Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, and Jim Neidhart are in the booth, closing out the television taping in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Opening Contest: The British Bulldog (11-0) defeats Jeff Sword with the running powerslam at 1:39:
Heenan takes jabs at the Bulldog because of the ongoing Bulldog-Perfect feud, segwaying into a Perfect instead promo where Perfect predicts that the Bulldog will have a “ruff” time against him. As puns like that attest, the feud between these is not clicking. The Bulldog throws Sword around with some basic moves, remaining undefeated and a top challenger to the Intercontinental title.
Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report recaps developments in the Hulk Hogan-Sergeant Slaughter feud. Slaughter, with Colonel Mustafa and General Adnan, tells Hogan that he only won the first battle between them at WrestleMania.
The Bushwhackers (5-0) defeat Scott Allen & Jim Corbitt when Butch pins Allen after the double stomachbreaker at 2:21:
Power & Glory do an insert promo where Paul Roma says he does not want to be licked, while Hercules promises to end the Bushwhackers “yay” and “woe.” That is a sad fall for Power & Glory, who have lost their last two feuds in the tag division. The Bushwhackers mow through the jobbers with the usual and the crowd loves it.
The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (12-0) pins Major Yates after the Tombstone at 2:16:
Neidhart adds nothing to the booth, evidenced by Heenan setting him up for a bit by asking if he likes music similar to the Undertaker’s theme song and Neidhart just says “No.” The Undertaker and Bearer do a split screen promo that tells the Ultimate Warrior that it is time to trade in his war paint for a death mask. Due to his strong booking over the last six months, the Undertaker already seems like he is too big for squash matches. After the match, the Undertaker dumps dirt onto Yates.
The Dragon (1-0) beats Keith Steinborn with a flying body press at 1:27:
Monsoon loves to talk about the Dragon’s chops that go into Steinborn’s “breadbasket.” A flying chop sets up the Dragon’s finish.
Gene Okerlund interviews the Mountie and Jimmy Hart. Hart disputes Okerlund’s term that he has a “stable” as that references horses and cows, preferring the label “organization” to his collection of wrestlers. The Mountie says that the Big Bossman is a cop that gives a bad name to law enforcement because his type of justice only fits a small town.
Power & Glory (w/Slick) (4-1) defeat Kevin Greeno & Mike Samples when Paul Roma pins Samples after an elbow drop at 3:06:
The Bushwhackers rebut Power & Glory’s earlier promo in the split screen, unsure of why Power & Glory do not like their style. Power & Glory destroy the jobbers in turn but do not use the Powerplex for the second straight match, finishing with a simple Roma elbow drop. Since that is the one thing that makes the team standout, that is not a good change.
The Texas Tornado (10-0) pins Doug Vines after the discus punch at 2:15:
After Neidhart puts over the Tornado’s discus throw record, Heenan makes a great quip about how the Tornado went to Australia and “tried to throw a boomerang away for a week.” This is another one of the squashes where the Tornado is not protective of his finish, putting Vines on the top turnbuckle and doing the discus punch. Vines has to recover quickly to get pulled back into the ring, where the Tornado puts him in the claw and discus punches him again for the pin.
A replay of Irwin R. Schyster’s latest vignette airs.
Earthquake (w/Jimmy Hart) (6-1) beats Mike Shelton with the Earthquake Splash at 2:38:
Earthquake takes his time wearing down Shelton as Jake Roberts do an insert promo about how a fear of snakes is the only thing that makes Earthquake shake. After the bell, Earthquake drops an elbow on Shelton.
Tune in next week to see the Rockers, the Mountie, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Colonel Mustafa, and the Legion of Doom! There will also be the debut of the Barber Shop with Brutus Beefcake!
The Last Word: This was just a filler episode of Wrestling Challenge. The Barber Shop will be a nice addition to the show since it will be a better setting for interviews instead of just having Gene Okerlund stand on an interview podium.
The WWF remained in the Asia-Pacific region for the first week of April, cutting a tour of New Zealand four days short after Bushwhacker Butch became ill. The following results are courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:
WWF/SWS WrestleDream – Kobe, Japan – The Coliseum – April 1, 1991: Kunichi Oya pinned Masao Orihara…Shinchi Nakano & Goro Tsurumi defeated Don Arakawa & Hiroshi Hatanaka…Sampson Fuyuki beat Tatsumi Kitahara…Minora Suzuki defeated Apollo Sugawara…Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Fumi Niikura…Masaharu Funiaki defeated Naoki Sano…The Great Kabuki & Takashi Ishikawa beat Ishin Ricky & Kendo Nagasaki…Earthquake beat Koji Kitao via disqualification when Kitao broke character, refused to sell for Earthquake, and started to shooting on Earthquake. After the bell, Kitao got on the house mic and told the audience that wrestling was fake…George Takano pinned Bret Hart with a splash off the top rope at 11:44…Genichiro Tenryu pinned Randy Savage with a powerbomb at 10:55…WWF Champion Hulk Hogan beat Yoshiaki Yatsu with the Axe Bomber at 7:55.
WWF/Arena Wrestling Alliance – Wanganui, New Zealand – April 3, 1991: Jim Powers pinned the Genius…Don Muraco beat Mad Dog…Koko B. Ware pinned the Brooklyn Brawler…Sivi Afi defeated Angel…The Bushwhackers defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Nasty Boys via disqualification.
Backstage News*: According to reports, Earthquake more than held his own with Koji Kitao started shooting on him in Kobe, Japan and earned a lot of respect in the locker room. After the incident, SWS fired Kitao, who was becoming a headache before the show. According to Kitao, he was angry about being booked to job to Earthquake on consecutive shows since he sees himself as a bigger sumo and wrestling star. The incident ends a joint set of shows between the WWF and SWS, which did not sell well. For example, almost half of the 42,000 in attendance for the Tokyo Dome show a week ago were given tickets for free.
*The WWF remains estranged with the Meadowlands as they allowed WCW to run another house show after Vince McMahon told them that allowing that would lead to a cessation of the WWF’s presence at the venue. Dave Meltzer is skeptical that WCW will be able to run successfully at the building and when they fail it will cause the Meadowlands to beg the WWF to come back.
*Some are blaming the $30 price for this year’s WrestleMania as the reason for the poor buyrate of the show. The declining buys also show that the WWF’s theory that an expansion of pay-per-view into more homes would inevitably lead to more purchases is wrong.
*In talent relations news, reports of Sid Vicious leaving WCW may have been premature as sources say that WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd held emergency contract talks and convinced Sid to stay. Konnan is saying that he has signed a two-year deal with the WWF.
*Backstage news provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer on April 15.
Up Next: Prime Time Wrestling for April 9!