World Wrestling Federation presents Superstars
Date: 4/20/1996
From: San Diego, CA
Matches:
1.) Ahmed Johnson defeated Gary Lee
2.) WWF Tag Team Champions Skip & Zip defeated Joe DeLeon & Steve Bradley
3.) The British Bulldog defeated Bob Holly
4.) 1-2-3 Kid defeated Greg Davis
5.) Savio Vega defeated El Diablo
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Ahmed Johnson is such a reckless human being that I can’t take my eyes off of him in the ring. It reminds me of Virgil a few years before, but Ahmed has charisma, muscles and can actually perform moves when needed. He just makes me cringe with how he lands sometimes.
2.) Vader and Jim Cornette cut a promo on Razor Ramon. Cornette says that Ramon has made some bad career decisions and a match with Vader is just another one. Vader doesn’t want Razor’s gold, but rather his bones between his teeth. It’s Vader Time!
3.) Ultimate Warrior cuts a promo about Goldust. Warrior is going to make sure that Goldust drops to his knees for a sacrifice.
4.) The Godwinns and Hillbilly Jim share pre-tape comments during the Bodydonnas match. Jim says their title reign is coming to an end next week and they are ready to dump slop on someone.
5.) A video of the Bushwhackers traveling somewhere down under. They come across an alligator, but that’s the end of the video.
6.) Bulldog shoves Holly to the mat to kickoff the match. Bulldog hip tosses Holly, but is kicked away. Holly follows up with a clothesline and arm drags Bulldog to counter a hip toss attempt. Holly keeps wrist control for a moment. Holly hammers away on Bulldog’s arm, but Bulldog press slams Holly groin first onto the top rope. Bulldog tosses Holly through the ropes where Cornette gets a couple of cheap shots in. Bulldog shared some pre-tape comments during the match saying that Jake Roberts is going to suffer the same fate as Holly at the PPV. Bulldog drives Holly down to the mat with a vertical suplex for a near fall. Holly fights out and hits a crossbody for a near fall. Holly sunset flips Bulldog for a near fall. Bulldog decks Holly with a clothesline. Bulldog keeps Holly on the mat with a sleeper as his wife looks on in the front row. Holly fights free with a few right hands, but runs into a knee lift. Bulldog goes back to putting a sleeper on Holly. Holly breaks free with a back suplex and both men are down. Holly ducks a clothesline and dropkicks Bulldog. Holly clotheslines Bulldog a few times and delivers a kick to the midsection. Holly gets a two count after an elbow strike as the show goes to commercial.
Holly heads to the top rope, but Bulldog cuts Holly off with a strike. Holly lands on top of Bulldog to counter a superplex for a near fall. Holly hits a hurricanrana, but Bulldog kicks out at two. Holly swings at Cornette, but that allows Bulldog to hit a running powerslam and wins the match. (**1/4. I enjoyed the action even with the outcome being obvious. Holly was ready to work and put on some enjoyable offense. Bulldog got the crowd to react to his power moves, which is an accomplishment for a 1996 WWF Superstars crowd.)
7.) WWF cameras met up with Bret Hart in Bonn, Germany. Bret says there was a lot of things wrong with the WrestleMania match with Shawn Michaels. Hart is bitter about the match going past the sixty minutes, but that wasn’t the match. Hart notes that Michaels got careless at the fifty-ninth minute, but he can’t be convinced that Michaels wasn’t going to submit. Hart says it was not his job to beat Michaels, and Michaels didn’t beat him in the hour. Bret made a mistake getting frustrated. Bret can’t see himself working somewhere else because it would be a step down despite another company throwing a lot of money around. Hart is greedy for respect and the WWF is the only place to give him that. Bret has less energy to come back because he feels betrayed. Bret wants a title shot first thing in the morning if he could.
8.) Vince McMahon announces during the 1-2-3 Kid match that they aren’t going to have the conclusion of the Bushwhackers adventure. I’m assuming they dropped it after only part one. That’s probably the better decision.
9.) 1-2-3 Kid cut a pre-tape promo airing during his match. Kid puts over WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels as being young, fas, and quick. However, Kid is younger and better than Michaels. Kid knows that he has a non-title match because he’s better than Michaels and he doesn’t blame Michaels for not putting the title on the line.
10.) Oh, well, they show more of the Bushwhackers video and it’s actually an ad for a restaurant they are involved in.
11.) WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust cut a promo from a movie theater. Goldust tells Savio Vega he has trespassed on his turf and this time there will be no foreplay. Goldust talks about Ultimate Warrior having his first golden experience at In Your House and believes Warrior will never want to leave. Warrior will never forget the name… Goldust.
Final Thoughts:
An enjoyable episode of Superstars this week with a quality TV match and they touched on a few major matches well. It’s a little weird to say, but Superstars may be a better show than RAW is most weeks at this rate.
Thanks for reading.