The WrestleMania VIII press conference that aired on Superstars starts the show, along with rebuttal comments from Randy Savage and Sid Justice.
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are calling the action, taped from Fort Myers, Florida.
Opening Contest: Rick Martel (1-1) beats Brad Avery via submission to the Boston crab at 2:34:
In the split screen, Martel puts over how showing up to fashion shows is great but nothing beats wrestling. Martel nearly cripples Avery with a chokeslam, works the back, and gets a second-straight win with a Boston crab.
The New Foundation (3-0) defeat John Allen & Barry Horowitz when Owen Hart pins Allen after the Rocket Launcher at 3:11:
Heenan jokes that the Hoosier Dome is now being called “The House of Ric” as he reprises his yearly gig of begging Monsoon for WrestleMania tickets, arguing that he needs them for his shut-in relatives. The Beverlys and Genius do an insert promo about how they are going to maim the Foundation, continuing the war of words for their feud. In a fun bit, Horowitz pulls on Neidhart’s beard and that just makes Neidhart go nuts on him. After shoulder blocking Horowitz out of the ring, Neidhart throws his partner off the top rope onto Allen as the Foundation keeps building momentum.
Marty Jannetty (1-0) pins Bob Mason after the Rocker Dropper at 2:54:
Jamison cheers Jannetty on, with ring announcer Mike McGuirk billing Jannetty as “The Rocker.” In the split screen, Jannetty screams about how he is going to come after Shawn Michaels to kick his butt. The squash is nothing special, with Jannetty working a long chinlock and irritating some parts of the offense. Eventually a random kick to the gut sets up the Rocker Dropper finish.
Tatanka (1-0) pins the Brooklyn Brawler after a Samoan drop at 2:38:
For his second squash, Tatanka is given another veteran to make him look good. The Brawler shakes off a few flying chops off the middle rope to rake Tatanka’s eyes. Tatanka rebounds out of his war dance and finishes with a Samoan drop. It is interesting that the WWF is letting Tatanka do that finish since it mirrors Irwin R. Schyster’s Write Off. This squash was not as good as Superstars and showed that Tatanka needed to work on timing his comebacks.
A montage of past WrestleMania footage is shown.
Jake Roberts (2-0) defeats Dale Wolfe after the DDT at 1:57:
Wolfe makes the mistake of giving Roberts clean breaks on the ropes, which leads to him getting tossed over the top rope and to the floor. Wolfe recovers enough to try a dropkick but misses and Roberts wastes no time using the DDT.
Bret Hart (3-0-1) defeats Kato (0-2) via submission to the Sharpshooter at 3:37:
In the split screen, Bret announces that he wants a shot at Roddy Piper’s Intercontinental title and says that the Mountie will not get in his way. Monsoon notes that a complication for Bret’s plans is that the Mountie is guaranteed a return shot at Piper. He does concede that the title changed hands so quickly, though, that it would also be fair for Bret to get another shot at the title he lost with the flu. Kato has a few offensive flourishes, but Bret has a counter for everything and he uses an inverted atomic drop out of the corner to set up the Sharpshooter. Rating: *
There is a replay of Papa Shango’s vignette from Superstars.
Ted DiBiase (w/Sensational Sherri) (1-0-1) defeats Mike Casey via submission to the Million Dollar Dream at 2:21:
Monsoon cracks that Sherri rips DiBiase’s entrance pants off so quick the viewer can tell that she has experience. He quickly pivots to talking about how useful Sherri is, but the conversation does not steer toward Sherri’s revelations about Shawn Michaels on the Funeral Parlor because in some markets Challenge aired before Superstars. Heenan does say that Sherri seems distant in recent weeks. In the split screen, El Matador gives a weak promo about how DiBiase will never take his dignity. DiBiase does the usual powerslam setup for the Million Dollar Dream, crushing his opponent so Sherri can steal the $100 he puts in Casey’s mouth.
Tune in next week to see the Big Bossman, Papa Shango, and WWF Tag Team Champions the Legion of Doom!
The Last Word: Aside from seeing Sherri’s last managerial appearance with Ted DiBiase, the only other notable event was Bret Hart declaring that he was going after Roddy Piper’s Intercontinental title. There is now a three-way feud over that belt as Bret and the Mountie each have rematch claims against Piper, something that should be sorted out over the next two months.
Here is a summary of the WWF’s house show action to round out January and early February, courtesy of the historyofwwe.com:
New York City – Madison Square Garden – January 31, 1992 (9,000): Rick Martel pinned the Texas Tornado with a Flair pin. Afterward, the Tornado chased Martel to the locker room…Shawn Michaels pinned Jimmy Snuka with the Teardrop suplex at 12:17…Sid Justice pinned the Mountie after a powerbomb at 4:26…The Warlord beat Hercules with a running powerslam at 5:39…Sergeant Slaughter & Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat the Nasty Boys via count out at 10:26…Chris Walker pinned Kato with a flying body press at 9:44…The Undertaker defeated Bret Hart with a double axe handle and hitting Bret with he urn at 12:27…Repo Man pinned Virgil with a back elbow at 11:04…Randy Savage pinned Jake Roberts after the flying elbow drop at 6:07.
Valparaiso, Indiana – University Athletic & Recreation Center – February 1, 1992 (5,500; sellout): Repo Man pinned Virgil…The Warlord beat Jimmy Snuka…The Undertaker defeated Sid Justice via disqualification after Sid used the urn as a weapon…Randy Savage pinned Jake Roberts…Rick Martel defeated the Texas Tornado with a Flair pin…Bret Hart beat the Mountie via submission to the Sharpshooter…Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Sergeant Slaughter beat the Nasty Boys when Duggan pinned Brian Knobbs.
Salt Lake City, Utah – The Delta Center – February 1, 1992 (6,200): Tatanka beat Skinner…The British Bulldog pinned the Berzerker…Animal beat Earthquake with a powerslam…WWF Champion Ric Flair defeated Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper via disqualification when Piper was caught with a chair in the ring. After the match, Piper left with both titles…El Matador pinned Ted DiBiase with a flying forearm…Irwin R. Schyster beat the Big Bossman…The Beverly Brothers defeated the New Foundation.
Backstage News*: At the recent Madison Square Garden card, Sid Justice got a massive babyface reaction and Hulk Hogan was soundly booed, which shocked backstage agents. Despite that, the plan is still for Sid to turn on Hogan and the press conference angle this week on Superstars indicates the direction that the company is going in. Look for Harvey Wippleman to be paired with Sid as the two are friends and Sid is why Wippleman was brought into the company last year.
*Word is circulating in the advertising and licensing industry to back off of Hogan because of negative press that is coming out about his drug and steroid use. The fear is that this could spread to the WWF itself, severely hurting its business model.
*Instead of forming a tag team with Shawn Michaels, Ted DiBiase will instead be teaming with Irwin R. Schyster to balance out the tag team division.
*While the location for SummerSlam has not been officially announced, odds are that it will take place on August 31 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.
*Hawk is suffering from a hip pointer and is out of action. As a result, the WWF had to replace the Legion of Doom with Sergeant Slaughter & Hacksaw Jim Duggan for the Saturday Night’s Main Event taping.
*In talent relations news, the WWF gave a tryout to Action Jackson, who was doing a rapper gimmick like what P.N. News did in WCW last year. Fans were reported to have responded well to it in Amarillo. Konnan also worked the taping in dark matches and will start with a robot suit gimmick after WrestleMania. There are rumors that WCW wants Marty Jannetty and could sign him if the WWF terminates his contract. WCW wants to pair Jannetty with Shane Douglas for their own Rockers tag team.
*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 10.
Up Next: Prime Time Wrestling for February 3!