–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and they are wrapping up the tapings from West Palm Beach, Florida.
–Opening Contest: The 1-2-3 Kid (0-1) pins Bob Cook after a rollup at 1:58:
The Kid has been directionless since he and Bob Holly lost the WWF tag team titles and they have not appeared as a team on television after they failed to regain the titles on RAW more than a month ago. On house shows the Kid was battling Hakushi. He does not have a lot of difficulty with Cook here, although a rollup finish in a squash match is quite underwhelming.
–Stephanie Wiand hypes the “In High Gear” Tour stop at Madison Square Garden. The main event there is a Kliq lovefest as Diesel and Razor Ramon square off against Shawn Michaels and Jeff Jarrett. Also, a match that will feature Bret Hart and the British Bulldog against Owen Hart and Jerry Lawler has been added to the card.
–Reba McEntire singing the national anthem at WrestleMania VIII is this week’s “WrestleMania Moment.” I still remember Bobby Heenan’s joke about her being Tito Santana’s sister to this day.
–Footage of fans waiting outside the WrestleMania XI press conference is shown.
–Kama (5-0) beats Chris Nelson via submission to the STF at 1:25:
McMahon brings up the fact that people thought Shawn Michaels was going to choose Kama as his bodyguard, but I really have no idea what he is talking about since that point was never raised on WWF television. However, it would have been an interesting pairing and may have actually made people care about Kama. Kama wins this squash in less than five moves, which is arguably what he should have been doing since he debuted.
–Footage of Bret Hart eliminating Jerry Lawler in last week’s battle royal is shown.
–Henry Godwinn (5-1) defeats Leroy Howard after the Slop Drop at 2:19:
McMahon raises the point that Godwinn’s ring attire should not make the fans doubt his in-ring ability and draws parallels to Doink, causing me to daydream about what a mess a potential feud between those two guys might have been during this time period. Godwinn runs through some basic offense until a headbutt to the midsection provides him the opportunity to hit the Slop Drop and win his sixth match of the year.
–A Heartbreak Hotel segment from the “In High Gear” Tour is aired, with Shawn Michaels interviewing Sid. Michaels goes through a boring top ten list of why he will beat Diesel at WrestleMania before Sid begins screaming about how everyone fears him.
–Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (3-0) defeat The Black Phantom & Dennis Knight after Mabel pins the Phantom after a Stacked Splash at 2:40:
Two future Ministry of Darkness members collide in this match as Mabel, the future Viscera, faces Dennis Knight, the future Mideon. Knight had last appeared in WCW, wrestling as Tex Slazenger and he would make some appearances in the USWA under that name as well during 1995, having a small feud with Brian Christopher. A year later Knight would appear in the company as Henry Godwinn’s brother Phineas and would become a company regular for several years thereafter. He is just here to absorb punishment from Mabel, although it is the Phantom that eats the pin shortly after he tags in.
–Footage of the WrestleMania II battle royal between WWF stars and NFL superstars is shown as a “WrestleMania Moment.” They make sure to show the confrontation between Big John Studd and William Perry in the match, as well as Andre the Giant winning by eliminating Bret Hart.
–Todd Pettengill provides the first WrestleMania XI report. He spends more time hyping the appearances of Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jennifer McCarthy than discussing any matches. However, we do learn that Ricky Jackson; Ken Norton, Jr.; Steve McMichael; Reggie White; Carl Banks; and Chris Spielman will join Taylor as his all-pro teammates to counter the Million Dollar Corporation at ringside.
–King Kong Bundy (w/Ted DiBiase) (9-0) beats Butch Long after the Avalanche at 1:28:
Every time that McMahon refers to Bundy as a “walking condominium” I keep thinking of the Insane Clown Posse joke that Bundy looked like a broken condom. Bundy runs through his usual moves on Long and cruises to his tenth win of the year, thereby becoming the first WWF superstar to reach double digits in wins for 1995.
–The company keeps pushing the Nicolas Turturro appearance at WrestleMania XI hard, showing the weird segment of his interactions with Paul Bearer and Mr. Fuji.
–Pettengill hypes the WWF Fan Festival before WrestleMania XI.
–Lex Luger (4-0-1) defeats Sonny Pruitt via submission to the Rebel Rack at 2:01:
There were rumors around this time that Luger was leaving the company because he was doing quick jobs to Shawn Michaels on the house show circuit. In actuality Luger was in the process of negotiating a new contract since his existing deal was ending but it was very clear that McMahon had no idea how to fit him into the product at this point. For example, Luger is constantly closing the syndicated shows and is wrestling in the midst of loud piped in cheers and fireworks but is not positioned anywhere near the title picture. A heel turn would have done wonders for him around this time but it did not seem to be in the cards. Anyway, he makes short work of Pruitt and waves the American flag at the end of the bout.
–Wiand continues to hype the “In High Gear” Tour.
–Mantaur (w/Jim Cornette) (8-0) beats Bill Weaver after a powerslam at 1:58:
After fighting his way through seven jobbers and Aldo Montoya, Mantaur is headed for bigger things next week as McMahon and Lawler reveal that he will face Razor Ramon. Booking like that, which makes sense, is so foreign to me these days that it is quite refreshing to see. The finish to this one is pretty funny as Weaver avoids a second splash by Mantaur, plays to the crowd as if he is going to make a comeback, and then leaps into Mantaur’s arms, eating a powerslam that finishes him.
–McMahon makes fun of Lawler’s injured toe as a result of Bret Hart stomping on his foot during last week’s battle royal. McMahon drops his microphone on Lawler’s foot before heading backstage to end the show because hurting someone is a babyface move!
–Tune in next week to see Razor Ramon square off against Mantaur!
The Last Word: No feature match this week made this a really, really dull show. The Diesel-Shawn Michaels feud is going nowhere, even with the introduction of Sid as a bodyguard, and it clearly being overshadowed by the Taylor-Bigelow feud. And even though the company’s roster is small, it is getting tiring seeing all of the King Kong Bundy, Henry Godwinn, and Mantaur squashes that follow the same formula. That said, the prospect of Mantaur-Razor Ramon is intriguing because it will be the first real “test” for Mantaur since his debut.
Up Next (on Friday): The Action Zone from March 5, 1995!