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The W - Pro Wrestling - WWF Superstars: January 5, 1997
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cfgb
Bierwurst








Since: 2.1.02
From: Ottawa, Ontario

Since last post: 562 days
Last activity: 21 days
#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.37
Folks, I know with hindsight being what it is (spoiler: it’s often 20/20), the Monday Night Wars are looked back on as the pinnacle of sports entertainment. Two companies, slugging it out, mano y mano, for ratings shares, advertisement dollars, and personal glory. It is also fondly remembered by many of us, for the lack of JBL on commentary.
 
But to get to Mondays, you must first go through Sundays, and that’s where the real blood was drawn. We’ve taken a lot of time to reflect on WCW Worldwide, and the never-ending appearances by VK Wallstreet and Alex Wright. But have we really explored all Sunday has to offer us? Like college, now is the time for experimentation. THIS ... is WWF Superstars.
 
Do you like time to settle in and get prepared for your show? Do 20 minute promos give you the time you need to pop your corn and crack your soda? TOUGH – on Sundays we give it to you raw and ready. Our hosts are JIM ROSS and JAMES E CORNETTE.
 
PIERROTH & CIBERNETICO vs. DOUG FURNAS & PHILLIP LAFON
 
So, lost in the black and white grain of the New World Order, one of the biggest transformations in the professional wrestling landscape was the mass influx of Crusierweight talent to WCW. Opening matches were longer left for mid-card tag-teams, or colorless jobber squashes. Hotly contested matches between faced paced, creative-looking international superstars were quickly becoming some of the most-talked about night after night. Vince McMahon, not blind to what was happening, decided to bring in some Mexican wrestlers of his own.
 
The problem of course, is that Konan had already stolen what was essentially AAA’s hottest, and even moderate level stars, many of whom would be shunned from working with the promotion for a long time, and in some cases, forever. AAA was willing to exchange talent with the WWF (under the assumption they’d be gifted appearances from Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels), but by then, McMahon was left with the scraps. P&C are the scraps. The drizzling scraps.
 
Pierroth cuts an angry promo in Spanish, leaving several Stunt Grannies to shake their heads in disgust. MIL MASCARAS joins the commentary team, and through his muffled mask and broken English, we’re informed that he’ll be in the Royal Rumble. Cibernetico takes a picture perfect dropkick from Furnas, and Lafon follows with a side kick. Pierroth chops at Lafon, but he no-sells. Furnas misses a blind charge and crashes over the top, while Mascaras starts rambling away. “You kids, you know, I beat many many times.” JR: “Errrr ... yes, absolutely.” Furnas heads back in, and Cibernetico drops an elbow. Mascaras is completely incomprehensible at this point, and JR just keeps responding with stuff like “that’s amazing!” Lafon heads in, and takes out both guys. Cibernetico takes a spinning heel kick for 2. A brawl between both teams erupts, but it’s less of an eruption than an uncomfortable gasp. Furnas goes for a springboard crossbody on Cibernetico, but the cheating foreigner shoves the referee in front to get clobbered instead. The referee issues a DQ, and gives the win to Furnas and Lafon at 4:40. Pierroth takes over with the microphone again, and is given another couple of minutes to carry on in Spanish. *
 
FLASH FUNK (with the Funkettes) vs. SALVATORE SINCERE
 
Boy, Naomi and Cameron have barely aged a day in the last 20 years. Flash Funk is pretty much considered the low point for 2 Cold Scorpio, but nothing’s lower than his dong. Also, have you SEEN the WCW VHS classic New Blood on the Block? No? Well, allow me:
 

 
There is nothing finer than Black Culture being depicted through the eyes of a bunch of white dudes. Of course, that applies to both Flash Funk AND whatever the hell we just watched. This is a matchup of ECW alumni. Funk throws a few dropkicks to knock Sincere to the floor, and follows with a baseball slide. Air Funk is on point, but he can’t capitalize. Sincere decks Funk from the apron, and re-enters with a slingshot splash for 2. Overhead belly to belly with a bridge gets 2. Funk comes back with a half crab, but it’s broken up quickly in the ropes. Jim Ross recaps Marlena’s breasts. An Oklahoma roll gets 2, and a spinning heel kick has Sincere dizzy. The handspring back elbow and enzuigiri sets up the Flash Splash for 2. The 450 finishes at 3:43. *1/2 We gonna step.
 
THE SULTAN (with the Iron Sheik) vs. MATT HARDY
 
BOB BACKLUND joins the commentary team.  Matt Hardy is the future Matt Hardy, for those who aren’t in the know. He’s sporting lovely blue homemade tights, with the Hardy Boyz name stitched in anywhere he can find empty space. Unfortunately, tights are only one piece of the puzzle, and he taps to the camel clutch 1:31. Backlund walks off without having said a word. JR: “Nice of you to join us, scintillating conversation.” DUD
 
FREDDIE JOE FLOYD vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (in a non-title match)
 
Expect Freddie to be all over these shows until the plug is pulled in March. I’ll leave you to decide if I’m talking about this program, or Freddie. Floyd rides Helmsley, which JR says is “shades of the Brisco Brothers”. The entire gimmick, for the record, is some sort of giant rib on the Briscos. McMahon was just as interested in his self-amusement in 1997 as he is today. Hunter quickly comes back, hitting a standing vertical suplex, and dropping a knee. A swinging neckbreaker gives Hunter a chance to pose for that one screaming lady, who manages to overtake everyone else by herself. A kneelift and fistdrop continue to drag this out. Honestly, it’s been like 3 minutes, but Triple H already has me going to sleep. Freddie hits a dropkick, and starts the boxing routine. A Jawjacker hits. Cornette: “NOBODY GETS UP FROM THE JAWJACKER!” It gets 1. Pedigree finishes at 5:00. DUD
 
The Bret/Michaels confrontation from last week’s RAW is replayed. I’m sure you’re just as hyped for their Wrestlemania rematch as I am! I’m sure the direction is as obvious to me as it is to you. 4 words: Jose Lothario Heel Turn.
 
THE GOON vs. THE UNDERTAKER
 
Firstly: The Goon might be the finest non-Gambler jobber in wrestling today (then!). A toothless poofy-haired hockey stick wielding skate wearing out of place hockey player, trying his hand at a little pro-wrestling? How can this miss? Secondly: It’s weird to see the Undertaker, the ultimate in special attractions, with his once-a-year God-like appearances, turning up on the same B shows as Freddie Joe Floyd and Flash Funk. Goon tries to charge Taker as he removes his jacket, but Taker just side-steps and calmly shoves him into the buckle. A clothesline sends Goon to the floor, where he grabs his stick. Taker grabs him by the clown-hair, and takes the blunt end to the nose. And we take a commercial.
 
We’re back, and Goon has returned to his natural role of getting his ass kicked. Goon is whipped into the referee by mistake, and sensing opportunity, he grabs his stick and cross-checks Taker. 3 big whacks like he’s the second coming of Ron Hextall do nothing, since he’s the bloody Undertaker. The stick is taken away, one shot is delivered across the back, and a Chokeslam leaves him for dead. Honestly, that was probably enough, but that’s not how we do, and the Tombstone finishes at 2:54. A billion stars.
 
Cornette stands up from the commentary desk, and screams about Vader and the Royal Rumble. He vows to stuff Undertaker in his own body-bag. You might find that scenario a little implausible, but you’ve got to keep in mind that Undertaker’s been stuffed in even more uncomfortable places, if his teardrop tattoo is to be believed. Undertaker turns out the lights, and appears behind Cornette, dragging him to the ring by the throat. And, without Vader to save his hide, it’s Tombstone city, and Cornette is stuffed in the bodybag.
 
That was a whole lot of angle to close us out, so WWF wins the Sunday War this week. How WCW will respond should have all of us on the edge of our seats.

(edited by cfgb on 14.1.15 0029)


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Tenken347
Knackwurst








Since: 27.2.03
From: Parts Unknown

Since last post: 32 days
Last activity: 13 hours
#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.12
My wife and I tripped over that Scorpio vignette surfing the Network, and it is my wife's favorite thing ever. I've seen her watch it three times back to back.

Apropos of nothing, and not that you could really tell from this match, but Furnas and Lafon were really, really good. Like, looking back they should have had a much bigger run than they did in either the WWE or ECW.
InVerse
Boudin blanc








Since: 26.8.02

Since last post: 2037 days
Last activity: 2000 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.36
It's a shame that the 2 Cold Scorpio vignette was a WCW production. Had it been WWF then we would all get to imagine Vince teaching Scorpio how to do the dance he had in mind. WCW, being much more lackadaisical, probably just said "dance like a black feller" or something.

The Goon was a personal favorite of mine simply because I had his action figure. There was a set of AWA action figures back in the mid-80s that included the Long Riders, Scott & Bill (Goon) Irwin. (I also had the Road Warriors, Jimmy Garvin & (the other) Steve Regal, and Rick Martel & Baron Von Raschke.)

Also, did the WWE ever acknowledge that Alberto del Rio is Mil Mascaras' nephew? I missed his entire face run, which would have been the time it would have made the most sense to talk about it, but I never realized it myself until very recently. I suppose it didn't fit in with the millionaire gimmick, but it still seems like the sort of thing the WWE would be big on mentioning.
Chumpstain
Bockwurst








Since: 21.1.02
From: Canada

Since last post: 549 days
Last activity: 549 days
#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.33
WWE most certainly did acknowledge Del Rio being related to Mil Mascaras on TV, yes. I believe JBL was the first to reference it, following up by immediately complaining that Mil owed him money.
thecubsfan
Scrapple
Moderator








Since: 10.12.01
From: Aurora, IL

Since last post: 937 days
Last activity: 318 days
#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 9.42

    Konan had already stolen what was essentially AAA’s hottest, and even moderate level stars, many of whom would be shunned from working with the promotion for a long time, and in some cases, forever. AAA was willing to exchange talent with the WWF (under the assumption they’d be gifted appearances from Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels), but by then, McMahon was left with the scraps. P&C are the scraps. The drizzling scraps.


To be fair to Vince McMahon's lateness, Vince McMahon was also a pretty terrible judge of talent in this case. AAA is pretty drained at this point, but Cibernetico and Pierroth are bad wrestlers who got themselves over via promos and bookings and (in Ciber's case) in look. Hector Garza was available (and used later in the Rumble), Heavy Metal was around, and there were other options. WWE just went with the big guys, as always. There was a time where Pierroth was actually pretty good, and Lafon and Furnas did have a run in Mexico as the masked Can Am Express I & II so maybe someone was able to talk themselves into this, but it was not a great idea.


    WWE most certainly did acknowledge Del Rio being related to Mil Mascaras on TV, yes. I believe JBL was the first to reference it, following up by immediately complaining that Mil owed him money.


And Alberto inducted Mil into the HOF. Mil's speech there went just about as well as it did here.



thecubsfan.com - luchablog
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I'll wager that even the dumb marks know that HHH is dating Stephanie, be it through the Howard Stern show, internet sites, etc. And so it's not hard to conclude that he's got some clout.
- asteroidboy, Triple H = Honky Tonk Man? (2002)
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