World Wrestling Federation presents Shotgun Saturday Night
Date: 8/16/1997
From: Biloxi, MS
MATCH #1: OWEN HART VS. GOLDUST
FINISH: Owen finishes Goldust off with a spinning heel kick after Brian Pillman distracted Goldust.
Bob’s Take: Goldust has the early momentum with an arm drag and basic arm control, but Owen broke free with strikes. Goldust continued with a backdrop out of the corner. Owen briefly gets momentum, but is decked by a right hand and Goldust went back to arm control. Owen nails Goldust with a kick to the head and a leg drop. Owen tries to put Goldust away with a neckbreaker. The fans love to chant for USA. Owen continued with a backbreaker and tried for the Sharpshooter, but Goldust fought free. Goldust battled back with a clothesline after a kick. Brian Pillman ends up coming out to ringside and stalks Marlena while Goldust pummeled Owen in the corner. Goldust almost wins with a clothesline and decks Pillman off the apron. That distraction allowed for the spinning heel kick finish for Owen. I thought this was a solid TV bout between these two.
Match Rating: **1/4
MATCH #2: BRIAN CHRISTOPHER VS. TONY WILLIAMS
FINISH: Christopher wins following a top rope leg drop.
Bob’s Take: These two were former tag partners in the USWA known as the New Kids. Williams has a good start dropkicking Christopher to the floor and hit a slingshot crossbody. Christopher dropped Williams over the top rope, but that offense didn’t last long. Williams dropkicked Christopher, but Christopher cut Williams off with his version of the Stroke. Christopher hit a middle rope missile dropkick, but Williams fought back with a float over DDT. Christopher avoided Williams in the corner to hit a middle rope reverse DDT before hitting the top rope leg drop finish. This is a good showcase for Christopher and hit a few moves I hadn’t seen out of Christopher before. The middle rope reverse DDT was a surprising one.
Match Rating: **
Jerry Lawler is in the ring to conduct an interview with Scott Putski. Putski grabs Lawler’s coat to try and threaten Lawler. Lawler doesn’t think Putski has a shot against Brian Christopher. Putski tells Lawler if he stays out of his business he’ll beat Christopher. Lawler is going to watch at Ground Zero as Christopher takes Putski apart. Brian Christopher sneaks out to the ring and attacks Putski hitting the middle rope reverse DDT. Lawler declares that Christopher will be the new WWF Light Heavyweight Champion.
Footage from two weeks ago where the Nation of Domination attacked Ahmed Johnson to kick him out of the group. Ahmed tried to gain control, but was taken out by Faarooq. Last week, Rocky Maivia joined the Nation.
MATCH #3: THE DISCIPLES OF APOCALYPSE (8-BALL & SKULL) VS. THE NATION OF DOMINATION (D’LO BROWN & KAMA MUSTAFA)
FINISH: D’Lo Brown returns to the ring to beat the count and win the match by count-out.
Bob’s Take: D’Lo and Ball kickoff the tag match with D’Lo gaining the early advantage until a clothesline and big boot by Ball cut him off. It seems like the crowd is a bit dead for this bout. Kama enters the match and they do a double clothesline, but neither man sells it. Ball big booted Kama to gain the advantage before tagging in Skull. Skull powerslams Kama coming off the ropes. Skull kept control on D’Lo with a clothesline in the corner. D’Lo is met with a double big boot by the DOA. Kama distracts Ball allowing D’Lo to clothesline Ball to the floor. Kama misses a middle rope elbow drop attempt on Ball. Skull cleans house with clothesline and slams. Kama pulls Skull to the floor by pulling down the ropes. Kama brawls with the DOA and D’Lo gets in the ring to win by count-out. For the most part, this was a lifeless match from a crowd reaction perspective.
Match Rating: *
MAIN EVENT: HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY VS. VADER
FINISH: Vader tries for the Vader Bomb, but Chyna enters and low blows Vader causing the disqualification.
Bob’s Take: Helmsley slaps Vader early in the bout and bails to the floor to avoid Vader’s wrath for doing so. Vader decks Helmsley with a clothesline and plays to the crowd. Helmsley drops Vader over the ropes and decked Vader to the floor with a clothesline. They brawl on the floor where Vader hit the ring post. Helmsley slammed Vader followed by a knee drop, but Vader is too strong. Vader almost wins following a big splash. Vader splashes Helmsley a couple of times, but Helmsley refused to stay down. Vader continued with a belly to belly suplex. Paul Bearer interfered and decked Helmsley as the referee wasn’t paying attention. The finish is rather weak, but not surprising as I wouldn’t expect Helmsley to cleanly job here. I’m not sure who I’m suppose to root for here since they are both heels, but I guess I’d be more inclined to root for Vader than Helmsley.
Match Rating: *1/2
Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed Owen/Goldust and Christopher was fun on the show. I’d consider this an average overall episode. The Putski interview was not good.
Thanks for reading.