What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – July 20, 1992

Vince McMahon moderates a panel of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Hillbilly Jim, Bobby Heenan, and Mr. Perfect. While Duggan and Jim are excited for the Randy Savage-Ultimate Warrior SummerSlam main event, Heenan and Perfect are sour about it.

Opening Contest: The Beverly Brothers (w/the Genius) (16-2) defeat Natural Disasters (16-0) via count out at 7:13:

This matchup took place in Binghamton, New York on June 30. The Disasters, who get their best crowd reaction to date, use their power to assert an advantage, avalanching their opponents against the buckles. The Beverlys respond by beating on Typhoon after Beau hits Typhoon in the back of the head with the Genius’ scroll. A leapfrog body guillotine gets two but a Beau blind charge eats boot and Earthquake gets the hot tag. A belly-to-belly suplex gets two on Blake before Beau interrupts. Earthquake follows up with a powerslam and elbow drop and Beau interrupts another pin, so Earthquake knocks him to the floor. When Earthquake goes for an Earthquake Splash, Blake rolls out of the ring and Earthquake follows. The Genius also gets in on the act by messing with Typhoon so there is wild fighting on the arena floor until Beau ends up in the ring before the ten count and the Beverlys hand the Disasters their first televised loss after 34 straight wins. The first half of the match was rushed along but the brawl on the floor was good as the Genius took a nice bump on a hiptoss from Typhoon. Rating: *½

Gene Okerlund’s Update segment replays the SummerSlam main event announcement.

Sergeant Slaughter’s squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown.

Razor Ramon’s latest vignette on Superstars airs.

Tatanka (22-0) beats Kato (0-14) after the Samoan Drop at 3:48:

This is the third time Tatanka has faced Kato this year, with this latest clash taking place in Glen Falls, New York on June 29. Gorilla Monsoon makes fun of the way Lord Alfred Hayes says Kato’s name and the two proceed to hype SummerSlam. Kato throws some kicks but crotches himself in the corner after a blind charge. That cues Tatanka’s comeback with chops and the Samoan Drop. Rating: *

McMahon puts over Tatanka’s undefeated streak and argues with Heenan that Tatanka’s t-shirts are outselling Ric Flair’s t-shirts. Heenan says that Tatanka’s feathers come from his grandfather that got drunk one night, climbed onto the top of a Beef O’Brady’s, and pulled them off a pigeon.

Footage of an El Matador-Repo Man match that will be on WrestleFest ’92 is shown to encourage fans to buy the tape.

Skinner (7-7-1) pins Jason Knight after the inverted DDT at 1:21:

Knight takes the fight to Skinner and takes him off his feet with a dropkick. However, his 20 seconds of offense come to an end when he runs into a stun gun. Skinner had a tough time getting Knight up for that and struggles to do so again for another stun gun spot moments later. The inverted DDT follows and Skinner ends a two-match losing streak.

Okerlund’s interviews with Ric Flair and Perfect from Wrestling Challenge is shown.

Heenan screams that he does not understand why Ric Flair is not getting the WWF Championship match at SummerSlam. Duggan argues that Heenan and Perfect blew it by not getting their man into that match.

Crush (8-0) beats Bob Bradley via submission to the head vice at 2:58:

Crush should eliminate a spot where he gorilla presses his foe from the arena floor into the ring as he never quite gets them over the top rope. That is shown again today as Bradley’s leg gets caught in the ropes going back in and he has to free himself to be available for a Crush forearm to the back off the top rope. Bradley is not able to get in any offense, a rarity for him. Afterward, Crush gets Bradley off the canvas and raises his hand.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Bret Hart (Champion) (21-1-1) defeats Rick Martel (16-4-1) via disqualification when Shawn Michaels interferes at 10:14:

These two wrestled on the WWF’s European tour but this match took place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on June 1. Monsoon tells viewers that Michaels is not happy that Martel is getting a title shot over him. This is a battle of two men in pink that is a good display of technical wrestling. After Bret works the arm, Martel takes over after a stun gun. A gutwrench suplex gets two but when Martel tries a slingshot splash it eats knees. Bret goes into the moves of doom, scoring near-falls from a side Russian leg sweep and small package. Martel grabs the referee’s leg and twists his way out of a Sharpshooter attempt, taking advantage of the downed official to blast Bret with Arrogance. Martel locks in the Boston Crab as Michaels comes to ringside and starts punching Bret in the face, a move that gets Martel disqualified. The lack of a clean finish weighs some of this down but it was finding a nice groove before the ending. Rating: **¾

When the bell sounds, Martel thinks that he has won the title. Michaels keeps laying in some shots on Bret until Martel confronts him and the two argue until Michaels leave the ring.

The panel hypes the WWF vs. WBF tug-of-war that will air on WBF Body Stars on August 1.

Papa Shango’s squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown.

Okerlund’s interview with the Big Bossman on Superstars airs.

Duggan gets excited in the studio talking about the Bossman’s return and how he admires the Bossman’s fighting spirit.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: Money Incorporated (Champions w/Jimmy Hart) (16-1) beat High Energy (12-0) via count out at 8:45:

This is another bout from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. High Energy force the champions to regroup several times in the early going, clearing the ring with dropkicks and then Ware dropkicks IRS into the heel corner. Ware is placed in peril after DiBiase knees him in the back when he runs the ropes. The champions get token near-falls from a DiBiase knee drop, IRS elbow drop, and DiBiase elbow smash off the second rope. Ware reverses a suplex to make the hot tag to Owen and everyone starts brawling. As the referee is moving Ware to the apron, IRS blasts Owen in the back of the head with his briefcase and the champions win via count out. There was a good flow to this match and more bouts between these two teams would be welcomed. Rating: **

Heenan compares Ric Flair being left out of the SummerSlam main event to not getting presents for Christmas, having a woman walk out, and going bankrupt.

The British Bulldog’s squash from Superstars is shown.

Promo time with Sean Mooney! Harvey Wippleman puts over Kamala’s fighting abilities with Kim Chee.

Nailz’s squash from Wrestling Challenge airs.

Tune in next week to see the Nasty Boys face Jim Brunzell & Jim Powers! Also, Hacksaw Jim Duggan faces Repo Man! The Undertaker squares off with Skinner! And the Texas Tornado collides with Shawn Michaels!

The Last Word: There was some good action on this episode and the Natural Disasters and High Energy lost their unbeaten streaks. It was unusual for Prime Time Wrestling to be a place of angle development but Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel look like they will be on a collision course after the outcome of the Intercontinental Championship Match.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for July 25!