WCW Fall Brawl ‘96
September 15, 1996
Winston-Salem, NC
Reviewed on September 7, 2014
WCW is getting its ass kicked.
Not by Vince. Oh no, at this point WCW had left Vince and the WWF in the dust ratings wise. They were about 10 weeks into their eventual 84 week streak.
It’s because they were getting their ass kicked by the NWO.
For two months the NWO had been destroying WCW in one of, if not the best, angle in North American pro wrestling at that point. Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were the most destructive group in wrestling and had beaten up WCW at pretty much every turn. Ted Dibiase joined them shortly afterwards, and then The Giant followed.
On paper the Giant joining was brilliant. It showed that any top guy would join the NWO, and it helped plant the seed that Sting could join. The Giant had no previous ties to the WWF, unlike Hall, Nash, Hogan and Dibiase. Of course, the Giant in the NWO didn’t quite work out and they used him to be that “first loss” at Starrcade, and then he left and re-joined WCW. If they kept the NWO as a group that only allowed top members and no one would want to leave it would have been great, but Giant leaving showed that it wasn’t the end-all be-all to join.
Still, the major angle, is Sting joining the NWO? Him doing so could kill WCW dead! He attacked Luger afterall! (Not really).
The only way to decide this war? WAR GAMES!
The Card
We get a pretty awesome overview if the dominance of the NWO over the past few weeks.
Bobby Heenan points out that War Games was created for the Four Horsemen and is confident the NWO will be wrestling their last match tonight. It’s pretty awesome that WCW felt this was the big comeuppance for the NWO. I’ll explain why later.
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
You know, for all that WCW didn’t create new stars bs, what do you call DDP?
It’s hard to see Chavo go toe to toe with DDP, knowing where both would go in a couple years.
Pretty good start. It’s weird that Chavo was a better worker when he started than he was later.
Weird timing spot which was impressive as Chavo actually delayed standing on the top rope (not corner). Still technically a botch again.
DDP tosses Chavo from one ring to the other. I love spots like that.
Semi-botched sidewalk slam. Ah well, it was good enough.
Incredible spinning gutwrench powerbomb from Page. Wow. (Ok, the landing was a bit off but still looked great.)
Diamond Dallas Page wins by pin in 13:07. Page goes for the Diamond Cutter, but Chavo reverses into a backslide. Page blocks the backslide by stomping on Chavo’s foot, and gets the Cutter for the win. Big reaction too. Pretty awesome opener and a great start to the show.
WCW SPECIAL REPORT. Goes over the NWO angle at this point. Which is pretty incredible at this point.
Submission Match
Scott Norton vs. Ice Train
Watching the first Nitro, it’s interesting what a big deal Norton was…and where he is at this point.
The story here I think is the Fire and Ice team breaking up.
Ice Train is managed by Teddy Long! Holla Holla!
Not a bad start though. Standing frog splash from Train was nice.
This seems more like an “I Quit” Match as the ref has a microphone.
Ice Train makes Scott Norton submit in 7:08. Scott Norton has Train trapped in an armbar, but Teddy Long tried to interfere. Norton takes care of him but gets trapped in a Full Nelson and he taps out (so much for the microphone?). Not horrible or anything, there was solid power stuff in here.
AAA World Championship
Konnan© vs. Juventud Guerrera
They call it the Mexican Heavyweight Title, but my research (read: wiki) says the AAA title.
No one knows who Juvi is at this point. Konnan is known as he joined the Dungeon of Doom. He was also the US Champ for a while. He is in his gangsta look he would have for basically the rest of his career.
Yellow is not a good color for Juvi.
Pretty sweet release German suplex where Juvi flips over.
Konnan sends Juvi flying!
Konnan just stands that as Juvi does this triple jump spin kick (two leapds on the 2nd ring, then one from the 1st). Weird that Konna just stood there.
Great aerial stuff early on.
Nice powerbomb on the floor!
Mike Tenay says Juvi gives up 50 pounds of weight. Konnan is not 215, and Juvi was listed as 165.
Pretty badly botched headscissor-like move from one ring to the other.
Juvi makes up for it with more crazy flying.
Backdrop over the top rope and Juvi ends up hanging on the other rope! Nice!
Bad moonsault. Konnan seems to take exception and powerbombs Juvi. Pretty sick.
Damn rolling Germans from Konnan. I actually thought Benoit invented that.
Odd rest spot where Juvi just walks arounf and Konnan talks to Jimmy Hart.
Pointless backflip from Juvi? Leads to him getting dropkicked by Konnan.
I know I trash Konnan a lot, but this is the best Konnan match I’ve ever seen and it’s in spite of Juvi, not because of him.
450 is even slightly off, and doesn’t finish anyway.
Konnan busts out a Muscle Buster…but that doesn’t finish. Juvi might have missed some spots, but he’s taking moves like a champ.
Konnan pinned Juvi in 13:45. Splash Mountain Bomb! Nicely done and it’s over. Very good match only hampered by Juvi missing some spots and some weird spots in general (like Juvi’s backflip). Everything else owns though. Best Konnan match I’ve ever seen.
Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit
Jericho’s awful 1st theme!
Jericho had just debuted. The story here is simple: two guys just looking to have a great match.
Benoit is super over here.
Tony says he expected Mongo instead of Benoit here. Thank goodness it’s Benoit.
Benoit puts Jericho in the Lion Tamer! I wonder if Jericho was using it at this point.
Jericho looks great early on against Benoit.
Jericho with a crazy springboard back elbow to the outside from Jericho!
I believe this is the match where booker Kevin Sullivan said he wanted Benoit to have 90% of this match. Then Benoit and Jericho just did it 50-50 anyway.
Nice back jumpkick from Jericho.
Backsuplex to the outside with a twist! Some crazy ideas here.
Pretty perfect Swan Dive from Benoit. I like it better than his Diving Headbutt (the difference is how they land, although surely they’ve been called differently each time).
Jericho Tombstones Benoit!
Chris Benoit pins Chris Jericho in 14:36. Back Superplex for the win! Great match! Jericho looked like a star here and surely WCW will capitalize on someone who looked like the next Shawn Michaels here! (lol…at the push part). Great match though. A great back and forth contest.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr.(c) vs. Super Calo
I was once told that Super Calo was named that way as shorthand for supercalifr-whatever. Bobby Heenan then makes that joke immediately.
Super Calo is like a power cruiserweight, if that makes sense. I liked that roll through on the slam.
Mike Tenay says Super Calo is named after a Mexican rap group. Thank goodness.
Nice missile dropkick off the top to the outside by Calo!
Ridiculous somersault senton from the inside out from Calo!
Really surprising that Super Calo has been on the offensive basically the whole match.
Funny botch where Super Calo doesn’t go over the top rope…but Rey tries his damnest to get him over. The ref helps!
Rey Mysterio with the greatest hurricanrana off the apron I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t explain it. It was nuts.
Rey Mysterio Jr. retains by pin in 15:47. Double springboard hurricanrana finish for the win! Another great match…but it had ONE flaw, which was NO one was buying Calo winning this thing. As a result, it felt pretty long. Oddly Calo had 80% of the offense too. Still great though.
WCW World Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat© vs. The Nasty Boys
I expect the match quality to drop quite a bit here…
How great was Sherri Martel? She could play so many roles.
Kinda surprised the Nasties never had a random ECW run.
CLUBBERIN! How can someone be the master of CLUBBERIN?
Match is pretty boring. Only excitement so far was Sags chasing Sherri.
That might have been the worst looking roll up by Sags ever.
Nice piledriver from Sags!
Harlem Heat retain when Booker T pins Knobbs in 15:31. Sherri whacks Knobbs with a cane and that’s that. WAY too long. Match was pretty horrid and only big spots were involving Sherri. Fans reacted though, so there is that.
We get a Savage interview! One of the best of all time for sure.
The Giant vs. Randy Savage
Giant joined the NWO, Savage is still a defender of WCW here.
Giant still has the creepy music he had before…then it turns into the NWO theme.
Giant had the potential to beat Nash’s sidewalk slam…but opted for a weak backbreaker sadly.
Boston Crab from the Giant just seems like an odd visual.
Savage slams the Giant! That would lose its luster years later as everyone slammed him.
The Giant pins Randy Savage in 7:47. Savage drops the big elbow, but Hogan is out here! He goads Savage to the entrance and the Outsiders beat Savage up with a chair. Giant distracts Nick Patrick, and then gets the win when the NWO rolls him back into the ring. Pretty bad all around. It was just 7 minutes of the Giant beating up Savage and a terrible finish.
War Games
WCW vs. NWO
The story here is simple: the NWO is here to take over WCW. This is another battle in the war…but it’s a big one as War Games is one of WCW’s primer match types.
Also, Mike Tenay asks Ric Flair which Horseman has replaced Sting in the match, but Flair doesn’t answer the question. All three of them, Luger, Anderson and Flair, are acting like Sting joined the NWO on Nitro. Sting then shows up and says it wasn’t him. Luger doesn’t believe him. This is all fantastic.
Rules are simple. There was a pre-match coin toss (usually always won by the heels, as it was here). Two men start, one from each team. The team that won the coin toss gets to bring man #2 first, then so on and do forth. When all 8 men are in, you can only win by knockout or submission (or as Michael Buffer says it, surrender or submission…)
We start with Scott Hall for the NWO and Double A for WCW.
Crowd is super hot for this. I think a lot of people thought WCW was winning this.
The announcer’s hype up the coin toss deal with a minute left. Sadly…they find out the NWO has won. Kevin Nash is next.
Outsiders beat the crap out of Double A for the next couple minutes.
Lex Luger shows up early to even the odds. I wonder how that’s legal? Anyway Luger regains control for WCW.
Here comes Hogan! NWO has the advantage once again.
Crowd goes bonkers when Double A and Luger beat up Hogan, but the Outsiders end that.
Huge “We want Flair” chants…so here he comes! HUGE reaction.
Hogan vs. Flair faceoff! When Flair gets a punch in the crowd roars!
Brass knucks for Flair! Flair has taken over!
WCW is owning…but then Sting shows up for the NWO…and everyone is dismayed. Some boos there. Some people definitely bought it.
We get some “We Want Sting” chants. And there are some who definitely knew the real deal here.
The NWO wastes away Flair, Luger and Anderson…but here comes the REAL Sting!
Sting destroys EVERYONE! Stinger Splashes everywhere!
“Is that good enough for you? Is that proof enough?” Genius. Sting walks out on WCW, and WCW doesn’t last long.
NWO wins when NWO Sting and Hogan make Luger submit in 18:15. A Scorpion Deathlock and a Front Headlock get it done. While not the best War Games from a match quality perspective (not a drop of blood!), it told a tremendous story and set the wheels in motion for the red hot Sting story arc for the next 15 months. This showed that only Sting could deal with the NWO, no one else. Brilliant. This is the main reason why WCW made bucket loads of money the next two years.
NWO and WCW go at it a big, and Savage tries to help, but the Giant takes him out. The PPV ends with another big NWO beat down. They even spray paint Miss Elizabeth when she comes out to help Savage…which is a nice touch. We get a Hogan promo too to hype up the Hogan-Savage Halloween Havoc match.
Overall, a great show! The only thing that was bad was the tag title match and Giant vs. Savage. Everything else ranged from decent (the submission match) to pretty good to great. Great matches, good wrestling, and a really well done storyline with WCW not trusting Sting. Historically, it was a huge moment that helped carry WCW through 1997 as the #1 promotion in the US over the WWF.
This PPV tore the hearts out of WCW fans. The Four Horsemen and WCW lost War Games? Sting left us? What will we do?
Just brilliant.
Final Grade: A