On Brand Segunda Caida: Bradshaw & Savio Vega FIGHT

Bradshaw vs. Savio Vega WWF Shotgun 4/4/98

ER: Shotgun Saturday Night didn't air in my area in 1998/1999, and I've never gone back and watched most of it. It's never been uploaded to the Network and surely won't ever land on Peacock, so we have to rely on whatever guy in the Tri-state area recorded these shows at his mom's house and kept the tapes when he moved out. It feels like there are a bunch of potential gems on Shotgun that I've never heard about, and here's one of them. I'm sure others have talked about this match, but never in my company. Nobody was talking up Bradshaw in 1998, choosing to write him off as a lesser Stan Hansen clone instead of being excited that we were still getting Stan Hansen clones on American television. Do you know how incredible someone who wrestles exactly like 1998 Bradshaw would look on 2023 wrestling television? We didn't know how good we had it, and that applies almost equally to Savio Vega, who brawled as intensely here as he would in his best Puerto Rico stuff. Conversely, I'm not sure there are many Bradshaw performances - including the JBL run - you can point to where he looked better. 

Nobody told me that guys were beating the shit out of each other on Shotgun, but Bradshaw and Vega beat the shit out of each other and look like they hate each other while doing it. There was hate on display on fucking Shotgun Saturday Night? You rarely see punch exchanges this good on WWF TV, or any wrestling TV. They have a stand and trade section that is like Eddie Kingston/Chris Hero level. Bradshaw kicks Savio in the face a few times and lands every stomach kick like he really wants to kick him in the gut. Vega throws hands and chops and bumps around into perfect positioning to feed Bradshaw's assaults. I love how Bradshaw kept going for the Clothesline From Hell and threw every one of them like he intended to connect, and how he started going hard after Vega's arm to possibly slow down the return fire. His arm work is really nasty, throwing Savio by the arm and really yanking on it, peaking the attack when he starts throwing stiff punches at Vega's bursa joint. At one point Savio gets sick of Bradshaw's shit and just grabs him by the throat to back him into the turnbuckles. I love when a guy manages to throw a stiff spinning heel kick. The finish was great too, with Vega hitting the turnbuckles hard on his worked over shoulder and it flares up bad enough that it finally leaves him a sitting duck to be sent to Hell. This was a real fucking fight.