–Vince McMahon recaps how the Smoking Gunns became the new WWF Tag Team Champions on Monday Night RAW when they defeated Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid.
–McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and they are announcing taped matches from one of the WWF’s favorite locations: Corpus Christi, Texas!
–Opening Contest: Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) beat Two Unnamed Jobbers after Mabel pins one of them following a spinebuster/leg drop combination at 2:31:
Kevin Dunn nearly gives me a seizure by being unable to properly focus the camera during Men on a Mission’s entrance and it turns the view upside down and keeps flickering. McMahon and Lawler are so engrossed in this match that they prefer to discuss Lawrence Taylor and never get around to mentioning Men on a Mission’s opponents. Men on a Mission run through some power moves on their opponents and coast to an easy win, their first in 1995.
–Todd Pettengill provides the post-Royal Rumble Report. He narrates some pictures of the action. Order the encore presentation this Tuesday!
–Hakushi (w/Shinja) (2-0) defeats Ben Jordan after a standing moonsault at 1:41:
Hakushi was noticeably absent from the Royal Rumble and WWF television the last few weeks, a puzzling development since the company was really lacking in star power. However, Hakushi would be excluded from most of the major pay-per-views in 1995 so that would be the beginning of a troubling trend. Lawler sows the seeds of a future Hakushi-Bret Hart feud by saying that Bret harbors racist views against Japanese people.
–Tamara Murphy (Sunny) hypes the next Madison Square Garden card, scheduled for March 19. Diesel & Razor Ramon are booked to face Shawn Michaels & Jeff Jarrett, the Undertaker will face Bam Bam Bigelow, Bret Hart & the British Bulldog square off against Owen Hart & Jerry Lawler. And one of the more curious matches on the card is a submission match between Bob Backlund and Adam Bomb. Does Bomb even know any submission moves?
–Doink (w/Dink) defeats Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) (1-0) after a powerslam at 3:20:
Kwang gets the jobber entrance, a sign that the gimmick was on its way out the door (but we will see more of the guy under the mask, Juan Rivera, later in the year). The match actually has a backstory, largely ignored by the announcers, as Kwang eliminated Doink in the Royal Rumble. Dink teases Kwang a lot, turning this into a comedy match, and antics like this are why fans were getting fed up with face Doink by this time. After Dink quits getting involved, though, the match turns into a fun, albeit brief, technical match and Doink surprises Kwang with a powerslam when Kwang comes off the ropes and that leads to a victory. Rating: **
–After the match, Wippleman teases a confrontation with Dink, with Doink running interference and Dink biting Wippleman on the rear end to come out on top.
–Pettengill narrates more pictures of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
–Owen Hart (2-0) defeats Shawn Dakota via submission to the Sharpshooter at 2:15:
Natalie Gentry is our special guest fan ring announcer, a gimmick that I am surprised the company has never brought back. Owen is still carrying around Bret’s towel from the 1994 Survivor Series since their feud has not yet had a blow off. This match is quickly clipped down to Owen nailing Dakota with a missile dropkick and getting the submission win.
–Man Mountain Rock says wrestling is like playing guitar because they both require intense concentration. He warns that he is very dangerous and that he is willing to pay the price to win a WWF title.
–Kama defeats Matt Hardy with an STF at 1:49:
This is Kama’s television debut. If you forgot, or just chose not to remember, Kama was a new gimmick for Charles Wright, who had once played Papa Shango and would later become the Godfather during the Attiude Era. Kama was billed as the “Supreme Fighting Machine” and was supposed to be a street fighter since brawling-type video games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were popular during this period. Unfortunately, his offense did not quite match the gimmick so it lacked a lot of believability. It was unclear from this match whether Kama was supposed to be a face or heel. After the match, Kama says he looks forward to facing more competition.
–Pettengill recaps the Undertaker’s match with IRS at the Royal Rumble.
–Tune in next week to see the Undertaker square off with Henry Godwinn!
–Lex Luger (2-0) beats Ray Hudson via submission with the Rebel Rack at 2:23:
During this time period it seemed as if Luger always got a token squash on Superstars after he fell short of a career milestone. This time he is also sporting a new part of his gimmick: allowing a young kid to wave the American flag during his entrance. Luger no sells a brief slugging frenzy by his opponent and the Rebel Rack notches a win. Luger gets more fireworks after his win, which are a big waste for someone that is not even being positioned in a title picture.
–Murphy hypes the Madison Square Garden card some more.
–Shawn Michaels tells McMahon and Lawler that he will have WWF Champion Diesel as a guest on the Heartbreak Hotel on next week’s show.
The Last Word: This was largely a throw away episode of Superstars, although the marquee matchup of Doink and Kwang was perfectly acceptable wrestling and viewers did get to see six matches. The large gap between pay-per-views means that we will be grinding our wheels for a few weeks until the build for WrestleMania XI begins in earnest.
Up Next (on Friday): The Action Zone from January 29, 1995!