WWF Superstars of Wrestling

Before the WWF became cartoon with Hulk Hoagan leading the way, the events of WWF TV broadcasts of the very early 1980s resembled the wild, wild west with all kinds of grudges and vicious acts of violence performed by some of the wrestlers that are known today to be the WWF's most beloved stars. Some of these seemingly very real moments stand out. A maniacal Sgt. Slaughter whipped then champion Bob Backlund with a riding crop after Backlund showed him up in a fitness test. Welts were all over Backlund! Sarge made the Iron Shiek look like a daycare provider! Slaughter also issued a challenge to anyone who could break his dreaded cobra clutch hold. This led a legendary and bloody alley match with commentator Pat Patterson. Hall of Fame member Blackjack Mulligan with Freddie Blassie came into the WWF with a claw hold that was censored on television. He claimed he was the true giant at 6'7" and challenged Andre long before Big John Studd in 1984. Adrian Adonis used his ominously named "Good Night, Irene" sleeper to take out the competition. A New Yorker clad in black leather, he was an ominous figure. George "the Animal" Steele was far from a crowd pleaser, as well. Even Jimmy Snuka was a fearsome sight as he set out maim opponents until Ray "the Crippler" Stevens delivered a piledriver onto the cement floor leaving Snuka a bloody mess. All these encounters took place a decade before hardcore wrestling was ever spoken of.

For all newer wrestling fans or older fans who don't recall, "WWF Superstars of Wrestling" is a perfect example of how wrestling used to be presented on television. Long before wrestling's explosion in popularity on Monday night cable TV, most wrestling fans used to be satisfied with these one-hour syndicated wrestling programs. Typical programs featured big-name wrestlers against jobbers (those wrestlers who always lost); interviews that were taped (usually) weeks in advance; promotions of upcoming wrestling events; promos, or skits, of wrestlers soon to either make their debut or introduce a new gimmick; updates of current events, feuds, etc. in a given wrestling organization; maybe but not always a confrontation between two currently feuding wrestlers; and perhaps a main event pitting two big-name wrestlers against each other. Most people were satisfied with these 60-minute programs for years. Of course, professional wrestling has improved greatly much better since the Monday night explosion, and the makeup of syndicated and cable wrestling programs has greatly changed. But for those who perhaps caught the professional wrestling bug in recent times, this is how it was. The now-defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) organizations -- plus other regional promotions that have long-since folded in the wake of Vince McMahon's expansion of his WWF -- had syndicated wrestling programs similar to "WWF Superstars of Wrestling."

Every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. I watched Superstars. All the biggest events happened on this show at the time. Challenge, which aired Sunday mornings, was decent too, but all the big stuff happened on this show. Wrestlers would do all their interviews with Mean Gene on a platform next to the live crowd or talk on their own to the screen in front of a background that promoted them. The matches were usually squashes but sometimes you would see 2 mid carders square off in the main event. There were also interview shows that usually resulted in violence thus setting up a feud. These segments ranged from Pipers Pit, The Body Shop, The Flower Shop, The Snake Pit, The Brother Love Show, The Funeral Parlor, and The Barber Shop. I don't recall any titles changing hands on this show. That usually happened at pay per views and Saturday Nights Main Event.

Before Raw, there was Wrestling Challenge, Before Wrestling Challenge, there was Superstars. The greatest T.V. wrestling show ever. This is where you went if you wanted action and the latest news, feuds, and more! Sadly, in 1996, this became a RECAP show. The best show they had became a FRIGGIN Recap show.

WWF Superstars of Wrestling was a brilliant show which I began watching in 1984.

There were a lot of differences between this show and today's shows such as WWE Smackdown and WWE Raw. For starters, the majority of matches on these programmes featured big wrestlers such as Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jake "The Snake" Roberts taking on those jobber wrestlers who always got their butts kicked within minutes. There were big matches on WWF Superstars but the majority were jobber matches.

There was quite a bit of talk on this show. There would be interviews with big stars, skits giving the fans a tease about what was to come, skits about new wrestlers coming to the WWF and talk about the latest upcoming PPV events. Watching this show was kind of like reading WWF Magazine because you got all the news and gossip you could want.

All in all, WWF Superstars of Wrestling was a great show. I'm not sure if it sill airs today and if it does, it is most likely a highlights show of Raw and Smackdown but in it's heydey, it was great!