WWF Superstars (November 28, 1992)

Original Airdate: November 28, 1992 (taped October 27)

 

From Terre Haute, Indiana; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

 

Bam Bam Bigelow v Jerry Fox: After weeks of promos, this is Bigelow's first TV match, making his return for the first time since a live event in July 1988. And it looks like he's still got the gear from then, too. I always liked the slightly updated version he had a little later on better (the one with blue worked in), but the final version in 1995 was terrible. And it got even worse in ECW. Bigelow with the flying headbutt drop at 2:02. Quick and to the point. ¼*

 

Gene Okerlund is in the control center with exclusive footage of Ric Flair and Razor Ramon storming out of the arena after Survivor Series earlier in the week. This is minor stuff, sure, but these little details are wonderful

 

The Headshrinkers v Kevin Kruger and George Anderson: We're only ten minutes into the show, and Vince has already used the phrase 'tag team combination' a hundred times. Slow it down, sparky! The Natural Disasters split screen in, since apparently they just remembered that the Headshrinkers showed up during their title loss a few weeks ago. I still don't understand why they weren't in the Survivor Series match instead of the Beverly Brothers. Especially since there was no issue with High Energy that warranted that match anyway. Fatu with the flying splash at 3:38. The Headshrinkers were definitely a lot more fun to watch than most of the teams during this period, but this felt a little too long for what it was. They were working pretty stiff here, though I think these jobbers would likely miss them a few months later once the Steiner Brothers came in and started really brutalizing all the enhancement guys. ¼*

 

Mr. Fuji gives us the origin story of Yokozuna, as apparently Fuji discovered him while strolling on the beaches in the Polynesian islands, and recruited him to go to Japan and become a sumo champion. Huh, never knew that. I thought Yoko was presented as being Japanese the whole time. They certainly played it up that way the next year

 

Undertaker is done with Kamala, and now he's ready to loop back around to Nailz, who disrespected him a few weeks ago. Luckily, I don't think we ever had to suffer that particular match on TV before Nailz was out of the promotion entirely in mid-December

 

Reverend Slick gives us an uplifting message. I don't remember these at all, but a quick check says that these little segments apparently went on for years. What a weird fit

 

Bob Backlund v Tom Stone: And speaking of returns, Backlund is back (though a TV match had already aired on Wrestling Challenge earlier in this week, and he'd done some house shows since July). Bob's offer of a handshake confusing Stone is a nice little touch. He also looks crazy outdated in his 70s gear. Not that it's all that different from what guys like Steve Austin would wear even later on, but it just feels dated on Bob. And it's not like he should have tried to come in dressed like the Macho Man, or anything like that, but at least SOMETHING to update the look past 1981 would have been good. Backlund with a bridging cradle at 2:08. This character was not destined to get over, but points to them for sticking with it until he found his voice with the heel turn in '94. DUD

 

Harvey Wippleman promises that Kamala will be back and better than ever. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. It's kind of a low bar, anyway

 

Damien Demento v Joey Maggs: Doink the Clown is hanging out in the crowd during this one, since we haven't had our fill of weird 90s gimmicks for one match yet. The Demento character was kind of interesting, and Phil Theis was committed to it, but this was just never going to get over beyond bottom rung JTTS. I actually think he could have done more with it in WCW, which is usually the opposite with gimmicky workers. Kneedrop finishes at 2:12. DUD

 

Last January on Wrestling Challenge, Shawn Michaels superkicked Marty Jannetty to break up the Rockers, and punctuated it by throwing him through a glass window, in an awesome angle. And then, in another awesome angle, we get a replay of Marty's big return from a few weeks ago. Gene then brings Jannetty out for an interview, with Marty talking about how he's been waiting months and months for his revenge, and it's going to be sweet. All well and good, but it's hard to take the man seriously when he's dressed like a fucking piñata

 

Razor Ramon v Gary Jackson: I wonder if Razor ever hurt anyone's eye with that toothpick toss? Ramon cuts a split screen promo on Mr. Perfect here, so I guess we're just moving right on from Randy Savage without ever getting it on TV. Too bad, it probably would have been great, and they had lots of opportunities to run it. And another great thing we sadly never got: Perfect/Savage. How did those two manage to never cross paths, even if just for a Coliseum Video match, or something. Hell, even when they got to WCW, with hours and hours of TV time to fill every week, they only wrestled exactly one time, in a five minute Nitro match. When you start to think of all the wasted opportunities with Savage in particular around this period, it's almost heartbreaking to someone who enjoys this as an art form. Bret Hart, Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect... the list of dream matches goes on and on, and we got none of them. Razor's Edge finishes at 2:54. DUD

 

Crush v Red Tyler: They're already hyping WrestleMania IX at Caesar’s Palace, which is pretty far out the gate for them. Well, at least they're not trying to fill 100,000 seats this time. But what's most shocking is how casually they can do that today, when the product is arguably worse than it ever was in the early 90s. Headvice finishes at 1:53. DUD

 

Virgil feels inspired by WWF Champion Bret Hart, who 'did the job he had to do.' And here I thought Virgil was the one doing the job in their match last week

 

Rick Martel doesn't have a stupid feud over feather to hype up anymore, so he's back to just doing basic promos about being the best. But still with that fucking captain's hat. I've told him and told him

 

High Energy are pretty much the only people not name checking Bret this week. Boy, I sure hope Owen doesn't end up feeling resentful towards his brother. That would be unfortunate

 

BUExperience: It's a post pay per view show. In the Monday Night Wars era, that means lots going on. But, sadly, back here in the syndication era, it means jackshit going on.