On Monday, February 25, 2008 at 1:57 PM EST To view last week's column, click here.
For more, visit www.armpitwrestling.com.
Welcome to the Armpit wrestling quiz for the week of February 25, 2008. February is almost over, but for many years, this was the month of WCW’s SuperBrawl PPV events. That may mean nothing to today’s teenage fans who think John Cena invented wrestling, but to longtime fans, SuperBrawl evokes memories of some of the best cards of the year.
The next series of quizzes will show you why. We’re going to examine all those shows, as we now present “WCW SuperBrawl – Part 1.”
Answers from last week:
-Brock Lesnar’s old roommate was Shelton Benjamin. I love how Benjamin faces criticisms for being lazy and not trying hard enough. Earth to management: when you fail to reward hard work, your employees lose all motivation and drive. After Shelton had that incredible match with Shawn Michaels in 2005, what happened? Nothing. The message sent was: if you work hard, have a great match, and get over, then you won’t be rewarded. The result is: guys stop working hard, because they know it doesn’t matter.
-Brock vs. Rock headlined SummerSlam 2002. 2002 was the year HHH was at his absolute worst when it came to politics. In case you haven’t noticed, both Brock and Rock have moved on from WWE and done extremely well without them. This makes me so incredibly happy.
-In that Brock vs. Big Show match, the ring collapsed after a superplex. Great visual.
-That Brock vs. Angle match was a 60-minute Iron Man match. Iron Man matches are so lame. If you want to have a 60-minute match, just have a match and let it last 60 minutes. Don’t tell people ahead of time that it’s going to be 60 minutes, because it kills the drama and no one will care until the last few minutes (and ratings showed that is what happened in this match).
-Brock vs. Eddy was at the San Francisco Cow Palace. It’s a dumpy arena and SF is an acquired taste (if you ever visit California, go anywhere but SF), but many classic moments have occurred there. Eddy’s title win is probably the last great moment that arena will ever see.
Here are this week's questions. Remember, the new rules are that you no longer need to submit your questions, and no winners will be declared. We're just doing this for fun and to honor the forgotten world of wrestling history.
1. The inaugural SuperBrawl in 1991 was actually in May, not February. But it began the tradition of excellent shows, as this line-up was a dream. Yes, Dusty the booker had his moments. With matches like Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Taylor, Bobby Eaton vs. Arn Anderson, Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman, and Ric Flair vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, it was impossible to have a bad show. But none of those compared to what was universally regarded as one of the best matches of the year: a heated, high-spot filled mega-match full of power moves that pitted four babyfaces against each other in a tag team war of the ages. Name the 4 men in this match.
2. When SuperBrawl II was drawing near, my friends and I were looking forward to it like you wouldn’t believe. Just an amazing line-up: Sting vs. Luger, Cactus Jack vs. Simmons, Steamboat vs. Rude, Steiners vs. Anderson & Eaton, and Rhodes & Windham vs. Austin & Zbyszko, just to name a few. Of course, the real interest was in the opener with Brian Pillman. Hardcore fans were salivating over this match. Whom did Pillman face on this show?
3. SuperBrawl II was so good, it deserves two questions. This non-wrestler debuted with WCW as a performer on this show, riding to the ring on a Harley. His first words: “When you’re in Milwaukee, you ride a made-in-the-USA Harley Davidson!” (Massive pop followed). Whom am I talking about?
4. As good as SuperBrawl ’92 was, the ’93 version was even better. It was an afterthought at the time, because it happened right at the same time Andre the Giant died, and that was a massive news story (deaths in wrestling were hardly as common then as they are now). What I loved about this show was each match had a different style, which never made the show boring, and it was one **** match after another. What indie promotion was featured on this show and got to showcase its own (excellent) tag team match?
5. SuperBrawl ’93 happened just after Bill Watts was dumped by WCW, and it was the right decision because this show rocked. The main event was Vader against Sting in one of their many spectacular matches. But the hottest the crowd in Asheville, NC got was when this man made his way from the limo to the announcers’ table. What legend returned to WCW on this show?
6. The show in 1993 was a throwback to mid 80s NWA in terms of crowd reactions, booking, and match-ups. Big Ol’ Barry Windham was in one of those moods where he was motivated, and on this show he wrestled for the NWA title against what Japanese star?
7. Okay, one last SuperBrawl ’93 question. The undercard was peppered with future WWF stars: Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit, Goldust, and Cactus Jack. This other wrestler, who had a brief run in the WWF and also wrestled on this show, played the national anthem to open the PPV on his heavy metal guitar and did an excellent job. Who was he?
8. 1994 was the year people started to really stand up and take notice of ECW, which was putting on its best TV shows ever under Paul Heyman. People speculate why ECW died, and while there are several reasons, one of them that people never mention is simply that the booking and quality of their TV shows on TNN were nowhere near as good as in ’94 and ’95. This forced WCW to begin incorporating hardcore matches, and SuperBrawl ’94 featured a superb brawl with Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne against what rowdy tag team?
Answers will be posted next week.
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