What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 07.27.96

The Superstars “Are You Ready?” song returns after being shelved for the last few months due to roster turnover. Brian Pillman and Sid are added in and several stars like Marc Mero, Sable, Sunny, and Paul Bearer sing “Are you ready to go?”

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross resume duties as the Superstars commentating trio, starting a new taping in Yakima, Washington. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping happened on July 23 and attracted a crowd of 2,922 fans.

Sunny comes out to do commentary for the first match to Rick Rude’s old theme song.

Opening Contest: The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) (11-6-1) defeat Lou Andrews & Mike Starr when Phineas pins Starr after the Slop Drop at 2:04:

Andrews was a staple of the Northwest independent scene, starting his wrestling career in 1991 and holding the Tag Team titles with Mike Miller in the Oregon Pro Wrestling Federation (OPWF).

McMahon and Ross talk about how there will be a four-team elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. That does not seem fair to the Bodydonnas since they defeated the Gunns in a non-title match at In Your House. The Godwinns do not do a lot of work, just some punches and kicks until Phineas avoids the enhancement team’s double clothesline and plants Starr with the Slop Drop. When the match ends, Sunny stands up from the announce position and screams about how the Smoking Gunns are going to keep the Tag Team titles after SummerSlam. Sunny takes off before Jim can make his way to the announce table with a slop bucket.

After a recap of Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson getting attacked on Monday Night RAW, the gladiator appears with Sunny. When McMahon addresses the man as Ron Simmons, he is corrected as Simmons says that his name is Faarooq Asad, a descendant of a line of fighters. Fans learn that Faarooq has been booked to face Ahmed for the title at SummerSlam. Faarooq talks about looking forward to breaking his foot into Ahmed’s rear end and Sunny hypes her new charge as a modern-day gladiator.

Dok Hendrix hosts the Slam Jam. Ahmed Johnson talks about Faarooq being a man from the hood but it makes no difference because he is used to taking beatings.

Bob Backlund walks to the ring to continue his campaigning.

Salvatore Sincere (1-0) pins Billy Two Eagles after Sincerely Yours at 2:23:

After receiving training from Terry Funk and starting his career in Texas in 1979, Eagles was a fan favorite in Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) in the 1980s. While there he won the Tag Team titles with Don Running Bear. In the 1990s he wrestled in Vancouver, winning the Western Canadian Championship Wrestling (WCCW) Heavyweight title twice from Michelle Starr (Mike Starr at this taping).

Sincere does an insert promo about how he loves the WWF and that Bret Hart reminds him a lot of himself. Eagles tries to do a warpath routine to generate offense but Sincere stops it with a thumb to the eyes. Sincere gets a reaction for lifting Eagles for a powerbomb and then just throwing him over his shoulders. After that, Sincere finishes with the full nelson slam that Ross calls “Sincerely Yours.”

Sid pins the Brooklyn Brawler after the powerbomb at 1:35:

McMahon announces that Sid will face the British Bulldog at SummerSlam. The Bulldog tells the announcers in the split screen that Sid does not scare him because he has manhandled Shawn Michaels in the past. In the promo, the Bulldog mistakenly calls Sid by his WCW moniker of “Sid Vicious.” Sid does what he does best in short squashes, chokeslamming the Brawler and powerbombing him for an easy win.

Call-1-900-737-4WWF to find out why Shawn Michaels reign as WWF champion will come to an end at SummerSlam!

The New Rockers (2-3-1) defeat Buddy Wayne & Sumito when Marty Jannetty pins Wayne after an overhead powerbomb-flying bulldog combination at 4:31:

Sumito was a Hawaiian talent who was trained by Buzz Sawyer and had his first match in 1989. He worked in Portland in the early 1990s.

Marty Jannetty has ring announcer Bill Dunn announce the team as “The New and Improved Rockers.” The Bodydonnas watch the match backstage, confident they can win at SummerSlam because they have victories over all three teams in the four-team elimination match. The Rockers mix in more double teams, including a double slingshot back suplex and a double somersault clothesline. The last move sounds better on paper than it can be executed. The squash overstays its welcome because Wayne gets beat on for a long time and the crowd does not react to anything. When the Rockers go for their complicated finish it is botched as Leif Cassidy does not lift Wayne high enough in the powerbomb and Wayne comes down on his knees when Jannetty does the flying bulldog. So they have to do it again moments later. The WWF edited the finish in some markets but others had the botched one.

Kevin Kelly interviews Justin Bradshaw and Zebekiah backstage. Zebekiah denies that he was responsible for Bradshaw’s past struggles against Savio Vega and Freddie Joe Floyd. Zebekiah is confident that he could take Freddie Joe Floyd in a fight with Kelly goading him into a challenge. Bradshaw tells Sid to prepare for a fight on RAW.

Alex Porteau (1-1) pins Timothy Flowers after an abdominal stretch into a roll up at 1:34:

Flowers looks like Damien Demento. He broke into the wrestling business in 1980 and, like many of the enhancements at this taping, spent time in Portland in the mid-1980s, where he worked as an enhancement talent. Flowers also wrestled in Vancouver and various Canadian independent promotions.

Brian Pillman, in a Green Day shirt, comes down the aisle once the bell rings, distracting the crowd. Pillman is moving better, only needing one crutch to get around. Ross leaves the announce booth to interview him. Pillman claims that he has come to ringside to look at the fans to see their despair and hopelessness. The camera misses most of the manner of Porteau’s win but Pillman’s interview was going to be much better than whatever match was planned.

WWF Champion Shawn Michaels does a promo on the Slam Jam. The champion promises that Vader will eat Sweet Chin Music at SummerSlam.

Aldo Montoya (1-6) defeats Jerry Lawler (3-2) after a DDT at 5:16 shown:

Montoya dedicates the match to his friend Jake Roberts. One crazy fan in the crowd has their face painted like Goldust with a crown on top of their head. As Lawler stalls he gets comments in the split screen too, joking that Montoya is Roberts’ designated driver. While Roberts had past problems with alcohol, Montoya has a pressing struggle against male pattern baldness. Lawler refuses to go for a pin after a piledriver and backdrop as Ross tells fans that Freddie Joe Floyd has accepted Zebekiah’s challenge for next week’s show. Lawler, cocky of a win, whips Montoya into the ropes but puts his head down too early, gets caught with a DDT, and is upset by the Portuguese Man O’ War. Rating: *

Tune in next week to see Marc Mero battle Who! Also, Savio Vega faces the British Bulldog! And Freddie Joe Floyd squares off with Zebekiah!

The Last Word: The only value of this show was learning about new SummerSlam matches. Of all the new glorified enhancement gimmicks, Salvatore Sincere shows the most potential as an in-ring talent. The WWF is not jobbing him out as quickly as some others either. The tag team division is also a mess as it makes no sense for there to be a four-team elimination match for the titles at SummerSlam. A triangle match could be justified because the Godwinns and Smoking Gunns have an issue and the Bodydonnas have a reason to be involved because of their win at In Your House. But the New Rockers have done nothing to deserve a title match.

After completing its monthly set of television tapings, the WWF ran house shows in California. Here were results of one of those cards, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

San Francisco, California – The Cow Palace – July 25, 1996 (5,466): Justin Bradshaw pinned Bob Holly after the lariat at 6:33…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns beat the Godwinns, the New Rockers, and the Bodydonnas in an elimination match. Henry pinned Leif Cassidy with the Slop Drop at 4:54. The Godwinns were counted out at 15:08. Then Bart pinned Skip with a small package after switching places with Billy as Skip kissed Sunny on the ring apron…Steve Austin defeated Savio Vega with a roll up in a no disqualification match at 9:15…Owen Hart pinned Aldo Montoya (substituting for Jake Roberts) after a spinning heel kick at 4:10…The Undertaker beat Mankind after the Tombstone at 12:19…Yokozuna (substituting for Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson) pinned Goldust after the Banzai Drop at 1:09…Marc Mero defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley with a roll up after Sable slapped Helmsley from the apron…Sid (substituting for the Ultimate Warrior) pinned the British Bulldog after the powerbomb despite interference from Owen Har at 3:48…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Vader after Sweet Chin Music at 6:59.

Backstage News*: The WWF is looking to stop compensation deals to stations for its syndicated programs, which could result in losing big markets, having worse time slots, and declining ad rates. WCW’s syndication is seen in 6.49 million homes on 184 stations versus the WWF’s presence in 3.92 million homes on 155 stations. Years ago, the WWF had an advantage over WCW in syndication while WCW had the advantage in cable. The WWF’s pivot on syndication means that they have trimmed down the house show schedule to 150-175 shows and are hoping pay-per-view business will offset any losses.

-Shawn Michaels and Jim Cornette got into a heated argument after a Saturday house show in Anaheim, California. Cornette fell down or tripped and that caused Michaels to miss Sweet Chin Music. Michaels accused Cornette of making him look bad.

-Fatu has been told to lose weight and will be reintroduced as a Middle Eastern wrestler. The Iron Sheik will be his manager.

-The Key Arena in Seattle holds 20,000 people but to hold Monday Night RAW only one-third of the venue was used. The gate for the taping was $91,092, the largest-ever for a RAW taping.

-The WWF was happy with its attendance in San Francisco because it has no syndicated television there. Fans were offered refunds because of the Ultimate Warrior, Jake Roberts, and Ahmed Johnson not being there. Yokozuna appears to have gained weight rather than dropping it, with Dave Meltzer noting that Yokozuna “looked like he ate most of Duke University.”

-The WWF has severed all ties with Warrior University and the Ultimate Warrior’s comic book so that appears to end the saga of whether the Warrior is coming back.

-In injury news, there are hopes that Ahmed can recover from his kidney ailment in time for SummerSlam.

-In talent relations news, Crush is going to be coming in as Clarence Mason’s wrestler. The WWF believes that the Mason storyline gives them cover for welcoming someone back who was arrested for steroid and weapons possession last year. Barry Windham has been signed and will be presented as the Stalker, someone that stalks animals and not celebrities. The Bruise Brothers (Blu Brothers) have also been signed but it will be on the same level as the enhancement gimmicks like T.L. Hopper and Who and they will only do television tapings. The WWF thought they could supplement their earnings in ECW but Paul Heyman allegedly does not want them anymore because of the jobs they will be doing. The WWF is now in talks with ECW’s 2 Cold Scorpio.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for July 29 and August 5.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for July 29!

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