What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – October 24, 1993

All American Wrestling had a feature match, taped in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 28. Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon were commentating:

Rick Martel (1-2-1) beats Owen Hart (11-5) via count out after Jerry Lawler interferes at 8:25:

Owen has been an All American warrior this year, wrestling five matches on the program. As expected, this is a good exchange of technical wrestling as each man counters the others opening moves in the first few minutes. Martel seizes control after whipping Owen chest-first into the corner and begins to work the lower back, as is his custom, scoring a near-fall from a gutwrench suplex. The Boston Crab is never applied, though, as Owen stops a Martel aerial attack off the second rope with a fist. A flying body press gets two for Owen, who is tossed to the floor shortly thereafter. That allows Lawler to run out and throw Owen into the ring post, giving Martel a count out win. The match was average as everything was building to Lawler’s appearance to keep the Harts-Lawler feud going. Rating: **

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan call the action on Wrestling Challenge, taped from Portland, Maine. Heenan dumps some pennies on the announce table as a collection for Randy Savage.

Opening Contest: Ludvig Borga (13-0) defeats Scott King via submission to the torture rack at 2:30:

As Borga systematically destroys King, Ross hypes Borga’s Superstars match with Tatanka next week. Borga refuses to release the torture rack when the bell rings and when he does he drops King to the mat like he is a sack of garbage.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report segment features a promo by the All Americans. It is entertaining how each man pronounces the Quebecers. Lex Luger says that the Foreign Fanatics will find out what the power of America is all about in Boston. Hayes hilariously hypes the Hart Family-Lawler’s Knights battle as having the “crusty old family patriarch” Stu Hart making an appearance.

The Smoking Gunns (17-3) beat Barry Hardy & Bert Centeno when Bart pins Centeno after the backdrop-piledriver combination at 3:11:

All Ross can say for the Gunns is that they are growing in popularity. The Gunns love doing a double side Russian leg sweep but always seem to struggle transitioning to the move after they whip an opponent into the ropes. There is not much setup for the Gunns to get to their finisher, hurting some of the pop it receives.

Adam Bomb (w/Harvey Wippleman) (24-0) pins Mike Davis after a flying clothesline at 1:38:

Davis does not get a bounce after earning a shocking win last week against the Quebecers. Bomb wins with a flying clothesline.

After the bell, Wippleman has Bomb give Davis the Atom Smasher. Giant Gonzalez comes out in blue jeans and a black leather jacket and Bomb and Wippleman bail. It seems like there were plans for this to be Bomb’s first feud but Gonzalez left the company before it amounted to anything.

WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers and Johnny Polo are guests on the King’s Court. They talk about how the Steiner Brothers will get a rematch after waiting in line behind teams like Randy Savage & the Macho Midget. Men on a Mission interrupt, irritating Lawler who says that his segment is not Soul Train. Oscar does a rap to ask for a title shot and Polo gets goaded into accepting for next week even though Jacques is not happy about it.

Mr. Perfect (34-3-2) pins Scott Taylor with the Perfectplex at 1:56:

Taylor manages a dropkick but cannot do more than that. He flips around as Perfect works his left leg before doing the Perfectplex.

Tatanka (36-0-3) beats Duane Gill after the Papoose to Go at 1:49:

Tatanka dominates Gill, throwing a lot of chops to set up the Papoose to Go. Ross and Heenan spend time hyping his clash with Ludvig Borga just as they did during Borga’s squash earlier in the program.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (36-3-1) beats Jerry Seavey after an enzuigiri at 1:32:

It seems like Bigelow is stalking Tatanka on these shows so he can stay even when it comes to singles wins on the year. Bigelow keeps using other finishing moves than the flying headbutt, preferring an enzuigiri today. It marks the second time he has beaten Seavey this year.

Tune in next week to see WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers defend the titles against Men on a Mission! Also, Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon will be a guest on the King’s Court!

The Last Word: “Sweeps month” will give the WWF a reason to care about Wrestling Challenge again so fans get a WWF Tag Team title match next week. Oscar’s rapping style did not translate well for a promo but Men on a Mission are getting good enough reactions to see how they would do against the champions at this stage of their run. Giant Gonzalez’s appearance on this show is often forgotten as most think he disappeared after the 20-man Intercontinental title battle royal on Monday Night RAW earlier in the month. The fact that he went from heavily pushed talent to the C-show in ten months demonstrates how much his stock fell in that time.

After the WWF completed another series of television tapings it had a set of house shows in Maryland and Pennsylvania for its “A” crew while a “B” crew did smaller shows and fundraisers. Here are the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Plymouth, Massachusetts – Memorial Hall – October 21, 1993: A scheduled match between Mr. Perfect and Diesel did not take place as Perfect no-showed…Marty Jannetty beat Johnny Polo (substituting for Adam Bomb)…The 1-2-3 Kid defeated Mike Sharpe…Bob Backlund & Virgil beat Well Dunn…Tatanka defeated Adam Bomb (substituting for Shawn Michaels)…Tatanka won an 11-man battle royal, last eliminating Diesel.

Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore Arena – October 23, 1993 (5,800; matinee): Owen Hart defeated Bastion Booger…Bret Hart defeated Jerry Lawler…The Headshrinkers beat the Smoking Gunns…Lex Luger defeated Ludvig Borga…Men on a Mission beat Axl Rotten & the Executioner (substituting for WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers)…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon beat Irwin R. Schyster via count out…WWF Champion Yokozuna defeated the Undertaker.Hershey, Pennsylvania – Hersheypark Arena – October 24, 1993 (3,500; matinee): Owen Hart beat Bastion Booger…The Headshrinkers defeated the Smoking Gunns…WWF Champion Yokozuna beat the Undertaker after hitting him with a salt bucket…WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers beat Men on a Mission when Jacques pinned Mo…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon defeated Irwin R. Schyster via count out after tying IRS’ tie to the ring post…Bret Hart pinned Bam Bam Bigelow…Lex Luger beat Ludvig Borga.

Backstage News*: There were plans for Hulk Hogan to appear with Randy Savage on Jim Ross’ Radio WWF program last week, which would have led to Hogan being ambushed by Savage’s remarks. Hogan is deciding to ignore the situation and let it blow over.

-USA Network has renewed its television contract with the WWF through 1995.

-The Big Bossman is expected to return in a special referee role by December. The initial plan was to use him to referee Bret Hart-Jerry Lawler matches but that has been scrapped. It is thought he will now referee matches between the Quebecers and Steiner Brothers.

-In talent relations news, the WWF offered Sabu a job after he looked good in a tryout match against Owen Hart at a television taping in Glens Falls, New York. However, Sabu turned it down because it would prevent him from wrestling for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan. Rich Myers and Florida independent wrestler Glen Jacobs were also given tryouts. It is believed that Jacobs could end up as one of Lawler’s knights at Survivor Series.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for October 25 and November 1.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for October 25!

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