What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 09.07.96

Kevin Kelly and Mr. Perfect are commentating, taped from Columbus, Ohio. This would be the final syndicated episode of Superstars to feature new matches. It is also the last to have the “Are You Ready?” song at the beginning.

Opening Contest: Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) (15-0) defeats Brian Scott via submission to the Mandible Claw at 1:13:

Scott jumps Mankind in the darkness, landing a few blows. But Mankind soon shakes them off and beats Scott to a pulp in the corner. After a pulled piledriver, the Mandible Claw puts Mankind over. Bearer grabs the microphone as Mankind rocks back and forth on the canvas with the urn. He tells the crowd that they make him sick because they do not appreciate him, just like the Undertaker did not appreciate him. Mankind stands up and tells WWF Champion Shawn Michaels that he will be destroyed like the Undertaker and should leave his dancing and gyrating at home. Mankind ends by telling Michaels that he will learn that taking a bite out of the worst apple on the tree will make him sick.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam recaps the Undertaker-Goldust feud. Goldust, with Marlena, quotes Inherit the Wind to wonder how to write an obituary for someone who died long ago. The answer will be to write it in golden ink after the “Final Curtain” match at In Your House 10: Mind Games. The Undertaker fires back that it is Goldust’s turn to face his end, just like how Mankind was left laying in Cleveland. The Undertaker did some retconning on how SummerSlam went in this promo.

The Texas Tornado beating Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam in 1990 is this week’s “Greatest Intercontinental Championship Moment.”

Faarooq (w/Sunny) (3-0) pins Barry Horowitz (1-9) after the inverted powerslam at 2:07:

One fan has a sign that says “I love Sonny.” This match is meant to build Faarooq for his match against Savio Vega in the Intercontinental Championship Tournament on Monday night. Perfect asks why Faarooq and Sid are on the same side of the bracket, wondering if it was done by the same people who seeded the U.S. Open. Faarooq refuses to pin Horowitz after a powerslam, giving time for Savio to do an insert interview and provide generic comments about his tournament opponent. Once Savio’s promo is done, Faarooq pulls Horowitz off the mat and does his inverted powerslam finish that still lacks a name.

A new Stalker vignette sees the cameraman fail to find him. Eventually he is spotted in a tree and the Stalker says that he is going to be on the top of the WWF. Kelly tells fans afterward that the Stalker will debut on Monday Night RAW against T.L. Hopper.

Steve Austin (22-7-1) defeats Freddie Joe Floyd (4-4) after the Stone Cold Stunner at 2:11:

Brian Pillman does guest commentary for another Ausitn match, putting over his relationship with the Hart family and how that has allowed him to secure an interview with Bret Hart. Austin and Floyd, who could put together a good match if given the opportunity, do some basic wrestling exchanges because the selling point of the contest is to remind fans that Bret is coming back soon. Most viewers would be distracted by the arguing between Pillman and Perfect as the latter is jealous Pillman that has secured an interview with Bret. Austin does a Lou Thesz press with punches and then hits the Stone Cold Stunner without much setup to rebound from his loss a day earlier in the Intercontinental Championship Tournament.

Jim Ross, who has been saddled with interview duty on the B-show instead of commentating it for reasons known only to Vince McMahon, does an in-ring interview with Jim Cornette. Cornette talks about his In Your House match with Jose Lothario, joking that Lothario has been using his walker for parallel bars. He has a funny line about how Vader has “released the beast” inside of him. The heel manager is confident he will win because of Lothario’s age and produces Lothario’s birth certificate from Mexico, saying he was born in 1647 and that his father was a jackass and his mother was a bed warmer. Some of the material was over the top but this promo was still the best thing on the show to this point.

Shawn Michaels’ moonsault on Goldust on RAW Championship Friday is the Footaction Slam of the Week.

Savio Vega (8-7-2) beats Hunter Hearst Helmsley (13-9) after the spinning heel kick at 4:50 shown:

Helmsley pulls his woman of the day away from the announce position on the way to the ring to counteract Perfect. He also sits her away from the timekeeper and warns her about Perfect. Perfect repeats that he is getting rid of the women so Helmsley can pay more attention to what he is doing in the ring. Kelly has a geeky sell for Savio, talking about how he is one of his favorite wrestlers and that he represents all of the WWF fans and their neighborhoods. Savio takes advantage of Helmsley’s distracted state for some quick near-falls from a schoolboy and body press off the ropes. Helmsley responds in kind, especially with his knee, when Savio puts his head down too early on a whip. During Savio’s comeback after a commercial break, Perfect comes to ringside to take Helmsley’s lady. Helmsley is restrained from doing anything by the referee and walks into a spinning heel kick when he turns around, handing Helmsley a seventh-consecutive feature match defeat. Rating: **

Hendrix hypes more of the In Your House card on the Slam Jam. Owen Hart, the British Bulldog, and Jim Cornette make more jokes about Sunny and insist that their experience will take them to the Tag Team titles.

The Last Word: Much of the show was littered with RAW Championship Friday recaps, once again limiting the action that fans saw. Still, Jim Cornette’s promo and the feature match were perfectly acceptable work. Next week’s episode is a retrospective look at Superstars as it exits syndication. Fans can only hope that the move to USA Network will provide a different commentary team because Kevin Kelly and Mr. Perfect do not work well together.

The WWF did a loop through Texas and Oklahoma as it started its September house shows. It also sent a crew over to South Africa for a tour there. Here are the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Dallas, Texas – Reunion Arena – September 7, 1996 (7,326): The Bushwhackers defeated Justin Bradshaw & Zebekiah when Luke pinned Bradshaw after heel miscommunication…Faarooq defeated Bob Holly after the inverted powerslam…Jose Lothario pinned Jim Cornette after a punch…Barry Windham defeated Jerry Lawler after a piledriver…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns wrestled the Grimm Twins to a double count out…Sid pinned Vader after a chokeslam…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Goldust after Sweet Chin Music.

Durban, South Africa – Westridge Stadium – September 8, 1996 (9,000; sellout): The Sultan defeated Aldo Montoya via submission to the Camel Clutch…Savio Vega defeated Isaac Yankem after the spinning heel kick…Crush beat Barry Horowitz…Steve Austin pinned Jake Roberts…Yokozuna beat Hunter Hearst Helmsley after a leg drop…The Godwinns beat the New Rockers…Owen Hart defeated Marc Mero…Bret Hart pinned the British Bulldog with a roll up.

Backstage News*: Dave Meltzer thinks it is possible that the WWF switches the WWF Championship to Vader at a house show before the October In Your House. This is ascribed to Shawn Michaels not being booked for the card and Vader is working against Sid.

-Television ratings are showing that Micahels draws well with kids and teenagers but adults are switching to WCW or turning the show off. RAW Championship Friday drew a 1.8 rating so that will probably kill any ideas of moving RAW to Friday nights.

-On Thursday Vince McMahon came up with the idea of insisting that Razor Ramon and Diesel are coming back. However, the angle did not juice business for WWF Mania or The Action Zone, which did their usual ratings and no promised updates were provided about Jim Ross’ insistence that they are returning. It may have done brisk hotline business for the Ross Report, though. In reality, there is no loophole in Scott Hall and Kevin Nash’s WCW deals that would allow them to come back to the WWF.

-The WWF is looking to add a Saturday morning program on WGN that would follow the new, live call-in program that will replace WWF Mania on USA Network on September 21 (Author’s Note: The show would be called WWF Livewire and would still be hosted by Todd Pettengill). Vince McMahon still wants to do a late Saturday night, ECW-like show from New York City, so that idea still has legs.

-The WWF’s house shows in Texas did great business. Dallas had a gate of $106,425, the biggest ever for the company in the area. The crowd there was also the biggest since 1987. Its Sunday show in Oklahoma City had a gate of $49,485, which is the biggest there since 1990.

-The big test for the WWF’s pivot from syndication will take place on September 29 when it runs Madison Square Garden. Early plans call for the main event to be Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker against Goldust and Mankind. The WWF has not run the New York area without syndication since 1968.

-Mark Henry has been receiving some negative reactions from fans who conflate his poor Olympic performance with him not being a legitimate strongman. There have also been reports of locker room heat because of his personality clashing with other stars, although no one is saying Henry is arrogant or that he is disrespectful.

-All charges have been dropped against the U.S. Marines involved in fighting Michaels, the British Bulldog, and the 1-2-3 Kid last October in Syracuse, New York.

-In injury news, the Undertaker was removed from this week’s house shows because he was recovering from a staph infection. He cut his arm open in the Boiler Room Brawl and then worked in Puerto Rico on Labor Day weekend, which caused the problem. The scheduled Undertaker vs. Mankind matches were replaced in Texas by a segment where Mankind interrupted a Henry promo, tried to put the Mandible Claw on Henry, and Henry threw Mankind into a casket at ringside. In Oklahoma City, Bill Watts was interviewed, Mankind interrupted, and the two fought. The WWF also hopes that Brian Pillman will be able to start working in the ring by mid-November and that Ahmed Johnson will be back by the December In Your House.

-In talent relations news, Kurt Angle had a meeting with Vince McMahon at Titan Towers on September 5 but no deal was agreed to. The WWF also has interest in Matt Ghaffari, who was an Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling in the super heavyweight division. Ghaffari is in his mid-30s but people say his age should not be an issue because the Iron Sheik got a late start to his career at a similar age.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for September 16.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for September 9!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1995 WWF, 1993-1995 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!