The Cheetahs scored 92 points and scored 14 tries on the way to demolishing the Sunwolves in Bloemfontein.
Sergeal Petersen scored three tries as the Cheetahs romped home 92-17, leading 45-3 at the break.
The score was four short of the Crusaders Super Rugby record for most points by one team in a game, when they scored 96 against the Waratahs in 2002.
The result is one that does not bode well for the new Super Rugby set up, with the Sunwolves showing themselves to struggle on the road.
Fox Sports quoted Sunwolves captain Shota Horie as saying it was a tough result.
"We wanted to play good rugby, to be courageous, to raise the morale of our people in the aftermath of the earthquakes, but it was not to be," Horie said.
"It is a difficult result to accept."
