What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – January 16, 1993

WWF Mania featured a pair of exclusive matches that have to be recapped before going to Superstars.

Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) (3-0) pins Jim Powers after a sit-out splash off the second rope at 2:55:

Powers had been with the WWF since 1984 but after the breakup of his Young Stallions tag team with Paul Roma in 1989 he had been used as an enhancement talent. In 1992, Powers continued that trend by losing to bigger names stars but also notched three wins. Unfortunately for him, none of those wins were going to get him a renewed push as two of them happened against fellow enhancement worker Bob Bradley and the other was against the Nasty Boys in a match where the Nasties were disqualified for dishing out too much punishment.

This was a dark match at the inaugural Monday Night RAW episode. The WWF must have been short-handed at that show to book Yokozuna and Damien Demento twice. Powers is a great exhibit for what drug testing is doing in the company as it looks like someone has popped his physique with a pin. Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes continue the discussion of whether anyone will be able to throw Yokozuna over the top rope in the Royal Rumble. They also play up how Yokozuna has not been knocked off his feet since his debut. Like Koko B. Ware, Powers fails to do anything against the big man and he is summarily squashed in less than three minutes.

El Matador pins Bill Irwin after El Paso del Muerte at 5:55:

Irwin was trained by his brother, Scott Irwin, and Larry Sharpe, breaking into the business in 1977. He worked in Central States, Mid-South, and World Class Championship Wrestling. In the latter promotion he was a tag team champion with Bugsy McGraw and King Kong Bundy and was a seven-time Television champion. After World Class closed in 1989, Irwin went to WCW where he worked as the infamous Black Scorpion on house shows against Sting and never rose above preliminary status in his own name. He also went to Global and won the Tag Team titles there with Black Bart. Around this time Irwin was trying to get a job with the company, which had given him a look at this television taping in San Antonio, Texas on January 5.

This is like one of the old Prime Time Wrestling matches were El Matador would go for a long period of time with an unknown or other enhancement talent to fill time. The bout meanders between exchanges of strikes between each man and changes in momentum are weak. An El Matador flying forearm knocks Irwin out of the ring and Irwin knocks his opponent down so he can do a slingshot splash into the ring. Irwin tries a Flair pin as he does that but the referee spots it, forcing a break. When both men get to a standing position, El Matador hits Irwin in the gut and executes El Paso del Muerte to win a bad match. Rating: ½*

And now onto WWF Superstars, commentated again by Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage as they conclude the taping in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

WWF Champion Bret Hart says that he will make Razor Ramon pay for what he did to his brother.

Opening Contest: Razor Ramon pins Buck Zumhofe after the Razor’s Edge at 1:09:

Ramon was another newcomer that came to the WWF in August and he immediately made an impact with a colorful Scarface-like character and punishing moveset. He became aligned with Ric Flair in Flair’s pursuit of the WWF Championship and helped Flair win the title from Randy Savage shortly after SummerSlam. This led to a feud between Ramon and Savage over who had more “machismo” and Ramon shocked fans by beating Savage cleanly on the house show circuit. Ramon and Flair teamed up in a loss to Savage and Mr. Perfect at Survivor Series and after that pay-per-view Ramon had his focus divided. On the one hand, he was named the number one contender to Bret Hart’s WWF title and given a match for The Royal Rumble. However, he was also fighting with Perfect at house shows and, in a bad sign for his title prospects, losing to Perfect via count out in those matches.

Ramon wastes no time going through Zumhofe, planting the former AWA star with a chokeslam, super backdrop suplex, and the Razor’s Edge.

Gene Okerlund’s Update segment recaps Kamala’s babyface turn on last week’s show. Slick appears with Kamala, arguing that he needs fans to help him get Kamala on the right path. Harvey Wippleman argues that Kim Chee is going to drive Kamala out of the WWF. He also promises to “drop a big bomb” on the WWF and change the company.

The Nasty Boys (1-0) beat Mickey Jay & Rock Werner when Jerry Sags pins Werner after the Trip to Nastyville at 3:30:

Jay started his career in Florida in 1987, working as a wrestler and referee. In 1992 he worked as an enhancement talent for the WWF in the first three months of the year, losing to Rick Martel, the Undertaker, Repo Man, Sid Justice, and Skinner. By the time this match aired Jay had gone to WCW and was beginning to work as a referee.

Lawler says that the Nasties will be a part of the Royal Rumble. Doink appears in the aisle as the Nasties work over Jay. In the split screen, the Nasties talk about going after Money Incorporated in the Royal Rumble and that they would make the match nasty if they are the last two men in the ring. The Nasties do not work with as much energy as their first squash of the year, making for a relatively boring beating of their foes.

Ray Rougeau interviews Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels. Michaels insists that Sensational Sherri will be in his corner because she is madly in love with him, denying that he pulled Sherri in the way of Marty Jannetty’s attack on him months ago. He closes by insisting that he carried the Rockers and he will have Jannetty carried out of the ring at The Royal Rumble.

Crush (2-0) defeats W.T. Jones via submission to the head vice at 2:02:

Doink saunters out during the match, choosing to ignore Crush’s advice to stay away. In the split screen, Crush says that he has trained hard for the Royal Rumble and no one is going to stop him. Jones is a big man so it looks impressive for Crush to give him a gorilla press slam en route to submitting him with the head vice.

After the match, Crush encounters Doink. Doink offers the big man a flower as a peace offering and Crush takes it, giving it to a young fan. As Crush walks away, Doink takes off a prosthetic arm that he had in a sling and bludgeons the Hawaiian fan favorite with it until WWF officials intervene. For some reason, when McMahon calls this beating he insists that Doink pulled his own arm out of socket to waylay Crush. Crush is stretchered out after the beating.

Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) (4-0) pins Carl Almont after the sit-down splash off the second rope at 1:38:

Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji do an insert promo about how no one is going to be able to throw Yokozuna over the top rope at the Royal Rumble. Savage insists that Crush could have done it if not for the previous segment. Yokozuna has been a workhorse in recent weeks, squashing lots of competitors on his way to the Rumble.

Gene Okerlund does The Royal Rumble Report, which is briefly interrupted by Crush leaving the arena in an ambulance. New additions to the Rumble include Skinner, Repo Man, Damien Demento, and High Energy. In Rumble promos, Ric Flair continues to talk about his win last year, Bob Backlund talks about how he has the goal of wrestling the WWF champion at WrestleMania, and Demento laughs when he asks voices to tell him who will win the Rumble. The Big Bossman tells Bam Bam Bigelow that he is not going to let him walk over him.

Tatanka (1-0) defeats Tom Bennett after the Papoose to Go at 1:17:

In the split screen, Tatanka talks of being the first Native American participant in the history of the Royal Rumble and he is going to make his people proud. In keeping with the theme of the show, Tatanka does not use a lot of moves to checkmate Bennett, winning with his flying chop and Papoose to Go.

The Last Word: Doink’s sneak attack on Crush was well done, paying off the arm in a sling bit that Doink was doing for the past week. Yokozuna has to be considered a massive favorite – no pun intended – for the Royal Rumble at this point because of how much exposure he is getting on television and how he is convincingly winning matches against bigger stars at house shows.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for January 17!

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