Original Airdate: Monday, August 9th, 1993
Castle Recreation Center
Alexandria Bay, New York
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Tatanka vs. Mr. Hughes
Hughes attacks Tatanka before the bell and the wreath gets placed at ringside once again. Tatanka goes for a leap frog, but accidentally hits Hughes and falls down. Tatanka ducks a clothesline and hits a crossbody for a 2 count. Hughes just looks so unmotivated here. After the commercial break and they turn on some of the worst fake "boos" and "cheers" that I have ever heard, which is saying something. Hughes sidesteps Tatanka and throws him over the top rope. Tatanka hits a back body drop and rolls back in the ring for a countout victory. Between the match and the horrible crowd noise, this wasn't very good. After the match, Harvey Wippleman distracts Tatanka and Hughes hits him in the back with the urn.
Match Rating: 1/2* (out of 5)
We go back to our sit down interview series with Lex Luger. Luger was always just really hard to get behind. This felt like 30 minutes.
Bushwhackers & Macho Midget vs. Blake Beverly, Brooklyn Brawler & Little Louie
Macho starts things off by doing some dancing. Things turn into chaos early with a lot of butt biting. I know this will surprise you, but this is strictly a comedy match. Instead of recapping this match, I think I'll just take a second to say that it is such a shame that Vince couldn't find anything better to do with Mike Enos in a time where the roster was as weak as it had ever been. Butch uses Brawler's head for a Battering Ram on Beverly, hit a double DDT on Brawler and then let let Macho hit a splash for the victory. This was something that was designed more for a house show rather than a featured match on primetime TV.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Jack Tunney, Vince and the crew are in the ring for the big contract signing. Jim Cornette is with Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji announces that Cornette is the official US spokesman for Yokozuna. I have to say, Yokozuna's entrance music really worked well for this era of his character. It's just too bad that the best they could come up with was Lex Luger as an opponent. Both men are now seated so that the most boring man in wrestling, Jack Tunney, can let them know to sign their name on the contract. Cornette says that they added a stipulation that if Luger doesn't beat Yokozuna at SummerSlam, he will never get another chance. Luger says that all he asked for was one shot because that is all he will need. Luger gives a rare passionate promo here and I have to say this wasn't bad, with the highlight being Yoko mockingly wiping the spit off his head and flicking it back at Luger.
Razor Ramon vs. Dan Dubiel
Vince brings up the Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys preseason game at Wembley Stadium that ended in a tie and I believe that is the only time he has ever brought up the Lions on WWF/E TV. Razor tosses Dubiel across the ring and then locks in an abdominal stretch. Some of today's bigger men could really learn a lot by watching Scott Hall. Razor hits the back suplex and then the Razor's Edge for the victory.
Match Rating: 1/4*
SummerSlam Report time with Mean Gene. Gene tells us that Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. Perfect may be the greatest Intercontinental Championship match in history. I am looking forward to re-watching that match.
Heavenly Bodies vs. Bobby Who & Mike Bucci
Jimmy Del Ray hits a nice heel kick on Who and rolls him in his corner so he can tag in Bucci, who of course is Working The Network favorite Simon Dean. They hit a double suplex on him and take out Who in the corner. Del Ray hits a moonsault and pick up the easy victory. It is interesting to see Vince embrace Tennessee wrestling with the additions of Jerry Lawler and Jim Cornette.
Match Rating: 1/4*
They announce the SummerSlam Spectacular and we will see Yokozuna vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Steiner Brothers vs. Money Inc. in a Steel Cage Match. Meanwhile, next week on Raw we will get a Giant Gonzalez interview, Ludvig Borga, Men On A Mission and 1-2-3 Kid vs. Ted DiBiase.
This was kind of a filler episode, but a decently entertaining one. I know I still have a lot of Luger left to watch, but I doubt that he gives a much better promo than he did on this show. New talent is starting to come in with mixed results, but it has helped the show from feeling stale. I guess the best way to sum this show up is that I truly miss when Raw was an hour long.
Overall Rating: 50%
No comments:
Post a Comment