[1991-05-19-WCW-Superbrawl I] Fabulous Freebirds vs Young Pistols

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Maybe someone in WCW realized that rebel flags on a pair of babyfaces wasn't a good idea for a nationally televised promotion, as Smothers and Armstrong are now the Young Pistols. Hayes and Garvin are so broken down at this point, but they do work hard, and each guy still has just enough tricks to keep them effective. The crowd is solidly behind them and the cameramen is missing all sorts of stuff. I don't know, it could just be the favorable edit, but the last few minutes make this match look way better than it has any right to be. Brad Armstrong makes his debut as FANTASIA, coming in and laying out both Pistols after a ref bump. He's not named, but he'll later be repackaged as Badstreet after I think Disney may have sent a letter to WCW. The Birds win the U.S. tag titles.

[shoe]

This is a pretty hot finish. The Pistols and Freebirds have had good matches together in 90 and 91.

[PeteF3]

Shockingly great action at the finish. Hayes still has his left hand and the 'birds have their charisma--lots of "DDT" chants from Freebird fans in the crowd, though the Pistols draw pops for their big spots as well. Some great high-flying offense from the Pistols, but they make the mistake of doing their finish on Garvin when they've already laid Hayes out with it, bumping the ref. Fantasia, in a preposterous bird outfit reminiscent of the Tenga Warriors from Power Rangers...I should just slit my wrists now for remembering that and Googling the name...runs in and lays out both Pistols with second-rope DDTs, giving the Freebirds the pinfall and the U.S. Tag titles.

[Kevin Ridge]

I figured since it was the last few minutes it probably wouldn’t be much but from what we see it’s pretty decent action between all four. A masked man runs in towards the end. Those turnbuckle DDTs look familiar. It's Kobashi!!! I don’t know much about this Fantasia guy but outfit looked bad.

[ajtroma]

Did they base poor Brad's outfit on a crow or something? Jeez, that was hideous.

[soup23]

Michael Hayes always look like he has been in a hour long match post 1989 with as much as he sweats. Damn this was great stuff even though the crowd was dead. This may be the best the Birds looked in the 90's. Fantasia debut was a wrestlecrap worthy moment. Interested to watch the full match when we get to it on the podcast because this match being a hidden gem could solidify this whole ppv card with 4 other good matches already.

[garretta]

If this match could have been treated as any more of an afterthought, I'd like to know how. Not only was the crowd dead, but the finish was barely sold on commentary. They never even replayed it; there was no outrage, no shock, no nothing. They couldn't wait to show Missy invading the heel locker room instead. Not only that, it seems that there were more Freebirds fans than Pistols/Southern Boys fans. They even showed some Birds fans whooping it up on camera, whether they meant to or not. Maybe it was just the DDT as a move that was over, but it sure seemed like Tracy and Steve got no reaction at all to anything they did in the clip we saw.

 

One question: Were the Pistols acknowledged as the former Southern Boys, or were they treated like complete newcomers? What was the backstory behind their change, if any? I would think that since JR used both names, they acknowledged past history, but you can never tell with this outfit. Even if the history wasn't acknowledged, most of the fans undoubtedly knew who the Pistols were, and that they'd already had a long feud with the Birds the previous year. Maybe they were just tired of the matchup.

[dawho5]

This show certainly has a dead crowd. Good thing it's not a major show or anything.