WWF Superstars 11/16/1991

Written by: Tom Hopkins

This episode has no introduction from Gene. I guess he just didn’t care anymore. We’re at the home of Dr. Shoals in Ft. Wayne Indiana. Vince is joined with Macho Man and Roddy Piper and the fans are chanting RE-IN-STATE for the Macho one.

-The Rockers vs. Barry Horowitz & Someone Else-
The Rockers are wearing ridiculous neon-green hats. I didn’t catch the other jobber’s name. Marty and Horowitz start and Horowitz one-ups the neon colored craziness with shorts that are half green half pink. It looks terrible. Marty tries a float-over gut-wrench suplex but looks like it was fumbled a bit. Shawn comes in for a second before tagging Marty back in. The other jobber is tagged in (Granny Anderson I think his name was) and he lasts just slightly longer than Shawn did because Barry is back in. Marty powerslams Horowitz and goes to tag in Shawn but Shawn is elsewhere on the apron talking to some girls. Marty gets rolled up by Horowitz but Marty rolls through it into one of the oddest roll-ups you’ll see and the ref just wants to end this at 1:54, even though Horowitz’ body is under the ropes. The seeds are being sown now for their break-up, but the match was terrible.

Mean Gene is here at the Update Center and this time it is brought to us by the WBF Championship VHS. We see Flair taking out Neidhart with a Figure-Four and then he’s taken out by the Beverly Brothers. So Neidhart is out of the Survivor Series and he needs to be replaced because the event is less than two weeks away! The Beverly’s tell the Anvil to stay out of their way.

-Repo Man vs. Reno Riggins-
Riggins is wearing a jacket that I’m positive will be repossessed in about 2 minutes. This is Repo Man’s in-ring debut. He hiptosses Riggins and boots away. Repo Man puts Reno in a single-leg lock that ends this at 1:04. That’s a good idea – take out the guy’s leg so he can’t chase after you when you steal their belongings. Repo ties Reno up in the ropes with a large rope, tells the kid to pay his bills and then slams him down by the hair. And he didn’t take the jacket. That’s weak.

We head to Mooney and he brings us some Survivor Series promos. Jake’s team (which includes IRS & The Natural Disasters) talk about the legality of Sid not being able to wrestle and Macho shouldn’t be put in his place.

-IRS vs. Greg The Hammer Valentine-
Like I said two weeks ago, both of these competitors were at Wrestlemania I and were in title matches. IRS lost the tag titles (as one-half of the duo Windham & Rotunda) to the Sheik and Volkoff. The Hammer kept the IC Title after a DQ against Junk Yard Dog. IRS escapes to the ropes to start and as the ref pulls off the Hammer IRS sneaks in a knee to the back. Hammer fights back and slams him head-first into the corner before dropping a pair of elbows. Hammer headbutts IRS in the groin and clotheslines IRS down. IRS bails to the outside and the Hammer follows. IRS takes control when he sends the Hammer into the steps and stomps away at him in the ring. IRS drops a pair of elbows for two. Hammer powers back with a hiptoss and an elbow in the corner. IRS reverses and Irish Whip and Hammer is sent into the corner. Hammer bounces off and hits the ref and as Hammer tends to him IRS knocks down Hammer with the briefcase. IRS covers but here comes the Boss Man to break up the pinfall and draw the DQ at 3:38. IRS bails and stares down Boss Man on his way to the back. This wasn’t anything special but acted like an incredibly sped-up standard TV match. *.

We’re at the event center and we hear from Virgil (who stole nothing but DiBiase’s pride), the Bulldog (who will take out the Warlord), Piper (who scares Flair) and Bret Hart who wants to give Mountie his just desserts. These four actually deliver an entertaining promo led by Roddy Piper.

We go right to Mean Gene who has a special Survivor Series report. He runs down the card. Big Boss Man and the Legion of Doom will take on the team of Jake Roberts, IRS, and the Natural Disasters but the face team will be without Sid Justice. The big match is Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWE Title and Undertaker and Paul Bearer will walk away from the event with Hogan’s title, soul and the hulkamaniacs. We hear from Ric Flair, The Mountie, Ted DiBiase and The Warlord and they’re ready to take on Roddy’s team. Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Texas Tornado and El Matador will be without their teammate Jim Neidhart as they take on the Bully, Skinner, Berzkerer and Col. Mustafa. We also have the Bushwhackers and the Rockers taking on the Beverly Brothers and the Nasty Boys.

We hear a message from Jack Tunney. Jack has heard from the fans and the matter is under advisement. So there’s no answer yet.

-Natural Disasters vs. Burt Stiles & Tom Stone-
I’ll be honest; I can’t tell Burt from Tom. I’ll assume it is Tom in there. He starts off with Typhoon and manhandles the jobber before tagging in the big Earthquake. Tom is sent to the corner and suffers a double avalanche at the hands of the Disasters. The other jobber runs in but he’s quickly subdued and elbowed down. He’s sent to the outside and the Disasters finishes off Stone with a Typhoon splash and an Earthquake butt-splash to end this at 1:46.

The Hulkster is brought out as the guest of the Funeral Parlor. Hogan stares at the coffin that has been built for him and when he opens it he sees a poster of himself in there. Hogan is very cautious here and he doesn’t see Ric Flair walk out. Flair confronts Hogan and tells him he’s been waiting for this moment. Flair asks Hogan what he’s gonna do when he runs wild on you. Hogan gets pissed that Flair stole his line and yells at Flair to put his title against his. Undertaker sneaks out of the upright coffin and blindsides Hogan. Flair hoists both titles in his hands as Undertaker chokes Hogan. Piper and Flair run out with chairs to save Hogan and Undertaker takes a Savage chairshot to the arm with no effect. Undertaker rips the chain off of Hogan before walking away.

-British Bulldog vs. Mike Samples-
Let’s count how many rest-holds Davey uses in a two-minute squash match, shall we? Bulldog hiptosses Samples before going to an armbar (1). Piper and Savage return from the dressing room and they say Hogan is alright but shaken up. Bulldog ends this quickly with a running powerslam at 1:07. Just one rest-hold, that’s not too bad.

We go back to Sean Mooney and he mentions some PPV that is coming up next week. We hear from the Nasty Boys and their Survivor Series Teammates the Beverly Brothers. We hear from Duggan, Santana and The Texas Tornado about Neidhart’s absence on the PPV. We have a preview for next week. We’ll see the Texas Tornado, Jake Roberts and the main event of Bully vs. Bret Hart for the IC Title. We hear from the Bully and Bret and I have a feeling Bully will be suffering his first loss. There will also be a conversation with Elizabeth and an update on the Hulkster. Sounds good! See you in two!

-The Bottom Line-
Sure there were only 5 matches and if you take out the big match the other four matches totaled just under 6 minutes. So there was under 10 minutes total of wrestling on the 44-minute show but let me tell you, this was a really good and enjoyable show. The promos were in high gear for Survivor Series and I was getting pumped to watch it. The Hogan/Undertaker angle has been played out well and even subtle things like the Rocker break-up and Macho Man’s reinstatement make these episodes a pleasure to sit through.