What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – August 17, 1992

The footage available for this show cuts out at times and leaves out many of the panel segments and interviews. As a result, it is uncertain whether Sergeant Slaughter succeeded in his goal to make Bobby Heenan and Mr. Perfect do any military training.

Vince McMahon moderates this evening’s panel, which features Sergeant Slaughter in the place of Hillbilly Jim. The other panelists are Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bobby Heenan, and Mr. Perfect.

Opening Contest: Rick Martel (19-5-1) beats Jim Powers (3-7) via submission to the Boston Crab at 5:55:

This match was from the Cornwall, Ontario, Canada taping back on June 3. Powers punched above his weight to get three wins this year but still struggles against name stars, as his match on Superstars against Razor Ramon showed. Martel has also made Powers a whipping boy in matches for years and tonight’s match is no exception. Powers is able to get the best of Martel on a few technical exchanges but it is still routed and submitted all the same in the end after missing a dropkick. Rating: *

The Legion of Doom’s squash from Prime Time Wrestling on July 27 is shown.

The Samoans (w/Afa) beat Tony Ulysses & Phil Apollo when Fatu pins Ulysses after a splash off the top rope at 3:55:

The Samoans were cousins Samu and Fatu, members of the famous Anoa’i family. Both were trained by Afa, Samu’s father, who had been part of the WWF tag team title-winning duo the Wild Samoans in the late 1970s and early 1980s with Sika. Samu and Fatu first wrestled together as the Samoan SWAT Team for Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council (WWC) promotion in Puerto Rico in 1987. After winning the company’s tag team titles, they later worked in World Class, where they also won the tag team belts, and then came to WCW in 1989. However, they did not have much success and wrestled the independent circuit before signing with the WWF in 1992.

The gimmick handed to the team at this stage is a Wild Samoans reboot as Samu and Fatu act like Savages and Afa is dressed like a Pacific islander. To say that is a dated gimmick for 1992 would be an understatement. For a time Afa was being billed as “Big Daddy” but that was scraped by the time of this bout. The Samoans work well together, getting over the stereotypical “hard heads” that Samoans had in wrestling by headbutting their opponents. The squash just drags out too long, but that was a bad habit of matches on Prime Time. Fatu does a nice job flying through the air for the finish, a top rope splash, which he does over Samu in the corner. On commentary, Gorilla Monsoon talks about a third Samoan that may join the crowd that weighs more than 450 pounds. This would be in reference to Rodney Anoa’i, who the WWF had recently signed. Even though the company initially thought of making him the third wheel of the group, Rodney would be repackaged later into something else.

Crush (10-0) beats Peter Motts via submission to a head vice at 1:37:

Motts does a twisting sell from a Crush elbow off the ropes and is submitted after a backbreaker.

Kamala’s squash from Superstars is shown, along with his post-match interaction with the Undertaker.

The Undertaker’s squash from Superstars airs.

High Energy & El Matador defeat the Nasty Boys & Repo Man (w/Jimmy Hart) by disqualification when Brian Knobbs uses Repo Man’s tow rope as a weapon at 7:32:

This match took place in Portland, Maine on July 21. Owen gets put in peril after the participants get to have some ring time and manages to reverse the Pit Stop so Knobbs takes the move instead. El Matador gets the hot tag and hits the flying forearm on Jerry Sags, causing all hell breaks loose. In the midst of that, El Matador hits Sags with the flying forearm a second time. Repo Man brings his tow rope into the ring, but Knobbs gets caught trying to hit El Matador with it and that results in the disqualification. A decent television match here but nothing more than that. Rating: **

Papa Shango’s squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown.

The Big Bossman-Skinner match from Superstars airs.

Virgil (18-4) betas Vito Krus with a side Russian leg sweep at 1:53:

In the split screen, Nailz talks about how he turned the Big Bossman into half a man and Virgil will not be that lucky at SummerSlam. A sloppy headscissors near the ropes sends Vito to the floor and Virgil follows up with a dive off the top rope to the arena floor. After using some punches, Virgil finishes with the side Russian leg sweep for his second win over Krus in 1992.

The Last Word: The six-man tag was a good way to pass the time. The show is significant for the first look at Samu and Fatu, who would undergo a change in their team name before they appeared again on WWF television. They would be a nice upgrade to the tag team division that needed new talent.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for August 22!