Mike Reviews WCW SuperBrawl IV

Happy SuperBrawl Saturday Everyone! (I hope your t-shirts aren’t too tight!)

I decided to review SuperBrawl IV this week as I’ve been meaning to watch the show again for a while because I was interested in seeing how I’d feel about the Main Event between Vader and Ric Flair. I love their battle at Starrcade 1993, but I seem to recall that the SuperBrawl IV match they have is a bit disappointing, so I thought I’d give it another watch this week.

Elsewhere on the card we’ve got a divisive match between Steve Regal and Arn Anderson, as well as Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne challenging The Nasty Boys for the Tag Titles. We’ve also got some matches that look pretty cack in all honesty (featuring exciting grapplers such as The Equaliser and a totally past it Jimmy Garvin) but hopefully the good on the show will outweigh the bad.

SuperBrawl IV actually never saw an official home release for some reason, but thankfully it’s up on WWE Network/Peacock and I also have a bootleg copy on VHS somewhere that I got from Extreme Central UK in Manchester, which sadly closed its doors many moons ago.

If you’d like to view the card for SuperBrawl IV you can do so by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=1577&page=3

SuperBrawl IV is emanating from Albany, Georgia on the 20th of February 1994

Calling the action are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

One thing I do like about these old WCW shows is that they run down the big matches on the card in the opening video packages. It only takes a couple of minutes and sets the scene nicely. It means you don’t really need much pre-amble once the show itself starts, although this is a WCW show so I’m sure we’ll get that too.

The commentary team yaks for a bit. We get clips of Michael Hayes cheap-shotting Johnny B. Badd, with Bobby making jokes at Badd’s expense.

Speaking of Johnny B. Badd, he makes his entrance as apparently he’s wrestling in the opener. However, Michael Hayes comes out in a wheelchair being pushed by Jimmy Garvin. Mean Gene Okerlund and WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel come out to see what is going on. Hayes says that he hurt himself earlier on, so he can’t wrestle, although Hayes and Garvin can’t get their stories straight over what actually happened to Hayes. Garvin is dumb enough to mention that he feels that he could beat Badd, so Bockwinkel books the match for later on, which the crowd pops for. Normally I dislike angles at the start of the show that delay the first match getting in the ring as it kills the momentum generated from the opening videos and pyro, but this served it’s purpose and set something up for later. I’m not sure if Hayes was genuinely injured or not.

Opening Match
The Harlem Heat (Kane and Kole) Vs Thunder and Lightning

Booker T and Stevie Ray weren’t actually using those names yet, as they’d only debuted in WCW during the second half of 1993 and hadn’t quite evolved into the top team they would end up becoming (although they do have their iconic music already). Thunder and Lightning were two exceedingly green guys from the WCW Power Plant with good physiques. Lightning would actually go on to gain some success as an evil version of Sting, whilst Thunder wouldn’t make it to the end of 1994 before retiring.

Bobby keeps wrongfully calling Thunder and Lightning “Batman and Robin” which doesn’t really work as an insult as Batman and Robin are awesome whilst Thunder and Lightning are too hugely generic lads who do very basic wrestling. That being said, Thunder and Lightning may be limited but they can at least execute their move-set successfully, so the match is watchable, especially when Booker is in there with them. You can see the inherent inexperience of the babyface duo when it comes to things like selling and transitions, but they are clearly athletic and have reasonable execution. Harlem Heat are both decent here actually, as they hold things together well enough and keep the match going.

Thunder and Lightning work the babyface shine on The Heat in the early sections of the match, showing that in a fair wrestling match they are the better team, but a cheap shot from Stevie allows Booker to clothesline Thunder over the top to the floor for the cut off. This I guess falls into WCW’s vague “momentum” rule, which means that it isn’t a DQ even though someone was clearly thrown over the top rope and that was a DQ in WCW at the time. We get split-screen during this one to show that Ric Flair is hanging out with Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat in his locker-room. The crowd kind of gets behind Thunder whilst he’s being worked over and he does a competent job as the babyface in peril.

Booker eventually misses an elbow drop from the top rope and that leads to Lightning getting the hot tag and running wild on the Heels with punches. In-line with everything else the babyface team have done, it’s pretty generic offence, but it’s executed fine. The finish is actually quite good, as Lightning has Booker pinned in an O’Connor Roll but the ref is distracted trying to get Thunder out of the ring. This allows Stevie to calmly stomp over and kick poor Lightning right in the head, leading to Booker simply making the cover for the three count when the referee turns around. I love quick finishes like that as it keeps the fans on their toes and if a huge man like Stevie Ray kicked you in the head then I’d buy that you’d stay down for three seconds, especially if you didn’t see it coming and had no time to brace.

WINNERS: THE HARLEM HEAT
RATING: **

Thoughts: You know what, I thought this was okay, especially when you consider how inexperienced Thunder and Lightning were. If you went to your local small indie show and you saw four dudes who looked like this working a match like this, you’d probably be quite impressed and think they all had futures in the business. You could also make the argument of course that this was a pay per view event from what was supposed to be the second biggest wrestling promotion in the USA at the time, and thus we should have got a bit more for our pay per view pennies than Harlem Heat carrying two generic green lads in the opener. When you look at WCW’s roster at the time, they probably could have put a more experienced team in there to oppose The Heat. However, I thought Thunder and Lightning acquitted themselves reasonably well when they’d essentially be thrown to wolves on live pay per view like this, so I’ll cut them some slack. I also really liked the finish and I think those sorts of endings are perfect for the opening match as it trains the fans to expect that a win can come from anywhere

Mean Gene Okerlund is backstage between the two locker rooms of the Vader and Flair. Putting them that close together seems like a mistake to be honest. Stick them at other ends of the building or something!

Match Two
The Equaliser Vs Jungle Jim Steele

Equaliser would go on to become Dave Sullivan, and isn’t very good, whilst Steele was green as grass at this stage but he would eventually form a decent tag team with Mike Barton in Japan, as well as spending a period dressing up as Wolf Hawkfield from Virtua Fighter whilst in All Japan Pro Wrestling. As a big VF fan (I know it can be divisive amongst fighting game fans, but I really love that series) I personally rank being Wolf Hawkfield as the highlight of Steele’s career, but I’m not sure if he’d agree with me. One of the main memories I have of Steele is when ECW booked him following the end of his WCW stint and had 911 crush him at the ECW Arena as a way of showing that WCW was lame.

Steele has fur on his boots, so Bobby calls them “Hair Jordans” in a funny line, which actually pops Tony and he has to stifle a laugh. Steele is like Thunder and Lightning in that he just does generic babyface offence, but Equaliser is significantly less good in the ring than Harlem Heat are, so he doesn’t do as good a job of selling it. Equaliser does seem a bit uncooperative here actually, with him basically no selling Steele at points, which doesn’t help with making the match watchable. The crowd doesn’t really care about the action either, whereas they did get into the opener due to Harlem Heat’s selling making Thunder and Lightning look credible.

After a generic babyface shine, Equaliser soup cans Steele to the floor and works him over back inside with thinks like stomps and chokes. It’s thrilling stuff let me tell you! The wrestling doesn’t look that good and the crowd doesn’t care about it either, so it makes a six minute match feel like a bit of a slog. I think Steele is kind of going for Ultimate Warrior meets Kerry Von Erich here, but it isn’t really working for him. Steele does eventually make the comeback and gets the Thesz Press OUTTA NOWHERE for the win, with Equaliser immediately popping up from it at 3.1.

WINNER: JIM STEELE
RATING: ¼*

Thoughts: This had no business being on a weekend syndicated show, let alone a pay per view event. Steele needed all the help he could get to have a good match due to his inexperience, and Equaliser was not the guy to do that, especially when Equaliser was seemingly being uncooperative with his opponent. The only reason I didn’t go DUD for this was that Steele did seem to be working hard and I like a trier

Mean Gene hypes up the WCW Hotline. Please dial kids, it’s how Gene is putting his kids through college! Gene brings over Nick Bockwinkel and Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat says that he’s been trying to get a World Title shot for nearly a year now, and Bockwinkel has confirmed that Steamer will get the winner of the World Title match tonight. Hang on, why on Earth did it take a YEAR for Ricky frigging Steamboat to get a shot at the belt?!?! I’m pretty certain that even the popcorn vendor was getting Title shots in WCW around this time.

Match Three
Diamond Dallas Page Vs Terrific Terry Taylor

DDP was playing the role of cocky youngster to Taylor’s experienced pro, although I think DDP was already in his late 30’s by the time this show rolled around. DDP wasn’t using Self High Five yet, and was instead using his Gary Glitter styled theme. Interestingly that remains in place on the Network/Peacock whilst SHF always gets dubbed out. I guess Glitter is too busy being in prison to sue WWE? Taylor runs wild to start, bumping DDP around as they are selling this one as a grudge match where Taylor is looking for revenge following a DDP sneak attack. The crowd doesn’t really respond to any of it though, either because they don’t know the storyline or they don’t care about Taylor. It’s WCW in 1994, so it could be either.

We get a spot you probably wouldn’t see today, as Taylor locks DDP in a cross arm breaker and applies it fully, but rather than instantly tapping out DDP instead lies around in it for a bit selling the hold until making the ropes to escape. MMA has of course shown that something like that is an INSTANT tap out these days so it just looks silly if you don’t cry uncle as soon as it gets locked in, but MMA was far more of a fringe sport in 1994 even though the early UFC shows had been pay per view hits. Taylor targets the arm following that, with DDP being unable to get a foothold in the match as they do the elongated babyface shine. The crowd continues to sit on their hands, even though the wrestling has been okay for the most part.

DDP eventually manages to cut Taylor off by out muscling him and working some heat. DDP doesn’t look too bad on offence and shows some decent Heel mannerisms, but he wasn’t yet as good as he’d start getting in 1996. You can see from watching this that DDP had something though, but if you said in 1994 that he’d arguably be one of WCW’s top babyfaces during one of their hottest periods I think you might have been laughed out of the room. DDP gets frustrated due to not being able to put Taylor away during the heat, with Taylor selling well. I’d say that the heat segment probably goes on for too long, especially when you consider how non-into this the crowd are. The two wrestlers are arguably doing the right things, but the crowd just isn’t biting.

There’s the odd moment where the crowd reacts, like when Taylor gets a crossbody for a quick two count before getting cut off again, but the crowd tends to die once Taylor is back on the defensive again. DDP does get a fantastic looking punch in on Taylor at one stage, with Taylor taking this wonderful bump from it and DDP having a great insufferable look on his face after delivering it. Again, the actual wrestling here has been fine but the crowd just has had no interest in watching these two wrestle. Taylor eventually manages to catch DDP with a desperation roll-up and that’s enough for the flash three count.

WINNER: TERRY TAYLOR
RATING: **

Thoughts: DDP’s heat segment went on too long for me and that didn’t help the match, but the wrestling within the bout itself was to a reasonable standard. The crowd just didn’t really get into this, and the finish felt kind of flat as a result. This was the first match that felt like it had a reason to be on pay per view at least due to the two wrestlers having an ongoing storyline to set it up

Mean Gene is with WCW German announce Oliver Muffler who says a quick bit in German and then asks a stilted question in English about who Gene thinks will win the Main Event, which Gene refuses to answer. Bobby of course has a joke lined up about the German announcer. He’s on good form tonight I must say.

Match Four
Jimmy “Jam” Garvin w/ Michael P.S. Hayes Vs The Prettiest Wrestler in WCW Johnny B. Badd

Hayes and Badd had been teaming but then Hayes turned on Badd in order to set this one up. I think they essentially dragged Garvin out of retirement just for this match as he was a commercial pilot at the time. I wonder if this was supposed to be just a one night thing or if they actually had plans to team Garvin and Hayes up as a regular act again? Probably the highlight of this match is Hayes jawing whilst sat in his wheelchair on the entrance ramp (which goes straight up to the apron on this show). The wrestling itself is okay in the early going too, as Badd was solid around this time and Garvin’s bumping and feeding is on point.

Garvin is actually able to draw some boos and slips easily back into his cowardly Heel persona, stalling and yelling at the referee to shut up when the ref asks him if he quits. Garvin eventually manages to catch Badd with a raised boot in the corner and works some heat, with Badd selling that well. The crowd claps to try and get Badd into the match, as they’ve been into this one for the most part thus far. Hayes and Bobby send well wishes to one another during the heat segment in a funny moment, whilst the crowd continues to clap for Badd. Badd eventually manages to counter a Garvin DDT into a back body drop and makes the comeback, with Garvin’s bumping starting to get a bit sloppier, which is understandable when you consider that he hadn’t wrestled for nearly two years. Badd comes off the top with a sunset flip and that’s enough for three.

WINNER: JOHNNY B. BADD
RATING: *3/4

Thoughts: This was the old House Show Special, as they worked this for the live crowd with lots of stalling and character work. The result was that the live audience got into it for the most part, but the downside was that it wasn’t especially entertaining to watch if you were viewing it on television. Garvin looked like a retired wrestler who flew planes for a living, but his actual wrestling wasn’t too bad, as he could still bump and feed, and he didn’t try anything he couldn’t do. Given the circumstances, this wasn’t terrible, although I’m not sure it was pay per view quality

Badd goes after Hayes following the match, but Garvin jumps him from behind to put a stop to that. Garvin actually lays Badd out with a Stone Cold Stunner back inside the ring and leaves to boos, which does seem to suggest that we were supposed to see more of this feud, but we never did as Garvin was gone again following this and didn’t wrestle again until 1995.

Mean Gene is backstage and trying to get a word with Vader, but Vader isn’t in a talkative mood.

Match Five
Special 30 Minute Time Limit
WCW Television Title
Champ: Lord Steven Regal w/ Sir William Vs Arn Anderson

These two had wrestled to some 15 minute draws on television, so this bout here at SuperBrawl IV will have a special 30 minute time limit in the hope of ensuring that the bout will have a clear winner this time.

Anderson gets a fantastic ovation during his entrance. I’ve been meaning to give this one a re-watch for a long time, mainly owing to the fact that it kind of divides opinion online. Dave Meltzer and Scott Keith (hardly bedfellows with one another) have both given the match poor reviews over the years, but there are also a lot of people who love it and say it’s one of the best matches of 1994. I must admit that on the one occasion that I watched it I really didn’t enjoy it at all, finding it to be a bit of a slog. However, it’s been many years since then so I’m intrigued to see if my opinion has changed in the proceeding time. Let’s see if it has.

This is a match where the actual wrestling on display is excellent, with both men being technically proficient scientific wrestlers who know how to have a grappling contest on the mat and make it look believable. The only real issue is that it sometimes feels like they are stalling, less for character reasons and more simply to artificially extend the length of the match because they need to fill half an hour. Regal is of course excellent at playing the whinging villain unhappy that Anderson is out wrestling him, constantly using stalling tactics to try and take the challenger off his game. Good as the wrestling and character work is though, the match probably would have fitted better into a 20 minute time slot rather than a 30 minute one.

Anderson spends most of the first half of the contest getting the better of things, with Regal reduced either to taking punishment or stalling to try and find a way to gain control. The match does tell a good story of two men trying to out-think one another, playing into the idea of wrestling being “the human game of chess” as both men try to think a step ahead of their opponent. Eventually Sir William sees a chance to bonk Anderson with his umbrella whilst the referee isn’t looking, which leads to Regal taking over as we get the 20 minute time call.

This angers Anderson and he starts really targeting the bandaged left thigh/hip of Regal with kicks and stomps, but Regal is able to fight off an attempt at a Figure Four Leg Lock. Anderson stays on the appendage though, getting a modified leg lock that forces Regal to make the ropes to break it up. The final 4-5 minutes of the match are built around Regal trying to run out the clock whilst Anderson tries to get a flurry of offence in so he can pick up the win, with the crowd being fully behind him. It looks like it’s going to go to a time limit draw like their other matches, but they end up bowling a Yorker by having Sir William help Regal pick up an umbrella assisted pin for the three count.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: LORD STEVEN REGAL
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was a very good 20 minute match with an additional 10 minutes added to it. Both men worked extremely hard and some of the wrestling was fantastic, but it also did start to drag a little bit after a certain point. I didn’t personally see it as the absolute classic as some seem to, but it certainly was a good match, it just needed a bit of trimming in my opinion. I did enjoy the finish as it really seemed like it was going to a draw but then they had Regal get the pin out of nowhere in a nice bit of misdirection.

We get clips of Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne defeating The Nasty Boys on a Clash of Champions in order to set up the next match.

Match Six
WCW World Tag Team Titles
Champs: The Nasty Boys (Knobbs and Sags) Vs Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne

Cactus had gone babyface in 1993 and had gotten quite over, but then WCW had put him in a silly storyline where he had amnesia and thought he was a sea captain, which had pretty much ended any hope of him being a top singles star in the promotion. However, he had formed a surprisingly effective tandem with Payne, so now they’re getting a Title shot. Cactus and Payne get a very good reaction from the crowd, and this was a fun feud that produced some entertaining wild brawls. Knobbs has an acoustic guitar with him, which is seemingly a way of insulting Payne due to Payne’s gimmick being that he was a heavy metal musician.

Payne FLINGS both of The Nasty’s around in the early going, which is incredibly impressive because they are big hefty men, and then Cactus comes in to bump them around further. These two teams had the sort of chemistry you couldn’t buy. Sometimes you stick some disparate people together and it’s magic, and that is certainly the case here. The Nasty’s have no answer for the challengers in the early going, with the crowd being into the action, which is good to hear as they’ve been difficult to get anything out of at points on this show.

Eventually Sags gets a chop block in on Payne whilst he’s distracted fighting Knobbs and that gives us the cut off, with The Nasty’s targeting the leg. Payne sells that well but he isn’t worked over for long, as Cactus gets the tag back in and runs wild on The Nasty’s. However, The Nasty’s manage to use the numbers game to knock Cactus off the apron onto the floor Nestea Plunge style (where Knobbs has removed the mats) and it looks like we’re getting a second heat segment. I always want to shudder when I see Mick Foley take bumps like that. I’m amazed he made it to 2000 whilst still working a regular schedule.

Cactus is bleeding from the mouth after his tumble to the concrete, and he sells the pain of it all in his usual excellent manner, with The Nasty’s targeting the back and mid-section with moves like THE DREADED YOUNG LION BOSTON CRAB. Cactus ends up catching both Nasty’s with a DDT and makes the tag to Payne. That pop for the double DDT might possibly be the loudest the crowd have been all night thus far. Payne runs wild on The Nasty’s with head butts, and looks to have it won with the Payne Killer (Fujiwara Arm Bar) on Knobbs. However, Sags hits Payne with Chekhov’s guitar and that’s a DQ.

WINNERS BY DQ: CACTUS & PAYNE (NASTY’S RETAIN)
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Cheap finish but it set up a No DQ match at the next pay per view, so it served a purpose and the match was good fun up to that point as well. This was as loud as the crowd had been all evening, so this feud had clearly grabbed the fans’ attention

Mean Gene is backstage and continues to hock the hotline. Please dial in folks, Gene needs more olives for his martini’s! Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat come over for some promo time, with Hulk Hogan getting his name dropped as Flair says he’d like to wrestle The Hulkster but first he’s focusing on Vader and then Steamboat if he retains. It was wild hearing Hulk Hogan’s name getting mentioned on a WCW show this early into 1994, as I didn’t think they were talking about it this soon. Arn Anderson comes over to give Flair a peptalk. This was a decent segment.

Semi-Main
ThunderCage
Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff and Stunning Steve Austin w/ Colonel Rob Parker Vs The Man Called Sting, The Natural Dustin Rhodes and Flyin’ Brian Pillman

Rude and Sting were beginning to feud here whilst Austin and Pillman had an issue going on as well due to being former tag team partners. This is a regular six man tag that they’ve stuck inside a cage, for reasons I’m not entirely sure about. Was the feud between all six of these guys so severe that they simply had to stick them in a cage? Rude was the WCW International Champ at the time, which was what they started calling the NWA Title when WCW left the organisation to branch out on their own. For some reason it took them months to unify the WCW World and International belts, leaving them with two recognised World Champs in the same promotion at the same time, which wasn’t especially common place in North America at the time (WWE has since of course normalised it).

According to Tony on commentary, Rob Parker had to wear a chicken suit on TV due to Brian Pillman, so he’s assembled this team as a way of getting back at Pillman, with Sting and Rhodes getting dragged into it as well. Sting makes a point of shining on Rude in the early going, with Rude taking some fantastic bumps for The Stinger, and the crowd LOVES that. Wow, Sting is more over than a rover here at SuperBrawl IV! Austin pretends to injure himself at one stage whilst in there with Sting, but Sting for once isn’t an idiot and doesn’t buy it. Wow, you know your treacherous heeling is lacking when even STING can see through it! The cage being used here is a lot like the WWF’s Hell in a Cell cage, in that there is space at ringside for the wrestlers to fight in and the cage is so high that it’s very difficult to assail it.

The Heels eventually manage to get the heat on Pillman when Austin flees from him and then catches Flyin’ Brian with a Stun Gun (the move, not the item) into the cage wall. This brings Pillman up bleeding, but the camera crew does the best they can to not actually show any of the blood. I’m wondering if this was an approved blade job from Pillman or if he went into business for himself here? WCW had quite a strict no blood policy at the time due to being under the Turner umbrella and their desire to be family friendly, so blood on these shows was quite rare and you didn’t see it a lot. I suppose they could have authorised some blood here, but it’s more likely that Pillman decided it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission, hence why the camera crew are desperately trying to avoid shooting Pillman’s face so as not to show the blood on screen.

Pillman sells really well whilst getting worked over, which is what you would expect from him in all fairness, and the Heels look good on offence, so this is an effective and well-worked heat segment. Pillman eventually manages to catch Austin out of the air with a big dropkick, which gives us the double down and then the hot tag to Sting, with Sting running wild on the Heels whilst the crowd loses their minds. It’s been a bit of a struggle, but they’ve finally managed to get the crowd into this show after they didn’t really care about most of the first half of the card. Rhodes finally gets to do a bit and runs wild on Mr. Wonderful, with the crowd digging that as well. However. Orndorff manages to cut off Rhodes by pulling him into the turnbuckle, which gives us our second heat segment of the contest.

Rhodes also does a good job of selling, as all six of these wrestlers are very talented and know how to work a good contest. The crowd continues to be very invested in the action, which is good to see after the dearth of atmosphere from earlier on. In all fairness though, these six are a lot better than the likes of The Equaliser and Jim Steele. Austin was the US Champ at the time and had defeated Rhodes for the belt, so their bit together has some extra punch to it, with Rhodes eventually managing to tag in Austin’s other big foe in the form of Pillman, which leads to Pillman getting a comeback and all six of the wrestlers heading into the ring, as it becomes a literal Pier Six Brawl! Sting manages to press slam Pillman onto Austin during the commotion and that’s enough for three and a big pop from the crowd.

WINNERS: STING, RHODES & PILLMAN
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: This was good fun all round, with two good heat segments on Pillman and Rhodes from the Heel trio all building to things breaking down and the action picking up. The match was worked at a high tempo and the crowd was really into it. Meltzer went 4*+ for this one, but I think that is a tad too high. Still, I enjoyed the match quite a bit

Rude gives Sting a Rude Awakening onto the floor following the bout in order to set up their match at Spring Stampede 1994.

We get a video recap to hype up the Main Event, showing how Vader and Ric Flair have been taking chunks out of one another in the previous weeks and months.

Main Event
ThunderCage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title
Guest Referee: The Boss
Champ: The Nature Boy Ric Flair Vs Big Van Vader w/ Harley Race

Flair had defeated Vader back at Starrcade to win the belt and their feud had only intensified, so they’ve stuck them in a cage here with Boss (Ray Traylor/Big Boss Man/Big Bubba) as the referee. Boss is basically Big Boss Man but with a black shirt instead of a blue one, so WWF soon lawyered up and Ray Traylor had to get himself a new gimmick, which led to him becoming a Guardian Angel for a bit. Flair fires off on Vader to start, with Flair even managing to make Vader sink into the corner with some punches and chops. This is a marked difference from their match at Starrcade, where Vader dominated most of it in the early going. Flair has come right out of the traps in this one, which does a good job of illustrating how intense this feud has become that Flair as opted to start the match in such a manner.

Flair even adds some chair shots in at cageside, as the Champ is fired up and looking to inflict pain onto his challenger. Vader amazingly busts out his own Flair Flip at one stage and then clobbers Flair to give us the cut off, as I like how they essentially reversed roles from Starrcade in that opening section. Vader puts the beat down onto Flair following that, but Flair is able to dodge a Moonsault and save his Title for now. Vader keeps coming though and flings Flair out to cage side, where Race gets some cheap shots in by reaching through the bars. Flair gets the occasional hope spot, but Vader mostly works the Champ over, with Flair selling everything well and Vader’s offence looking it’s usual snug self. If you were working with Vader around this time you kind of needed to accept that you were just going to get mauled for real, but at least the match would usually be good.

Flair eventually manages to dodge some Vader elbow drops, but he rolls to the floor where Race tries to attack him again. Boss catches Race in the act though and attempts to handcuff Race to cage to prevent further cheating, only for Vader to attack Boss (incorrectly called “Boss Man” by Bobby, which probably gave the WCW legal team heart palpitations) and then handcuff Boss to the cage.This leads to Race letting himself into the cage so that he can help Vader put a battering onto the Champion whilst Boss melodramatically tries to free himself from the cage and rescue Flair. Arn Anderson runs down to try and fight his way into the cage, whilst Vader accidentally squishes Race whilst trying to go for Flair. Flair makes an excellent one on two comeback against the Heels whilst Steamboat joins Anderson in trying to break his way into the cage.

Flair is actually doing a good job on his own though, as he destroys both Heels with a chair as the crowd goes nuts. The numbers game eventually proves to be too much for Flair, but just as that happens Boss is able to finally break the handcuffs and sends Race from the ring. Flair uses that as a chance to lock Vader in the Figure Four and Boss calls for the bell, although there’s some doubt as to whether Vader actually cried uncle or not. This was done as a way to set up a feud between Vader and Boss, and they had some good matches together.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: RIC FLAIR
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was kind of messy, but it had good energy and the crowd enjoyed it for the most part. Flair’s comeback against the combined forces of Vader and Race was really something to witness, as he looked great and the crowd was losing their minds for it

Vader is very angry following that and yells at the announce team, which leads to Bobby fearing for his life in classic weasel fashion. Bobby keeps calling Boss “Boss Man”, which was probably down to him not realising he was doing it rather than a flagrant attempt to subvert copyright law.

In Conclusion

I have to say that I was kind of worried about SuperBrawl IV during the first half, but things picked up significantly from the TV Title match onwards and it ended up being a decent show. You don’t really need to watch anything until Regal and Anderson get in there, but from that point onwards you get four good matches and that’s enough for SuperBrawl IV to get a mild thumbs up from me

Mildly recommended show