WWF Superstars (July 27, 1996)

 

Original Airdate: July 27, 1996 (taped July 23)

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

The Godwinns v Mike Miller and Lou Andrews: Sunny sits in on commentary here, and poor Vince and Perfect are lucky they don’t slip and fall in pools of drool. Only Ross seems continually unimpressed with her. The jobbers here are dressed like stars in the late 80s, so I guess no one gave them the memo about the blue collar job era we’re in now. The New Generation! Phineas Godwinn with an inverted DDT at 1:39. DUD

Backstage, Sunny officially introduces us to her latest charge: Faarooq Asad, who she has brought in to deal with Ahmed Johnson in response to Johnson turning down her affections. The announcers call him ‘Ron Simmons,’ which causes him to flip out, and declare that name dead. Is he transitioning? Anyway, almost every aspect of this character - from the name, to the manager, to the outfit, to the motivation - would be purged pretty quickly

Dok Hendrix is in the studio for the SummerSlam Slam Jam, which is a mouthful. They announce Ahmed against Faarooq for the Intercontinental title (which doesn’t end up happening), Undertaker/Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl, and Shawn Michaels against Vader for the WWF Title

Bob Backlund is out for some general campaigning 

Salvatore Sincere v Billy Two Eagles: Billy Two Eagles?! What is this, sweeps? Salvatore has a good look, and isn’t a bad worker. Considering the roster at this point, I’m a little surprised they didn’t try something more with him. I get making Bill Irwin or even Tracy Smothers into JTTS guys, but Salvatore might have had some juice. Salvatore with a full-nelson slam at 2:13. ¼*

Backstage, Sycho Sid warms up

SummerSlam ad

Sycho Sid v Brooklyn Brawler: They hype up Sid against Davey Boy Smith for SummerSlam, and Bulldog split screens in to hype it up (calling him ‘Sid Vicious’ at one point). That match was kind of a nothingburger, which is a little surprising, considering both guys were pretty top level at that time. Sid with a powerbomb at 1:26. DUD

The New Rockers v Buddy Wayne and Suwio: The Bodydonnas split screen in, watching the match on a monitor, and hyping their meeting in the Four Corners match at SummerSlam. The Rockers with a combo at 4:23. This was a little long, but the Rockers (and Leif Cassidy in particular) showed a lot of fire here. ¼*

Backstage, Kevin Kelly catches up with Justin Hawk Bradshaw, who will be facing Sid on RAW. Meanwhile, Uncle Zeb lays out a challenge to Freddie Joe Floyd, for no discernible reason 

Alex Porteau v Timothy Flowers: They’ve recycled the Steiner Brothers’ music for Porteau, which is welcome, since it’s a great theme. Meanwhile, Brian Pillman shows up at ringside, antagonizing fans as Porteau does his thing. Ross leaves the booth to go talk to Pillman, who claims he just wants to see the fans up close, since he loves them all so much. Meanwhile, Porteau puts Flowers away with a cradle at 1:34. DUD

Dok is back with another Slam Jam

Jerry Lawler v Aldo Montoya: Montoya dedicates the match to his friend Jake Roberts. Meanwhile, Lawler split screens in to continue making fun of Jake’s sobriety. And age. Which is really interesting from a guy who is six years older than Jake is. Lots of posturing to start, as Lawler stalls. Aldo slugs him down in the corner, but Lawler fights him off, and lands a piledriver. Cover, count, but Lawler pulls him up at two. Lawler with a flying axehandle, but he wastes time taunting Roberts, and Montoya is able to counter a backdrop with a DDT at 5:49. ¼*

BUExperience: It’s nice that they’ve already got a lot of SummerSlam direction laid out, but other than that, this was a lot of nothing, with mostly boring characters, and no good feature match to sink your teeth into.