What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – October 5, 1992

Vince McMahon moderates the panel of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Hillbilly Jim, Bobby Heenan, and Mr. Perfect.

Opening Contest: Shawn Michaels (w/Sensational Sherri) (27-1-1) pins Koko B. Ware (1-0) after a superkick at 6:46:

This bout took place in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada on September 22. Sherri’s dress is more conservative this evening, wearing a pantsuit. She also does not have Michaels’ mirror with her. Slick replaces Lord Alfred Hayes for commentary tonight on the Prime Time exclusive matches and he does not have the same magic with Gorilla Monsoon. One thing they agree on is that Ware’s pants are ridiculous. Ware knocks Michaels out of the ring several times but misses a reverse flying body press off the second rope. Michaels does some methodical work and hits a flying fist drop. That was good enough to win in the Rocker days but Ware kicks out at two. A Michaels blind charge eats boot and Ware starts a comeback until a corner avalanche effort misses and Michaels capitalizes with a superkick for the win. The victory keeps Michaels in the running for the Intercontinental title. It also gets his superkick over as a possible finisher. Rating: **

Skinner (9-11-1) beats Major Yates after the inverted DDT at 4:28:

Skinner is becoming a Prime Time staple, making his 17th appearance on the show this year. This is a long squash where Skinner refuses to pin Yates after a shoulderbreaker and some stomps. The most notable bit of the match is Slick saying that he might return to managing.

A clip of Kamala running away from a coffin a few weeks ago on Superstars is shown.

The Undertaker’s squash from Superstars airs.

Jamison brings out a stuffed turkey dinner. It is stuffed with Twinkies, a cupcake, an inhaler, a sock, and an egg. Heenan expresses the feelings of a lot of the audience by holding his head in his hands.

Terry Taylor defeats Jim Brunzell with a sit-out powerbomb at 7:22:

Taylor began his career in 1979, working in Mid-South and the Mid-Atlantic region. While in Mid-South he was a four-time Television champion and beat Ted DiBiase for the promotion’s North American Heavyweight Championship. After stops in Jim Crockett Promotions and World Class, Taylor came to the WWF in 1988 and started as “Scary” Terry Taylor before being repackaged as the Red Rooster, a heel wrestler managed by Bobby Heenan. The Rooster’s biggest victory came at WrestleMania V when he defeated Heenan in a quick match but afterward he was used to put over other top starts like Mr. Perfect and Ted DiBiase. After leaving the WWF in the summer of 1990, Taylor went to WCW and went through several name changes, aligning himself with the York Foundation and later having a gimmick called the Taylor Made Man, which some saw as WCW ripping off DiBiase’s Million Dollar Man gimmick. When Bill Watts took over WCW in early 1992, Taylor was released as part of Watts’ cost-cutting measures.

This match took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on September 21. Taylor has the nickname “Terrific” to go with his name and his gimmick is a guy in black tights that knows technical wrestling. That is generic but it is a massive upgrade over being a rooster. There are some good basic sequences but Monsoon is critical of what he is seeing out of Taylor, criticizing him for not going into another gear in the match. Brunzell nearly wins with a small package so Taylor fires back with a clothesline of his own. Brunzell goes for a figure-four but Taylor immediately twists into the ropes and gets a swinging neckbreaker off the ropes for two. A blind charge hits buckle and Brunzell makes an energetic comeback, nearly winning with a clothesline. Brunzell’s patented dropkick gets two before Taylor gets his foot on the bottom rope at the last second and Taylor catches Brunzell coming off the ropes with a kick to the gut and a sit-out powerbomb to win his debut match. There was good wrestling here and both guys got the crowd into it by the end even though Taylor received no vignettes and Brunzell was a glorified jobber to the stars at this stage of his career. Rating: **¼

A replay of the Bob Backlund comeback vignette airs.

Footage of the end of last year’s Survivor Series opening match between Roddy Piper and Ric Flair’s teams is shown.

WWF Tag Team Champions the Natural Disasters’ squash from Superstars airs, along with Gene Okerlund’s post-match attempt to track down Jimmy Hart about which of his teams should be number one contenders to the tag team titles.

The Mountie joins the show courtesy of TSN in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He tells Intercontinental Champion the British Bulldog that he is a powerful law enforcement officer and former champion. The Mountie complains that he lost the title earlier this year because he was not prepared to wrestle Roddy Piper. The Bulldog joins courtesy of Sky Sports in London, England and says it is going to take more than a shock to take him down after Survivor Series. The Mountie insists that he told the Bulldog how to beat Bret Hart, which the Bulldog says is a lie. This seemed to announce that the Bulldog would face the Mountie at Survivor Series, a weird piece of booking because Shawn Michaels had called the Bulldog out on syndicated shows and was being hyped as the top challenger for the Bulldog’s title.

Papa Shango (25-0) defeats the Big Bossman (19-1-2) via count out at 6:25 shown:

This match also came from Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. It is joined in progress to Shango working over the Bossman’s back and doing long nerve holds. The Bossman fights back before his arm hits the canvas three times and during his comeback Nailz starts walking toward the ring. When the Bossman notices, he grabs his nightstick and goes to confront his adversary, attacking Nailz near the entrance and getting counted out. This was just a match that went through the motions until the Nailz angle took over. At least the Bossman and Nailz have had an on-screen confrontation after months of both men being active and somehow not crossing paths. Rating: ½*

Virgil (21-6) pins Louie Spicolli after the side Russian leg sweep at 5:39:

Spicolli gets to wrestle a competitive match with Virgil on tonight’s show, nearly beating the star with a superkick after surviving Virgil’s early offensive output. More near-falls follow for each man and Gorilla Monsoon praises Spicolli for using a Northern Lights suplex for two. That is another move that was relatively new to WWF fans. Virgil uses his fists to regain the edge and after a suplex, Ted DiBiase’s former bodyguard hits the side Russian leg sweep to win an entertaining bout. It was not enough to give Spicolli a job as he would not be signed until 1995. Rating: **¼

Duggan says that the Ultimate Maniacs have a lot of intensity and wrestling talent. He takes exception when Perfect interrupts, slamming his 2×4 on the table. Perfect has a nice rebuttal about how the Maniacs lost to the Nasty Boys on SummerSlam Spectacular. Heenan adds that Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior both want the WWF title so that will divide them. Duggan argues that those points are no longer valid since Savage and the Warrior are not facing off at another pay-per-view.

Razor Ramon’s interview with Okerlund on Superstars is shown.

El Matador (27-4-1) wrestles Repo Man (23-7) to a double count out at 9:08:

This match took place in Huntsville, Alabama on August 10. Monsoon and Slick do not talk about it but these two have a backstory as Repo Man used his tow rope to choke the life out of El Matador when they battled on Prime Time Wrestling on April 20. Of course, El Matador makes it look like it is not a big deal anymore as he prefers to wrestle a technical match. After El Matador dropkicks Repo Man to the floor, Repo Man finds a hubcap underneath the ring and blasts El Matador with it but El Matador gets his foot on the bottom rope at two. A suplex gets another two count and El Matador blocks a piledriver and comes back to land the flying forearm. A flying double axe handle gets two and a second flying forearm knocks Repo Man to the floor. El Matador opts to follow and finds the hubcap, chasing Repo Man to the locker room as he tries to get revenge. The bit with the hubcap was a good continuity point but El Matador deciding to get himself counted out made him look stupid. Rating: *½

Crush’s squash from Superstars is shown.

The panel discusses Crush’s potential. Duggan puts over Crush’s hand strength while Heenan makes fun of Jim’s comment about Crush “feeling his oats” in the WWF. Heenan insults Crush’s Hawaiian roots, saying that means he is of low intelligence.

Promo time with Sean Mooney! Money Incorporated, with Jimmy Hart, get Hart to tell everyone that they are the number one contenders to the tag team titles and tell WWF Tag Team Champions the Natural Disasters that it is time for them to pay up.

A fire alarm goes off in the studio as the show goes to a commercial break.

Rick Martel’s squash from Superstars is shown.

Bret Hart’s squash from Wrestling Challenge airs.

Heenan comes into the studio with a fire extinguisher, saying he learned to be prepared from the Girl Scouts. When Duggan corrects him about Boy Scouts, Heenan argues he was with the Girl Scouts because it was more fun. Jamison returns, looking burned and saying that the fire alarm was not well founded. He reveals his stuffed turkey, which is much smaller and burned. Jamison eats his meal as the panel begs off. As Jamison tugs on the turkey, Heenan warns him that he can go blind doing that, making McMahon crack up.

Tune in next week to see Bret Hart face Blake Beverly! Also, Intercontinental Champion the British Bulldog wrestles Kamala! And Earthquake squares off with Ted DiBiase!

The Last Word: Jamison is not a good addition to these shows recently but at least Bobby Heenan is trying to make something of it with a few funny remarks. This show had some good wrestling and saw Terry Taylor’s unheralded return to the WWF along with the first major confrontation between the Big Bossman and Nailz in months.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for October 10!