Sid Justice has been removed from the show’s opening, signaling his departure from the company.
Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect are in the booth, beginning a new round of television tapings from Syracuse, New York. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on April 29 and drew a crowd of 4,500 fans.
Opening Non-Title Contest: Bret Hart (Intercontinental Champion) (13-1-1) beats Von Krus via submission to the Sharpshooter at 1:13:
Krus was trained by WWF Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz and began his career in 1990. He wrestled for Japan’s NOW Wrestling Federation and did some enhancement work for the WWF in 1991. Krus achieved his biggest success as Big Vito in the dying years of WCW.
In a discussion of Bret’s hair and the lack thereof for Krus, Perfect charges that McMahon is wearing a toupee, something that McMahon does not deny, simply saying that Perfect should not “be giving away trade secrets.” Shawn Michaels and Sensational Sherri do an insert promo where they vow to break Bret’s heart by taking the Intercontinental Championship. Bret quickly runs through some moves of doom and wins a fifth-straight singles bout.
Gene Okerlund’s Update segment recaps Repo Man’s beatdown of the British Bulldog on last week’s Wrestling Challenge. The Bulldog does a taped promo where he says that Repo failed to take him out and he will sink his teeth into him soon because he is a dog that will never be tied down.
Kamala (w/Harvey Wippleman & Kim Chee) defeats Sonny Blaze after a splash to the back in 47 seconds:
Kamala was a longtime veteran of the business, trained by WWWF legend Bobo Brazil and Tim Hampton and starting his career in 1978. Wrestling originally as “Sugar Bear” Harris he worked for NWA Tri-State (which later became Bill Watts’ UWF) and NWA Southeastern Championship Wrestling. While working in Memphis in 1982, he took on the persona of a Ugandan headhunter, a gimmick that was the brainchild of Harris, Jerry Lawler, and Jerry Jarrett. After that, Kamala worked for Mid-South, World Class, and had a main event run in the WWF in 1984 opposite WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. After working in the AWA and Canada, Kamala returned to the WWF from 1986-1987, having a good house show run with Hogan before feuding with Jake Roberts. After leaving the WWF again, Kamala returned to World Class, wrestled for All Japan, and also went back to Memphis. He was the USWA Unified World Champion when the WWF signed him.
Kamala tears into Blaze right after the bell. He does a splash to the back as a finisher but does not know that he needs to roll Blaze over for the pin. After urging from Wippleman and Kim Chee he figures it out and wins. The WWF was in dire need of monster heels after the departure of Sid Justice but an African savage gimmick did not have the same level of play in the 1990s as it had a decade earlier.
El Matador (15-1-1) pins Bob Bradley after El Paso Del Muerte at 1:29:
Bradley was trained by Jimmy Snuka and broke into the business in 1982. He wrestled as an opening act for the company through much of the 1980s and then went to World Class where he captured the Texas Heavyweight Championship. After quick stints in Bill Watts’ UWF and WCW he returned to the WWF in 1989, one again slotted into an enhancement role. His biggest claim to fame since that return was having a few matches under a mask as Battle Kat after Brady Boone quit the company in 1990.
Perfect reads a letter from the unknown convict that declares he is out and is coming after the Big Bossman. El Matador throws some nice dropkicks, continuing an unbeaten run since the WrestleMania loss to Shawn Michaels.
The Legion of Doom wish mothers everywhere a happy Mother’s Day.
The Legion of Doom (w/Paul Ellering) (5-1) defeat Mark Kay & Terry Davis when Hawk pins Davis after the Doomsday Device at 1:44:
The Beverly Brothers and the Genius pop up in the split screen, calling the Legion and their manager “mamas boys.” Perfect puts over the power of the Doomsday Device as the Legion steamroll through another pair of hapless jobbers.
Crush beats Kato (0-9) after a spinebuster at 1:49:
Unlike many of the wrestlers in the WWF locker room, the Hawaiian-born Crush was trained in Japan by Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. He started working for New Japan in 1986 and subsequently wrestled for PNW, Billy Jack Haynes’ Oregon Wrestling Federation, Continental, and All Japan. The WWF brought him in during the summer of 1990 to fill Ax’s role in Demolition. The newcomer was part of Demolition’s heel turn and tag team title loss to the Hart Foundation at SummerSlam ’90 and was part of a losing feud to the Ultimate Warrior and the Legion of Doom. When Ax quit the promotion after Survivor Series that year, Crush teamed permanently with Smash but the duo failed to replicate the success of the prior version of the team. After their defeat to Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao at WrestleMania VII, Crush was sent back to PNW where he won the promotion’s heavyweight and tag team titles. His return to the WWF gave him a different neon-colored look, positioned him as a babyface, and a guitar riff theme song that borrowed heavily from the one Sid Justice used.
Crush shows off his power by holding up Kato and delaying a backbreaker and then pressing him above his head several times before slamming him. That leads to a spinebuster to give the newcomer his first win. In a funny bit after the match, Crush helps Kato up and lifts his hand and then a destroyed Kato falls back down to the canvas. This was a decent debut but one could not help but notice Crush’s awkward movement around the ring between spots.
Papa Shango burns a pictures of the Ultimate Warrior as he hypes himself as the Warrior’s worst nightmare. He yells about how the living are going to fall, the dead will rise, and he will reign over the Warrior’s demise. McMahon yells about the Warrior has been cursed.
Okerlund interviews Rick Martel, who has Tatanka’s feather hanging from his French beret. Martel argues that if Tatanka continues his present course that he is going to be going down a “trail of tears.”
Sergeant Slaughter wishes mothers a happy Mother’s Day.
Ric Flair (w/Mr. Perfect) (3-1) beats Sergeant Slaughter (2-0) after the Mountie interferes at 6:17:
Before the match gets going, the Mountie makes his way to ringside and takes a seat. Jimmy Hart also walks out and delivers a locked black box to his charge. The Mountie slowly opens it as Slaughter beats on Flair, revealing parts of a bigger shock stick that he works to assemble. Slaughter blasts Flair with a clothesline for two and suplexes Flair into the ring. When Flair tries to come off the top rope, Slaughter throws him off for two but Flair goes to the eyes. In a bad botch, Slaughter cannot get himself up for a slingshot into the turnbuckles so Flair has to improvise a Boston crab. Moments later, Perfect distracts the referee so that the Mountie can shock Slaughter several times and Flair gets the win right after. This had some good action but the bigger story of it all was what the Mountie was up to throughout. Fans at recent television tapings are also giving Flair babyface reactions, which has to infuriate the WWF’s booking team. Rating: *½
Following the match, the Mountie takes the shock stick to the locker room and the Mountie shakes Flair’s hand. The Mountie then poses over Slaughter’s body and gets on the mic to call him “U.S. scum” as Slaughter is wheeled out on a stretcher.
The Nasty Boys (w/Jimmy Hart) (7-0) beat Brian Brieger & Bill Pierce when Jerry Sags pins Pierce after the Trip to Nastyville at 2:07:
As the Nasties beat on Brieger, McMahon says that the Nasties will soon be facing High Energy. When Perfect returns to the announce booth, McMahon attacks him for the actions that took place in the last match. McMahon then puts over the Family Feud episode that is upcoming which will pit WWF superstars against WBF bodystars.
McMahon tells fans that Slaughter is back on his feet backstage but long-term effects of the Mountie’s attack are unknown.
The Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart are excited about beating up the Ultimate Warrior next week. The Warrior rebuts with a meandering promo of walking through the Nasties pits and that he will transfer Papa Shango’s curse to them.
Tune in next week to see the Ultimate Warrior face one of the Nasty Boys!
The Last Word: The program featured two debuts to help the company restock its depth chart after the departure of more than ten wrestlers since the beginning of the year. The Mountie angle with Sergeant Slaughter was a good one to try to give that feud a reason for existing but fans are ready to move on from an old act like Slaughter so it will probably not amount to much in the long run. Papa Shango is also being programmed with the Ultimate Warrior after Sid Justice’s abrupt departure but it seems like too much too soon. Shango has run through a lot of squash matches but has not won a feud in his own right to establish himself and Charles Wright admits today that he was not ready for the main event-level push he received this early in his run. On the whole, this episode covered a lot of ground for existing feuds because the WWF was desperately trying to everything heated up to reverse poor house show attendance since WrestleMania.
Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for May 10!