Thursday, December 6, 2012

TV Time Remaining: WWF Shotgun Saturday Night 1997 - Part 2

More craziness from 1997 WWF B-level TV. Be warned, there may be a lot of squashes here. Part 2 will cover April through June. Let’s dig in.

In case you missed it, Part 1 is here

1. Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs. Aldo Montoya & R.T. Williams (4/5/97) - 3

Give me your tired, your poor, and your hungry. That certainly describes the jobber team. How did Aldo draw the short straw to team up with Williams? This was pretty much just a light workout for Furnas and LaFon. Williams took a rough suplex that looked to have cracked his neck. Can’t the poor dude catch a break? Last week, a beat down by the Blackjacks and this week getting his neck snapped? By the way, Furnas and LaFon won.

2. Billy Gunn vs. Freddie Joe Floyd (4/12/97) – 3

Ok, this is getting really strange. Now we get Tracy Smothers as Freddie Joe Floyd? Billy is working heel and still sporting the cowboy look from the Smoking Gunns days. Smothers looked pretty spry when getting in some offense and had some good selling. Great nearfall off a big offensive flurry from Smothers that included some hard elbows. Swinging DDT by Billy looked a bit sloppy. Not bad and certainly quite random.

3. Salvatore Sincere vs. Flash Funk (4/19/97) – 4

Not sure where this match was filmed but it looks like it was in some big soccer stadium somewhere. Sincere delivering a pre-match promo was about as Italian as a frozen spaghetti dinner. Both guys really busted out some good looking stuff and had some good nearfalls. Scorpio … oops, I mean Flash, did a nice plancha, a big back kick, and a wild looking sunset flip. Sal countered with a big swinging DDT. This was a lot better than I though it would be on paper and a rather fun little match.

4. Flash Funk vs. Nick Barberry (4/26/97) – 1

Barberry is sporting some tights that look like they were found at a Brutus Beefcake yard sale. This didn’t take long for Flash to finish off this srcub with some basic stuff and it didn’t look like he broke a sweat.

5. Savio Vega & Crush vs. Derek Stone & Neal Haley (5/3/97) – 2

Haley is a rather gangly fellow who runs the ropes worse than Lex Luger in 2001. The other dude was about as memorable the guy who bagged your groceries last weekend. Crush and Savio just destroyed these poor jobbers, Savio was being especially brutual, throwing some nasty looking spin kicks. Finish with Crush and Savio ripping off Demolition’s old “Decapitation” move was super sloppy.

6. Jesse James vs. Leif Cassidy (5/10/97) – 5

At this point in ’97, neither of these guys were going anywhere quick but I’ll be damned if they didn’t have a hell of a match here. The pace was quick and everything flowed really smooth. I always hated when Double J popped his collar and ran into the corner. Just looked ridiculous. Cassidy ripped off a stiff clothesline. Finish was nice with Cassidy missing the moonsault (which had perfect form by the way) and Double J immediately going to the pumphandle.

7. Leif Cassidy vs. Matt Hardy (5/17/97) – 3

Matt was skinny here, probably about half the size he is now with twice the brain power. Wild spot where Cassidy suplex Hardy out of the ring and straight to the floor and killed him with two face first suplexes. Also a bit strange was seeing Cassidy working heel and Hardy being the jobber. Some good stuff by Cassidy here and I really liked his aggressiveness.

8. Jesse James vs. David Haskins (5/24/97) – 2

To quote Jerry Lawler on Jesse James, “he’s a promising young singer, I wish he’d promise to stop singing!” Couldn’t agree more Jerry as I’m not sure which song is more annoying, Double J’s or R-Truths “What’s Up”. Only thing notable was seeing Haskins getting his chin busted open pretty good. Pretty bland squash.

9. Scott Taylor vs. Tony Williams (5/31/97) – 4

What the hell is this doing in the main event spot? I have the feeling this may have been a try-out match for both guys. Taylor looked good, doing some high risk stuff and even busting out a plancha. Too bad he only became known for one of the most ridiculous moves ever (The Worm) after joining Too Cool years later. Williams nearly killed himself on a dive and took a wild spinning slam from Taylor right on his ass. Finish was rather shocking as Williams pulled the upset with a reverse roll-up. Not much on paper but definitely a fun little sprint.

10. Phil LaFon vs. Bradshaw (6/7/97) – 2

You know, I just noticed that LaFon looks a lot like Joey Votto. Bradshaw’s offense was just reckless, doling out stiff boots and clotheslines. LaFon came across as a generic guy with no personality. The powerslam felt like a pretty generic way to close this three minute ruckus out.

11. Scott Taylor vs. Steve Ramsey (6/14/97) – 2

What is this fucking ridiculous music that Taylor has? Ramsey looks like a dude who should working valet parking somewhere on a Saturday night. Yikes, this was brutal. Ramsey’s offense looked about as threatening as a leaf falling from a tree and the only notable thing I was the whole match was Taylor hitting a nice hook kick. Taylor’s finisher, whatever it was supposed to be, looked awful and sloppy.

12. Brian Christopher vs. Tommy Rogers (6/21/97) – 3

Even 15 years later, Brian Christopher is still annoying as shit. Rogers wanted to actually wrestle but Christopher was more concerned with making goofy facials, laughing hysterically, and generally fucking around. Once Rogers finally got the offense, he laid it in good, throwing a couple especially stiff shots on the outside. Not bad for a four minute match, sure beats some of the other matches on here in recent weeks.

13. The Truth Commission vs. Al Brown, Gene Miller, & Terry Richards (6/28/97) – 2

I barely remember the Truth Commission but I don’t remember there being a masked 400-pounder involved with them. Wait, holy shit! One of these jobbers is Rhino! Aside from that notable fact, the three jobbers just got destroyed. Recon busted out a standing hurracanrana and seeing a dude who weighs about 150 soaking wet getting completely squashed by a 400-pound guy were the best parts here.

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