Sage Cortez
After WCW’s big show in Japan, it was time to head back to the States and build towards their inaugural SuperBrawl event. In the process they also had to deal with Sid intending to leave and wrapping up his run in the company, and once again, the WWF booked an arena in the same town as SuperBrawl the day before the show. That was actually a big problem for WCW. It took business away from them, and those shows often drew bigger gates. It was idiotic on their part that they couldn’t figure out a way to stop it. They also had a ridiculous explanation for Ric Flair losing his title to Tatsumi Fujinami. Anyway, to the matches!
– Taped to air April 6th, 1991, on WCW Pro, from Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia
Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman
Pre-Match Thoughts: This was taped far in advance of Pillman picking up any legitimate injuries. He did have his shoulder taped up, though. Windham was really going with the surly thing at this point, and it worked for him. They’re still calling Pillman “Flyin’ Brian.” That’s weird.
Match Review: Pillman starts the match by evading Windham for a bit, then takes him down with a hip toss and some arm drags. Pillman continues the left arm work, until getting a forearm to the face. Pillman tries to come back with a charge, but flies over the top and is able to skin the cat to get back in there. He misses a clothesline, but takes Windham down anyway for an elbow drop that gets 2. Windham comes back with his own elbows, only to be given another arm drag. He gets out of the armbar with some punches, and Pillman hits him with a flying back elbow. It’s back to the arm, and Pillman then evades a charge to the corner and takes Windham to the outside with a flying head-scissors. Sadly, we go to a commercial.
Back from that commercial, Windham hip tosses Pillman off the top rope, and follows with a double axehandle from the second rope. Windham then uses a single-arm DDT, and smashes Pillman’s face into the mat. Windham follows that with a HAMMERLOCK SLAM, and decides to work on Pillman’s messed up left shoulder, barring up the arm. Windham back suplexes Pillman, and decides to not pin him and mess up his arm and shoulder worse. This goes on for a while, and Pillman starts his fight back with a big clothesline! Windham goes for a bodyslam, but Pillman rolls him up, only for Windham to reverse it while grabbing the tights for the win. Aw.
Now that the match is over, Barry Windham is being interviewed by Zbyszko. While that’s going on, Pillman leaps off the top and flies onto Windham, who’s standing at ringside! He works Windham over with chops, throwing him into the rail and all that good stuff. They then go into the ring, and Windham smashes Pillman’s face into the mat, then drops him with another single-arm DDT. Now Windham goes back to cutting his promo, but Pillman grabs him again! Windham bodyslams him, stomps on him a little more, and HERE COMES EL GIGANTE. Windham starts talking again, but THIS PILLMAN WILL NOT STAY DOWN. This time Windham just leaves.
My Thoughts: That was nearly 12 minutes long, and despite my lack of commentary, this was really good and felt like it mattered. This match was more about intensity than the moves contained within. It was really strong stuff, and I love seeing Pillman pushed in this way. ***1/2, it was fun to watch. The best thing about WCW TV was that they regularly put their best workers in with each other.
– Taped to air April 6th, 1991, on World Championship Wrestling, from Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, Georgia
Sid Vicious & Arn Anderson (WCW TV Champion) vs. Sting & El Gigante
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is how Sid leaving WCW starts, I guess. That’s sad. I’m mainly watching this to see what El Gigante looked like when trying to work a match. I really should know better. At least Jim Ross is on commentary with Paul E., here.
Match Review: Sting and Arn will start this, and it begins with them locking up. Arn tries some hair pulling, but Sting won’t stay on the canvas. As such, Sting punches Arn, and Arn winds up in the wrong corner, finally noticing and running away. Sid tags in, and Sting hits him with a clothesline for 2. Arn tags back in and trades punches with Sting, and Gigante makes his way in for the first time. He makes Arn look like a dwarf. Sid runs in and attacks Gigante from behind, and he even makes Sid look small. Sid blocks THE CLAW, so Arn attacks Gigante from behind. All four guys are in there now. While Sid has Gigante locked up for the POWERBOMB, Sting covers Arn with a cross body from the top at 4:09. Sting then stopped the powerbomb attempt.
My Thoughts: Better than expected, and it felt much shorter than 4 minutes. I was surprised it went by so fast. *3/4, has to be one of the best matches El Gigante was ever in when you really think about it. I have another one to watch that may also qualify.
– Taped to air April 13th, 1991, on WCW Pro
Terrence Taylor (w/Alexandra York & Mr. Hughes) vs. Bobby Eaton
Pre-Match Thoughts: I think the best thing on the video I’m watching, also from this episode, has the One Man Gang and Kevin Sullivan attacking Ron Simmons. That…doesn’t really make sense to me. This on the other hand does, and Eaton was a full-fledged babyface at this point. I’ve watched matches with these guys before, and expect something good.
Match Review: Eaton hit the ring at a sprint, and chased Taylor right out to the floor. York had an insert promo, and she said that the match will go no longer than 5:16. Interesting. When Taylor gets back in the ring, Eaton punches him to knock him right back out. Eaton gives him a hip toss shortly afterward, forcing Taylor to cower in the corner. Taylor gets in some offense with turnbuckle shots, and there’s a clothesline. Taylor drops a knee on Eaton, and follows that with a GUTWRENCH POWERBOMB for 2. Looks like Taylor busted Eaton open somehow. ON TV! Eaton comes back with a neckbreaker, and slaps Taylor around a bit. Eaton goes up top, and down he comes with the FLYING ELBOW. Taylor uses momentum to send Eaton into the buckle, but Eaton cradles him up for 2 anyway. Eaton tries a backslide that gets 2, out from the back comes TOM ZENK. HE GRABS THE COMPUTER, but Mr. Hughes destroys him. Eaton cradles Taylor up for 2 again, but the COMPUTER IS BROKEN. CAN TAYLOR WIN NOW??? Eaton hits Taylor with a clothesline, and the bell starts randomly ringing. Oh shit, they actually timed this match and because Taylor didn’t win in 5:16, he lost. HAHA.
Taylor gets the computer and hits Zenk in the head with it, so he got buried on all levels.
My Thoughts: It really did appear as if Zenk was a total loser, and if only for that, I liked this. I liked it for more than that though. The computer stuff is hilarious, and in addition to that, in the promo for house shows after this, they advertised a COMPUTER MATCH. **, but this computer stuff is amazing.
– Taped to air April 13th, 1991, on World Championship Wrestling, from Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
Ric Flair (WCW Champion) vs. Brian Pillman
Pre-Match Thoughts: Obviously non-title with the titling here, and I really can’t wait to watch this. It’s perfect matchmaking, and it should further push their current programs in the right direction. The obvious problem is that they booked Flair to face someone at SuperBrawl who wasn’t going to be on any of their TV. Flair still looked stupid with this haircut.
Match Review: These guys lock up, and wind up breaking it up in the corner. Pillman takes Flair down with a shoulderblock, but Flair comes back with chops. Pillman hits him too, and we have a staredown. Pillman gives Flair a backdrop, and Flair bails out to the floor. Pillman follows, and they trade chops until Flair goes down. They get back in the ring and the same thing happens, then Pillman takes Flair down with a drop toe-hold. He wrenches Flair’s left leg into the post, and puts a half crab on him. Flair makes the ropes, and appears to be bleeding from his chest. So, those chops were hard. Pillman suplexes Flair, and takes him to the corner for some punches, but Flair comes out with an inverted atomic drop. Flair hits Pillman with a back elbow, and follows that with a knee drop. Flair does a second, and tells the referee to get out of his face before covering for 2. Pillman goes to the corner for punches again, and Flair tries the inverted atomic drop again, but Pillman knocks him down with a chop that gets 2. Flair comes back with his own, so Pillman tries a German suplex, only for Flair to hit him with a low blow. Flair drops an elbow on Pillman for 2, and dishes out a back suplex for another 2 count. Flair tries to head up top, but Pillman slams him all the way down! Now Pillman heads up top, and comes down with a missile dropkick that misses. Flair capitalizes with a suplex, and demands the referee count his eventual 2 count. Pillman tries to fight back, and this time he throws Flair upside down into the corner and out to the floor. Pillman gets hit after leaping off the apron, and Flair throws him back inside. They chop each other relentlessly, and Flair dodges a dropkick, causing it to hit the official. Flair tries to capitalize in typical Flair fashion by throwing Pillman over the top, but he SKINS THE CAT. Pillman then leaps off the top with a flying clothesline and has a visual fall on Flair, but Arn Anderson runs out there to help Flair with the attack. Flair slaps the FIGURE-FOUR on Pillman, and Pillman tries to grab the referee in an attempt to break it. Arn helps Flair cheat the whole way, but HERE COMES EL GIGANTE TO TAKE CARE OF THESE CHEATERS. Obviously, Pillman gets DQ’d at 13:16, and Gigante tries to choke Arn to death. He puts the CLAW on Flair, and eventually Arn and Flair leave. THEY BETTER.
My Thoughts: This was even better than the Windham match, with Flair and Pillman working super hard trying to make something great out of the time they were allotted. I think it should have finished with Flair getting the pin over Pillman while they were in the figure-four. It seemed engineered to get El Gigante involved, but I don’t understand why. Everything WCW did made them seem like a regional promotion. They sold those Atlanta house shows so hard, advertising matches fans would never see on TV…I don’t understand. Still, this is ***3/4. Pillman really should have been pushed into a title match given how hard they were pushing him on their television, but nothing about WCW made sense.
– Taped to air April 20th, 1991, on World Championship Wrestling, from Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
Larry Zbyzsko & Terrence Taylor (w/Alexandra York & Mr. Hughes) vs. Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Morton
Pre-Match Thoughts: With Gibson out, I think this is the perfect way to use Ricky Morton. Teaming him up the young supposed stud, the Natural, oh yes brother, this should work out very well. Before the match the babyfaces had a promo, I can’t handle Dustin talking like his dad.
Match Review: Taylor and Morton start it, and the referee breaks them up. Hey, that’s BILL ALFONSO! Morton takes Taylor down with an arm drag, and follows with an inverted atomic drop. Dustin tags in for an atomic drop, and follows with a boot to the head to send Taylor out of the ring. Taylor gets back in there, and tries a bodyslam only for Dustin to reverse into his own. Taylor stalls for a bit, then brings in Zbyzsko, who works Dustin over. Zbyzsko misses a dropkick, and Morton tags in. Zbyzsko rolls Morton up for 2, and tags right back out of there. Morton sunset flips Taylor, and it only gets 2. Zbyzsko knees Morton in the back as he runs the ropes, and the heels make an illegal switch. Zbyzsko suplexes Morton, and it gets 2. Taylor tags back in, and gives Morton a jawbreaker. Taylor drops Morton with a sloppy powerbomb that gets 2, then clotheslines him in the corner for another 2 count. Taylor then uses the NECK SNAP on Morton, that’s interesting to see. Zbyzsko gets back in there, and takes Morton down for a Boston crab. Zbyzsko looks so old while putting this hold on Morton, it’s making me laugh. Dustin rushes in to break it up, so Zbyzsko makes a switch out and Morton backslides Taylor for 2. Taylor slams Morton, but misses an elbow drop. Dustin makes a tag, but it isn’t spotted. Why, of course! Zbyzsko went in on a tag that wasn’t spotted, and these guys collide with each other. Morton makes the tag out this time, and Dustin comes in with elbows for both heels. Zbyzsko and Taylor try a double clothesline, but Dustin flies through it to stop it. He cradles Taylor up, and picks up the victory at 7:51!
Zbyzsko and Taylor knock Dustin out to the floor and set Morton up for a SPIKE PILEDRIVER, but Bobby Eaton runs out to stop it. Mr. Hughes then takes him out with a clothesline, and drops Morton with a big slam to end that TV episode.
My Thoughts: This was a fine match, but I didn’t understand why Dustin had to win. Well, that’s not true, I do, but in the context of the match with all the cheating Taylor and Zbyzsko were doing, they should have been the winners. It made them look a little incompetent. Regardless, the work was strong and it was nice to see the match given a little time. **1/4.
– Taped to air April 27th, 1991, on World Championship Wrestling
Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman
Pre-Match Thoughts: Yes, it’s this again. I wonder why I thought this was worth watching twice. Right now, I honestly don’t know why. I can think of a few reasons, namely that this is a great pairing. I like the grudge match feel.
Match Review: Windham and Pillman look quite upset. Windham attacks, but Pillman comes back with punches in the corner. Or rather, slaps! He follows that with a backdrop, and goes to work on the arm. Windham winds up in the ropes, and takes a break for a little bit. When he gets back in there, he kicks Pillman, and goes for a piledriver only for Pillman to reverse into a backdrop. Pillman gives Windham a third backdrop, so Windham rolls to the outside. Pillman follows and chops him, and sends Windham into the rail. Back in they go, and Windham gives Pillman a bodyslam. He heads up top, and Pillman dropkicks him off the top rope! Pillman heads up top, and and comes down with a double axehandle! Pillman then throws Windham back inside, and back to work on the arm again. Then they trade chops and punches, and Pillman misses a dropkick, so Windham hits him with an elbow. Windham drops Pillman with a flapjack, and continues the punishment with a BRAINBUSTER. Windham follows that with a knee drop to the head, and winds up hitting the referee with an elbow. Haha. He then drops an elbow on Windham, and the referee covers for 2 anyway. What kind of bitch referee is this? Come on Bill Alfonso, man up. Windham puts a sleeper on Pillman, and Windham uses the ropes for leverage as part of the hold. Very smart. Pillman gets out with a jawbreaker, but Windham comes back with a big clothesline that gets 2. Windham tries another, but this time Pillman hits him with a spinning wheel kick! Pillman is busted open, but he hits Windham with a clothesline of his own anyway. Pillman follows that with a hip toss, and up top he goes. Down he comes with a MISSILE DROPKICK, but it only gets 2. Windham tries a bodyslam, but Pillman cradles him up…so Arn Anderson comes out to stop it. He hits Pillman with a DDT, and Windham was DQ’d at 10:16. Damn, the fans are throwing trash in the ring. BOBBY EATON IS HERE. He takes Arn and Windham out, and with Pillman’s help he clears the ring!
My Thoughts: This was pretty close to their previous match, and this is a great feud. I’m pretty invested in seeing it out now. The fans were PISSED at what happened, the trash throwing reminded me of WCW at its peak. ***1/4, and it’s safe to say Pillman was WCW’s MVP this month. He worked super hard and put on three really fun matches. I’m interested to see their TAPED FIST match at SuperBrawl.
– Taped to air April 28th, 1991, on WCW Main Event
Ric Flair (WCW Champion), Arn Anderson (WCW TV Champion), and Barry Windham vs. Sting, El Gigante, and Brian Pillman
Pre-Match Thoughts: One bad part and five good ones makes this a must see. The five good parts trump El Gigante on every level. If they gave this any time at all, it could be a great match. Sadly, by the look of this video, I see no time. I still want to watch it. Sting is wearing black and white pants. This is reminding me of what he’d become in the future!
Match Review: Flair and Sting start the match by locking up, and Sting takes Flair down with a headlock. Flair gets up with punches, and Sting doesn’t sell any of that mess. Sting takes Flair down with a press slam, and follows with a clothesline. Flair does come back with kicks and a whip to the corner that works, but Sting press slams him again. He takes Flair to the corner for punches, and follows with a hip toss and another clothesline. Flair winds up in the wrong corner and pushes Gigante, who teases getting in there. Sting tags Gigante in, so Flair pokes him in the eye. Flair heads up top, and Gigante gives him a BIG SLAM down. Flair tries to fight back with punches, and winds up tagging in Barry Windham. He’s big, he can take it. Let’s see what he does. He rakes Gigante’s eyes, and brings in Arn Anderson. The two Horsemen try a double clothesline, but instead Gigante clotheslines them both. Gigante follows that with a slam of Windham, and Arn is the only one of the Horsemen that wants to get in the ring with him. Gigante tags Pillman in, and Pillman gives Arn a dropkick. He gives Windham one too, and heads up top for a DOUBLE CROSS BODY. There’s a DOUBLE DROPKICK, and the ring has been cleared. They’re putting Pillman over so hard, the title match at the PPV really should have been his. Why wait? Flair finally gets in the ring with Pillman, and Pillman slaps him. They trade chops, and Pillman backdrops Flair. The crowd is begging for these two to have a big match. Pillman cradles Flair up for 2, so Flair tries to come back with chops. At least Pillman can chop back. Sting tags in again, and Flair goes to the eyes. He heads up top, but Sting slams him down. Second time for Flair taking that bump this match. Now everyone’s in the ring, and in a very neat finish, we have Pillman go for a cross body and miss. Gigante catches him, throws him on top of Arn, and Pillman gets the 3 count at 7:28! Nice touch with Gigante standing on Pillman to keep Arn down.
My Thoughts: This was a lot of fun, and we actually got to see Gigante wrestle a little bit. It wasn’t a great match or anything, but it was fast paced and made the people happy. **1/2, there was a lot of good stuff in this month and a half. Also a plus point was that this match had a clean finish and didn’t end with a silly disqualification like so many of the others did.
– Taped to air in May 1991, on Worldwide
SID VS. MARC MERO
Maybe it makes me a bad guy, but I had to share this. This is the last thing of Sid’s I’ll see before his last match in WCW. They had completely separated him from the Horsemen at this point, and the Horsemen were loosely affiliated rather than running as a group. Obviously, they all were friends and everyone knew that. Sid brought the stretcher out as he usually did, and he wound up walking over to Mero and booting him OFF THE STRETCHER. HE RULES.
– Taped to air May 2nd, 1991, on Worldwide
Arn Anderson (WCW TV Champion) & Terrence Taylor (w/Mr. Hughes & Alexandra York) vs. Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Morton
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is an interesting tag team match on many levels. I remember that Arn turned on Dustin later at Bash at the Beach 1994. Here we have them facing each other in a tag team match. Arn being with Taylor is also a bit strange. They had teamed up before, according to Tony Schiavone.
Match Review: Morton and Arn start this thing, and Arn takes him down with a shoulderblock. Arn then puts Morton on the top turnbuckle, and slaps him. Morton comes back with a drop toe-hold, and hits Arn with some big punches to knock him down. Arn throws Morton out of the ring, but back in he comes with more right hands. Arn pinballs back and forth between his opponents, and Dustin tags in. Taylor and Arn ask for a new computer report, and get what they want. So, Taylor tags in, and clotheslines Dustin in the corner. Dustin fights out of the heel corner, and Morton goes in to join the fight as they clear the ring. Taylor gets back in there and Dustin backdrops him, then follows with a clothesline for a 1 count. Dustin makes a tag out, and they hit Taylor with a double back elbow for 2. Morton arm drags Taylor, and Arn makes a necessary tag in. He clocks Morton a few times, and blocks a charge to the corner. Arn heads up top, but Morton slams him down. Morton puts a FIGURE-FOUR on Arn, but he’s not going to give up. Dustin gets in the ring and puts the hold on as he and Morton switch, and Taylor runs in to break it up. Taylor then makes a tag, and hits Dustin with a back elbow. Taylor follows with a bodyslam, drops a knee, and covers for 2. Dustin starts a comeback, but out comes BARRY WINDHAM. He taps Morton on the back, tells him something, and Morton leaves. WHAT??? WHAT IS THIS??? Taylor attacks Dustin from behind, as the kid is quite confused. It’s a handicap match now. Arn blocks a sunset flip by tagging out, and Taylor kicks Dustin from behind. Taylor gives Dustin a jawbreaker, and there’s a neckbreaker for 2. Arn tags in to stop a backslide attempt, and Dustin tries to fight back again. Arn takes him down with a drop toe-hold, and Taylor comes in with an elbow drop. These guys are just beating Dustin up. Taylor finally gives Dustin a suplex to stop the monotony, and it gets a 2 count. Taylor goes for a pump splash, but Dustin gets his knees up! Dustin hits Taylor with a clothesline, and gives Taylor a BULLDOG. Arn breaks up the cover, and out from the back comes super babyface BOBBY EATON. YES. Eaton and Dustin fight Arn and Taylor off, that was cool. Long match too. They finish the whole thing off by brawling to the back! Obviously, Dustin got disqualified.
My Thoughts: The story here is Morton leaving Dustin behind, and I’m interested to see how that’s explained. **, it had the makings of a fantastic tag match, but the angle was more important. I bet people were getting tired of all the non-finishes, but they were seeing high quality matches.
So, that’s that, and WCW had even more interesting things to come besides the PPV. They hired this guy named Steve Austin, I believe he changed the wrestling business or something like that, and I’m going to watch the start of his career. We also have the DIAMOND STUDD showing up soon. It was also rumored that one of the Great American Bash main events was going to be a cage match where Paul E. Dangerously, Arn Anderson, and Barry Windham would face El Gigante, Sting, and…Missy Hyatt. It didn’t end up entirely dissimilar from that either. The problem for WCW is that they couldn’t get anyone interested in their PPV’s no matter what they did. Either that or they’d have a major flaw, like for example having Flair face a guy with no name power in the United States. According to the WON, there were only 3,000 tickets sold before the show. Says it all, doesn’t it? I’ll have some other things to say about SuperBrawl when I do my article on that. Next up for me, it’s time for WWF matches from WrestleMania up to the last Saturday Night’s Main Event before the WWF switched over to Fox.
Best: Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman. All of Pillman’s performances, really. He had a great body of work.
Worst: The lack of build for the SuperBrawl main event, I don’t know why anyone would care about it.
