What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – October 3, 1993

All American Wrestling got back to having a feature match. This bout took place in Portland, Maine on September 29 and had Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon commentate it:

Rick Martel (0-1-1) beats the 1-2-3 Kid (13-4-1) via submission to the Boston Crab at 7:13 shown:

The bout is more of an extended squash for Martel as he dominates six of the seven minutes of in-ring action, focusing his offense on the Kid’s lower back to set up the Boston Crab. The Kid finally gets something going after catching a Martel dive off the ropes with a kick to the mid-section. A spinning heel kick gets a close near-fall but the Kid makes another error in a big match, missing a reverse flying body press off the second rope. That Koko B. Ware-like mistake leads to the Kid submitting to the Boston Crab, giving Martel a second positive in-ring result this week. The Kid has been struggling in feature matches since SummerSlam, a combination of rotten luck because of Shawn Michaels’ suspension and the WWF trying to corral his backstage antics. Rating: *½

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan were handling commentary on Wrestling Challenge, taped from Saginaw, Michigan.

Opening Contest: Mr. Perfect (32-3-2) pins Brian Costello after the Perfectplex at 3:13:

Perfect beat Costello in less than a minute a few months ago on RAW. Ross, always looking to bolster the credibility of a wrestler, dubs Costello “The Fighting Irishman.” Costello makes a better accounting for himself in this rematch, laying in a few blows and throwing Perfect hard into the corner. However, he makes the mistake of going to the top rope and gets thrown off. He compounds that error by lowering his head when Perfect comes off the ropes, losing to a Perfectplex.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (23-2-1) defeat Virgil & Red Tyler when Fatu pins Tyler after the splash off the top rope at 4:52:

Now it is Virgil’s turn to play the dreaded “Star teams with a jobber as part of their way out of the company” tour. Virgil and Tyler work well as a team, keeping the Headshrinkers off balance for a few minutes. Tyler tries a flying body press onto the heels but is caught, bailed out by a Virgil missile dropkick to his back that knocks the Headshrinkers down. Unfortunately, Virgil runs into a double superkick. The crowd chants for Virgil but he never gets off the canvas, turning the match into a handicap affair. Tyler is unable to overcome those odds, taking a hard splash from Fatu. After the match, Afa puts his shrunken head in Tyler’s face. The close shot shows that Tyler is bleeding from the mouth.

A new “Unbelievable” ad has a still shot of Air Force One. The pilots tell air traffic control that they will not leave for an hour because the President of the United States is watching Monday Night RAW. This was a play on President Bill Clinton catching heat for holding up traffic at Los Angeles International Airport so he could get a $200 haircut.

The 1-2-3 Kid (13-5-1) pins Tom Stone after a moonsault at 3:19:

Stone goes 50-50 with the Kid, scoring near-falls from a clothesline and suplex but his chances of winning end when the Kid hits him with a few spinning heel kicks. The moonsault prevents Stone from winning his first match on WWF television since 1990. Rating: *

Ludvig Borga is a guest on the King’s Court. Jerry Lawler chastises the crowd for not rising for the Finnish national anthem. Borga talks about how he has no respect for Lex Luger or the United States, giving some generic anti-American comments about how the country is crumbling and Americans do not know how to read or write. Luger’s back injury has hurt this program because Borga talks trash and Luger does nothing. It makes Borga look unimportant to not get a response from a top talent and Luger looks bad for not defending America.

You can buy your copy of the latest Coliseum Video Grudges, Gripes & Grunts on October 6! This video’s selling point was having a fun tag team match featuring Bret Hart & Randy Savage against Ric Flair & Shawn Michaels.

Adam Bomb (w/Johnny Polo) (21-0) beats Todd Becker after the Atom Smasher at 2:14:

Becker has a nice rebound off the ropes when Bomb dumps him across them from a suplex position. That is the big highlight of another Bomb squash that keeps padding his unbeaten record in 1993. When the match ends, Ross hypes Bomb’s chances of making it to the final two of the 20-man battle royal tomorrow night on RAW.

Well Dunn (w/Harvey Wippleman) (3-3) defeat Mitch Bishop & Kevin Kruger when Timothy Well pins Kruger after a Steven Dunn forearm at 2:52:

Wippleman has been the worst manager in the company this year, having both of his charges turn on him. One wonders what his selling point to Well Dunn was to get them to sign. At first the new manager has no impact as Kruger outmaneuvers Dunn. That leads to a weird sequence where Dunn whips Kruger into the ropes and goes off to argue with the referee, making Kruger seem stupid as he comes off the ropes and has to stop on his own. Bishop never gets in the ring, knocked off the apron by Dunn after Well whips Dunn into Kruger so he can throw a forearm. Well and Dunn defer to the other to make the pin before Well finally decides to do it. This segment needed an insert promo where Wippleman gave lip service to hyping his new team.

Razor Ramon (28-3-2) pins Rock Werner after the Razor’s Edge at 1:06:

Ramon has not lost his edge since his babyface turn, throwing his toothpick at his opponent. That is one of the reasons why he has gotten over. He makes quick work of Werner, making his own case for why he should be a favorite going into the RAW battle royal.

Tune in next week to see the Smoking Gunns, Irwin R. Schyster, Tatanka, Bastion Booger, Marty Jannetty, and Ludvig Borga in action! Also, Mr. Perfect will be a guest on the King’s Court!

The Last Word: This was a fun show until the King’s Court segment as the squashes featured some entertaining bits. Ludvig Borga’s segment was not good since his material was recycled – no pun intended – from past vignettes and it failed to move his feud with Lex Luger forward. Next week’s show will feature lots of matches but Wrestling Challenge is starved for more important developments than Harvey Wippleman aligning with the WWF’s worst tag team.

After doing a long week of television tapings, the WWF headed to the West Coast for a set of house shows. Here was the result of one of those cards, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Los Angeles, California – Los Angeles Sports Arena – October 3, 1993 (7,000): Irwin R. Schyster beat the 1-2-3 Kid…Men on a Mission defeated Well Dunn…Razor Ramon beat Rick Martel…Lex Luger pinned Ludvig Borga with the running forearm. WWF Champion Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji came to ringside midway through the contest…Mr. Perfect pinned Diesel…WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers defeated Adam Bomb & Bam Bam Bigelow via count out when Johnny Polo came to ringside and argued with Luna Vachon. That led to Bomb and Bigelow arguing with each other before they threw Polo in the ring and tossed him around…WWF Champion Yokozuna pinned the Undertaker.

Backstage News*: Tickets for Survivor Series at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on November 24 mostly sold out 90 minutes after they went on sale to the public. The fast sale is credited to the WWF using a mailing list taken from magazine subscriptions and those who send letters to the company. Although a card has not been announced the expected main event is Lex Luger leading a team to face a team led by WWF Champion Yokozuna.

-Bret Hart made waves in an interview on “The FAN” radio in Toronto, arguing that other wrestling federations are the minor leagues compared to the WWF. He also called all the wrestlers in WCW “drug abusers” and said that Ric Flair was the “most overrated wrestler ever” because he repeated the same match. Bret also said that former WWF Champion Hulk Hogan was “maxed out” on steroids.

-The WWF was relieved that Monday Night RAW ratings rebounded this week to a 2.7.

-The WWF’s house show in San Jose, California on October 1 broke the all-time gate record at San Jose Arena set by Mexico’s AAA promotion five weeks earlier. The WWF was able to draw more fans because of the strength of its advertising campaign on radio and newspapers whereas AAA barely had any of that. The WWF and AAA also drew different audiences as 30-40% of the WWF crowd was Spanish-speaking versus 95% for AAA.

-It seems that the WWF has decided to stop going after its enemies in WWF Magazine, no longer using the “Now It’s Our Turn” segment that was used to criticize Superstar Billy Graham.

-The WWF is looking to hold the Royal Rumble in Providence, Rhode Island and next year’s WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden.

-The Steiner Brothers should be back on the road at the end of the month.

-Jerry Jarrett of the USWA was backstage at television tapings earlier this week and some believe he is being brought in to help the creative team.

-In talent relations news, Madusa has been offered a contract to start in November but has not accepted it yet. The WWF tried to make it seem like it was its decision to let go of Gene Okerlund in the recent edition of WWF Magazine.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for October 11.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for October 4!

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!