WWF Superstars (July 25, 1992)

 Original Airdate: July 25, 1992 (taped June 29)

From Glens Falls, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect

Tatanka v Peter Motts: Vince McMahon, hippest man in the room, commemorates Mick Jagger's 49^th birthday by quoting a Bob Dylan song. He would. And he looks so pleased with himself, too. Motts is the future Perry Saturn, back when he was rocking a long ponytail, and looking more like Kanyon. But, at least he's not as white and pudgy as most of the jobbers from around this time. End of the Trail finishes at 1:41. Pretty paint-by-number squash job for Tatanka here. DUD

 

The WBF Bodystars will face the WWF Superstars in a tug of war! And the Bodystars have got Jim Duggan on their side. Oh, I see. It's a smell thing. I get it

 

Gene Okerlund is in the control center to announce that the Natural Disasters have won the WWF Tag Team Title at a live event

 

Shawn Michaels v Phil Apollo: Shawn looks to be having the time of his life out there. It's interesting, he wanted nothing more than to get to the top of the card, but he always seemed like he was having a far better time when he was at the IC title level. At least he learned that about himself by the time he came back for the second run in the 2000s, when he actively avoided the world title picture. Teardrop Suplex finishes at 1:37. DUD

 

Razor Ramon is at a wishing fountain, but he doesn't have time for wishing. If he wants something, he takes it. And he wants the WWF Title. Keep wishing

 

High Energy remain high and full of energy

 

Repo Man does not enjoy daylight saving time

 

Okerlund is back with the SummerSlam report, announcing that Bret Hart will defend the Intercontinental Title against Davey Boy Smith. They go right into the family angle, which was great. Poor Davey looks like he's getting blown up just cutting a promo here. I get why they booked Bulldog as the challenger for Wembley, and it was absolutely the right move... but watching the shows thus far, it must have been from way out of left field for American audiences. Bulldog was busy dicking around with Repo Man for months, and suddenly he's challenging Bret, when clearly they've been building up Shawn Michaels for the shot. Oh, and speaking of Shawn, he'll be wrestling Rick Martel now, since fuck Tatanka, apparently

 

Nailz v Jason Speed: I get why they shuffled the SummerSlam card around after the move to London, but why they didn't run Nailz/Boss Man at the show still perplexes me. Seems like the perfect place to do some sort of non-decision, building to the gimmick match at Survivor Series. Nailz with the sleeper at 1:03. The perfect length for a Nailz match. Afterwards, Nailz beats on the jobber with the night stick, while looking disgusting. DUD

 

Berzerker still wants to kill Undertaker. Dude, Undertaker's already booked to face Kamala at SummerSlam. Move on, bro. You're embarrassing yourself in front of everybody. But, well, at least the audience was much smaller in 1992, so it's less of an 'everybody.' There's that

 

Mountie and Jimmy Hart are ready for some kinky sex

 

Okerlund brings WWF Champion Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior out for a face-to-face podium interview. I always liked when Vince would do stuff like this for face/face matches to see what guy gets the better reaction. Seems pretty even at this point, though neither guy was going to move the needle much in 1992. It probably doesn't help that Savage has basically been completely absent from the shows since winning the title. I get that it was a different time, and house shows were the focus, but it feels so weird barely seeing (or even hearing from) the world champion, after getting used to the Monday Night Wars style of having the show built around him. So, anyway, tensions run high, and are near boiling point when Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect show up to add fuel to the fire. Flair (in a suit, his best look) runs them both down, leading to them chasing after him, but of course that results in Savage and Warrior colliding, and getting in each other's faces. Yeah, so this was pretty great. Give it to them, they radically changed directions on a dime, and still built the shit out of the top matches for the pay per view

 

The Beverly Brothers v Chris Duffy and Red Tyler: Speaking of guys who didn't really make sense as title challengers, the Beverly's challenging the Disasters at SummerSlam was totally cold, no matter what country you're in. Shaker Heights Spike finishes Tyler at 1:38. Man, they could be vicious with that move. DUD

 

Papa Shango is here for some skull fucking. That must have been a hot seller at Toys R Us

 

Big Boss Man is long and hard. Wow, this show is going from six to midnight in a hurry

 

BUExperience: Having a direction for SummerSlam has improved these episodes tremendously. Still nothing going on in the ring, but it flew by.