What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – March 21, 1993

All American Wrestling had two exclusive feature matches.

Owen Hart (1-0) defeats Skinner (2-1-1) with a small package at 4:48:

This match took place in Fayetteville, North Carolina on March 7. Owen has abandoned the parachute pants, wearing light blue tights that are reminiscent of when he was the Blue Blazer in the 1980s. In this rematch from WrestleMania VIII Owen frustrates Skinner with his dexterity. When Skinner finally knocks Owen down with an elbow he does a funny dance in the middle of the ring. Skinner plants Owen with the Alligator Neckbreaker but he refuses to cover and then gets beat with a small package. That type of win does not give Owen a “rocket” push as a single but he does win. Rating: **

Tatanka (7-0) pins Blake Beverly after the Papoose to Go at 6:25 shown:

This was another match from the Fayetteville taping. Even though he is positioned as a tag team wrestler, Blake has a good accounting for himself, attacking Tatanka before the hell, choking him with his leg while arguing with the referee, stopping Tatanka’s first comeback with a back suplex, and rolling through a body press off the ropes for a close near-fall. However, Tatanka starts another warpath comeback after getting whipped into the turnbuckles and Blake has no answer. Rating: **¼

Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are commentators for Wrestling Challenge, concluding the taping in San Diego, California.

Opening Contest: The Nasty Boys (7-0-1) beat Ed Moretti & the Intruder when Jerry Sags pins the Intruder after the Trip to Nastyville at 2:35:

Heenan makes a good point about how the Nasties stepping aside for the Mega-Maniacs is a bad decision because it is not guaranteed that the Mega-Maniacs would give them a title shot if they beat Money Incorporated at WrestleMania. Heenan then makes some tax jokes, arguing that he got a deduction for “The Help Bobby Fund,” which gets a nice “WHAT?” from Monsoon. The commentary enhances a boring squash that extends a long unbeaten streak for the Nasties.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report segment hypes the WWF Championship match between Bret Hart and Yokozuna for WrestleMania. There is a replay of Yokozuna squashing Casey Cleric a few times last week on Superstars.

Damien Demento (4-3) pins Joey Maggs after the knee drop at 2:13:

Maggs gets a hope spot when Demento stops to talk to voices and rolls him up for two. The WWF pipes in loud boos to make it seem like Demento is over.

Ray Rougeau interviews WWF Champion Bret Hart. Bret keeps up the respect theme of the feud, arguing that Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji do not respect his technical abilities.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (6-0-1) defeat Jesse Storm & Mark Ming when Fatu pins Ming after a splash off the top rope at 2:22:

The Steiner Brothers do an insert promo about how people barking drives Rick crazy. The focus of the squash is Afa eating chicken at ringside – which makes Heenan nauseous – and the Headshrinkers bringing it into the ring after the match and eating it over Ming.

Owen Hart (2-0) defeats Bobby Young after a flying body press at 2:44:

Due to the scheduling of the taping schedule, Owen is back to parachute pants. No explanation was ever given to fans for High Energy breaking up but since Owen nor Koko B. Ware was going to turn heel, the WWF must have thought it was best to disband the duo off-screen and forget that they ever existed. Owen flattens Young with a pescado and wins with a flying body press.

After Owen wins, Giant Gonzalez and Harvey Wippleman come into the ring. When Owen sees them after doing a backflip off the top rope, he leaves the ring. Wippleman repeats his previous script about how Gonzalez was signed to face lots of wrestlers but they all left the arena. This includes the Undertaker. Gonzalez also repeats how he is going to bury the Undertaker.

The Undertaker and Paul Bearer do a taped promo talk about how they are in the beginnings of a death march and will unleash all the souls they need in order to put Gonzalez to rest.

Gene Okerlund does the WrestleMania IX Report. The Mega-Maniacs and Jimmy Hart talk about bankrupting Money Incorporated, which will force them to collect change from the fountains of Caesars Palace. Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels promises to leave WrestleMania with Tatanka’s scalp and holds a scalp up as a prop. Crush, in Hawaii, talks about how Doink the Clown gets off on making kids cry and he is going to avenge them.

Mr. Perfect’s vignette of playing goalie with Mike Modano and the Minnesota North Stars airs. Unfortunately for North Stars fans, it was announced two weeks ago that they were relocating to Dallas.

Lex Luger (8-0) pins Reno Riggins after the running forearm at 2:08:

Heenan takes issue with production showing the recent WWF Magazine’s feature on Mr. Perfect when Luger has Riggins hoisted up for a gorilla press slam. Luger knocks out another opponent with his forearm and makes fun of his physique afterward.

Tune in next week to see Mr. Perfect, Doink the Clown, and the Steiner Brothers in action!

The Last Word: Aside from a few good jokes by Bobby Heenan early in the show, this was another skippable episode of Wrestling Challenge in a long list of them to this point in the year.

After the previous week’s winter weather knocked out some house shows, the WWF got back on the road for shows in Florida and the Northeast. Here are the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Lakeland, Florida – Lakeland Civic Center – March 19, 1993 (2,400): Raymond Rougeau beat the Brooklyn Brawler…The Headshrinkers wrestled the Nasty Boys to a double disqualification…Skinner beat Koko B. Ware…Bob Backlund defeated Kim Chee…Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Kamala via count out…Typhoon beat the Cuban Terrorist…The Mega-Maniacs beat WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated in a non-title match when Hogan pinned IRS…Bret Hart & Mr. Perfect defeated Razor Ramon & Lex Luger.

New Haven, Connecticut – New Haven Coliseum – March 20, 1993 (3,000): Damien Demento pinned Jim Powers…Terry Taylor pinned Jim Brunzell (substituting for Owen Hart)…Virgil beat Repo Man…El Matador pinned Reno Riggins (substituting for Papa Shango)…The Steiner Brothers defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated in a non-title match when Rick pinned IRS…Tatanka beat Doink the Clown via disqualification…Bret Hart & Mr. Perfect defeated Razor Ramon & Lex Luger.

Miami, Florida – Miami Arena – March 21, 1993 (1,850; matinee): Skinner beat Koko B. Ware…Bob Backlund defeated Bam Bam Bigelow via disqualification…Typhoon beat the Cuban Terrorist…Crush defeated Papa Shango (substituting for Shawn Michaels)…Kamala beat Kim Chee…The Nasty Boys wrestled the Headshrinkers to a double disqualification…The Undertaker beat Yokozuna via disqualification.

New York, New York – Madison Square Garden – March 21, 1993 (10,400): Terry Taylor pinned Jim Brunzell…Virgil beat Repo Man with a roll up…Jerry Lawler pinned El Matador by blocking a sunset flip into the ring and holding the ropes at 12:59. After the match, El Matador battled Lawler to the dressing room…Rick Steiner pinned Irwin R. Schyster with a roll up after Scott Steiner came to ringside and prevented Schyster from using a chair at 10:18…Randy Savage defeated Doink the Clown via disqualification after Doink sprayed Savage in the eyes at 7:30. Earlier in the evening, Doink attacked Savage before their match was to take place and it was shifted to later in the evening…Tatanka pinned Reno Riggins (substituting for Papa Shango) after the Papoose to Go…Bret Hart & Mr. Perfect beat Razor Ramon & Lex Luger when Bret pinned Ramon with an inside cradle after Luger and Perfect reversed the pin attempt behind the referee’s back at 19:12. After the bell, Luger, Ramon, and Giant Gonzalez won an in-ring battle between Bret, Perfect, and Savage.

Backstage News*: The WWF ran an Undertaker-Giant Gonzalez match at a USWA card in Louisville, Kentucky on March 16 and it attracted a near-sellout crowd of 4,000 fans. The match was said to be bad, with Gonzalez losing after walking out, but the box office shows there is short-term potential in the Gonzalez character. What may also limit Gonzalez’s run are bad knees and his diabetic condition.

-Hulk Hogan worked the house show in Lakeland, Florida as a favor to promoter Gerald Brisco. Advance sales for the house show were poor but attendance was double what the WWF was expecting. Florida attendance was bad for the recent loop but the WWF is still attracting strong crowds in the Northeast.

-The WWF does not want fans to cheer the Doink the Clown character and have had him attack his opponents early at house shows to get heel heat for when he wrestles later.

-Syndication issues are still problematic for the WWF as it lost its Superstars slot in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of low ratings.

-Brutus Beefcake will return to singles competition after WrestleMania. The WWF is planning for him to feud with Shawn Michaels.

-There are whispers of giving Bryan Clark (the Nightstalker) a vampire gimmick.

-In talent relations news, the Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) will be receiving a tryout at post-WrestleMania television tapings in Arizona.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for March 29.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for March 22!

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