WWF Shotgun Saturday Night 2/8/1997

World Wrestling Federation presents Shotgun Saturday Night:
Date: 2/8/1997
From: New York, NY

Matches:
1.) Faarooq & Crush defeated The Godwinns
2.) WWF Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated the Undertaker by disqualification
3.) Savio Vega wrestled Aldo Montoya to a no contest
4.) Savio Vega, Faarooq & Crush defeated The Godwinns & Aldo Montoya

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Undertaker is controlling the Amtrak and says “Welcome to Amtrak night train to hell.”

2.) Phineas and Crush kickoff the tag match, but neither man gets a clear advantage and Phineas spits into the air. Crush gains control with a side headlock and shoulder blocks Phineas. Phineas hip tosses Crush followed by a clothesline to Crush and Faarooq. Crush backs Phineas into a corner, but Phineas fights out with several right hands. Faarooq tags in and is tossed with a hip toss by Phineas. Faarooq eye rakes Phineas and delivers a scoop slam to gain the advantage. Faarooq comes off the ropes to deliver an elbow drop. Savio Vega makes his way down to ringside as Phineas and Faarooq trade strikes. Henry tags into the match and clubs Faarooq over the back as the show goes to commercial.

Faarooq rams a case onto the back of Henry before rolling Henry back into the ring. Crush covers for a two count. Crush controls Henry with a nerve hold on the mat. Crush hammers away on Henry with strikes and stomps on the mat. Faarooq tags into the match and strikes Henry in the ribs. Henry drives Faarooq face first down to the mat and both men struggle to their corners. Crush tags in and prevents Henry from tagging out to Phineas. Crush misses a clothesline and they collide with clotheslines in the middle of the ring. Henry kicks Crush away and Phineas tags into the match. Phineas slams Crush and does the same to Faarooq. Phineas grabs Vega onto the apron and Crush accidentally decks Vega off the apron. Faarooq clotheslines Phineas to prevent the Slop Drop and Crush covers to pin Phineas. (*. The finish is a little weak as it was just a clothesline, but the Nation is the top heel group and they have momentum while the Godwinns aren’t doing much of anything.)

3.) Hunter Hearst Helmsley tells Todd Pettengill that there’s a better chance of him riding on one of the trains than there is of him losing the WWF Intercontinental Championship tonight.

4.) Helmsley attacked Undertaker before the match started, but Taker pummels Helmsley with strikes in the corner during the break. Taker chokes Helmsley in the corner and scares the referee away for bugging him. Taker sends Helmsley into the referee in the corner. Taker nails Helmsley with a clothesline. Helmsley returns with the championship and decks Taker with the championship over the head. The show goes to another commercial rather quickly upon its return. Helmsley chokes Taker over the middle rope. Helmsley snapmares Taker and delivers a knee drop. Taker fights back with body strikes, but Helmsley drops Taker over his knee with a face buster. Helmsley stomps on Taker on the mat. Helmsley stomps Taker in the corner several times. Helmsley drives Taker down to the mat with a neckbreaker for a two count. They trade strikes out of the corner until Taker drops Helmsley. Helmsley begs off after ramming Taker into the corner and is dropped by another strike. Helmsley hits a swinging neckbreaker and goes for a cover managing a two count. Helmsley tries to hit Taker with the championship. but Taker blocks it and ends up hitting Helmsley with the championship to cause the disqualification. Taker drives Helmsley down to the mat with a chokeslam. Taker signals for the tombstone, but Helmsley bails from the ring and tries to escape from Penn Station. Taker stops Helmsley on the steps, but Taker grabs Helmsley and hits the tombstone at the top of the escalator. Helmsley is laid out and goes down the escalator slumped over. (1/2*. For a match, there’s mostly nothing here, but the moment and visual of Helmsley taking a tombstone on the escalator is a memorable moment from the show.)

5.) Todd Pettengill interviews a kid in the crowd, but it accomplishes nothing.

6.) Montoya shoulder blocks and hip tosses Vega in the opening moments. Montoya dropkicks Vega to the floor and dives over the top to take Vega out with a crossbody. Montoya hits a top rope crossbody for a near fall. Vega gains control in the corner with a few knee lifts to the midsection. Vega chops Montoya in the corner and sends Montoya hard into the corner. Vega rams Montoya into the corner and sends Montoya into the ropes to deliver an elbow strike. Vega nails Montoya with a headbutt and chokes Montoya to maintain the advantage. Vega elbow strikes Montoya several times in the corner and sends Montoya hard into the corner. Vega hits a running heel kick in the corner. Vega stomps Montoya to the floor and hits a suplex into the ring from the apron. Vega chokes Montoya on the mat for a few moments. Todd Pettengill interviews Terry in the crowd, who has a Vince McMahon action figure. They make a joke about it. Montoya nails Vega with a kick to the head and a few right hands to drop Vega to the mat. Montoya connects with a clothesline and mounts Vega with strikes on the mat. The Nation make their way down to the ring as Vega stops Montoya with a heel kick as the show goes to commercial.

Vega nails Montoya with a kick to the back of the head and controls Montoya with a nerve hold on the mat. Montoya fights back with strikes in the corner. Montoya nails Vega with an elbow strike as Vega comes off the ropes. Vega stops Montoya with an eye rake and goes back to an arm bar on the mat. The Godwinns make their way down to the ringside area, as well. Vega snapmares Montoya and locks in a nerve hold to maintain control of the bout. Faarooq and Crush try to get on the apron, but the Godwinns stop them. Henry and Faarooq get into the ring to have a standoff. It appears they are switching to a six man tag match after a commercial.

7.) Faarooq is working over Montoya before tagging in Crush to keep control of the match with a press slam. Montoya is beaten down by all three members of the Nation. Montoya counters a slam by Crush and hits a DDT. Todd Pettengill is talking to a woman in the crowd, who wants to fight another woman over a man and they have a brief catfight in the crowd. Faarooq rams Montoya into Vega’s boot in the corner. Vega sends Montoya into the corner to deliver a clothesline. Vega rams Montoya into Crush’s boot in the corner. Crush drives Montoya down with a backbreaker. Faarooq enters the match, but Montoya comes off the ropes to hit a swinging neckbreaker. Vega tags into the match and decks Phineas on the apron. Montoya is choked over the ropes by Crush while Vega held Montoya. Faarooq returns to the match and kicks Montoya in the midsection and signals for the Dominator, but Montoya counters with a backslide for a two count.

Crush returns to the match delivering a few strikes in the corner. Vega chokes Montoya over the bottom rope while the referee is distracted. Vega legally tags into the match and nails Montoya with a kick to the head for a two count. Vega keeps a front face lock on Montoya, but the Nation enters to prevent a tag from being seen. Montoya is beaten down on the mat with several strikes. Montoya continues to be beaten down, but slams Vega. Montoya hits a missile dropkick, but everyone gets in the ring leading to a massive brawl. Phineas goes after D’Lo Brown allowing Vega to hit a spinning heel kick on Montoya to win the match. (*1/4. It was mainly Montoya taking a beating, but was at least doing a good job taking the beating. The Nation getting an extended squash isn’t the best way to use the main event slot.)

8.) Backstage, Phineas tosses the slop, and misses D’Lo Brown hitting Pat Patterson at gorilla instead. Patterson sells the slop and asks if they think it’s funny.

9.) Todd Pettengill is with the Guardian Angels and the leader says he’s going to get into the ring to take on the Nation of Domination. Of course, that doesn’t happen.

10.) Next weeks show is a recap show and doesn’t have original material. When the show returns on 2/22, the bar/club setting is gone and the show takes place in a arena.

Final Thoughts:
A heavy focus on the Nation, which is fine by me. It’s a skippable show for the most part as the main event is just Aldo Montoya getting his butt kicked. I’m kind of glad the ‘unique setting’ for the show is over with and will take place at a typical arena. It honestly makes the WWF look low budget with shows like this taking place at Penn Station.

Thanks for reading.