WCW Superbrawl IV
February 20, 1994
Albany, GA
Civic Center

The current WCW Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Ric Flair (12/27/1993)
WCW International World Champion: Rick Rude (9/19/1993)
WCW U.S. Champion: Steve Austin (12/27/1993)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Nasty Boys (10/24/1993)
WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (9/19/1993)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan. This was Heenan’s WCW PPV debut.

We start out with what was supposed to be Johnny B. Badd vs. Michael PS Hayes. Since the Worldwide taping occurred where Hayes KO’ed his partner Johnny B. Badd during a tag match, Hayes had quit WCW a week before the Superbrawl show because of a contract dispute. Apparently he decided to stick around and do the “I tripped down the stairs and can’t wrestle” routine for the show. Lucky for us, the man who wheeled him down to ringside is Jimmy Garvin, who is “still under contract”. He’s got short hair now! Regardless of the fact Jimmy had been retired for over a year, WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel orders Garvin to wrestle in his partner’s place for the night.

• Thunder & Lightning vs. Harlem Heat
  

Harlem Heat are looking closer to the Harlem Heat we know from the Nitro days. Furious says Thunder is Dave Nelson who owned NWA Ohio and such. Lightning is Jeff Farmer aka the nWo Sting. I remember liking these guys as a kid for some reason. Lightning starts off with Booker – still going by the name of Kole. It’s pretty much an armlock fest with T&L in control for the first five minutes. Booker T finally breaks free and clotheslines Thunder out to Stevie Ray (Kane) for some guardrail action. Back in, Booker hits his jumping forearm. Thunder breaks out of a chinlock and tries a sunset flip, but Stevie Ray gets the blind tag and breaks it up. Brainbusters in the HOUSE! Stevie Ray slams Thunder for a Booker T elbow drop, which misses. HOT TAG TO LIGHTNING! Yeah, that would be quite warm. HA! He takes care of the Heat and delivers a Belly-to-Belly Suplex for 1-2-NO! Lightning with the O’Connor Roll on Booker! With the ref tending to Thunder, Stevie Ray kicks Lightning in the ear. Booker covers for 1-2-3. (9:48) Harlem Heat get their first major victory on PPV. T&L, however, would head back to the Florida indies until Farmer would be called back into WCW for another great gimmick to become Sgt. Craig Pittman’s biggest foe: The Cobra! *

There is increased security in the backstage area to keep Flair from getting the crap beat out of him before this return match tonight with Vader.

• Jungle Jim Steele vs. The Equalizer
  

Steele is a complete Jimmy Snuka rip-off. Equalizer is Dave Sullivan before he played a rabbit-loving retard and was merely a bad wrestler. Steele goes for one monkey flip too many early on and gets planted for it. Equalizer rams Steele’s back on the apron down on the floor. Back in, we see a backbreaker and a bearhug from the Equalizer. You know, basic psychology stuff while Tony reminisces about how good Superbrawl 3 was. Hogan’s name gets mentioned for filming his TV series ‘Thunder in Paradise’, which luckily has nothing to do with Dave Nelson, at Universal Studios were WCW Worldwide is taped. Anyways, Steele makes a really bad comeback and hits the THESZ PRESS for the win. (5:56) Boring as crap. Didn’t care for Steele. ¼*

Gene Okerlund meets with WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel and Ricky Steamboat. No matter who wins the world title match tonight, Steamboat gets the winner.

• Terry Taylor vs. Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll)
  

Maybe my video quality is just bad, but I don’t think that this Diamond Doll is Kimberly Page. Something about the faces don’t match up. She’s somehow looking closer to Joanie Laurer here. Well, whatever. DDP is making his first PPV wrestling appearance since Starrcade 1991 in Battlebowl. They aren’t even doing the “10” scorecards bit yet. This whole feud started when Page hit Taylor in the head with a tackle box filled with BRICKS! Of course Taylor would want revenge for that. Geez! Page shoves his Diamond Doll into Taylor to get an early advantage. Taylor takes over anyway and works the arm. He gets a cross armbreaker, but Page reaches the ropes and slides out. They get into a see-saw rollup sequence. Makes me think I’m watching a Colt Cabana match. Page comes back with a suplex and a gutbuster. Takes too long to cover though and only gets two. Back suplex from Page gets another two. Page grabs a cobra clutch. Taylor throws him off of him, but gets drilled with a clothesline for another nearfall. Taylor manages to back suplex out of a chinlock. He catches Page with a dropkick, but ducks low and eats a face slam. Back to the chinlock. Taylor escapes again and hits a crossbody block for 1-2-NO! Page POPS him right as he gets to his feet. He spears Taylor in the corner and tries for another, but Taylor moves and rolls up Page for 1-2-3. (11:51) Not sure I would’ve given these two this much time, but it got Page some exposure if nothing else. You give Page another year and he’d finally get over as a lower-mid-card heel. *½

Gene Okerlund meets with WCW’s German announcer Olivier Muffler. He’s proud to know that Superbrawl is available to all of WCW’s German fans. They hype WCW’s upcoming European tour. Olivier asks Gene if he thinks Flair can beat Vader twice. Whoa, Gene’s not touching that!

• Jimmy Garvin (w/Michael PS Hayes) vs. Johnny B. Badd

Can you believe they are actually feuding over who has the better ‘Slam Jam’ album song? That’s like arguing over who has the smelliest poop. Wrestling really is a ‘wacky’ world. Hayes sits on the rampway in his wheelchair talking junk to Johnny B. Badd for the whole match. In reality, Garvin had not retired just yet. Since leaving WCW in early 1993, he competed in GWF. We get five minutes of a headlock/armbar exchange to start. Garvin escapes a headlock and catches Badd with a boot in the corner. He clamps on another chinlock and Badd mounts a comeback. Badd backdrops out of a DDT and delivers an ugly looking tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Not sure whose fault that was. Garvin ducks the KISS THAT DON’T MISS, but gets caught with a right hand instead. Badd heads up top and sunset flips Garvin for the 1-2-3. (10:48) These two first met on PPV at Halloween Havoc 1991, where Garvin picked up the win. Will we ever see the PPV rubber match?! Basically just a bunch of standard rest holds strung together up until the end. The crowd really got into the finish though, as Badd was really over in Albany. ¾*

• WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) vs. Arn Anderson
  

Unlike most of the TV title defenses of the day that had 15-minute time limits, this one has a 30-minute time limit. This is Anderson’s first big match since the hotel fiasco with Sid in late October. Regal has his left thigh taped up. Regal complains of some cheap ear-scratching from a headlock to kill some time and get a break from Arn. Anderson works the arm, but gets in a test of strength. Regal tries to get fancy with a bridge, so AA trips him up and goes back to wrenching the arm. Regal escapes and corners Arn for some European uppercuts. From there, Regal grounds AA with a hammerlock. AA counters and delivers a hammerlock slam. Now Arn takes Regal to the mat and works a hammerlock. Arn takes Regal by the arm and posts it real good. Regal slides out and checks with Sir William about the time. Back in, Regal grabs a cravate. Arn finally breaks loose with an elbow and a back drop. He goes back to working the arm, but Regal comes out with a European uppercut. AA reverses a cross-corner whip, which KILLS Regal’s back. Regal rolls out to check with Sir William about how much time is left again. Regal’s facial expressions are top-notch here. He looks like he is close to dying. Arn brings Regal back in the ring by his arm, but gets thumbed in the eye. Regal European uppercuts AA down to the apron, which gives Sir William a chance to jab him in the throat with his umbrella. Regal grabs a half crab and uses the ropes for leverage, but gets caught by ref Randy Anderson. What a sleuth that Randy is. Regal drags Arn to the center of the ring and applies an STF and sometimes just a crossface. Regal looked to be going for a butterfly suplex, but Anderson trips him up and goes after the taped thigh twenty minutes into this thing! He tries a figure-four (not sure how that would hurt the thigh), but Regal kicks him off. Regal sends AA out to Sir William for another umbrella shot. Oh no, now Arn has Johnny B. Badd’s confetti all over him. Regal gets tripped up and his taped thigh slammed on the apron. Back in for Arn, he bends Regal’s leg backwards and then jams the knee on the mat. Regal trips Arn up again and takes him back to the mat for another crossface. Arn wins a slugfest and gets two. Both guys try for a pinfall with a knucklelock, which we see in just about every Arn Anderson match. Ironically enough during the knucklelock exchange, Regal is the one who tries to pounce down on Arn instead of vice versa. AA catches Regal with a body scissors, so Regal tries to turn Arn over with a Boston crab. No go! Anderson flips him over and hooks a sleeper. When Regal tries to escape, Arn shoves him off into the corner and rolls him up for 1-2-NO! Sixty seconds left! Arn counters a Butterfly Suplex into a small package for 1-2-NO! Regal tries again, but AA punches him off and delivers the SPINEBUSTER! There’s only thirty seconds left in the time-limit! Sir William grabs hold of Regal’s arm from the floor, causing AA to take his attention away from Regal and scare him away. Arn sunset flips in from the apron. Regal won’t go down! Sir William comes over and helps Regal out by allowing him to grab hold of his umbrella. Regal kneels down on AA’s shoulders as the ref counts 1-2-3! (27:34 real time – 29:54 WCW time) Excellent performance from Regal. A very good psychological battle, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. ***¼

• WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne
  

Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne got a non-title win over the Nasties at the Clash, which is why they get a shot at the belts here. Okay, so NOW Missy Hyatt is officially gone from WCW. Brian Knobbs comes out with a guitar in hand. Maxx Payne starts off with Brian Knobbs. Boy, is Knobbs going to regret that decision. Payne starts off with a SICK German suplex! Knobbs has to take five after that. Sags gives it a try and gets caught with a Capture Suplex! MAXX PAYNE IS TAZ! Knobbs reluctantly tags back in and lands a couple forearms, but misses a clothesline and takes a Sambo Suplex! I LOVE MAXX PAYNE! Sags runs into a front powerslam. Tag to Cactus, the two deliver elbow drops one after the other for two. All four men are now in and the Nasties get put out on the floor. Back in, the Nasties can’t seem to stop Maxx Payne, so they give him the old clothesline/chopblock combo. That’ll always put you down. They make-a-wish on Payne, but he avoids a middle-rope leg drop from Knobbs. Cactus gets the tag! On one side he delivers the Bossman straddle to Sags, and on the other side a Cactus Clothesline to Knobbs! Cactus wants to give Knobbs an elbow drop from the apron, but Sags breaks it up with a forearm. Knobbs peels the mats back on the floor so Sags can run Cactus off the apron to fall back-first on the concrete! The man is insane. Cactus gets BACK UP only for Knobbs to slam his head backwards into the guardrail. Back in, the Nasties take turns with a Boston crab on Cactus. Payne gets drawn in and drags Cactus over to him for a false-tag spot. While the ref is with Payne, Cactus ducks a double-clothesline and DDTS the Nasties! HOT TAG TO PAYNE! He goes clothesline crazy and gives Knobbs an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Knobbs falls really awkward and legitimately dislocates his shoulder! That was NASTY. Payne hooks on the PAYNEKILLER (thankfully not on the hurt arm)! Ref Nick Patrick is trying to get Cactus out of the ring. Meanwhile, Sags grabs the guitar and KABONGS Payne to break up the hold and give the challengers the match by DQ. (12:28) Afterwards, the Nasties grab their titles and make their quick getaway. I love this insane series of matches. Their Clash match was good, this was great, and their Spring Stampede match was a MOTYC. ***½

In the back, Gene Okerlund meets with Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. Gene mentions Hulk Hogan is watching this match, but Flair doesn’t care because tonight he has to deal with Vader. Arn Anderson comes in to give Flair some words of encouragement.

• Sting, Dustin Rhodes & Brian Pillman vs. Rick Rude, Paul Orndorff & Steve Austin (w/Col. Robert Parker) – Thunderdome Cage Match
  

To set this one up: Sting and Rude have been feuding for years, Orndorff hates Rhodes for bringing back the “Paula” chants, and Pillman still has a score to settle with Austin for turning on him and breaking up the Hollywood Blondes. Naturally, Sting wants Rude to start and not Orndorff. Sting mows Rude down a whole bunch with clotheslines. Rude rolls to the apron to slow down Sting’s momentum. Back in, he grabs Sting by the arm and the heels take over. Sting shoves off an Austin armbar. They run the ropes, but Austin appears to feign a knee injury. Sting goes for the SCORPION DEATHLOCK anyway and ducks an Orndorff clothesline. He lets go of the hold, but Orndorff is enough of a distraction for Austin to roll Sting up using the tights for two. They go to the floor where Austin gets whipped into the cage! Pillman meets him on the floor and chops him up against the cage just for fun. Sting sends Austin back in and tags Pillman. Why not. Pillman chases Austin around the ring, but runs right into a hotshot into the cage! Orndorff comes over and throws Pillman into the cage to bust him open. Meanwhile, Austin tags Rude and tosses Pillman in the ring for him. Rude teases Sting and Rhodes by letting Pillman get just close enough to his corner, but not close enough to make a tag. Orndorff tags and beats Pillman down in the heel corner. Pillman catches Orndorff with a knee in the corner and runs out with a clothesline, but Orndorff *blocks* and delivers a SICK back suplex. Tag to Rude, he hits the flying knee drop for 1-2-NO! Austin tags in for an second-rope flying elbow drop for 1-2-NO! Sting drags Austin off Pillman. Austin comes off the second-rope again, but Pillman catches him with a dropkick! HOT TAG TO STING! Tony ~ “It’s Clothesline-O-Mania!” Uhh, yeah. Sting sends Orndorff into the cage to bust him open. Rhodes finally gets a tag and Flip Flop Flies Orndorff. Bionic Elbow to Austin! Orndorff yanks Rhodes into the corner and tags Rude. Rhodes blocks a turnbuckle smash and delivers one of his own. He goes for the BULLDOG, but Rude counters and drops Rhodes on the top turnbuckle. Rude gives him a Back Superplex! He follows up with a bearhug and when Rhodes starts to punch out, Rude gives him a belly-to-belly suplex. Tag to Austin, Rhodes avoids being thrown over the top and nails Austin out to the apron. Rhodes dropkicks Austin into the cage! Oh man, his leg is caught in the cage! Orndorff takes care of Rhodes while Austin regroups. Back in, Rhodes pulls a page out of Pillman’s playbook and hits Austin with a back elbow out of the corner off a whip. Pillman gets the tag and goes NUTZ on Austin! Rude and Orndorff get caught with a double-dropkick to put them on the floor. We now have a pier-six brawl on our hands. Everybody clears out except for Sting, Pillman, and Austin. Sting and Pillman give him a double-backdrop, setting up Sting pressing Pillman onto Austin for the 1-2-3! (14:38) Standard solid six-man tag action from WCW at the time with an awesome finish. Pillman getting the win on Austin HAD to happen to give him the rub in this feud. As Sting starts to walk out the cage, Rude slams the door in his face and gives him a RUDE AWAKENING on the floor. Bam. They just set up a world title match for these two for Spring Stampede. This is just proof positive that smart booking isn’t rocket science. ****

• WCW World Champion Ric Flair vs. Vader (w/Harley Race) – Thunderdome Cage Match: Special Referee: The Boss
  

Since the Clash, Flair has been deemed unfit to wrestle this match. Vader attacked Flair’s buddy Ricky Steamboat, which is not cool. Flair saw what happened to Steamboat on the tube from Charlotte and begged Commissioner Bockwinkel to allow him back in his Superbrawl match. Flair says he will do whatever it takes to make this match happen. Commissioner Bockwinkel says the only thing Flair needs is a notarized doctor’s release. Flair got the doctor’s note and the Boss has been made the special referee for this match to maintain order. It’s going to be chaos! Boss master locks the cage door and puts the key around his neck. Boss(man) is in full gear here: nightstick, handcuffs, everything. Flair beats the CRAP out of Vader to start. Vader Flair Flips out on the apron and nails Flair down to take over. Pump splash connects. VADERSAULT? No! He lands on his feet though and splashes Flair in the corner! Vader tosses Flair out to Race to choke him in between the cage. Vader and Boss go nose-to-nose. Back in, Flair fights back from a flurry of corner blows and bites Vader in the corner. Flair gets tossed out to Race again for a right hand through the cage. Vader brings Flair back in for a TOP-ROPE SUPERPLEX, which is the move that took him out at the Clash! Flair sells it like death, but avoids an elbow drop and rolls outside to Race again. Boss catches Race and tries to handcuff him to the cage, but Vader runs over and splashes Boss and handcuffs him to the cage instead. Race grabs the key from around Boss’s neck and gets inside the cage for a 2-on-1 attack on Flair. Arn Anderson runs down to try and break inside the cage to help his best friend, but there’s nothing he can do! Vader tries for an avalanche off the top on Flair, but Flair moves and Vader nails Race. Steamboat comes down to try and break the lock on the door with a chair. That doesn’t work. Flair grabs the chair Vader brought with him to the ring and beats down both Race and Vader. Flair concentrates on Race in the ring and seems to forget about Vader, who attacks from behind. The Boss manages to break free of the handcuffs and beats down Vader with the nightstick. Flair gets rid of Race and hooks the FIGURE-FOUR on Vader! As soon as Flair gets it on, Boss calls for the bell and awards the match to Flair, with Vader never really giving up. (11:32) A lot going on, but I think it played out perfectly in hindsight by ending the Flair/Vader feud and going right into the Vader/Boss feud that would continue into the fall. ***

Final Thoughts: While the first half played out like an extended episode of Worldwide, the second half was fantastic where the long-term booking was kept very simple and easily set up half the card at the next PPV. Steamboat/Flair, Vader/Boss, Sting/Rude, Nasties/Cactus & Payne – it all stems from this show. I mean, it actually seems like they had an overall plan in mind. Hey, what a concept – thinking ahead. Four matches with three stars make this an easy recommendation if you can even find this show. It was never commercially released, but the six-man tag at least is on WWE’s Brian Pillman DVD. You might want to check the streaming video sites to catch any of the other matches that might catch your eye. Thumbs up for Superbrawl IV.