Superbrawl IX has finally arrived. While the TV buildup ended up being a little lackluster and nonsensical, the pay per view itself ended up being the third most successful pay per view in WCW history trailing behind Bash at the Beach 1998 (580k) and Starrcade 1997 (700k) with 485k buys which equated to a 1.15 buyrate. When looking at the demise of WCW in the pay per view space, this is the final pay per view to surpass 400k buys. The audience loses interest in buying for the WCW product and that happens faster than anyone would expect.
It shows that Hogan vs. Flair was a still a major draw for the company at a time when the WWF was creating separation in television ratings. Over on the other channel, the WWF is heavily focused on the Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon along with a brutal Rock vs. Mankind feud. The Giant, or known as the Big Show now, has arrived in the WWF and is an instance of a wrestler jumping away from WCW to the WWF, which didn’t happen often considering Giant had been on WCW television the previous month.
WWF is younger and a fresher product with their top stars not being talent that had been overexposed for several years. The top guys in WCW (Hogan, Flair, Outsiders, Piper) don’t work the kind of compelling style that WWF focuses on. The action is very one dimensional. WCW has a great undercard of talent (Rey, Booker, Benoit, Malenko, Jericho, Saturn), but they’re not going to get the proper chance to shine against the legends. Now, that sounds like the perfect opportunity to do an angle to pass the torch, but that ends up happening a bit too late. There’s no question that WCW has the in-ring talent to compete, but they seriously lack the ability to put forth coherent storytelling and produce stories that are interesting on a consistent basis.
Lets get into Superbrawl IX.
FEBRUARY 21ST — OAKLAND, CA — OAKLAND ARENA
MATCH #1: BOOKER T VS. DISCO INFERNO
FINISH: Booker picks up the win following the Harlem Hangover off the top rope.
Bob’s Take: Interestingly enough, Disco didn’t come out to the Wolfpac music, but it is noted that he’s officially a member of the group and he’s wearing the shirt. There’s no denying that Booker is over with the crowd and seems to be poised for a push up the card, or at least should be. Booker landed directly on Inferno’s face, but luckily Disco was able to avoid a serious injury. The action was mostly basic, but a solid match regardless. 1 for 1
MATCH #2: CHRIS JERICHO VS. PERRY SATURN
FINISH: Jericho wins the match by count-out when Saturn walked out on the match after hitting Jericho and Dickinson with Death Valley Drivers.
Bob’s Take: Scott Dickinson is the referee for the match despite clearly having an agenda against Saturn. How can WCW sanction this kind of stuff? Saturn stripped Ralphus of his dress, which was a funny moment during the match. The finish is a bit of a downer, but the action between these two was the best they’ve put together thus far in the feud. I enjoyed the match more than I expected. 2 for 2
REY & KONNAN INTERVIEW
CONTEXT: Rey and Konnan and interviewed by the WCW website and Mysterio says they he’s not going to lose the mask tonight. Konnan thinks the NWO is over confident and they are going to take advantage of that.
Bob’s Take: There’s no part of me that believes Rey and Konnan are going to win their match tonight. I’d like more for Mysterio, but I doubt it’s going to happen tonight. 3 for 3
MATCH #3: WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION BILLY KIDMAN VS. CHAVO GUERRERO JR.
FINISH: Kidman pins Guerrero following the Shooting Star Press to retain the title
Bob’s Take: A good match between these two former partners. The story between them may have been basic and weak, but it was at least something instead of two Cruiserweights going out there to just have a match. The action was quite good and they didn’t need to do any over the top crazy spots to hold interest. Chavo is another guy that can be an asset in the division to freshen up the same champions/challengers issue that the division often faces. 4 for 4
MATCH #4: BARRY WINDHAM & CURT HENNIG VS. CHRIS BENOIT & DEAN MALENKO — FINALS OF WCW TAG TEAM TITLE TOURNAMENT
FINISH: Malenko forced Windham to submit to the Texas Cloverleaf to win the first fall, but Windham removed his belt while Malenko was distracted by Hennig in the corner. Malenko tried for another Cloverleaf, but Windham choked Malenko with his belt to knock Malenko out. Windham covered Malenko while still choking Malenko and hid the belt to pin Malenko and wins the titles.
Bob’s Take: I’m keeping both matches together since the second match is literally twenty seconds. I do not mind Benoit & Malenko losing here. They had to win twice, while Hennig and Windham had to only win one. The finish puts more heat on Hennig & Windham and allows to protect Malenko and Benoit during their chase now. The money, as it always is, is for the faces to chase the heels for the titles. So, logically, the next PPV would likely have a rematch between these two teams and some interest for Benoit and Malenko to win the titles later on. The match was rather slow and plodding, so it wasn’t all that enjoyable. I didn’t mind the booking, though. 4 for 5
MATCH #5: KONNAN & REY MYSTERIO JR VS. THE OUTSIDERS — MASK VS. LIZ’S HAIR
FINISH: Late in the match, Luger rammed Konnan into the ring steps face first. Mysterio had a pin on Nash after a moonsault, but the referee was distracted by Liz allowing the Outsiders Edge by Hall and Nash pinned Mysterio to win the match. Thus, Mysterio is forced to unmask.
Bob’s Take: Luger has a torn bicep, and thus Scott Hall is inserted into the spot. It probably makes more sense for Hall to be with Nash, but that means he’s pulling double duty. The decision to take the mask off of Mysterio is baffling. I understand the reasoning that Bischoff wanted the fans to see Mysterio’s facial reactions better, but I can honestly say I’ve never sat watching a Rey match and wondered “is he hurt?” Plus, look at home much money the WWE went on to make by marketing the mask as merchandise. I don’t think there’s truly a way to justify the mask removal. Anyway, I enjoyed the match and thought Mysterio was allowed to shine throughout the match. This felt like an opportunity to give Mysterio a major win and they fumbled it bad. 5 for 6
MATCH #6: WCW TELEVISION CHAMPION SCOTT STEINER VS. DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE — IF STEINER WINS, HE GETS KIMBERLY FOR 30 DAYS
FINISH: Late in the match, Steiner whacked DDP over the back with a chair as Buff Bagwell distracted the referee. Bagwell removed the top turnbuckle pad to expose the steel buckle. However, the referee ejects Bagwell from ringside. Steiner rams DDP into the metal buckle a several times after avoiding the diamond cutter. Steiner locked in the Steiner Recliner and forced DDP to pass out and retained the title.
Bob’s Take: To their credit, this came across much more as a fight than it did a wrestling match. That’s the vibe I was hoping for considering the feud and how personal it became with Kimberly’s involvement. I thought this was another good match and hard hitting. Steiner comes across like a monster and badass. DDP always has good fire and passing out to the Steiner Recliner is a fine finish. Did DDP need to win the match? I feel like it would have been more beneficial for him to win and do a beatdown afterward. This may be the turning point for DDP’s babyface character because the crowd could be heard chanting that DDP sucks. 6 for 7
BAM-BAM BIGELOW INTERVIEWED FOR THE WEBSITE
CONTEXT: Bigelow says it was all a plan to get Goldberg in a high profile match in front of the world and beat him. Bigelow believes he’s the man to beat Goldberg. Bigelow teases that he knows he can throw Goldberg around.
Bob’s Take: I guess we’re suppose to ignore the fact that Nash already beat Goldberg, right? Bigelow’s best promo for this feud was involving insults directed towards Goldberg’s wife and I think he should have double downed on that approach because this was pointless and not good. 6 for 8
MATCH #7: WCW UNITED STATES CHAMPION RODDY PIPER VS. SCOTT HALL
FINISH: Late in the match, Nash gets involved on the apron to allow Hall to rollup Piper with his feet on the ropes to win the match.
Bob’s Take: Piper shouldn’t be wrestling on pay per view in 1999. The title switch from Hitman to Hot Rod was bad booking in the first place. I have zero interest in Piper wrestling at this point and it was already fairly low prior to this time anyway. Hall is at least a capable worker and could potentially provide some substance with the championship now. However, this was horrendous. To think we could have gotten Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, but instead this happens. Yikes. 6 for 9
MATCH #8: BAM-BAM BIGELOW VS. GOLDBERG
FINISH: Goldberg delivered two spears and the jackhammer to win the match.
Bob’s Take: There was a moment maybe two or three minutes into the match where Goldberg slammed Bigelow and the vibe from the crowd was that the end was near. Which tends to be the case in most Goldberg matches. However, the match went on for another eight or nine minutes. Nobody wanted to see Bigelow have an extended beating on Goldberg. Goldberg’s aura is not overcoming a beating. The whole draw for Goldberg is beating heels in three minutes or less. Bigelow hasn’t been presented on television in the manner to justify this approach to begin with. It’s a bizarre choice and the match isn’t entertaining. 6 for 10
MAIN EVENT: WCW WORLD CHAMPION HOLLYWOOD HOGAN VS. RIC FLAIR
FINISH: Toward the end of the match, the lovely blonde woman comes out and slaps Flair while on the apron and remained at ringside. Late in the match, a masked man makes his way down to the ring. The masked man enters the ring and tases Flair. Commentary believes it is Eric Bischoff. Hogan pins Flair to retain the title. After the match, the masked man unmasks and it is revealed to be… David Flair. David Flair has joined the NWO and kisses Torrie. I hate David Flair.
Bob’s Take: Six days ago, Flair was brutally beaten in a field by the NWO. Similar to his appearance on Thunder, Flair is only sporting two small bandages on his face. His ribs aren’t taped up. There wasn’t a limp to the ring or anything. For such a major angle there’s a lackluster sell of it. The action isn’t too bad and probably better than I remember or thought it would be. However, there was a moment during the match where Flair seems to be getting jeers. I know that Flair tends to work a lot better as heel, but considering the build to the match I’m a bit surprised that Flair would receive anything but support. They both bled during the match and that adds to the match a bit. I enjoyed the main event for what it was. David Flair turning on his father is an interesting direction, and I’m curious as to what the reasoning will be for it. 7 for 11
I enjoyed Superbrawl IX a lot more than I expected to heading into it. The undercard delivered quality action for the most part. The main event between Hogan and Flair was fine match that had an interesting twist at the end wit David Flair turning. If they can provide a logical reason for it, it could be good. However, I’m not too confident about that. I would have the NWO turn on David tomorrow night on Nitro and reveal they were just using him for one night of service.
Diamond Dallas Page is likely going to be taking a break from TV, and when he comes back I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a heel turn. DDP has lost a lot of key matches as a babyface, and it looks like the crowd has gotten impatient with rooting for a loser.
Booker T had a great showing tonight and judging the crowd reaction Booker should be destined for bigger things sooner rather than later. Booker’s crowd reaction simply can’t be ignored. I’d have Booker go after Hall and the WCW United States Championship.
Where does Goldberg go from here? I’d imagine a feud with Nash, or potentially Scott Steiner? We’ve got to avoid a showdown with Hogan until at least the summer. Goldberg setting his sights on Nash makes a lot of sense to me.
Hopefully we get some idea of their direction on Nitro. Until then…
Thanks for reading.