WCW SuperBrawl II 1992 Review (Crazy Ninjas And Stuff!)

February 29, 1992 Live from Milwaukee, WI Announced attendance: 5.000 (capacity: ca 12.700) PPV buyrate: 160.000 (+10.000 compared to SuperBrawl 1991’s 150.000)

Hello everyone and welcome to my review of the second annual WCW SuperBrawl, featuring the ultimate showdown between former friends Sting and Lex Luger for the WCW Championship. Rick Rude defends the United States Championship against Ricky Steamboat. The Steiners challenge the Dangerous Alliance’s Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton for the World Tag Team Titles. Cactus Jack faces Ron Simmons, and much more.

These were the champions in WCW heading into this show:

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Lex Luger [230th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair, before it was vacated

• WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [102nd day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting

• WCW World Television Champion: Steve Austin [271st day of his reign] – previous champion: Bobby Eaton

• WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Jushin Thunder Liger [66th day of his reign] – previous champion: Flyin’ Brian Pillman

• WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton) [44th day of their reign] – previous champions: Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes

• WCW United States Tag Team Champions: Greg Valentine & Taylor Made Man [12th day of thei reign] – previous champions: Ron Simmons & Big Josh

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura

We kick off the show with a long introduction with the announcers, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt running down the card

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship – Jushin Thunder Liger(c) vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman

This is the rematch from a house show on Christmas night in which Liger took the title from Brian. Pillman mentioned on television that his strategy to get the title back would be to keep Liger grounded as much as possible. Pillman works a wristlock to start, but Liger flips out of it and locks it in himself. Brian fights out with a shoulderblock and they trade leapfrogs before dropkicking each other. And we reach a stalemate. Brian goes back to his strategy by going to work on Liger’s arm on the mat, until Liger makes the ropes. Liger pounds away and shoots Pillman off, who comes back with a headscissors out of the corner followed by a dropkick that dumps Liger, and Pillman baseball slides him right into the railing. Back in, Liger takes Pillman down with a single leg and goes to work on it with a toehold, but Pillman uses his right leg to wham Liger and force the break! Pillman chops away but Liger moonsaults him for two, and Liger fakes the dive while Pillman bails to earn a massive standing ovation from the crowd. Back in, Pillman works a modified version of the abdominal stretch on the mat which he eventually switches into a headscissors, but Liger turns it into a surfboard and Brian immediately makes the ropes.

Liger drop toeholds him right back into the surfboard, but again Pillman makes it to the ropes. Liger hits a corner dropkick but Brian responds with a crucifix for a close two. What looked like a powerslam attempt by Brian is reversed with a Liger sunset flip for two. The cameras totally missed Brian hitting a nasty (at least it sounded like it) backdrop suplex (thanks JR and Jesse!) on Liger. Brian hurts his leg on a missed charge in the corner and Liger goes after it with a legbreaker. Liger locks in a figure four in the middle of the ring, and they just get into a big slugfest while in the move. Brian eventually gets to the ropes, but Liger adds more punishment immediately with a half Boston crab that Brian breaks with an enziguiri. His leg is too hurt but he still has enough in him to hit a headscissors, but he gets sent flying over the top on a blind charge (which SHOCKINGLY isn’t called a DQ here either, take a drink) and Liger goes up and meets him there with an awesome diving somersault senton. A fight over a suplex on the apron goes nowhere as Brian rams Liger’s head into the post instead, and he follows it up with Air Pillman. Brian proceeds to suplex Brian off the ring to the floor (not a DQ again, take another drink) followed by a high crossbody to the floor.

Pillman ends up eating some railing, but he catches a flying Liger with a dropkick in mid air back inside. Pillman goes up for a missile dropkick, but Liger meets him with a dropkick as well for the double KO spot. They both go for a spinning wheel kick and go nowhere again, before Pillman hits a powerslam for two. Liger fights back with a german into a bridge pin for two. Liger takes him up for a superplex but gets shoved off the top and Brian hits a high crossbody for a great nearfall. Powerbomb from Liger gets two. Another one is block by Brian with a hurricanrana, which Liger tries to turn over into his own pin but Pillman lands on top for two. Brian hits a DDT but Liger is on the ropes. A criss cross ends in a double headbutt for another double KO spot. Brian gets up first and goes up, but Liger crotches him and brings him down with a superplex for a great nearfall. Liger goes up but misses a flying splash, and Brian rolls him over into a bridge pinning position for the win and the title at 17:00.

• Rating: I don’t know who had the idea to just throw these guys out there for seventeen minutes to open this PPV, but whatever that person was earning was not enough. I think Pillman could’ve sold that leg a little bit more to put over the sense of struggle in the final few minutes to really put this on a perfect level, but it was still one heck of a great match. Great technical work in the bout’s first half, great display of aerial moves in the second and a very exciting close matchup that left the fans in awe. I liked the detail of the announcers putting over Brian’s mat-based strategy, which ultimately was how he got the pin and the title. Awesome match to kick off WCW’s first PPV of 1992! ****1/4

Missy Hyatt interviews Taylor Made Man in the back. He was going to teach Bagwell how to be a winner as his protege, but now he’s going to teach him how to be a loser. I think I found out just who gave Bagwell his tips on how to have a successful WWF career!

Taylor Made Man vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Some winner of a fan competition gets to play ring announcer for this match. Great for him. Bagwell starts off well with a hiptoss which pisses off Taylor. Taylor cheapshots him in the corner but Bagwell responds right back in the same manner. They take the fight to the floor where Bagwell scores with a couple of atomic drops before sending Taylor back inside with a clothesline, and a high crossbody gets two. A headlock goes about as far as expected and Taylor bails under some ‘rooster’ chants. Yikes Milwaukee leave that alone. Taylor rams Bagwell into the railing and hits a jawbreaker back inside before stopping to humiliate the rookie. Sitout powerbomb gets two and Jesse is wondering just about when Bagwell will start asking for his mama. I don’t even know where to start with this one! Suplex connects and Taylor goes up for a flying splash for two. Taylor’s thinking piledriver but Bagwell backdrops him out, and Taylor Perfect necksnaps him for two. Surprise O’Connor roll gives Bagwell the fluke win at 7:38 but eats the Taylor Made Forearm and a DDT afterwards.

• Rating: It certainly wasn’t the most interesting match in the world and no one in the crowd gave a crap (apart from chanting ‘rooster’ at Taylor), but it was technically competent and it certainly served as a nice cooldown match after the opener. *1/2

Cactus Jack vs. Ron Simmons

Now this one could rule. A slugfest is won by Jack to start, but he misses the Cactus Clothesline and hangs himself on the ropes. Ron rams Cactus into the railing a few times, and back in a slam followed by a legdrop gets two. A blind charge finds no water in the pool, though, and Cactus clotheslines him out of the corner while we get a shot of Junkyard Dog in the crowd. Wait, he’s still around?? The double arm DDT followed by a legdrop gets two. Cactus dumps Simmons for the Cactus elbowdrop on the floor, and Simmons knocks himself out on a missed dropkick back in. A headlock takes Cactus about as far as a headlock usually takes anyone, and this time Ron’s dropkick connects. He misses a blind charge and dumps himself, but catches a charging Cactus with the spinebuster on the ramp. Cactus manages to hit a bulldog back in and he goes up, but Simmons powerslams him in mid air for the win at 6:34. Foley and Abdullah the Butcher attack Simmons after the match, but JYD comes in through the crowd and makes the save.

• Rating: If you’re searching for finesse and technique, this is certainly not the match you’re looking for. This was a fight from start to finish and it was pretty good at that, with some nasty shots back and forth. I could do without that post-match angle or anything involving Junkyard Dog past the mid 80s, but at least the match was good. ***1/4

‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk & Van Hammer vs. Richard Morton & Vinnie Vegas

Jesse Ventura is on fire throwing shots at McMahon and the WWF (and WBF) on commentary during the entrances. He starts by asking why every Vinnie he’s met wear the worst suits he’s ever seen, and then when talking about Tom Zenk’s past as a bodybuilder he adds this: “a former Minnesota winner in bodybuilding and then switched over to wrestling because as we all know there ain’t no money in bodybuilding… in fact the big guy Vinnie probably knows there’s no money in bodybuilding”!!

Van Hammer starts by showing off his strength with a gorilla press slam on Morton. Vegas tries his luck next but walks into an armdrag. They get into a lockup that lasts forever until Vegas rakes the eyes to break. Then we get a really weird spot as Vegas goes for a leapfrog over Van Hammer, but Hammer completely forgets to duck and runs straight into Nash with a headbutt to the balls, earning a big groan from the crowd. Major yawner. Hammer rams Vegas’ arm into the buckle and then they get into a slugfest. Vegas powers Hammer all the way into the corner, but Hammer pops up with a clothesline out of the corner. Zenk comes in with a missile dropkick for two, with Morton pulling Morton off the pin by the hair. It’s off to Morton and Zenk to hopefully introduce some good wrestling to this match.

They exchange some reversals and Zenk clotheslines Morton over the top to the floor (take a drink) before diving right at him and hiptossing him on the floor. Vegas gets the tag back in and he wants Van Hammer, and Zenk obliges. Lucky us. Vegas takes over with a backdrop suplex followed by a clothesline for two. Bulldog gets two with Zenk breaking up the pin. Gutwrench suplex(!) gets two. The big boot followed by an elbowdrop gets two more. Nash, having expired his moveset for about the next decade or so, tags Morton back in. A cheapshot on Zenk pisses him off and allows the heels to double-team Van Hammer for a while, and Vegas hits a flying shoulderblock for two. Is that REALLY Kevin Nash in there!? Vegas hits a suplex but then they collide for a double KO spot, allowing the hot tag to Zenk. He backdrops Morton, dropkicks Vegas off the apron and powerslams Morton for two. A sunset flip out of the corner gives Zenk the win at 12:01.

• Rating: It seemed we were in for a tough one at first, with Van Hammer and Vinnie Vegas screwing up a basic leapfrog sequence, but it was actually a decent match from that point on. Massive props to Ricky Morton and Tom Zenk, who did a tremendous job of hiding Nash and Van Hammer’s greenness and put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Nash got to shine with a nice sequence of moves near the end too. It had almost everything to suck, but it turned out to be a perfectly fine tag match. **

Bischoff and Schiavone take a look back at Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson breaking Barry Windham’s hand at Halloween Havoc.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs. The Dangerous Alliance (Larry Zbyszko & Steve Austin)(w/ Madusa)

Windham goes right after Larry and it’s a big schmoz to start. Dustin pounds away on Austin with the bionic elbows but gets shoved off on a monkey flip attempt, and Austin goes up only to eat a clothesline for two. Windham comes in with a great dropkick, but then sends Austin into his corner so he can get his hands on Zbyszko. They brawl all the way to the ramp where Larry tries a piledriver, but Barry backdrops out of it and gives him the lariat right there. He hits a second lariat back inside, but doesn’t want the pin yet so he can slug away some more. Dustin comes in for a double backdrop and goes after Zbyszko’s arm viciously. Windham comes back in with a gutwrench suplex for two, and a piledriver attempt is cut off via an Austin clothesline. Larry tosses Barry over the top rope to get some heat (wouldn’t have been a DQ anyway, so take a drink too!) before crotching Barry on the railing. Back in, Austin hits a suplex for two. Windham goes for the lariat but Austin ducks and the momentum sends Barry flying all the way back to the floor, where he again gets sent into the buckle.

Back in, Zbyszko hits a neckbreaker for two as Dustin pulls Larry off the pin by the hair. Backdrop suplex from Austin gets two. Barry slams Austin to escape a chinlock, but Zbyszko comes in immediately to put him in a sleeper. Windham escapes that too with a jawbreaker and they collide for the double KO spot. Dustin comes in off the hot tag with a dropkick to Austin and a followup elbowdrop gets two. Windham goes after Zbyszko on the outside, but Zbyszko comes in with a neckbreaker for two on Dustin. DDT gets two more. Dustin blocks an attempted backdrop with a boot but gets slapped by Madusa and the chase is on, and Austin clotheslines him on the ramp before applying a chinlock back inside. Dustin manages a crossbody for two, but Austin pops right back up with a clothesline to remain in control. Zbyszko comes back in but Dustin blocks his suplex and delivers his own. The Alliance cut the ring in half to stay on top, with Zbyszko tagging Austin in while keeping Dustin trapped in a drop toehold to prevent him from getting to Windham. Austin works a rope assisted chinlock but Dustin escapes with his own version of the stungun and makes the hot tag to Barry. He slugs away on Zbyszko and hits the lariat but Austin breaks up the pin. Dustin is all over him, however, and Barry sets him up for the superplex but Larry shoves him away. Dustin comes in from behind and shoves Zbyszko off the top too, though, and Windham hits a flying lariat for the win to get some revenge at 18:23.

• Rating: A great tag match that felt like a fight for the most part, though at some points in the second half it did feel like they were doing stuff just to fill in their 18 minutes. The story of Windham wanting his revenge from the broken hand is easy to understand and get into, and the crowd were very much excited for it. Maybe it could’ve been a classic had it been just a few minutes shorter, but it was still really damn good. ***3/4

In the back, Missy Hyatt wants an interview with Ricky Steamboat but he’s meditating in the dressing room and a ninja kicks Missy out. Madusa tries to seduce her way in, but when the ninja doesn’t fall for it she slaps him in the face and runs away from him.

WCW World Tag Team Championship – The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton)(c)(w/ Paul E. Dangerously) vs. The Steiners (Rick & Scott)

Gary Michael Cappetta gets a word from the office that Paul E Dangerously is banned from ringside for both this and the upcoming US Title match, so Madusa takes his place in the corner of the Alliance for this bout. Scott overpowers Eaton to start with an early spinebuster and takes over on the mat. Bobby scores with a swinging neckbreaker and he goes up, but Scott catches him in a belly to belly and Eaton bails. Arn gets tagged in and taunts Rick into joining the match, only to get intimidated when Rick does come in. Arn tries a leapfrog on a criss cross but gets powerslammed instead, and bails to get some advice from Madusa. “Dump a belt like it’s trash on television next time you jump ship and boom there’s a healthy retirement”. Had he paid more attention, maybe there would be no need for an AEW run these days! Scott literally bridges out of an Arn wristlock and double armdrags his way out when Eaton tries to help Arn, followed by a Rick double Steinerline over the top rope to the floor. No DQ is called, you know what to do! Eaton cheapshots Scott and takes him to the ramp, where he ends up eating a tilt-a-whirl slam.

Bobby goes up but gets caught on Rick’s shoulders for a Doomsday Steinerline and meanwhile everyone gets in and IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA BY GAWD. Eaton low blows Rick in mid air behind the ref’s back for two. Rick works his way out of a hammerlock, only to eat an Arn back elbow for two. The heels make the mistake of trying a suplex, which earns him suplexes in stereo from the Steiners. Rick follows it up with a Steinerline to Arn before tagging in Scott for a backdrop. Suplex gets two. However, Arn rams Scott’s head right into his own partner’s to turn things over. Bobby comes in with a slam and a flying kneedrop gets two. Back to Arn for an amazing DDT that gets two. AA smartly works a boston crab near his corner, allowing Bobby to come in off the tag with a legdrop. He works a camel clutch and Scott powers his way over into his corner, but Bobby releases the hold and cheapshots Rick to prevent the hot tag. Scott gets thrown into the ramp for a Rocket Launcher. Scott gets introduces into the railing, but blocks a double-team move back inside and makes the hot tag to Rick. Steinerlines abound and he’s thinking superplex on Bobby, but Arn comes in and puts him on his shoulders. Bobby tries a high crossbody but eats a powerslam in mid air instead for a great nearfall. A flying bulldog connects on Arn, but Bobby breaks up the pin and Madusa sneaks in some powder. AA blinds Rick and backs off, leaving him to suplex the referee Nick Patrick by mistake. A second ref comes in and counts Scott finishing Bobby off with the Frankensteiner at 20:06, but it’s obviously a Dusty finish as Patrick awards the win and the belts to the Alliance on a DQ.

• Rating: Technically a very sound and logical match, but I’m afraid the crowd wasn’t always invested in it for some reason. I wasn’t always feeling it either to be honest, but it had nothing to do with the quality of the match or the talents involved. I feel it took way too long for them to switch gears and have the exciting matchup one would expect, and then they just suddenly end it on a Dusty finish. But, as mentioned already, there’s nothing to point fingers at in terms of quality or logic. Good stuff overall. ***1/4

A determined Ricky Steamboat leaves his dressing room and is on his way to the ring with the ninja by his side

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship – Rick Rude(c) vs. Ricky Steamboat(w/ Ninja)

The heat for Rude in the intro is crazy. Steamboat goes to work on Rude’s arm to start, even ramming it into the post. Rude shows some life and fights back but Steamboat armbars him and hits a hammerlock slam. Crossbody gets two and back to the arm he goes. Ricky fires away with the chops until Rude crossbodies him to the floor, where he sends him into the railing as well. Rude brings him back inside the hard way with a vertical suplex from the apron, and a clothesline with the bad arm hurts him as well. Nice! Steamboat fights back, but Rude clotheslines him back down (sacrificing himself again) and taunts the crowd with a hip swivel. With one good arm!! What a role model! Rude follows it up with a piledriver into an arrogant cover for two. Backdrop suplex gets two. Steamboat fights out of a chinlock with a legbreaker and takes him down for a figure four, but Rude breaks it on the ropes. He turns things back around with a flying double axehandle into a clothesline (now with the good arm) for two. They get into a slugfest until Rude works in a sleeper. Steamboat reverses it into his own, which Rude escapes with a jawbreaker. Rude goes up but he gets crotched and a superplex gets two. It’s finally comeback city with a number of clotheslines and some HIP SWIVEL TAUNTING. Steamboat goes up and hits the flying karate chop. He goes up again for another one, but the ninja turns on him with a telephone shot to give Rude the pin to retain the US title at 20:02.

• Rating: They had the crowd in the palm of their hands throughout this entire match. The psychology was incredible and very logical, with Steamboat working over Rude’s arm from the start to prevent him from hitting the Rude Awakening. Rude’s selling was equally awesome, even doing his usual taunts just on one arm or hurting his own arm when doing clotheslines. Loved that! The finish worked well in my opinion, as that was obviously Heyman and pretty much justifies the need for a rematch. ****

In the back, Missy Hyatt walks in Rick Rude’s dressing room for an interview and catches Paul in the ninja outfit.

Main Event – WCW World Heavyweight Championship – Lex Luger(c)(w/ Harley Race) vs. Sting

Luger had been away from the ring for about a month at this point, working on the deal with the WWF/WBF and thus looking 5x bigger than his last appearance. They talk a little trash to begin but that eventually goes south and results in a heated shoving matchup. Luger slugs away until he misses the clothesline and takes the Stinger Splash already, but Luger no-sells(???) and explodes out of the corner with a clothesline. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to have the top babyface’s move be no-sold by the guy leaving for the rival promotion after this night is beyond me. He follows it up with a powerslam and goes for the torture rack already, but Sting turns it into a German suplex. Sting then tries his own rack that comes off looking really bad, and Sting proceeds to catch him with a jumping DDT off a criss cross. Luger bails and begs for mercy back inside, taking a backdrop suplex for his troubles. Sting switches right into the Scorpion Deathlock, but Luger makes it to the ropes. He rakes the eyes and pounds away for a bit while visually sucking wind. Gorilla press slam sets up a piledriver for two. Sting finally makes the comeback but misses a blind charge and goes flying to the outside. Harley Race jumps in for a piledriver right there, but Sting backdrops out of that and jumps back in with a high crossbody to Luger for the win and his second WCW title at 13:02.

• Rating: It’s quite clear for all to see that Lex Luger’s heart wasn’t in it and he already had his mind on his upcoming WWF/WBF run, but it was still a fine match regardless. They didn’t really miss anything up on a major note and Sting was very much feeling it, as were the fans in attendance. **

Sting celebrates with some pyro to close the PPV!

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: High recommendation, this is a very enjoyable event from start to finish. There was some great wrestling in here, with a total of three ***+ and two ****+ matches across the entire card, along with some great stories and angle advancement as well. Another great show here, it’s starting to feel like some kind of pattern from 1992! 8/10

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Thank you so much for your time! Make sure you don’t miss my upcoming review of WrestleMania VIII. Until then everyone, and take care!