WWF Superstars (August 22, 1992)

Original Airdate: August 22, 1992 (taped July 20)

                                                          

From Worcester, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect

 

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Repo Man and The Beverly Brothers v Jim Duggan and The Bushwhackers: A feature match two weeks in a row?! What are they, crazy?! The heels attack before the bell, but get reversed into each other while trying a triple corner whip spot, and all three get sandwiched in the corner for the Battering Ram. The Bushwhackers then whip them each, one by one, into clotheslines from Duggan, and the heels bail. That was a fun - if slightly goofy - opening. Dust settles in Blake Beverly and Butch, and Butch quickly fights off an attack with a bulldog. That triggers a cheap shot from Beau Beverly, and Butch is in trouble in the heel corner. Blake telegraphs a backdrop to allow the hot tag to Duggan, and Hacksaw unloads on Repo, while yelling "get off my butt" at no one in particular. Okay. That triggers a brawl, and Roseanne Barr the door! The Bushwhackers start throwing Battering Rams, so Genius passes Beau his scroll, and Luke gets knocked out for the pin at 4:21. Harmless fun. *

 

Gene Okerlund is at the control center with an update on the Ric Flair/Mr. Perfect involvement in the main event of SummerSlam. And it's brought to you by the WWF Merchandise Catalog - filled with lots of great back to school items! Were they actively trying to encourage the bullies? Anyway, simple but great segment, giving us all the highlights of this well executed feud to hard sell the pay per view

 

Papa Shango v Scott Taylor: Perfect and Flair have done a great job of getting into both WWF Champion Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior's heads, and it's a great angle, with real intrigue. Plus, Vince is hyped up, and full on promises that the match will be one of the best in WWF history. And it actually turned out to be a really, really great one - one of the few times where they promised a classic match and actually delivered, actually. Shango finishes with his inverted shoulderbreaker at a brisk 0:56. Afterwards, Shango keeps beating the jobber down, until WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart runs out to make the save. DUD

 

Money Inc are openly making fun of Rocco the dummy. Well, fair

 

The Legion of Doom are going to put Money Inc in the hospital. Seems like kind of an overreaction. Just say, 'okay, you don't like our sex toy, no problem,' and move on. No need to be jerks about it. Good thing these assholes never worked at a Baskin-Robbins

 

On Prime Time Wrestling, Jimmy Hart announced that his Nasty Boys will face Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior at the SummerSlam Spectacular special

 

Crush v Jeff Daniels: Vince is losing his mind at the idea of Savage and Warrior being forced to team up, despite being opponents at SummerSlam. Somewhere, Vince Russo was frantically taking notes. Crush with the headvice at 1:36. Sadly for Daniels, having his head squeezed like that made him dumb (or at least dumber than he used to be). ¼*

 

The Beverly Brothers act like a couple of new money assholes. At least with Ted DiBiase it made sense, but these guys are supposed to be old money, aren't they? They should be talking about gassing up an old Range Rover so they can visit Brooks Brothers, not showing off their wealth

 

WWF Tag Team Champions The Natural Disasters are not impressed with the Beverly Brothers' assholes anyway

 

Razor Ramon v Tony Roi: Perfect going out of his way to put Razor over every week is a nice touch, and it's a shame we never got a program between them later on, because they clearly would have loved to work with one another. Though I'm sure Perfect partially regretted helping to make him into a big star when they later passed him over for an IC title run in favor of Razor. Roi is such a jobber that he doesn't even bother attacking from behind while Razor deals with his gold, despite the bell already sounding. He's never going to respect you that way, Tony. Vince, meanwhile, is still going on about Savage and Warrior having to team, until Perfect straight up tells him to shut up and focus on the match. Razor has finally figured out how to make all his gear match, though sadly it's an all black look this week. Razor's Edge finishes at 2:08. They still technically haven't named the move yet, though Perfect seems to be trying to get it over as 'machismo.' ¼*

 

Bruce Hart is up in Calgary, sporting a British Bulldog t-shirt, since he's sick of constantly hearing about Bret's achievements, and thinks he needs to be taken down a peg. I'm sure that was really challenging for Bruce to say

 

Bret Hart v Richie Rich: Bret's WWF Intercontinental title is not on the line. Owen Hart split screens in to offer his thoughts, and he's on Bret's side. Well, he'd certainly change his tune on that one later. Papa Shango shows up mid-squash to have one of his orgasms from the aisle, though Bret doesn't notice him, and polishes off Rich with the Sharpshooter at 1:56. Bret seemed a little sleepy out there, probably not thrilled about needing to drop the title, and then apparently transition into a program with Papa Shango. Things worked out okay in the end, though. ¼*

 

SummerSlam Report with Okerlund. Hard sell time, baby! He also hypes up a special magazine covering the history of SummerSlam. History? There's only been four of them so far! Though I will say that those little magazines were a great way for new fans to get caught up in an era when you were completely at the mercy of your local video store's inventory. I used to love those like crazy when I first started watching in 1994, and remember being shocked that Bret Hart used to be a heel, for example

 

Nailz v John Armstrong: Nailz goes right to the choke, and Vince is pretty sure Virgil's gonna die at SummerSlam. Look, I don't like the guy, but no need to wish death on him. Just job him out like everyone else, and move on. Nailz with a sleeper at 1:53. This was terrible, even for a squash. Also, would it kill them to have Big Boss Man run in on this guy? Like, even once? DUD

 

Berzerker wants to make Tatanka a very sorry Indian

 

Bret Hart is under pressure from all side, and needs a release. I've read his book, bet he got one. Bret noting that Papa Shango is trying to put a HEX on the EXcellence of execution is actually pretty good, no wonder they booked that program. Wordplay is a license to print money

 

The Nasty Boys are going to savage Savage and Warrior. Note: that wordplay was mine, not theirs. All checks and direct deposits should be directed to me

 

BUExperience: All hard sell all the time this week, and they did a great job of it. Watch this episode and tell me you don’t have Howard Finkel’s voice stuck in your head for an hour afterwards.