WWF Superstars (August 17, 1996)

 

Original Airdate: August 17, 1996 (taped July 23)

From Yakima, Washington; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect

Undertaker v Who: Who attacks from behind before the bell, and he hammers Undertaker into the corner. Who with a cross corner whip, but the charge in gets blocked with a boot, and Undertaker tries an elbowdrop, but misses. Who tries a clothesline, but Undertaker ducks, and rebounds with a jumping clothesline, followed by the tombstone at 1:07. Man, it was only a minute long, and Who managed to look embarrassingly bad, to the point where even McMahon was commenting on some of his weird work. DUD

A look at Ahmed Johnson’s kidney injury, and recovery process. And loose fitting, bright red bathrobe 

Dok Hendrix is in the studio for the SummerSlam Slam Jam

SummerSlam ad

Savio Vega and Freddie Joe Floyd v Justin Hawk Bradshaw and Uncle Zebekiah: The babyfaces charge in to kickstart the match, and the dust settles on Vega and Bradshaw. Vega with a bodypress for two, and he passes to Freddie for stereo dropkicks. Hawk fights Floyd off, but telegraphs a backdrop, and eats a series of strikes. Back to Vega for a turnbuckle smash, but Hawk reverses a cross corner whip. He follows in, but misses, and Vega schoolboys for two. Back to Freddie to unload in the corner, but a cross corner whip gets reversed on him as well, and Zebekiah is able to add a cheap shot to turn the tide in favor of the heels. They work Freddie over, but Zebekiah misses a move, and Vega gets the hot tag. He runs wild on Zebekiah, and Roseanne Barr the door! Zebekiah grabs the branding iron as Bradshaw works Floyd over, but misses a swing on Vega, and Vega schoolboys at 7:09. This was mostly fine, just dull. ¾*

Shawn Michaels/Vader hype video package

Crush v Aldo Montoya: Vince notes that Aldo is a ‘consummate professional’ who ‘stays away from both drugs and alcohol.’ Well, the locker room must have been a real shock for him, then. Crush pounds him down, as the crowd sits on their hands, completely disinterested in his return already. Aldo manages a dropkick, and he follows it up with a clothesline, but runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Crush dumps him over the top, and Crush follows for a clothesline out on the floor. Crush presses him back into the ring, and a cross corner whip rattles the ring. A shoulderbreaker connects, and Crush slaps on a full nelson at 3:04. No heart punch? I thought he had that as part of his deal from the start. ½*

SummerSlam ad, focusing on the Boiler Room Brawl

Mankind v Billy Two Eagles: Vince sounds like he’s reading poetry when trying to describe Mankind. Mankind with the mandible claw at 1:51. Mick Foley is one of my favorite workers, and Mankind is a brilliant character… but man, his squashes tend to be boring as hell. DUD

Dok is back, still Slam Jammin’ 

The Stridex Biggest Slam of the Week is Vader hitting Shawn Michaels with a pump-splash on RAW

Stalker vignette. We’re still openly acknowledging him as Barry Windham, for those keeping score

Sunny is trying on swimsuits, trying to decide what to wear for the bikini contest at SummerSlam

Steve Austin v Marc Mero: Why does Vince keep referring to Austin as a King of the Ring ‘award’ winner? Such weird verbiage. Austin dominates him early, and speaking of weird, he’s back to the black tights with ‘stone cold’ written on the back. Mero wins an exchange with an armdrag into an armbar, so Steve uses a drop-toehold into a side-headlock. Mero counters to a hammerlock, as Goldust and Marlena join the commentary team. A criss cross allows Steve a Thesz press into mounted punches, and a pointed elbowdrop follows. Austin works a chinlock, as Goldust and Marlena weird everyone out on commentary. And not even in a good way, as they’re doing a horrible job. Mero with a jawbreaker to escape a sleeper, and he wins a criss cross with a headscissors takedown. He goes on the comeback trail, as Mankind shows up, and wants Sable (or ‘mommy’) to hit him. Sable responds by breaking down into tears, and Mero abandons the match to go after Mankind - losing by countout at 6:30. This was nowhere near their usual level of work with each other. Afterwards, Undertaker shows up to go after Mankind. ½*

BUExperience: Not much of a closing argument for SummerSlam, but I did appreciate the multiple feature matches.