SuperBrawl I

---

title: "SuperBrawl I" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1991-in-florida", "superbrawl", "professional-wrestling-shows-in-st.-petersburg,-florida", "1991-world-championship-wrestling-pay-per-view-events"] description: "1991 World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperBrawl_I" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1991 World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Wrestling event"]

Field	Value
name	SuperBrawl I
image	SuperBrawl1Logo.jpg
caption	The official poster for the show, showcasing Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami
tagline	Return from the Rising Sun
promotion	World Championship Wrestling
date
venue	Bayfront Center
city	St. Petersburg, Florida
attendance	6,000
buyrate	150,000
lastevent	WCW/New Japan Supershow I
nextevent	The Great American Bash
event	SuperBrawl
lastevent2	First
nextevent2	II
::

|name = SuperBrawl I |image = SuperBrawl1Logo.jpg |caption = The official poster for the show, showcasing Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami |tagline = Return from the Rising Sun |promotion = World Championship Wrestling |date = |venue = Bayfront Center |city = St. Petersburg, Florida |attendance = 6,000 |buyrate = 150,000 |lastevent = WCW/New Japan Supershow I |nextevent = The Great American Bash |event = SuperBrawl |lastevent2 = First |nextevent2 = II}} SuperBrawl was the inaugural SuperBrawl professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The show took place on May 19, 1991 and was held at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The main event of the show was a match between then reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami with both world championships on the line. In the United States the match was promoted as simply being for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, not promoting the fact that Fujinami had defeated Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in March 1991. The undercard saw Bobby Eaton win the WCW World Television Championship from Arn Anderson while The Steiner Brothers defended the WCW World Tag Team Championship. In the opening match, The Fabulous Freebirds won the vacant WCW United States Tag Team Championship. The show consisted of twelve matches, with some of the matches being edited out of the official VHS tape release of the show. The event also featured the television debut of Johnny B. Badd.

In 2015, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.

Storylines

::data[format=table title="Other on-screen personnel"]

Role:	Name:
Commentators	Jim Ross
Dusty Rhodes
Ring announcer	Gary Michael Cappetta
Interviewers	Tony Schiavone
Missy Hyatt
Referees	Randy Anderson
Nick Patrick
::

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. SuperBrawl I was the direct follow up to events that happened on the first ever WCW/New Japan Supershow that had happened on March 21, 1991. The show took place in Japan and was co-promoted by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and their Japanese partner promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In the main event of the SuperShow, IWGP Heavyweight Champion put his title against Ric Flair who defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Fujinami won the match and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first wrestler to hold both championships.

The match and the match outcome was presented very differently in the United States where they billed Flair as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, not mentioning the fact that the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was considered a separate championship in Japan. WCW and the American media claimed that Flair retained the WCW World Heavyweight Championship due to Flair being thrown over the top rope near the end of the match. SuperBrawl's main event focused on Ric Flair "getting revenge" on Fujinami as he defended his WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which in Japan was billed as being for both championships, not just the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The storyline of Flair "defending WCW and America" painted him as more of a heroic character than the villain he had been working as for over a year prior to the match, with the Florida crowd cheering for Flair during the match.

Ron Simmons and Butch Reed began working together as a tag team known simply as Doom, initially as a masked team and later unmasked under the real names. Together they held the WCW World Tag Team Championship and had several high quality, well received matches against tag teams such as The Steiner Brothers, Arn Anderson and Barry Windham and others. In early 1991, tension built between the two tag team partners as Simmons grew frustrated with the team after they lost the championship to The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) on February 24, 1991. After the title loss, the two fought against each other with manager Theodore Long siding with Reed while Simmons turned into a fan favorite in the process. Due to Long helping Reed cheat during matches between the two, the SuperBrawl match had the added stipulation that Long would be locked in a small cage suspended in the air during the match.

On February 18, 1991, The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship while already holding the WCW United States Tag Team Championship. On April 6, the WCW Board of directors declared the WCW United States Tag Team Championship vacant to allow the Steiners to focus on the WCW World Tag Team Championship. WCW scheduled the two top contender teams, The Fabulous Freebirds and The Young Pistols (Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers) in a "Top Contenders" match for the vacant championship. At the time, The Freebirds and The Young Pistols were already engaged in a long running storyline rivalry, with the championship match being one of the highlights of the storyline.

Results

|match1 = Mighty Thor defeated El Cubano (Dark Match) |stip1= Singles match |time1= |match2= The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) defeated The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong) |stip2 = Tag team match for the vacant WCW United States Tag Team Championship |time2 = 10:19 |match3 = Dan Spivey defeated Ricky Morton |stip3 = Singles match |time3 = 03:11 |match4 = Nikita Koloff defeated Tommy Rich |stip4 = Singles match |time4 = 04:27 |match5 = Dustin Rhodes defeated Terrence Taylor (with Alexandra York and Mr. Hughes) |stip5 = Singles match |time5 = 08:05 |match6 = Big Josh defeated Black Bart |stip6 = Singles match |time6 = 03:46 |match7 = Oz (with The Great Wizard) defeated Tim Parker |stip7 = Singles match |time7 = 00:26 |match8 = Barry Windham defeated Brian Pillman |stip8 = Taped fist match |time8 = 06:08 |match9 = El Gigante defeated Sid Vicious |stip9 = Stretcher match |time9 = 02:13 |match10 = Ron Simmons defeated Butch Reed |stip10 = Steel Cage match |time10 = 09:39 |match11 = The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) (c) defeated Sting and Lex Luger |stip11 = Tag team match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship |time11 = 11:09 |match12 = Bobby Eaton defeated Arn Anderson (c) |stip12 = Singles match for the WCW World Television Championship |time12 = 11:50 |match13 = Ric Flair (c-WCW) defeated Tatsumi Fujinami (c-NWA) |stip13 = Singles match for the NWA and WCW World Heavyweight Championships |time13 = 18:39

Note – Matches 3–7 were not included on the original VHS release. A complete version of the event has since been available on the WWE Network.

Aftermath

SuperBrawl was the last time WCW alluded to the fact that the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship were separate championships until 1992 when the two championships began to be fought for separately. SuperBrawl would be Flair's last WCW main event for several years as he left the company less than two months later due to a pay dispute. At the time of his departure, he was still the champion and he took the title belt that represented the championship with him as collateral due to unpaid wages Flair felt he was owed. The feud between The Fabulous Freebirds and The Young Pistols continued for several months, including several title defenses. On July 14, 1991, The Young Pistols teamed up with Dustin Rhodes to defeat The Freebirds and Badstreet on the undercard of the 1991 Great American Bash show.

Bobby Eaton (after many years of tag team wrestling with the Midnight Express) won his first singles title since he won the NWA National Television Championship in 1981, and held the title for 15 days before losing to "Stunning" Steve Austin at a taping of WCW Worldwide, Austin would hold the title for nearly a year.

References

References

1. (25 March 2020). "WCW Pay-Per-View Buys (1987-2001)". Wrestlenomics.
2. "WCW/New Japan Pay Per Views WCW/New Japan Supershow". Prowrestlinghistory.com.
3. "Can Ric Flair shatter the "myth" of Japanese Superiority?". Kappa Publications.
4. Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson. (2005). "The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams". ECW Press.
5. "WCW World Tag Team Championship Title History (1991-2001)". Solie's Title Histories.
6. Will, Gary. (1994). "Wrestling Title Histories". Archeus Communications.
7. "Historical Cards: SuperBrawl I (May 19, 1991. St. Petersburg, Florida)". Kappa Publications.
8. (May 19, 1991). "SuperBrawl "Return of the Rising Sun"". Pro Wrestling History.
9. "Clash of Champions Results (XV)".
10. "Historical Cards: Great American Bash (July 14, 1991. Baltimore, Maryland)". Kappa Publications.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::