[1999-02-21-WCW-Superbrawl IX] Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Curt Hennig & Barry Windham

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes of a match that did little for me when I saw it in full. I liked the booking of Benoit and Malenko having to beat them back to back to win the titles, but not following through with that, especially when the passe Windham and Hennig are on the opposite side, is pretty bad. I do love Windham using the belt to pin Malenko. That finish is tremendous, but the match doesn't live up to it.

[Loss]

I felt like I might be shortchanging this, so I watched it on the Network and it is better than I remembered it being - good match. I liked Tony getting over the "match of saves" story and Windham in particular was good at adding veteran touches and using the referee to their advantage. They crowd didn't get hyped for it, but I do think it was a solid match.

[Tim Evans]

So I guess this was 2/3 falls? Clever finish by Windham.

[soup23]

Good action at finish of the first match even though the crowd doesn't care much. Second match really never gets going as Barry uses his belt to choke Malenko and win the tag straps for him and Hennig.

 

Tim, this was a double elimination tournament and Hennig/Windham had 0 losses while Benoit/Malenko had one going in.

[PeteF3]

A clever and well-done finish in a vacuum, but the result was so disheartening (at the time) that that aspect is hard to ignore. Not that this was a secret chance to save the company or anything, but putting the titles on Hennig & Windham in 1999 did absolutely no good. Benoit & Malenko *may* have been able to create another point of difference from the WWF and its de-emphasis on tag teams.

[DMJ]

Watched the full match today and I'd add that Benoit was really over with the crowd (and based on the video package that follows about the US Title - which he was number one contender for until he got screwed by the Outsiders - maybe at his peak of overness up until that point in his WCW career). Malenko seems half-interested in the match in his minutes, but Benoit is ferocious and giving his 100% and the crowd reacts well to him and Hennig tearing it up. Classic WCW too in that, weeks before, Flair had said that Bret Hart would have to defend the US Title against Benoit, but because of nWo shenanigans and Will Sasso interference, the US Title match we get instead at SuperBrawl IX is....Scott Hall vs. Roddy Piper.

[Victator]

A clever and well-done finish in a vacuum, but the result was so disheartening (at the time) that that aspect is hard to ignore. Not that this was a secret chance to save the company or anything, but putting the titles on Hennig & Windham in 1999 did absolutely no good. Benoit & Malenko *may* have been able to create another point of difference from the WWF and its de-emphasis on tag teams.

The WWF was pushing tag teams in this period.

 

Anytime Barry Windham wins a belt I am happy.

[JerryvonKramer]

Just watched this randomly and thought it sucked. Went way too long, Malenko botched a ton of spots, and somehow both Hennig and Windham in 1999 just seemed way off the pace. Weird to see stuff like this received **** at the time. This is a disjointed match.

[El McKell]

When you say it received  **** at the time, can you clarify from who? I don't know who's star ratings from 1999 we can get a record of besides Dave Meltzer and he gave it *3/4