Let's Talk About: The Stars and Stripes Challenge 1993

[haws bah gawd 0]

Shamelessly stole the following text from Youtube:

 

On the Fourth of July 1993, WWF held the Stars and Stripes Challenge aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York City just weeks after Yokozuna recaptured the World Wrestling Federation title from Hulk Hogan at the inaugural King of the Ring pay-per-view, ending Hulkamania there before Hogan signed with WCW the following year.

 

Several athletes from the NFL, NBA, and of course the WWF (including former champions Bob Backlund and "Macho Man" Randy Savage) all had one shot at bodyslamming the 550-pound Yoko to the canvas, with a Chevy Silverado truck as the prize. They tried, but failed.

 

 

So, just how "legit" was this? I saw that there were athletes from the NBA, NFL, NHL, and of course the usual WWF guys. You see several guys take a stab at slamming Yoko, even Scott Steiner couldn't budge him. THen Lex Luger just flys in, does his thing, and wins. It looks like some of the guys could have at least lifted him a little. Even the freakish Scott Steiner just grabs Yoko like he is going to attempt a slam, then just shoves him backwards. Crush even gives an admirable effort. I guess some of these guys were trying to protect Lex Luger's gimmick?

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Bare in mind, that nobody could have pulled off that move without Yoko's cooperation. That said, the athletes probably knew what was going on. Puder/Angle aside, WWF usually knows better than to put themselves in a situation like that.

[Diamonddust 0]

As a kid, I thought this was going to be shown on television or something. I also remember being quite confused when Lex Luger showed up as if we were supposed to forget he was just "The Narcissist".

[yankovic fan 0]

I remember on Mania one saturday morning leading up to this, Pettingill (sp?) interviewing a 5'2 horse jockey (name escapes me after 15 years) who was going to attempt it. That's footage I would have loved to have seen.

[StrapFinlay 0]

That's not even a slam.

 

Hogan's genuine slam of Andre at WMIII is probably the most impressive I've seen - moreso than when the Warrior slammed Andre (even though the Giant was bigger then) because of where it took place.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

As a kid, I thought this was going to be shown on television or something. I also remember being quite confused when Lex Luger showed up as if we were supposed to forget he was just "The Narcissist".

 

Yeah, that surprised me even as a kid. I was like WTF? when Lex of all people did it. I figured Crush was going to be the one to slam Yokozuna.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Did Vince ever have any big plans for Crush as a solo star? I think that I remember reading about that a thousand years ago.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

They heavily hyped Crush as the odds on favorite the week before the event. They had him slam Bastion Booger on Raw 3 times to drive the point home.

 

Bill Fralic got scarily close to slamming him as Hebner (or whoever was the ref) dashed in to break it up before he could get any more momentum.

[StrapFinlay 0]

Crush would have been an even more logical winner of the challenge.

 

Somebody supposedly from Hawaii slamming someone supposedly Japanese on the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier that served during WWII? It writes itself!

[Maztinho 0]

Yeah the thing is Crush got Yoko up as high (if not higher) as Lugar did, Luger just dropped him instead of letting him back to his feet.

 

Man, I forgot how neon Crush's outfit was.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Yea I too was watching this back in the day and wondering (as a 12 year old mark), if Crush got him up as high as he did, why not just drop him on his back rather than his feet? That one NFL guy who's name escapes me got him up really high as well considering he was lifting dead weight.

 

Going back to Crush though, he made such a radical change from how he looked at that point, to how he was looking as a member of Kronik.

[King Kamala 0]

I just watched this about a month ago. I always thought as a mark that Crush should have been the guy to get the slam instead of Luger. And I never got the hell what Tatanka was trying to accomplish by trying to beat up Yokozuna. I guess softening him up before he slams him isn't a bad idea in theory but Yoko just got angry and legdropped him. Even as a mark watching this I thought The Native American Phenom was being a dope.

 

I maintain that this angle was a pretty cool idea in theory (Upstart American bodyslams massive foreign heel World Champion on the 4th of July) but it just wasn't done with the right babyface. Luger just came off as too random and in the long term, the angle never really went anywhere. Still, I'd say it got off to a good start.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

You all have to remember that Vince was basically desperate to create a new Hulk Hogan type babyface, and basically had to go with Luger by default. I think I read that the USA Network basically made him take Luger that route.

[King Kamala 0]

We all know Vince was desparate for a Hogan replacement and Luger wouldn't be the last one to try and fill his shoes. Who can forget Diesel's Hoganesque World title run? I'm sure we all want to to. Anyways, Luger wasn't a bad choice to be Hogan's defacto replacement but the fact that there was no buildup and no sort of transition from Narcissistic heel who bashes people with his steel plated forearm to All American hero and all around great guy who bashes evil foreigners with his steel plated forearm.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

The only attempt to transition the Narcississt character to American Hero was Luger claiming that people would misinterpret his shyness for arrogance. I guess the mirrors didn't help.

[cabbageboy 0]

Luger's whole initial face run was badly conceived and of course ended up being badly booked. There was no hint of him turning face at all before July 1993. No encounter between him and Yoko on TV to set it up. He was quite literally the Narcissist at KOTR and then showed up on the battleship to slam Yoko.

 

I don't think it helped matters any that Luger didn't really DO anything to get a title shot in terms of winning matches. He mostly campaigned for a shot by riding in a bus as though he was a politician or something. But that SS 93 booking still baffles me to this day. If Vince seriously wanted to create a new Hogan, Luger should have gone over Yoko cleanly and decisively. I don't recall Hogan chasing the Iron Sheik for 6 months and winning by countout or DQ. He just beat the dude.