This Week In WWE Vintage Collection History: To Be Fair, "Light Heavyweights Month" Doesn't Have The Same Ring To It...
By Aaron Wood Jun 3, 2012 - 10:16 AM
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As
you may have seen on TGIF a week last Friday, when I covered for
Matt, I shameless self-promoted the fact that I'd started a blog.
Then on Friday, I shamelessly self-promoted that I would be truly
kicking off the blog with my take on the new Ridley Scott film,
"Prometheus". Well, I wrote it and it's now live on the
site. So go and read it now at: AARON
WOOD IS CRITICAL
Anyway,
on with the show...
VINTAGE
COLLECTION #209 Mean
Gene welcomed us to the show with the old WWE Cruiserweight Title
right beside him, as he introduced us to the beginning of
Cruiserweight month, and what better way to see where it all got
started in WWE, at least in modern terms, 15 years ago with a
month-long tournament to crown the very first WWE Light Heavyweight
champion. And to start us off, we went to RAW of November 3rd 1997
and the opening match of the deal as Aguila took on fellow luchadore,
Super Loco.
After
the break, Gene introduced the next match, which saw Taka Michinoku
arrive in the WWE to take on Devon Storm in first round action. gene
noted that Storm would become better known as Crowbar in WCW. This
match took place on the RAW of November 10th, the night after the
Montreal Screwjob.
We
went right to the next quarter final in the bracket saw Scott Taylor
(who Gene quipped was the original man to "take care and spike
his hair" when he became Scotty 2 Hotty) against some dude
called Eric Shelley. Tried to research this fellow for the round up
bit below. Could only find three matches he ever had. This one, one
from RAW in July 1997 and one from CZW in 2006... This match took
place on the RAW of November 17th, although it was taped on November
11th.
It
was finally time for Brian Christopher to face first round action
next as we jumped to his match against Flash Flanagan in the final
match of the quarter final round, which aired the following week on
November 24th's RAW.
We
jumped right to the semi-final round action, whcih happened entirely
on the December 1st edition of RAW (taped Nov. 25th), and indeed, we
saw Scott Taylor awaiting his semi-final round opponent, Brian
Christopher. However, he didn't exactly get Lawler Junior...
So
with Taylor having to forfeit his match, giving Brian Christopher a
bye through to the final, Gene introduced the other semi-final match,
pitting Taka Michinoku and Aguila for the other final spot. Who
would prevail, Japan or Mexico?
And
so it was time for our final match to determine the first WWE Light
Heavyweight Champion, with Taka Michinoku facing Brian Christopher,
as they kicked off the Degeneration X: In Your House PPV event on
December 7th 1997.
Gene
signed off the show, noting what Taka's reign would be like, which
I'll note below (I'm sure the WWE are trying to shit me up by doing
this job for me at this point), before saying there would be more of
the same action next week.
Epilogue Devon
Storm would have spend the best part of the next 2 years in the WWE
as enhancement talent on the likes of Shotgun Saturday Night, Jakked,
Metal and any of the other 869865875876 shows of that ilk WWE ended
up having until 1999 when he left and joined WCW.
Super
Loco was obviously the man who would go onto be known as Super Crazy.
He appeared in some WWE matches, mainly on Super Astros, as part of
the talent agreement with AAA the WWE had at the time. However, soon
into 1998, Paul Heyman signed him up for ECW, where he became Super
Crazy, going onto feud with the likes of Tajiri & Little
Guido.
Aguila
was a very young Essa Rios. He would impress enough that he got a
Light Heavyweight Title shot at Wrestlemania 14 against Taka. He
wasn't used again of note until he appeared on the 1999 ECW Cyberslam
PPV, again facing Taka. He then re-debuted in the WWE as Essa Rios
in 2000, winning the Light Heavyweight Title from Gillberg on Sunday
Night Heat, bringing with him a certain valet named Lita...
After
the feud with Taka was over, Brian Christopher ended up starting to
team with the man he was due to face in the semi-final round, Scott
Taylor. While Taylor started off playing the "straight man"
to Christopher's wacky guy, Taylor soon became just like him, and
started referring to himself as "Too Hot", complementing
Christopher's "Too Sexy" moniker, dubbing their team "Too
Much".
After
defending the title against the likes of Pantera at No Way Out Of
Texas and, as mentioned, Aguila at Wrestlemania 14, Taka would
continue to defend the title across the WWE's group of shows for
another 7 months before losing it to Christian at Judgement Day: In
Your House, in what was Christian's debut match in the WWE. He was,
but this point, part of Kaientai, and ended up paired off with
Funaki.
