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The Professional 3 8.25.13: Top Spanish Announce Table Bumps

August 25, 2013 | Posted by Jon Harder


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Welcome everyone to another edition of the Professional 3 on 411wrestling.com! I’m Jon Harder and what a phenomenal week of wrestling for fans all around the world! Summerslam definitely made the WWE a water cooler topic once again! So much great wrestling happening before our very eyes, yet I, the writer of this “weird” column, will make you use the archive of your minds to bring things into perspective of what I bring this week to the P3.

Before we go any further, check out this week’s Hardway Podcast on TheJonHarder.com with Oleg the Usurper. This Viking warrior has been laying down the law within Wrestling is Fun and talks about the buildup to yesterday’s match on iPPV against Amasis for the Banana, WiF’s top championship. You can find him on Twitter at @OlegTheUsurper.

Also, this week, check out the fifth edition of Angry Mets Guys with Leon St. Giovanni and me. We talk about the best New York Met catchers in history, as well as a little more intrigue within our METScot, Butch. Watch it HERE:

With that said, welcome to the P3. I freely will admit that I watched Summerslam from start-to-finish. I absolutely loved everything I witnessed on the card. Every story made sense and the fans ate up the big matches that were meant to be big matches. Fantastic action from beginning to end. I was very impressed with all. Surprisingly, the only thing running through my mind after a major card like that was this:

Jesus. Carlos Cabrera does not age.


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Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought. From the very beginning of the Summerslam pay-per-view, when the English commentary team introduced Carlos Cabrera and Marcelo Rodriguez at Summerslam, the thought instantly popped into my mind. Ever since 1998, where Carlos and then-partner Hugo Savinovich started doing Spanish commentary from ringside to the left of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, Carlos has genuinely looked the same over a 15 year span. Save work being done, Cabrera has aged gracefully and truly might be the “Jim Ross of Spanish commentators”. The Spanish announce team has always been a fixture at all WWE pay-per-view events. I truly just feel for that damn table.

Oh, the Spanish Announce Table. A multitude of wrestlers have ultimately gone through that particular piece of plunder. As early as 1995, when Bret Hart crashed through a wooden table in his WWF championship match against Diesel, the poor Spanish announcers have been forced to run every time a huge pro wrestlers came careening towards their table. Whether it be the Undertaker falling through via Kane at WrestleMania 14, John Cena A-Aing Big Show through at Money in the Bank 2012, or Mr. McMahon at the 1999 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, that poor table has been demolished more times than I can remember. Yet, it keeps coming back for more.

In my mind, the Spanish Announce Table some way or the other NEEDS to be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame. Just kidding. But seriously, that table has had some serious memories attached to it. It’s never gotten that true recognition as a staple of WWE pay-per-views as it should have. That’s why I have this column. It will get its proper recognition here. In this week’s P3, we will look at the top 3 falls into that table. So many memorable moments, but with these 3, they are remembered very fondly in my eyes. Without further hesitation…

THE PROFESSIONAL 3: Top 3 WWE Spanish Announce Table Bumps

1) TRIPLE H PEDIGREES AND CONCUSSES KURT ANGLE – WWF SUMMERSLAM 2000

At Summerslam 2000, Triple H and Kurt Angle were two-thirds of the triple threat main event for the WWF championship against the Rock; yet both “the Game” and Angle were embroiled in a love triangle with Triple H’s wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Kurt’s 3 I’s were not enough to stop Stephanie’s husband, as Triple H did a number on her. Then, the Spanish Announce Table got involved. Just as HHH was going to Pedigree Angle through the table, the S.A.T. broke prematurely and both men went hard to the concrete. Kurt Angle was severely concussed due to that, and the Spanish Announce Table did its damage. In truth, this was a dangerous maneuver and because of the damage done, it made the “do not try this at home” video at the front of WWE Home Video Releases for several years. Definitely insane, but the fans ate it up. Insanely risky.

2) SHANE MCMAHON ELBOWS TEST THROUGH A TABLE – WWF SUMMERSLAM 1999

My personal favorite moment involving the Spanish Announce Table. Test and Shane McMahon were embroiled in a bitter rivalry over – YOU GUESSED IT – Stephanie McMahon. Test was secretly dating Stephanie and Shane wanted NONE of it. Thus, in this “Love Her or Leave Her” Greenwich Street Fight at Summerslam 1999, Shane and Test went to the limits that their bodies would allow. However, the Mean Street Posse were the wild cards on the floor, and they made Test’s life incredibly difficult. After pummeling the poor guy, they dragged Test to the Spanish Announce Table. Shane-O-Mac climbed to the top rope, and in one fell swoop, a Leap of Faith elbow through the table.

That moment MADE Test and Shane during the summer of 1999. It was a great rivalry and that elbow through the table turned everyone up another notch. A lot of people hate on Vince Russo, but the storylines going into this match with Test, Shane, the Posse, Stephanie, and even the Stooges (Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco) to a degree, were all formulated quite nicely. It was a great moment, with the flying elbow through the table as the defining moment of the match.

3) UNDERTAKER THROWS MICK FOLEY OFF HELL IN A CELL – WWF KING OF THE RING 1998

How can you NOT mention this particular Spanish Announce Table moment? Mick Foley took quite possibly the biggest fall in wrestling history through the S.A.T. at King of the Ring. I don’t feel I can write anymore on this moment. You know enough on the fall. Poor Carlos and Hugo were the worst for wear on that one, as they didn’t see it coming. Poor Hugo took a nasty spill off his chair and Carlos had to dodge in quick speed. Unbelievable moment.

Bottom line, the Spanish Announce Table has been a major focal point of WWE shows from the Attitude Era on. People make jokes about it, but that table has had loads of memories behind it. I’m proud to say that the Spanish Announce Table has a cult following and hopefully through this column, we will see more love coming that way. See you next week.

#Professional3

Jon Harder

j[email protected]




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