WWF Superstars (August 21, 1993)

Original Airdate: August 21, 1993 (taped July 26)

From Utica, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Jerry Lawler

Jerry Lawler is in a park somewhere, where ‘Elvis’ rolls up in a pink Cadillac to confirm that Jerry is the real king of wrestling. This dude’s accent isn’t even close

Marty Jannetty v Barry Horowitz: “Get ready ladies,” notes Savage. I think ‘ladies’ would be vastly overestimating the women who lust for Marty. And man, he was Intercontinental champion just a little while before this, and now he’s just got nothing going on other than getting set up to be fodder for Ludvig Borga at SummerSlam. And speaking of which, Borga split screens in to cut a promo on him. Jannetty with a flying fistdrop at 1:43. DUD

Gene Okerlund is in the studio with Face to Face, with guests WWF Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers and The Heavenly Bodies, along with Jim Cornette. They’re not even pretending that Money Inc has a chance of winning the gold back at SummerSlam Spectacular here

The Quebecers v Dan Dubiel and Scott Despres: Vince is shocked at how many of the wrestlers want to sing these days. Well, considering how low the payoffs were apparently getting, can you blame them for looking for outside gigs? The Quebecers with their usual array of interesting combos, ending in the assisted flying somersault senton splash at 2:14. ½*

Gorilla Monsoon is in the control center with Update, and I’m still not sure who at Chevy thought comparing their cars to a ‘rock’ was a great marketing idea. I mean, it probably would sink pretty quickly, though. Gorilla reviews the contract for the WWF Title match between Yokozuna and Lex Luger for SummerSlam, and we get clips of Lex on his Express bus tour, plus segments from his extended sit down interview with Vince. This all leads to Yokozuna, Cornette, and Mr. Fuji cutting a pre-taped promo to hype their end of things. They promotion is working really hard to get this match over, but it feels a little cold. Not ‘bad,’ exactly, but not quite up the level that all this hype and build demands

Adam Bomb v Mike Moraldo: Lawler can be a great commentator (especially with really broad stuff to work with - or stuff about broads), but when he’s grating, there is nothing more annoying. And he’s there today. Bomb with the powerbomb at 1:59. ¼*

Randy Savage and Men on a Mission collaborate on a rap in support of Lex Luger’s title hopes. This sounds like something that ended up on the cutting room floor when they were making Eight Crazy Nights

Mr. Hughes v Mike Bucci: “You’re a sap if you don’t like rap,” notes Macho. He’d have quite a career, actually. Pretty close to the end of the line for Hughes here, as he was actually working his last match of this run the day this episode aired, though they had one more of his matches in the can that would air on Wrestling Challenge at the end of the month. Hughes with a scrapbuster at 1:18, as Lawler leaves the booth because apparently Elvis is calling from outside and needs his help to keep the girls away from his Caddy. Hey, fair game. Cadillac’s a Cadillac. DUD

Boni Blackstone brings Bret Hart out, and he’s going to beat some respect into Jerry Lawler at SummerSlam

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Bam Bam Bigelow v Bobby Who: Of course, this leads to Vince and Randy doing a poor man’s ‘who’s on first’ gag. Tatanka and the Smoking Gunns split screen in with words for Bigelow, as Bam Bam puts it away with a flying headbutt drop at 0:56. Not much to this one. DUD

Gene is in the studio with the SummerSlam Report

Men on a Mission v Iron Mike Sharpe and Jeff Libolt: I honestly don’t think Oscar is as terrible as everyone else seems to. I mean, he’s not going to win a Grammy in this lifetime, but as a guy rapping two wrestlers to the ring, he’s fine. And he’s enthusiastic, which is everything, really. Mabel with a splash combo at 2:06. What a weird combo that is (Mo dives off the top to push Mabel into a splash) - it’s basically just a regular splash that looks like Mabel is too lazy to even fall down without help. DUD

Gene is back with another Face to Face, and he runs down the entire card for SummerSlam, again, literally for the third time on this show. His guests this time are WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels, Diesel, and Mr. Perfect. I appreciate that they’re actually using these segments to push the matches with actual interactions from the principles, as opposed to just cutting promos on their own

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BUExperience: Solid episode for the most part, but the SummerSlam hard sell was really obnoxious this time around.