Since Monday Night RAW was pre-empted for the U.S. Open on USA Network, there were some matches that aired on the Saturday morning WWF Mania show. Those contests were taped in Worcester, Massachusetts in mid-August. Here were the results of those bouts:
*Rad Radford (7-3) defeated Paul Van Dale after a Northern Lights suplex
*Adam Bomb (18-3-3) pinned Mike Bell after a Neutron Bomb (Note: This would be Bomb’s last televised appearance in the WWF as he received his release from the company)
*Bob Holly (12-8-1) beat Brian Walsh after the Pit Stop Plunge
–Footage of the Bret Hart-Isaac Yankem match at SummerSlam is shown, with Vince McMahon narrating the highlights.
–McMahon and Dok Hendrix are calling today’s action and they are taped from Erie, Pennsylvania.
–Call 1-900-737-4WWF to play some WWF trivia!
–Opening Contest: Bam Bam Bigelow (16-4) pins John Faulkner after a moonsalt at 2:27:
Bigelow does not look at as happy as he used to, likely because this face turn has been a disaster and Bigelow has not beaten a name talent one-on-one since late June when he beat Mantaur. Bigelow bowls over Faulkner a few times to sell the fact that he is a bigger man and he chooses to finish with a moonsault today, getting a nice pop from the crowd.
–Jim Ross hypes the October 6 Madison Square Garden card. Bret Hart calls Isaac Yankem “a big tooth fairy” and says he will perform oral surgery on him with his fists at the Garden. George Steele acts crazy around Bret to put over his appearance in Bret’s corner to counteract Jerry Lawler, who will accompany Yankem to the ring.
–Bret Hart gets another pre-taped promo, repeating much of what he said in the Live Event News segment, but then he switches his focus to Waylon Mercy, warning him that he will not be affected by Mercy’s mind games. Bret also tells Jean-Pierre LaFitte that he is going to get his jacket back.
–Jean-Pierre LaFitte (16-0-1) defeats Lloyd Lanui after Le Cannonball at 2:39:
Lanui tries to use his large Samoan frame to outmuscle LaFitte, but LaFitte fails to go down on a shoulder block and moves out of the way of a splash attempt. LaFitte then connects with his usual moves as the crowd works up a “We want Bret!” chant. This time LaFitte drapes the pirate flag over Lanui after winning as opposed to draping the flag over his opponent before the finish as he did with Scott Taylor.
–After the match, LaFitte steals another pair of Bret Hart glasses from a fan at ringside but this time Bret comes to the ringside area and after walking to LaFitte from the wrong direction, he changes course and initiates a brawl, which is stopped by WWF officials. We find out later that the fan got his shades back due to Bret’s efforts.
–Dean Douglas defines the term “abrogate” and he finishes his critique of Razor Ramon’s ladder match with Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. He gives Ramon a grade of “MF” for “Miserable Failure.” Douglas tells fans that he will make his debut against the 1-2-3 Kid on next week’s show.
–Henry Godwinn (20-5-2) pins A.C. Connor after a Slop Drop at 2:19:
Godwinn debuts a new move in this match, putting Connor in a headlock and driving him into the turnbuckles. As Godwinn works over Connor, Ted DiBiase appears in the aisle and McMahon explains that Godwinn and Savio Vega, one of the oddest makeshift tag teams you will ever see, will face Kama and Tatanka at Madison Square Garden. Godwinn overcomes DiBiase’s distraction and hits the Slop Drop for a sixth straight win in singles competition.
–After the match, DiBiase grabs Godwinn’s slop bucket and this leads to King Kong Bundy attacking Godwinn from behind. However, when Bundy holds Godwinn in place to get slopped, Godwinn moves and Bundy has the slop thrown on him.
–McMahon interviews the British Bulldog and Jim Cornette. The Bulldog is sporting a new crew cut and long tights to sell his heel turn. Cornette says that the Bulldog turned because he was tired of carrying the Allied Powers and was tired of hearing “USA” chants. Cornette adds that the Bulldog has never been given a WWF title shot because champions and promoters were taking advantage of the Bulldog’s generous personality. The Bulldog reiterates Cornette’s points and puts Diesel on notice that he is coming for him. This was a great segment to sell the “new” Bulldog character and the idea of a Diesel-Bulldog encounter sounded good, at least on paper.
–Barry Didinski puts over a new Bret Hart t-shirt, which is one of the WWF’s better products since it is not completely covered with text. You can get your shirt for $16 (plus $3.95 for shipping & handling)! Every order comes with a free Lawrence Taylor poster!
–Bret Hart (11-2-2) beats Waylon Mercy (11-0) via disqualification when Jean-Pierre LaFitte interferes at 7:30 shown:
Mercy made quick work of Doink in his first feature match but this is the real test of where he is headed on the card as Bret and Shawn Michaels were making quick work of a lot of the new heel acts that came to the company after WrestleMania XI. Veteran wrestling fans could tell that Mercy was near the end of his career by this point because when Bret tries to increase the pace he cannot keep up. Mercy also falls awkwardly when trying to plant Bret with a side slam. Bret puts a new twist on his moves of doom with a flying clothesline against the bigger Mercy but before he can go for the Sharpshooter, Jean-Pierre LaFitte, dressed in Bret’s trademark jacket, interferes and triggers a disqualification. The match was poor by Bret’s standards, exposing some of Mercy’s flaws in longer matches, but the company still had high hopes for the Mercy character as they did not job him cleanly to Bret on this broadcast. Rating: *½
–After the bell, LaFitte and Mercy beatdown Bret before he rallies, tosses Mercy off the top rope, and proceeds to brawl with LaFitte for the second time on the show before they are separated by WWF officials.
–Jim Ross does another Live Event News segment. Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yankem cut a promo, with Lawler saying that the people in Madison Square Garden have bad teeth and that Yankem will end Bret’s career when they face off again.
–McMahon discusses the “triple header” main event for In Your House 3 where Diesel and Shawn Michaels face Owen Hart and Yokozuna, with the losers forfeiting their title to whomever beat them.
–Tune in next week to see Dean Douglas face the 1-2-3 Kid! Shawn Michaels faces Tatanka as well! Also, hear an interview from Lex Luger (or maybe we won’t!)!
The Last Word: The Bret-LaFitte feud got a big boost on this show, building for an encounter between both men at In Your House. Doing two brawls on the same show was a bit excessive, though, as it would have been better to have LaFitte grind Bret to dust at the end of the main event. Doing so would have put LaFitte over as a threat but Vince McMahon tended to book the babyface always coming on top in brawls like that so that was just not part of the WWF canon at this time. Also, Henry Godwinn is locked in a feud with the Million Dollar Corporation, basically usurping Bam Bam Bigelow’s storyline, and the first boss he gets to confront is King Kong Bundy, a battle he is likely to win since the company is pushing Bundy out as part of its downsizing.
Up Next: The Action Zone from September 3, 1995!