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A Wonderful Accident: WCW/NJPW SuperShow-SuperBrawl
WCW/NJPW SuperShow

Date: March 21, 1991 (Aired in April)
Venue: Tokyo Dome
Attendance: 64,500
Announce Team: Jim Ross/Tony Schiavone​

WCW and NJPW presented a joint supercard at the Tokyo Dome, featuring performers from both companies. Of the eleven matches, only seven were featured on PPV, staring with a six man tag team match featuring Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Takayuki Iizuka defeating the trio of Brian Pillman, Tom Zenk and Tim Horner. Following that, Jushin Thunder Liger defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Akira Nogami.

Horsemen Arn Anderson and Barry Windham defeated the team of Masa Saito and Masahiro Chono while the Steiner Brothers defeated the team of Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in a match for both the NWA and IWGP Tag Team Championships. After El Gigante defeated Big Cat Hughes in a quick match, The Great Muta defeated Sting in the last undercard match. The main event would see IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami defeat NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair in a match for both titles (though WCW would not acknowledge the title change.) The two meet up again in the next WCW PPV.

WCW SuperBrawl

Date: May 19, 1991
Venue: Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg, Florida
Attendance: 6,000
Announce Team: Jim Ross/Dusty Rhodes​

Flair and Fujinami would meet in the main event of a new WCW PPV. Thirteen matches were on the card, starting with complete unknowns Mighty Thor and El Cubano wrestling. After that, the Fabulous Freebirds beat the Young Pistols for the vacant WCW United States Tag Team Championship.

Dan Spivey defeated Ricky Morton while Nikita Koloff defeated Tommy Rich. Dustin Rhodes faced off against Terry Taylor, scoring the win while Big Josh beat Black Bart. Then came the PPV debut of the infamous Oz character. Meant to promote Turner's reruns of the Wizard of Oz film, Kevin Nash was dressed in all green and had his hair dyed white. Oz squashed Tim Parker in under a minute before a Taped Fist Match where Barry Windham beat Brian Pillman.

El Gigante defeated Sid Vicious in a Stretcher Match where Vicious didn't even get taken away on the stretcher. Following that was the splintering of Doom as Ron Simmons defeated former partner Butch Reed in a Steel Cage Match. The Steiner Brothers defeated Lex Luger and Sting to keep their WCW World Tag Team Championship, Arn Anderson dropped the WCW World Television Championship to Bobby Eaton and in the main event, Ric Flair defended the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and reclaimed the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Tatsumi Fujinami (though promotional material treated it as just a defense of the WCW World Title and didn't acknowledge Fujinami as NWA World Champion.)

All seemed well for both companies, but both would be hit with controversies. For WCW, it came in the form of Ric Flair's tensions with the head of the company, Jim Herd. Herd and Flair had butted heads on numerous occasions, but it was Herd's demand that Flair drop the title to Lex Luger that had sealed the deal. Flair left... and took the WCW World Heavyweight title with him. Herd had refused to refund Flair the $25,000 security deposit he put on the belt, so the belt was still his take, leaving them without a World Champion.

For the WWF, the trouble came on June 24, 1991. That day, the fifth year anniversary of Hulk Hogan's neck injury, Hogan writes a tell-all book about his wrestling career. The book covers his training with Hiro Matsuda, his first run under Vince Sr., his time in AWA and his run as world champion. All sounds good... until the Hulkster made references to the drug culture of the WWF. Hulk openly admitted that he, among many other wrestlers, took steroids, paid for by the WWF and supplied by Dr. George Zahorian.

Truly, dire times were ahead for both companies as the 90s rolled on.

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