[1992-02-29-WCW-Superbrawl II] Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Frankensteiner]

This was such a great match. I think the Rude/Steamboat series might even be better than Sting/Vader, at least for the matches in '92. I wish they had let Steamboat work in this spot for his entire time in WCW instead of making him more of a utility guy and putting him in teams with Koloff and Douglas.

[shoe]

When Steamer came back to WCW in 91 he was hot. They really could have pushed him to the top with better booking. Even in the Rude feud which between the ropes was good. They booked him as being accused of stalking Madusa, needed a ninja bodyguard, looked stupid at the finish of Superbrawl 2. Then after his feud with Rude moved into the utility player, and never got that hot again. You've got to strike when the iron is hot.

[Loss]

I was never a huge fan of this before and I'm not sure why. Great match. The heat for this is exceptionally strong. I love that Rude can barely get out his pre-match stuff because the boos are so loud. He probably loved it. The negatives are that it's not as good as Beach Blast, and I don't care for the finish. But this was probably a hard match to book because it was too soon for either of them to do a real job.

 

Rude was always terrific at selling something long-term while executing moves, in this case his arm. One of the first top-rope superplexes I can recall seeing in the U.S. too. It's amazing that a guy as talented as Rude wasn't in a major promotion for over a year before this.

[Tim Evans]

I don't think JR and Jesse could have made it more obvious who the Ninja was. Doesn't matter though as this rules. Rude's bumps are just insane and I liked how Steamboat was selling the neck.

[shoe]

This is a great 70's style match that old pros in the back would love. It is based on Steamer working the arm, and working high spots around it. Rude worked the neck and did spots around it. They would take the crowd up and then took them down. Still what made this standout was the selling. It's hard to outsell Steamer, but I think Rude did.

[El-P]

Another MOTYC on the same card. Rude's selling is as great as you can get. The nuclear heat during the pre-match promo was awesome. Steamboat was great, but I think Rude was as good or even better here, really showed how far he got. Rude's peaking in 1992. The ending of the match doesn't bother me because it furthers the feud. Funny, I thought Madusa was the Ninja, but I haven't seen this in probably 10 years.

[Kevin Ridge]

Crowd were all over Rude when he tried to do his pre match promo. Thought it was pretty obvious who the Ninja was going to be. Was this Ninja character normally in Steamboat's corner? I haven't seen them in any other of the matches so far on set. Think I'm in the camp who feels like Rude was the better man in this match. Great job selling the arm through out. I was okay with the finish even though I was just waiting for the Ninja to get involved at some point.

[rainmakerrtv]

Crowd were all over Rude when he tried to do his pre match promo. Thought it was pretty obvious who the Ninja was going to be. Was this Ninja character normally in Steamboat's corner? I haven't seen them in any other of the matches so far on set. Think I'm in the camp who feels like Rude was the better man in this match. Great job selling the arm through out. I was okay with the finish even though I was just waiting for the Ninja to get involved at some point.

The Ninja had been introduced by Steamboat a few weeks earlier ("This man in black ... this man of the martial arts ... this NINJA!") to watch Steamboat's back. My favorite part of the big " reveal" was Missy Hyatt's statement of the bloody obvious : "That was Paul E. Dangerously and he was wearing a ninja outfit!" Thanks, Missy, for narrating the scene for the benefit of the viewing impaired.

[MikeCampbell]

The heat for Rude was absolutely insane. This was excellent stuff, as hate filled as you'd expect after the angle at the Clash, and their selling was great. Rude couldn't even use his arm to do his pose.

[Zenjo]

Rude was such a great heel. A nice technical battle with both men utilising body part attacks as well as general strikes and wear down holds. They remembered to sell the damage too. The build was superior to the stretch as they didn't transition it into a dramatic finish. They weren't helped by the booking in that regard. Nevertheless a quality encounter.

[WingedEagle]

The Milwaukee crowd is ridiculously hot for Rude. I had forgotten how well Rude worked underneath, as he did a stellar job selling his back and arm here, and has done so most times out this year. Not a fan of the finish but they weren't ready to go clean here yet.

 

***1/2

[Matt D]

The interview a few weeks before where Steamboat introduces the Ninja is awesome.

 

"This is a man in black.. this is a master of the martial arts.. this is a..... NINJA!"

 

It's almost more ridiculous than anything he did as the Dragon in WWF.

[Johnny Sorrow]

The interview a few weeks before where Steamboat introduces the Ninja is awesome.

 

"This is a man in black.. this is a master of the martial arts.. this is a..... NINJA!"

 

It's almost more ridiculous than anything he did as the Dragon in WWF.

Steamboat did have some past issues with ninjas.

 

 

[PeteF3]

What a fucking loaded show this is. I fired up Steiners vs. Arn/Eaton and it's a hell of a match too, albeit one with an even cheaper ending than this. This series is so great for body part work that pays off in various ways throughout the match. Rude's ribs will be an issue at Beach Blast, and here Rude basically has his arm taken away from him and so he has to resort to high-risk offense because he can't execute the Rude Awakening (or his full array of poses). Steamboat hits possibly the greatest superplex I've ever seen. It really appeared as though he deadlifted Rude off the turnbuckle, it was the closest-looking thing to a shoot superplex as you will ever see. The ending...well, it's a clever screwjob, no question about that. But after we saw the Ninja speak earlier in the night (when Madusa propositioned him in Japanese) you have to wonder how Steamboat was unaware backstage that it was Paul E. under there.

 

You have three legitimate MOTN candidates on this show, with very, very strong arguments. For some federations in some years they'd be MOTYCs. Here they're part of a greater cluster of matches just for the first two months. Just about every promotion around has seen a big quality uptick since 1991.

[xlynwoodx]

I loved this match! This was such a great back-and-forth match. Rick Rude has been such a pleasure this year and get excited every time a match with him comes up. The heat he got while doing his intro was off the charts. The finish was kind of interesting for reasons already mentioned. I didn't hate the idea of Dangerously being in the costume, but its a little odd when there were vignettes of the two together throughout the night. I have to mention the superplex, which looked like Steamboat deadlifted Rude up and over. Looking forward to the rematch.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW US Champion "Ravishing" Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW SuperBrawl II

 

Rude gets nuclear heat during his pre-match spiel. He can't even get a word in edgewise until he brute forces his way through their jeers and boos. From that all the way to the end of the match, Rick Rude looked like the heir apparent to Ric Flair as the lead heel in WCW for the foreseeable future. I am not saying he is the next Ric Flair because there are plenty of differences, but the way he carried himself and structured a match is in the mold of an ace NWA touring champ heel. He shines up his opponent with lots of stooging and bumping and when it is time to get heat he is a mean sumbitch. I'm actually kinda pissed that the injury derailed him so much because I really think he was something special. His 1992 is nearly untouchable from a one calendar year standpoint as a heel. You'd have to go back to Flair in '86 or so to come close. Then imagine the 1-2 punch of Vader and Rude on top. I don't care if WCW sucked at promoting, it would be helluva lot fun to watch in retrospect. That Dustin series with '92 Rude would have absolutely killer. Enough dwelling on what could have been and let's be grateful for what we have and that is a most excellent Rude/Steamboat series.

 

As much as Rude was the star of this, Steamboat looked tremendous in this. I have run hot and cold on Steamboat. Sometimes, he can just be too mechanical, but that may just be a by-product of the WWF environment because re-watching his '94 stuff and the work against Dangerous Alliance he was been on point. Steamboat was on fire early looking to avenge the belt-whippings and Rude Awakenings he had received. He was just all over the arm and not just with the typical armbars and armdrags, but wrapping the arm around the post. Rude really shines here in the way he sells the arm and continues to sell the arm throughout the entire match! Steamboat does not forget this is a championship match so he does go for a pinfall early. The struggle in this match was great with Rude desperately trying to stymie Steamboat and when he would be forced to use his left arm he would sell it and not be able to capitalize. Steamboat was always fighting back during Rude's brief spells of offense. This was the perfect time for a chinlock. You have a hot babyface opponent that got off to a wicked fast start and you want to slow the match down, sap some of his energy and get some wind back into your lungs. If people just thought about when they used chinlocks (looking at you, '92 Austin) then it would not be reviled as a resthold. You gotta love Rude selling his left arm during his hip swivels and poses. He is just the man at this point. At this point, Rude is really targetting the neck especially after delivering the two Rude Awakenings from Clash 18. He hits a hoshot and a piledriver. Great arm and neck psychology, this match is just rocking. Steamboat, who is in dire straits, grabs anything he can get his hands on and delivers a kneecrusher and applies the figure-4. Rude recovers and it is clear the arm is hindering him more as he delivers forearms off the top. We hit the Rude staple electric chair drop out of the chinlock. Steamboat levels the playing field after some back and forth with a top-rope superplex, but cant get the three. Steamboat gets a little cocky ans starts mocking the hip swiveling, but looks more like he is trying to show us some surfing moves. Would have liked to seen that spot earlier in the match as now is the time to get down to business. Steamboat hits the flying judo chop and goes for the second one, but his Personal Ninja smashes a brick cell phone over his head. I wonder who that could be?

 

Tack on a real home stretch and a better finish and this is a MOTYC easy. I know the Beach Blast match is better and some go as far as saying the best 90s WCW match and I look forward to rewatching that, but this match definitely deserves more praise. The body of this match is terrific with the dueling arm/neck psychology. They are struggling through every transition neither man is giving an inch. Rude and Steamboat both put on a clinic in selling and how you can make each other and match so much better by taking the time to make every spot meaning something. The finish stretch was a little abrupt and would have liked to seen an extended one. The swerve with Dangerously as the Ninja was great for extending the feud. I have no problem with the finish just that run up was too abrupt. ****1/4

[PhilTLL]

One thing I never noticed about this show before is that all the heat is coming from parts of the audience you can't see. In other words, everyone in view of the hard camera is a stone-faced asshole. There's a big guy in a brown sweater and newsboy cap who I would reach back in time to punch if I could. But no matter, this match and two thirds of this show will always sit well with me.

[garretta]

This match was taken right down into the gutter by one of the most idiotic finishes I've ever seen, and unfortunately for all involved, it deserves to rot there. As usual, Pete's right on the money: How in the world did Steamboat not know who was in the costume? He presumably rode with the guy to the arena and would know approximately what he looked like even in costume (height, posture, etc.), so if something wasn't right he should have noticed it beforehand and dome something about it. Why didn't he?

 

The answer is, of course, is "It's wrestling", which is a terrible answer that allows promotions to get away with abject stupidity designed to make their fans look and feel like utter morons if they stop to think about what they see for longer than ten seconds. The worst part is, most of it is preventable. In this situation, you simply have another member of the DA come out and hit Steamer with the phone while Rude has Patrick tied up. Whoever it is can claim that they got the phone from Paul as a gift or whatever else they want; the point is, that finish makes the DA look like desperate cowards instead of making Steamboat look like someone who took the turnip truck to the matches. Why Dusty tried to portray Steamboat as a stalker who lusts after Medusa and an imbecile who doesn't even know what his own bodyguard is supposed to look like, I can't say. Match quality aside, I almost prefer The Dragon, 1991 version. At least he looked scary with the fire breathing.

 

The finish disgusted me so much that it's impossible to think about the match apart from it, because all the good work led to a pile of utter crap. It seems ridiculous to talk about how well Steamer worked on Rude's arm or how Rude looked like he was out to break Steamer's neck hardway. Good work doesn't impress me much if the end result insults my intelligence and makes me sorry I wasted my time watching. and this finish was one of the prime examples of both.

 

I was looking forward to watching this specifically because I remembered the meandering mess these two opened the '88 Royal Rumble card with, and I thought that this would be a prime example of a match that Vince let get away. How wrong I was. The sad part is, if Vince booked a similar finish, it wouldn't be excused with "Well, it furthered the feud", or "It was a clever screwjob". Some of us (and I definitely include myself here) would use it as an example of how Vince just doesn't care about the sporting aspects of wrestling as long as his stupid storylines are kept alive. We shouldn't be afraid to call WCW out for similar horseshit just because some of the moves done before the horseshit happened looked prettier than what we'd usually see in the WWF.

 

I had a whole post ready to go about the announcing and the ins and outs of the bout, but for only the second time since I've started the Yearbooks (the other being a Flair-Pillman bout from '91) I'm going to pass on it and let my rant about the finish be my sole commentary on the match. The workers deserve better, JR and Jesse (who were brilliant) deserve better, but the match itself doesn't.

[JKWebb]

I'm a little surprised to see this ranked at 470 on a list of the top 500 matches of the 1990's, but I know there are a lot of matches out there, and it is a really big list. I'll see how my opinion of that shakes out in the end. The last time I saw this match, I had it around ****3/4.

 

#470 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-500-451/2/

 

Rude has a ton of heat. Steamboat has a ninja. I love the work on the left arm during this match. I love the offense from Steamboat, and the selling from Rude. When I think back on this match, I always think about how Rude sells it so well when trying to do his poses. In the opening, after Steamboat rams his left arm against the ring post, Rude is selling after ANY offensive strike that involves his left arm. It's a big part of what I enjoy so much about this match. I love attention to detail like that in wrestling. That's one of the reasons why Nick Bockwinkel is my favorite in-ring performer. Steamboat stays focused on the arm, and through all of this they tell a great story in the ring. Jesse Ventura was the perfect person to be on commentary during this match. He does a great job focusing on the story that Steamboat and Rude are telling. Rude is working over the neck of Steamboat based on the idea that he has previously given Steamboat two Rude Awakenings at the prior Clash of the Champions. I am a bigger fan of the match at Beach Blast, like I assume most others are, but it doesn't affect my opinion of this match. Beach Blast is ***** to me. At this point in time, I don't care so much about the booking when evaluating the match itself. These guys put on a terrific performance here, and I'd consider it to be one of my favorite matches. But, I do think Sleeze has a good point of a real home stretch being needed. I know I said I didn't care too much about the booking, but the finish does hurt it a little bit. I'm leaning towards ****1/2 now, but this is still a favorite match of mine. But, then I think about how some might say, for example, that John Cena vs. AJ styles was ****1/2 (to ***** according to some) from this year. I think about the elements that I loved in this match - the focused offense, the long-term selling, it's just too good say it's only ****1/2 if AJ Cena is ****1/2... I'm running a stream of consciousness here, but for my now I'm sticking with ****3/4.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Absolutely loved this. Right from the get go when they lock up, you can just feel the intensity. Fantastic arm work by Steamboat, amazing selling by Rude, great work over Steamboat's neck. The finish is shit, but this was a clinic. ****3/4

[dawho5]

The heat on Rude pre-match is amazing. The early offense by Steamer on the arm and Rude's selling of it throughout is amazing. Rude's offense on Steamboat and his selling is amazing. The big comeback by Steamer, also amazing. The finish, not so much. But I won't let it wipe out all of that incredible work.

[Makai Club #1]

This was fantastic. The selling by Rude was unbelievable. His selling of the arm when posing and on offence was so consistent which is key when you are doing limb work. In addition to that, Ricky’s selling of the neck was good too but Rude’s was god tier. The work on the arm (Steamboat) and the neck (Rude) was also great. The match had a really good tempo to it as well. ****1/2

[cactus]

The strikes here were stiff and had plenty of grit. You're not going to find more technically sound wrestlers around in 1992 than Ricky Steamboat and Rick Rude, so the fundamentals here were obviously great. Steamboat goes right for Rude's arm at the start of the match and Rude never forgets to sell his arm. His injury even stops him from being able to flex his muscles properly! Some of Steamboat's selling looked a little too cartoony for my tastes. We get a swerve of finish that sees Steamboat's ninja turn on him. I can see why some folks would find this boring as it is a slow burner and a lot of the match is just Steamboat working Rude over in holds, but I thought this was worth going out your way to watch if you are a fan of either man. ★★★½

[squidlad]

Tight, no nonsense work and Impeccable selling from both men. I particularly loved Steamboat's selling off the piledriver, wincing like his neck has been compressed rather than the total KO we usually see. I loved everything bell-to-bell but it felt like they left a fair amount on the table for the rematch. ****1/4.

I feel like the finish has gotten a bum rap (possibly owing to the angle setting it up not being included in the 1992 yearbook? I'm not sure), so I'll try to explain it: Earlier on in the show Medusa lures the ninja away (who both here and on TV is a man about a head shorter than Ricky Steamboat) from guarding Steamboat's locker room. He is then presumably set upon by the Dangerous Alliance. Later, just before the introductions of the match, 'the ninja' returns. Steamboat comes out of the locker room and takes one glancing look at him before heading to the ring. After which the fake ninja follows behind Steamboat and spends the entire match with his back to the ring. The answer to 'why didn't Steamboat recognize it was a different person in the costume?' is that Steamboat only got a half second look at him before his match started.