83 Weeks - SuperBrawl IX [Show Notes] (Patreon)

SuperBrawl 9 took place on February 21st, 1999 at the Arena, in Oakland, California.

It is quite the successful pay-per-view, 485,000 buys - the 3rd most successful show in the history of WCW - but is the last high point for the company. Just the month before at Souled Out - which we’ve covered in the archives over at 83weeksonyoutube.com - the show drew 330,000 buys - and it’s 70,000 more than SuperBrawl 8 the year before which was the rematch between a tanned Sting and Hollywood Hogan for the vacant WCW title.

Would you have specific numbers for PPVs that you had hoped to do, or would you be able to pretty much guesstimate what each one was going to do?

Let's get to some news leading into SuperBrawl

Observer 1/25/99:

Terry Taylor quit WCW before Nitro on 1/18 to take a job working with Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera in scripting the television shows for WWF, and was already at work in his new job on 1/19. Taylor was working without an existing contract which made this all possible.

Taylor was one of those unfortunate types caught in the middle, having to make sense out of all the egos vetoing everything and then taking the heat because the shows don't make any sense and had at times been Bischoff's whipping boy.

A few weeks later, Meltzer reported - Apparently the departure of Terry Taylor went something like this. Bischoff jumped Taylor about rumors he was going to WWF and told him if he wasn't happy in WCW to just leave. Taylor talked about being under pressure with his father having health problems and Bischoff offered him time off without pay. The next day he made the deal with McMahon

What was your relationship like with Terry?

Did you know ahead of time that he was talking to the WWF about this position, or was it a total surprise to you?

The build to SuperBrawl began in Columbus with Ric Flair going crazy, saying he’d wrestle Hogan at SuperBrawl for the title and then put his hair up for a match with you. Did you think Flair vs. Hogan would still draw like it ended up doing?

From the Observer

The situation with Jericho remains the same. There is personal heat because Bischoff claims Jericho verbally agreed to the deal a ways back but won't sign it. WWF has made Jericho its No. 1 priority as far as acquiring any new piece of talent

He was in Buffalo but told he wouldn't be used at Nitro. There are rumors that he is going to be receiving a $750,000 offer, but to the best of my knowledge, he hasn't actually received the offer. It doesn't appear likely that WWF will match the offer or probably even come that close, but the WWF also has some obvious advantages when it comes to someone in his position

Did you promise Chris any new pushes or programs or anything of that nature to try and entice him to stay?

From the Observer

With one blow-out and a closer but still solid victory, the World Wrestling Federation's Raw show has now topped Nitro 13 consecutive weeks in the Monday night ratings war.

Were you starting to feel real heat at this point - over 3 months without a victory?

The Nitro from Dallas would see you being sent to work at a concession stand by Flair and Meltzer has this quite interesting commentary:

“The similarities between Bischoff and McMahon were amazing, as now Bischoff is using a TV show watched by millions to be his psychiatric release as he was complaining about internal audits (WCW is in the midst of an internal audit) and disappearing money.”

Was that something you were dealing with Eric?

At Nitro in Minneapolis Flair would torture you again:

“ Flair ordered Bischoff to stand in a dunk tank for the next three hours, while all the WCW people who hate him, and that was a long line, got to throw softballs to knock him in. Luckily for Bischoff, nobody who hates him has much of an arm, and these segments were dying of embarrassment as guys kept missing the target with pitch after pitch on live TV.”

Was this rough to sit through Eric?

From the Observer

Sandman, who was never identified by the announcers (I think they were told that they couldn't call him Sandman, they couldn't call him Jim Fullington, they couldn't mention ECW or Raven videos, couldn't explain what the hell Sandman was talking about to the 95% of the audience that had no idea) came out with a cane and wrapped in barbed wire, but without cigs and with a new physique.

What was with the rough transition of Sandman being a guy at Raven’s pool and being intelligent to this? Talk about the process of bringing Sandman to WCW, from ECW and what were you plans for him?

Have you had a chance to check out Enter Sandman at adfreeshows.com yet?

Meltzer reported - Goldberg was offered a guest shot on E.R., but WCW nixed it because the filming would conflict with a Monday Nitro. Some heat over that since they don't book Goldberg a lot of Mondays anyway, and now they won't give him off when he has a chance to be seen to more people than have ever seen him before

ER was a very big show back in those days, any regrets on not letting him appear on it?

Meltzer reported in the 2-15 Observer - The entire WCW Latino project and Telemundo deal is off. The public response is that Sharon Sidello cut a bad financial deal for WCW with Telemundo. The belief is that after the first “Festival de Lucha” taping in Waco, TX on 1/27, which was disorganized because nobody knew which wrestlers would make it across the border and almost nobody in WCW was aware Paco Alonso had switched affiliations with WWF and thus was not going to send any of his wrestlers, that members of the production crew such as David Crockett and Keith Mitchell really bad-mouthed the show to Eric Bischoff.

Bischoff had just a few weeks earlier told everyone that getting the show off the ground was a major priority, and the company spent probably in excess of $300,000 creating a hot looking set and a new open before throwing in the towel after one taping.

Eric how big a disaster was this?

Just a week later Dave would report this:

“The whole Telemundo situation has changed greatly over the last week. Apparently Sharon Sidello has put together a deal with WCW. There was a verbal agreement to provide them with programming. After the first Telemundo taping, David Crockett, Craig Leathers and Annette Yother convinced Eric Bischoff that it was terrible and they shouldn't do it anymore.”

How did this all end up shaking out?

From the Observer:

“Tony Schiavone talking about WCW's good relationship with NBC on Nitro Monday is apparently because the people in the company are going on the assumption they will be getting regular NBC specials after the NBA season ends. We have not heard of any firm dates or a firm deal.”

First off, on 2/14 in prime time, when WCW was supposed to have its first NBC special, while there was an NBA game in the afternoon, from 8-10 p.m. they aired regular programming. Something really fishy is going on.

When the whole NBC thing went down, NBC never confirmed the story, but everyone in WCW was told, buildings were booked for dates over the next year and booking plans were formulated. WWF claimed there was no deal. The NBA strike was settled. WCW said it meant the show wouldn't debut until after the NBA season.

WWF officials tried to pass the word that the NBA strike being settled was the luckiest thing for Bischoff because it allows him to save face regarding announcing a deal he hadn't made. We never hear anything about a deal, or plans made for a debut show anymore, although WCW regularly kisses up to NBC on its broadcasts

Eric - what can you tell us about how this all went down?

How much of a mess was this?

How big an opportunity was missed?

From the Observer

There is some political infighting regarding the status of Bret Hart. A booking meeting was held this past week, with the original idea to build to a Hogan vs. Hart match at Havoc this year. At the meeting it was suggested by Page that Hart put over Booker T, since Booker T had put Hart over three times on TV. Hart felt if the idea was to build to a match with Hogan, it wasn't the right time to put over Booker T because it would only devalue the big match before it got there. Nash feels that Hart isn't over and shouldn't be built up for the match to begin with.

Nash and Hart's discussion ended with Hart confused because all that was suggested is him putting people over, and Nash mad because all Hart was concerned with was building up the match with Hogan. It wound up with Nash telling Bischoff that Hart wasn't being cooperative about putting people over and Hart not understanding what it is that the company wants from him. The end result is that Hart was booked to lose the title to Piper right away, and most likely Piper will drop it to Hall in Oakland.

Eric - can you make sense of any of this at the time - let alone now?

You can see the internal conflict because Bischoff feels the need to justify Hart's salary and Nash feels he's overpaid, not over and is looking to chop him off at the knees before any build for a Hogan match can get going. The title change match turned out beyond awful, and not entirely because Piper is in so much pain he just can't perform anymore.

Were there issues between Bret & Nash at the time?

Piper's hip he's had replaced is acting up and may even need surgery, and the other hip is going bad, and he's in tremendous pain all the time. The original idea was for Piper & Will Sasso to do a tag match with Hart & Bischoff, which actually, judging from the reaction and performance of Sasso, may have even been worse.

Was that idea ever pitched - and how would that had even looked?

Also from the 2/15 Observer - The bloom is already starting to be off the rose when it comes to morale. The biggest complaints are, and this one is valid, is that WCW has made it almost impossible to be a babyface because the role of the heels is to try and be cool babyfaces and the babyfaces are presented as dumb saps to be constantly outwitted. The other is that it's only the same guys with political pull in all the videos, and nobody else, whether they get crowd reactions or not, is given the opportunity just like before

Is this a fair synopsis of WCW booking at the time?

And - Wildcat Willie was fired. He's been getting booed in most of the cities when he'd do his routine

WILDCAT WILLIE ERIC!

Meltzer wrote in the 2-22 Observer -

THIS NEW CONCEPT IS A LOSER! I can't express just how screwed up this company is right now. The 2/15 Nitro may have been the worst episode of the show in history.

It was held at the 2,500-seat Steinbrenner Pavilion. The show is a favor to Steinbrenner for political reasons due to the Steinbrenner/Harvey Schiller connection, as WCW passes up a Monday where it can make anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 at the gate. And as it turned out, Steinbrenner himself didn't even attend the show as he was at the ESPN awards

What do you say to that Eric?

Meltzer reported -  The finger pointing went everywhere after the 2/15 Nitro and rumors were flying to make morale worse. As the story went, at least as believed by many of the wrestlers, there was a booking meeting on 2/16 in Tampa (true) and what was said was to have been plans to bury certain wrestlers, in particular Bret Hart, Roddy Piper, Konnan, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Raven, Kanyon, Chris Jericho and Bam Bam Bigelow for various reasons. Hart and Nash came out of a previous booking meeting with heat and Nash tried to get word out that Hart wasn't a team player.

I mean - what is going on here Eric? How burned out were you by this point?

“There is also finger pointing among the big three in power, Hogan, Bischoff and Nash. Diamond Dallas Page, while still having power based on being friends with Bischoff, is clearly losing ground both when it comes to popularity (due to misreading the current landscape) and a reputation that his booking ideas are usually only for himself and his friends rather than spread across everyone. Of course the same could be said for Nash.”

The turmoil backstage is everywhere but Meltzer would report that you had missed several recent television tapings to concentrate on things in Hollywood. Were you already looking for an escape or safety net?

Meltzer wrote - In yet another example of one of life and wrestling's most perplexing moments, WCW told Bill Goldberg to go on the Tonight show with Jay Leno on 2/19 and issue a challenge to Steve Austin, and then did failed to follow up on their own idea for this major grandstand angle with their typically weasley acknowledgement of it on the PPV and Nitro that didn't even mention Austin's name.

Goldberg himself didn't want to issue the challenge to Austin, feeling it might make him seem like a star beneath the level of Austin publicly, which, although he is, isn't something that WCW should put Goldberg in the position of looking like since he's still the most marketable wrestler in the company. It was the idea of Eric Bischoff and Kevin Nash who ordered him to do it, and as usual, wasn't very well thought out, since the original idea was for Goldberg to challenge anyone in the rival company.

Looking back - was this a mistake?

That takes us to SuperBrawl 9 -

The show drew a sellout 15,880 paying $550,651 and another $118,455 in merchandise, selling out weeks in advance.

I mean that’s a tremendous number was it not?

From Meltzer

The show exemplified WCW's biggest problems, the fact the public is seeing it as the Seniors Tour and that there is nothing being done to change that perception, and that nobody believes there is a possibility of clean finishes in big matches, as once again when Flair put the figure four on, even before David Flair came out of the curtain, all heads turned to the back rather than gave any attention to the ring where a world title match change was seemingly on the verge of taking place.

Did you feel the top of the card was too old or did you think you were going with the biggest stars?

“The show opens The unnamed blonde woman. They haven’t named her yet, but this is Torrie Wilson. She discusses dinner plans with the unseen man. When he doesn’t answer, she asks if he is okay. Torrie thinks she hurt him.. Instead of answering, the man hands her tickets to SuperBrawl. She calls him awesome. This will make her friends jealous. Torrie suggests a shopping trip and leaves to change clothes.”

This is the real introduction to Torrie Wilson - how do you think she did early on in her role?

“Booker T pinned Disco Inferno in 9:19. This match had a lot of heat as the crowd was wanting to see action. Basic solid opener with T doing his signature moves which all got a big pop. T won with the Harlem Hangover, with the landing looking really scary as he caught his knee on the side of Disco's head. Fortunately Disco wasn't injured. *¾”

Disco is still trying to be in the nWo - but this wasn’t really working was it?

“Chris Jericho beat Perry Saturn in 11:17. This match was a mix of very good spots, fast pacing, weak transitions and bad brawling. It had the single best spot of the show, where Saturn ripped Ralphus' dress off and he ran away in his underwear. The stip was that if Jericho lost, he'd have to wear the dress. It was never said that if Saturn lost, he'd get to take the dress off. The original stip was Saturn would have to wear the dress for 90 days, but in this match it was pointed out by the announcers that Saturn's 30 days were up and he was still wearing the dress.”

What can you tell us about Perry Saturn’s decision to still wear the dress?

“Both guys worked extremely hard.

There was a great spot where Jericho did a crossbody off the top and Saturn turned it into the Rings of Saturn, and Jericho got a great rope break out of it. After a few more near falls, Saturn finally hit the death valley driver on Jericho, then did the move on Dickinson. He then walked out. When Dickinson recovered, he awarded the victory to Jericho via DQ. **½”

You did everything you could to bring back Jericho - but how did Saturn feel being in this spot?

“Billy Kidman beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. in 8:26. A very well worked match but it seriously lacked heat. Guerrero did a running flip dive over the top to the floor. He also used a Frankensteiner off the top for a good near fall. Kidman eventually won with the shooting star press. A disappointment. **½”

It’s tough for these guys to get going in front of the crowd wasn’t it?

“Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko beat Barry Windham & Curt Hennig in 19:34 to earn a second match for the tag team titles. In that one, Windham & Hennig won in 20 seconds. Benoit was the best worker on the show with all his realistic looking offense.

The people simply don't buy Malenko against guys of this size. Unfortunately, they've created this stigma about cruiserweights so none of the guys who should be top cruiserweights like Malenko, Benoit, Guerrero and Jericho want to be in the division because it's a killer. But in Malenko's case, he can't get over outside the division because of his size. The first match was good in spots but eventually was out there way too long and the crowd was dead. They didn't care about anyone but Benoit, and after that long, were losing interest in him.

The finish of the first match was pretty good, with a lot of near falls and saves ending with Malenko making Windham submit to the Texas cloverleaf. The bell never actually rang to begin the second match, which was to begin after a 30 second rest period. Windham took off his belt and choked Malenko out with it, and then lariated him and got the pin. I guess it was 20 seconds because it really never started. Boy did it make Benoit & Malenko look bad. *¾”

Man - this didn’t do anybody favors to crown new tag team champions did it? Why Hennig & Windham here?

“ Kevin Nash & Scott Hall beat Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan in 11:00. Hall replaced Lex Luger, who couldn't go because of the surgery to repair his torn left bicep, although he and Elizabeth were at ringside. Hall sold all of Misterio Jr.'s flying moves until catching him with a fallaway slam. He was thrown around like a dart until he made the hot tag. That hot tag didn't last long, as you could imagine.

Misterio Jr. hit a top rope quebrada on Nash and Nash was selling it like he was dead. Elizabeth distracted the ref, so Hall used the Outsiders edge on Misterio Jr. and put Nash on top for the pin. Misterio Jr. unmasked after the match. Crowd didn't react to the unmasking like it was any big deal, although Schiavone did try to play it up as if was history in the making. Misterio Jr. was a great one man show here. ***¼”

This is the big story coming out of this show - and man looking back - it’s hard to defend this decision isn’t it?

How adamant were people that Rey lose the mask - and why do you think they were?

“Scott Steiner beat Diamond Dallas Page in 13:53 to retain the TV title. Fast paced and real good work.

Steiner first whipped Page's ribs into the exposed metal turnbuckle (done by Bagwell who was caught and kicked out from ringside), then dropped his head on the steel, then picked him up and slammed his lower back into it three times before putting Page away clean with the Steiner recliner, although Page didn't tap out and instead they did the referee having to stop the match because Page was out finish.

There was a huge face pop for Steiner winning. Page went out on a stretcher and fans were chanting "DDP sux" at him. If they were paying attention, they'd realize he sure didn't in this match. ***¼”

This really is a hell of a match Eric - a reminder these two could really go when they wanted to right?

“ Scott Hall won the U.S. title from Roddy Piper in 8:19.

What can be said about Piper that hasn't been said. He was a zombie who could barely move out there. They traded eye pokes. Piper can't bump and looks so bad out there. To make things worse, he's this all-time legend and the match had no heat. This is the kind of stuff WCW needs to no longer present if they are in this game for the long haul. Piper got the sleeper on. Disco Inferno ran down and Piper punched him.

Kevin Nash came down and Piper went to punch him but we knew Nash wasn't about to sell anything for Piper. Hall grabbed a double leg and put his feet on the ropes for leverage and got the pin. Finish was even worse than the body of the match and that wasn't easy. My guess is that Piper, who is from the old school star mentality where he hates to do jobs, would only do a job, which he pretty much had to do, in this manner, being also that he's not exactly fond of Nash and Hall. The post-match where Piper grabbed the belt, and then it appeared nobody could figure out how to get out of it, was beyond bad. -*¼”

This…this wasn’t good Eric was it?

“Bill Goldberg pinned Bam Bam Bigelow in 11:39. As of one week ago, this was booked to be a quickie. Bigelow came out to no ring music so he appeared to be even deader than he is. This was the deadest Goldberg match since his infamous TV match with Steven Regal. It went too long, and while Goldberg sold his leg well, the match made him just another wrestler and he can't get over as anything special in the role.

The awkwardness in talking about the Tonight Show appearance by the announcers didn't help. All in all, this was a major step backwards for him even though he was protected and won clean. 1/2*

You can literally see the steam coming off Goldberg couldn’t you?

Hulk Hogan retained the WCW title pinning Ric Flair in 12:00. Flair worked a semi-heel style since he's better at carrying people with it. For whatever reason, Hogan was better than usual although it was like watching a greatest hits of the 80s video. Flair did his signature stuff and they traded the hard chops.

Hogan hit a chair to the head and a terrible second chair shot, and like the old Flair of the old era, Flair came up with a gusher.

Flair came back with a series of low blows on his comeback, then got the belt and gave Hogan some of the worst belt shots in history. After punching Hogan with the buckle, Hogan juiced. Tori Wilson came to ringside, to borrow a Flair phrase, looking as only she can look. She slapped Flair.

She could be a marketing bonanza for WCW, because she's fresher and more attractive than any of the women in WWF, although some could debate that, but for angle purposes, has more presence and can talk and deliver a line better than any woman in wrestling already.

Since it's WCW, where every ball put right in their glove is still dropped, she probably won't be.

Hogan missed the legdrop and Flair put on the figure four. David Flair came out in a leather jacket wearing an NWO red t-shirt with the taser and a ski mask over his head and zapped Flair twice and Hogan pinned him. After the match he unmasked and started swapping spit with Tori. **¾”

David Flair - man - we’re all jealous of him aren’t we?

What did you think of all this - and having Hogan & Flair on top again?

In hindsight, any different booking decisions that you'd make to SuperBrawl 9?

Why do you think the stark decline in business afterwards?