History
In 1998, despite its other problems, WCW had one area of the company that was shining brightly. That was the cruiserweight division. Through partnerships with AAA and Ultimo Dragon, competitors such as Rey Misterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis, Hector Garza, CIMA, and Magnum Tokyo competed in WCW rings.
In 1998, the WWF launched a new television show called Super Astros. Super Astros would air on Spanish television stations and be broadcast in Spanish. Further, most of the roster were either WWF cruiserweights or competitors from AAA’s rival CMLL.
The show launched in November of 1998 and featured a lineup of Scott Taylor taking on Armando Fernandez (Tarzan Boy), El Merenguero (Jesus Castillo) vs. Christopher Martinez , and Super Loco (Super Crazy) wrestling El Hijo del Santo.
The show was a stark contrast to the CMLL style. The matches were more grounded and the breathtaking aerial maneuvers were fewer. In a pleasant surprise, Taylor (the only regular WWF roster member on the premiere) lost his match to Fernandez.
The show also featured commentary by Carlos Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich (the regular WWF Spanish commentators) who were joined by Max Mini (who would also do comedy backstage interviews, such as the premiere’s, where he interviewed Giant Silva). Maria Felipe worked as the backstage interviewer. Marcelo Rodriguez hosted the show from the WWF studio, much like on older Coliseum Video releases.
More and more lucha stars would make their way to the show, including Apollo Dantes, Scorpio, Rey Bucanero, and Negro Casas. These wrestlers would compete against WWF high flyers such as Papi Chulo (Mr. Aguila or Essa Rios, although he used several identities on the show), Kaientai’s Funaki and Dick Togo. In addition, minis matches began to appear as Max competed against minis such as Torito and Mini Nova.
However, it soon became clear that, while the wrestlers were putting on good matches, there were some fundamental flaws in the program. One of the largest was the fact that the shows were taped before Raw, before audiences who had no idea who most of these guys were. In addition, the Titantron videos for the Mexican stars didn’t help build the crowd’s anticipation as they simply aired animations of the luchador’s name.
The referee was another problem. For most matches, the referee was Jack Doan. Doan made all of his calls and counts in English. So we have two Mexican wrestlers competing on a Spanish language station, and the referee is calling the action in English.
Another flaw was the lack of titles. True, to a fan of Mexican lucha libre where title defenses can be months or years apart, this may not have mattered. Still, the show did its best, with a feud between Kaientai and Negro Casas occurring early on.
However, changes were afoot. By mid-April, the Mexican stars began vanishing and the show now consisted mainly of WWF-contracted wrestlers. Although Mexican stars now only appeared rarely, the show also began rerunning past matches.
This was definitely a bad sign.
The trend toward WWF guys continued as the WWF kept seemingly losing interest in the show. Fewer and fewer new matches appeared on each episode.
The show’s final episode showed exactly how much interest the WWF had in the show. Al Snow took on Max Mini, Mini Nova, Torito, and Battalion in a match that had originally aired on Heat and a Papi Chulo/Apollo Dantes/Pantera vs. Merenguero/Miguel Perez/Jose Estrada six-man that had aired the week before was rerun.
The experience appears to have left a bad taste in several luchadors’ mouths. Tarzan Boy claimed in an interview that all of the Mexicans were released after the death of Owen Hart to cover what the WWF had to pay Owen’s widow. This does not appear to be true as Owen did not die until May of 1999 (the majority of Mexican stars were gone by mid April) and the settlement wasn’t agreed upon until late 2000, long after Super Astros was gone.
Super Astros was an interesting attempt by the then-WWF to reach out to the Hispanic population. In the beginning, it looked like a sure-fire success. Hire some of the best-known names in Mexico (like El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas) as well as several more talented luchadors, then have them wrestle each other and any WWF-ers who fit the same style.
The problems started when the WWF, for whatever reason, stopped using the Mexican stars, instead focusing on their own home-grown talent. In addition, the show suffered when they started rerunning matches. How would you feel if you were watching Raw one night and suddenly we had a rerun of a match from six months ago? That’s what was happening here.
Overall, Super Astros was what it was. It was an attempt to bring in a stronger Hispanic fanbase. That wouldn’t happen fully until we started seeing Latino world champions like Eddie Guerrero and Rey Misterio. Still, Super Astros raises two very interesting questions. First, what would a WCW show featuring only their cruiserweights have been like? And second, with rumors flying about a possible worldwide expansion by the WWE, could Super Astros be a glimpse into the future of the Mexican promotion?
