SuperBrawl V: Vader Finally Feels Like Hogan's Equal, and WCW Still Finds a Way to Blink

Alex Wright versus Paul Roma is less a wrestling match than a workplace dispute with a referee trying to keep time. Roma was expected to help establish Wright, but he works the bout as though the assignment insulted him personally, taking long stretches of offense, refusing to sell cleanly and kicking out of the finish that was supposed to end the match. Wright still shows athleticism and composure, which may be the most impressive thing here. The referee counts three anyway, Roma is gone from WCW soon afterward, and the match becomes historically memorable for backstage reasons. CAGEMATCH has it at 4.40 with a one-star WON rating. The controversy is more interesting than the wrestling.

Jim Duggan and Bunkhouse Buck spend nearly twelve minutes proving that a basic Southern brawl still needs pace, escalation and a reason to care. Duggan gets the expected Baltimore reaction, Buck knows how to stooge for him, and Col. Robert Parker and Meng give the ringside area more personality than the match itself. The problem is everything between the entrances and the finish. Long holds flatten the crowd, the offense rarely looks dangerous, and Duggan's comeback arrives after the bout has already used up its patience budget. CAGEMATCH sits below two and the Wrestling Observer rating is negative. Duggan wins with the three-point stance clothesline, which is the only part that feels inevitable in a useful way.

Kevin Sullivan versus Dave Sullivan is the clearest evidence that WCW could mistake storyline persistence for storyline value. The feud had already involved Hulk Hogan fandom, hair cutting, Santa Claus and The Butcher, and SuperBrawl still asks the audience to spend seven more minutes with it. Kevin controls most of the match, Dave's comeback is clumsy, and The Butcher's interference produces a roll-up finish rather than a satisfying conclusion. CAGEMATCH has the match barely above one, with the Observer at minus two stars, and modern reviews routinely place it among the event's worst material. It is not fascinatingly bad. It is simply a program that needed to end before the bell rang.

Harlem Heat and the Nasty Boys work a physical tag match that is better than the show's first hour and worse than the talent involved should have produced. Booker T supplies the movement, Stevie Ray brings power, and the Nastys are comfortable making everything look like a fight in a hallway. The match drags in the middle but eventually builds to a finish the crowd understands: Brian Knobbs pins Stevie after Sherri accidentally hits her own man. Then another referee appears, explains that Booker was thrown over the top rope, and the decision is reversed to a disqualification. Harlem Heat retain. The Observer gave it two stars and CAGEMATCH is in the low fours. The wrestling is functional. The finish turns function into irritation.

Dustin Rhodes and Blacktop Bully have enough chemistry to make the first half feel like a credible grudge match. Dustin bumps hard, Bully works with more urgency than his gimmick usually suggests, and the ringside involvement from Col. Robert Parker gives the finish a clear heel logic. The problem is duration. Sixteen minutes is far too much time for a match built around punches, interference and one primary idea, so every useful sequence gets diluted by repetition. CAGEMATCH's matchguide is in the low fours while the Observer went one-and-a-quarter stars. Parker eventually trips Dustin during a suplex attempt and helps Bully steal the pin. There is a decent eight-minute match buried inside this one. WCW simply insists on finding the other eight.

Sting and Randy Savage versus Avalanche and Big Bubba Rogers is the first match that feels like the crowd is being rewarded rather than tested. The structure is simple and effective: the heels isolate Sting, Savage provides bursts of energy, and both babyfaces are over enough that routine tags feel important. Avalanche is protected as a massive obstacle, Big Bubba works comfortably opposite Sting, and Savage's chaos keeps the match from settling into another long control segment. CAGEMATCH rates it in the high fives and the Observer gave it three stars. Sting wins with a crossbody on Avalanche after a hectic closing stretch. It is not a classic, but on this card competent star wrestling arrives like room service after a canceled flight.

Hulk Hogan versus Vader has a real big-fight atmosphere because WCW spent weeks presenting Vader as a threat who might actually break Hogan instead of merely challenge him. Vader absorbs the punches, survives the legdrop, hits the powerbomb and gets enough near falls to make the audience believe the title can move. Hogan also works harder than his stereotype suggests, taking heavy shots and using a chair in full view of the referee without consequence. That last point becomes the problem when Ric Flair interferes and Vader is disqualified. CAGEMATCH is near six and the Observer gave it three-and-a-quarter stars. The match itself is strong. The finish turns a potentially defining first encounter into an advertisement for the rematch.