July 2, 1995
From the Marts Center in Wilkes Barre, PA
Your hosts are Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon
Show starts off with still photos from King of the Ring as we hear Mabel scream “long live King Mabel!”
Hakushi w/ Shinja vs. Ross Greenberg
We once again see Hakushi pull out the Bret Hart head from the burlap sack carried by Shinja. The crowd chants for Bret as Hakushi beats on Greenberg. The announcers talk about Hakushi/Bret meeting again “sometime down the road” while also putting over his talents. Greenberg hits a pair of embarrassing looking dropkicks before Hakushi brushes away the third. Hakushi hammers away as we learn that Rad Radford will appear this week. Greenberg fights back but Hakushi knocks him down with a throat thrust then connects with a dropkick. Hakushi now slams Greenberg then puts him away with a springboard splash (2:45).
Thoughts: They talked about an eventual Bret/Hakushi rematch but did not specify the date and with four matches for the PPV already announced this week its not too likely that it will occur at In Your House. They also touched upon Hakushi accidentally costing Lawler the Kiss My Foot match and guess we will see the fallout from that at some point.
WWF Live Event News with Stephanie Wiand.
We see what happened on RAW between Shawn Michaels and Jeff Jarrett that led to the two being announced in a match at In Your House 2.
Video of Diesel at the Oklahoma City softball game.
A package on the WWF’s involvement with the Special Olympics airs.
Rad Radford vs. Jeff Hardy
Radford tells “Courtney” he loves her and that is a reference to Courtney Love of the band “Hole.” The announcers talk about the band Hole briefly as Radford slaps Hardy then has him chase him around before suplexing him on the ropes. Radford thrashes around and boots Hardy outside then wipes him out with a tope that looked like it sucked for Hardy. Radford takes Hardy back inside and hits a dropkick then flying forearm before hitting a spinebuster. The announcers talk about Backlund/Man Mountain Rock as Radford once again calls out “Courtney” before putting Hardy away with a Northern Lights suplex (2:08).
Thoughts: I guess Radford or WWF thought a way to get heel heat was for him to call out Courtney Love. Whoever it was thought wrong as this was forced and lame. At least Radford gets to beat someone two weeks after losing to Shawn Michaels on “Action Zone” but he is just a depth guy, regardless.
WWF Hall of Fame Video package airs.
Waylon Mercy’s lifeguard chair vignette airs.
Bob “Spark Plug” Holly vs. Tony DeVito
The announcers talk about Mercy as DeVito slams Holly. Devito then takes Holly down with a hip toss as the announcers talk about Holly’s showing in defeat at King of the Ring. Holly connects with a dropkick then a hip toss and after that a running clothesline. Holly yells “here we go” and gets a tepid reaction before heading up top for a flying body press and the win (1:42).
Thoughts: Holly’s stock continues to drop as he went from being in the IC Title picture a few months ago to now losing to Roadie at King of the Ring, something he was not thrilled about behind the scenes. There is no direction for him at the moment.
A still photo package of the Kiss My Foot match from King of the Ring airs. This is then followed by the footage from RAW with Lawler in front of his dentist’s office, Dr. Isaac Yankem D.D.S.
Duke “The Dumpster” Droese vs. Mike Bell
Didinsky is with a young girl wearing an Adam Bomb shirt while he wears a Shawn Michaels shirt to sell them both. Bell jaws with Droese and as a result gets slapped in the face. Droese then follows an atomic drop with a dropkick before going to the chin lock. The announcers talk about Razor getting injured once again at King of the Ring as Droese beats on Bell in the corner. Ross believes Razor will likely be out of action until the PPV at earliest as Droese hits a powerslam then says its time to take out the trash and finishes Bell off with the Trash Compactor (2:00).
Thoughts: We learn here that Razor will miss at least a few more weeks due to injury. Droese is another one on this show just floundering in the midcard and for Droese, he’s been floundering since his feud with Jerry Lawler ended.
WWF Live Event News with Wiand.
Yokozuna & Owen Hart w/ Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji vs. Jerry Flynn & David Thornberg
Flynn is called Jeff Williams here. Yokozuna waves the Japanese flag in the middle of the ring to get heel heat on 4th of July weekend. The announcers put over Yokozuna’s added height since Lex Luger slammed him two years ago (90 lbs according to them and probably not far from the truth) and how he might just stick to sushi over hot dogs this weekend. Yep. Flynn works over Owen to start but gets caught in a belly-to-belly suplex. The announcers now talk about Owen not being able to match the strength of the Allied Powers as Yokozuna now tags and beats on Thornberg and the champs put him away with a drop toe hold/leg drop combo (2:56).
Thoughts: More hype for the Tag Team Title match at In Your House with the main story of whether or not one of the Powers can slam Yokozuna.
Next week in action are Waylon Mercy and 1-2-3 Kid.
The Jeff Jarrett “With My Baby Tonight” video airs.
Final Thoughts: The matches contained talent mostly doing nothing of note and the rest was recycled clips making it your standard episode of Challenge. I’ll review Action Zone later tonight as that format will have changed before a bigger chance a month or so down the road. And a month or so down the road will be the end for Challenge. And we can learn all about that soon enough.