Aaron Wood This Week In WWE Vintage Collection History: The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Gabriel, The Rated-R Broski Star, Macho Man Sheamus Savage And Andre The Cena
By Aaron Wood
Dec 11, 2011 - 2:45 PM
VINTAGE
COLLECTION #185 Mean
Gene opened the show fully explaining the concept of the Inspiration
series even though we're now three weeks in, noting that we didn't
want to pmiss the final one, but he first threw it to the master of
the 450 splash, Justin Gabriel. Gabriel's pick was Shawn Michaels,
although his explanation was as short and sweet to the point where
Gabriel's reasoning amounted to nothing more then "He was the
best at everything he did".
This
sent us to an episode of Prime Time Wrestling that on October 5th
1992, although taped on September 22nd, in Brandon Manitoba, as HBK
was set to take on The Birdman, Koko B. Ware. Te announcers for this
match were Gorilla Monsoon and Reverend Slick. He joined things in
progress as Shawn ducked a Ware dive out of the corner, before
whipping him off the ropes and hitting a back elbow for a 2 count. A
dropkick followed. Shawn worked him in the corner before putting on
a chinlock.
Koko
got out of it and scored a small package for a 2 count, but it didn't
keep Shawn down and Michaels came right back with a backbreaker. He
went up top and hit a fist drop for a 2 count. Ware blocked a charge
and began a comeback. However, he missed a charge to the corner and
HBK hit the "reverse thrust kick" (Sweet Chin Music, albeit
a more rudimentary version) for the win.
Our
next person up for a selection was Zack Ryder as he inevitably chose
Edge. He wasn't the biggest guy, but he always gave 100%, had the
best matches on the card and was funny and charismatic. It was Gene
who noted that Edge used to lead Ryder as we sent it to a rare
pre-2011 reunion for Edge & Christian as we went to the WWE RAW
of March 21st 2005, as Edge & Christian teamed up to take on
Chris Jericho and Shelton Benjamin.
Our
next man was the Great White, Sheamus. Gene, in his "Up Next"
spiel before the break, not only dropped a "fella" on us,
but also, when calling Sheamus the Celtic Warrior, he pronounced
Celtic in the way that us Scottish people do, saying it as "Sell-tic"
not "Kel-tic". Which was nice.
Anyway,
after the break, Gene, in the studio, set up Sheamus's pick, noting
that since his debut, Sheamus had wowed with his power and
underestimated agility, as well as being one of the most recognisable
Superstars ever, thanks to his white body and red hair. Anyway,
Sheamus said that growing up in Ireland, the man who stood out most
was Macho Man Randy Savage. He picked up his athleticism and was the
best talker he'd ever seen.
This
sent us to Prime Time Wrestling once again, and indeed 1992 once
again as Randy Savage going up against "Terrific" Terry
Taylor in a match that aired on December 14th and taped on November
23th. The match also appeared on the "Wrestlefest 93" VHS
release, which is where this video comes from.
In
hinting at the final selector , rather than seeing clips oft them, we
saw the opening signature to WWE's programming, just so the person
wasn't given away. Back from the break, Gene said he had enjoyed
hearing about the inspirations, but the final Superstar he'd hear
form is the one and only John Cena. But just who would he pick. As
it goes, it was Andre The Giant. If you had asked the 9-year old Dr.
Thuggypants, he'd have told you Hulk Hogan, but Because he's
in TNA and on our shitlist so you aren't getting him on TV ever
after being in the business for so long now and learning how
impactful he was, Cena thinks he was the best of all time, and would
have liked to have a match with him.
We
took it to Madison Square Garden on July 25th 1988 as Andre faced off
with Hacksaw Jim Duggan in a lumberjack match.
Gene
said Andre picked up a hard-fought victory there before himself
pondering a Cena vs. Andre match, wondering if Cena would actually be
able to hit the Attitude Adjustment on the Giant. Gene noted this
was the end of the Inspiration series, although he didn't suggest a
theme for next week in signing off.
Epilogue On
the commentary for the match we saw, Gorilla & Slick agreed it
was only a matter of time before there was gold around HBK's waist.
It would come sooner than they probably even though, as 6 days after
the match aired on TV, Shawn won the IC Title from British Bulldog at
a SNME taping, a match that aired on November 14th. He faced Bret
Hart for the WWE Title at the 1992 Survivor Series, but lost. He'd
also soon lose Sherri as his manager and start a feud with the
returning Marty Jannetty in the coming months after.
Koko
B. Ware, who was part of High Energy with Owen Hart would make their
only PPV appearance at that same Survivor Series, losing to the
Headshrinkers in the opener. The team soon disbanded thanks to an
Owen knee injury, with Koko floating around as a jobber until he was
released in 1994.
The
2005 match from RAW came only a week or so form the first ever Money
In The Bank ladder match at Wrestlemania 21, in which all four men
here took part. Edge, of course, won that match. While Edge would
wait until the following February to cash his briefcase in, in the
meantime he started the storyline that would end up propelling his
career to that of tippy-top main eventer, when Edge was paired up
with Lita thanks to their off-screen affair becoming public knowledge
and Matt Hardy's return.
After
MITB, Christian started a mini-feud with John Cena when Cena was
drafted to RAW as the first pick in the lottery, thanks to some
segments done earlier in the year. He got a title shot, being part
of a Triple Threat match with Chris Jericho at Vengeance, although
Cena retained the title. The following Smackdown, Christian found
himself drafted over to Smackdown, debuting as a surprise participant
in the new "Smackdown" Title match they had that night,
although he lost to JBL (although that was rendered moot when
Smackdown drafted World Champion Batista).
As
for Jericho, he continued to feud with Cena beyond Vengeance.
However, Jericho decided to leave the WWE and so after losing again
to Cena at Summerslam, the next night on RAW, they had a "You're
Fired" match with the loser getting pink-slipped, a match
Jericho (of course) lost.
Shelton
was the unluckiest of the bunch. The IC Champion would hold the
title until June when Carlito was drafted to RAW and beat Benjamin in
his first match on that brand (meaning Carlito had won titles in his
debuts on RAW & Smackdown). Shelton would then not do much of
note until the winter when he started the angle that saw his "Mother"
brought in.
This
match with Terry Taylor would be one of Savage's final matches as he
became an announcer shortly afterwards when Monday Night RAW made
it's debut in January 1993. He would, of course, still wrestle on
occasion, even entering the 1993 Royal Rumble, but his WWE in-ring
career was winding down.
Having
returned to the WWE in September 1992 from WCW, TNA's own John
Lauranaitis came in billed as "Terrific" Terry Taylor in an
effort to move away from any memory of the Red Rooster gimmick that
crippled his last spell with the company. However, he never got past
being an enhancement talent this time either before spending a short
time as an interviewer before leaving for WCW, once again, in
1993.
Andre
was feuding with Duggan at this time thanks to Duggan knocking Andre
out (with the 2x4) at a TV taping. However, in thier matches (mostly
at house shows), such as here, Andre was the man who came out on top
the vast majority of the time. Concurrent to this "every day"
feud with Duggan, Andre & Ted DiBiase, as the Mega Bucks, were
feuding with Hogan & Savage as the Mega Powers, with the four
facing off in a tag match that main event that year's Summerslam.
As
was seeming to start here, once Duggan's matches with Andre were
over, Duggan became the US Patriot we all know and love, starting
feuds with various folks, starting with Dino Bravo. They would end
up on opposing teams at Survivor Series that year, with Duggan
getting himself DQ'ed for using the 2x4 on Bravo.