–Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are calling today’s action and they are still in Valparaiso, Indiana and on the campus of Valparaiso University.
–My copy of this show is missing the Dean Douglas vs. Barry Horowitz encounter, but thehistoryofwwe.com tells me that that this was the result:
Dean Douglas (2-0) pins Barry Horowitz (4-14) after the Final Exam (fisherman’s suplex)
–In the Slam Jam Segment, Dok Hendrix hypes the next Madison Square Garden card where Yokozuna, King Mabel, and the British Bulldog will face Diesel, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels in a six man tag match.
–Footage of Savio Vega upsetting Waylon Mercy at In Your House 3 is shown.
–Call 1-900-737-4WWF to play the WWF trivia game!
–Savio Vega (13-2) defeats Tom Knox after a spinning heel kick at 2:37:
Ross jokes that Knox got his schooling at the school of “Hard Knox.” In the opening minutes of the match, Jean-Pierre LaFitte is looking for a new feud as he comes out and steals Savio Vega’s Puerto Rican flag. Savio does not appear to miss it, at least immediately, as he tosses Knox around and wins with his trademark spinning heel kick. After the match, Savio realizes his flag is missing and searches around ringside looking for it.
–Ahmed Johnson yells about character and what it takes to be a winner. He says he seeks to be a role model when he arrives in the WWF.
–Isaac Yankem (2-1) beats Tom Torres after the DDS at 3:27:
Yankem methodically beats on Torres, who marks his only WWF appearance in this match. McMahon fills time by hyping an Internet chat that Lawler is going to have on America Online before RAW. Yankem really needed to do more to capture the crowd’s attention in his matches as they were dead for this entire encounter.
–McMahon interviews Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels, who says that Dean Douglas will be taught by the “valedictorian of the WWF” at In Your House. Douglas briefly interrupts by coming into the ring and giving a generic statement about how he is going to win the title from the Heartbreak Kid. Michaels makes some other school references to put over how Douglas has no chance against him at In Your House. Right now these two do not have a major issue outside of fighting for the title and that made this segment flat.
–Hendrix puts over an Undertaker t-shirt that we can buy for $16 by calling 1-800-TITAN-91.
–Sid & Kama (w/Ted DiBiase) beat Bam Bam Bigelow & Henry Godwinn when Sid pins Godwinn after a Kama flying elbow to the back of Godwinn’s head at 8:31 shown:
This bout comes out of In Your House 3 when Kama and Bigelow ran to assist their partners after Sid defeated Godwinn in singles competition. Outside of Godwinn, the other three men in this match were locked into more important feuds months ago and this signifies them being shifted down the card. The highlight of the match is Kama catching Bigelow doing a body press off the ropes and slamming him and the rest is a punch, kick, and rest hold affair. During the four way brawl, DiBiase starts fighting with Bigelow and that distraction allows Kama to jump onto Godwinn after he has hit Sid with the Slop Drop and the heels walk out with a victory. McMahon is disappointed that no one is getting slopped. Based on booking patterns, this feels like the end of Bigelow’s feud with the Corporation as well as Godwinn’s and their quest to “bankrupt” DiBiase appears to have failed. Rating: *
–Marty Jannetty (1-0) pins The Brooklyn Brawler after a flying fist drop at 2:44:
Jannetty has better ring gear than his return to the company of RAW, wearing a lot of tassels. He is still coming out to the Rockers theme music, showing that he has Tito Santana syndrome, unwilling to let his better days in tag action go. While Jannetty wrestles, Goldust, who he is scheduled to face at In Your House, cuts a promo in the split screen. Jannetty has no significant problems with the Brawler, giving himself some momentum heading into the next pay-per-view.
–Hendrix brings the audience another Slam Jam Segment. He hypes the next Meadowlands card that will take place on November 12. Diesel & Shawn Michaels will face Owen Hart & Yokozuna there in a lumberjack match. Also, Bam Bam Bigelow faces Goldust and Henry Godwinn wrestles Hunter-Hearst Helmsley in a slop match, where the winner gets to slop their opponent. Helmsley cuts a promo about how he is not happy being booked against Godwinn. Godwinn rebuts that he looks forward to facing the privileged Helmsley. Another match on the Meadowlands card is Bret Hart against the British Bulldog.
–Tune in next week to see Razor Ramon & the 1-2-3 Kid battle the Blu Brothers! Also, WWF Champion Diesel wrestles Waylon Mercy!
The Last Word: This was a horrible episode of Superstars. The main event match was nothing special and the squash matches, aside from Jannetty’s, were dull. Next week’s tag match serves as a pseudo number one contender’s match for who gets to face the Smoking Gunns for the tag team titles and Ramon and the Kid have some history with the Blus, which the commentary team opted to ignore on this broadcast.
During this particular week, the WWF was doing shows in Europe, as well as a benefit for handicapped and underprivileged children in Madison Square Garden in the midst of shows on the East Coast. Here were the results of some of those cards (courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com):
London, England – Royal Albert Hall – October 4, 1995 (4,000): Man Mountain Rock beat Rad Radford via submission…Waylon Mercy defeated Bob Holly via submission with a sleeper hold…Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Sid by blocking a powerbomb with a backdrop…Jean-Pierre LaFitte defeated Aldo Montoya with Le Cannonball…Hunter-Hearst Helmsley pinned Henry Godwinn with a rollup and using the ropes for leverage after Godwinn turned an attempted Pedigree into a backdrop…Owen Hart defeated Fatu with a schoolboy after Yokozuna came to ringside and distracted Fatu…Razor Ramon beat Dean Douglas with the Razor’s Edge…WWF Champion Diesel defeated Yokozuna with a flying crossbody. After the match, Diesel gave Owen Hart a Jackknife.
Boston, Massachusetts – The FleetCenter – October 5, 1995 (4,700): This was the first card held at the FleetCenter…Hakushi beat Skip…Barry Horowitz pinned Sir Mo with a modified crucifix when Mo laid over Horowitz to cover him…The 1-2-3 Kid beat Bob Backlund with an inside cradle at 7:23. After the match, Backlund put the Kid in the crossface chicken wing until WWF officials forced him to release the hold…WWF Women’s Champion Bertha Faye beat Alundra Blayze with a Big Bertha Bomb after shoving Blayze off the middle turnbuckle at 6:43…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns beat the Blu Brothers after the Sidewinder at 9:45…Savio Vega defeated Kama with a spinning heel kick after Kama ducked a clothesline attempt at 8:25. A fan got to be the guest ring announcer for the match…Bret Hart (w/George Steele) beat Isaac Yankem (w/Jerry Lawler) via submission to the Sharpshooter in 12 minutes after Yankem missed a flying knee drop. During the match, Steele chased Lawler away from the ringside area and after the bout, Lawler returned to attack Bret, only to be chased off again by Steele. Steele then ate a turnbuckle as Hart went to the locker room…Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeated the British Bulldog via disqualification at 17:35 when Jim Cornette hit Michaels with a tennis racquet when Michaels was on the middle turnbuckle. The Bulldog then delivered a running powerslam before going to the locker room…The Undertaker pinned King Mabel after a chokeslam at 8:19.
New York City, New York – Madison Square Garden – October 6, 1995 (9,000; 7,900 paid): This was a benefit show for handicapped and underprivileged children. Powerlifter Mark Henry makes his WWF debut here as he is introduced to the crowd, only to have the Bodydonnas come out and fat shame him. Henry eventually pushed Skip across the ring and cornered Sunny before she escaped and fled…Hakushi pinned Skip at 9:09 after a hurricanrana into a rollup after heel miscommunication resulted in Skip dropkicking Sunny off the apron…Barry Horowitz beat Sir Mo with a roll over after Mo collided with Skip on the ring apron when Skip tried to interfere…WWF Women’s Champion Bertha Faye pinned Alundra Blayze after the Big Bertha Bomb at 7:26…The 1-2-3 Kid beat Bob Backlund with an inside cradle at 11:24. After the bell, Backlund put the Kid into the crossface chicken wing and when the ring announcer announced the Kid as the winner, Backlund applied the chicken wing to him. Howard Finkel, in street clothes, then did announcing for the rest of the evening…Savio Vega beat Kama with a spinning heel kick at 8:20. After the match, Kama attacked Savio but was knocked out of the ring twice by the Caribbean superstar…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns beat the Blu Brothers after the Sidewinder at 8:37…Bret Hart (w/George Steele) beat Isaac Yankem (w/Jerry Lawler) via submission to the Sharpshooter at 10:07. After the match, Bret fought with Lawler and knocked Yankem to the floor, where he was bit by Steele. Steele then shoved referee Earl Hebner out of the way to eat a turnbuckle…Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels beat the British Bulldog via disqualification in 17 minutes when Jim Cornette it Michaels with his tennis racquet when Michaels was punching the Bulldog in the corner. After the bell, the Bulldog gave Michaels a running powerslam before leaving…The Undertaker pinned King Mabel with a chokeslam at 11:18. After the match, the Undertaker gave Sir Mo a chokeslam as well.
And here were some major news items concerning the World Wrestling Federation in early October (courtesy of The Wrestling Observer for October 16 and the historyofwwe.com):
*The Smoking Gunns worked the October 2 United States Wrestling Association (USWA) show in Memphis, losing to USWA Tag Team Champions PG-13 by disqualification when Tekno Team 2000 interfered. In that match the Gunns were defending their WWF tag team titles. The bout did not draw a big crowd, as only 900 fans attended and the gate was $5,500. The outcome of the match will lead to the Gunns and PG-13 having a title match on RAW as part of the existing USWA-WWF talent agreement.
*House show attendance in Europe is down from previous levels, with attendance averaging a little over 4,000 fans for each show. The company is also disappointed in attendance for its cards in Boston and Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
*The WWF has finalized a deal with All Japan Women (AJW) to send six competitors to Landover, Maryland for Survivor Series in November. These will be Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa, Chapparita Asari, Aja Kong, Lioness Asuka, and Tomoko Watanabe. AJW received pressure from New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) not to send anyone to the WWF due to NJPW’s relationship with WCW, but AJW refused to heed their advice.
*Steve Austin, who has recently worked in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), will reportedly meet with Vince McMahon on October 10. Austin also reportedly has talks scheduled with All Japan. Meltzer speculates that if Austin gets a deal with All Japan he will likely take it because he could easily be the organization’s world champion. Austin is a former WCW U.S., Tag, and Television champion.
*The WWF is holding firm with Adam Bomb, refusing to release him from his contract and preventing him from working elsewhere. It is reported from within that company that Jeff Jarrett will likely be returning at some point.
*Al Snow will be coming into the company as a babyface but will not be sporting a “Crow” gimmick, which was circulating in wrestling news circles.
*Bill Watts is practicing an old school tactic of not giving wrestlers their finishes until the day of a show so that finishes do not get leaked ahead of time. Meltzer argues that this is counterproductive because wrestlers cannot put on a great shot if they cannot plan ahead of time.
*The Undertaker is currently suffering from a severely bruised foot that has made it difficult to walk. However, he has still made all of his required appearances.
*Mark Henry’s appearance at Madison Square Garden might not be his last appearance in the WWF. Some are already thinking of using him a Ken Patera-like role depending on how well he does at the Olympics.
*There will not be a Fan Festival at WrestleMania XII as a result of cost cutting measures.
Up Next: Monday Night RAW for October 9, 1995!