World Wrestling Federation presents Shotgun Saturday Night
Date: 5/10/1997
From:
Matches:
1.) Mankind defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification
2.) WWF Intercontinental Champion & WWF Tag Team Champion Owen Hart defeated Sonny Rogers
3.) The New Blackjacks (Bradshaw & Windham) defeated Savio Vega & Crush by disqualification
4.) Jesse James defeated Leif Cassidy
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Helmsley starts off by striking Mankind several times with right hands in the corner for the advantage. Helmsley comes off the ropes to forearm Mankind to the mat. Mankind punches Helmsley a few times and chokes rakes Helmsley’s eyes over the ropes. Mankind bites Helmsley in the corner to maintain the advantage. Mankind continues with forearm strikes in the corner and tosses Helmsley across the ring. Mankind continues by lifting Helmsley up by his hair and down to the mat. Helmsley bails to the floor to regroup, but Mankind follows and grabs a chair. Chyna runs over and grabs the chair allowing Helmsley to deliver a boot and a snap suplex on the floor. Helmsley sends Mankind into the apron and returns to the ring. Helmsley punches Mankind on the apron a few times and comes off the ropes, but is met with a shoulder ram. Mankind hooks Helmsley on the apron and they both end up on the apron. Mankind misses a splash and hits the post crashing to the floor. Helmsley brings Mankind back into the ring and pummels Mankind with strikes and stomps. Helmsley delivers a knee drop and tries for a cover, but Mankind kicks out at two. Helmsley keeps Mankind on the mat with a sleeper, but doesn’t get a submission. Mankind runs the ropes and is met with an elbow strike. Mankind runs into a clothesline coming out of the corner. Helmsley punches Mankind in the corner several times, but Mankind fights back with a few strikes. Helmsley eye rakes Mankind, but Mankind counters a piledriver by catapulting Helmsley into the corner. Mankind puts the Mandible Claw on Helmsley, but Chyna enters and low blows Mankind to cause a disqualification. After the match, Chyna low blows Mankind a second time. (**. The cheap finish is obvious since it’s a big match and it’s only Shotgun. There’s no need to do a clean finish here, really. It was a fine contest for what they were going for. It’s interesting to see how quickly Mankind has switched to a babyface role.)
2.) Owen wins his squash match fairly easily managing to defeat Sonny Rogers by submission with the Sharpshooter. During the match, The Hart Foundation appeared at the top of the aisle to watch the match and celebrate the victory
3.) Ahmed Johnson appears on the big screen and suggests they have a six man tag match with Johnson teaming with the Blackjacks. Ahmed comes to down to the ringside area anyway.
4.) Faarooq has his arm in a sling, but Jim Ross claims that his arm is likely healed and is just milking the injury to avoid Ahmed.
5.) Vega and Windham kickoff the tag match with neither man getting an advantage out of a lockup. Windham backs Vega against the ropes, but backs off cleanly. Windham shoulder blocks Vega and comes off the ropes to deliver a boot and a dropkick to send Vega to the floor. Bradshaw rolls Vega into the ring, but Vega clubs away on Windham. Windham ducks an elbow and ducks a heel kick. Bradshaw tags in and nails Vega with a clothesline. Crush tags into the match and tries his luck with Bradshaw. Crush pummels Bradshaw in the corner, but Bradshaw hip tosses and dropkicks Crush. Bradshaw continues with a big boot to drop Crush to the mat. Bradshaw comes off the ropes and gets distracted allowing Crush to clothesline Bradshaw to the floor. Vega cheap shots Bradshaw until Ahmed stalks over to scare Vega. Crush stomps Bradshaw to maintain the advantage. Vega sends Bradshaw into the corner and delivers a spinning heel kick. Vega continues with a kick to the ribs. Vega chops Bradshaw in the corner several times to maintain the advantage. Vega hip tosses Bradshaw out of the corner and chokes Bradshaw with Crush in the corner while the referee is distracted. Crush delivers a backbreaker to Bradshaw and covers for a two count. Bradshaw decks Crush a few times, but Crush cuts Bradshaw off with a belly to belly suplex for a two count. Vega tags into the match and forearms Bradshaw in the midsection. Vega continues with strikes and rams Bradshaw into the corner. Vega heel kicks Bradshaw out of the corner while Crush argues with Ahmed on the floor. Vega cheap shots Windham causing the referee to be distracted again and Bradshaw is double teamed in the corner as the show goes to commercial.
Crush takes Bradshaw over with a suplex for a two count as Ahmed tries to rally the crowd behind the Blackjacks. Bradshaw plants Crush with a DDT. Bradshaw crawls over and tags in Windham. Windham atomic drops Vega and delivers a right hand. Bradshaw fights off Crush and all four men are involved now. Windham powerslams Vega, but doesn’t keep the cover. Faarooq gets involved and Ahmed chases Faarooq backstage. The Nation runs off to help Faarooq and the New Blackjacks win the match by disqualification. (**. A fine tag match with the predictable non-finish. Ahmed being attached to the Blackjacks make me think they are trying to get the Blackjacks over as a face team now. I can get behind that attempt. I’ve been enjoying the Blackjacks.)
6.) Jesse James provides a concert during his entrance that nobody asked for nor wanted.
7.) Cassidy backs James into a corner, but James delivers a strike to knock Cassidy to the mat. Cassidy sends James into the ropes, but is met with a shoulder block. Cassidy hip tosses James coming off the ropes, but is kicked away. James controls Cassidy with a side headlock and takes Cassidy down to the mat. Cassidy shoulder blocks James and runs the ropes. James kicks Cassidy and puts a headlock on Cassidy. James hip tosses Cassidy and follows up with a scoop slam. James sends Cassidy into the corner, but Cassidy responds with a clothesline. Cassidy stomps James on the mat a few times. Cassidy hits a reverse powerbomb as the show goes commercial.
Cassidy leaps off the top to deliver an axe handle and stomps James to maintain the advantage. Cassidy controls James with a knee drop several times before putting his knee between James shoulder blades. Cassidy strikes James and misses a clothesline. James sunset flips Cassidy for a two count. Cassidy nails James with a seated dropkick to the back and keeps control on the mat again. James gets an inside cradle on Cassidy for a two count. Cassidy nails James with a clothesline to keep control of the bout. Cassidy heads to the top, but James stops Cassidy and slams Cassidy to the mat. James continues with jabs and forearms Cassidy to the mat. James pummels Cassidy with strikes in the corner. James sends Cassidy into the corner and delivers a clothesline. Cassidy stops James with a knee lift to the midsection. Cassidy scoop slams Jame and taunts the crowd on the middle rope. Cassidy misses a top rope moonsault attempt. James counters a hip toss with a pump handle slam and pins Cassidy for the win. (*1/2. Man, nobody cares about either one of these guys. Cassidy is in a completely dead character to the point where he’s not even acting like a teen idol.)
8.) Sunny Undercover segment is up next. Sunny talks about a guy who makes her heart flutter. She’s talking about Ken Shamrock. Sunny says Shamrock has been looking lean and mean in the WWF. Shamrock has manhandled anyone that gets in his way. Sunny is promoting the match between Shamrock and Vader at the PPV on Sunday. Vader makes his way out to join the segment, and Sunny is scared. Vader leans over the bed and Sunny is begging for help. Vader thought that Sunny was the one woman in the world that had common sense. Vader calls Shamrock an Iowa farm boy. Vader tells Sunny if she’s looking for a big man, he’s right there. Vader says he’s 190 in the sheets, and that scares Sunny away to end the program.
Final Thoughts:
A decent overall episode to lead into the PPV tomorrow night. I’m liking that the show is using the bigger names for feature matches. I wish there would be finishes instead of cop-outs, but that’s to be expected for Shotgun.
Thanks for reading.