WWE Superstars Results for 10/23/14 from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri (Taped 10/20/14)
* Jack Swagger defeated Bo Dallas with the Patriot Lock. Swagger got a huge pop.
* Tyson Kidd defeated Kofi Kingston with a Sharpshooter. Natalya was at ringside.
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At WrestleMania VIII, the Ultimate Warrior made his long awaited return to the World Wrestling Federation when he would show up to help Hulk Hogan fight off an attack from Sid Justice and Papa Shango at the end of the main event. It was clear moving forward that Warrior was scheduled to feud with Sid after the event, but Sid would soon be suspended and leave the company. Once Sid left, Warrior was instead placed in a feud with Voodoo master Papa Shango. What happened next would one of the funnier angles in WWF history, although that wasn’t necessarily the intent.
The feud got started on the May 9th, 1992 edition of WWF Superstars. During the program, Shango would put a hex on the Ultimate Warrior, which was Shango’s way of trying to ruin the Warrior’s career and gain possession of Warrior’s soul. The following week, Warrior defeated Brian Knobbs of the Nasty Boys in a singles match, but Shango came out and put another curse, or spell, on Warrior. Shango was clearly having an impact on Warrior as Warrior would clutch his stomach and fall off the ring apron in pain, and then later vomit backstage, all over a “physician”.
You can watch the puking segment below. Twenty seconds of fun!
Then, on the May 23rd, 1992 edition of Superstars, the feud between Papa Shango and Ultimate Warrior continued on, when Warrior was being interviewed by Mean Gene when a black substance started to drip from his head. You see, Shango’s primary form of attack was through playing mind games and casting spells, he hadn’t actually touched the Warrior yet by this point.
Cue Up Black Goo At 2:25
In the following weeks, the black magic would continue. In one of the more shocking examples of Papa’s voodoo, Shango would light an opponent on fire on the May 30th edition of Superstars. Then on June 7th, the black goo would return, when Shango did something to Mean Gene that caused the black substance to come out of his sleeve during an interview. (With Mean Gene being bald they couldn’t hide it in his hair, so down his sleeve it was). Shango also continued to light his jobber opponents on fire during the month of June.
Also, by June 1992 the Undertaker began teaming with the Ultimate Warrior at live events to go to battle against Papa Shango and the Berzerker. Yes, the Undertaker had been feuding with the Berzerker at this time, so the feuds came together. The Warrior continued to dominate live event matches against Papa Shango, whether they be singles matches or tag team matches. Papa Shango simply never stood chance.
Warrior’s return in 1992 was short lived, however, as he would leave again by November 1992 for rumored reasons that include everything from steroid use, to cutbacks, to having his character moved down the card. Papa Shango would stay around until the summer of 1993 and would return a couple of years later as Kama, and then once again as the well known Godfather character.
As for my personal opinion on the feud, I thought it was an interesting feud and kind of entertaining. Yeah, it was silly with what they were doing, but the WWF during that era was full of cartoon like characters. It was a different attempt to make an angle interesting and you’ve got to give them credit for that.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed the Papa Shango character, I suppose the character is a guilty pleasure of mine. The character was portrayed very well and the spookiness of the character kept me interested in Shango as a child. Obviously, looking back at the feud and the superstar, Shango wasn’t exactly the best wrestler in the world.
In the long run, this angle hurt Papa Shango. Yeah, he was able to frighten the audience, but when you get so easily dismantled against Warrior for months, it damaged his image. Especially since he had a spell over the guy, you’d think he would have been able to win a match or two.
It would have been interesting if Shango had actually gained possession or control of Warrior somehow and had Warrior do what he wanted him to do. That could have lasted for a while and then have the blow off between Warrior and Shango at Survivor Series or something along those lines would have been fun to see. But, that was never going to happen. The feud was just a way to keep Warrior busy before his feuds with Randy Savage and Ric Flair.
Shockingly, there wasn’t a final showdown between Warrior and Shango on television. Instead, they had a match or two on Coliseum Home Video releases. Of course, Warrior was victorious over Shango each time and the feud lost it spark rather quickly.
What are your memories of the Ultimate Warrior/Papa Shango feud? Feel free to share them or anything regarding either character!
Thanks for reading.
Bob Colling – Wrestling Recaps
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As we first reported, Jeff Jarrett met with Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff yesterday. Jarrett is the executive producer of the January 4th New Japan Pro Wrestling pay-per-view that airs live in North America as a co-promotion with his start-up Global Force Wrestling promotion. In addition to Jarrett and Koff, ROH booker Delirious and other ROH officials were at the meeting in Baltimore.
Dave Meltzer noted on last night’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that one of the reasons that Jarrett met with Koff was because the ROH Championship is scheduled to be defended at the NJPW PPV, and some ROH talents are also scheduled to appear at the show. ROH has a clause in their contracts prohibiting their talent from appearing on pay-per-views for another wrestling promotion, and Jarrett was apparently trying to smooth that over. Meltzer added that this may be one of the final items that needs to be finalized before the NJPW PPV can be officially announced.
Melter added that there was talk that Jarrett may have also discussed making a deal where ROH would promote the NJPW PPV after the ROH Final Battle PPV on December 7th.
Wrestling Inc reports that In addition to smoothing over a clause that prevents ROH talent from appearing on another wrestling company’s pay-per-view, Jarrett and ROH also discussed the possibility of collaborating together stateside and for the New Japan Tokyo Dome show. Jarrett is keen on doing a talent exchange involving wrestlers and announcers, such as Kevin Kelly. Nothing was decided, but the two parties are expected to continue talks.
The ongoing problems between Ring Of Honor and Michael Elgin apparently continue. ROH announced earlier this month that Elgin would be returning to the promotion after some Visa issues prevented Elgin from leaving Canada for a period of time. Elgin later took to his Twitter to quit the promotion.
We later reported that there are those in the company that believe that Elgin was trying to work his own angle and return at this Saturday’s ROH television tapings in Lakeland, FL. Elgin noted on Facebook yesterday that ROH expects him to be at Saturday’s TV tapings, and threatened him with legal action. Here is the message that Elgin says he received from the company:
Hey,We already have the flight bought (which you should have gotten already). No room to eat the costs. It will all be fine and you can come back and get back to normal. There is really no choice because if you are not in Florida it will get messy and we don’t want that.
We want to finish this out and then we can see what to do next.
In Florida we will do a match and an interview. In the interview you need to apologize and be sure to reference Kalamazoo by name since it is a TV market. Do NOT mention the visa situation. Just say that you have had personal issues that kept you away. Reference the World Title and say you respect Jay Briscoe. It doesn’t need to be long but we need to make sure you talk about your remorse for missing events, etc.
Lets just do this the easy way and get through the tapings starting fresh. You have been great here for the last couple years and it is in all of our best interests to keep it going like it was before. I don’t want to see you make another mistake so it is best to listen to us in this regard.
Thanks
Obviously this could all be an angle, and Elgin replied to a user stating that he “might have to be” at Saturday’s show. Elgin also posted the following:
Maybe I should have not posted this, but since Sept 6th people have tried to make me out to be a bad guy. Someone who is unprofessional and being unreasonable for my actions. This is the type of thing I have had to deal with. Or being told be quiet immigration might see your twitter or facebook while working on your status…… that says we know we messed up so don’t put any attention on it.I used Highspots to get my story out, and if you saw I was very respectful and didn’t use my time to bury or hurt anyone’s image. Yet for months people within ROH have tried to hurt mine. I’m not letting someone make me look like I’m the bad guy in this situation.
– WWE Superstar Bad News Barrett is expected back in the ring soon. The Wrestling Observer reports that the latest word is that he should be back in action no later than early December.
– The October 17th WWE NXT live event in Leesburg, FL drew 170 fans while the October 18th NXT live event in Tampa drew 325 fans.
Partial credit goes to Raj Giri & Frank Sijtsma
It appears the idea of Brock Lesnar competing inside the Octagon is something UFC president Dana White would not be against. White, in his weekly UFC Download interview, was asked about recent reports surrounding a Lesnar return to the promotion.
“I have a great relationship with Brock, we talk all the time,” White said. “I don’t know, we’ll see (about a return). If he wants to fight, he knows my number. It’s pretty amazing what he did and accomplished her while having diverticulitis. It would be interesting to see a 100-percent healthy Brock Lesnar compete.”
Lesnar (5-3) stepped away from MMA after a loss to Alistair Overeem in 2011. It was his second straight defeat, as he showed obvious signs from his battle with diverticulitis. Lesnar resigned with the WWE after leaving the sport, but Jim Ross recently stated that his contract expires in March with the promotion.
The 37-year-old Lesnar won the UFC heavyweight title in 2008 when he stopped legend Randy Couture in the second round. He defended the belt by avenging one of his three losses with a second round finish of Frank Mir, and also submitted Shane Carwin before losing to current UFC champion Cain Velasquez and Overeem.
– It was reported on UFC Tonight this week that the UFC is working on Myles Jury vs. Donald Cerrone on January 18th. Cerrone and Jury were rumored for a fight this year, but plans fell through.
Cerrone is on a five-fight win streak that was highlighted by four consecutive finishes before scoring a decision victory over Eddie Alvarez, while Jury has yet to suffer a loss in both the UFC – six straight – and overall – going 15-0. He is an alum of The Ultimate Fighter.
– The Ultimate Fighter is currently in Season 20, and features an all-female cast of strawweights. The series concludes in December with the first-ever 115-pound champion being crowned at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale.
And while the season is still in the first round stage of elimination fights, competitor Randa Markos let out some news on Twitter recently. Marks, who has reached the quarterfinal round, confirmed all of those cast for the season will be on the finale show.
Randa Markos wrote: “Great news, we’re all fighting in The Finale, including the final fight for the first-ever 115-pound belt! December 12/12 #TUF See you there”
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
– The current plan for Dean Ambrose is to have him keep using the double-arm DDT as his finisher instead of the headlock DDT, and to keep calling it ‘Dirty Deeds’.
– WWE Hall of Famers Terry Funk and Mil Mascaras won’t be wrestling each other in a singles match this December in Japan after all. Instead, the main event of the December 11th show at Korakuen Hall will be Funk, Mascaras and Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, Kaz Hayashi and Nosawa.
– While WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar was not scheduled for either Survivor Series or TLC as of this past weekend, WWE officials are in talks regarding more TV dates for Lesnar to build up his 2015 Royal Rumble match.
Credit Mike Bessler for the following show results.
Tonight’s show opens with another look at last week’s senses-shattering four-way number one contender’s match and some words from Bobby Roode. We also hear The Wolves’ challenge to the TNA roster. Looks like tonight is a loaded show, for sure.
Jeff Hardy’s music hits and Matt hits the ramp. He climbs into the ring and grabs a mic. He announces that he’ll be partnering with his brother Jeff for a run at the tag belts. They’re taking on DJ Z and Jessie Godderz tonight.
Matt & Jeff Hardy vs. DJ Z and Jessie Godderz
DJ Z goes for some cheap heat by spiking up his hair while he’s facing off with Matt. They grapple back and forth to warm up and then the advantage shifts to Matt. Jessie comes in to try and shake things up and both Hardys take him out and then double-team DJ Z. There doesn’t seem to be a five-count from the ref on this double-team, either because it goes on forever. Jeff is the legal man and before long, Jessie is in there with a tag and he overpowers Jeff. Jeff comes back just enough to tag in Matt and they double-team again. Matt tries to get the jump on Jessie but Z distracts him and Jessie gets the jump on him. Godderz stays in control and tags in DJ Z who brings Matt down to the mat for a while. Hardy battles back and they trade blows. Both dudes end up on the mat and then crawl for their respective corners, each getting a tag. Jeffdd and Jessie battle again and Jeff earns one near fall and then another. DJ Z breaks up the second one and Jeff hits him with a Whisper in the Wind. Jessie jumps on Jeff for a near fall. Jeff ends up tagging in Matt, hitting a swanton and then Matt covers for the three-count. Hardys advance.
Result: Matt & Jeff Hardy defeat DJ Z and Jessie Godderz via pinfall.
Promos roll, followed by commercials.
Bram is in the ring after the break and he recounts his feud with Abyss and then sends out a wicked public taunting to Devon. Devon heads out and it’s a big ol’ rumble. The guys brawl in and out of the ring. Devon gains momentum when they make it back inside and starts choking Bram and slamming his head on to the mat. Angle comes out as security breaks up the scrum. Kurt announces a hardcore match for sometime later tonight.
Backstage, Brittany makes eyes at Samuel Shaw and they have a cryptic convo. Then, more commercials.
Low Ki is in the house when we return to the show. He calls out Samoa Joe to be his partner in the tag tournament. Samuel Shaw comes out and says he’ll partner with Gunner. This should be something.
Low Ki and Samoa Joe vs. Samuel Shaw and Gunner
Joe and Shaw square off and it already looks like a mismatch. Joe powers him into a corner and peppers Shaw with punches. Low Ki gets tagged in and they double-team briefly and Low Ki caps it off with a move off the ropes and a near fall. Shaw manages to tag in Gunner and he goes at it with Low Ki. As momentum shifts to Gunner, Brittany strolls out to hang with Shaw at ringside. Gunner stays on top of Low Ki for a spell. He tags in Shawwho tries for a pinfall. Shaw tags out quicklyand Gunner resumes his work on Low Ki. He goes up top and it looks like Brittany is calling Shaw over to dump Gunner off his perch. Gunner waves her off and runs into a kick from Low Ki. Joe gets tagged in and picks up a near fall. He tries to follow up with a muscle buster and Gunner turns it into something like a facebuster. Gunnner triues to come at Joe off the ropes and Brittany grabs his leg. Low Ki runs in and cracks Gunner in the head with a kick and Joe gets him in the choke. Gunner taps and Low Ki and Joe advance.
Samuel Shaw and Gunner defeat Low Ki and Samoa Joe.
Post-match, Gunner scolds Brittany and Shaw attacks the big guy with a chair. Brittany loves it.
Backstage, EC3 and Tyrus discuss entering the tag team tournament.
After the break, MVP says he’s not too worried about Lashley facing Roode for the title.
Inside the venue, The Menagerie’s music hits. Rebel comes out for a match with Angelina Love and before anything can happen with that, Havok charges out and totally works her over. Then Gail Kim comes out, ostensibly to make the save. Havok trashes her too. Refs and TNA officials break it up but Gail goes at Havok again and has to be pulled off. The announce team isn’t sure if she’s medically cleared. Commercial sign.
Off the commercial, Kurt Angle says he’ll raise the stakes for the title match when Roode and Lashley are face to face later on.
Devon vs. Bram
Bram runs at Devon and swings at him with that metal turnbuckle thingy. Devon dodges it and moves the fight to the ring. A couple moves later, Bram is chucked outside. Devon follows him out and hits him in the face with a water bottle. He keeps up the offense and sets up some spots by getting out a trash can and other stuff. Devon totally dominates the match until Bram gets in a decent shot with a trash can. Bram gets Devon on his knees and chides him but Devon delivers a low blow and he’s back in charge. He lays a crushed trash can on Bram and goes up top but Magnus runs in and cracks him with a kendo stick. Bram lands a blow with the turnbuckle piece and covers for the win.
Result: Bram defeats Devon via pinfall.
Backstage, Ken Anderson taps Sarge to be his tag partner against MVP and Kenny King. Then, commercials happen.
Backstage, Ken Anderson taps Sarge to be his tag partner against MVP and Kenny King.
Ken Anderson and Sarge vs. MVP and Kenny King
MVP and King get some boos by hopping on one leg in front of Sarge. The bell wings and the bad guys slip outside. The ref isn’t even counting. Anderson looks strong to start but MVP hits him from outside and King takes advantage. He stays on top and then tags MVP in who keeps it up. Anderson stumbles to his feet and both guys collide and collapse after mutual clotheslines. They race (slowly) to their corners or tags. King somes in and Sarge hip-tosses him. After a few more moves, Sarge hits a fisherman’s suplex and gets a near fall. He then hoists King on his shoulders but MVP breaks up that move. Anderson jumps in, MVP comes at him and Sarge hits him with a blocking move. But King sneaks a roll-up and holds Sarge’s tights for the pin. MVP and King advance.
MVP and Kenny King defeat Ken Anderson and Sarge via pinfall.
Another backstage segment rolls. Eric Young tries to talk Spud into being his partner for the tag series. Break time.
The Wolves chat about how ready they are and then James Storm interrupts and presents Manik to talk to Davy about revolution…
Inside the venue, EC3’s music hits. Sounds like trouble. After Carter and Tyrus are in the ring, EY emerges and says Rock Star Spud will be his partner but Spud doesn’t come out. EC3 takes to the mic and says that the “I’m With Spud” movement is a sham and that Spud is a loser. Out comes Spud.
Eric Young and Rock Star Spud vs. EC3 and Tyrus
The Wolves chat about how ready they are and then James Storm interrupts and presents Manik to talk to Davy about revolution…
Inside the venue, EC3’s music hits. Sounds like trouble. After Carter and Tyrus are in the ring, EY emerges and says Rock Star Spud will be his partner but Spud doesn’t come out. EC3 takes to the mic and says that the “I’m With Spud” movement is a sham and that Spud is a loser. Out comes Spud.
Eric Young and Rock Star Spud vs. EC3 and Tyrus
After the bell, it looks like EY will start against EC3 but he tags in Spud and the crowd approves. Spud and Carter stand toe to toe and EC3 laughs in his face and tags in Tyrus. Another face off ensues and Spud looks for the tag but Young encourages him to stay in. Spud moves wickly off the ropes–tting Tyrus with some swift kicks but Tyrus responds with a head butt to the sternum and then lands a heart punch. Tyrus dominates Spud and Tenay follows up on the heart punch with a reference to Ox Baker’s passing. Tyrus keeps up the drubbing and Spud gets a slight glimmer of hope but he doesn’t tag out. Tyrus slams him down again and tags in EC3. Carter methodically surveys the ring and then slaps around Spud. Spud rears back with a slap of his own, knocking down Carter and giving him time to tag in Young. Young gets all over Carter, ultimately nailing him with an elbow drop. A near fall follows and EC3 slips outside, followed by Tyrus. Young takes them out with a dive, they stand up and then Spud takes them out. Tyrus and Spud end up back inside. Tyrus goes to the cover but Carter’s the legal man so he comes back in and covers. EC3 and Tyrus advance. Good match.
Result: EC3 and Tyrus defeat Eric Young and Rock Star Spud via pinfall.
After some commercials, Kurt Angle comes out for the contract signing. He says there will be a special stipulation announced for that match shortly. Both guys come out and Kurt asks each side if they have anything to say. Roode says he was way close the first time and that he’s ready to go all the way in their rematch. MVP gets involved, calls Roode “Yoko Ono” for some reason and then cuts a promo on Roode. Angle says he’s naming himself as the special referee for the match. MVP says they won’t agree but Lashley signs the contract anyway and we have a match…next week!
