World Wrestling Federation presents: Shotgun Saturday Night
Date: 1/18/1997
From: San Antonio, TX
Matches:
1.) Rocky Maivia defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley by count-out in a non-title match
2.) Mini Mankind & Histeria defeated Mascarita Sagrada Jr. & Venum
3.) Faarooq defeated Jesse James
4.) Steve Austin fought Goldust to a double disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Todd Pettengill interviews Hunter Hearst Helmsley at ringside. Helmsley says he’s going to teach the upstart tonight then beat Goldust tomorrow night and win the Royal Rumble before having a night with Marlena.
2.) The fans are heavily behind Rocky at the start of the match. Rocky arm drags Helmsley a few times, but Helmsley eye pokes Rocky for the cheap advantage. Rocky responds with a right hand to drop Helmsley to the mat. Rocky continues with a scoop slam as Helmsley comes off the ropes. Rocky hits an arm drag and keeps control on the mat. Helmsley tries to break free, but Rocky yanks Helmsley down to the mat again. Helmsley knee lifts Rocky a few times against the ropes and snapmares Rocky, but misses an elbow drop. Rocky scoop slams Helmsley and hits another arm drag. Helmsley tries to break free, but Rocky holds onto the arm with an arm bar. Helmsley atomic drops Rocky, but Jake Roberts appears and slides a snake into the ring to scare Helmsley and Rocky from the ring. The crowd goes nuts for Roberts as the show goes to commercial.
Helmsley has kept a headlock on Rocky for a few moments. Rocky elbows free, but is met with a knee lift to the midsection. Helmsley taunts in the corner and delivers a knee drop for a two count. Helmsley misses a strike and Rocky hits a crossbody off the ropes for a two count. Helmsley drops Rock over his knee and gets a near fall. Helmsley chops Rocky against the ropes a few times. Helmsley nails Rocky with a high knee strike for a two count. Helmsley keeps a headlock on Rocky, but doesn’t get a submission. Helmsley uses the ropes for leverage, but is forced to let go when the referee sees it. Rocky fights out of the corner with right hands. Helmsley cuts Rocky off with an eye rake, but Rocky hits a powerslam and both men are down. Marlena makes her way to the ringside area. Rocky hammers away on Helmsley and dropkicks Helmsley over the top to the floor. Rocky leaps off the apron to strike Helmsley. Helmsley rams Rocky into the ring steps face first. Helmsley gets in Marlena’s face as she’s smoking a cigar and drinking. Goldust comes out and Helmsley bails through the crowd to lose the match by count-out. (**. It’s a basic match for the most part, but this Texas bar crowd is red hot for the action and it was not what I was expecting.)
3.) Honkytonk Man is dealing blackjack to the mini Mexican wrestlers and robs them of their money.
4.) Bob Backlund is screaming at New York traffic, which probably doesn’t seem out of place.
5.) Histeria and Venum are not minis, so the lucha match is more of a mixed tag match.
6.) Histeria and Venum kickoff the tag match by locking up, but neither man gets an advantage. Venum springboards off of Histeria at the start and hits an arm drag to send Histeria into the ropes. Venum hits a head scissors on Histeria and goes to the apron to hit a top rope head scissors. Histeria misses a running knee and falls over the top to the floor. Venum baseball slides Histera and hits a springboard corkscrew dive to the floor. Sagrada and Mankind are tagged into the match and Sagrada hits an arm drag a few times to send Mankind to the floor. Sagrada dives off the top to hit a crossbody on the floor. Histeria and Venum are tagged back into the match. Histeria hits a spinning heel kick and a spin kick to Venum’s face. Venum hits a body scissors takedown and a spinning heel kick. Histeria dumps Venum over the top to the floor. Venum hits a springboard head scissors, but is dropkicked to the floor by Histeria. Histeria hits a dive to the floor. Sagrada and Mankind return to the match. Mankind nails Sagrada with a boot and clothesline. Mankind delivers a running knee in the corner, but misses a splash. Mankind dumps Sagrada to the apron and is punched away. Sagrada hits a top rope head scissors and a backdrop to dropkick Mankind to the floor. Sagrada hits a springboard corkscrew dive to the floor. Venum hits a hurricanrana and a springboard dropkick to the back of Histeria. Histeria punches Venum from the apron, but Venum hits a top rope hurricanrana and misses a corkscrew dive. Histeria plants Venum with a powerbomb to win the match. (***1/4. That was a lot of fun, but may have been a little repetitive with the same moves over and over again. If they cut this by three minutes it probably leaves a stronger impression. Regardless, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one.)
7.) Todd Pettengill is in the ring and interviews Terry Funk! Funk says this is his town and says this is where he wants to be. Funk describes himself and says he’s ready to rumble. Funk wants to know which number he’ll be for the Rumble. Funk wants to start and end the Rumble. Funk suggests he starts the rumble with Pettengill. Funk starts to look around and says there’s nobody that wants to rumble with him whether it is in WWF or WCW. Funk calls WCW scumbags and calls Vince McMahon a yankee bastard. Funk calls Pettengill mother a whore. Funk asks if there’s anybody there to rumble with him. Funk notices Steve Austin at the commentary table. Funk calls out Austin to rumble. Funk jumps the railing to get in Austin’s face at the commentary table. Funk returns to the ring and continues to taunt the crowd. Austin leaves the commentary table and heads towards the ring. Funk slaps Austin and they get face to face. Funk continues to slap Austin leading to Austin punching Funk to the floor until several referees come out to breakup the fight.
8.) Todd Pettengill tries to talk to Faarooq and Crush at ringside, but they blow him off. There is a woman with the Nation, but nobody knows who she is and isn’t given a name.
9.) Faarooqn works over James from behind for the cheap advantage. Faarooq continues to deliver strikes in the corner. Faarooq misses a splash in the corner and James arm drags Faarooq followed by a dropkick. James hip tosses Faarooq coming off the ropes and delivers a forearm strike. James jabs Faarooq in the corner and sends Faarooq chest first into the corner to hit a back suplex for a two count. Faarooq counters a leapfrog to hit a spinebuster. Faarooq plants James with the Dominator for the clean win. (*. A clean win for Faarooq is the right call and doing so in convincing fashion.)
10.) Hunter Hearst Helmsley is hanging out with a couple women in the crowd.
11.) Goldust backs Austin into a corner, but Austin counters and delivers a cheap shot followed by stomps in the corner. Austin forearms Goldust in the corner and continues with stomps. Goldust elbows Austin out of the corner followed by a right hand. Goldust clotheslines Austin coming off the ropes. Austin low blows Goldust and continues with strikes and shoulder rams in the corner. Goldust puts a hammerlock on Austin and delivers a knee drop. The show goes to commercial.
Goldust jabs Austin several times and drops to his knees to deck Austin with a right hand. Terry Funk returns to the ring and attacks Austin to cause a disqualification. The ring fills up with WWF wrestlers for a massive brawl to take place to promote the Royal Rumble. Funk and Austin brawl in the crowd, Helmsley and Goldust are also brawling by the pool table. Austin puts Funk in a tub and they continue to brawl to close out the show. (NR. It’s not a match as it mostly just a way to promote the Rumble match.)
12.) They had promoted Goldust giving birth, but that did not end up happening and has clearly been dropped completely.
Final Thoughts:
It was a good episode of Shotgun this week with a really good tag match and the segment between Funk and Austin was done very well. A breeze of a watch this week.
Thanks for reading.