Shotgun Saturday Night

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Shotgun Saturday Night

Postby CheMateo » Sun Mar 25, 2007 5:20 pm

Well thanks in part to the Hardcore diaries it got me in a sort of Terry Funk kick. And it made me think of a certain show the WWE made back in 97 and I was wondering if anybody else remembers it. Shotgun Saturday Night was WWE's attempt at making an edgier show more in the vein of ECW. I even recall seeing some of the usual ECW fans at the first episode. It was originally aired live and from clubs throughout New York. In L.A. it would come on at the ungodly time slot of 1am, hard for me to stay up that late back then. So I didn't get to watch them regularly. Anybody know when the ended that format of being live and edgier?

I remember the first episode quite well. Vince McMahon and Sunny were on commentary and it was funny seeing Vince wearing a more casual and "hip" attire instead of his usual tacky suits. The ring they were using had alot of give which stood out alot.

The Godwins took on the Flying Nuns which I believe were to become the Headbangers.

Then Golddust took on the Sultan (wow I can't believe I even remember that gimmick I haven't thought about in a long time) but the real kicker and act that was to try and give the show a more "extreme" tone was Marlena jumping on the apron and flashing the Sultan and the crowd went nuts.

In a cool match, mini luchas, Mascarita Sagarda vs Mini Vader. They were doing all kinds of crazy moves (cork screw planchas and hurricanrans etc.) and the action was fast paced. It was a lot of fun and its too bad they never really capitalized and that sort of style.

Finally in the main event Ahmed Johnson took on Crush. I remember them Ahmed doing a running dive from the dance stage on to Crush and finally Crush hitting Ahmed in the head with a chair. Then a brawl broke out and they started fighting out on the streets and concluded with Ahmed Pearl River Plunging D'lo on the roof of a car. Wild stuff for 97 WWF.

I never got a chance to see when the Funker came back and claiming he wanted to Rumble with someone, this was the episode before the Royal Rumble. Terry went on to say no one wants to rumble with him and called WCW wrestlers egg sucking scumbags, then called JR and Oklahoma Asshole and Vince a Yankee bastard. He also called out Austin who was doing guest commentary with Vince and JR. Austin finally came down and brawled with Terry. Vince apologized for the comments, which was funny since this was supposed to be a more extreme show. Because of his comments Terry wasn't used anymore after his booking with the rumble until he was supposed to start a program with Cactus in 98.

I've seen some of that segment on youtube. It made me wonder, if anyone knows, was Terry supposed to start a program with Austin, maybe planting the seeds for a future program with the two? A battle of the Texans? It seems weird that the Funker would just have a random brawl with Austin.
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Postby The Six » Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:10 pm

WCW Saturday Night was the best wrestling show.

I remember seeing Goldberg vs. Meng, which was actually pretty good. This was during the time when Goldberg's streak would be at 40 or something on a given Nitro, then the next week he would have 5 more wins because they counted all of the house shows. And this show had all of those Power Plant guys you'd rarely see. Chuck Palumbo and his Jungle Kick, High Voltage...Saturday Night and Worldwide, those were the days.
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Postby TigerDriver98 » Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:16 pm

Live Shotguns were some of the best TV the WWF has ever produced IMO. Definitely worth staying up late to 1 am to watch

I remember watching the Funk segment when it aired and being completely blown away by how entertaining it was. It was like nothing I had ever seen in the WWF (or have since seen for them actually).

I doubt think anything was planned for Austin-Funk. I think he and the AAA guys were just a one shot to boost the Texas crowd at the Rumble.

I think the live Shotguns ended very after the Funk incident, and were of course replaced with the canned B-show material we see now.

I heard they cost to much to produce for the ratings on it got. Shame, it was damn entertaining wrestling tv.

- Speaking of old wrestling shows. I must say WCW Worldwide from WCW's last few years was such a good little show. Yung Dragons, AJ Styles, NWA Wildside guys, Elix Skipper, THE FROG etc routinely putting on decent matches with no crap to get in the way. I wish TNA or WWE's ECW was more like that....
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Postby Danzig22 » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:26 pm

I remember HHH vs undertaker on Shotgun, and I think they were in a mall and Undertaker tombstoned hunder on the escalator.
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Postby SoCalAndy » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:32 pm

Danzig22 wrote:I remember HHH vs undertaker on Shotgun, and I think they were in a mall and Undertaker tombstoned hunder on the escalator.


It was at a New York subway station.

I always use to catch Shotgun when it was on late at night. It was always a fun change from the usual arena shows.

WWF Superstars and Action Zone were my favorite shows though. I remember when I'd watch Action Zone on Fox 11 and would always get pissed when it'd be pre-empted. The WCW Saturday shows were also really awesome. Wrestling on TV use to be rad.
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