tugs them down again for another couple of minutes of Flair-ass. Flair blades (his face, not asshole) off of a couple more cage rams (that inspired an interesting (see: whiny, hypocritical, vindictive) letter from the WWF to Turner Broadcasting bitching that Ted Turner was 'against violence' and the risks that go along with blading, but didn't stop his performers from doing it - the WWF infallible, and disgusted. Guess Steve Austin was just covered in loads of ketchup at WrestleMania the next year), and goes for the door, but Elizabeth passes him her high heel, and Flair gets the cheap pin at 18:52 to win the WCW Title. I remember thinking this was wild as a kid, but that was mostly getting wrapped up in the Elizabeth turn, as the match itself was slow, plodding, illogical, and heavily featured a man's naked ass. ¾*

Main Event: Cage Match: Hulk Hogan v The Giant: Hogan goes right at him, and chokes him with his wrist tape. Ten-punch count/biting combo, and more choking - but Giant gets sick of him, and throws him around. Test-of-Strength, as Giant targets Hogan's previously injured hand, then switches gears to a bearhug. Hogan with more biting to break, but Giant chokes him out with his own t-shirt. Earringer, and a big bodyslam lay Hogan out, but an elbowdrop misses. Hulk with the fists of fury, but Giant topples him during a bodyslam attempt. Hogan takes a few shots into the mesh, and Giant hits a suplex before going for the door. Hogan grabs his ankle to stop him, so Giant gives him a backbreaker, and lets him eat cage another couple of times. Another bearhug, but Hogan has the power of Hulkamania, and shit, so he powers out. Giant kicks him in the nuts (the PowerCenter!), and hits the chokeslam. He goes for the door, but Hogan's HULKING UP!! Fists of Fury! Cage Rams! Big Boot! Slam! Series of Legdrops! Climb! - but Giant springs up, and they fight on the top rope. Hogan manages to knock him off, and escapes the cage at 15:04. Afterwards, the Dungeon of Doom attack Hogan in the cage, but he manages to fight off the  entire stable (some ten men) on his own, with relative ease. Despite headlining multiple pay per views against each other, these two never could have a good match together - this actually one of the better ones, as they usually tended to fall into negative stars. This was basically a paint-by-numbers version of the Hogan/Vader Cage Match from Bash at the Beach six months before - and that one wasn't any good to begin with. DUD

BUExperience: It started off well enough, and the Sullivan/Pillman mess was certainly memorable – but the show crumbles under the weight of the cage matches, and the 'well enough' wasn’t ‘enough’ or particularly ‘well.’ DUD