Mega Powers Running Wild!

The legendary 'Macho man' Randy Savage teams up with 'The Immortal' Hulk Hogan to take on Ted Dibiase and Andre The Giant in the first ever WWF Summerslam!

Shawn Micahels vs. Mankind

The Heartbreak Kid defends the WWF Championship against Mankind in a thrilling main event at WWF In Your House: Mind Games.

The Birth of the nWo

From Hulk Hogan's shocking turn at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 to the addition of Ted Dibiase, THe Giant Syxx and more, relive the very beginning of the New World Order.

Austin 3:16 Says I Just Kicked Your Ass

It's one of the most famous promos of all time; Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the 1996 King of The Ring and serves notice on all the WWF superstars. Check it out in our complete review

Wrestlemania 12 Review

The boyhood dream comes true as Shawn Michaels battles champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart in a classic 1-hour iron man match. Plus, Diesel vs. Undertaker and more.

WCW Fall Brawl 1996 Review

Was Sting in cahoots with the New World Order? Would Lex Luger be able to get along with the Four Horsemen as they faced the nWo in War Games? Find out in this review

Showing posts with label Sid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sid. Show all posts

Friday, 2 December 2022

EVENT REVIEW: WWF UK RAMPAGE 1992

 

WWF UK Rampage 92 Review - VHS Cover

April 19th, 1992
Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England

Despite growing up in the UK, I was only just getting into wrestling when WWF UK Rampage '92 came out, and never got to see it in the years that followed. 

Even once Peacock and the former WWE Network came about, it never really occurred to me to track this one down until I started work on the second Retro Pro Wrestling book, The Complete History of WWE's UK PPVS: 1991 - 2003

So here I am at last, ready to check out what the VHS cover promises to be "2 1/2 hours of explosive video action."

Enjoy the review, and if you'd like to support Retro Pro Wrestling, get yourself a copy of the ebook below (print version coming in January) or read it for free on Kindle Unlimited

Welcome to UK Rampage 

Our show began with a brief and basic introduction featuring clips of some of the superstars we’d see tonight. 

You want Bret Hart? Repo Man? Virgil? Tatanka

You got em! 

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan



From there, we went live to the Sheffield Arena were our hosts, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon welcomed us to the show and ran down tonight’s card.

Having never seen this show before, I can tell you now that I’m particularly looking forward to Shawn Michaels challenging Macho Man Randy Savage for the world title as well as Bret Hart defending the Intercontinental Championship against Rick Martel.

With the pre-amble out of the way, Monsoon sent us down to ring announcer, Mike McGuirk (remember her?) for our opening contest. 

Tatanka vs. Skinner 

Is it just me, or did Tatanka always look way cooler in those white tights than he did in the trunks he’d wear for most of his career?

WWF UK Rampage '92 - Tatanka battles Skinner



Honestly, I had few expectations for this match, but both Tatanka and Skinner worked their butts off to deliver the best opening contest they were capable of delivering.

After the babyface took control in the early going, Skinner managed to get the upper hand and decimated his opponent before Tatanka picked up the win with a Samoan Drop.

It’s crazy to think that such a move was an effective finisher back in the early 1990s.

That aside, despite not being the best match of all time, this was still an enjoyable way to kick off UK Rampage ‘92.
Your Winner: Tatanka 

Out in the back, Sean Mooney interviewed The Legion of Doom about their upcoming match against the makeshift team of Col. Mustafa and Dino Bravo




Animal ranted and raved about how much they were going to beat their opponents before Hawk waxed poetical about fluid sacs and splintered sphincters.

It was a crazy promo, but I have to admit, the old-school fan in me enjoyed it a lot.

Col. Mustafa and Dino Bravo vs. The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal)

Prior to the bell, Mustafa, better known to you and me as The Iron Sheik, grabbed the microphone to blast both the United States and the United Kingdom.

WWF UK Rampage '92 - Mike McGuirk holds the mic while Col. Mustafa rants on


From there, he and Bravo entered into a lackluster affair with Hawk & Animal, getting their heads kicked in for the better part of four and half minutes before a flying clothesline from Hawk gave the LOD the predictable win. 

This wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t all that entertaining either.
Your Winners: The Legion of Doom 

As Hawk and Animal celebrated, Gorilla Monsoon told us that we were going to his colleague, Shawn Michaels, who was standing by with Sid Justice.

WWF UK Rampage '92 - Sid Justice cuts a promo on The Undertaker


Monsoon, of course, meant Sean Mooney, who reminded Sid of his boast of being ‘The Master and Ruler of the World.’

Agreeing that he was exactly that, Sid referenced William McGivern’s best-selling novel, The Night of the Juggler, as he talked about picking up The Undertaker by his throat and slamming him to the mat. 

Sid was calculated, intense, and sinister, and it made for an awesome promo. Man, I can’t deny it, I love Sid.

Offering a retort, The Undertaker’s manager Paul Bearer warned Sid that there was no justice in death, before The Dead Man claimed to have followed his upcoming opponent across the sea just to give him a tombstone.

The two would meet next.

Sid Justice (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) 

After an introduction from Harvey Wippleman (who first threatened to slap referee Tim White), Sid made his way to the ring ranting about himself and referring to himself as “Sycho Sid” some 4 years before he would officially adopt that moniker. 

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Sid and The Undertaker square off



The match itself was nothing special. The Undertaker was still in his Zombie Mortician character which meant he did very little, and as awesome as Sid might have been, he wasn’t the guy to turn this into a stellar classic.

Still, while it wasn’t the greatest match in the world, Sid Justice vs. The Undertaker was still a spectacle in its own right, and -for nostalgia purposes if nothing else- this writer enjoyed watching it.

The end came when both men battled on the outside but ‘Taker took his sweet ass time getting back in the ring and was counted out.
Your Winner via Countout: Sid Justice

Post-match, The Master and The Ruler of the World rattled The Dead Man with a steel chair, only for ‘Taker to pop back up and plant his foe with a tombstone to the delight of the Sheffield faithful. 

Shawn Michaels is Shocking

With Sensational Sherri hanging from his body, Shawn Michaels told Sean Mooney that his good looks, his physique and his wrestling ability were all shocking, and tonight he was going to shock the world, not because he was the Shockmaster, but because he was going to dethrone Macho Man Randy Savage for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Sean Mooney interviews Shawn Michaels and Sensational Sherri



Michaels wasn’t quite the five-star promo he would later become here, but this was nonetheless a strong, confident performance from the future Hall of Famer. 

World Wrestling Federation Championship
WWF Champion Macho Man Randy Savage (w/ Miss. Elizabeth) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Sensational Sherri)


Unless you know absolutely nothing about pro wrestling, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to you when I say that Michaels vs. Savage was the best thing on the card up to this point. 

WWF UK Rampage 92 review - Shawn Michaels takes the fight to Randy Savage


I vaguely recall reading somewhere that one of the reasons Macho jumped ship from the WWF to WCW is that he wanted to work with guys like Michaels and Bret Hart and put them over in the ring, whereas Vince wanted one of the most popular guys in the company to focus on commentary.

 If that’s true, Vince was clearly losing the plot years ago, because if this was even a small taste of what Shawn and Randy could do together, then we missed out on some majorly impressive matches.

Of course, this was helped along a lot by Macho’s former queen, Sensational Sherri, who ran interference on her new boyfriend’s behalf throughout the entire thing and even put the boots in to Savage.

Making her final ever WWF appearance, Miss. Elizabeth also got involved, with all four participants helping build to an exciting finsih where Macho picked up the win thanks to a flying crossbody.
Your Winner and Still WWF Champion: Randy Savage

Post-match, the bad guys attacked, but Sherri inadvertently hurt her man and left him laying as Savage and Liz celebrated.

The Bushwhackers Shag Sheep

For the second time in a row, Gorilla Monsoon told us that we were going to Shawn Michaels. This time, Bobby actually corrected him and reminded him that it would be Sean Mooney we’d be hearing from next.

WWF UK Rampage 92 review - Sean Mooney interviews The Bushwhackers



Mooney introduced The Bushwhackers who embraced what seemed like every single fan in the arena as they made their way to Mooney’s interview platform.

Seriously, Luke and Butch spent so long making their way to Mooney that it made one of The Undertaker's grand Wrestlemania entrances seem like a 100-metre spring by Usain Bolt.

When Mooney asked the New Zealanders how they found England, they insisted that they didn’t find it at all, but rather a plane did.

The misunderstandings continued until the cousins finally admitted that they loved the UK, its people, and even the sheep, claiming that the only downside was that you had to get up real early in the morning to get the attractive sheep.

I could be wrong, but did The Bushwhackers just openly admit to being sheep shaggers?

The Talking is Over

Out in the back, Lord Alfred Hayes caught up with The Mountie and Jimmy Hart.

The promo started in fine fashion as the two nefarious heels both boasted about the UK somehow falling under Mountie’s jurisdiction.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Lord Alfred Hayes interviews The Mountie and Jimmy Hart


Things took an awkward and uncomfortable turn, however, when Mountie decided to drop some casual racism, implying not only that all black men look alike, but that they were all lazy and only fit for shining shoes.

Offering a reply, Virgil gave an angry interview to Sean Mooney, insisting that there was nothing wrong with shining shoes as it was a hard day’s work for a hard day’s pay.

I can’t argue with that, though I do have to question Virgil’s sanity when he claimed that he was going to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, just like…Frank Bruno.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Sean Mooney interviews WWF Superstar Virgil



Honestly, in the 30+ years that I’ve been watching wrestling, that’s the first Virgil promo I’ve ever seen and, judging by the quality of it, I’m not surprised that I haven’t seen many more.

The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Virgil 

If you were watching this match in the hope of seeing some excellent in-ring action, you’d be sorely disappointed.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Virgil threatens to knock The Mountie's block off



Indeed, this wasn’t a stellar match, but it was entertaining in its own ridiculously exaggerated sort of way as both men spent most of the time doing the kind of spots that were great for the live crowd but not as fun when watching on TV.

The end came when Mountie jabbed Virgil in the belly with his cattle prod to retain the title.
Your Winner: The Mountie 

Out in the back, Sean Mooney interviewed The Model Rick Martel.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Sean Mooney interviews The Model Rick Martel



After expressing his disappointment at the lack of class and fashion sense, The Model cut a decent (if strangely out of breath) promo in which he promised to dethrone Bret Hart and become the best-dressed Intercontinental champion ever.

In response, The Hitman was all business as he promised to leave England still with his gold in tact.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship
WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart vs. Rick ‘The Model’ Martel


I’m not sure if I’m alone in this, but I honestly expected more from this match.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - The Model Rick Martel gets the better of Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart



Sure, this was two masters of their craft going at it, so it certainly didn’t suck and the action was pretty good, but they moved at such a slow pace that it really took the shine off what could have otherwise been a tremendous contest.

What was more disappointing was that, after being on the receiving end of Mattel’s offense for some time, Bret won the match with a quick small package from out of nowhere, cutting things short just when it was getting good.
Your Winner and Still Intercontinental Champion: Bret Hart

Backstage, Hacksaw Jim Dugan flushed the crapper and left the bathroom stall so that he could talk to Alfred Hayes about his upcoming battle of the titans with Repo Man.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Hacksaw Jim Duggan promises to beat up Repo Man



He began by encouraging the UK fans to chant “USA” for him and then followed up with the best example I’ve ever seen of managing expectations as he told us that his upcoming bout wasn’t going to be a wrestling match with holds and takedowns but rather a good, old fashioned fight.

The Repo Man vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan 

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Hacksaw Jim Duggan promises vs. Repo Man

Duggan may have wanted the British fans to yell another country’s name, but at least he had the good sense not to bring his trusty US flag to ringside with him.

I’m sure that wouldn’t have gone down well.

Much as Hacksaw has promised, this wasn’t much of a wrestling match and was more about Duggan and Repo Man working the crowd in between bouts of clobberin’ on one another.

After a few minutes of uninteresting action, Repo walloped Hacksaw with his trusty grappling hook thingy and got himself disqualified.
Your Winner via DQ: Jim Duggan 

Post-match, Repo Man choked out his opponent,  Only for Big Jim to make the inevitable comeback and chase Repo off with his 2x4 to the delight of the audience.

Duggan then waited until his music had stopped to demand that it be turned off before leading the crowd in one last chant for a country thousands of miles away.

Macho Madness Running Wild, Yeah!

Once again, we went backstage to Sean Mooney, who was standing by with world wrestling federation champion Randy Savage and his lovely wife Elizabeth.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Sean Mooney interviews WWF Champion Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss. Elizabeth



When he wasn’t losing his mind about he and Elizabeth having thousands of honeymoons in England, The Macho Man graciously put over both Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog though he insisted that as good as both of those men were, he was really only interested in facing Ric Flair again.

The British Bulldog Way


Prior to our main event, Alfred Hayes talked to the UK’s own British Bulldog.

WWF UK Rampage 1992 - Lord Alfred Hayes interviews The British Bulldog



Declaring the European Ramage tour to have been a successful time for both himself, his brother-in-law Bret Hart, and for Macho Man, Davey Boy bigged up the UK fans and promised that his opponent, IRS was “going down, The British Bulldog way.”

Honestly, I've always been a huge fan of The Brtish Bulldog, but this was a horrible promo from the Wigan-born star.

WWF Tag Team Champion Irwin R. Schyster (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The British Bulldog

Davey Boy was so over with his fellow countrymen that I bet he and IRS could have stood there for the whole match without so much as locking up and the fans would have still blown the roof off the place.

WWF UK Rampage 92 review - The British Bulldog soaks up the adoration of the UK fans as he prepares to face IRS




As it happens, they didn’t just stand there and they did lock up before giving us as entertaining a match as the two were capable of.

Though it obviously paled in comparison to the earlier Savage/Michaels bout, it was still a good effort that kept the crowd hot from start to finish and ended with a predictable (though no less satisfying) powerslam victory for The Bulldog.
Your Winner: The British Bulldog

As Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan signed off for the evening, Davey Boy scaled the ropes and celebrated his big win with a rapturous hometown crowd.

If you’re watching UK Rampage 1992 expecting to see a bunch of classic wrestling matches, you’re going to be disappointed.
Yes, Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Shawn Michaels was a great effort and worth tracking down, but other than that, there were not a lot of potential five-star classics on this card. 
If you were a fan back in the early 90s, however, and you watch this show purely for nostalgia’s sake, then I’m going to assume you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
After all, what it lacked in wrestling prowess, the show more than made up for with the larger-than-life characters and general sports entertainment craziness that made so many of us fans in the first place. 

PS: Don't forget to pick up your copy of The Complete History of WWE's UK PPVS: 1991 - 2003.




Friday, 22 April 2022

PPV REVIEW: WCW Superbrawl 1

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Event poster
May 19, 1991
Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg, Florida

Here’s a rarely-discussed piece of wrestling trivia for you:

Superbrawl 1 saw both Scott Hall and Kevin Nash debut new characters in World Championship Wrestling.

Both men had been in the company before, Nash as part of The Master Blasters (last seen, I think, at Halloween Havoc 1990) and Hall as a guy who apparently wrestled alligators.

Tonight, Nash would debut the terrible Oz character that we’ve all been laughing about ever since, while Scott Hall stepped out onto the stage for the first time as The Diamond Studd, displaying the cockiness, confidence, and unbridled charisma that would be such a hallmark of his character for the rest of his career.

The duo would later go on to change the game when they returned to World Championship Wrestling a few years later and started a revolution known as the New World Order, with Hall himself being the first of the two Outsiders to appear.

I mention all this now because I started writing this review during the weekend that Hall was first reported to be on life support, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how sad I am that The Bad Guy is now no longer with us.

Scott Hall was one of a kind, and though I’ve published my tribute both here on the blog and on the Retro Pro Wrestling Facebook page, I didn’t want to start today’s review without a ten bell salute for one of the all time greats.



Welcome to Superbrawl 1: Return from The Orient

As most WCW shows did around this time, Superbrawl Began with clips of all tonight’s stars doing their thing in the ring, this time shown in between graphics depicting the US and Japanese flags.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Brandi Brown sang America The Beautiful



Then, to lend some kind of credibility and legitimacy to tonight’s proceedings, singer Brandi Brown performed America The Beautiful.

She wasn’t bad at all, but this writer was totally distracted by the fact that the WWE Network version of this event is clearly an old VHS tape, complete with all of the squeaks and tracking troubles that such tapes developed when they were old.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Dusty Rhodes and Jim Ross called all the action


With that over, Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes welcomed us to the show, with Rhodes in particular getting very excited about our world title match.

WCW United States Tag Team Championship
The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael ‘P.S’ Hayes & Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin w/ Big Daddy Dink) vs. The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong)


WCW Superbrawl 1 review - The Young Pistols faced The Fabulous Freebirds for the 1,00th time


The US tag titles had been officially declared vacant so that former champion The Steiner Brothers could focus on holding the WCW and IWGP tag belts.

Tonight, they were up for grabs in yet another enjoyable outing for The Freebirds and The Young Pistols.

As usual around this time, Diamond Dallas Page accompanied the trio to the ring and trash-talked on a microphone, taking away the shine on his wrestlers and generally being very annoying.

Seriously, I know it’s tantamount to blasphemy to say anything bad about DDP, and I did enjoy his later work, but I really hated his association with Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin.

Thankfully, he didn’t stick around long, leaving the ‘Birds road manager, Big Daddy Dink, to run interference at ringside.

Having seen enough, Steve Armstrong’s brother, Brad, raced to the ring to even the score until referee Bill Alfonso sent Dink packing.

With all outside shenanigans out of the way, the two teams were free to deliver a match which was at least as good as their outings at Clash of the Champions XI and Clash of the Champions XII.

Towards the end, Fonzie got knocked on his arse for the second time in as many PPVs, providing an opportunity for a masked man (whom the announcers identified as Fantasia) to run in and take out the Pistols, giving the win to Hayes & Garvin.
Your Winners and New WCW United States Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds

Moving on…

Ricky Morton vs. Dangerous Dan Spivey

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Dangerous Dan Spivey destroyed Ricky Morton


As squash matches go, this one was actually pretty good.

Ricky Morton came out swinging, only to be overpowered by his larger opponent and dumped on the outside like a bag of crap.

Again, the valiant Morton struck back, and again, he was beaten down and treated like nothing by Dan Spivey.

The big man proceeded to dominate, looking just as impressive in his role of the aggressor as Morton did in his role as Spivey’s happless victim.

Toward the end, Morton mounted a comeback, but then in a weird spot, he bounced off the ropes into Spivey and neither man looked sure of what to
Do so they both just kind of hugged one another.

Not longer after, Big Bad Dan put Ricky out of his misery with a powerbomb and this one was done.
Your Winner: Dan Spivey

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Tony Schiavone with Tom Zenk and Missy Hyatt


Out on the entrance way, Tony Schiavone stood by with The Z-Man and Missy Hyatt.

First, Zenk told the announcer that despite being off the shelf with injury for the past six weeks, it was still exciting to be on hand for such a “fantastic” night.

Then, Big Bad Tony reminded Missy of the time she went into the men’s locker room and got chased out by Stan Hansen back at WrestleWar’91.

Apparently, that was sooooo funny that WCW had decided to do it again, or rather “the fans” had decided in an online vote that I’m sure was rigged.

“Wildfire” Tommy Rich vs. Nikita Koloff

Nikita Koloff had returned to the company back at WrestleWar, where he’d attacked Lex Luger and vowed to come after Luger’s US title.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Nikita Koloff makes his way to the ring to face Tommy Rich


So, naturally, his first PPV match since (I think) Bunkhouse Stampede wasn’t an epic title grudge match against Luger but rather a short, forgettable squash against ‘Wildfire’ Tommy Rich.

I get that part of the story was Koloff being told he had to earn his title shot, but this still seemed like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

There was nothing wrong with this one, it was just kind of bland and pointless.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Koloff picked up the victory thanks to his trusty Russian Sickle.
Your Winner: Nikita Koloff

On the entranceway, Johnny B. Badd made his PPV debut in an interview with Tony Schiavone.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Teddy Long and Johnny B. Badd


His manager, Teddy Long promised that Badd would take out PN News because, despite appearances, Johnny was all man.

Badd agreed, he really was a man, though he also boasted that he was so pretty he should have been born a little girl.

I’m not going to lie, I enjoyed that.

The Johnny B. Badd character would never work in today’s culture (quite rightly), but it was certainly different and Marc Mero played the role with such gusto that I can’t help but appreciate it.

Dustin Rhodes vs. Terrence Taylor (w/ Alexandra York & Mr. Huges)

Jim Ross told us that Dustin Rhodes was so far undefeated in World Championship Wrestling, an achievement that I’m sure had everything to do with merit and nothing at all to do with nepotism.

Meanwhile, Terrence Taylor was in the midst of his own push, as evidenced by the fact that not only did he have manager Alexandra York and bodyguard Mr. Hughes (The Artist Formerly Known as Big Cat) with him, but he also got a special entrance in which the York Foundation Board of Directors (a bunch of extras in suits) waiting for him and Alexandra at the top of the entranceway.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Alexandra York leads Terrence Taylor into battle


The match got underway and proved to be a good effort that could have been much better were Dustin Rhodes not still finding his feet as a pro wrestler.

It wasn’t that he was bad. On the contrary, there were many times here when “the natural” looked every bit worthy of the nepotism push he’d been getting, but then there were other times when he’d accidentally stumble or otherwise act a little sloppy.

All in all though, he and Taylor gave us a watchable match with the kind of finish that makes you wonder how dumb pro wrestling referees really are.

Towards the end, Dustin looked to have Taylor finished off, only for Alexandra York to hop up on the ring apron and distract referee Nick Patrick for the next five minutes.

While that was going on, Mr. Hughes hopped up on the apron and waited around for a while until he could grab hold of Rhodes for a Taylor attack.

That worked, but when Hughes went to plant Dusty’s Kid with an International Object, Taylor bore the brunt of the attack instead.

Dustin made the cover, Patrick turned around, and the fall was counted.

It was a perfectly reasonable way to end a match were it not for the fact that it took *ages* to execute.

Indeed, at one point it looked like Taylor went over to Patrick in order to tell him to stay busy while he, Dustin, and Hughes got their act together.

I don’t know if it was Hughes, Rhodes, or Taylor whose timing was off, or if WCW were had planned all along to set a new record for the amount of time it takes to pull off a simple heel interference finish, but the whole thing took so long to pull off it that it was hard to maintain suspension of disbelief.

Seriously, was Nick Patrick such an idiot that he had no problem spending an embarrassingly long time yelling at York (who wasn’t really doing anything except standing there) even though he had a match to call.
Your Winner: Dustin Rhodes

Prior to the next match, Dusty and Jimbo Ross talked about Big Josh bringing live bears to the ring with him.

I love pro wrestling. How can you not with such ridiculous things as live bears?

Black Bart vs. Big Josh

The crowd couldn’t give a single care about Black Bart and greeted him with total silence as he made his way to the ring.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Big Josh and his bears


Big Josh (the late, great Matt “Original Doink” Bourne) was overdue to him bringing two live bears to the ring with him. It was a unique gimmick that was guaranteed to be popular and would’ve been fun had those poor bears not looked so utterly miserable.

I know this isn’t the time to get on an anti-animal-cruelty rant, but I definitely felt bad for Big Josh’s captive companions.

Speaking of Josh, he retained the crowd’s support through a match which wasn’t as bad as some people might have you believe, but was far from entertaining.

Let’s put it this way, JR told us that the match wasn’t “the prettiest you’ll ever see,” which was just another way of him calling it “bowling shoe ugly,” and we all know what Ross meant by that.

Anyway, after two or three minutes of meh, Big Josh ran the ropes and finished off his opponent with an Earthquake splash.
Your Winner: Big Josh

As Josh went to the back, Ross and Rhodes decided among themselves that his finisher was called “a big butt drop.”

“Speaking of big butts,” said JR, “here’s another one:”

The Danger Zone with Stan Hansen

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Paul E. Dangerously interviews Stan 'The Larriat' Hansen


Up next, Paul E. Dangerously hosted an interview segment with Stan Hansen.

In a comical moment, Dangerously tried sucking up to Hansen by wearing his own cowboy hat, only for Hansen to laugh at it because it was made in New York, and then laugh at Heyman for being a work shy yuppie.

The real point of this segment was Hansen bemoaning the fact that nobody had stepped up to fight him tonight. Feeling angry that he didn’t get a match, Big Bad Stan challenged Dustin Rhodes to stop “hiding behind [his] daddy and fight.”

I’m not sure if there was some sort of backstory there which I’m not familiar with, but it did seem like a bit of a random challenge.

Anyway, Hansen stormed off, leaving Dangerously to rag on the state of Florida and then quit his job (as host of The Danger Zone, presumably) due to his microphone not working properly.

Not much happened here, but that was genuinely one of the most entertaining things to have happened at Superbrawl 1 so far.

The Great and Powerful Oz

“Once upon a time there lived a wizard, not the Wizard of Oz, but a great and powerful wizard who ruled over all of Oz,” said one of the most confusing voiceovers of all time as the arena was filled with green light and smoke billowed across the entranceway.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Oz is greeted by Dorothy and The Wizard as he makes his debut


At this point, Dorothy appeared with her homies Tin Man, Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion.

The three were led up the aisle by the Wizard of Oz (the source of the voice-over) who promised to show them this most magnificent wizard of all.

Naturally, that’s where we got the WCW debut of Oz when Kevin Nash turned up wearing an enormous cape, mask, and wig.

At that point, the creepy, eerie music that had been playing stopped, and Oz began making his way to the ring to a theme that sounded like somebody was trying to play Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” but couldn’t remember how the main riff ended.

It was goofy, sure, and the whole character has been laughed at for the past three decades, but there’s no denying this was one hell of an elaborate entrance that rivaled -in scale and ambition if not quality- the kind of Super Special Entrances we see at modern Wrestlemanias.

I mean seriously, this was the most extravagant entrance ever seen in WCW -if not all pro wrestling- up to that point in history, but all Jim Ross could talk about was how big Oz was.

“This guy is huge!” He repeated as Nash waded through thick green smoke with the characters from The Wizard of Oz scurrying in front of him. “He’s huge!”

To be fair, JR probably couldn’t think of anything else to say since the Land of Oz didn’t have a football team Nash could’ve played for.

Oz vs. Tim Parker


WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Oz poses after beating Tim "Who's Yo Momma?" Parker


Poor Tim Parker didn’t stand a chance here. With the Wizard (the other one, not Nash) still in the ring, the Big Green Giant picked up Parker, tossed him across the ring, then hit him with an admittedly cool tilt-a-whirl powerbomb that Nash really should’ve kept in his repertoire.


That was all she wrote. The whole match was over in about 25 seconds, making it a good few minutes shorter than the actual entrance.
Your Winner: Oz

Backstage, Missy Hyatt entered the men’s locker room for an interview with her heart set on her main crush, The Z-Man.

Instead, she found Terrence Taylor and began to interview him before heading into the shower looking for Zenk.

Instead, she once again found Stan Hansen, who emerged from a shower drenched in tobacco spit and kicked her out of the lockerroom.

This wasn’t funny at Wrestle War, so why anybody would think it would be funnier a second time is beyond me because it wasn’t.

Taped Fist Match
Flyin’ Brian vs. Barry Windham

This was an excellent match that this writer wishes would have lasted longer.

This feud had been raging since The Four Horsemen attacked Brian Pillman on the eve of WrestleWar ‘91. Pillman had gained a modicum of revenge in that show’s classic War Games match only to get destroyed by Sid, so tonight he was looking to finish the job and get his revenge once and for all.

Alas, he didn’t.

Following a short but brilliantly brutal brawl, Barry Windham hit a huge superplex for the win.
Your Winner: Barry Windham

Up next, Diamond Dallas Page hosted “The Diamond Mine.” This was supposed to be a talk show ala Paul E.’s Danger Zone or Piper’s Pit.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Diamond Dallas Page poses with his Diamond Dolls



Instead, it was mostly another opportunity for DDP to yell “good gawd!” a lot and revel in the excess of his own gimmick.

While he was doing all that, Page started by bragging about The Fabulous Freebirds US tag team title victory. This allowed him to segue nicely into talking about tonight’s world tag team title match between champions The Steiner Brothers and challengers Sting and Lex Luger.

It was the latter two who appeared as Dallas’ “guests,” albeit in the form of a pre-recorded promo in which they talked about what good friends they were with Rick and Scott and how it was going to be a tough match for them.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Sting and Lex Luger



Back in the arena, DDP claimed Sting & Luger’s promo just wasn’t cutting it, so to make up for it, he was going to introduce a new member of the Diamond Mine, none other than the debuting Diamond Stud.

The Stud looked huge here as he gave the famous toothpick flick that would become such an iconic trademark for the rest of his career.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - DDP reveals the debut of The Diamond Studd



As the big man flaunted and flexed and Page’s Diamond Dolls stripped him of his leather jacket, Page himself announced that the two of them would be going across the country in search of a “studette” who could serve as Hall’s manager.

Early DDP still annoys me, but that was a good segment because it actually had a purpose beyond giving Page a platform to be loud and obnoxious for the sake of being loud and obnoxious.

Stretcher Match
Sid Vicious vs. El Gigante

Say what you want about his in-ring ability, Sid Vicious had such a powerful presence that he was always super over. Even when playing a heel, the fans seemed to love him, and so did your reviewer, not that this match gave you much to love.

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - El Gigante stares down Sid Vicious


I’ll remind you that this was a stretcher match:

Normally, the rules of such a match are that the only way to win is to place your opponent on a stretcher and wheel him over a line.

At Superbrawl 1, the rules seemed to be “bring a stretcher to the ring and then forget all about it,” because that’s exactly what happened here.

Sid’s opponent, El Gigante, brought the stretcher to the ring and then left it there while the two competitors proceeded to do almost nothing for the next two minutes either.

I’m not kidding either. There was a staredown, some jockeying for position, a teased test of strength which resulted in Sid getting clotheslined to the outside, and that was pretty much it.

Once Sid got back in the ring, he somehow fell prey to Gigante’s claw and was pinned. In a stretcher match.
Your Winner: El Gigante


OK, so you might be thinking maybe this was a version of a stretcher match where you have to pin your opponent and then put him on the stretcher, but no.

That was just a straight singles match where a stretcher just happened to be at ringside.

To be fair, it did come into play when Kevin Sullivan and One Man Gang attacked Gigante after the match, with the latter getting slammed onto it by the big man before picking it up and hitting Gigante over the back with it.

Sullivan blasted Gigante in the face with some kind of powder and whipped him, but the ginormous superstar simply shrugged it off and the two heels scarpered.

Meanwhile, Sid Vicious immediately disappeared and was never heard from or spoken about again.

Quite literally.

After this, Sid was done with WCW, though he would soon show up in the World Wrestling Federation in time to play a prominent role at Summerslam ‘91.

Thunder Doom Cage Match
‘Hacksaw’ Butch Reed vs. Ron Simmons

(Teddy Long must be suspended in a cage over the ring)

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Butch Reed hurts Ron Simmons


WCW had a Thunderdome catch match back at Halloween Havoc 1989, but this was a grudge match between Ron Simmons and Butch Reed, so obviously, that made it Thunder Doom. To be honest, though, it was just a big standard cage match.

And I do mean bog standard.

The former tag team champions hadn’t yet been given separate entrance themes, so both Reed and Simmons came down to the awesome Doom theme.

So too did Teddy Long, whose role in the match was to be suspended in a shark cage above the ring. Naturally, Long acted completely surprised by this and protested but ended up in the cage anyway.

This gimmick of the heel manager never quite worked for me.

I get suspension of disbelief and all that, but look:

Even in kayfabe, there must have been a point before the match when these heel managers must have agreed to be suspended in the cage otherwise it wouldn’t be advertised as such.

So why do they always act so surprised and appalled by the idea of doing something they must have agreed to?

Anyway, that tangent aside, this was a pretty mediocre match.

The two started with a brawl (which we didn’t get to see due to the cameraman focusing on the referee locking the cage) and then Reed proceeded to beat up his former partner for the majority of the match before Simmons pulled a spine buster out of thin air at promptly won the match.

It was OK, and clearly the two men put a lot of effort in, but it was far from must-see TV.
Your Winner: Ron Simmons

Oh, and incase you were wondering, yes, JR did tell us that Ron Simmon’s jersey had been retired at Florida State.

He told us twice in fact.

Within the first minute.

Before Simmons had even made it to the ring.

I’ve got to be honest with you, as an Englishman who knows nothing about football in the USA, I have no idea what a retired jersey signifies, but Ross clearly thought it was a big deal.

Somebody clearly thought Big Ron was a big deal too because he would get pushed to the moon after this while Butch Reed was pretty much gone.

World Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship
WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Sting & WCW US Champion Lex Luger

The Steiners had been on a roll as of late. Their IWGP tag team title match at WCW/NJPW Supershow 1 was an instant classic and this one looked to be much the same way.


Things started with Lex Luger and Rick Steiner exchanging headlocks and holds, the two friends not wanting to go on a full-force attack like they normally would.


Then Steiner ran into Luger and got shoulder-barged down the mat with ferocious might. That one power move caused the whole match to explode, erupting in a maelstrom of hard-hitting offence and non-stop excitement.

Seriously, this was a great match in which friendships were quickly tossed aside in favour of both teams just absolutely battering each other.

In the end, Nikita Koloff ran out to try and attack arch-nemesis Luger but got Sting instead.

The interference allowed Rick & Scott to get the win.
Your Winners and Still WCW Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers

Post-match, Sting ridge backstage to attack Koloff and the two brawled all the way to the outside of the arena.

World Championship Wrestling World Television Championship
WCW TV Champion Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Arn Anderson tries to snap Bobby Eaton's leg off


Since we last saw Bobby Eaton, he had become a fully-fledged babyface and was all set to challenge for his first singles title in WCW.

The match with Arn Anderson turned out to be fantastic, not just because of the actual wrestling, but more because Anderson and Eaton were such masters of the art of selling.

Seriously, in the opening moments, Eaton interrupted a series of lockups and takedowns with a big right hand which Anderson sold like a pro, his face expressing not just the pain of being socked in the mouth, but the utter surprise and bewilderment at having been socked in the first place.

It was a thing of beauty.

Later, the champion took control and Beautiful Bobby likewise proved himself to be a selling machine, doing a damn fine job of convincing you that Anderson’s continued assault really was putting him in agony.

I’ve never trained to be a pro wrestler so I can’t say this for certain, but I’d like to imagine that if I did, I’d be watching this match for days to learn how to sell.

Anyway, the match wasn’t the fastest or the flashiest, but it was incredibly solid apart from one tiny moment when the challenger was clearly repositioning himself on the mat ready for Arn’s Vader Bomb attempt.

Later, it was Eaton’s turn to hit the top rope ready for the Alabama Jam.

At that point, we got a totally random run in as Barry Windham rushed to the ring to help Anderson but was stopped by Brian Pillman who fought him off before the former US champion could do any damage.

Eaton hit his ‘Jam and made the cover, but WCW being WCW decided to focus on Pillman and Windham racing to the back rather than the match-winning fall.

Other than the run in which contributed nothing but momentary confusion, this was a good match indeed.
Your Winner and New WCW TV Champion: Bobby Eaton

Prior to the main event, Tony Schiavone helped us peek through the dressing room door of Tatsumi Fujinami as his entourage got him psyched up for his world title match against Nature Boy Ric Flair.

As Fujinami left for the ring, his manager, Hiro Matsuda, stopped by to tell Schiavone that the title was definitely coming back to Japan.

World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Nature Boy Ric Flair vs. IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi “The Dragon” Fujinami

WCW Superbrawl 1 review - Ric Flair stares down Tatsumi Fujinami



Putting all the confusion and chaos of the world title scenario out of the way, Flair/Fujinami II was a solid if unspectacular bout.

Fujinami had a few Japanese flower girls scatter petals en route to the ring while Flair was met in the entranceway by his butler, his maid, his cook, and his limousine driver, you know, because he was RICH!

As if to prove it, he took off his Rolex and put it on a silver tray being held by his maid.

The two combatants eventually shook hands (a weird gesture given that Flair was a heel) and kicked up for a match that started very slowly and eventually built up into a good effort.

Many have commented on how the lack of crowd reaction killed this match.

While it’s true that the audience weren’t exactly moved by this one, both wrestlers worked hard regardless, even if they couldn’t quite give us a classic main event.

After a good effort (which naturally saw Flair busted open), the Japanese official took a tumble, allowing Flair to catch Fujinami by surprise in a roll-up so that outside referee Bill Alfonso could make the three count.
Your Winner and Still WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Nature Boy Ric Flair

As Flair made his way to the back, Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes recalled tonight’s events before signing off with a reminder that we’d next see WCW on PPV at The Great American Bash.







Prior to Scott Hall’s passing, the original introduction to this review talked about how Superbrawl was one of my favourite WCW PPVs and an event I felt should have been held in the same reverence as Starrcade.

In a weird way, I’m almost relieved that I got to rewrite that introduction because Superbrawl 1 was nowhere near to the standard that you’d expect from one of a company’s top flagship events.

The tag team title match between The Steiners and Sting/Luger was awesome, the Eaton/Anderson TV title match was great, and the main event proved that Ric Flair was still better than most even on an off day, but there was a lot of stuff here that just didn’t quite hit the mark.

Still, this was the show that brought Scott Hall one step closer to stardom, and for that, this fan at least will always remember Superbrawl 1 fondly.

Rest easy, Bad Guy.

Retro Pro Wrestling

New reviews of classic WWF/WWE events recalling every moment from Wrestlemania 1 - 30. You'll also find reviews of WCW, ECW, TNA and the occasional indie event, along with a look at old school magazines, merchandise and more.