–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are calling the action and they are now doing tapings in Augusta, Georgia. These tapings were held on February 21.
–Before the next bout, Jim Cornette tells the crowd that Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett has informed him that he has signed a contract to defend his title against Razor Ramon at WrestleMania. However, Cornette says that Ramon will not make it there because he is facing Mantaur in the next bout. Although many did not know it at the time (and as revealed in James Dixon’s book Titan Sinking: The Decline of the WWF in 1995), the booking of Jarrett and Ramon was a big blow for Ramon, who had filmed some vignettes to turn heel and face the Undertaker. Turning Ramon heel would have done wonders for his character and strengthened the heel side of the roster.
–Opening Contest: Razor Ramon (4-2) defeated Mantaur (w/Jim Cornette) (9-0) via count out at 5:23:
This is Mantaur’s first big test on the roster as the only opponent of any note that he has had to face up to this point was Aldo Montoya two months ago. Mantaur quickly hits his trademark powerslam, which has won him some recent matches, but Ramon unceremoniously kicks out at two. Ramon manages to hit his own trademark move, his side suplex off the second rope, which brings out the Roadie for a closer look at the action. Mantaur thinks he can capitalize from the distraction, but Ramon avoids a charge and Mantaur goes flying out of the ring, grazing the Roadie who sells it as if Mantaur landed on him. This produces a count out win, much to Cornette’s chagrin, and Mantaur is no longer undefeated. The match was better than I expected as Ramon busted out all the tricks needed in a big man match to get easy heat. Rating: **¼
–After the match, Jeff Jarrett comes to the ring and teases a confrontation with Ramon, who manages to steal the Intercontinental title that the Roadie brought to the ring. Ramon manages to get in a shot on Jarrett, but the distraction allows the Roadie to take back the title. The heels then retreat to the locker room.
–Stephanie Wiand hypes next week’s Madison Square Garden card. The Smoking Gunns will defend their WWF tag team titles against Tatanka and a mystery member of the Million Dollar Corporation.
–A vignette airs for a new talent, Jean-Pierre LaFitte. He even acknowledges that he previously wrestled as Pierre of the Quebecers, but explains his new gimmick as a way of honoring his great-great grandfather, who was a legendary pirate named LaFitte. Evidently the elder LaFitte helped America in its founding era and was humiliated. Therefore, he is going to wreak havoc on the World Wrestling Federation to avenge this wrong done to his family line.
–Doink (w/Dink) (3-0) pins Charlie Hunter after the Whoopie Cushion at 3:03:
Christy Hiers is our fan ring announcer and she is way more excited than I would be if I was saddled with doing the entrances for a Doink match. At least McMahon understood that some fans were turning against Doink as he created at attraction at the WrestleMania Fan Festival where fans could throw baseballs and try to dunk Doink in a water tank. Doink tosses Hunter around and finishes with the Whoopie Cushion, with McMahon sure to quiet Lawler so we can hear its ridiculous “sound effect.”
–Stan Lane narrates a video package about the theft of the Undertaker’s urn by the Million Dollar Corporation at the Royal Rumble. At the very least, this reminds the fans that Bundy and the Undertaker had a small encounter after the Undertaker defeated IRS at that show.
–The latest Nicholas Turturro vignette sees Bob Backlund rant about the theft of his WWF title by Diesel and how the judicial system needs to take action. Unfortunately for Mr. Backlund, no one is in the interrogation room to hear him and Turturro and another woman just look on puzzled that Backlund is going off and will not shut up. This was actually pretty funny and the best vignette that they have run with Turturro yet.
–Bob Backlund (6-0) defeats Ken Raper via submission to the crossface chicken wing at 2:24:
Before the match Raper promises the fans that he will not quit because he has never quit anything in his life. Raper gets in a few moves before Backlund delivers his signature elbow to the face and that allows the chicken wing to be locked in. Raper is forced to go back on his promise not to quit, with the camera catching him screaming “I quit, Mr. Backlund!”
–An old vignette of Ted DiBiase stealing someone’s suite at a hotel is shown.
–Before the next match, Ted DiBiase recaps all of the members of the Million Dollar Corporation and introduces Kama as its latest member.
–Bam Bam Bigelow (w/The Million Dollar Corporation) (2-0) pins Bob Holly (1-2) after reversing a side suplex at 7:08:
If someone with Holly’s gimmick and auto racing ability – since he did compete in NASCAR’s All Pro series – competed in the company today they would get a bigger push because of the WWE’s desire to get some publicity in the sports world. In this match Holly’s job is to make Bigelow look like an imposing force and he does a good job of that, allowing Bigelow to reverse his Franksteiner attempt into a powerbomb and then having Bigelow toss him around the ring like he is a javelin. Bigelow acts very aggressive in the bout, squashing Holly like a bug on a sunset flip effort, although he finishes this match without his signature moves. Holly continues to serve the “mechanic” role at this point but he seemed much more at ease in working with Bigelow here than Hakushi on last week’s Action Zone. Rating: **½
–After the bout, DiBiase warns Lawrence Taylor that he is going to need more than his All-Pro Team to defeat Bigelow and the Corporation at WrestleMania XI.
–A video package hypes Taylor’s abilities.
–Wiand does another hard sell for the Madison Square Garden card. She interviews WWF Champion Diesel, who says that even though the rumor on the street is that Razor Ramon wants a title shot he respects the Bad Guy and thinks they can team up successfully against Shawn Michaels and Jeff Jarrett. She reminds us that “Diesel is so cool!” and informs us that Kama will be Tatanka’s partner against the Smoking Gunns.
–Todd Pettengill hypes the WWF Fan Festival, especially the “Doink Tank.”
–Lawler has a Bret Hart stretch doll and manipulates it to show all of the things he is going to do to him on Monday Night RAW.
–Tune in next week to see Lex Luger face King Kong Bundy!
The Last Word: There were two good feature matches on this week’s show and we got significant traction towards WrestleMania, with Kama unveiled as a new member of the Million Dollar Corporation and another match revealed for the Intercontinental title. The Luger-Bundy match will be intriguing next week, although one would have to assume Bundy is the favorite since he has a match for WrestleMania and Tatanka may reappear to once again give Luger some problems.
Up Next (on Tuesday): The Action Zone from March 12, 1995!