What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – January 16, 1994

Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon are in the booth, taped from Augusta, Maine.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (1-0) pins Mike Bell after a super backdrop suplex at 1:35:

Bell throws some weak knees and Ramon responds with some hard chops. Irwin R. Schyster does an insert promo about how Ramon should be nervous that he has not found his gold chains because he will lose more gold at The Royal Rumble. Ramon does not need the Razor’s Edge to win, a testament to how he has other high impact offense that can do the trick.

Jeff Jarrett (2-0) pins Brian Walsh after a DDT off the ropes at 2:03:

Jarrett does a split screen promo about how the Royal Rumble is going to be his ticket to fame. The squash is entertaining because Jarrett throws a good dropkick and Walsh gets in a few moves. Walsh puts his head down too early on an Irish whip and Jarrett hits his finish. Monsoon asks a great question about when Jarrett plans to sing, something that would not happen until 1995.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report doubts whether Bret Hart will still give 100% effort because his tag team match at The Royal Rumble will no longer be for the Tag Team Championship. Hayes’ heel shtick is odd because the WWF never acknowledged it beyond these segments.

Doink the Clown (w/Dink) (1-0) beats Rich Myers via submission to the stump puller in 53 seconds:

Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon warn Doink that there will be no clowning around in the Royal Rumble. All Doink does is laugh, avoid a Myers dropkick, and apply his old finish – the stump puller – to be victorious on today’s program.

Bastion Booger (1-2) beats John Crystal after the Trip to the Batcave at 1:35:

Booger carries a metal can to the ring and rubs himself. He does an insert promo that tells everyone else to avoid entering the Royal Rumble. Monsoon makes a funny comment that Booger had better draw a late number because he cannot go for a long time without food. After winning a quick match, Booger opens the can, which has a fruit cocktail, and pours it down his throat.

Ray Rougeau does an in-ring interview from the Superstars location in Lowell, Massachusetts with Randy Savage. Savage takes the microphone out of Rougeau’s hand, promising “sweet revenge” against Crush and talks of steering the WWF into the twenty-first century by winning the Royal Rumble and winning the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X. The Rumble got more of Savage’s attention than Crush, making one wonder if this was an appeal to Vince McMahon to get him off the sidelines and into a featured role.

Non-Title Match: Yokozuna (WWF Champion w/Mr. Fuji) (1-0) pins Cory Student after a leg drop at 1:06:

Student appeared in five matches for the WWF in 1993, losing to Doink the Clown, Razor Ramon, Men on a Mission, the Headshrinkers, and the Smoking Gunns.

Ross makes a lot of school jokes for the short match. There is a nice sequence where Student maneuvers around the champion only to get planted with a belly-to-belly suplex. Student avoids the fate of Dan Dubiel, not having to take the Banzai Drop.

After the match, the Undertaker uses the public address system to tell Yokozuna that he will turn his lights out at The Royal Rumble. Darkness envelops the arena to show the Undertaker’s power and Yokozuna looks around scared. The Undertaker does not show up, though.

Todd Pettengill does The Royal Rumble Report. Ludvig Borga tells Tatanka that he had a good look at him last week and he is not worried about him. Tatanka repeats his claim that he will prevent Borga from making the Royal Rumble later in the evening.

The Steiner Brothers defeat Jim Messenger & Steve Smith when Rick pins Smith after the Steinerizer at 2:38:

The Steiners were the most heavily pushed WWF tag team in 1993, only losing one match. They beat the Beverly Brothers at The Royal Rumble and won arguably the best match of WrestleMania IX against the Headshrinkers. After that, the Steiners pursued Money Incorporated Tag Team titles. They swapped belts with them at some spring house shows and won the feud before SummerSlam, defending the WWF’s honor at that pay-per-view against Jim Cornette’s Heavenly Bodies from Smoky Mountain Wrestling. The Steiners run was stopped by the Quebecers, albeit under unconventional Quebec Province Rules that allowed for a title change via count out or disqualification. Ever since, the Steiners were in pursuit of the Quebecers titles on house shows. It seemed natural that they would get a Tag Team title match at The Royal Rumble since they had not received a rematch since losing the belts but the Steiners were on the outs with Vince McMahon, upset about their pay.

Smith made five appearances for the WWF at the end of 1993, all of them in tag team matches. He lost twice to Men on a Mission and once to the Steiner Brothers, the Smoking Gunns, and the Headshrinkers.

Ross and Monsoon float the idea of the Steiner Brothers wrestling each other in the Royal Rumble. In the split screen they talk about the prospect, saying it would be just like wrestling in the backyard. By Steiner standards, the squash is poor. Messenger tries to amateur wrestle Scott and cannot do it. After Scott does a few suplexes, the Steiners use a Doomsday bulldog, called the Steinerizer, for the win.

Tatanka tells fans that if they drink and drive they will not see his next match.

Tune in next week to see Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, the Smoking Gunns, and Bam Bam Bigelow in action! Also, WWF Champion Yokozuna will appear for an interview!

The Last Word: Next week’s show is awkwardly positioned in some markets because The Royal Rumble is scheduled for Saturday night so content in places that get the show on Sunday may not reflect what happens at the pay-per-view. Sometimes the WWF would do two different types of commentary for Challenge when that would happen but sometimes they did not. It has been a refreshing change of pace to see more high-profile stars on the syndicated programs the last few weeks instead of those trapped in the midcard.

The WWF spent the beginning of the week doing its first round of television tapings for the year. When those finished, the WWF ran shows in the Carolinas, Ohio, and California. Here were the results of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Rock Hill, South Carolina – Winthrop Coliseum – January 13, 1994 (1,000): Marty Jannetty beat Fidel Sierra after a superkick at 12:41…Owen Hart pinned Bastion Booger with a flying body press at 7:21…The Steiner Brothers defeated the Quebecers via disqualification when Jacques hit the referee at 10:45…Men on a Mission beat the Black Knight & the Red Knight at 12:25…Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Doink the Clown with a Flair pin at 10:26…The Undertaker defeated Adam Bomb in a casket match at 5:04. Harvey Wippleman was also thrown in the casket when he tried to interfere.

San Jose, California – San Jose Arena – January 14, 1994 (6,200): The Headshrinkers beat the Bushwhackers (substituting for the Smoking Gunns) at 12:58…Diesel pinned the 1-2-3 Kid after Snake Eyes at 8:00…Bret Hart beat Jeff Jarrett via disqualification when Jarrett pulled the referee in front of a Bret flying clothesline at 17:49…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon beat Shawn Michals in a ladder match at 21:54…Irwin R. Schyster pinned Bob Backlund with a Flair pin at 13:25…Crush defeated Randy Savage in a falls count anywhere match after Ludvig Borga prevented Savage from re-entering the ring after the fourth fall at 20:24…Lex Luger & Tatanka defeated Yokozuna & Ludvig Borga when Luger pinned Yokozuna after the running forearm at 15:34. Borga had hit Luger with Mr. Fuji’s salt bucket but Luger was able to crawl over and pin Yokozuna to win the match for his team.

Richfield, Ohio – The Richfield Coliseum – January 16, 1994 (2,800): Men on a Mission beat the Red & Black Knight when Mabel pinned the Black Knight…Diesel pinned the 1-2-3 Kid…Bam Bam Bigelow beat Doink the Clown…Crush defeated Randy Savage via count out in a best-of-three falls, falls count anywhere match when Savage was unable to get back in the ring after the second fall…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon beat Shawn Michaels in a ladder match…Lex Luger defeated Ludvig Borga in a flag match…WWF Champion Yokozuna pinned Tatanka after a leg drop. After the match, Crush and Yokozuna double teamed Tatanka until Randy Savage made the save.

Stockton, California – Spano Center – January 16, 1994 (2,400): Bob Backlund defeated Louie Spicolli…Owen Hart defeated Bastion Booger…The Stiener Brothers beat the Quebecers via disqualification…The Headshrinkers defeated the Bushwhackers…Bret Hart beat Adam Bomb…The Undertaker defeated Irwin R. Schyster in a casket match.

Backstage News*: The WWF suffered a 16.7% decline in house show attendance between 1992 and 1993, not helped by its decision to go from running 550 house shows to less than 400. However, the good news is that the decline that began after WrestleMania VIII stopped by the fall of 1993. Television ratings also showed signs of recovery. The WWF pulled in $16.1 million for its five pay-per-views and $19 million for house shows in 1993. That was more than the $7.56 million WCW drew across seven pay-per-views and $3 million from 300 house shows.

-The one-year anniversary Monday Night RAW tied its highest rating ever with a 3.4. The show was not having to go against NFL football for the first time in months, though, which helped.

-Razor Ramon’s ladder matches against Shawn Michaels are getting rave reviews on the house show circuit, easily posting the best match of the night on cards where most of the talent are going through the motions.

-The WWF is not going to run the Sports Arena in Los Angeles anymore, preferring to run the Forum. One reason may be because the Sports Arena hosted a AAA show and the Sports Arena was not willing to kick AAA out because they doubled the WWF’s attendance.

-Jerry Lawler’s legal team will make a motion to dismiss at his pre-trial hearing on January 24. Lawler insists that the only reason he is still being prosecuted is that he is a celebrity and the prosecutor does not like him.

-WCW signed away Zane Bresloff, who was the WWF’s biggest house show promoter for the last nine years. Bresloff handled major and medium-sized markets in the Western United States (which does not include Texas or Northen California), overseas contacts, and he was the local promoter for WrestleMania III. This has led to chatter that WCW may start staging a war over house shows in major arenas.

-In talent relations news, Alundra Blayze is trying to get Japanese promoters to send her talent to work against. Some early reports say that former Jumping Bomb Angel Noriyo Tateno may be sent first, to be followed by Bull Nakano or Akira Hokuto. All Japan Women’s Wrestling also wants to bring Blayze over for an event at the Tokyo Dome in November.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for January 24.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for January 17!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1993 WWF, 1993 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!