What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – December 5, 1993

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan are calling the action, continuing the taping in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. This would be Heenan’s last broadcast appearance on a WWF syndicated show.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (37-3-2) pins Corey Student after the Razor’s Edge at 1:51:

Ross and Heenan hype the Ramon-Shawn Michaels feud as Ramon has no trouble putting Student away in less than two minutes.

Non-Title Match: The Quebecers (WWF Tag Team Champions w/Johnny Polo) (8-3) defeat Sid Garrison & J.C. Storm when Pierre pins Storm after the Boston Crab-flying leg drop combination at 2:20:

Polo carries ski gear to the ring. He does not need to use it since his team looks like it has not lost a step since Pierre’s concussion. The champions step up their Boston Crab-flying leg drop move as Pierre comes off the top rope instead of the second rope. After the match, Garrison, who never tagged into the match, dropkicks Jacques into Pierre and then runs to the locker room before the Quebecers can catch him.

Lord Alfred Hayes has seemingly abandoned his short-lived heel commentary on the Special Report, being neutral when recapping the growing division between Bret Hart and Owen Hart.

Heenan tells Ross that if Bret was a great brother he would have given Owen a crack at the WWF Championship.

Virgil (8-11) defeats Barry Horowitz via submission to the Million Dollar Dream at 2:47:

Horowitz gives Virgil all he can handle until he hesitates too long on a blind charge. Virgil is trying to go back to the Million Dollar Dream as a finisher since he tried to apply it to Crush at Survivor Series Showdown and uses it to win today.

Diesel (6-2) pins Tony Webb after a big boot at 1:48:

Diesel wears down Webb with strikes to the point that a big boot is enough to win.

Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (18-0) beat the Brooklyn Brawler & Joe Brennan when Mabel pins Brennan after a spinning heel kick at 2:52:

Ross floats the possibility of a MOM-Quebecers rematch for the Tag Team titles. Heenan makes fun of Brennan’s haircut saying “It is not bad if you are going to the [electric] chair.” That adds some levity to a generic squash bout.

Ray Rougeau does an in-ring interview with Crush and Mr. Fuji. Crush tells fans that their support did not get him anywhere. He accuses Randy Savage of stabbing him in the back, promising to break Savage’s spirit. The WWF should have considered putting Jim Cornette with Crush since he was managing Yokozuna anyway. Crush needed help on the mic as his promo here was generic.

Marty Jannetty (26-6-2) pins H.D. Ryder after the flying fist drop at 1:06:

Ryder was a wrestler in ECW, teaming with E.Z. Ryder to form a tag team called the Hell Riders. They were in the promotion from 1992-1993. They wrestled the first match on the promotion’s television broadcast that started in April 1993, losing to the ECW Tag Team Champions the Super Destroyers.

Despite giving up some size to Ryder, Jannetty quickly grounds his opponent with a powerslam and comes off the top for another win this week.

Adam Bomb (w/Harvey Wippleman) (30-0) defeats Chaz Ware after the Atom Smasher at 2:54:

Tatanka will also appear on Wrestling Challenge next week so the WWF is wasting no time having him resume squash match duty on syndicated programs. For a while it seemed like Bomb was about to feud with Rick Martel but that seems to have been abandoned. Left with nothing, Ross spends the squash talking about Wippleman’s pale complexion.

Tune in next week to see Tatanka, the Headshrinkers, Doink the Clown, Ludvig Borga, Crush, the Steiner Brothers, and Shawn Michaels in action!

The Last Word: Without a feature match Wrestling Challenge settled back into its generic squash fare. Bobby Heenan’s presence will be missed, though, as his humor was what made this C-show watchable for so many years.

After doing television tapings, the WWF returned to Great Britain while keeping one group active on the West Coast. Here were the results of some of those house show events, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Birmingham, England – NEC Arena – December 4, 1993 (9,500): The 1-2-3 Kid pinned Rick Martel after a moonsault…Adam Bomb pinned Virgil…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon pinned Irwin R. Schyster with a small package…The Smoking Gunns beat the Red & Blakc Knight (Barry Horowitz & the Brooklyn Brawler)…Tatanka (substituting for Mr. Perfect) pinned Diesel after the Papoose to Go…Randy Savage pinned Shawn Michaels with a roll up after Razor Ramon came to ringside and provided a distraction…The Undertaker defeated WWF Champion Yokozuna via disqualification after Mr. Fuji hit the Undertaker with a salt bucket.

Anaheim, California – Arrowhead Pond – December 4, 1993 (6,400): Owen Hart beat Johnny Polo via submission to the Sharpshooter at 7:50…The Headshrinkers beat Men on a Mission when Fatu pinned Mo after the splash off the top rope at 13:30…Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Doink the Clown with a Flair pin at 9:35. After the match, Doink and Dink fought off Bigelow and Luna Vachon…Lex Luger beat Ludvig Borga after the running forearm at 8:32…Bastion Booger pinned Marty Jannetty with a splash at 7:58…The Steiner Brothers defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers via disqualification when Jacques interrupted a three count when Scott hit Pierre with the Frankensteiner at 11:27…Bret Hart pinned Jeff Jarrett with a bridging back suplex after Jarrett collided with special guest referee the Big Bossman at 17:50.

Backstage News*: Monday Night RAW drew a strong rating of 3.1 for the Razor Ramon-Diesel non-title match.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for December 20.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for December 6!

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!