September 23, 1995
From the Erie Civic Center in Erie, PA
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry “The King” Lawler. The debut of these three on Superstars.
We get a hype video for this week’s Henry Godwinn & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Kama & Tatanka match. Also this week is Sid vs. Savio Vega and Isaac Yankem vs. Bob Holly.
Tatanka & Kama w/ Ted DiBiase vs. Henry Godwinn & Bam Bam Bigelow
Tatanka hammers away on Bigelow to start. Bigelow runs over Tatanka and hits a clothesline before mocking Tatanka’s war dance. Tatanka boots Bigelow in the gut then hammers away but ducks his head for a back drop and gets kicked in the face. Tatanka rakes Bigelow’s face then tags out only to have Bigelow take them both out with a double clothesline. Godwinn tags in and clotheslines Kama then starts hammering away. Godwinn works over Kama as DiBiase heads up the aisle. Bigelow is in now but gets outnumbered in the opposing corner as we head to break. We return as DiBiase leads Sid down the aisle and in the ring Tatanka beats on Bigelow. Tatanka then decks Godwinn off of the apron and that allows Kama & Tatanka to pound on Bigelow in the corner. Kama is in now and works a front facelock as Tatanka runs interference when Bigelow showed signs of getting out. Tatanka then tags and both men collide trying crossbodies. Lawler says its chance for DiBiase to make his move as both men tag out with Godwinn running wild on Kama he gets low-bridged by Tatanka. Bigelow comes in to attack Kama but as that happens the ref gets distracted and Sid powerbombs Godwinn on the floor. We get a replay of the powerbomb and see that Godwinn got counted out (8:40) **.
Thoughts: Formulaic match but it was fine and a last minute effort to get heat on Sid vs. Godwinn for the PPV. Bigelow, who is wrestling Bulldog for the PPV, spent most of the match selling as it shows how much he has fallen. Poor guy can’t even get a win with the WrestleMania XI special airing next week seeing that he main-evented the show. Here, Bigelow sold for a majority of the match.
WWF Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix. More hype for the 10/6 MSG show as now Dok can press his keyboard and magically get the theme song of the wrestler he mentions. We get Bret Hart cutting a promo on Isaac Yankem with George Steele screaming in the background as Steele will be in Bret’s corner.
We see Isaac Yankem flossing backstage with what Lawler tells us is a shoelace as he will be facing Bob Holly.
An ad for the WrestleMania XI special airs.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Tony Williams
We get a clip of Helmsley refusing to wrestle last week due to the smell of the slop from the previous match. Helmsley carried an atomizer with him this week as he sprays it all around the ring. Both men start on the mat then end up in the ropes. He announcers talk about Helmsley’s skills and undefeated record as Williams hits a pair of dropkicks. Helmsley avoids a third attempt then boots Williams in the ribs before beating him down in the corner. The announcers hype the Superstar Line as Helmlsey pancakes Williams then takes a bow before hitting the Pedigree for the win (1:55).
Thoughts: Another win for Helmsley has they are waiting to put him into a feud.
A new Goldust vignette. This time he is in the theater and lists off famous actors but how none of them can be legends like himself. Goldust then wants us to tell our friends about him as the segment ends.
Vince welcomes Shawn Michaels & Diesel to the ring. However, we then hear Yokozuna’s music and see him with Owen Hart, Jim Cornette, and Mr. Fuji in the aisle. Cornette says that after Sunday night one of them will be missing a belt because while they are great individually they do not mesh. Cornette says his men are the greatest team in the WWF and one of them will be a double champion after In Your House. Shawn says no one makes fun of “Vince McMannequin” but himself then tells Cornette they are not looking at a team or business relationship but rather friends. Shawn says they will make history after In Your House. Owen then tells Shawn he is a punk and tells Diesel the bigger you are the harder you fall and how Yokozuna was champion before and will beat Diesel for it again. Shawn then says Diesel will drop Yokozuna en route to them becoming champions. Cornette tells Shawn they are fixing to put something on him that Ajax won’t wipe off. Diesel finally gets to speak and promises after the PPV that Shawn and himself will still have their belts and become tag champions as the segment ends playing his music. Ross notes that the last time Shawn & Diesel teamed it had an explosive ending. They are trying to play up the history of Shawn & Diesel and how they cannot coexist as partners. I thought it was telling how Shawn did just about all of the talking for his team and even though the Intercontinental Champion, feels like a much bigger deal than the World Champion does at this point. Cornette, as usual, did a fine job on the mic hyping his guys and playing the role of a shit stirrer but Shawn is easily the top act of the promotion regardless of title.
In Your House ad airs.
Bob “Spark Plug” Holly vs. Dr. Isaac Yankem DDS
Vince talks about Yankem being a lousy dentist due to his discolored teeth. Holly avoids an attack in the corner then avoids another attack and fires away. Holly uses a drop toehold then works the arm for a bit. Yankem reverses then hits a short-arm clothesline. Yankem chokes out Holly as the announcers talk about the AOL chats with various WWF Superstars then the 10/6 MSG show. Yankem continues to fire away then uses a scoop slam and an elbow drop for a two count. We now get talk about George Steele being in Bret’s corner at MSG for his match against Yankem. Vince now lists off various house show dates as the crowd appears bored to death. Holly blocks a turnbuckle smash then heads up top for a missile dropkick then Holly crawls around as his head whacked the mat. Holly then catches Yankem with a running clothesline and uses a back drop and a hip toss. Holly gets two with a dropkick but Yankem reverses an Irish whip and boots Holly in the gut before the DDS gets the win (5:19) *1/4.
Thoughts: The outcome was never in doubt but the match was lousy outside of Holly’s run at the end. Holly is really getting pinned everywhere from PPV to Action Zone and everywhere in between over the past month. Lots of talk about the MSG show since Bret/Yankem is one of the top matches.
Still to come is Sid vs. Savio Vega.
After the break we get a hype video for next week’s Barry Horowitz & Hakushi vs. Skip & Rad Radford and British Bulldog vs. Fatu matches.
Savio Vega vs. Sid w/ Ted DiBiase
Vince says this could be a “tremendous” match up. We get an intense staredown then Sid beats on Savio in the corner. Savio fires up and punches away then lands mounted punches in the corner. Sid then reverses an Irish whip and chokeslams Savio then sets up for the powerbomb but Bigelow runs down and breaks that up for the DQ (1:21). We now see Godwinn at ringside with the slop bucket backing up DiBiase then as DiBiase ran away, Godwinn slopped Sid who was lying on the floor. Sid now grabs a chair and hits it on the apron as Godwinn, Bigelow, and Savio stand in the ring. They all leave as Sid paces around angry with DiBiase trying to calm him down. Sid kicks the steps around as DiBiase is afraid as the announcers talk about Sid/Godwinn tomorrow on the PPV.
Thoughts: And we get more hype for Sid/Godwinn here. Savio wrestles another TV match this week where he is an afterthought and he has a match against Mercy that has not been given any hype at all.
WWF Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix. He laughs about Sid getting slopped then we get more hype for the upcoming MSG show with with a promo from Lawler & Yankem.
An ad for In Your House airs.
We cut backstage to see Sid flipping out and tossing trash cans as he yells for the “hog man.”
The announcers run down the other PPV matches. Lawler now predicts we will have new Tag Team Champions in the triple header, going against his prediction from RAW where he ad Yokozuna pinning Diesel for the World Title.
Final Thoughts: The goal of this show was to build up Sid vs. Godwinn at In Your House as they appear all in on giving Godwinn a strong midcard push as a face. We got a promo to hype the PPV main event and touched upon a few other feuds as the PPV is tomorrow.
And, regarding the addition of Jim Ross on commentary, this was an attempt to phase Vince out as play-by-play and to replace him with Ross according to Bruce Prichard on the “Something to Wrestle With” podcast. Let’s see how that plays out.
Here is my schedule for the next several days:
Saturday: WWF In Your House 3 9/24/95
Sunday: WWF Monday Night RAW 9/25/95
Monday: WWF Superstars 9/30/95
Tuesday: WWF Monday Night RAW 10/2/95
Wednesday: WWF Fleet Center (Boston) 10/5/95
Thursday: WWF Monday Night RAW 10/7/95
Friday: WWF Monday Night RAW 10/9/95