February 21, 1993
Asheville Civic Center, Asheville, North Carolina
It's time for my WCW Superbrawl III review, which naturally means that it's time for me to once again state that this was my favorite WCW Pay Per View.
After Jim Crocket Promotions had fully morphed into World Championship Wrestling, Superbrawl seemed to stand out as the company's flagship event far more than Starrcade ever would.
That was especially true on this February night in North Carolina as none other than The Nature Boy Ric Flair returned to the fold.
Add in the WCW debut of a former Intercontinental Champion, a NWA title match, and the highly promoted White Castle of Fear match between Sting and Big Van Vader, and this looked set to be a pretty big deal.
Without further ado then, let's head down to Asheville and take a look at what went down.
Welcome to SuperBrawl III
Our show tonight began not with WCW’s usual animated graphic intro but with a cold open from a recent TV taping.
The clip showed Big Van Vader whipping the bejeebus out of Sting while Barry Windham held the Stinger in place.
A second clip of Vader hanging Sting over the ropes with a leather strap was interspersed with a warning from the big man himself in which he insisted this wasn’t purely business, it was personal.
That’s why the only way to settle this thing was in the ominous White Castle of Fear.
Dum..dum.dummmm
Heading live to the arena, our hosts Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt welcomed us to the show.
Eric informed us that Ron Simmons had suffered yet another injury and this couldn’t be challenged for the US title tonight.
In his place, Maxx Payne.
For her part, Missy told us that she would deliver “the coup of the night,” in the form of an interview with a mystery guest.
Johnny B. Badd is Here
The two then welcomed the arrival of Johnny B. Badd.
Badd came out to much fanfare just so he could tell us that there’d be an NWA title match and an appearance from Ric Flair on the show.
Finally, we went to ringside to meet our commentary team of Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura and Tony Schiavone.
Jesse was celebrating a full year in WCW after making his debut back at SuperBrawl II, while Schiavone told us that the White Castle of Fear was basically just a strap match.
Maxx Payne Plays the National Anthem
Hearing that Maxx Payne was about to play a version of the American national anthem on his guitar instantly brought back a horrible flashback to that guy who butchered it at ECW November to Remember '94 and got chokeslammed by 911.
Fortunately, Payne did a little better here, receiving a loud ovation from the fans.
Then, finally, we got onto our opening contest.
Stunning Steve Austin & Flyin’ Brian Pillman vs. Erik Watts & Marcus Alexander Bagwell
I always list the wrestlers as they’re announced on the show, hence why I haven’t called Stunning Steve Austin & Flyin’ Brian Pillman ‘The Hollywood Blondes’ here.
The duo had only been together for around two months and were not yet going by that name.
They were, however, the number one contenders to the tag team titles, which was more than fair given their excellent bout against champions Shane Douglas & Ricky Steamboat at Clash 22 a month earlier.
Instead of fighting for those titles tonight, Austin and Pillman were left to walk over Erik Watts and Marcus Alexander Bagwell in an enjoyable opening contest.
Erik Watts absorbed most of the punishment for his team but it did little to endear him to the live crowd. The Ashville audience loudly -and I mean LOUDLY- booed him every time he stepped in the ring.
The disdain for Wattts was so loud that the announcers were forced to acknowledge it.
“They boo Erik Watts every time he tags in,” stated Ventura.
“Is it ‘boo’ or are they saying ‘woo’?” asked Schiavone in response.
No Tony, it definitely wasn’t “woo.”
His partner, Marcus Bagwell, gave a solid performance throughout, but it was Watts who wound up costing his team the win as he tried to get to Steve Austin in the corner without tagging in.
At that point, Bagwell hit a fisherman’s suplex on Pillman, only tor the official to be preoccupied with sending Watts back to his own corner.
That allowed Austin to make the save. Pillman then made the cover, the referee regained his focus, and that was that.
Your Winners: Steve Austin & Brian Pillman
The show cut to a brief clip of Sting flying over the Rocky Mountains while Vader yelled “STING! WE HAVE A DATE WITH DESTINY.”
All Sting could say is “I wonder what this is about,” with a such a lack of emotion that made it sound like he’d just found a curious piece of lint down the back of his sofa.
I’m writing this at the same time that Sting is building towards his retirement match in AEW. I mean to take nothing away from the legend himself, but man did he get put in some crappy vignettes.
Ric Flair is Back
Back in the arena, Eric Bischoff revealed that the rumors were true:
Ric Flair had returned to World Championship Wrestling.
Bischoff sent us to the back, where Missy Hyatt tried to get an interview with the Nature Boy, only to be apprehended by far too many security guards and even a cop.
She was dragged away, leaving Flair free to leave his limo and head into the bowels of the arena, his unnecessarily large security detail in tow.
Chris Benoit vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
I thought the first match was good, but this was even better.
Chris Benoit and 2 Cold Scorpio were two evenly matched competitors who proved to be perfect opponents for one another, trading holds, counterholds, and more than their fair share of high flying over the course of a stellar 20 minute contest.
Scorpio controlled the first half, consistently getting the better of Benoit until the Canadian grappler finally turned the tables in the second half.
As the match reached its apex, the ring announcer began to reveal how little time they had left.
5 minutes…
3 minutes…
45 seconds…
With each announcement, both men scrambled desperately to get the match-winning fall, Benoit relying on his aggression while Scorpio reversed one move after the next into multiple failed pin attempts.
Then it happened, with less than five seconds remaining, Scorpio landed a sunset flip, the referee starting the count at the exact moment the ring announcer declared that only 3 seconds were remaining.
Fortunately for Scorpio, the referee made the three count in time and he won this 20-minute time-limit match at 19 minutes and 59 seconds.
As conflicted as I can still get about reviewing Benoit matches sometimes, I have to admit I enjoyed every minute of that.
Your Winner: 2 Cold Scorpio
When the match was over, we returned to Eric Bischoff. Bischoff shilled the WCW hotline, which at that precise moment featured Dustin Rhodes talking about his upcoming US title defense.
By sheer coincidence, Bischoff’s next guest just so happened to be Rhodes’ opponent, Maxx Payne.
“Maxx Payne, you’ve had a team of lawyers, managers, and negotiators working hard for you to get you this title shot,” Eric said, which was basically the same as saying “Nobody buys the fact that you’ve earned a title shot, so here’s an explanation.”
It’s a shame they needed that because Maxx Payne was a cool character with an intriguing presence that made his brief promo here interesting to watch.
In that promo, Payne sent a warning to Dustin by erm, playing guitar for him.
Wild Bill Irwin vs. The British Bulldog
Making his WCW debut, The British Bulldog steamrolled over Wild Bill Irwin in a mediocre match that went downhill once the crowd’s initial excitement at seeing Davey Boy in action wore off.
Wild Bill sold like a champ for the Bulldog, and though the bout was a great showcase for the Englishman’s offence, it wasn’t exactly the most thrilling match in the world.
As a big-time Bulldog mark, I would have loved to see him debut in a more exciting and high-profile match.
Alas, this is what we got, a so-so contest that inevitably ended with a Davey Boy powerslam.
Your Winner: Davey Boy Smith
After the match, Bulldog joined Tony Schiavone tor a ringside interview which he absolutely flubbed.
Caught up in the excitement of his debut, Davey Boy claimed he was here in WCW to become the “world championship heavyweight champion,” and then said he’d be watching Vader’s match with “The Sting,” very carefully.
Oh dear.
This whole thing led us to Johnny B. Badd and Missy Hyatt. The former looked forward to “mingling in England,” while the latter was PO’d nobody had told her to get a passport.
After that brief bit of nothing, we went back to Bischoff, who, this time, was stood by with Paul Orndorff.
Mr. Wonderful didn’t get much time to speak as his opponent, Cactus Jack, immediately arrived with a shovel and chased him into the arena.
To give credit where credit is due, that was a good way to start our next match.
Falls Count Anywhere
Cactus Jack vs. ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff
Now, this was more like it.
Cactus took control in the early going, battering his opponent all over the place to the delight of the Ashville faithful.
It didn’t take Mr. Wonderful long to turn the tables. The two brawled to the entrance, where Orndorff suplexed Jack ontop of a guard rail and set about systematically destroying his already-weakened knee.
The assault continued in and around the ring as the Wrestlemania 1 headliner used his rival’s own knee brace to attack him.
Then, he got cocky.
Mr. Wonderful took out Cactus with a chair then laid it out in the middle of the ring and promised to piledriver him onto him.
Rather than just hitting the move, however, Orndorff began riling up the crowd by doing the whole “Hulk Hogan hand to the ear” thing on the ropes. That gave Cactus enough time to gather his trusty shovel and cave Orndorff’s face in with it for the win.
That was damn good.
Your Winner: Cactus Jack
More fun with Bischoff, Badd, and Hyatt followed, with the latter announcing that Ric Flair would be making an appearance live here tonight in Ashville.
Before we got to the Nature Boy, we had this:
The Heavenly Bodies (Sweet Stan Lane & Dr. Tom Pritchard w/ Jim Cornette and Bobby Eaton) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express
About half way through this match, Tony Schiavone told us that The Heavenly Bodies were originally set to face The Wrecking Crew but The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express had stepped in because they hated Stan Lane and Tom Pritchard so much.
That made little sense given that, only a few weeks earlier at Clash of the Champions, Schiavone had expressly told us that Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson would be here as part of a cross-promotion with Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
Whatever the plans may have been, this was the right call as both teams delivered a gloriously old-school tag team match that was fun from bell to bell.
The Heavenly Bodies originally brought Bobby Eaton with them, but he was quickly sent to the back by WCW officials, leaving us with a standard 2 vs. 2 encounter.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express were as popular as ever here in North Carolina, the crowd’s chants of “Rock and Roll! Rock and Roll!" only getting louder the longer it went on. This was especially the case as Ricky Morton played the role that made him famous:
Getting his ass kicked and desperately trying to get the tag.
Eventually, he did, and this riveting match (enhanced by shenanigans from Cornette) broke down into chaos.
Amidst the bedlam, Morton took Pritchard down and looked to have him beat, only to discover that Jim and Stan had referee Nick Patrick distracted in the corner.
That allowed Eaton to return and plant Morton with a flying elbow.
It didn’t make much difference.
With Pritchard still down, Robert Gibson dove on top of him for the three count.
Your Winners: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express
Post-match, there was some kind of scuffle between Eaton and The Heavenly Bodies, followed by a brief clip from the White Castle of Fear promo video that was too short to mean much.
World Championship Wrestling United States Heavyweight Championship
WCW US Heavyweight Champion ‘The Natural’ Dustin Rhodes vs. Maxx Payne
Even some of the best pro wrestling shows have their low points, and this was certainly the one for SuperBrawl III, a tedious encounter that was met with near silence from the North Carolinians.
That’s disappointing because I genuinely liked the Maxx Payne character; an unhinged goth metalhead hailing from “The State of Euphoria,” who wasn’t terrible at playing his trusty ax, Norma Jean.
When he stepped in the ring with Dustin Rhodes, however, all the allure vanished.
Dressed like a middle-aged woman on her way to spin class, Payne’s clash against the US champion really dragged the mood down.
The problem was that nothing really happened.
Rhodes worked over Payne’s arm for a bit, then Payne worked over Rhode’s arm for a bit. A little fisticuffs followed, then the champ applied an abdominal stretch, the champion hit the referee for some reason, and that was it.
Your Winner Via Disqualification and Still US Champion: Dustin Rhodes
The two continued to scrap after the bell, giving us a short brawl that was better than the match itself.
Ric Flair Returns to WCW
After much fanfare, The Nature Boy finally arrived on the screen accompanied by two fake security guards who kept clutching the headsets on their ears and pretending to communicate with someone.
Making it to ringside, Flair first took the time to note how good it was to be back and then declared that he was ready to reclaim the title he never lost.
That title just so happened to be on the line next, and Flair would be sitting around on commentary for it.
Having legitimately never seen this show before, the whole segment left me hoping that this was the set-up to something bigger later on in the show.
Otherwise, Ric Flair returning to WCW only to do commentary is almost as bad as bringing Bret Hart into the fold and making him the special referee at Starrcade ‘97.
Anyway, let’s see how this plays out.
National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion
NWA World Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta (w/ Hiro Matsuda) vs. Barry Windham
I’m writing this one day after the U.S Express were announced as inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame, and I couldn’t be happier.
I’ve praised Mike Rotunda many times throughout this blog and Barry Windham always came across like a major player in the early days and could be a joy to watch.
Tonight, he and The Great Muta delivered a very solid title match that this fan enjoyed very much.
The crowd, however, didn’t exactly warm to it.
Before the bell, Randy Anderson attempted to lay down the law and ensure both champ and challenger understood the rules, only to be completely drowned out by chants of “WE WANT FLAIR!”
That was the loudest they would get for the entire rest of the match which was a shame because it was a good quality effort.
Windham used his strength to overpower the champion in the early going, but Muta applied his superior speed and agility to counter the challenger’s offense.
Back and forth they went until Windham blocked Muta’s moonsault attempt and struck him with a clothesline followed by a vicious DDT to claim the title.
Your Winner and NEW NWA Champion: Barry Windham
Post-match, Flair attempted to show his respect to the new champion by fastening the belt around him. Windham, however, wanted nothing to do with his former Four Horsemen colleague.
The two has a brief stare down and Flair strutted back to the commentary table, leaving Windham to have his moment in the sun.
Finally, after another brief clip from the goofy White Castle of Fear mini-movie and some closing comments from Bischoff, Badd, and Hyatt, it was onto our main event
White Castle of Fear Strap Match for the World
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race) vs. Sting
(non-title)
This was billed as a “light’s out,” strap match that wasn’t officially sanctioned by WCW. I may have said this before, but the idea of a “non-sanctioned” match in pro wrestling always strikes me as a little silly.
“We don’t condone this match and can’t in good faith allow it to happen, but if you wanna do it anyway, you can have it on our show and we’ll happily promote it and make lots of money from it.”
Sanctioned or not, this was an excellent main event in which Vader mauled and brutalized his opponent while Sting’s valiant attempts at a comeback led to the champion being busted wide open.
After taking a memorable beating, The Stinger looked to have his moment when he hoisted the WCW champion on his back and carried him from corner one to corner three. Alas, before he could make it to corner four, he tripped over a prone Nick Patrick, who had been taken down by an errant boot from Vader.
Seizing the momentum, Harley Race’s man began dragging Sting around again. He was stopped after corner 3, but when Sting tried to kick his adversary away, he accidentally sent him into the last corner, earning Vader the victory.
Your Winner: Big Van Vader
Suddenly, Sting sprang to life and began whipping Vader with the strap before storming off, leaving us with the visual of a tired champion sprawled on the ropes, covered in blood.
After a few final comments, Missy Hyatt and Johnny B. Badd took off to “do their makeup” leaving Bischoff to interview out new NWA world champion.
Somewhat confusingly, Barry Windham didn’t seem to care too much about holding the NWA title. He spent the majority of his brief promo insisting that he was “on the prowl” to win all the championships in WCW.
With all that said and done, Tony Schiavone and Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura signed off and SuperBrawl III was officially in the history books.
Shows like this one only reinforce my belief that SuperBrawl -not Starrcade- was truly WCW’s marquee event.
While the British Bulldog’s WCW debut and the US title match both sadly under-delivered, everything else was good to great.
The two tag team matches and the Cactus/Orndorff bout were very enjoyable, while
Scorpio/Benoit, Muta/Windham and Sting/Vader were all strong contenders for Match of the Night.
Could WCW keep this momentum going throughout 1993?
We’ll find out in my next World Championship Wrestling review.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Other WCW Superbrawl reviews:
Other 1993 Event Reviews:
- WCW Clash of the Champions XXII
- WWF Royal Rumble 1993
- WWF Wrestlemania 9
- SMW Bluegrass Brawl 1993
- WWF Wrestlemania - The Album Review
- WWF King of the Ring 1993 - Preshow report
- WWF King of the Ring 1993
- ECW Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular
- WWF Summerslam 1993
- SMW Fire on the Mountain 1993
- ECW Ultra Clash 1993
- WWF Survivor Series 1993
- SMW - Thanksgiving Thunder
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