What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – January 9, 1994

Vince McMahon and Stan Lane commentate, starting a new taping in Lowell, Massachusetts. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on December 14 and drew a sellout crowd of 2,500 fans.

WWF President Jack Tunney announces that Lex Luger will be allowed to compete in the Royal Rumble. To appease Yokozuna’s camp, though, Genichiro Tenryu and the Great Kabuki will also be given spots in the match. The WWF could not provide any hype for Tenryu and Kabuki besides that?

Opening Non-Title Handicap Contest: Yokozuna (WWF Champion w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) defeats Scott Taylor & Bert Centeno when he pins both after a Banzai Drop at 3:01:

Taylor began his wrestling career while attending high school in Portland, Maine in 1989. He started doing WWF enhancement work after he was recommended by fellow WWF enhancement worker Phil Apollo in 1991. Taylor appeared in 15 matches in 1993, often programmed against heels. Those matches got him comfortable in front of larger audiences and he would break out in the Attitude Era as Scotty 2 Hotty.

Mr. Fuji does an insert promo, saying that Crush, Tenryu, and Kabuki will prevent Luger from winning the Royal Rumble. This handicap match must be under tornado rules because Taylor and Centeno remain in the ring throughout. They stagger Yokozuna with a double dropkick but the WWF champion avoids a second one. After going through his big moves, Yokozuna slams Centeno on top of Taylor near the corner and Banzai Drops both men for an impressive-looking pin.

After the match, the lights go out and the Undertaker and Paul Bearer appear on the video board near the entrance. The Undertaker is shown working on Yokozuna’s casket for The Royal Rumble and Yokozuna gets wide eyed and frightened. Bearer reminds Yokozuna that his team has made a big mistake signing for a casket match.

Jeff Jarrett (1-0) pins Rich Myers after Myers misses a dropkick at 2:15:

Myers was a Larry Sharpe trainee who was starting his fifth year in the business. A staple of the Maryland independent scene, Myers won the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Championship in November 1993. The WWF gave him a tryout in 1993 as well but did not offer him a long-term deal. Myers had been doing WWF squash matches since 1992, appearing in 13 matches in 1993. His most notable squash was against Bam Bam Bigelow in November where Myers nearly won after Bigelow knocked himself silly against the ring post on an avalanche attempt.

Jarrett dominates until a blind charge causes him to eat the turnbuckles. Myers appears confused about what to do next and ultimately decides on a hiptoss and throws a dropkick. That misses, though, and Jarrett covers him to win in the weakest way imaginable. After the bell, Jarrett comes off the ropes and DDTs Myers, making one wonder why that was not the original finish.

Shawn Michaels is on the cover of the latest edition of WWF Magazine!

Bret Hart (w/Owen Hart) beats Mike Bell via submission to the Sharpshooter at 2:06:

Even though 1993 handed Bret some disappointments, he made the most of what he was given. Beginning the year as WWF champion, Bret won a house show feud against former champion Ric Flair and then won a feud with Razor Ramon at The Royal Rumble. Matched against Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, Bret was originally scheduled to win but McMahon changed plans a day before the event and Bret ended up losing the championship after interference from Mr. Fuji. Normally, that would set up a series of rematches but Hulk Hogan was inserted back into the WWF title picture after Bret’s loss, defeating Yokozuna in seconds. Bret was told that he would face Hogan at SummerSlam and regain the title but that did not happen either as Hogan allegedly vetoed putting Bret over, although Hogan says there was never a discussion of him jobbing to Bret. Suddenly, Bret found himself adrift but he beat Lex Luger in a house show program and was given a consolation prize by winning the first televised King of the Ring Tournament in June, beating Ramon, Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow in an amazing series of matches, each of which was different and showed his versatility. When Bret was crowned to end the show, he was attacked by Jerry Lawler, kicking off a hot feud that increased the WWF’s house show business from a year prior. While that was going on, Bret got some rematches against Yokozuna, proving that he and the big man could draw in Anaheim, California on the eve of SummerSlam, but he lost these steel cage bouts, as well as a Survivor Series Showdown battle that November. Unfortunately, Lawler was suspended from the WWF after allegations of rape and sodomy surfaced in Louisville, Kentucky on the eve of Survivor Series, depriving fans of a satisfactory blowoff to the Bret-Lawler feud. Still, that did not blunt Bret’s momentum as he began a new issue with his brother, Owen, after Owen was eliminated from the Survivor Series elimination match against Shawn Michaels and Lawler’s knights. Going into 1994 Bret had appeared to patch things up with Owen, who had challenged him, and the two were going to go for the Tag Team Championship at The Royal Rumble. That made sense in storylines but most fans did not want to see Bret in a tag team, hoping he would get back into the WWF title hunt, hence why he was voted 1993’s Superstar of the Year over Luger.

Bell was trained by David Schultz and Paul Roma after playing Division I football at the University of Cincinnati. He had been doing enhancement work for the WWF for the past two years, becoming part of a core group of talents that the WWF leaned on for television tapings. Bell made 16 appearances in 1993, often in tag teams as a partner of Tony DeVito.

The guest fan ring announcer today is teenager Chris McKenna, who basks in the moment before performing his duties. Fans at ringside get two chances for Hitman shades as Bret and Owen wear them to the ring and then hand them out. It is weird to see Bret in a singles squash match on television after he had previously been elevated to WWF champion. Bret weathers a bit of offense from Bell as he and Owen appear in the split screen and tell everyone that they are looking at the next WWF Tag Team champions. What that wraps up, Bret does the moves of doom to win his first match of the year.

Ray Rougeau interviews WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers and Johnny Polo. Polo calls back to last week, saying Lex Luger is a coward. In a wink to longtime fans, Jacques looks at his brother when he says that brothers do not always get along. He adds that he and Pierre will show Owen and Bret what brotherly love is all about at The Royal Rumble. A good, short interview to put over the Rumble tag team match.

Non-Title Match: Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) pins Chris Duffy after the Razor’s Edge at 2:38:

For a while it looked like Ramon had lost his way in the spring of 1993 but he found a way to become one of the hottest acts on the roster. Ramon was in main event programs at the beginning of the year, feuding with WWF Champion Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect. The former ended in defeat at The Royal Rumble and the latter never went anywhere because of injuries both men suffered when their house show program was about to get going. Ramon won a quick match against Bob Backlund at WrestleMania IX, handing Backlund his first defeat since the former WWF champion’s return, but did little else other than fill time until he suffered a shocking loss to the soon-to-be named 1-2-3 Kid on Monday Night RAW on May 17. Ramon quickly sought revenge, posting $10,000 for the Kid to wrestle him, but it took a month to get the Kid back into the ring. When their rematch did happen a month later, the Kid ran off with Ramon’s money before being beaten. That ensnared Ramon in a feud with Money Incorporated, who made fun of Ramon’s misfortune. It was a creative way to turn the character as Ramon maintained his attitude and some of his heelish mannerisms in matches but fans took his side in the face of other heels disrespecting his talent. Ramon cost Ted DiBiase a subsequent match against the Kid and then beat DiBiase in what would be the Million Dollar Man’s last WWF match at SummerSlam. Ramon then began feuding with Irwin R. Schyster but before that feud took off the Intercontinental Championship became vacant due to Shawn Michaels’ suspension in September. Ramon fought his way to be the last two men in standing a 20-man battle royal with Rick Martel and then beat Martel in a match the next week on RAW to claim his first singles championship in the WWF. Bolstered by his new success, Ramon won his last 25 matches of 1993. In early 1994 Ramon was in two simultaneous feuds. One was with IRS, who had stolen his gold chains and the two were booked to face off at The Royal Rumble. The other was against Michaels, who came back to the WWF with his old Intercontinental Championship belt and argued Ramon was not the legitimate champion.

After Ramon knocks Duffy out of the ring several times, IRS does an insert promo where he denies that he has Ramon’s gold chains. After paint brushing Duffy, Ramon chokeslams him and does the Razor’s Edge for a relatively easy win.

A new Kwang vignette sees him break some wooden boards with martial arts strikes.

Todd Pettengill does The Royal Rumble Report. Luger talks about being grateful for the fans appealing to WWF President Jack Tunney so he could get into the Rumble. He says that he cannot be bothered by Genichiro Tenryu or the Great Kabuki because he has to go through 29 men to win. Unfortunately, Luger looked awkward doing that promo and it sounded disingenuous as if he was about to turn heel midway through the segment. In other matches, Ludvig Borga tells Tatanka that he is not going to get any mercy. Tatanka rebuts that he will destroy Borga so that Borga cannot wrestle in the Rumble match.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) pins Brian Walsh after the flying headbutt at 2:17:

Bigelow has fun throwing Walsh around for a while and grabs a chinlock so a split screen bit can air where he and Vachon talk about his chances in the Royal Rumble. Walsh tries to use his agility and victory roll Bigelow but the big man has finally found a counter to the move Bret Hart has beaten him with at The King of the Ring and house shows, using an electric chair drop. After that, Walsh is a sitting duck for the flying headbutt.

After the bell, Doink and Dink come to ringside. Doink feigns throwing something out of a bucket on Bigelow and Dink positions himself behind the big man, causing Bigelow to trip and fall. Marbles are in the bucket, which are then used to trip Bigelow and Vachon when they try to get revenge.

Tune in next week to see Lex Luger face Bastion Booger! Also, the Undertaker and Tatanka will appear! And the Undertaker will reveal his special casket for Yokozuna!

The Last Word: Even though Superstars is remaining as a squash show, the WWF is loading the broadcast up with big name talents, which makes the show watchable. The WWF should have tried to get Genichiro Tenryu and the Great Kabuki to do a television taping or two before The Royal Rumble because most WWF fans do not know much about either man. The nature of the Rumble makes it difficult to send mercenaries after Luger as well. For example, what if Tenryu drew number one and Kabuki number three but Luger gets number thirty? The Doink-Bam Bam Bigelow feud has had a weird build to it as well as Doink is becoming a bully of Bigelow by doing lots of pranks and jokes, setting himself up for Bigelow going off and destroying him later. It seems inverted from the way a babyface-heel dynamic should work. Despite these issues, the WWF has a lot of interesting things going on, which is more than can be said of most of 1992 and the middle of 1993. So creatively the product is in good shape.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for January 9!

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