WCW Fall Brawl 1995

Fall Brawl 1995 is notable for being the first major WCW show of the Monday Night Wars. Once again headlined by their popular WarGames match concept, the ’95 edition was sold on a blowoff to the feud between Hulk Hogan and the Dungeon of Doom.

From Asheville, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

  
Opening #1 Contender's Match: Johnny B. Badd v Brian Pillman: A lockup stalemate ends in a handshake, and they trade waistlocks and hammerlocks to establish that they're evenly matched. A dropkick stalemate hammers it home, but Badd gets the best of the next exchange - taking him to the mat with a wristlock. Pillman counters into a side-headlock, but Badd fights into a magistral cradle for two, and rehooks the wristlock. Into the ropes, Pillman catches him with a headscissors takedown, and a victory roll for two - as some dude in the crowd settles in with an entire box of pizza. Pillman with a backbreaker for two, but a Boston crab seems more an annoyance to Badd than a devastating submission hold. Pillman lets off, but gets caught with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker coming out of the ropes, and Badd hooks a leglock. Pillman's attempts to counter leave him trapped in a painful looking surfboard, but he makes the ropes, and shoves Badd in frustration. Johnny returns fire, so Pillman ups the ante with chops in the corner, and grinds Badd's face across the top rope. Badd raises the stakes with closed fists, and Brian bails to the floor to catch a breather - making sure to head up the aisle so Badd can't fly out after him. Back inside, Pillman offers a handshake, but Badd's too smart to go for it, so Brian decks him anyway! Biting leaves Badd slumped on the ropes, but he blocks a turnbuckle smash, and hits a slingshot legdrop for two. Criss cross ends in a bodypress stalemate, and both men end up in a heap on the mat, taking the referees count. Both men pull themselves together, but Pillman takes the advantage with a swift kick to the midsection to put Badd on the floor. Suplex back in, but Badd reverses, and Brian crashes to the outside. This time, he's too dazed to put distance between himself and Johnny, and Badd follows with a plancha. Flying bodypress on the way back in, but Brian counters with a dropkick for two. Backdrop, but Badd counters into a sitout powerbomb for two. Headscissors, but now Pillman counters into a tombstone for two. Tornado DDT, but yet another counter gets Pillman slammed for two, and Johnny takes him to the mat in an armbar to slow it down. Pillman responds with a Russian legsweep into an armbreaker, but Badd powers to a vertical base for the Golden Gloves routine. Pillman fires back with a springboard clothesline for two, and a backslide, but time expires at 20:05. However, since this is for contendership, the referee calls for overtime. They waste no time slugging it out in the corner, and it quickly spills to the floor for Brian to whip him into the guardrail. Pillman brings him back inside for a missile dropkick, but Badd throws his own dropkick to block - another stalemate leaving them both looking up at the lights. Brian again recovers first - this time with a sleeper - but Badd makes the ropes, and reverses. Pillman with a side suplex to counter, but he's too battered to properly follow-up, and by the time he tries a superplex Badd is able to block, and hit a flying sunset flip for two. Powerbomb, but Brian counters with a rana for a pair of two counts, but a crucifix gets him dropped like a Samoan. Badd with a rana off of the top rope for two - now not just frustrated, but outright pissed. He goes for it again to kill him good, but Pillman counters into a tornado DDT for two. A battle to the top rope ends in Badd slamming Pillman into the guardrail to take the countout, but Brian keeps coming, so Johnny crushes him with a somersault plancha. Slingshot splash on the way back in gets countered with lifted knees for a close two count, and Badd bails to the floor, but Brian blasts him with a tope as he tries to hide in the aisle. Back inside, Badd dodges a springboard bodypress by crotching him on the ropes, and another criss cross sees them both simultaneously try a bodypress again, but this time Badd gets the best of it, and hooks the leg at 29:57. The crowd didn't care for it, but fuck them, because this was one hell of a match! Really great stuff - building from friendly mat holds to an all out, dramatic, frustration-filled spotfest loaded with counters, and terrific callbacks to earlier spots and stalemates. This one has pretty much been forgotten by history and it's a shame, because it's a classic, and probably Pillman's last truly great match. As for Badd, with the victory he became top contender for Sting's United States title, but failed to win it. ****

Sgt. Craig Pittman v Cobra: Pittman's music plays, but instead of the Sarge, a random cadet comes out to distract Cobra. That allows Pittman to rappel from the rafters for a cheap shot (fittingly, with actual bullets), and the Sarge hooks him in his armbreaker finisher for the submission at 1:21. Thankfully short, because even at under two minutes, they were fumbling with the keys to the ignition. DUD

WCW Television Title Match: The Renegade v Diamond Dallas Page: Renegade does the Ultimate Warrior charge in, but Page shrugs him off with a Russian legsweep for two. Headbutt, but Renegade's a wildman so it has no effect - Page hilariously selling it by falling to the floor, into the ringpost, and then into the crowd. Renegade drags the challenger back in for a headlock, but Page dodges a bodypress, and Renegade crashes into the ropes. DDP immediately capitalizes with a choke against the ropes, and hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. Renegade manages a sunset flip for two, but gets quickly clobbered with a clothesline and speared in the corner. Another try misses, however, and Renegade starts firing off clotheslines. Handspring elbow (popular with all Ultimate Warrior clones from Renegade to Chyna - despite Warrior himself never using it) gets two, and a flying axehandle hits. Powerslam sets up a flying splash, but Renegade gets distracted with Page pal Max Muscle on the floor, the Diamond Cutter puts the idiot out of his misery at 8:05. Page worked hard to keep this going, but nothing special here - though this was effectively the end of the Renegade fiasco, and not a moment too soon. ½*

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater v Harlem Heat: Slater starts with Booker T, and tries to take his challenger down to the mat with an STF, but gets quickly countered, and Booker tags Stevie Ray to smack Dick around. Harlem Heat trade off on Slater, but he powers Booker into the corner to pass to Buck - only for the same thing to happen to him in the opposite corner. Stevie saves the day with a chinlock, but Buck's not in the mood, so Slater takes his place in the hold. Nice guy. A cheap shot from Buck turns the tide, however, and the champs cut the ring in half on Booker until he manages to catch Buck with an axe kick during a criss cross. Tag to Stevie to trigger a four-way brawl, and the Nasty Boys run in during the chaos to whack Slater over the head, and we have new champions at 16:49. Well, it wouldn't be 1995 WCW without a twenty minute Harlem Heat match. DUD

Ric Flair v Arn Anderson: This was what I was excited about seeing in 1995, as WCW did a fantastic job of presenting the angle (a resentful Anderson gets sick of playing Flair's underling, and challenges him), as well as promoting the match as an anticipated meeting between two legends. In a nice added touch, various WCW midcarders are seen sitting in the crowd to get a close up look at the action. Big staredown to start, and neither man is backing down. They very carefully size each other up before locking horns, and a criss cross ends in Arn catching a cocky Flair with a droptoe-hold. He quickly lets off - happy with the message sent. Another lockup ends in Arn hooking a headlock, and he slaps an uppity Flair across the face to send him to the floor. Ric breaks the momentum by challenging Arn to a test-of-strength on the way back in, but Anderson quickly takes him to the mat and stomps Flair's arm. Hammerlock, and Flair's desperate counter attempts end in Arn shifting into an armbreaker instead - wrenching the arm. Flair manages to get to a vertical base to escape, and he levels Anderson with a chop before he can go for the arm again, but misses a blind charge, and gets hooked in a brief sleeper (napper). Arn with a hammerlock-slam to set up a hammerlock on the mat, and he rolls it into several pin attempts before letting off. He regroups with an armbar, but Flair's still kicking, so Anderson bashes the arm into the ringpost a couple of times to settle his old buddy down. Single-arm DDT sets up another armbar, so Flair tries to chop his way free, only to get Flair Flipped to the floor - though managing to take Arn with him. Flair dives after him with a flying axehandle, and leaves his buddy out there to take the count. Anderson makes the mistake of trying to climb back in, so Flair snaps his neck across the top rope, and drops a shin for two. Slugfest in the corner goes Double A's way, and he backdrops Ric for a series of two counts - only to get blown low. Flair starts punting field goals in Arn's ribcage while he has him down, but another trip to the floor sees Flair get backdropped. Arn tries to follow with a suplex out there, but Flair reverses, and heads in first for the referee to start his count. Anderson beats it, so Flair gives him another suplex on the way back in for being a smartass. He can't build proper momentum, however, and Arn ties him in a tree of woe for some abuse. DDT, but Flair holds the top rope to block, sending Anderson crashing to the mat. Arn still has enough left in the tank to slam Flair as he tries a flying axehandle, but Arn's own attempt at a 2^nd rope axehandle gets him clotheslined. Figure Four, but Arn won't quit, and reverses the hold. He can't follow-up though, and Ric blasts the bad knee with a chopblock. Figure Four again, but this time Arn counters with a cradle for two. Flair responds by attacking the knee some more, and bashes it so badly Arn can't maintain a vertical base. That draws Brian Pillman out of the crowd, and he kicks Flair in the head for Arn to DDT and pin at 22:30. I was disappointed with this one as a kid, and unfortunately time hasn't changed my opinion. Though there were a lot of good things about this match, and a lot of neat touches to illustrate Anderson's pent up rage, it fell flat. They spent the bulk of the match focused on Flair's arm (which eventually was forgotten by both men), no time on the knee before we’re suddenly going into the Figure Four, and both generally seemed to be feeling pressured to live up to peoples expectations. This comes off like Mick and Keith fighting. Yeah, it's interesting sometimes, but usually you just want them to shut the fuck up and get the band together to play the hits. * ¾

Main Event: WarGames: The Dungeon of Doom (Zodiac, Kamala, Shark, and Meng) v The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger): Luger is replacing Vader here, who bailed on the promotion a few weeks before, after getting into a locker room brawl with Paul Orndorff. If the Hulkamaniacs win, Hogan gets five minutes alone with Kevin Sullivan - though he'll only need two, and then they'll cuddle. Shark starts with Sting (No wonder WCW didn't trust Sting during the nWo angle the next year. If we learned anything from this match, it's that heels don’t have last names), and Sting dodges an avalanche early on to take control. He hits a bodyslam with ease, but hurts his back in the process, and Shark lives up to his name with a bearhug. Shark stupidly tries to leap from one ring to the next with a clothesline, but gets stuck half way ('cause he's fat) and Sting pounds his leg as the period expires and Zodiac joins the party. He gets hooked in a Scorpion Deathlock in short order, but a double-team overwhelms Sting to break it up. The Doomers work Sting over until Randy Savage buzzes into the match, and he goes predictably ballistic. The heels manage to take control with punchy-kicky stuff as Kamala enters to make it three-on-two - which makes one extra guy to punch and kick in case you're not keeping track. Lex Luger is next in, and he manages to make a dent in the heel armor by clotheslining Kamala and Shark off of their feet. With the fatties out of the way, he goes after Zodiac with a series of pointed elbowdrops, and Savage starts hitting awkward looking flying axehandles (executed at a crouch because the of cage's top) on the fatties. Meng rounds out the heel field to turn the tide, but Hulk Hogan's up next, so they're all fucked anyway. And indeed, Hulkamania runs wild in the form of powder in the eyes for all the heels, and he gets Zodiac in a reverse chinlock for the submission at 18:45. That allows Hogan to live out his caged Sullivan fantasies, but the Giant comes out to make the save before he can properly kill Kevin. You'd think the Dungeon would think to recruit Giant for the match (no last name!), but that would be way too ridiculously logical for 1995 WCW. This didn't really work on any level, but it worked on the levels it didn't work on. *

BUExperience: Because of the sheer length, Badd/Pillman is almost enough to save the show, but stuff like the tag title match or the Dungeon of Doom silliness in the main event (probably my least favorite angle – ever) drag the card down a lot. Still, Flair/Anderson is interesting (if disappointing), and the awesome opener takes up a nice chunk of the 2 ¾ hour running time, so it’s not a total stinker. *