The Fan-Cam Files: WWF @ Madison Square Garden – 01.29.1993 (HEADLOCK ON HUNGER)

When I dive into the archives of hand-helds or “Fan-Cams”, Madison Square Garden is represented well in that library, so while I would love to keep digging into the MSG well, I’m trying to pace them out so I don’t look too much like a New York homer. Without going into detail, between the years 1993 and 1996, there’s probably somewhere around 15-20 shows recorded from the World’s most famous arena.

Without being too long-winded, The Headlock on Hunger was a fundraising campaign to offer relief for the famine in Somalia. Not only was it heavily advertised in the New York markets, but was promoted nationally on episodes of Monday Night Raw, as well as on the Royal Rumble PPV (where Gorilla Monsoon infamously gave out the wrong information for mail-in donations). The WWF would personally present the Red Cross with a check of $100,000, and to my knowledge, proceeds from this event went towards the campaign as well.

This is a LOADED show, running nearly 4-hours (typically, a WWF house show is 2-2.5 hours, depending on how deep the card is), and that means not everything from the 12-match lineup is preserved on this recording. Matches that didn’t make the cut includes: “El Matador” Tito Santana def. Skinner, The Steiner Brothers def. The Beverly Brothers, and Shawn Michaels defending the Intercontinental Title against Bob Backlund (yes, that was his originally advertised opponent. Jannetty’s termination at the TV taping immediately following the Rumble didn’t play into that one). We do get to see a good chunk of the check presentation with Vince McMahon front and center, with the entire locker room surrounding the ring (and yes, the heels and faces are separated). There’s also a 10-bell salute for Andre the Giant, who passed away just two days earlier.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “Million $ Man” Ted Dibiase (w/ Jimmy Hart):
I’d love to know how this match came to be, considering they haven’t crossed each other’s path in the WWF in years. 1988 feels like it was ages ago by the standards of 1993, when Savage and Dibiase battled for the WWF Championship and headlined MSG throughout the Spring and Summer that year. Now, Savage is being phased out as a full-time performer, treated more as a special attraction at live events, and Ted Dibiase is one-half of the Tag Team Champions along with Irwin R. Schyster (otherwise known as I.R.S.), and currently in a program with the Nasty Boys (that ends up being put on the back-burner when the Hulkamania Revenge Tour comes to town).

Dibiase spends the early moments of the match playing the chicken-sh*t heel, taking shots in the corner and hiding in the ropes. Savage eventually catches him on the floor, hopping the ropes and giving him from behind with an axe-handle. Savage controls in the ring, taking Dibiase over with a BAAAACK body-drop and hitting a clothesline for two. Dibiase forces the break of a headlock in the corner and Jimmy Hart hops on the apron for a well-timed distraction, allowing Dibiase to dump Savage over the top rope. Savage tastes the steps and Dibiase slows it down again. Savage with a pair of near-falls off a surprise sunset flip and back-slide. Dibiase with his picture-perfect suplex for two. Savage fights out of a chin-lock and knocks Dibiase over the top rope with a high knee. Now it’s Dibiase’s turn to taste the steel and Savage with the big axe-handle from the top rope. Back inside, Savage plants Dibiase with a slam but misses the flying elbow! Dibiase with the scoop and Savage counters with a small package for two. Savage backpedals to the corner to break the Million $ Dream. Dibiase blocks a roll-up but walks into a DDT and Savage covers for three at 13:07. Weird match where it seemed like they were half-motivated, but they still spent a lot of time doing nothing. The babyface Savage formula of this era doesn’t lead to many entertaining matches, and sure enough, it was just kinda “there” until the last few minutes when things kicked into gear. I was disappointed overall, but I’ve seen far worse from Savage (and by this point, Dibiase didn’t have much left in the tank). **

Tatanka vs. Damian Demento:
Thanks for the preservation of this match. We couldn’t keep the camera rolling for the Steiner Brothers’ MSG debut and put it down for this? I feel like I’ve seen a fair share of matches between these two on TV and other Fan-Cams, and I’m willing to wager a good chunk of money that it will stink. Despite an “unbeaten” streak that dates back to early 1992, it feels like Tatanka never had much to do. He feuded on-and-off with Rick Martel and is just a guy on the card since Survivor Series. Demento is an odd-looking geek with a bad haircut introduced from “The Outer Reaches of Your Mind” and was immediately slotted as a JTTS on the heel side of the depth chart, with no storylines to speak of. I can just imagine Vince McMahon sitting at his desk making fun of everything to do with this guy, from his meh physique to the talking to the little man in his finger gimmick (OK, maybe I watched Muppet Treasure Island lately. Forgive me).

The bell rings and Demento immediately does the “talking to the voices” shtick. Maybe he was a coach at Warrior University after this stint. Tatanka small packages him immediately for a near-fall. We could only be so lucky. Tatanka outworks him on a hammer-lock, forcing Demento to the ropes. Demento controls by repeatedly yanking the hair. Tatanka gets fed up and grabs a big ol’ handful of Demento’s and throws him backwards over the top rope! Back inside, Tatanka controls with some chain wrestling. Demento puts the brakes on when being whipped to the corner but runs into a clothesline. He cuts Tatanka off with a thumb to the eyes and hits a clothesline of his own. Tatanka survives a long chin-lock and goes into his comeback routine, no-selling Demento’s shots, laying in with chops, and puts him away with the fallaway slam at 8:54. Demento was such a clumsy looking goof he made Tatanka look like Ricky Steamboat. Not god awful, but it felt like a whole lot of shtick, almost a throwback to prelim matches of the early 80’s. *

WWF Championship Match: Bret “Hitman” Hart (c) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow:
I’m guessing this is the pre-intermission “Main Event”? Bret Hart’s first reign as WWF Champion can be defined with two words: “Fighting Champion.” Bret did have a short program with Razor Ramon that was quickly settled at the Royal Rumble, but it wasn’t a very deep storyline. Just an interaction on syndication and Razor beating up his baby brother Owen for cheap heat. Bigelow returned to the WWF in the Fall of 1992 and while he’s getting a plum spot working main events in early 1993, he didn’t have a TV storyline until picking up a feud with Tatanka in the Spring, stemming from a rivalry between Luna Vachon and Sensational Sherri.

We establish early that Bigelow has the clear advantage as far as brute strength is concerned, twice sending Bret out of the ring with ease and being forced to rethink his strategy. We get a great sequence where Bret comes off the ropes with a dropkick, sending Bigelow into the ropes and bouncing right back to throw an elbow drop, only for Bret to roll away from the attack. Bret controls for a bit, working the arm. Bigelow catches him in an overhead press, but can’t finish and Bret shifts his weight to land on top for a two-count. Bret with a diving elbow, sending Bigelow to the outside. He attempts a dive from the apron, but Bigelow catches and rams him into the post. Back inside, Bigelow with a big ol’ back suplex. He picks Bret up in a bearhug and impressively holds him over his shoulder for a good while. We switch up to the overhead back breaker, with Bret kicking off the turnbuckle to escape, but Bigelow cuts off the comeback. We cut ahead in the action (BOO!) with Bret doing his real comeback, hitting the second rope bulldog and setting up for the Sharpshooter. Bigelow blocks and goes for another bearhug, but Bret bites his way free this time. Bret unwisely attempts a back suplex and gets crushed for a near-fall. Whip across the ring, Bigelow meets the boot and Bret takes him over with a victory roll to retain at 11:42 (shown). If you’ve seen one of the near-dozen of matches these two had in 1993 taped for TV or recorded from the audience, you won’t be surprised by how their matches play out. With that said, it’s a great big vs little battle, with Bret having to change up his usual formula to find something that works on not only a man bigger than him, but had deceptive agility as well. This match is missing a couple of minutes, but we can probably figure out what is missing. ***

Virgil & Jim Powers vs. The Headshrinkers:
It’s matches like this that have me question if the match order was rearranged over time. I could definitely see this being the match coming out of intermission, but the rest of what we have feels a bit jumbled around. The Headshrinkers made their first big impression by having a hand in the Natural Disasters losing the Tag Team Titles back to Money Inc., but that storyline was never fully explored, and the Headshrinkers ended up being a card-filler team for all of 1993, spending most of the Summer and Fall working with the Smoking Gunns. Virgil has fallen hard down the depth chart, having nothing to do other than put over the new scary monsters (Nailz at SummerSlam, Yokozuna at Survivor Series). Jim Powers is working like it’s 1985, having shown zero improvement, and his ridiculous lack of size exposes how much juice he was on for the sake of a D-tier push in the late 80’s. He’s also subbing for Jim Duggan, who missed about two months of action. I know they taped his injury angle with Yokozuna early in January, but that usually doesn’t stop them from using people until as close to the broadcast date as possible (in this case, the February 6-7th weekend).

No Afa at ringside, surprisingly. Virgil and Samu start. Virgil doesn’t take kindly to Samu’s showboating over being the stronger of the two and stomps his feet. He throws a decent (for him) dropkick, knocking Samu into the corner, and comes off the ropes with a body press for two. Woah, Virgil, calm down! You don’t have to try THIS hard. Samu attempts to trap him in the corner, but Virgil slips away. Fatu wants a test-of-strength and the crowd does too. Virgil and Powers take turns working the arm. Powers with some basic chain wrestling until Fatu drops him with a back suplex. Powers avoids an elbow drop and throws some pathetic jabs. Virgil winds up the face-in-peril, running into a super-kick and getting dropped throat-first across the top rope. Samu busts out a dropkick for the hell of it. Virgil surprises him with boots in the corner and a flying clothesline, but Samu quickly regains control. Fatu sends him to concussion protocol with a series of headbutts. Virgil escapes a chin-lock but a hip toss is countered with a short-clothesline. Samu meets the post diving into the corner, allowing Powers to get the hot tag. He runs wild with kicks and a running knee lift. Whip and a BAAAAAACK body-drop. Russian leg sweep for two. The Headshrinkers no-sell a double noggin knocker, lay him put with the double headbutt, and a splash finishes at 10:11. This isn’t winning match of the night honors, but this was a surprisingly decent, basic formula tag team match and the crowd was into it. I’d definitely give most of the credit to Samu, Fatu and even Virgil, because Powers’ involvement is the least impactful. **½

Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair (w/ Bobby Heenan):
We’ve already seen Flair on the losing side of a “Loser Leaves the WWF” Match on Monday Night Raw, so the explanation is that Flair is finishing his contractual obligations. Perfect has already transitioned into a program with the recently debuted “Narcissist” Lex Luger, and boy is that one a bit rough to make sense of based on Bobby Heenan’s pre-tapes in the weeks that lead up to Luger’s first appearance. Perfect also has loose-ends to tie with Razor Ramon that stems from Perfect’s surprise babyface turn leading into Survivor Series. This is probably the last time Heenan is with someone at ringside, having also done the honors on at least one other available Fan-Cam, the show taped on Boston featuring the Bret/Flair Ironman/Marathon match.

No entrances shown and we’re probably joined in progress just seconds from the opening bell. They open with what you would expect, some feeling out process and a nice chain wrestling sequence that Perfect gets the best of. Flair takes control with a cheap shot in the corner, but Perfect shrugs off some chops and lays in some of his own. Flair thumbs the eye and dumps Perfect over the top rope. Back inside and Perfect with another spectacular bump as he gets whipped into the corner. Flair with a snap mare and knee drop for two. He climbs the ropes and is predictably slammed down. Perfect with a Figure-Four applied, and for whatever reason, the referee kicks Flair’s hand off the ropes before allowing it on the second attempt, forcing a break. Heenan passes a gimmick off to Flair with the referee distracted, and that’s enough to bring Sgt. Slaughter to ringside and eject Heenan. Perfect continues punishing Flair until taking a knee to the midsection and another trip to the floor.

Flair slows it down with a sleeper, and we hang onto it long enough for me to start questioning the level of effort for this match. Perfect uses his momentum to slam Flair’s head into the turnbuckle. Perfect with his own sleeper, but Flair counters, targeting the knee and applying the Figure-Four. Referee Mike Chioda sees the blatant use of the ropes and forces the hold broken. Perfect with his usual over-sell as he has his leg kicked from under him. Flair goes for another Figure-Four but it’s countered with a small package for two. They trade blows in the corner and Perfect sends Flair over the ropes with a clothesline. Flair picks the ankle, dragging Perfect to the floor with him. Perfect blocks being sent to the post and instead gives Flair a taste of the cold steel (or iron, depending on the day of the week). Back inside, Perfect counters a hip toss with a back-slide for two. Whip to the corner, Flair flips to the apron, rushes to the top rope, and is nailed on the way down. Flair blocks a roll-up but runs into a forearm for two. Flair finally retrieves the gimmick from his tights and wallops Perfect for a near-fall. Perfect blocks Flair’s attempt for a suplex from the apron and brings Flair back in the ring with his own suplex. Flair drops an elbow to counter a back body-drop. Perfect counters Flair’s back body-drop attempt with the Perfect-Plex, but RAZOR RAMON runs in for the DQ finish at 16:12. Really?! Post-match, Ramon throws Perfect to the floor and smacks him in the face with a chair! This was looking like a so-so match, but they really kicked it into high gear for the last 6-7 minutes, and it turned out to be a great match with a terrible finish (there’s no reason not to have Flair doing a clean job here). ***¾

Typhoon vs. The Berzerker:
I don’t know how much I can say of interest for these two. With Earthquake/John Tenta giving his notice shortly before the Royal Rumble, that killed the Natural Disasters team, leaving Typhoon with f*ck-all to do, wrestling through the Spring in a JTTS role. Berzerker’s big push against the Undertaker was cut short, and he infamously disappeared for a while in the Fall (probably hanging out with Road Warrior Hawk). He’s mostly used in a JTTS spot as well, and even had trouble defeating the likes of VIRGIL, so you know he’s not in good standing with the company.

Berzerker threatens Typhoon with his belt. Somehow that seems like it might be the highlight of the match. They do the big man lockups, taking cheap shots at each other. Berzerker’s shoulder block does nothing but Typhoon’s sends him backwards over the top rope. Berzerker issues a challenge for a test-of-strength and wastes little time putting the boots to Typhoon, dropping him to his knees. Typhoon quickly powers up and sends Berzerker over the ropes again. Back inside, Berzerker with a headbutt to the midsection and a lot of choking. Typhoon teases a comeback but misses a charge to the corner. He quickly goes for comeback attempt #2, ducking a clothesline, hitting an atomic drop, and finishing with a corner avalanche at 6:08. Just two guys with incompatible styles doing stuff for a few minutes, and most of it looked terrible. At least it was short and Berzerker took a couple of bumps. ¼*

Big Boss Man vs. Razor Ramon:
Razor Ramon is in such a weird spot, as he was pushed immediately into a Main Event role, but he’s already on his way down after unsuccessfully challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble. As we saw earlier, he still has some loose ends to tie with Mr. Perfect, but Ramon is just a guy for a few months before a shock loss on Monday Night Raw changes his fortunes around. Boss Man is on the way out, losing decisively to Bam Bam Bigelow at the Rumble and being written off TV shortly after this appearance. He would make a few appearances later in the year as a special referee before showing up on WCW as “The Boss” (man, is he big!), kicking off a year of cease and desist orders from various organizations until he went back to the “Big Bubba Rogers” name he used before joining the WWF.

Both men with lots of pantomiming to start. Lockup into the ropes, Ramon with a shove and Boss Man gives him a slap. It’s almost impossible to see anything for a hot minute, probably a bad combination of the ring lighting and the angle from the camera, because most of the show looks great and MSG usually has the best shots. Boss Man with a school-boy and small package for a pair of two-counts. Ramon wants a test-of-strength, because that spot isn’t done to death on this show. He cheap shots the Boss (shocker!) and controls with the hold where he’s got Boss Man’s arms behind his back. Boss Man counters but Ramon goes low to cut him off. Hard whip to the corner gets two. Boss Man mounts his real comeback, hitting an inverted atomic drop and clothesline. Whip to the corner, Boss Man misses a charge, and Ramon rolls him up for three at 8:55. You can tell the Boss Man didn’t have much motivation left in the tank. He’s selling the entire match, but it’s not an interesting match, with the bare minimum of effort. ½*

The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Irwin R. Schyster (w/ Jimmy Hart):
What a match to wrap up the night. Somewhere, Vince McMahon is loving the Death and Taxes idea, but we’ll have to wait almost 2-years before we get THAT storyline. Earlier in the week at the Royal Rumble, the Undertaker was introduced to his latest and “greatest” threat, the 7’7” Giant Gonzales, a.k.a. El Gigante in a bodysuit with airbrushed muscles and bits of fur to make him look like some kind of Sasquatch looking creature. Just like Ted Dibiase, I.R.S. is one-half of the reigning Tag Team Champions, so his odds of walking away with the W aren’t looking too good here.

IRS with a shove from behind, then quickly realizes his mistake and powders. Taker gives chase, allowing IRS to put the boots on him as he returns to the ring. Taker no-sells the turnbuckle, throws I.R.S. into the corner and grabs him by the throat. The camera misses what looks like Irwin running into a boot in the corner. Taker wraps up the arm and hits the rope-walk clothesline. Taker misses an elbow drop and gets sent over the ropes with a clothesline (another spot done to death on this card). He lands on his feet in front of Jimmy Hart and makes a move for the little guy, allowing Irwin to whack him with Hart’s megaphone. Back inside, Taker misses a charge and IRS comes off the ropes with a diving clothesline. He plants Taker with a slam and drops a pair of elbows. The flying nothing is countered with a fist to the face and the Tombstone finishes at 4:19. Short and inoffensive, IRS didn’t have to resort to laying around with a 4-minute chin-lock and Taker didn’t need to be in a position to play dead forever without showing any sign of emotion. *½

Strength of Card: Looking over the card, the only names that stick out as not appearing are Yokozuna (the Rumble winner and guy getting a monster heel push for the last 3-months) and the Nasty Boys (the obvious challengers for Money Inc.), but instead of having a Tag Title defense, we split the Champions into matches with Randy Savage and The Undertaker, just to give them something to do on this card. I’m sure with a little bit of sleep and a few minutes to move a piece or two, we might be able to improve the card, but the differences would be marginal (Shawn Michaels vs Bob Backlund just screams styles clash, and I would try to find Shawn a better opponent. Maybe Tatanka, since we did a Count-Out finish). Grade: A

Highs: Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect put on a Pay-Per-View quality match that would’ve been that much better if we didn’t get a cheap finish (and to date is the highest rated match on the Fan-Cam shows I’ve covered). Bret Hart and Bam Bam Bigelow put in a strong effort as well, though missing several minutes is going to hurt the final rating (but as I’ve mentioned, these two had their formula locked in and you’ll find they’ve worked a ton in 1993). Maybe 2.5 stars isn’t considered a “highlight”, but I’ve got to shout out the Headshrinkers vs Virgil and Jim Powers. In no universe was I expecting to enjoy that match under any circumstances.

Lows: Even on a loaded show, we’re going to get some stinkers. Of the matches preserved on this recording, you had two obvious ones in Tatanka vs Damian Demento and Typhoon vs The Berzerker. No one in their right mind expects either match to deliver, but Typhoon vs Berzerker was particularly awful (but thankfully kept short). The biggest disappointment award goes to Razor and Boss Man, who brought so little to the table. On paper, you’d think it would’ve been a halfway decent match, but there’s not much meat on the bone. Had the match been recorded, you know damn well that Shawn vs Backlund was probably landing here, and likely flirting with negative stars.

The Rest: Unfortunately, Randy Savage vs Ted Dibiase lands in this territory. It could’ve and should’ve been better, but it was just fine thanks to a hot closing few minutes, while Undertaker vs IRS being “just fine” is probably as good as they’re going to get, based on their body of work around this time.

Final Thoughts: We’ve got two stand-out matches on top of the card, as well as a handful of decent matches underneath, which is good enough for a recommendation. There’s three bad matches (that were recorded), but they are reasonably short, and aren’t bad enough to take away from the overall enjoyment of the show. With such a loaded lineup, one complaint I do have is that too many matches use the same spots (over the top rope spots, test-of-strengths, babyfaces missing elbows that transition into a rest spot), but those are minimal issues. If you’re pressed for time, the show is front loaded for quality, so I would at least give it a watch and finish up with Perfect vs Flair, since the last 30-minutes is mostly meh. Grade: B (based on content featured)

As always, thank you for reading and have a great rest of your day.