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KEEPING THE MEMORIES ALIVE: SUPERBRAWL I

Hello readers and welcome to the eleventh edition of “Keeping The Memories Alive“. In today’s edition, I will be reviewing WCW Super Brawl 1. It was shown live on Pay Per View from the Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 19, 1991. Keep your requests coming.

Note from Jim: I am reviewing the home video version of this event and this version has some matches edited out unfortunately. Here are the results from the matches edited out….. Dan Spivey defeated Ricky Morton. Nikita Koloff defeated Tommy Rich. Dustin Rhodes defeated Terrance Taylor. Big Josh defeated Black Bart. Oz defeated Tim Parker.

The show opens with a video package featuring stars from tonight’s card.

Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes welcome us. Ross brings up the fact that Dusty won the NWA Title in this very arena in 1979.

Match #1: The Fabulous Freebirds (“Jammin” Jimmy Garvin & Michael “PS” Hayes, with Diamond Dallas Page, Big Daddy Dink and the Diamond Doll) vs. the Young Pistols (Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong) for the vacant WCW United States Tag Team Titles.

Tale Of The Tape: Freebirds (490 pounds, from Badstreet. Hayes is 32 years old, former NWA United States Champion. Garvin is 38 years old, former WCW Tag Team Champion). Young Pistols (459 pounds, from Wyoming. Smothers is 28 years old, 2 time NWA Mid America Champion. Armstrong is 26 years old, former NWA Florida Tag Team Champion).

DDP gets on the mic and does his usual pre-match garbage. This match is actually to determine the first ever WCW United States Tag Team Champions. The titles became vacant before the NWA switched the name to WCW for the titles. All 4 men brawl on the floor early in the match. Big Daddy Dink (Oliver Humperdink) is ejected for getting involved in the match. The Young Pistols (who also used the name the Southern Boys at one point) are a high flying, Rock & Roll Express like team. I think WCW wanted them to be their Rockers in 1991. Smothers and Hayes go to the floor. Hayes gives Smothers a stun gun on the steel barricade to slow him down. Garvin is now tagged in and is stomping away on Smothers, trying to take advantage but keeps coming up short on the pin fall attempts. Tracey eventually hit’s a big super kick and is able to tag in Armstrong who cleans house on the Freebirds. Both Young Pistols went for a double dropkick off the top rope on the birds but both came up short. All 4 men are acting like this is a Texas tornado match now. Michael Hayes accidentally knocks the ref out and then a masked man comes out and gives the Young Pistols a pair of tornado DDT’s. The ref is revived and Hayes covers Smothers for the win. The masked man is Brad Armstrong who became the third Freebird known as Fantasia. Walt Disney would later file a lawsuit, forcing the character’s name to be changed to Badstreet.

We go backstage to Missy Hyatt (looking mighty fine). She enters the men’s locker room and finds Terrance Taylor. Missy starts asking Taylor about his feud with Dustin Rhodes when Stan Hansen comes out of the shower, with tobacco and all dripping from his mouth. He starts spanking Missy with his cowboy hat until she runs out of the locker room.

Match #2: Flyin Brian vs. Barry Windham in a Taped Fist Match.

Tale Of The Tape: Flyin Brian (226 pounds, from Cincinnati, Ohio, 28 years old, former NWA United States Tag Team Champion). Barry Windham (278 pounds, from Sweetwater, Texas, 30 years old, former NWA United States Champion).

Jim Ross says this match is going to be a street fight so I guess taped fist means no holds barred. I never really like seeing talented in ring performers in gimmick matches. These 2 should still have a good match. Windham went up to the top in the early going and Pillman dropkicked him off, sending him to the floor. Wow, Windham is already busted open, from a dropkick? Both men fight on that big stage WCW used in the early 90s. Barry tosses Pillman off of it and he lands right on the steel barricade, ouch! Flyin Brian is now sporting the crimson mask as well. Back in the ring now, both men just rammed into each other head on. Pillman goes up to the top rope but Windham stops him with the low blow and then does a superplex for the win. Short match but great action.

Match #3: “Big” Sid Vicious vs. “The Largest Athlete In The World” El Gigante in a Stretcher Match.

Tale Of The Tape: Sid Vicious (333 pounds, from anywhere he darn well pleases, 30 years old, former NWA Southeastern Champion). El Gigante (454 pounds, from Argentina, 25 years old).

This match is billed as the battle of the giants. Its very strange to see Vicious dwarfed by someone. A few minutes have gone by and I can already tell this will probably be the stinker of the show. What could I expect out of Sycho Sid and Giant Gonzalez though? And both are greener than Kermit the frog. After maybe 3 minutes, Gigante pins Vicious with the claw. I thought this was a stretcher match? Kevin Sullivan and the One Man Gang come out and attack El Gigante. Gigante gets the better of them until Sullivan throws powder in his eyes. Gang then throws the stretcher on Gigante and all 3 men leave. Once again, stretcher match? What?

Match #4: “Hacksaw” Butch Reed (with Theodore Long) vs. Ron Simmons in a Thunder Doom Cage Match.

Tale Of The Tape: Butch Reed (278 pounds, from Kansas City, Missouri, 36 years old, former WCW Tag Team Champion). Ron Simmons (275 pounds, from Warner Robins, Georgia, 33 years old, former WCW Tag Team Champion).

looks like a regular steel cage to me. Theodore Long is suspended in a smaller cage above the ring. Reed is driving Simmons into the cage repeatedly, busting him wide open. Simmons is now finally fighting back, nailing Butch with lefts and rights. Butch hit’s a piledriver but no cigar. Both men going back and forth now, Reed nails a swinging neck breaker and then goes up top, executing a shoulder block. Reed goes for the cover but Simmons got a foot on the rope. Both men clothesline each other. Long just dropped a chain in the middle of the ring. Reed swings with it but misses and Simmons hit’s a spine buster for the win.

We go to the Steiner Brothers/Sting/Lex Luger video package.

Match #5: The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) defend the WCW Tag Team Titles against Sting & “the Total Package” Lex Luger.

Tale Of The Tape: Sting (251 pounds, from Venice Beach, California, 32 years old, former NWA Champion). Lex Luger (292 pounds, from Chicago, Illinois, 32 years old, on first reign as WCW United States Champion). Steiner Brothers (525 pounds, from Detroit, Michigan, on first reign as WCW Tag Team Champions. Rick is 30 years old, Scott is 28 years old).

This is a baby face match, all 4 men shake hands before the match begins. Ross calls the Steiner’s, the greatest tag team in WCW history (The Road Warriors were in the WWF at the time. Then again, WCW was only 5 months old). Lex and Rick start the match, just trading power slams, body presses and clotheslines. Rick goes to the floor. Sting is tagged in and does a dive onto Steiner over the ropes. Ross brings up the fact that Sting and Rick are former tag team partners without mentioning the UWF, Eddie Gilbert or Hot Stuff International. Now Scott comes in and delivers a nicely done tilt a whirl suplex to his future Main Event Mafia buddy. This match is really showing why it was match of the year in 1991. Great action. Luger back in, suplexes Scott but only a count of 2. Luger hit’s the power slam and now wants to do the torture rack. Luger goes for it but Scotty counters with a Russian leg sweep. Rick Steiner makes the blind tag and nails Luger with a bulldog off the top! 1, 2, no! Sting is tagged in and these 2 are brawling away. Sting hit’s the tombstone, 1, 2 and Rick comes in a breaks it up. Luger comes in and takes out Rick. Meanwhile, Sting hit’s the Stinger splash on Scott in the ring. Nikita Koloff runs down and hits Sting with a chain and then quickly makes his exit. Scott covers Sting for the win and to retain the tag straps in an excellent match. Sting becomes the fiftieth wrestler to bleed tonight as all the wrestlers check on Sting.

Backstage, Tony Schiavone is trying to ask Nikita why he hit Sting but Sting comes out of nowhere and attacks Koloff. They brawl all the way to the parking lot.

Match #6: “the Enforcer“ Arn Anderson defends the WCW Television Title against “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton.

Tale Of The Tape: Bobby Eaton (237 pounds, from Huntsville, Alabama, 32 years old, 2 time NWA Tag Team Champion). Arn Anderson (248 pounds, from Minnesota, 32 years old, on first reign as WCW Television Champion).

Now JR calls Arn the greatest Television Champion in WCW history! No wonder Tony Schiavone was saying shit like that years later, he listened to his old boss. The first few minutes are kind of boring. Eaton goes to the top rope, Anderson pushes him off onto the stage. Anderson goes for the piledriver on the stage but Eaton counters with a back body drop. Back in the ring where Eaton slaps the ever so exciting arm bar on Double A. Anderson now has injured Eaton’s knee and is doing all kinds of holds to ware him down. Arn is really making a match out of all these knee locks. Finally Anderson now hit’s a nicely done spine buster but only gets a 2 count. Eaton fights back with a swinging neck breaker. He goes up top for the Alabama Jam, hits it and becomes the new TV Champ. Mean while, Brian Pillman and Barry Windham fight on the ramp.

Backstage, Tony Schiavone is standing outside the locker room of Tatsumi Fujinami. Fujinami and his trainers come out, as does Hiro Matsuda who tells Schiavone they are bringing the title back to Japan.

Match #7: “Nature Boy” Ric Flair defends the WCW Title against “the Dragon” Tatsumi Fujinami.

Tale Of The Tape: Ric Flair (242 pounds, from Charlotte, North Carolina, 42 years old, on first reign as WCW Champion). Tatsumi Fujinami (240 pounds, from Tokyo, Japan, 36 years old, on third reign as IWGP Champion).

Tiger Hitori from New Japan will be the referee for this match. Bill Alfonso is the enforcer on the outside. There was lots of confusion when these 2 battled earlier in the year in Tokyo. Fujinami supposedly won the NWA Title from Flair that night but the NWA did not recognize it. This match is all about Fujinami coming to America and proving he can do the same thing. Lots of mat wrestling to kick this one off. Both men go to the floor where Flair drops Fujinami on the steel barricade and follows it up with some chops and wooo’s. Flair now has him back in the ring where he slaps on the figure four. Tatsumi flips it around into the Indian death lock and then the hold is broken. Fujinami now has the scorpion death lock on Flair. Flair reaches the ropes for the break. Flair now doing his trademark knee drops. Flair is now bleeding. How many guys were allowed to get color in one night during the Jim Herd days? Flair goes to the top rope and, he gets slammed off, what a surprise. Fujinami slaps on the octopus which is pretty rare to see in the US. Crowd starts chanting USA. Wow, there’s actually a crowd here? First I heard from them all night. Both men are looking pretty out of it. Flair unloads with chops. Fujinami with a small package/inside cradle but only gets a 2 count. Tatsumi runs into the Japanese referee, Flair rolls up Fujinami and Alfonso jumps in and counts the 3! Flair retains the WCW Title. A small “bullshit” chant has started. Fujinami is pretty pissed with Tiger. Cheap pyro goes off to close the show before Dusty and JR say goodnight.

Final Thoughts: The match of the night was hands down the tag title match. I think this was the first time I saw this match but it is well deserving of its match of the year award (not to take anything away from Warrior/Savage or Hart/Perfect). The main event was pretty good as well. As expected, the stretcher match was horrible. Didn’t really care for any of the other matches except Pillman and Windham. Once again, I apologize for the edited show.

I hope you enjoyed reading the eleventh edition of “Keeping The Memories Alive”. In the next edition, I will be reviewing the first ever WWF Smackdown. Now I ask, what would you like to see reviewed? My complete collection can be found at www.freewebs.com/jbryan1984/. Email me your feedback and requests at jbryan21408@yahoo.com.