WCW SuperBrawl III

- Quickly, there's only a few reasons I want to review this show. Number 1: Sting vs. Vader. That alone is enough to make me go through it, but the other reason is I got the tape for free from MillenniumMan831, so it seems only fair that I sit through and do a review. Anyway, this is the Turner Home Entertainment version, which clips out Erik Watts & Marcus Bagwell vs. The Hollywood Blondes and the Rock N' Roll Express vs. The Heavenly Bodies, on loan from Smokey Mountain Wrestling. I'm sure the latter match was pretty good, but we'll have to suffer through some other crap instead.


- Originally broadcasted from the Asheville Civic Center in Ashville, North Carolina on February 21st, 1993. Commentary is being done by Tony Schiavone and Jesse "the Body" Ventura, so that means I can get away without having to mute the television for two hours.


- 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Chris Benoit:
No backstory here that I can think of. This is Benoit's WCW PPV Debut, and Scorpio was fairly new to WCW as well if my memory isn't fucking with me. This match is available on the Chris Benoit DVD, but that edits out Ventura's commentary, totally throwing off the match to me with the random cuts of Schiavone talking to "himself." Lockup into the ropes to start, and we get a clean break. Lockup #2 goes into the ropes as well, and Benoit with an elbow to the midsection. Irish whip, and Benoit puts Scorpio down with a charging back elbow, followed by a snap suplex. Irish whip to the corner, and Scorpio comes back out with a twisting cross body from the top rope. Scorpio with a dropkick and spinning heel kick to send Benoit out of the ring. Lockup again, and Benoit applies a wristlock. Scorpio kips up into a counter, but Benoit returns the favor with an equally complex counter. Scorpio and Benoit go through an even more complicated one, culminating in Benoit taking Scorpio down to the canvas. Scorpio with some assitance of the ropes to counter again and taking Benoit over with a modified northern lights suplex before going back to work on the arm. Scorpio snaps back on the arms of Benoit from a hammerlock position. Benoit battles back up into a hammerlock of his own, but Scorpio floats over the head to escape. Criss-cross sequence ends with Scorpio taking Benoit over with a Japanese arm-drag, sending him out of the ring once again. Back in the ring, and we get a Greco-Roman knucklelock. Scorpio controls, but Benoit powers back up. Scorpio blocks a pin-attempt despite Benoit using the weight of his body to try and pin him down. Scorpio and Benoit with another complex series of counters until Scorpio takes him down with a dropkick and arm drag. Scorpio goes back to working on the arm. Scorpio drops a leg across the left arm of Benoit and reapplies the armbar. Benoit fights free of the hold with forearm shots. Benoit with a double leg sweep, but Scorpio escapes. More counters leads to Scorpio taking over Benoit into more arm work. Benoit with a knee to the midsection to escape and rams Scorpio into the turnbuckle. Irish whip, and a criss-cross sequence leads to Benoit fucking under a spinning heel kick and drilling Scorpio with a stiff clothesline. Irish whip, and Benoit puts Scorpio back down with a charging clothesline. Benoit with a side back breaker, and keeps Scorpio in the position with a submission. Scorpio escapes with unbabyface-like tactics, but Benoit remains in control. Snapmare into a reverse chinlock by Benoit. Benoit suplexes Scorpio across the top rope and stomps him out of the ring. Scorpio blocks being sent into the turnbuckle and comes off the top rope, missing a dropkick. Benoit covers for a two count then goes back to the chinlock. Scorpio with a series of elbows into the midsection to escape, but runs right into a spinebuster. Benoit turns him over into a Boston crab, which looks a bit more like the bastardized Liontamer. Benoit with a snapmare and once again goes to the reverse chinlock. Benoit hammers away on Scorpio and sets him up on the top turnbuckle. Benoit takes Scorpio down with a super back suplex, hurting himself in the process. Nice little touch, there. Benoit recovers, but the pin attempt only gets a two count. Benoit with a side Russian leg sweep for another two count. Scorpio counters a back suplex into a cross body for a two count of his own. Benoit comes back with a Powerbomb, but that again only gets two. Scorpio escapes a gut-wrench slam with a sloppy sunset flip. Irish whip to the corner, and Benoit runs into the knee of Scorpio. Scorpio connects with an enziguri, but doesn't go for a pin. Irish whip, and Scorpio nails Benoit with a clothesline after missing two spinning heel kicks. Irish whip to the corner, and Scorpio nails a modified Stinger Splash. Scorpio heads up to the top rope, and connects with a modified star press, for a two count. Scorpio tries a victory roll, but Benoit slams him face-first into the canvas. Scoop slam by Benoit, and he comes off the second turnbuckle with a leg drop for a two count. Scorpio with a small package for a two count. Benoit tries a German suplex, but Scorpio rolls free and cradles Benoit for the three count at 18:19 (annnounced as 19:59). ****1/4 Damn good match that I couldn't appreciate with the goofy WWE Video Edits. Although the middle portion was a little heavy on the resting (more notably by Benoit than Scorpio), the first 10 or so minutes of good chain wrestling and the last 5 minutes of both men going balls out to win make up for it. Naturally, Benoit remained a "show up now and then" guy while Scorpio went on to win the tag titles for a week with Bagwell later in the year before going back to working everywhere but WWF (until his lame-ass run as Flash Funk in 1996-97).


- "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith vs. Wild Bill Irwin:
Davey Boy is fresh off his second run with the WWF, making his first PPV Appearence in WCW (or maybe Debut, period, judging by Schiavone's commentary). Bill Irwin was nothing more than Talent Enhancement, a.k.a a Jobber to the Stars, a.k.a someone who has no chance in hell of winning. Most fans might recognize him as "The Goon" in the WWF from 1996. Lockup to start, and Bulldog shoves Irwin into the ropes. Irwin applies an overhead wristlock, but Bulldog is too strong, and powers out with little effort. Lockup into the ropes, and Irwin with some shots to the midsection. Irish whip, and Bulldog puts him down with a series of shoulder tackles. A criss-cross sequence ends with Davey Boy clothesling Irwin out over the top rope, which is a Disqualification in WCW. Bulldog with a gorilla press slam, and Irwin falls out of the ring again. Back in the ring, and Irwin applies a standing side headlock. Bulldog with another escape and a shoulder block puts him down. Irwin applies a wristlock and beats Davey Boy down to the canvas. Irish whip to the corner, and Irwin follows in with a clothesline. I should note the crowd is pretty dead for this. Irwin does more nothing and applies a reverse chinlock. Bulldog fights back with a slugest and busts out his next signature move, the delay vertical suplex. Irish whip, and Bulldog nails a clothesline for a two count. Irish whip to the corner, and Bulldog runs into a boot. Irwin goes to the second rope, but jumps into the arms of Bulldog, and the running powerslam ends this shit at 5:49. 1/2* For a basic squash match, this went on way too long. Bulldog should've won in about three minutes at most.


- Weird clip from the White Castle of Doom stuff that WCW put on around this time, but we quickly cut to Eric Bischoff getting an interview from Paul Orndorff. I'll ignore this one, since all it does is set up the next match...


- Falls Count Anywhere Match:
Cactus Jack vs. "Mr. Wondeful" Paul Orndorff:
Like most WCW shows, I don't really know the backstory for this, and naturally, WCW's Home Video clips out anything that might give someone an idea of what the hell is going on. Cactus scares Orndorff down the aisle with a shovel before the match begins. Orndorff with a boot to the head and some roundhouse rights. Orndorff introduces Cactus into the security railing and chokes him down with a camera cable. Blech, even in 1993, Orndorff's right arm looked fucking disgusting. Cactus comes back with punches and a headbutt, then returns the favor of being rammed into the rail. Cactus removes one of the paddings on the outside and slams Orndorff on the exposed concrete. Cactus with a running elbow drop, but not the cool version from the apron. That only gets a two count. Cactus heads up to the apron, then climbs up the ropes. Cactus with a sunset flip from the second turnbuckle to the outside! Holy Shit! That only gets two. Orndorff comes back by stomping tha McDonalds out of Cactus. Into the ring for the first time of the match, and Orndorff continues having soccer practice with Cactus Jack's body. Irish whip, and Orndorff puts Jack down with a clothesline. Orndorff continues to control and dumps Jack out of the ring. Orndorff comes off the apron with an elbow to the back of the head and leads Jack up the aisle. Orndoff whips Jack into the security railing, and Jack does a tumble over TWO of them. Jack comes back to exchange rights then dumps Orndorff back onto the aisle. Orndorff comes back and suplexes Cactus across the rail! That had to hurt. Orndorff continues bashing Jck into the steel and works over the right knee while Cactus is trapped under neath. Back to the ring area, and Cactus eats more steel. Orndorff heads up to the top rope and comes off with a sledge. Orndorff goes back to the injured knee of Cactus, then suplexes him over the top rope and onto the apron. Orndorff struggles to remove the knee brace from Cactus' leg, but manages to apply the Figure-Four leglock. Orndorff uses the ropes for leverage, which is technically legal in a match with no DQ's. Cactus escapes the hold by pounding away on Orndorff. Jack stumbles around a bit, allowing Orndorff to send him back out of the ring with a clothesline. Orndorff bashes the knee of Cactus against the concrete. This match is starting to drag pretty badly right now. Orndoff knocks Cactus off the apron with the knee brace, and Cactus lands on the outside on the back of his head. Ouch... Orndorff brings a steel chair into the ring and smacks it against the knee of Cactus. He sure is taking a good beating in this match. Orndorff calls for the piledriver and does his Hogan routine, allowing Cactus to recover and smash him good with the shovel, and gets the pin out of nowhere at 12:18. ** Some cool spots from Orndorff throughout and Cactus taking a beating is always some great fun, but the match dragged on way too much, and felt more like an extended Orndorff squash for the most part. Nothing bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see this either.


- WCW United States Championship Match:
Dustin Rhodes © vs. Maxx Payne:
Payne is a replacement for Ron Simmons, according to the PWI Almanac. Maxx Payne is a suck-ass worker, and his only other notable run (or as notable as you can call it) was in the WWF as Man Mountain Rock in 1995. Definitely one of those "blink and you won't care about missing him" guys that thankfully hasn't been seen much since then. Dustin Rhodes is one of those criminally underrated workers who gets unnecessary shit for being Dusty's son, but no one can get a good match out of Payne. I just pray to God this is short, since I'm reviewing this match on first viewing, something I don't like to do with older wrestling shows. Lockup, and Payne with a shot to the throat. Dustin comes back with a flurry of rights, sending Payne out of the ring. Irish whip, and Dustin comes off the ropes with a diving clothesline. Payne looks like some shitty Indy wrestler with generic tights and an ugly physique. No wonder he didn't catch on anywhere. Back in the ring, and Rhodes applies a side headlock. Irish whip to escape, and Rhodes with a roll up for a two count. Rhodes with an arm drag takeover, sending Payne out of the ring again. Back in the ring again, and Dustin applies a wristlock, then moves into an armbar. Payne escapes with a series of knees to the midsection, and a crisscross leads to Dustin taking over Payne with another arm drag. Dustin foes back to work with the armbar. Payne takes Dustin into the corner, but misses a charge, and Rhodes takes him over and once more works the armbar. Payne escapes again, this time with a rake of the eyes, and pounds away on Dustin in the corner. Payne with a snapmare, but he misses a whatever off the ropes, and Dustin continues working over the arm with wristlocks and armbars. Irish whip to the corner, and Payne catches Dustin coming in with a back elbow, and covers for a two count. Dustin boots Payne in the corner to return the favor and hammers away some more. Payne jerks on the arm of Dustin to take control again, and works the armbar in. Dustin counters (eventually) with a head scissors, but Payne is bringing the suck like no one else on this PPV. Nothing of note happens for a few minutes, so I hit Fast Forward. Payne with a scoop slam, but he misses an elbow drop. Dustin with some boots to the midsection, followed by roundhouse rights. Irish whip, and Dustin connects with a lariat. Dustin with a suplex, but that only gets a two count. Dustin applies an abdominal stretch, but he doesn't have it hooked on properly. We get a referee bump from Payne then dumps Dustin over the top rope, drawing a Disqualification at 11:29, giving Dustin the win and to retain. 1/4* Really bad and boring match. Dustin tried for the first few minutes, but probably realized it's a lost cause and went to non-stop resting. They continue fighting after the bell, with Dustin showing that you don't go messin' with a country boy... wait, wrong family.


- Ric Flair makes his return to World Championship Wrestling after spending 18 months in the WWF. However, a special contract by WWF releasing him from the company forced Flair into a no compete length of nearly half of 1993. Odd how this was the only true interview to make the cut from this show. Flair apparently joins the commentary team for the next match. WOO! WOO!


- NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match:
The Great Muta © vs. Barry Windham:
I don't know or care about the "other" Championship belt here, since it'll probably give me a headache to try and make sense of it. I don't expect much out of this match... Muta has always been a lazy worker in WCW, and Windham was on a downward spiral of his career by this point. During his prime, he was considered one of the best workers in wrestling, and by 1994, he was nothing more than a shell of his former 'self. By 1997, he was complete dog shit, and finally during his last WCW Run, one of the worst workers in the company. Life sucks, doesn't it? Lockup to start, and Muta with a go-behind waistlock. Lockup #2 goes into the corner, and we get a clean break. The Test-of-Strength goes in Windham's favor. Muta fights back up to his feet, but Windham takes him over with a modified suplex. Muta with a standing side headlock. Irish whip to escape, and Muta puts Windham down with a shoulder block followed by a spinning heel kick. Muta takes Windham over and back into the side headlock. Windham tries powering out, but Muta keeps the hold applied. This goes on for way too fucking long. Windham finally break free, but gets nailed with a dropkick and Muta goes back to the side headlock. Windham takes control in the corner, but Muta blocks a suplex attempt and takes Windham over with one of his own. Muta with a snapmare followed by the twisting elbow drop, then back to the headlock. BOR-ING! BOR-ING! They fight over an overhead wristlock and Muta continues controlling with a headlock. Windham FINALLY gets an offensive string and plants Muta with the DDT. Windham hammers away on Muta with big rights, sending him out of the ring. Windham follows out and puts Muta down with a back suplex on the outside. Windham brings Muta back into the ring with a suplex for a two count. Scoop slam by Windham, and he comes out of the corner with a knee drop across the forehead for another two count. Irish whip, and Windham catches Muta in a sleeper hold. Windham starts using the ropes for leverage, even though I think he's a babyface here. Windham keeps that going for a while, then pounds away on Muta some more. END THIS FUCKING MATCH ALREADY! Windham with a gut-wrench suplex for a two count. Muta gets dumped outside of the ring again, and Windham bitch slaps him. Back in the ring, and Muta trades blows with Windham. He rakes the eyes of Muta to keep in control, and puts him down with a scoop slam. Windham with an elbow drop for a two count. Reverse chinlock applied, and I hit FF>> once again. Muta fights out with elbows to the midsection, but a sunset flip doesn't go his way. Irish whip, and Muta comes off the ropes with a cross body press for a two count. Windham remains in control, however, pounding away in the corner. Muta escapes a piledriver attempt with a back suplex. Windham sets up Muta on the top turnbuckle for the Superplex, but Muta fights it off and knocks Windham back down to the canvas. Muta with a chop from the top rope, followed by a handspring elbow in the corner. Muta with a back breaker, and he goes to the top rope. The moonsault misses, but Muta manages to connect with a back suplex. Muta misses another moonsault. Windham floors him with a clothesline, then finishes him off with the DDT to win the Championship at 24:08. 1/2* That was one of the most boring World Title matches I have ever seen, and is a fucking shame considering what talent these two men had in there careers. The first 12 minutes was literally all headlocks, and then Windham slowed it down even more instead of picking up the slack for Muta, who was quite clearly dogging it. After the match, Flair presents the title to Windham, but Windham is having none of that.


- Non-Sanctioned Lights Out Leather Strap Match:
Sting vs. Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race):
Short and simple... they hate each others guts. For those that need a little boing up... Vader beat the every loving shit out of Sting lead up to the Great American Bash '92, where he (Vader) won his first World Title. At Starrcade later that year, Sting beat Vader to win the worthless "King of Cable" trophy. If WWE were booking today, this would be the "rubber match." Vader is the reigning World Champion, but this isn't sanctioned by WCW, so it's Non-Title. Feeling out process with the strap, and Vader pulls Sting across the ring. Repeat. We get some smack talking, so Vader pulls Sting right into a clothesline. Vader with an elbow drop to the midsection of Sting, then some more trash talking. Vader drops another elbow, this time to the questionable area. Vader starts whipping Sting with the strap. Vader heads up to the second turnbuckle and comes off with a big splash. Vader poses more, but Sting recovers, and uses the strap to have Vader hit himself in the balls. Sting hammers away on Vader with big rights. Sting heads up to the second turnbuckle, but instead comes down and nails an enziguri. Sting heads back up and comes off the ropes with a clothesline. Sting climbs up to the top in a manner to avoid getting the strap tangled in the ropes, and comes off with his own splash. Sting heads up top once more and comes off with another splash. Sting undoes Vader's singlet and starts whipping the crap out of Vader. Those looked fucking brutal, and we'll see later how bad they were, considering Vader had blood all over his back following these shots. Well, you got to fight fire with fire when fighting Vader. Sting takes a shot at Race, allowing Vader to roll out of the ring. Sting follows out and uses the strap to pull Vader into the ring post several times. Nice shot of Vader's back, covered in blood. Sting slams Vader on the outside and starts touching the ring posts, but Vader cuts him off after 2 by ramming Sting face-first into the security rail. Back into the ring, and Sting puts Vader down with a Samoan drop. Sting charges the corner, but runs into several of Vader's standing splashes. Vader calls for the Powerbomb, but Sting escapes with a back drop. Sting goes to the top rope once again, but this time misses the splash. That's what happens when you go to the well one too many times. Vader comes off the ropes and comes down with a splash. Vader pounds away on Sting with some nice looking shots. That's what you get for whipping the skin off my back! Vader picks up Sting onto his shoulders and returns the favor of the Samoan drop. Vader heads up to the second rope and connects with the Vader-Bomb. Vader goes back to whipping Sting, but I think the ones Sting gave were a lot tougher looking. Vader puts Sting back on his shoulders and climbs up the ropes with him. ULTIMATE SAMOAN DROP! Vader starts going to the corners now, but Sting breaks it up with a kick to the head. Vader goes back to work on Sting and heads up to the top again, but Sting rolls away from the Vader-Bomb. Vader heads up to the top again, but forgets about the strap for a second. Sting manages to recover in time to crotch Vader on the top turnbuckle, then uses the strap to pull Vader off the top and into the center of the ring. They exchange blows down on the canvas, with Sting coming out the winner in that exchange. Vader rakes the eyes to take control again and sets Sting up on the top turnbuckle. Vader follows up and takes Sting over with a Super-Plex. Vader again tries for the four corners, but Sting once again breaks it with a kick to the face. Vader with his usual brutal blows in the corner, and right now Sting is spaghetti-legged. Vader pulls Sting by the strap into a standing splash, but he tries it too many times, and Sting comes out of nowhere with a wheel kick to the side of the head! Sting fights back with elbows and rights, and takes Vader down with a release German suplex. Sting with a DDT, followed by stiff sounded blows in the corner, a grand total of 17 instead of 10. Looks like Sting is bleeding hard-way, but the camera angle sucks. Sting pulls off the mask of Vader and scoops him up on his shoulders, which knocks out the referee. Sting touches three corners, but trips over the referee on the way to the fourth. It doesn't matter though, since the referee is out. Now Vader is busted open, bleeding from his left ear. Jesus Christ, these two are really killing each other here. Vader bounces off the ropes with a sit-down splash across the chest of Sting. Vader drags Sting by the foot to all four corners, and on the forth, Sting kicks Vader into the corner, giving him the most anti-climatic win ever at 20:55. Sting isn't done though, and after the match begins whipping the shit out of Vader just for the hell of it. Damn, he sure has a mean streak in him. **** Another great match in a series of them from Vader and Sting, but I still go by my decision that their match from the 1992 Great American Bash was better. A brutal David vs. Goliath match that for once incorporated the strap into the match without looking too pathetic or contrived. And for once, Vader got a taste of his own medcine, being busted hard-way from the ear and having his back ripped to shreads by the leather strap. I think this match proved that Sting could fight fire with fire, toe to toe with Vader, because it feels that in their previous matches, Sting tried (failed) strategies of hit and run and trying to have Vader wear himself out by throwing so many punches.


Final Thoughts: Going by the T.H.E. version of the show, it opens and closes with two great (and long) matches. Benoit/Scorpio is a nice match that shows that you can get over in the undercard without getting God pushes and Sting/Vader is always an awesome match, even if they had better than from this show. However, those two matches sandwich a bunch of crap. Mild Recommendation for the Turner Video version here, but a Strong Recommendation for the full PPV version, which has a great RnR/Bodies match.