Written by: Tom Hopkins
There’s huge news coming in as Superstars starts – Ric Flair has won the WWE title from Macho Man with the help of Razor Ramon. Savage had his knee taken out by Ramon and Flair put Savage in the figure-four. Savage passed out from the pain and referee Earl Hebner counted the pinfall to give Flair his second WWE title. I remember that match and I remember it being quite good, but I haven’t seen it since 1992.
Perfect and McMahon are at the Announce Booth and Perfect is downright giddy. Flair will be champion as long as Perfect is in his corner.
–Razor Ramon vs. Gary Jackson–
Ramon sends Jackson into the corner as McMahon hypes the Flair/Savage match on Primetime. I find it interesting that in both WWE and WCW the only person Savage lost the world title to was either Hogan or Flair. Razor gets a back suplex off the top rope and then finishes Jackson’s night with a Razor’s Edge at 2:37.
Mean Gene is in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the very same ring where Flair enacted Plan B against Savage. The plan started with Flair attacking Savage’s knee at Summerslam and focusing on that knee in that match where Ramon interfered to exacerbate the injury. A pre-match interview between Savage and Ramon and Savage actually shoves Ramon off the interview stage. Savage hobbled to the ring afterwards but not only had to fight Flair but also Ramon and Perfect at ringside. After Savage lost and Flair celebrated Razor Ramon came into the ring to exact some more punishment. The Ultimate Warrior comes out and carries Savage out of harm’s way but I have to ask where he was during the whole match?
Ramon cuts a promo on Savage telling him he’s not too Macho now.
–Natural Disasters vs. Doug Somers & Joe Turner–
Is this the same Somers from the AWA? Talk about your fall from glory if it is (and it does look like him). It’s your standard Disasters match, with the Disasters using their girth to avalanche Turner in the corner and then finish with the butt-splash/big splash combo. It’s good work if you can get it – this one was over in 2:28.
Sean Mooney joins us at the Event Center to introduce some promo’s. We hear from Money Inc and they want the belts off the Natural Disasters. DiBiase has switched to his white tux, giving up on the black one for the time being. We hear from Tito Santana, too. Poor guy just namedrops some heels but he’s got no feuds looming in the distance and I don’t think he ever would in the WWE again.
–Papa Shango vs. Justin Taylor–
I missed what McMahon and Perfect are saying because my attention is diverted by the ING NYC Marathon. McMahon does mention that Warrior could be beating Flair for the title before moving to Hart and Shango’s eventual match. It is interesting to think that Hart would be the one who would eventually take the title from Flair and NO ONE expected that at this time. Shango ends with a shoulderbreaker at 2:21.
Mooney’s back! He mentions Unsolved Mysteries in the WWE – especially Shango’s voodoo. Crush is here to tell us he’s from Hawaii and wishes everyone a nice aloha before spewing out more native Hawaiian language. The Beverly Brothers and the Genius are here and the Legion of Doom are in their crosshairs.
–Big Boss Man vs. Mike Sharpe–
Between Somers and Sharpe we have some high-quality enhancement talent here tonight. Boss Man bodyslams Sharpe after Sharpe stalls a lot and Sharpe is still stalling! Sharpe is backdropped after getting sling-shot into the ring and Boss Man ends this with the Boss Man slam at 3:22. Boss Man handcuffs Sharpe to the ropes after the match.
We see footage of Flair and Perfect in Flair’s dressing room after Flair won the title. There’s champagne for everyone! Heenan joins in the celebration, too. After smelling the roses Razor Ramon comes in to celebrate with Perfect, Flair and Heenan.
–The Nasty Boys (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Greg Brown & Red Tyler–
Was there a reason Mountie wasn’t used at Summerslam? McMahon talks more about Perfect and Flair and what happened at Summerslam. Perfect teases a Plan B. Mountie slaps around Wayne as McMahon brings up the “real world champion,” claim. Mountie gets a piledriver to end this at 2:09. McMahon tells Perfect that he heard that Heenan thinks Perfect let Flair down.
–The Nasty Boys (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Greg Brown & Red Tyler–
Tyler and Knobbs start. Sags comes in and gives Tyler a pump-handle slam before heading outside to argue with the fans. Then there’s a commercial break? That’s certainly new. Tyler takes a pit-stop before tagging in Brown who is quickly tossed to the outside. The Nasty’s end this with a Double DDT at 3:19.
Sean’s at the Event Center but it’s too far away from the end of the show to be the last stop here. Skinner is here and he’s upset that his chew has been banned from the ring. Thank God! That was disgusting. He has nothing to say since he’s firmly lower-mid-card hell, bordering on a permanent JTTS. Legion of Doom with Ellering and Rocco are here, too.
Next week on Superstars we have Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Mountie vs. Tatanka and an interview with the Macho Man. Finally, this Monday on Primetime will show the full Savage vs. Flair match.
–Undertaker vs. Jobber–
I can’t believe this is ending with a match! I can’t remember this happening before on Superstars. Incredibly the jobber messes up a chokeslam spot. This is over quickly with a Tombstone at 2:11. The jobber takes the bodybag treatment, too.
–The Bottom Line–
I was a bit worried coming into this episode because usually the month after a major PPV is too far away to build to the next PPV so it’s almost like a lame duck period for Superstars. Then I saw the first few minutes of this episode with the big news that Flair won the title and thought – hey, this could be good. The title change did drive the episode even though some of its slower points. This isn’t a particularly great episode but it wasn’t as boring as last episode, either, so that’s a plus. I’d probably rate this as 2.5 out of 5 if I were rating it. I did like the change in format though (ending with a match) – it was something new.