WWF Superstars (July 10, 1993)

Original Airdate: July 10, 1993 (taped June 15)

From Huntington, West Virginia; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Jerry Lawler

We open with footage from the Stars and Stripes Challenge, as various wrestlers and other professional athletes try (and fail) to bodyslam WWF Champion Yokozuna, culminating in Lex Luger landing on the deck of the USS Intrepid in a helicopter, and doing the deed to turn babyface. Him shoving Bobby Heenan aside on his way to the ring is a nice touch, one that kind of got lost in the shuffle with everything else.  And he actually cuts a promo here explaining himself, saying that he’s not happy with Yokozuna’s treatment of America, which has been getting under his skin since King of the Ring. Which is another bit that always gets lost in the shuffle. It always felt like he just showed up, slammed him, and was suddenly presented as a heroic babyface. This was a great piece of business, and even if the face turn itself felt really abrupt, they actually did try to justify and make sense of it, which is awesome

SummerSlam ad

The Smoking Gunns v Rock Werner and WT Jones: Vince full on calls the Stars and Stripes Challenge ‘one of the greatest moments in American history’ with a straight face. Like, seriously? Puffing/believing in your product is great, but that’s just ridiculousness that borders on offensive. And then he moves on to clarify that there’s ‘nothing wrong with the Gunns’ bodies,’ and clarifies that this is ‘as far as anyone is concerned.’ Was someone concerned? The Gunns finish with their backdrop/piledriver combo at 2:06. ¼*

Gene Okerlund is in the studio with Face to Face, and guest Marty Jannetty is determined to win the WWF Intercontinental title back from Shawn Michaels despite the ‘cool drink of water’ in his corner. Cool drink of water? Marty was not the best at promos. Meanwhile, WWF Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers are game for a rematch with former champs Money Inc

Crush v Doink the Clown: “Oh mama,” exclaims Vince, after seeing Crush. Keep it level, man! Doink uses the video wall to distract Crush for a sneak attack, and then cackles like crazy as he unloads on Crush. Yeah, that’s not annoying at all. Doink drops Crush with a swinging neckbreaker, and he puts him in a Boston crab, then starts hammering on the knee. Crush starts no-selling him in the corner, so Doink sweeps the leg, and bashes it into the post a bunch of times to make sure he gets the message. Crush fires off a leg-feed enzuigiri to shake him off, so Doink goes to the eyes, but still runs into a boot on a charge. That allows Crush to snap his throat across the top rope, and he follows up with a bootchoke. It’s almost like a version of psychology. Doink bails to sucker Crush into a chase, and then clobbers him when he takes the bait. That allows Doink a ropechoke of his own, but Crush reverses a whip into the ropes, and delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Atomic drop and a clothesline follow, and a legdrop finds the mark. He goes in for the kill, but Doink manages to grab a sleeper to avoid the headvice, and Crush fades. Crush drops into the corner to break, but Doink hops up onto the middle rope, and dives with a clothesline. Bodyslam sets up the Whoopie Cushion, but Crush lifts his knees to block. Most dangerous spot of the match right there. Crush makes another comeback, so Doink goes to the eyes following a hanging vertical suplex, and a bodypress sends both men tumbling over the top. Crush gets the better of it with a press-drop on the floor, and he adds a backdrop out there, before rolling in for the countout win at 11:17. I guess this was the blowoff to their months and months of feuding? This was their last televised match, and they did a few house show matches after this was taped, but all those were done by the time this aired, so yep, this was the end of the line. Afterwards, a second Doink comes in with a weapon, and they do a beatdown on Crush, which I’m guessing was meant to give Crush an out when he does the job to Yokozuna on RAW two days later. * ½ 

Shawn Michaels v Kevin Kruger: Shawn's WWF Intercontinental title is not on the line. Vince notes that ‘no one wants to be around’ Michaels, which might be a shoot. It’s not, of course, but let me get my kicks where I can. Looking at Shawn here, the fact that he got busted for a steroid violation a couple of months after this is the biggest joke in the history of the business. Shawn with a piledriver (complete with great camera angle) at 2:55. ¼*

Gene is in the studio with the SummerSlam Report, and the only match announced at this point is Bret Hart v Jerry Lawler

Men on a Mission v Mitch Bishop and Chad Miller: Lawler working as both a commentator and wrestler was very beneficial at getting whatever angle he was involved with over. He’s been cutting promos on Bret Hart throughout the show, and it kind of makes it the main angle in the promotion by default. Mabel with a 2nd rope legdrop at 2:27. The crowd was into them. ¼*

Gene is in the studio with Face to Face, with guests Adam Bomb and Johnny Polo. Bomb notes that soon everyone will feel his ‘wrath.’ Well, maybe not ‘soon.’ But in a few years, certainly. Mr. Hughes and Harvey Wippleman are next, suggesting that Gene join the military, since there’s a new ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy

BUExperience: It’s a testament to how good their promotional machine was in these days that they could make almost anything interesting. It’s all in the presentation, but the presentation was masterful. WCW sometimes could present better matches/angles, but their presentation was so far below, that the shows didn’t ‘feel’ as good.