WWF Superstars of Wrestling

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.

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."

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.

When I was a young child growing up in the Washington, DC suburbs during the mid to late 1980's, My aunt who lives in Northwest Washington, DC was a long time wrestling fan and she got me hooked from that day forward. In my area, WWF Superstars of Wrestling came on WTTG-TV channel 5 in Washington and I watched Superstars every Saturday afternoon to see what was going on during the week in the WWF. It was the show to watch if you were a World Wrestling Federation fan back in the day, and compared to the popular shows of today, Superstars was a ground-breaking wrestling show during the ladder half of the 1980's.

Below is in My opinion and a brief description of the program.

I'd always watch WWF Superstars of Wrestling as much as could. In the show's later years it came on late at night and this was thrilling. It was hosted by Vince McMahon and Jerry "The King" Lawler. The show would have good matches mostly some big names against some no names and then there'd be a good main event. Three matches in 1994 that come to mind that were special was the then WWF Champion Bret "The Hit-man Hart" against Bob Backlund. It was a terrific technical wrestling match. Backlund thought that he beat Bret because it was a very close count and Hart rolled Bob up and beat him. This is the match that caused Backlund to snap. He viciously attacked Bret and then looked at his hands like what has he done? This was really a big surprise. Another match up was when King Kong Bundy returned to the ring and fought Mitch Bishop. Bundy just totally mauled this wrestler. And the other was when Shawn Michaels and Diesel (Kevin Nash) were tag team champions. They fought Reno Riggins and Gary Scott. They just beat these two wrestlers up but it was mostly Big Daddy Cool that did the work. He Jacknife Powerbombed Scott very hard to the mat! Also during this match up Charlie Minn, a new WWF personality talked a bit and this appearance of his went something like this. He just got a note and it read " The King's royal robe has not been washed in six months" and he said it must stink! I thought that this was hilarious! This show was one of the WWF's best shows! If you are able to watch this show in any way do it because it was a special one. Thanks for reading!