The Steiner Brothers vs Sting & Lex Luger (WCW, 5-19-1991)

WCW SuperBrawl, St. Petersburg, FL

This is a request via Ko-fi. The request was for my favorite match of the years where Gary Michael Cappetta was the WCW ring announcer. I thought about it for a moment before I realized it’s pretty much a no-brainer for me. I love this show because I had the VHS as a kid (I still have it, but I don’t have a working VCR anymore — please note that I said I don’t have a working VCR, there are still VCRs in my house because I’m an idiot), and I love this match more than anything.

If you watch this match on WWE Network, or however, don’t ignore the pre-match video package. It doesn’t have a voiceover, just some dramatic music showcasing both teams with highlights, and it’s phenomenal. This was before pre-match video packages were all the rage.

As Dusty Rhodes points out on commentary, this is a match between four true friends, guys who travel together, hang out together, and it’s for the Steiners’ WCW tag team championship. Luger is also U.S. champion.

The guys all shake hands before the match, and we start with Rick and Luger. C&E goes nowhere. They lock up again and it’s aggressive. Rick backs Luger to the corner, gives the clean break. Another C&E and an armdrag from Luger. Rick ducks under a C&E and takes Luger down with a waistlock, Luger gets the rope and Rick breaks clean.

C&E, side headlock from Luger. Takeover from Luger, Rick with a quick headscissors, Luger escapes. Double leg from Steiner, into a waistlock, and Luger gets the ropes again. A tentative, cautious start from both men. Side headlock from Rick, Luger backs it to the rope, another clean break.

Side headlock from Luger, off the ropes, Rick looks to shoulder tackle Luger but just bounces off of Lex, who then hits a powerslam for two. Rick sent to the corner, Luger misses a charge, and Rick hits a release German and the Steinerline. Two count.

Backdrop from Rick, big elevation for a guy like Luger. Rick looks to Luger into the corner again, but Luger hits and SPRINTS out with a massive lariat that turns Rick “inside-out — INSIDE-OUT!” Luger with a press slam, tag to Sting.

Sting with a clothesline that sends Rick to the floor, Scott checks on Rick quickly, and Sting hits an enormous dive, clearing the top rope and hitting a crossbody to the floor. Back into the ring, a faceslam from Sting, Rick no-sells that and barks. Sting gets Rick up for a backbreaker, then slams Rick into the corner, a page out of the Steiners’ playbook.

Sting misses the Stinger Splash in the corner, and SCOTTY GETS THE TAG. HE IS FIRED THE FUCK UP. TIGER BOMB. TALKIN SHIT. Sting off the ropes, tilt-a-whirl slam! Scott on the turnbuckles talking mess.

Scott off the ropes, and he gets stun-gunned over the top rope by Sting, and Luger gets the tag. Vertical suplex from Luger. Another quick tag back to Sting, but he gets hit with a second rope belly-to-belly for a two count. Scott puts Sting back up in another corner, runs and misses a clothesline, landing right on top of the ringside commentary table. Luger tagged back, and he suplexes Scott back in for two.

Scott off the ropes, counters Luger, and takes him down. Scott off the ropes again, Luger hits the powerslam and calls for the rack. Instead, it results in a Russian legsweep counter, or at least called as such. Luger seemed to do all of that himself.

Tag to Rick, Luger didn’t see it, and Rick flies in with the bulldog and an elbowdrop for two. Sting gets a tag, but the referee doesn’t see it, and neither do the Steiners, so Sting just appears to be interfering in bad faith. That leads to some chippiness, and then Rick and Lex collide and both men are down.

We’re looking for a double hot tag here, and we get it. They trade right hands. Sting lifts and slams Scott. Another right hand from Sting. One to the body. Sting commits the cardinal mistake, Scott hits a forearm to the back. Scott goes for a tombstone piledriver, Sting reverses it and hits his.

Rick breaks up the pin, so Luger comes in and the referee gets caught in the middle and knocked to the floor with those two. In the ring, Sting hits the Stinger Splash on Scott, and then there’s a shadow approaching the ring. Nikita Koloff, with the big chain, charges at Luger from behind, but Sting pushes Luger out of the way and gets hit with hit instead.

Scott, who didn’t see what happened, pins Sting and gets a three count. After the match, it’s confusion. Nobody but Sting is aware of what happened, and the Steiners are talking with Sting and Luger as friends again, concerned about the busted open Sting. Sting tries to explain before sprinting to the back to go after Koloff. He finds him backstage, talking to Tony Schiavone. They fight outside into the rain.

Rating: 5/5. I just love this match. It’s great, for one thing, but it’s the full package of the presentation, too. Not only do you have Sting, Luger, and the Steiners, four super popular wrestlers at their peak, giving it their all, but you have Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes with a great call of the match, a memorable finish (I’m long past needing “clean finishes” to love a match), and some excellent atmosphere that these guys all created. This could have been a huge letdown, as dream matches sometimes are, where they couldn’t live up to the hype. Instead, they blew the hype away with an all-timer tag sprint, just go-go-go once they got past a strong “tentative start” segment with Rick and Lex. And the true standout of the match is probably Sting; as much as I love Scott Steiner here, as he’s just a maniac when he gets his first tag into the match, Sting is the real MVP, as he works this sort of chaotic respect for your opponents kind of thing, hurling himself around the ring, hitting big moves, and that big ass dive onto Rick which is a real sight to see, because Sting is a big dude.