April 18, 2009
Matt Peddycord

WCW Superbrawl VI
February 11, 1996
St. Petersburg, FL
Bayfront Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Randy Savage (1/22/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: Konnan (1/29/1996)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting & Lex Luger (1/22/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Johnny B. Badd (10/29/1995)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes.

The Nasty Boys vs. Public Enemy – Street Fight
And the natural rivalry between these two brawling teams begins. Public Enemy dumps the Nasties out to the floor. Grunge and Knobbs stick around ringside while Sags and Rocco Rock fight up the aisleway. Rocco finds a table, but gets BEATEN DOWN with a chair by Sags! Grunge gets the chair away from Sags and saves his partner. Rocco Rock wants to splash Knobbs through that table he grabbed earlier, but Knobbs slams him off the apron through the table instead. Grunge stops a pinfall with a chair. Sags brings some PLUNDAH (trashcan) and wears Grunge out before giving him a PILEDRIVER ON THE TRASHCAN! That gets two as Grunge gets his foot on the bottom rope. Meanwhile, Rocco takes Knobbs over to the faux souvenir stand, where Knobbs gives him a suplex through a table. Grunge beats Sags up the aisle with the trashcan lid to meet up with the other two. Public Enemy continue to keep the Nasties down with chairs and trashcan lids. Dusty seems disappointed that there hasn’t been any clubberin’ in this match. Poor guy. Sags does the table suplex spot on Rock. Grunge continues with the trashcan lid shots to set up a Rocco Rock STAGE DIVE through a table for Knobbs. That misses and Knobbs gets the 1-2-3. (7:52) Possibly because the feud didn’t called for it, but this was certainly not the violence we saw in 1994 from the Nasties. Back then, they would hit Cactus Jack unprotected in the face with a SHOVEL! Still lots of fun seeing Rocco Rock going through three tables in three different spots. ***

WCW World Television Champion Johnny B. Badd (w/Kimberly) vs. Diamond Dallas PageWCW World Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger vs. Harlem Heat
Harlem Heat gets their rematch after Luger nailed Booker T with a roll of silver dollars to win the tag titles three weeks ago. Of course, Sting did not see any of that. Booker and Sting start us off. Booker counters a headlock into a headscissors. Sting escapes and tags Luger, who gets pummeled. I mean, the real problem the Heat has is with Luger anyway. Tag to Stevie Ray, they connect with a double back elbow on Luger to put him on the floor. When Luger takes his time, Sting heads down to talk to him. Back inside, Luger tags Sting much to his dismay. WTF, BRO? Stevie Ray puts the boots to Sting and knocks Luger off the apron. Booker tags and hits the headlock, but Sting comes out of that and drops Booker with a face slam. In comes Luger, he gets a little dirty by sliding Booker’s face across the top rope. Luger gets a back suplex for two, but then misses a jumping elbow drop. That jumping elbow drop happens as often as Flair hits anything coming off the top rope. Booker misses an elbow drop, but he SPINAROONIES up and levels Lex with a jumping side kick. Stevie Ray tags in and works Luger over with power moves. Booker T comes back in, but runs into a pair of boots in the corner and gets caught with a clothesline. Stevie Ray cuts off the tag and half-does a powerbomb. Uh oh, Stevie Ray hits the nerve hold. WAIT, HE’S NOT A FOREIGNER! The Heat cut off a tag again, allowing Booker T to devastate Lex with an Ax Kick years before it was his finisher. They do a false tag spot that turns into a pier-six brawl. Stinger Splash to Booker! Oh, but Stevie Ray holds the top rope down to send Sting tumbling out to the floor. Booker goes out after him to bring the ref out on the floor. Meanwhile in the ring, LOD runs in and blasts Stevie Ray in the gut with a lead something, says Tony. Luger falls on top of Stevie Ray (Lex is the legal man!) for 1-2-3! (11:49) Boy, do the Road Warriors want them some of Luger. Standard formula tag, but the problem with that is Luger isn’t a very sympathetic “tweener”, so nobody in the audience cared unless Sting was splashing people. On their way to the dressing room, Luger interrupts Okerlund when he asks about the interference so Sting doesn’t suspect a thing. *½

WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Konnan vs. One Man Gang
Oh boy. WCW begins a pattern of handing off the US title to international stars for talent trading. They started with Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan) and ends with Konnan (AAA). Evidently the idea worked, because the awesome cruiserweight division involved talent from both those companies. OMG uses his girth to overrule Konnan in the early going. Konnan gets a moment free and tries to take Gang off his feet. They end up on the floor where Konnan delivers a CANNONBALLLLLLLL splash. Sheesh, Gang sounds legitimately hurt here. Then again, he was a noisy kind of wrestler. Back inside, the girth takes over again on Konnan. He comes back with a headscissors takedown out of the corner, but whiffs on a dropkick. 747 SPLASH connects! Cover, 1-2-NO! Gang lifts Konnan up off the mat. Well, you know who is losing now. OMG misses a 747 splash off the middle rope and gets nailed with a flying somersault from Konnan for 1-2-3. (7:27) Just an awful match. ½*

Kevin Sullivan (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Brian Pillman – “I Respect You” Strap Match
Yes, this is an infamous match to mess with the IWC into thinking that they were seeing a shoot. No four corner tapping in this one like in a regular strap match – the only way to win this is to make your opponent say “I respect you”. They fight with the strap for about a minute before Pillman pulls the mic away from the ref and says “I respect you…booker man!” Well I have the Turner Home Video release, so that part is cut out, but those with the PPV copy can check it out. After dropping that on the crowd, Pillman slides out of the ring and walks backstage, leaving everybody confused. Arn Anderson heads out in street clothes (hmm, Arn shops at the same place as Pat Patterson?) to figure something out here. Sullivan slaps him with the whip, so Arn takes off his shirt for an impromptu match. We see the usual strap match spots like being hog tied and hung over the top rope. Nobody says they respect the other person, so Jimmy Hart runs to the back and grabs Ric Flair after about three more minutes. WOO! He puts a stop to the fight and reminds them of the Four Horsemen and Dungeon of Doom’s much bigger goal of getting rid of Hogan and Savage. We see some crazy man antics from Flair just for fun. Sullivan and AA go their separate ways while Flair calls out Hogan and insults people at ringside. Awesome.

Apparently the point of this was not to just fool the “smart marks”, but to make Pillman a “free agent” in the hopes that ECW would pick him up and make him hotter than ever with the ‘Loose Cannon’ gimmick so then he could come back to WCW and make a huge impact. Well, ECW did grab Pillman for a short time, but then Pillman left them and went straight to the WWF instead to totally screw with Bischoff and Sullivan’s plans. It’s too bad, because his life might not have ended so tragically otherwise. But then again, who can really say for sure either way.

WCW World Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger vs. The Road Warriors
Luger is being all hesitant to get in the ring with the Road Warriors. I mean, REALLY hesitant. He’s not even starting the match. He just has to stand on the apron while Sting does the work. Alright, FINALLY, Sting locks up with Hawk. A dropkick by Hawk sends Sting rolling out to the floor. Hawk walks him around the ring only to get his head smashed into the guardrail. Back inside, Sting telegraphs a backdrop and takes a botchy swinging neckbreaker. Hawk grabs an STF (?), but Sting grabs the ropes. Sting battles out of an armbar from Animal and tags Luger, who perks up when Animal gets away from Sting. Luger drives Animal’s face into the turnbuckle a few times, but Animal comes back with a big boot and a powerslam for two. Back to the armbar. Hawk tags in and nails Luger with corner clotheslines. He tosses Luger out for Animal to whip him into the guardrail. Back in the ring, Luger pokes Hawk in the eye and drills him with a clothesline for two. Tag to Sting, he keeps Hawk on the mat with a headlock. Animal gets a tag. He gets knocked loopy, causing Sting to fall head-first “by accident” into Animal’s testes. A flying splash from Sting hits knees and both men tag their partners. Hawk levels Luger with a jumping shoulderblock and a pair of fist drops. Luger escapes a rear chinlock, but runs into a sleeper. He escapes *that* with a jawbreaker and tags Sting. Animal takes a Stinger Splash to set up the SCORPION DEATHLOCK, but Hawk comes in and shuts Sting down. Luger runs in and gets rid of Hawk, but Dusty and Tony think he was a little late on that save. Luger saves Sting again when he’s stuck in a neck vice. Sting and Animal take turns NO-SELLING vertical suplexes, but Sting does sell a dropkick. It turns into a pier-six brawl out on the floor where everybody pairs off and fights to the back until the ref throws the whole match out. (13:54) What a boring match. What happened to Harlem Heat here? Shouldn’t they want to cost LOD their chance at the tag titles too? *¾

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Ric Flair (w/Woman) – Cage Match
Flair is already demanding a kiss from Liz before he even gets in the cage. Savage says, “OHHHHHHH NOOOOO!” Haha. As you would expect, Savage goes crazy on Flair to start. And as you might expect, Flair goes low on Savage to turn things around. Rolling Knee Drop connects. Savage takes the first toss into the steel. Oh snap, Flair just decked the ref. While the ref is down, Savage gets a quick backslide. Boy, what a quick recovery for the ref. A backdrop and a pair of clotheslines gets two for Savage. Some boot choking from Savage follows, but then Flair shoves him off into the cage. Flair continues to beat the crap out of Savage until he heads up top and takes a slam to the mat. From there, Savage grabs the figure-four. Flair fights it for a while and reaches the ropes, but the ref refuses to break the hold because there’s no DQ in a CAGE MATCH! Savage releases the hold and heads to the top of the cage only to get caught in the gut on the way down. Flair delivers the Stalling Suplex for two. He tries for a pin a couple more times, but Savage continues to kick out. Flair throws Savage into the cage again, leaving Savage hanging up on the top rope. Now Flair goes for the FIGURE-FOUR! Savage reaches the bottom of the cage, so the ref pulls Flair off him? WHAT. Savage blocks a second attempt at the Figure-Four with an inside cradle for 1-2-NO! Savage fires back on Flair and sends him into the cage a couple times. He even grinds his face against the steel mesh. Now we’ve got Flair busted open, which was a no-no back then and called for some Turner Home Video editing. Flair slows down Savage’s onslaught with an atomic drop out of the corner. He tries to escape by climbing out the cage, but Savage pulls his trunks down a few times to moon the crowd. Flair trips himself up on the top rope and crotches himself, which gets two for Savage. Oops, looks like we have a premature bell ringing. What a professional. Savage sends Flair into the cage again, which opens the cage door wide open. Woman tries to throw powder in Savage’s eyes, but he ducks it! That didn’t work, so ELIZABETH hands her high heel shoe over to Ric Flair! WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM! Savage gets nailed and Flair covers for the 1-2-3! (18:56) Flair wins his 13th world title. Arn Anderson gets in the cage to celebrate! Now here comes the One-Eyed Hogan to scare everybody away with a steel chair. Pretty intense little match here. ***½

Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant (w/Kevin Sullivan & Jimmy Hart) – Cage Match
Hogan has his fists taped up, so YOU KNOW he means business. He punches, bites, and chokes Giant for the first two minutes, then goes for a slam. Yeah, that doesn’t work. Test of strength? Hogan fights out. Bearhug? Hogan claws out. Giant blocks a shot into the cage and sends Hogan into the steel instead. FINALLY, Giant goes after the injured eye. Giant chokes him with Hogan’s own t-shirt, but then misses an elbow drop. Here comes Hogan. He goes for the slam again, but Giant falls on top. Giant works the back a little and then drives Hogan into the cage a few times. Suplex by the Giant makes Hogan do the fish flop sell. Giant tries to head through the door, but Hogan pulls him back into the ring. Giant catches Hogan off a whip with a backbreaker and continues pitching Hulk into the steel. No blood though. Back to the bearhug. Hogan starts to fade, but then wakes up and pounds out of the hold. Giant catches Hulk coming off the ropes with a knee to the gut. CHOKESLAM! Giant thinks its over like everybody before him, but Hogan NO-SELLS and HULKS UP. He sends Giant into the cage six or seven times, hits the Big Boot, calls out to the Hulkamaniacs, and slams Giant. After THREE consecutive LEGDROPS, Giant NO-SELLS! Hogan starts to climb out (but the door is RIGHT there) and Giant tries to stop him, but he gets punched down and falls to his defeat as Hogan climbs out of the cage. (15:06) Below average Hogan cage match. As soon as Hogan falls to the floor, Kevin Sullivan is there to meet him with a chair shot on the back. NO-SELL! Hogan grabs the chair and chases Sullivan into the cage where the Giant still is. They corner Hogan near the cage door as the ENTIRE Dungeon of Doom (excluding the Yeti!) empties out into the cage. Now it’s like 8-on-1 with several Dungeon members being over 300 pounds. Despite all that, Hogan STILL manages to fight them ALL off with a single chair. Here comes the Dungeon of Doom’s latest acquisition: the Loch Ness! He’s like 500 pounds of no talent! As everybody else in the Dungeon clear out of the cage, they try and hold back Loch Ness from getting at Hogan. IT’S NOT WORTH IT, BIG FELLA! HE’S TOO POWERFULLLLLL! Oh yeah and by the way, the match was Vintage Hogan. *

Final Thoughts: Honestly, this PPV looked good to me on paper. But after watching it, I can’t help but feel a tad disappointed. Sting and Luger are great by themselves and fun to see team up every now and then, but they’re do nothing as a tag team that exactly breaks the mold to make them a great team. Unless you enjoy generic Hogan cage matches, the main event was truly awful and EXTREMELY limited with nothing worth watching. However, there are a few fun matches mixed in on this card. Is it enough for a recommendation? Sure, why not. Just feel free to skip past Konnan and the tag title matches and then stop watching the show altogether after Flair wins the belt. Thumbs in the middle for Superbrawl VI.