Remember WWF SuperAstros?
Here's a music video I did a while back covering the best moments from the short-lived WWF show "SuperAstros". As the story goes - Vince knew WCW had the edge on them when it came to the Cruiserweight Division and was actually worried they'd try to take over the Hispanic market by starting their own show using the Mexicans they had under contract. This was not a myth as WCW actually did a taping in Texas in January 1999 (what I would give for a tape of that show!). So Vince decided to try and get a jump start on WCW but instead of actually going and getting his own Mexican talent, he just hired Victor Quinones who put together the roster for the show. That decision alone basically killed the show immediatly as instead of bringing in the best Mexico had to offer, we got a bunch of Quinones' friends such as all of the Boricuas, Apolo Dantes, Tarzan Boy, Scorpio Jr. and rejects from the WWF roster such as Kaientai, Giant Silva and Scotty 2 Hotty. That wasn't the only decision that killed the show of course... here's a list of a few more epic decisions:
- On a show aimed at Hispanics Vince McMahon decided he didn't want any masked wrestlers. (this decision actually led directly to guys like Rey Bucanero, Scorpio Jr. and Mr. Aguila losing their masks in Mexico)
- El Hijo Del Santo was brought in to work the first few tapings until he was given an ultimatum: Lose the mask or leave.
- The show was originally scheduled to be one hour but instead was turned into a 30 minute show. The format did not change though so you had to cram 3 matches + interviews into those 30 minutes.
- To really hammer home the point that this show wasn't to be taken seriously they devoted 2/3 minutes to recapping what happened on RAW that week.
- Tzuki aka Max Mini was used as an interviewer and comedy figure. This was actually a great decision but showed how little the company cared about making this show work.
- After the first two sets of tapings there were issues with the wrestlers going long or missing their cues due to a langauge barrier with the referees so they hired a random new ref who was able to communicate with everyone.
- The show was never mentioned on any other WWF programming. It existed in it's own world.
The show started off with horrible ratings and it only got worse. The show was supposed to run for one year but ended up being cut short at the 10 month mark which included lots of filler shows at the end as the WWF stopped paying to fly wrestlers in for the tapings. To show how far the show fell: The major angle in the final month was the reuniting of Los Boricuas. Seriously.
Of course even though this show was an utter failure it still had plenty of fantastic moments for supermarks such as myself. Here are many moments I fondly recall from SuperAstros:
- We didn't get the show in Canada so the first actual show I saw was while on vacation in Florida. The Christmas show had MAX MINI VS EL TORITO! It was THE MATCH OF THE YEAR!
- Some ugly unmasked dude tearing it up against Mr. Aguila on the first episode. That man ended up being Antifaz Del Norte. He may have actually outshined Aguila in that match and was never brought back.
- Mr. Aguila's running corkscrew plancha over the top rope! Still my favorite dive ever and an absolute shame the only time he busted this gem out was two times on RAW, two times on SuperAstros, at Wrestlemania vs TAKA & only ONCE in Arena Mexico after he got unmasked and he even botched it there! This is everyone else's favorite dive ever too, right?
- Scorpio Jr. doing the only dive he has ever done in his career! (really!)
- Scorpio Jr.'s giant sombrero!!!
- Super Crazy (who was in ECW at the time) agreeing to work a few tapings under the hood of his best friend Mosco De La Merced. But he didn't have the gear. So it was Super Crazy in his own gear but wearing a Mosco De La Merced mask. QUE?
- Mr. Aguila taking sallida bumps so high that he would actually hang in the air for seconds!!!
- A random appearence by the Hardy Boyz on one episode against Mr. Aguila and El Merenguero. They tore it up and I loved it since I was a huge mark for them at the time. Classic finish as Aguila hits his SSP onto Matt who was laying on his chest. Funny part: Aguila covered him and the referee had to remind him to flip Matt over! *L*
- That fucking hot chick who did a bunch of interviews. Bob Barnett had a huge crush on her.
- Tiger Mask IV randomly showing up on two sets of tapings and getting injured in one of his matches.
- Val Venis making an appearence on one show and cutting his usual pre-match promo in Spanish which confused EVERYONE in the audience who had no idea this show existed.
- The pre-Wrestlemania show where the hot chick had to go around the building and ask fans their opinion of SuperAstros and nobody having any idea what she was talking about until she found one guy who spoke Spanish and he only wanted to talk about Stone Cold Steve Austin!
- Tons of amazing dives and highspots!
- The crowd reacting to NONE OF IT!
I could go on and on but I'll stop here and link the music video finally.:) Final question: Can you find any spot in this video that WWE agents would allow these days?
http://www.sendspace.com/file/yuab0h
(Music is a mix of songs from Bayside)
Enjoy!
- On a show aimed at Hispanics Vince McMahon decided he didn't want any masked wrestlers. (this decision actually led directly to guys like Rey Bucanero, Scorpio Jr. and Mr. Aguila losing their masks in Mexico)
- El Hijo Del Santo was brought in to work the first few tapings until he was given an ultimatum: Lose the mask or leave.
- The show was originally scheduled to be one hour but instead was turned into a 30 minute show. The format did not change though so you had to cram 3 matches + interviews into those 30 minutes.
- To really hammer home the point that this show wasn't to be taken seriously they devoted 2/3 minutes to recapping what happened on RAW that week.
- Tzuki aka Max Mini was used as an interviewer and comedy figure. This was actually a great decision but showed how little the company cared about making this show work.
- After the first two sets of tapings there were issues with the wrestlers going long or missing their cues due to a langauge barrier with the referees so they hired a random new ref who was able to communicate with everyone.
- The show was never mentioned on any other WWF programming. It existed in it's own world.
The show started off with horrible ratings and it only got worse. The show was supposed to run for one year but ended up being cut short at the 10 month mark which included lots of filler shows at the end as the WWF stopped paying to fly wrestlers in for the tapings. To show how far the show fell: The major angle in the final month was the reuniting of Los Boricuas. Seriously.
Of course even though this show was an utter failure it still had plenty of fantastic moments for supermarks such as myself. Here are many moments I fondly recall from SuperAstros:
- We didn't get the show in Canada so the first actual show I saw was while on vacation in Florida. The Christmas show had MAX MINI VS EL TORITO! It was THE MATCH OF THE YEAR!
- Some ugly unmasked dude tearing it up against Mr. Aguila on the first episode. That man ended up being Antifaz Del Norte. He may have actually outshined Aguila in that match and was never brought back.
- Mr. Aguila's running corkscrew plancha over the top rope! Still my favorite dive ever and an absolute shame the only time he busted this gem out was two times on RAW, two times on SuperAstros, at Wrestlemania vs TAKA & only ONCE in Arena Mexico after he got unmasked and he even botched it there! This is everyone else's favorite dive ever too, right?
- Scorpio Jr. doing the only dive he has ever done in his career! (really!)
- Scorpio Jr.'s giant sombrero!!!
- Super Crazy (who was in ECW at the time) agreeing to work a few tapings under the hood of his best friend Mosco De La Merced. But he didn't have the gear. So it was Super Crazy in his own gear but wearing a Mosco De La Merced mask. QUE?
- Mr. Aguila taking sallida bumps so high that he would actually hang in the air for seconds!!!
- A random appearence by the Hardy Boyz on one episode against Mr. Aguila and El Merenguero. They tore it up and I loved it since I was a huge mark for them at the time. Classic finish as Aguila hits his SSP onto Matt who was laying on his chest. Funny part: Aguila covered him and the referee had to remind him to flip Matt over! *L*
- That fucking hot chick who did a bunch of interviews. Bob Barnett had a huge crush on her.
- Tiger Mask IV randomly showing up on two sets of tapings and getting injured in one of his matches.
- Val Venis making an appearence on one show and cutting his usual pre-match promo in Spanish which confused EVERYONE in the audience who had no idea this show existed.
- The pre-Wrestlemania show where the hot chick had to go around the building and ask fans their opinion of SuperAstros and nobody having any idea what she was talking about until she found one guy who spoke Spanish and he only wanted to talk about Stone Cold Steve Austin!
- Tons of amazing dives and highspots!
- The crowd reacting to NONE OF IT!
I could go on and on but I'll stop here and link the music video finally.:) Final question: Can you find any spot in this video that WWE agents would allow these days?
http://www.sendspace.com/file/yuab0h
(Music is a mix of songs from Bayside)
Enjoy!
Labels: lucha libre, music video, super astros, wrestling, wwf
posted by Rob at 6:31 PM
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