What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – May 9, 1993

For Blog football fans I’ve created three leagues on Yahoo! for the upcoming college and NFL seasons. If you’d like to join here is the info for each league. If you wish to join I’d recommend using your Blog name for the pick set so its easier to track. The two pick’em leagues use confidence points and are based on the spread.

College Pick’em
Group ID: 4327
Password: WWF1993

NFL Pick’em
Group ID: 16214
Password: WWF1993

NFL Survival Football
Group ID: 10409
Password: WWF1993

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan are in the booth, still broadcasting from Phoenix, Arizona.

Opening King of the Ring Qualifying Contest: Hacksaw Jim Duggan (8-0) pins Papa Shango (6-3-1) after the three-point stance clothesline at 4:39:

This is not a good match as Duggan and Shango primarily slug on each other and Shango works a long chinlock in the middle. When Shango misses an avalanche, Duggan blasts him with his finisher to advance. Rating: ½*

Virgil (4-4) beats Tim Patterson after the side Russian leg sweep at 2:20:

Referee Earl Hebner is having a bad day as he counts a near-fall against Virgil during a headlock even though neither of Virgil’s shoulders are on the canvas. The squash must have started awkwardly as well as Patterson goes into the ropes and an arm drag is spliced into the bout too quickly. Virgil reverts to doing a lot of high-risk moves to get noticed, blasting Patterson with a pescado and missile dropkick.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report recaps the Undertaker-Giant Gonzalez feud and the Undertaker and Paul Bearer’s comments on Superstars last week. Gonzalez and Harvey Wippleman talk of being superhuman and giving the Undertaker the same beating that the Dead Man received at The Royal Rumble.

Damien Demento (8-5) pins Billy Jones after three knee drops at 2:08:

Heenan insists that Todd Pettengill is the leader of the Demento Fan Club. Before Demento can do his trademark neckbreaker he is distracted by voices. The crowd is more annoyed by that than intrigued. He does his finish three times as Ross calls him goofy.

Ray Rougeau interviews Luna Vachon, who argues that Sensational Sherri and the fans are jealous of her and her beauty. She yells about her desire to tear Sherri to shreds. This was another feud of this period that had a hot, memorable start and began to lose its momentum by the old formula of just doing dueling promos for a long time with no more interaction between the participants.

The Steiner Brothers (16-0) beat Louie Spicolli & Bobby Young when Scott pins Young after the Steinerizer at 3:26:

The Steiners put on another suplex display. Spicolli gets the worst of it, taking a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and release dragon suplex.

Gene Okerlund does The King of the Ring Report. Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji insist that their match with WWF Champion Hulk Hogan will be different because they will be prepared this time. Hogan does another promo from the Thunder in Paradise set with Jimmy Hart, cupping his ear to listen to the sand. The content is out of place as he talks about whether WWF President Jack Tunney will strip him of the title, something that Tunney ruled on quickly after WrestleMania. Bret Hart says that he does not care who he faces in the tournament because he will “excellently execute” all of them. Hacksaw Jim Duggan reveals that his strategy for the tournament is attack whatever is in front of him. Okerlund announces that the Mr. Perfect-Doink the Clown rematch will take place next week on Wrestling Challenge for a spot in the bracket.

Bam Bam Bigelow (20-1) pins Terry Zeller after the flying headbutt at 2:54:

The corner avalanche is quickly becoming a popular spot for many on the roster. Bigelow adds a twist to the others but doing his version of the Flair flip during a blind charge, swatting away Zeller’s attempt to dropkick him off the apron, and landing on the jobber with a slingshot flying headbutt into the ring. That should have finished but the squash goes on for a bit longer so Ross can hype WWF Magazine.

Doink the Clown argues that he is the equal of Mr. Perfect and he is not going to clown around with him in a rematch. Perfect tells his opponent that he was saved by the bell last time and that will not happen again.

Tune in next week to see Mr. Perfect face Doink the Clown in a King of the Ring qualifying match! Also, the Nasty Boys, Mr. Hughes, and Razor Ramon in action!

The Last Word: Of all the participants that have qualified for the King of the Ring Tournament so far, Duggan is easily the weakest and the most unlikely winner. Hulk Hogan’s promo on The King of the Ring Report showed how much of an absentee champion he was, talking about an issue that was no longer relevant. His match with Yokozuna is starting to have a Rocky III vibe to it.

The WWF had a series of house shows in the Midwest during this week in its history. Here are the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Hartford, Connecticut – Hartford Civic Center – May 3, 1993 (2,200): Owen Hart beat the Brooklyn Brawler…Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Kamala…Crush wrestled Doink the Clown to a double count out when a second Doink distracted Crush…Bret Hart pinned Razor Ramon with a backslide…WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated beat the Stiener Brothers when Ted DiBiase pinned Scott after IRS hit Scott in the back of the head with his briefcase…Tatanka pinned Lex Luger after raising his shoulder to avoid being pinned from a back suplex…Bob Backlund defeated Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels via count out…Yokozuna pinned Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Richfield, Ohio – Richfield Coliseum – May 7, 1993 (3,700): Owen Hart beat Terry Taylor…Mr. Hughes beat El Matador…Crush wrestled Doink the Clown to a double count out…Papa Shango beat Typhoon…Tatanka pinned Razor Ramon…The Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzalez via disqualification…The Steiner Brothers beat WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated via disqualification.

Chicago, Illinois – The Rosemont Horizon – May 9, 1993 (3,600): Owen Hart pinned Terry Taylor…Mr. Perfect beat Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels to win the title. The result was overturned later in the evening on a technicality…Mr. Hughes pinned El Matador…Yokozuna defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan via count out after Mr. Fuji blinded Duggan with salt…Tatanka pinned Razor Ramon after lifting his shoulder to escape a double pin situation from a back suplex…The Headshrinkers beat the Smoking Gunns…Bret Hart defeated Lex Luger via disqualification when Razor Ramon interfered after Bret trapped Luger in the Sharpshooter. Before the bell, Luger was told by the referee that he had to wear a protecting pad across his forearm or he would not be allowed to compete. After the match, Bret was double teamed until Luger accidentally knocked Ramon out with the running forearm. This led to Ramon and Luger brawling afterward.

Backstage News*: WWF Champion Hulk Hogan defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion the Great Muta on Monday at the Fukuoka Dome in Fukuoka, Japan. Afterward, Hogan gave an interview to the Japanese media about how the WWF title was a steppingstone to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which he called a real world title. When Hogan appeared on Entertainment Tonight on May 6 with Brutus Beefcake and Jimmy Hart there was also no mention of the WWF or the wrestling industry. He is also working fewer house show dates than anticipated in June.

-Television tapings will be concentrated as much as possible in the Northeast for the time being to save money on transportation costs.

-In talent relations news, the WWF signed Scotty Flamingo. He will be cast a new manager named Johnny Polo and be paired with Bryan Clark. At television tapings the WWF gave tryouts to the Tazmaniac, New England independent wrestler Big City Mike, former NFL lineman Colin Scott, and the Harlem Knights.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Melzer’s Wrestling Observer for May 17.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for May 10!

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!