A heel wrestler? That’s a given. A heel manager? Where would wrestling be without them. A heel referee or federation owner? They’re a fixture of the nineties. But a heel crowd? Whoa. World Championship Wrestling must be still shaking their heads over the audience reaction at SuperBrawl 9 presented at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland California.
Oakland is without a doubt nWo Wolf Pack country as the vile Scott Steiner who’s stalked Diamond Dallas Page’s wife Kimberly and Hollywood Hogan who had Ric Flair beaten up Rodney King-style on the last Monday Night Nitro, were cheered on as faces. The chants of “DDP sucks!” were so loud as Page was being carted away on a stretcher that the WCW production crew toned the arena audio down and beefed up the commentary on the feed to mask it. Go figure.
Sociologists and psychologists could surly write a multi-page report on the County Coliseum response but fans didn’t require a lofty degree to guess how the SuperBrawl main event would turn out. Rumored for weeks, David Flair was indeed the mysterious, unseen man in those video segments and stabbed dear old dad in the back for a woman – Torri Wilson, a fitness trainer.
Gee. Guess who’s not getting their allowance this week?
Hogan and Flair wrestled a refreshing up-tempo match, bleeding, brawling and boasting. As Hollywood (wearing white wrestling boots to match his weightlifting belt) posed and flexed, Flair was dead serious upon entering the ring. Hogan ruled the opening moments shoulder-tackling The Nature Boy down twice. Flair did his characteristic backwards-flip over-the-turnbuckle-landing-on-the-apron deal. Hogan caught Flair with a clothesline and he fell to the arena floor. Hogan took a chair to the 13-time World Champion. Flair battled back with chops to the chest. Hollywood was unfazed chopping The Nature Boy against the steel guard rail (unlike those lame barriers in the WWF) and suplexing Flair on the concrete floor. Flair got up bleeding from his forehead.
Returning to the squared circle, The Nature Boy once again chopped Hogan in the corner. Hogan absorbed the blows taking Flair to the mat. The WCW World Heavyweight Champion undid his weightlifting belt to a massive pop from the crowd. Hogan whipped Flair repeatedly until he tackled him. Hogan swung wildly punching Flair in the forehead with the belt’s buckle.
A poke to the eyes, a stomp to the kneecaps and a knee to the crotch halted Hogan’s dominance. Flair whipped Hogan and punched him with the buckle too, busting Hogan open. Torri Wilson sauntered out to ringside. She yelled at Flair slapping him in the face twice. The Nature Boy drove Hogan to the mat with a standing suplex. Hogan kicked out. That sent Flair flying into the air and landing on referee Charles Robinson KO-ing him. Hogan dropped an elbow on Robinson to keep him down.
Hollywood hit the Big Foot to the face then slammed Flair. Out of desperation, Flair rolled out of the way avoiding Hogan’s feared Atomic Leg Drop finishing maneuver. A ski-masked figure in a black leather jacket came to ringside as Flair slapped The Figure Four on Hogan. The masked man pulled out the nWo taser zapping The Nature Boy. Hogan took the easy three count.
The masked man and Torri Wilson hugged. She reached up unmasking David Flair. Kevin Nash, Hogan and Wilson group-hugged David. David unzipped his leather jacket revealing an nWo Wolf Pack shirt and said “nWo for life, baby!” to the camera.
The next WCW pay-per-view is Uncensored on March 14th..
WCW SuperBrawl 9 Results
: The Thunder video segment of a shadowy figure (David Flair) giving Terri Wilson tickets to SuperBrawl is aired again.
: The announcers say Ric Flair is dedicating his match against Hogan to his family.
Disco Inferno Vs Booker T.
: Booker T. is so over with the crowd. Disco wrestles another fine bout.
: Booker T. executes the Harlem Hangover from the top rope.
Winner: Booker T. at 9 minutes and 18 seconds..
Match Rating: 7 / 10.
Chris Jericho Vs Saturn
: If Saturn wins, he doesn’t have to wear the dress any more. Jericho does.
: Saturn is wearing black eye-liner to match his dress. Ummm. Okay.
: At 4:26, Saturn drags Ralphus into the ring and rips off his dress. The sight of Ralphus standing in his boxers is enough to make a grown man cry. Poor Ralphus.
: Beating Saturn on the outside, Jericho says…”Come on, Klinger!”. Heh. Heh. That Jericho is one funny guy.
: Saturn brains Jericho and referee Scott Dickinson with Death Valley Drivers then walks out on the match. “Life’s a drag,” says Saturn.
: Dickinson counts Saturn out to the dismay of fans.
Winner: Chris Jericho (by count out) at 11 minutes and 20 seconds..
Match Rating: 7 / 10.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. (challenger) Vs Billy Kidman (champion) (Cruiserweight Title Match)
: Nothing compared to the cruiserweight title bouts we’ve witnessed on recent WCW ppvs.
: Chavo gets the life hammered out of him by the Shooting Star Press.
Winner: …and still WCW Cruiserweight Champion…Billy Kidman at 8 minutes and 24 seconds.
Match Rating: 3 / 10.
Curt Hennig, Barry Windham Vs Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko (WCW World Tag Team Title Match)
: Due to the tournament bracketing (which we never saw), Benoit and Malenko have to beat Hennig and Windham twice to win the belts. There is a 30 second rest period between the matches if Malenko and Benoit are victorious in the first match.
: Malenko ties Windham in the Texas Clover Leaf. Windham submits at 19 minutes and 30 seconds.
: Hennig brawls with Benoit. The ref is distracted. Windham takes off his belt and chokes out Malenko.
Winners: …and new WCW World Tag Team Champions, Curt Hennig and Barry Windham at 20 minutes and 30 seconds.
Match Rating: 7 / 10.
Rey Mysterio Jr. , Konnan Versus Kevin Nash , Scott Hall
: Though he is injured, Luger stays at ringside with Elizabeth. Hall subs for Luger.
: Rey Mysterio beans Nash with a moonsault from the top rope. Luger puts a hurting on Konnan. Elizabeth’s got the ref’s attention. Hall disassembles Mysterio with the Outsider Edge, pulling Nash on top of Mysterio. The ref turns around and slaps a three count.
: Rey unmasked with Konnan’s help. Nash yuks it up wearing Mysterio’s discarded mask.
Winners: Kevin Nash and Scott Hall at 10 minutes and 58 seconds.
Match Rating: 4 / 10.
Scott Steiner (champion) Vs Diamond Dallas Page (challenger) (Television Title Match)
: A fan’s sign reads “Diamond Dallas Dickhead”.
: At 8 minutes in, Buff Bagwell joins the fray handing Steiner a chair and cutting some turnbuckles loose using wire cutters. The ref boots Buff from ringside.
: Steiner escapes the Diamond Cutter powerslamming DDP into the exposed buckle again and again. DDP has his arm dropped three times in the Steiner Recliner.
: DDP is taken away on a stretcher. The crowd chants “DDP sucks!”.
Winner: …and still Television Champion…Scott Steiner at 14 minutes and 15 seconds.
Match Rating: 5 / 10.
Scott Hall (challenger) Vs Roddy Piper (champion) (United States Championship Match)
: Disco is with Hall.
: Nash gets Piper’s attention. Hall rolls him up and uses the ropes for the pin.
: At first Piper won’t hand over the belt. Hall comes into the ring to claim his gold and Piper drops it to the mat. Hall picks it up and attempts to brain Piper with it. Piper ducks punching Hall. Nash enters. Piper splits, grabs the mike, says something completely unintelligible and heads to the showers.
Winner: … and new United States Champion…Scott Hall at 8 minutes and 20 seconds .
Match Rating: 3 / 10.
Bam Bam Bigelow Vs Goldberg
: Goldberg picks up and slams Bigelow!
: Bigelow is speared twice and Jackhammered…well…slammed…sort of.
Winner: Goldberg at 11 minutes and 39 seconds .
Match Rating: 6 / 10.
Hollywood Hogan (champion) Ric Flair (challenger) (WCW World Heavyweight Title Match)
Winner: ….and still WCW World Heavyweight Champion…Hollywood Hogan at 11 minutes and 58 seconds .
Match Rating: 7 / 10.
Total Event Time: 2 hours and 55 minutes.
Overall Event Rating: 6 / 10.