[1993-08-09-WWF-Raw] Contract Signing: Lex Luger and Yokozuna

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Jim Cornette surprises everyone by accompanying Yoko and Fuji to the contract signing! His interplay with Vince is awesome.

 

Luger gets a monster pop. These venues are SOOOO not WWF. And between Cornette and the smaller, louder-than-usual rabid crowd, this feels more like a really well-produced indy than a WWF segment.

[Kevin Ridge]

McMahon and Heenan are doing commentary in person while hosting the contract signing. Here's Cornette and he's the new American spokesman for Yokozuna. Patterson is wearing his trusty white sneakers. Brother Love (not in gimmick) is one of the suits in the back. The contract gets signed and Cornette is quick to point out that there is a clause included if Luger does not win the title he will never get another shot at Yoko. Luger winning seems like a definite. Yoko's brow sweat flip at Luger's face was funny. Lex gives a pretty fired up promo.

[PeteF3]

One of several issues with this main-event push for Luger is the WWF's rather backwards and undignified portrayal of Japan. Running supposed Japanese newscasts that look like propaganda pieces--describing Luger's bodyslam as a hiptoss and editing to make Yokozuna look dominant--and having a guy intentionally sing an awful version of the Japanese anthem at SummerSlam is over the line. Having a monster heel from Japan (I know, not really, work with me) is one thing. Turning an entire country--one who's been an ally of the U.S. for almost 50 years at this point--is another entirely. The point of all this is that Cornette, god of managing that he is, actually finds a way to make this shit plausible, drawing on real-world events of the time with U.S. companies being taken over by the Japanese. He went even further with this in other promos, getting heat on the Detroit auto industry and comparing the Heavenly Bodies to superior foreign imports. And his talk about Jack Tunney utilizing crooked interpreters when dealing with Yokozuna was pretty damned funny, as was Vince's indignant reaction to that accusation.

 

Cornette approves of the contract, and as great as he is he still looks SO weird in this setting. Even after working with the company for another 10 years or so, it's still odd to see him trading barbs with McMahon and Jack Tunney after all this Yearbook viewing. Vince & Bobby are doing live commentary over the ring mics for all this, which is similarly weird. Luger signs, and then Cornette drops the news that Luger will never get a rematch if he doesn't win. WHERE WAS THAT WHEN YOU WERE ASKED POINT-BLANK ABOUT ANY FURTHER STIPULATIONS, TUNNEY??! Vince just whines about "chicanery" and "fine print." Luger cuts a fairly effective promo in response, while Yokozuna just stares at him like the baddest motherfucker around.

 

This is a segment practically designed to flash TITLE CHANGE at you, as the WWF and USWA had done in the past, which makes the SummerSlam finish all the more baffling. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

[soup23]

My lord that building they ran this in. Props to Lex for that American Flag tag. Luger looked good and poised here and gets a nice reaction. Heenan glee at Cornette being Yoko's spokesperson was awesome. This build continues to be very solid.

[garretta]

You have to wonder if soimething went wrong between here and SummerSlam which changed Vince's outlook on Luger that we still don't know about. The explanation that Vince simply wanted Luger to chase the belt for a while longer just doesn't hold water after seeing this. If ever an ending was telegraphed, it was here. Luger looks like the most confident man in the world, even more than Yoko (who was legit scary here). They wouldn't have hammered the "just one shot" thing so hard if they'd meant there to be an honest title chase.

 

My personal guess (and it's just that) is that Vince or someone close to him found out about the spot Luger had put WCW in while he was champion there with only working so many dates and the shameful way he dropped the belt on the way out and was bound and determined that it wouldn't happen to the WWF, which I can't blame them a bit for. Why they even pushed Luger like this if I'm right is beyond me, though; If all they wanted was one valiant but failed try, they should have kept Duggan around (I think King of the Ring was his last WWF event).

 

At any rate, the story here (besides Luger looking more like Flair than Ric has in quite a while) was Corny. He got off so many good lines that it's impossible to list them all. I'm torn between two favorites: him telling Vince "Stick with me, kid, I'll get you through this." and his ending to the rant about paid WWF interpreters screwing Yoko:

 

Jack Tunney: How dare you!

 

Corny: Oh, I dare, all right. And he (presumably pointing to Fuji) does too!

 

For those of you who haven't seen this and thought Corny might be muzzled by the WWF, you're in for a pleasant surprise. There hasn't been this effective a heel manager in the WWF since Queen Sherri.

 

I only have one problem with the Fuji-Corny arrangement: Fuji's been in this country for twenty-some years (if you count from his first WWF appearance and forget that he's really Hawaiian), has had managers with excellent command of English like Ernie Roth, Captain Lou Albano, and Freddie Blassie, plus managed the longest-reigning WWF tag champs in history for at least part of their reign, and now ​he can't understand the language enough to help Yoko? Suspension of disbelief, my ass. That excuse is used way too often to explain stuff that simply had no business being booked..

 

Why couldn't they simply do what they did when Blassie wanted to get off the road and have Fuji sell half of Yoko's contract to Corny? That way Fuji can wind his career down gracefully, yet still make certain shots that Corny can't due to SMW conflicts. Corny could still do the talking, and you could really play up the American-Japanese "merger" aspect of the deal. As a bonus, since Fuji lives in the Smoky Mountain area, he could do some pretapes and TV tapings as an "advisor" to Corny and his crew if he chooses. If not, there's still the threat of guys like Yoko and (later) Crush as extra enforcers for Corny if his big mouth gets him in trouble back home (which it always does). The point is, when a promotion has many possible ways to tell a story and chooses the one that insults the intelligence of longtime fans, it shouldn't be excused with "suspension of disbelief" and a shrug; the promotion in question should be hammered for it, even if it is ​twenty-three years after the fact.

 

I thought sure there would be a confrontation at some point, either between Luger and Yoko or Yoko and Savage, who was quick to jump into protective mode for Luger, Then again, knowing Luger I doubt he would have worn a nice suit like that if a brawl had been booked. I also doubt Heenan would have been in the ring, as protective as he was of his neck.