What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – August 8, 1992

There were some unique matches that aired on the August 3 edition of Prime Time Wrestling that were not available for viewing. Here were the results of those matches, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

-Tatanka (24-0) pinned Mike Sharpe after the Samoan Drop at 4:43

-Papa Shango (17-0) pinned Phil Apollo after the reverse shoulderbreaker at 1:52

-Rick Martel (18-5-1) beat Sergeant Slaughter (9-1) after hitting Slaughter with Arrogance at 9:22

Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect provide commentary for this week’s Superstars episode, which kicks off a new taping location in Worcester, Massachusetts. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on July 20 and drew a crowd of 11,000. The strong crowd was indicative of the WWF doing well in its traditional markets even as it struggled in other regions of the country.

Gene Okerlund interviews the Ultimate Warrior, who says he has faced WWF Champion Randy Savage before and they should hold their clash off until Wembley Stadium when 80,000 of their fans can see it. Ric Flair interrupts to make the Warrior aware that he is going to be the WWF champion by SummerSlam, he is going to go to SummerSlam to make sure that whoever wins between the Warrior and Savage gets the first shot at his title, and that Savage was on the phone last week with Perfect to try to secure his managerial services for the pay-per-view. The Warrior cannot believe what he is hearing and Flair tells him it is not a done deal and he can bid for Perfect’s services too. When Flair leaves, the Warrior says he will do anything and pay any price to win the WWF title from Savage as it seems he will do anything to retain it. Flair was an excellent manipulative salesman for this segment and the Warrior has done some good character work over the last few weeks to demonstrate the importance of the WWF title to him.

Opening Contest: Razor Ramon pins Paul Van Dale after a crucifix powerbomb at 2:38:

Ramon was Scott Hall, a trainee of Hiro Matsuda in Florida who started his career in Jim Crockett’s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1984 as a tag team partner of Dan Spivey. What that duo had little success in Charlotte or Florida, Hall went to the AWA where he teamed with Curt Hennig and won the promotion’s tag team titles in 1986. From 1989-1991, Hall bounced around WCW, New Japan, Europe, and Puerto Rico and some of his character work for Razor Ramon, which was based on the Al Pacino film Scarface, was done in WCW as the Diamond Studd. The WWF had given Hall tryout matches before in 1987 and 1990 but did not sign him. However, Vince McMahon’s opinion of Hall changed once he saw some of his work in WCW.

Van Dale had been used as a WWF enhancement talent going back to the late 1980s. He is better known today as the father of WWE women’s wrestler Carmella.

Ramon has good theme music, with a lot of percussion that reflects the character’s Miami home. Both men exchange some stiff strikes in the corner and Ramon kicks and slaps Van Dale when he is down. Ramon’s big moves get a reaction which include a chokeslam, a super backdrop suplex, and a crucifix powerbomb. After the match, Ramon tosses Van Dale to the arena floor. This was a good debut, with Ramon’s trademark moves immediately making him a wrestler to talk about.

Taped comments air with Stu and Helen Hart. Helen does all the talking, saying that they are happy for Bret’s success but the British Bulldog makes Diana happy. She suddenly gets emotional in saying that the match is taking a toll on the family.

Non-Title Match: The Natural Disasters (WWF Tag Team Champions) (16-1) beat Brian Brieger & Brian Donahue when Typhoon pins Brieger after the Tidal Wave at 3:11:

In the split screen, the Beverly Brothers and the Genius tell the Disasters that they are going to take the titles at SummerSlam. The Disasters take their time destroying Brieger. Typhoon does four leaping body guillotines to the jobber. When Donahue tries to save his partner, he just gets sandwiched with him in the corner and the Disasters roll to their first squash win as tag team champions.

Kamala (w/Harvey Wippleman & Kim Chee) (10-0) pins Ross Greenberg after the splash to the back at 2:44:

Kamala is running into the same problem that the Berzerker had in his program with the Undertaker whereby he has not beaten any name talents and yet is supposed to be taken seriously as a threat to a former WWF champion. The squash has a weird flow as Kamala throws strikes, then does some chokes, then goes back to strikes, and awkwardly throws Greenberg down. Eventually, Kamala finishes with the usual as Perfect insists that Randy Savage wants to negotiate with him when the show goes off the air. After the bell, Kamala goes to the top rope and slaps his belly but the referee and his handlers talk him down.

The British Bulldog (21-0) beats Mike Sharpe after the running powerslam at 2:53:

McMahon says ICOPRO is not steroids but a revolutionary development in sports nutrition. The Bulldog’s vertical suplex is an impressive spot because of Sharpe’s size but Sharpe kicks out of it at two. Sharpe gets in some licks and chokes the Bulldog on the ropes but a blind charge eats buckle and the Bulldog powerslams Sharpe to remain unbeaten in 1992. According to Diana Hart Smith, this is the match where the Bulldog suffered a knee injury that kept him on the sidelines until SummerSlam.

Okerlund does the SummerSlam Report. Buy your souvenir program on Thursday! Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart talks about how his family is full of tension but despite that he is going to beaten the Bulldog. The Undertaker and Paul Bearer talk about how Kamala is of simple intelligence and how that is going to bring him into the hands of the Reaper. Shawn Michaels and Sensational Sherri tell Rick Martel that he is going to get the wrestling lesson of a lifetime. A new bout announced is Crush against Repo Man. That is a unheralded clash of Demolition 2.0 under different gimmicks. Repo Man is excited to wrestle in front of 80,000 people and that Crush will not get a hold of him to crush him.

A new ad for Body Stars hypes it as a healthy lifestyle and exercise show. There is no mention of the WBF as it is now a dead project.

The Berzerker (w/Mr. Fuji) (12-2) beats Jason Knight via count out at 1:59:

In the split screen, Tatanka talks about how he is going to scalp the Berzerker with a tomahawk chop at SummerSlam. That reveals another match for the pay-per-view that was curiously absent from Okerlund’s report. The Berzerker destroys Knight as his issue with the Undertaker is dead.

Tune in next week to see the Big Bossman face Skinner! Also, the Undertaker and Money Incorporated will be in action! And there will be a special interview with WWF Champion Randy Savage!

The Last Word: The WWF is entering a sweeps month so the syndicated programs will have some feature matches. This was a good show because of the Ultimate Warrior interview segment that started the broadcast. Again, having Ric Flair operate as a third wheel for that program is a good way to build interest as it plays to Flair’s great instincts in being a manipulative heel. Razor Ramon also had a good debut and is bound to get a strong push after SummerSlam once his character has been established through a handful of squash matches.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for August 9!