What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – September 18, 1993

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage provide commentary, taped from White Plains, New York. Lawler has upgraded his attire to a black jacket with royal insignia, which looks better than the other gear he has been wearing to commentate for shows like a red cape that looked like it was bought at K-Mart.

Opening Contest: Bret Hart (8-3) defeats Blake Beverly (1-5) via submission to the Sharpshooter at 4:20:

Bret may have wanted this match booked to reboot his standing in the company as the last time he wrestled Blake in 1992 he was WWF champion by the next WWF television broadcast. Blake won that encounter, only to have the decision reversed by Sergeant Slaughter. Lawler is conveniently absent from commentating, going after a young fan who has a critical poster of him. Blake is once again positioned as Bret’s kryptonite, blocking a crucifix with a Samoan drop and scoring a few near-falls. Bret gets his head back in the game when Blake uses his momentum to send Bret to the floor when Bret does a standing switch. The Hitman gets on the apron and uses the ropes to send Blake to the floor and when the action resumes, the moves of doom and a Sharpshooter follow. This would be Blake’s last television appearance, wrapping up a year of filler singles performances. He would head to New Japan and wrestle on the Minnesota independent scene before re-emerging in WCW in 1996. This was a good match to go out on, though, as it showed he could hang with the best technical wrestler in the company. Rating: **

After the match, Savage uses the Magistrator to draw a chicken leg from Bret’s Sharpshooter position, putting a crown on it to represent Lawler.

Well Dunn (2-3) beat Russ Greenberg & Mark Thomas when Steven Dunn pins Greenberg after an elevated inverted DDT at 3:04:

Lawler returns, regretting that he missed the opener. Well Dunn gets to .500 in the win-loss column but struggle to do so, giving Greenberg and Thomas more shine than most jobber tag teams receive. They do basic moves like pushing an opponent to the canvas and scream “That’s Well Dunn!” The heels use a new move where Timothy Well lifts Greenberg by the legs while Dunn has Greenberg in an inverted DDT position and then Dunn finishes the move. It does not look good, so Well Dunn should go back to the double DDT.

Razor Ramon (26-3-2) pins Ray McShane after the Razor’s Edge at 2:44:

Ramon adds more english on his fallaway slam by perching McShane on the corner and doing the move off the second rope. Savage excuses Crush’s hang up on Monday Night RAW on a bad satellite connection. Ramon wins his eleventh-straight match, getting over stronger as a babyface with each passing week.

Ludvig Borga (6-0) beats P.J. Walker after the flying clothesline at 2:08:

In the split screen, some WWF fans yell that if Borga does not like the United States then he can leave. Savage tries to put over Borga’s abilities, saying Borga gets more hangtime on a simple elbow drop than he can do coming off the top rope. Walker does a good job selling Borga’s flying clothesline off the ropes as devastating but the reactions Borga is getting still do not justify getting placed in a top-level feud.

Mr. Perfect (30-3-2) pins Barry Horowitz after the Perfectplex at 2:23:

Lawler rants more about Doink the Clown. Perfect mocks Horowitz’s pat on the back after winning an exchange between them with a dropkick and hiptoss. Horowitz responds by almost pinning Perfect with a Northern Lights suplex but he is cut down to size by some chops. Horowitz also makes the mistake of trying to backdrop Perfect and gets trapped in the Perfectplex. This was a short, fun match but someone of Perfect’s stature should not struggle to beat Horowitz.

Joe Fowler does a taped interview with WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers and Johnny Polo. They hype the Monday Night RAW match between Scott Steiner and Pierre where Scott has to win for the Steiners get a rematch for the titles.

The new “Unbelievable!” ad sees a woman on a park bench pay no attention to a guy doing lots of cosplays of WWF superstars. Eventually, Randy Savage walks into the picture and gets the woman’s attention. She tells the camera not to “fall for cheap imitations.”

Non-Title Match: Shawn Michaels (Intercontinental Champion w/Diesel) (25-5-1) defeats Dan Dubiel after the piledriver at 2:43:

The announcers talk more about Diesel than Michaels’ Intercontinental title run. Michaels seems even bigger around the waist than SummerSlam, which is doing some damage to his “Boy Toy” gimmick. Savage takes a dig at Lawler by saying that Michaels’ piledriver is better than the King’s.

McMahon highlights the new Spotlight magazine that profiles Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart. It shows that even though both men are no longer in the WWF that the company has not given up hope that they may return.

On the way to the dressing room, Michaels and Diesel take issue with some fans. When the 1-2-3 Kid comes down the aisle for the next match, Michaels and Diesel block his way and beat him down until Mr. Perfect makes the save. Diesel still looks dominant by giving Perfect a big punch and knocking the former Intercontinental champion down.

After a commercial break, Boni Blackstone talks with Michaels and Diesel. Michaels says that the Kid put his hands on him and he needed to set an example for others. Diesel takes off his sunglasses and gives a decent promo about how no one touches him either and if they lay their hands on Michaels they will have to deal with him.

The Smoking Gunns (14-1) defeat Mike Bell & Tony DeVito when Bart pins DeVito after the backdrop-piledriver combination at 2:13:

The crowd is tired by this point, not reacting much to the Gunns dismantling of their opposition even though the Gunns are doing some good moves. This is the second time the Gunns have beaten Bell and DeVito this year.

Tune in next week to see the 1-2-3 Kid, Tatanka, and Razor Ramon in action! Also, WWF Champion Yokozuna will appear for a special interview!

The Last Word: The highlight of this show was Shawn Michaels and Diesel beating up the 1-2-3 Kid. That was meant to add an edge to Michaels defending the title against Kid on house shows.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for September 19!

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!