What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – January 1, 1994 (Start of a New Series!)

Introduction

1993 was a rough year for the World Wresting Federation (WWF). It marked a permanent break from its Hulkamania past as owner Vince McMahon decided it was time to move on from the 1980s star, dismissing him after a tour of Europe following King of the Ring. Hogan was followed by other longtime talent that was crucial to the 1980s boom like Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, the Big Bossman, Gene Okerlund, and Bobby Heenan. The decision to get rid of Hogan, the most famous star in professional wrestling, was a risky move. First, Hogan was doing some television and film projects that caught the eye of executives that worked with media mogul Ted Turner, who would love for Hogan to wrestle for his World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotion. And second, even though Hogan was starting to see diminishing box office returns in the early 1990s the WWF lacked a star who could draw like he did. In 1993 McMahon experimented with Bret Hart as champion, only to cut that off prematurely in favor of Hogan’s return at WrestleMania IX. When Hogan’s Hollywood aspirations limited his house show appearances, McMahon went back to a formula that worked a decade before, putting the title on a foreign heel named Yokozuna. Unwilling to give Hart another shot at the top, McMahon believed he could transform former WCW Champion Lex Luger into the next Hogan. He turned Luger babyface at a special event aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York on July 4 and sent him across the country on a bus tour before SummerSlam. However, McMahon believed Luger was not over enough to warrant getting the title so he had him win via a weak count out at that pay-per-view, a move that many in wrestling thought cut Luger’s momentum off at the knees. The poor booking of Luger, accompanied by louder fan reactions for Hart and the Undertaker, undermined some of the WWF’s long-term plans going into 1994 as they were hoping fans would want to see Luger finally dethrone Yokozuna and capture the WWF Championship.

Without Hogan the WWF’s house show business was terrible in 1992. 1993 saw a few points of recovery as fans came to watch Yokozuna battle the Undertaker and Hart fight Yokozuna and Jerry Lawler. But the WWF had to lean on consolidating its house shows for a while, eliminating a “B” circuit and forcing some talent to take independent dates to make up for lost payoffs. Other elements of house show business was hurt by the WWF losing syndication in St. Louis and Minneapolis. Without WWF Superstars or Wrestling Challenge to promote house shows in those markets the WWF retreated to its traditional territory in the Northeast. It would still do some house shows outside of that area, visiting Chicago, Los Angeles, and mid-sized Midwestern towns, but it drew best in New York. At the very least, the WWF staunched the bleeding. Its occasional tours of Europe, which continued to draw well, also provided some much-needed revenue.

The loss of syndication also meant that the WWF needed to lean on its long-term relationship with USA Network, who went along with a WWF plan in January to overhaul its television programming. Gone was a two-hour Monday night show called Prime Time Wrestling, which went through two format changes in 1991 without improving ratings. It was replaced with a one-hour live show called Monday Night RAW that took place at the Manhattan Center in New York City. The other hour of the deal led to a recap show on USA Network on Saturday morning called WWF Mania. While the WWF stopped doing live RAWs regularly by the spring, RAW did inject the WWF product with an element of unpredictability that had been missing for years. It gradually became the “A” show where more angles and important announcements were made, although Superstars still had important developments in 1993 like Tatanka losing his unbeaten streak to Ludvig Borga. RAW’s rise was helped by the WWF having at least one feature match on the program each week. In the past, fans only got feature matches on syndicated shows during “sweeps month,” making star-versus-star matches rare.

Monday Night RAW turned in better ratings than Prime Time Wrestling, one of the few things the company could be proud of in 1993. Unfortunately, the strong ratings for RAW, which averaged a 2.7-3.0 share, did not translate into substantially increased house show attendance, increased merchandise sales, or increased pay-per-view buys. While the WWF’s pay-per-view business was better than WCW, and all its shows were profitable, only The Royal Rumble and WrestleMania IX did better than 1992. The WWF was alarmed that only 180,000 homes bought Survivor Series in the fall, a decline of 28% from the previous year. This showed that fans might be tuning in to watch the WWF weekly but they were not motivated to pay for it, an indictment of the WWF’s creative direction and lack of star power.

However, the biggest bombshell to hit the company in 1993 took place outside of the squared circle. Years of federal investigations into the WWF’s business practices, as well as of McMahon himself, culminated in a federal indictment on November 18. McMahon was charged with conspiracy to distribute analogic steroids to talent, illegal possession of anabolic steroids with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The most powerful promoter in wrestling faced at least a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine, along with the possibility that federal officials may seize Titan Towers, the WWF’s official headquarters, and all of the company’s property. News outlets across the country picked up the story, circling the WWF like sharks who smelled the blood of weakened prey. The WWF did not lose prominent sponsors or television markets after the indictments but that could all change after McMahon’s trial, which was ordered to begin in May 1994. In preparation, the WWF contacted the co-owner of the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, and hired him as a creative consultant. It was believed that if McMahon went to prison that Jarrett would be placed in charge. But that may not matter if a guilty verdict from McMahon led to the WWF losing millions of dollars in television production equipment and USA Network and other media providers cancelled the WWF’s deals after it was declared a criminal enterprise.

So the WWF entered 1994 in a fight for its existence, weighed down by a lack of prominent stars to match those of the 1980s boom, the possibility that Hogan may defect to WCW, and an owner who was distracted by the prospect of spending time in federal prison.

This column, which will be released on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, will review all major WWF television shows and pay-per-views throughout 1994. Wrestlers win/loss totals will also be provided for their matches, noteworthy house shows will be broken down, and at the end of each week a review will be provided of major backstage news that affected WWF booking and business.

Here was the WWF’s roster to start 1994:

Babyfaces: Alundra Blayze, Bob Backlund, Bret Hart, Doink the Clown, Lex Luger, Marty Jannetty, Owen Hart, Randy Savage, Razor Ramon, Tatanka, the 1-2-3 Kid, the Undertaker, Virgil

Heels: Adam Bomb, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger, Crush, Diesel, Irwin R. Schyster, Jeff Jarrett, Ludvig Borga, Rick Martel, Shawn Michaels, Yokozuna

Tag Teams: Men on a Mission (babyfaces), the Bushwhackers (babyfaces), the Headshrinkers (heels), the Heavenly Bodies (heels), the Quebecers (heels), the Smoking Gunns (babyfaces), the Steiner Brothers (babyfaces), Well Dunn (heels)

Enhancement Talent: Barry Horowitz, the Brooklyn Brawler

And here is a list of the WWF’s champions to begin the year:

WWF Champion: Yokozuna (defeated Hulk Hogan on June 13, 1993 at The King of the Ring in Dayton, Ohio)
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers (defeated the Steiner Brothers on September 13, 1993 on Monday Night RAW in New York City, New York)
Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon (defeated Rick Martel on September 27, 1993 at a Monday Night RAW television taping in New Haven, Connecticut)

The first WWF television show of 1994 was the January 1 edition of WWF Superstars. Vince McMahon and Stan Lane were commentators, taped from Utica, New York. This was the third episode taped in Utica, with the taping taking place on December 1 and drawing a crowd of 4,500 fans, according to thehistoryofwwe.com.

Opening Contest: Lex Luger pins Jacques (w/Johnny Polo) after the running forearm at 6:56:

Luger signed with the WWF in 1992 but was not allowed to wrestle for a year because of the terms of his contract with WCW. The WWF planned to make him a part of the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) but Luger had a near-fatal motorcycle accident in June 1992 that scuttled those plans. In 1993 he debuted as a heel called the Narcissist at The Royal Rumble and won his first feud against Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania IX. He was booked in a house show program against Bret Hart after that and was soundly defeated. But Luger was abruptly turned babyface on July 4 aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York, answering a body slam challenge from WWF Champion Yokozuna and winning. Luger received only one shot at Yokozuna’s title at SummerSlam and failed to win the belt, triumphing by count out but celebrating as if he won the title at the end of the pay-per-view. Following SummerSlam, Luger suffered a back injury that kept him off the road for several weeks and when he returned he feuded with Finnish heel Ludvig Borga, who was spewing negative comments about America. Luger won the feud between the two at Survivor Series when they were the remaining participants in the All Americans-Foreign Fanatics elimination match. As 1994 began Luger wanted to compete in the Royal Rumble but his participation was blocked by Yokozuna, Jim Cornette, and Mr. Fuji, who argued that it would let Luger escape the SummerSlam contract provision of one title shot.

Jacques was Jacques Rougeau, who returned to the WWF in July 1993 as a tag team wrestler with fellow French-Canadian Pierre (Carl Ouellet). The team immediately made a mark with creative double team moves. They upset the Steiner Brothers in a Quebec Province Rules match on the September 13 edition of Monday Night RAW, winning the Tag Team titles via disqualification in a match where such a result could cause a title change. The Quebecers were battling the Steiner Brothers and Smoking Gunns on house shows, usually losing by count out or disqualification to keep their titles. For The Royal Rumble they were booked to defend their titles against Bret Hart and Owen Hart.

The Wrestling Challenge team of Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon commentate this match since it was filmed at a Challenge taping in Augusta, Maine on December 15 after the WWF decided not to air the bout that they filmed between these two in Utica. There is a backstory for the match too as Luger knocked Jacques’ partner Pierre out of Survivor Series with a running forearm and Jacques was seeking revenge. Before the match, Jacques gets on the mic and talks for a long time about how he is not going to wrestle Luger until he sees medical evidence that the metal plate in Luger’s forearm has been removed. However, referees force Jacques to get back in the ring because, according to them, contract law supersedes personal safety. Jacques presses the advantage early after a sneak attack and when Luger comes back, the referee is bumped from a Luger Irish whip. That leads to an illegal switch as Pierre replaces Jacques and the referee is none the wiser, which is ridiculous since Jacques and Pierre look nothing alike. A fresh Pierre briefly enjoys an advantage until Luger comes back with a clothesline and running forearm to win. Then there is a funny bit where Jacques gets in the ring to protest, so Luger knocks him out with the forearm and pins him as well. And when Polo tries to interject after that, he gets the same treatment. The last bit was fun but the match was not good, continuing a string of boring bouts for Luger that are not helping his main event push. Rating: *¼

Razor Ramon tells children that smoking is for losers. The WWF was doing lots of charity and anti-drug ads on its programs to try to influence the jury for Vince McMahon’s steroid trial later in the year.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) beat Mike Khoury & Tim McNeany when Fatu pins Khoury after the splash off the top rope at 2:54:

The Headshrinkers, composed of Samu and Fatu, were a Samoan tag team with a savage gimmick. They were on their third year with the company but had not done much aside from squashing jobbers in brutal fashion. In 1993 they lost all in all of their pay-per-view appearances, dropping a match to the Steiner Brothers at WrestleMania IX, teaming with Bam Bam Bigelow in a losing six-man tag team effort to Tatanka and the Smoking Gunns at SummerSlam, and teaming with Bigelow and Bastion Booger in a loss to the Four Doinks at Survivor Series. The Headshrinkers were blocked from Tag Team title matches throughout 1993 because heel teams like Money Incorporated and the Quebecers often held the belts. And they were victims of a Tag Team division that the WWF largely forgot about aside from who was wrestling for the titles. So the Headshrinkers battled the Smoking Gunns and Men on a Mission in house show matches, winning their fair share of those contests.

Khoury wrestled on the Maryland independent scene, starting his career in 1992. In 1993 he won the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship. He wrestled for the WWF seven times in 1993, losing to Booger, Ludvig Borga, Razor Ramon, the Headshrinkers, the Quebecers, the Steiner Brothers, and Well Dunn. The match with Booger was notable because Khoury suffered a nasty injury when Booger avalanched him against the ring post in a squash match on Wrestling Challenge on September 19, causing Khoury to bleed out of the back of his head onto the ring mat.

McNeany was a Killer Kowalski trainee who started wrestling in 1991. He had been doing WWF squash matches since 1992 and, like Khoury, wrestled seven times in 1993. McNeany suffered losses against Adam Bomb, Bam Bam Bigelow, Lex Luger, Rick Martel, the Headshrinkers (twice), and the Heavenly Bodies.

In the split screen, the Headshrinkers and Afa ramble unintelligibly about the Royal Rumble. McNeany throws some clotheslines at Samu and Khoury tries his luck later but Samu brushes both off. As the Headshrinkers pulverize a McNeany team for the third time in two years, McMahon hypes a WWF card for a local high school student council, showing the state of the WWF’s business at the beginning of the year. The Headshrinkers get 1994 started with a dominating win, finishing Khoury with the double forward side Russian leg sweep and Fatu’s splash off the top rope.

Ray Rougeau interviews Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, who is booked to face Irwin R. Schyster at The Royal Rumble. Ramon tells IRS that taking his gold chains was a bad idea and that if IRS wants his title then he is going to have to come and get it. He adds that Shawn Michaels giving him multiple Razor’s Edges on the concrete floor on Monday Night RAW a few weeks ago did not hurt him. Ramon showed good intensity in the segment, continuing a strong run for his character from the year prior.

Bastion Booger pins Tony Roy after a powerslam in 56 seconds:

Booger, better known to Stampede Wrestling fans as Makhan Singh and WCW fans as Norman the Lunatic, debuted in June. Due to McMahon’s disappointment with his appearance and how he was out of shape, Shaw was handed the gimmick of a disgusting glutton after his initial gimmick of Friar Ferguson was pulled due to complaints from Catholic groups. He lost his debut match to Virgil, which was not a good start for the character. After getting revenge against Virgil, he treaded water in the midcard, notching a few wins against Owen Hart, the 1-2-3 Kid, and Rick Martel but losing to more established wrestlers like Mr. Perfect and Razor Ramon. Booger was also not given a prominent feud in 1993, a sign that the WWF viewed him as someone to fill the roster.

Roy wrestled nine times for the WWF in 1993, losing to Adam Bomb, Bam Bam Bigelow, Booger, Crush, Ludvig Borga, Perfect, Papa Shango, Ramon, Money Incorporated, the Heavenly Bodies, and the Headshrinkers. The Headshrinkers squash was his highlight of the year prior as Fatu did a splash off the top rope to the arena floor on Roy’s partner, Mike Davis.

To try to encourage fans to attend shows, the WWF was using some gimmicks in this era to boost fan participation. One of them was having a guest ring announcer for a match. Trevor Jones, a kid who cannot be more than three years old, does the introductions and messes up Roy’s name. Roy does not seem to mind but probably does mind Booger giving him a backdrop at the beginning of the match. It is a quick squash as Booger wins with a powerslam. After that, Booger decides to deliver his usual finish, the Trip to the Batcave.

A new vignette for Thuman Plugg, a racecar driver gimmick, airs. It shows him in a race car and racing on a dirt track. He only speaks at the end of it, saying that he is coming soon to the WWF. This was a gimmick for Alabama wrestler Bob Holly, who was a mechanic outside of the ring.

Owen Hart (w/Bret Hart) defeats Barry Hardy via submission to the Sharpshooter at 1:46:

Owen had an interesting 1993, which was his second year back with the WWF. He started the year in a tag team called High Energy with Koko B. Ware. The duo, who were often a lower babyface act, won all four of their matches but had their run cut short after February when the WWF decided to get rid of Ware. Owen seemed primed for a singles push but suffered a knee injury in a Superstars match with Bam Bam Bigelow in April and settled into a glorified “jobber to the stars” role, losing to Mr. Hughes, Booger, Lex Luger, Jerry Lawler, and Rick Martel until October. At that point Owen’s fortunes changed when he teamed with his brothers Bret, Keith, and Bruce to beat Shawn Michaels and three of Jerry Lawler’s knights at Survivor Series in an elimination match. Owen scored two eliminations in the match but was the only member of his team to be sent to the showers after he collided with his brother, who was wandering on the ring apron, and Michaels rolled him up. Upset, Owen argued with Bret afterward and did well in subsequent interviews, challenging his brother to a match and saying he was the better athlete. Owen also began to copy some of Bret’s gimmicks, wearing his trademark shades and giving them to a fan at ringside and adopting the Sharpshooter as a finish. On the last Superstars of 1993, Bret and Owen announced that they had put their differences aside and would team to face the Quebecers for the WWF Tag Team Championship at The Royal Rumble.

A trainee of Larry Sharpe and Charlie Fulton, Hardy was one of the most used enhancement talents on the WWF roster in 1993. He had been working WWF squashes since 1987 and when he was not with the promotion he was wrestling on the Maryland independent circuit, often with fellow WWF enhancement talent Duane Gill as a duo called the Lords of Darkness. Hardy wrestled 23 squash matches in 1993. Two highlights were wrestling with Gill as the Executioners on the first episode of Monday Night RAW in a losing effort against the Steiner Brothers and then donning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles outfits to wrestle at a television taping in Augusta, Georgia in March 1993 as the Toxic Turtles. They won that match but it never made television because of trademark violations, only seeing the light of day on the WWE’s Unreleased: 1986-1995 DVD in 2017.

As Owen works Hardy’s arm he appears with Bret in the split screen to let the Quebecers know that they are coming for their titles at The Royal Rumble. When the promo is done, Owen blasts Hardy with a missile dropkick and gets the submission with the Sharpshooter.

Todd Pettengill does The Royal Rumble Report. Nine new superstars are added to the Royal Rumble: the Smoking Gunns, Rick Martel, Bastion Booger, Marty Jannetty, Mo, Jeff Jarrett, Ludvig Borga, and Tatanka. For the first time, the WWF is allowing wrestlers to do “double duty” for the Rumble, a consequence of the WWF having fewer superstars under contract. Pettengill says that a phone poll has expressed overwhelming support to allow Lex Luger to compete in the Rumble and that makes WWF President Jack Tunney nervous. There is also another workshop segment with the Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Bearer says that 1994 could be the year of the casket. The Undertaker says his New Year’s resolution is to make Yokozuna rest in peace.

Ludvig Borga beats John Crystal via submission to the torture rack at 2:03:

Borga, Finnish wrestler Tony Halme, receives a strong push after making his debut in July the previous year. Given a generic anti-American gimmick, Borga was immediately placed in a main event feud with Lex Luger after SummerSlam. However, the pair’s matches did not draw well and were poorly received. Their feud was blown off at Survivor Series when Luger pinned Borga to give Luger’s All American team a victory over Borga’s Foreign Fanatics squad. During that program, Borga ended Tatanka’s 84-match winning streak on Superstars in October and injured him. That kept Tatanka out of Survivor Series and he returned wishing for revenge, leading to the two being booked in a grudge match at The Royal Rumble.

Like Mike Khory, Crystal also worked on the Maryland independent circuit, as well as Northeast independent promotions. A trainee of Leo Burke, he only appeared once for the WWF in 1993, losing to Bam Bam Bigelow.

True to form, Borga ambushes Crystal before the bell. As he pounds his opponent into submission Tatanka does an insert promo about how he cannot wait to get revenge at The Royal Rumble.

Tune in next week to see Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, and Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon in action! Also, WWF Champion Yokozuna will fight two men in a handicap match! And WWF President Jack Tunney will decide whether Lex Luger can enter the Royal Rumble!

The Last Word: The feature match was bad but there was a better emphasis on feuds via split screen promos than there had been throughout the second half of 1993. There are three more spots to fill for the Royal Rumble so the big question that will be pushed on television for the next week is whether Lex Luger will get one of them.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for January 2!

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!