What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – February 13, 1993

WWF Mania featured one exclusive match on Saturday morning:

Koko B. Ware (0-1) beats Repo Man (0-2) via disqualification for refusing to break on the ropes at 5:07:

Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes are on commentary for this match, which was taped in San Jose, California on January 25. Repo Man does not get an entrance, denying the audience his catchy instrumental theme song. The villain struggles to get any sustained offense and relies on chokes. He starts choking Ware on the bottom rope with his leg after a leg drop and refuses to break the count at five, creating a weak disqualification finish. Rating: *¼

Now on to Superstars where Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage are in the booth, starting a new taping cycle in San Jose, California. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on January 25 and attracted a sellout crowd of 5,000 fans.

Lawler continues the historical analogies on the show, arguing that Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels will beat Tatanka and avenge Custer’s Last Stand.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Tatanka (4-0) defeats Shawn Michaels (Champion) (6-0) with the Papoose to Go at 6:33 shown:

Michaels’ “Sexy Boy” theme song is now sung by him instead of Sensational Sherri and he would use that version for the rest of his career. These two work well together because Michaels can carry most of the offense and when Tatanka takes control he bumps like crazy. And if given more time, these two could do more. Tatanka ducks Michaels’ superkick and gets out of a Teardrop Suplex, catching a Michaels right afterward with the Papoose to Go to remain undefeated. The match was a vehicle for immediately elevating Tatanka into title contention and replacing Marty Jannetty’s feud with Michaels. However, it is tough to understand why he did not receive a title match outright with a 48-match winning streak while someone like Skinner got a title match despite posting a bad singles record the previous year. Rating: **¾

Gene Okerlund narrates a recap of last week’s match between Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Yokozuna. Afterward, Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji do a celebratory promo about how they squashed Duggan. McMahon tells fans that Duggan suffered cracked ribs and internal bleeding and his career might be in jeopardy.

The Steiner Brothers (4-0) defeat Al Burke & Larry Sampson when Scott pins Burke after the Steinerizer at 2:20:

Burke was a longtime WWF enhancement talent that appeared from 1988-1991. He was not used in 1992. In 1993 he also worked for Herb Abrams’ UWF, wrestling as Mr. Outrageous. Burke would later appear in Hollywood films, notably Adam Sandler’s The Wedding Singer in 1998.

Sampson was best known to fans of Vancouver All-Star Wrestling, where he worked as Sweet Daddy Sampson. He started doing enhancement work for the WWF in 1991 when the company came to the West Coast. The previous year he wrestled two television matches, losses to the Warlord and the Nasty Boys. Scott makes Sampson look foolish with some amateur takedowns and Rick devastates Burke with a super overhead belly-to-belly suplex. McMahon hypes their unique wrestling talents as they notch a fifth win.

Lex Luger (1-0) pins Larry Ludden after a running forearm at 1:26:

Ludden was a jobber for Herb Abrams’ UWF in 1990 and the WWF used him in that capacity in 1991. Ludden only had one WWF match in 1992, losing in January to Jake Roberts.

It takes a while for the match to get going because of Luger’s long entrance and posing. He quickly runs through Ludden as female fans cheer for his physique.

Gene Okerlund does the first WrestleMania IX Report. Matches announced are WWF Champion Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, the Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez, and Crush vs. Doink the Clown. The graphic has a cool mosaic-look for wrestlers.

Crush (3-0) beats the White Shadow via submission to the head vice at 1:29:

The White Shadow was Bill Anderson, a trainee of Kurt von Steiger. Anderson started wrestling in the summer of 1974. The first records of him working for the WWF go back to 1983, when he was an opening match wrestler. He worked as enhancement talent the Black Knight at WWF tapings from 1988-1991, also playing that role for Herb Abrams’ UWF in 1990 and 1991. In 1992 he was a tag team partner of Louie Spicolli in Mexico’s AAA promotion. The duo were called the Mercenaries.

Crush gets a good reaction for his return to the ring. As noted in the backstage news reports, the WWF wanted to keep Crush out longer but criticism of his injury angle with Doink the Clown led him to re-enter the ring a month after suffering a “severe concussion.” Crush has a strong outing in his return, putting the Shadow down with a belly-to-belly suplex, backbreaker, and the head vice.

McMahon does a studio interview with Brutus Beefcake. This is a replacement for Beefcake’s awful promo on Monday Night RAW and McMahon summarizes its content. Beefcake argues that God and Hulk Hogan are his “sword and shield” to get back into the ring. He says that is a team that WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated cannot beat. McMahon wishes him luck on Monday night against Ted DiBiase.

Handicap Match: Giant Gonzalez (w/Harvey Wippleman) beats Scott Bazo, Dan Farren & Louie Spicolli via count out at 1:20:

Gonzalez was former Argentinian professional basketball player Jorge Gonzalez. He was drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Hawks in 1988, becoming one of the first players from his country to have that honor. When a knee injury cut that career short before he ever laced up for an NBA game, Hawks owner Ted Turner had him trained as a professional wrestler at the WCW Power Plant. From 1990-1992 he worked as babyface El Gigante, feuding with Ric Flair, Sid Vicious, and the One Man Gang.

Bazo started doing WWF enhancement matches in 1991. He was used three times in 1992, putting over the Beverly Brothers, the Undertaker, and the Berzerker.

Farren was an independent worker by the name of Augie Loya, who says that he used the Farren name because he figured road agents would not like his actual name. Farren was an independent wrestling promoter on the West Coast. Loya wrestled as Thunder Machine for Mexico’s AAA promotion.

The WWF bills Gonzalez as nearly eight feet tall, which was five inches more than his actual height. The costuming department did him no favors, giving him a silly muscular body suit. It is like a vote of no confidence in how Gonzalez looked without it. One knows that the look is a failure after Gonzalez’s entrance as fans facing the hard camera laugh instead of looking at Gonzalez in awe. And the booking is a vote of no confidence in what Gonzalez can do as well as he chokes Spicolli and chokeslams him. Then all the jobbers run away, letting him win via count out.

A quick clip of an interaction on the interview podium between Earthquake and Bam Bam Bigelow airs. Bigelow tells Earthquake he will fight him anytime and Earthquake says next week is not fast enough for him.

Tune in next week to see Earthquake face Bam Bam Bigelow! Also, the Undertaker, Kamala, Razor Ramon, and Mr. Perfect will be in action!

The Last Word: The official “Road to WrestleMania” season has begun now that matches are being finalized for the pay-per-view. The opening match was good between Shawn Michaels and Tatanka, helped by the WWF giving some of these feature matches more than two minutes as was the old custom years earlier. The WWF has high hopes for Giant Gonzalez, wanting to make him the next Andre the Giant but he moved awkwardly in the ring and did not show much in the handicap match at the end of the program.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for February 14!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1992 WWF, 1993 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!