Dark Pegasus Video Review: Superbrawl II

Superbrawl II by J.D. Dunn This would be one of the Kip Frey shows. Kip is one of the IWC heroes because he actually tried to create successful wrestling promotion by A) rewarding good wrestling and B) spending money on the promotion. The second one got him in trouble, and the suits ousted him in favor of Bill Watts. I believe Kip teaches at Duke University now, so if you’re in the North Carolina area, drop him a line and thank him for his contributions to wrestling. February 29, 1992 Live from Milwaukee, Wis. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura (making his WCW debut). Opening Match, WCW Light-Heavyweight Title: Jushin Lyger vs. Brian Pillman. This is considered one of the great opening matches of all time. The fans aren’t quite sure what to make of Lyger as he’s a foreigner but he doesn’t do anything particularly heelish. Ross talks about Pillman voicing his strategy of keeping Lyger on the mat to counteract Lyger’s flying ability. Lyger goes him one better, though, targeting Pillman’s knee when he’s not using the high flying maneuvers. The crowd is very impressed by Lyger’s back handspring fake out and starts tilting toward him. Lyger focuses on the knee again with a kneebreaker and a figure-four leglock. Pillman gets backdropped to the floor, and Lyger comes off the top with a cannonball. Pillman returns the favor by suplexing Lyger to the floor and flying out on him with a crossbody. Back in, Pillman blocks a dive with a dropkick, and they dropkick one another. They both try spinning wheel kicks, and that doesn’t work out well either. Pillman comes off the top with a crossbody. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Lyger tries a rana, but Pillman rolls through for two. A DDT gets two more, and Pillman and Lyger collide mid-ring. SUPERPLEX BY LYGER! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! The diving headbutt misses, and Pillman rolls Lyger up for the win at 17:00. Time has taken some of the luster off this one, but it’s still a solid match thanks to the psychology and storytelling that put it a cut above today’s more spotty matches. ****1/4 This is the clipped T.H.E. version, so we skip a few matches. Faarooq vs. Mankind five years early is the only one of real note. Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs. Larry Zbyszko & Steve Austin (w/Madusa). Larry smashed Windham’s hand in a car, earning his nickname “The Cruncher.” Barry’s hand is still bandaged thanks to that, but his even greater weakness is that he wants a piece of Larry, so he often lets his emotions get the better of him. Barry and Dustin both lay a beating on Zbyszko before Austin sneaks in and cheapshots Windham to allow the Dangerous Alliance to take over. Dustin gets the hot tag and unloads on Larry, but Larry catches him with a DDT. Jesse questions why Paul E. Dangerously is conspicuously absent, which would become important later on. Dustin boots Larry and goes after Madusa, so Austin blindsides him. Back in, Dustin hits a crossbody, but Austin is up and nails him with a clothesline. Dustin has a really good face-in-peril act. He hits Austin with Austin’s own Stungun, though. HOT TAG TO WINDHAM! Barry unleashes a flurry on Larry Zbyszko as Jesse rightly questions how badly his hand can be hurt if he’s punching with it. Larry blocks a superplex, but Dustin shoves him off the top. That sets up a flying lariat from Barry at 18:21. The match told a great story with Barry constantly going after revenge and Dustin trying to stay alive long enough to make sure he gets it. Austin was just there to cheat whenever needed, which was kind of a waste of his talents. ***1/4 Missy Hyatt tries to get a word with Ricky Steamboat, but she gets turned away by Ricky’s ninja guard. Madusa tries to charm her way in, but he chases her down the hall. WCW Tag Team Titles: Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton (w/Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa) vs. The Steiners. Kip Frey bars Paul E. from ringside but leaves Madusa. Say, wasn’t the ninja just chasing Madusa. And now here she is with Paul E.. I wonder if that’s a clue to the ninja’s identity. This is about as awesome as you might expect from one half of the Andersons, one half of the Midnights, and two halves of the Steiners. When it’s a fair fight, the Steiners just maul the champs. They even hit a Doomsday Device. Of course, it’s never a fair fight when Arn’s on the case. Arn and Bobby go for a double suplex on Rick, but Scott saves, and the Steiners hit stereo superplexes. They do a replay of the old Minnesota Wrecking Crew spot where Scott is making a comeback, so Arn tosses him into Eaton, sacrificing his partner to ensure Scott can’t make the tag. The heels hit a Rocket Launcher to Scott on the ramp. Crazy! Arn tries to slam Scott’s face into Eaton’s knee, but Scott turns the tables and throws him into Eaton. HOT TAG TO RICK! The heels swarm him and go for a Doomsday Device, but Rick counters to a suplex in mid-air. Are you kidding me?!! That gets two. Rick takes a faceful of powder and accidentally bumps the ref. Scott hits Bobby with the Butterfly Bomb and gets the pin off the Frankensteiner at 20:01. Oh, but referee Nick Patrick reverses the decision and disqualifies the Steiners for hitting the original ref. Not a fan of the ending, but this was four tag team experts doing what they do best. Good stuff. ***3/4 In the back, the ninja leads Ricky Steamboat down the hall. U.S. Title: Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat (w/a ninja). Rude can barely get his pre-match promo out over the heel heat he’s getting. Now THAT’S heat. Jesse whines about Steamboat having a ninja while Rude can’t have Paul E.. Thankfully, Ricky doesn’t dog it like he did at the Rumble against Rude. He goes after Rude’s arms, which Jesse questions because Rude has great upper body strength. Steamboat nearly takes them over the top with a crossbody but lands awkwardly, and Rude is able to take over. Rude goes after the neck, nicely selling the arm. He can’t even do the pose. Rude gets in too much offense, though, and the match starts to bog down. Both guys go for leapfrogs, and they jump into one another. Rude tries to put him out with a sleeper, but Steamboat makes the big comeback. The hot finish sees Steamboat hit a superplex, but the ninja suddenly turns on him and hits him with a cellphone. Rude crawls over and gets the pin at 20:01. Overly long, and for whatever reason, it just didn’t connect. They seemed to do everything right, and yet it just fell short. **1/4 Missy Hyatt finds out that Paul E. was, indeed, the ninja. “Oh ma gawd, Paul E was dressed as a neen-juh!” WCW Heavyweight Title: Lex Luger (w/Harley Race) vs. Sting. After a lackluster first reign as champion, it was time for Lex to drop the title back to Sting. Luger was revealed to be the guy hiring people to attack Sting, but Sting weathered the storm and won Battlebowl to set this match up. Sting gets chintzy right away by slipping out of the Torture Rack, hitting Luger with a German Suplex, and then putting him in his own Torture Rack. Luger rolls to the floor. Back in, Sting gets the Scorpion Deathlock on, but Luger is in the ropes. Finally, Luger goes after Sting’s oft-injured knee. He’s unmotivated at this point, so it gets boring until Sting makes the comeback. Sting tumbles to the floor off a missed dive, though. Harley Race tries for a piledriver on the floor, so Luger thinks, “No sweat.” Sting backdrops out of it, though, goes up, and finishes Luger with the flying crossbody at 13:00. Luger didn’t put forth much effort (or even much fight, really). He was about to take time off and jump to the WBF anyway, though. **1/4

The 411: This show has the reputation as a classic, but it doesn't hold up as well as I thought it would. It started out hot and had a few good tag matches, but the final two matches were disappointing. It still merits a thumbs up with the way-ahead-of-its-time light-heavyweight match and the Sting win, but it's not one of the great all-time PPVs that people remember. Thumbs up
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]