The Fan-Cam Files: WWF @ Madison Square Garden – 08.13.1993

Taped from the World’s Most Famous Arena(™) in New York City, NY. We’re just a couple of weeks away from SummerSlam, where Lex Luger is fighting for all Americans to take the WWF Championship from the Japanese menace, Yokozuna (ethnicity may not be accurate). If you take a look at some of the goings on at the time, there’s a lot of new faces making their way to TV as we officially leave the Hulkamania era in the rear view mirror and start on the road to the New Generation. I know, I can hardly contain my excitement!

The WWF ran a VERY obvious B-Show in Wildwood, NJ with the following results: The Steiner Brothers retained the Tag Titles against The Quebecers, The Undertaker def. Mr. Hughes, Bob Backlund def. Adam Bomb, Razor Ramon def. Iron Mike Sharpe, Men on a Mission def. Well Dunn, and in his FINAL WWF Match, Tito Santana def. Damian Demento. Pour one out for El Matador. I’m not going to lie, I would watch that show without hesitation, but I’d probably regret that decision after the 3rd or 4th stinker.

Opening Match: “The Rocket” Owen Hart vs. Blake Beverly:
Welcome to the end of the road for Mr. Blake Beverly (Mike Enos). Beau (Wayne Bloom) peaced out following the post-Mania IX European Tour and mostly disappeared from the wrestling scene, but Blake stuck around as a singles enhancement talent as well as doing occasional tag work, with his last appearance coming on August 18th (taped for Wrestling Challenge). Blake is also wearing the inverted color scheme of the typical Beverly Brothers gear, something I only recall making it to TV once (for the taping of the SummerSlam Spectacular). Owen’s got little going for himself. High Energy quietly split earlier in the year and he missed time with a knee injury in April. He did get some work in USWA, winning their top Championship for a cup of coffee as part of a storyline where WWF talent were being brought in regularly.

You know it’s the opener because the crowd is HOT, playing the BOO/YAY game for each man posing. Lockup and they trade wrist-locks until Blake hides in the ropes. They exchange slaps and Owen works the arm. Blake with a cheap shot in the corner, but he misses a charge on the opposite side and ends up on the canvas again. Owen continues to control, taking Blake over with a monkey-flip and spinning him around with a wrist-lock for a big flop bump. Blake tries a monkey-flip of his own, but Owen drops a knee across the face. Blake turns things around, countering a hip toss with a short-clothesline, followed by a hangman’s neck breaker. He starts working the back and slows it down for a moment with a bearhug. Owen goes for a slam, but the back is bothering him too much. Blake with a delayed suplex for two. Owen escapes another bearhug, but is caught off the ropes with a powerslam. Whip to the corner and Owen takes the big chest-first bump. Blake meets a boot charging into the corner and gets hit with a bulldog. Whip and a BAAAACK body-drop, followed by a spinning heel kick for two. This time it’s Owen missing the charge, smacking his shoulder on the post. Blake follows up with a back suplex, but chooses to make a questionable pin attempt, allowing Owen to hook the arms in the final form of a sunset flip and score the three-count at 9:38. Wow, these guys went out there and had a solid match to get the show going on the right foot. Not a ground-breaking performance, but better than your typical openers of the era. **½

The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Doink (the Cl’own):
We’re in a weird transition period for Doink. He’s finally moved on from Crush, but doesn’t have any major plans that are canon with the syndication tapings. They had Doink and Macho Man do work together for several weeks on Monday Night Raw, but that existed in its own universe (see also: Repo Man and Macho at the start of the year). The 1-2-3 Kid is still a fresh act to the roster, becoming a regular on TV and having won all of his matches over the last 6-8 weeks. You know, for an underdog, he’s probably due for a loss… and yes, that loss was at SummerSlam, to help reestablish I.R.S. as a singles competitor. What, you wanted someone less boring? TOO BAD, SUCKERS.

The bell rings, but before we begin, Doink tries offering the Kid some candy (Kid’s love candy!) but the Kid rejects by smacking it out of his hand. HOW RUDE. Lockup to the ropes and Doink smacks the taste out of the Kid’s mouth. Somewhere, Bobby Heenan approves, saying the punk deserved it. The Kid ducks under follow-up attempts and responds with slaps of his own. Doink grabs the Kid, throwing him to the corner and unloading with left hands. They go through an extended international, with Kid hitting a spinning heel kick for a two-count. Doink misses a charge to the corner and the Kid hits his moonsault for a near-fall. Doink powders and returns with a ton of pantomiming. The Kid ducks more swings and frustrates Doink with a pair of dropkicks.

Doink gets a few shots in, but he does the old Charlie Brown spot attempting to punt the Kid’s chest. Another run of the ropes and Doink catches the Kid with a powerslam. Crowd approved that one. Doink slams the Kid into the corner and whips him across the ring WITH AUTHORITY. The Kid gets tossed to the floor and Doink follows with a double axe-handle from the top rope. Back inside, Doink spanks the Kid for being a bad little boy. Kid tries fighting back, but Doink rakes the eyes and connects with a belly-to-belly suplex. He goes for the same cover that doomed Blake in the opener, but kicks out at two. Kid ducks a clothesline and hits a cross body press for two. The Kid is sent to the floor again. Doink tries to bring him in with the slingshot of the ropes, but Kid lands on his feet and surprises Doink with an O’Connor Roll for three at 14:07! THE KID WINS! THE KID WINS! THE KID WINS! Doink (Matt Borne version) was always able to make his matches stand out from others, and this was no different, combining heel shtick and wrestling with the Kid’s crowd-popping spots, and wrapping a story around it. ***

The Smoking Gunns vs. The Headshrinkers (w/ Afa):
I swear, I could pick any show at random from the Summer of 1993 until the Spring of 1994 and odds are we’re going to see the Gunns vs. Headshrinkers. Both teams are set for action at SummerSlam, opposite each other in a Six-Man Tag that was added late in the game, switching from what was originally listed as a Mixed Tag Team Match, but we’ll cover the details on that one a little bit later in this show. These teams have their formula down to a science, so I’m fully expecting a pretty good match.

The Gunns still have their pistols to fire off blanks, which is something they dropped very, very soon. Fatu jumps Bart and showboats. Whip to the ropes, Bart counters a back body-drop attempt and comes off the top with a missile dropkick for a two-count. Samu pops in for a distraction, allowing Fatu to hit Bart with a clothesline, complete with the spin-out sell job. Fatu misses a charge to the corner, allowing the Gunns to take control, working the arm. Fatu wants a test-of-strength, but it’s just a way for Samu to sneak up on someone. The plan backfires and the Gunns hit Fatu with a double Russian leg sweep. Samu in for the first time (officially) and more of the same. Bart takes a big bump out of the ring (which is mostly missed with someone passing by the camera) and Fatu adds a super-kick for his troubles.

Back inside, the Headshrinkers beat on Bart in the corner and Fatu connects with a back suplex for a two-count. Bart surprises Fatu with a sunset flip, but Samu saves and we get the classic wish-bone spot. Bart gets a boot up in the corner and hits Samu with a flying clothesline, but Fatu blocks the tag attempt. The referee spends a lot of time looking at Billy, allowing an excessive amount of double-team punishment. Whip to the ropes and we get a double-down from both men attempting a body press. Billy with the hot tag, running wild with right hands. Whip to the ropes and a BAAAAACK body-drop. He unloads on Fatu with the mounted punches and dives off to hit Samu with a twisting forearm. Heck breaks loose with all four men in the ring. Samu gets posted and the Gunns do the synchronized corner punches spot. The Headshrinkers no-sell a battering ram into each other, as well as a double noggin knocker. Billy gets laid out with a double headbutt and Bart gets chopped down, and the crowd seems to approve. Samu gets too carried away beating on Bart while Billy takes Fatu over with a sunset flip for three at 13:10. Took a little time to get going (they didn’t work their exact formula), but the heat segment on Bart and the finish were more than satisfying to make up for those opening minutes of schtick. ***

“Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/ The Macho Midget) vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler:
Speaking of schtick… This feels like a bonus attraction to add a little more star power, because if we’re going by TV, Savage hasn’t been wrestling on TV since the loss to Yokozuna at the March to WrestleMania IX special (he would have a silly match with Doink on Raw around this time, but Raw still wasn’t the flagship show, and sometimes felt like it existed in it’s own universe until the Fall season). Lawler has beefed with Bret Hart since the King of the Ring coronation, and they were the first match officially announced for SummerSlam to determine the undisputed king of the WWF.

Lawler takes some shots at the New York Mets for cheap heat… but to be fair, they were the worst team money could buy. Savage has his little doppelganger with him, because that’s what Randy Savage needs. For those unfamiliar, the Macho Mini is long-time working mini wrestler Tiger Jackson, who went on to have his biggest national exposure as Doink’s mini, Dink. Savage stops Lawler from getting his hands on the little guy, and gets popped with the phantom Memphis weapon. Savage gets tossed over the top rope and sent to the post. Back inside, Lawler digs into the tights again to work up the crowd. They get behind Savage with chants of “Macho Man”, but he’s working his patented babyface formula of selling the entire time. Lawler busts out a DDT that isn’t excellently executed. Yeah, this version of Macho Man should be as far away from the WWF Title as possible. Savage FINALLY fires off some right hands, knocking Lawler over the ropes and giving him a taste of the post. Savage sets up for the double axe-handle, but Lawler nails him on the way down and follows up with a piledriver for a near-fall. Suddenly, Bret Hart makes his way to ringside, with referees trying to get control of the situation. Lawler with a slam and flying fist drop for another two-count. Lawler walks over to Bret and spits at him, and that brings Bret in with the fists of fury, and a Disqualification finish, at 7:58. Yep, Randy Savage gave Lawler 95% of the match, didn’t hit any of his signature stuff, AND lost. Savage and Bret have some heated words afterwards, but everything is fine and the good guys are still friends. Match stunk. ½*

WWF Championship; Steel Cage Match:
Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. Bret “Hitman” Hart:
Wow, we’re busting out big blue for the house shows! I guess you need some gimmicks to draw a house when you have SummerSlam coming in less than three weeks and the entire Summer has been centered around Lex Luger’s call to action campaign and the Lex Express, challenging Yokozuna for the WWF Championship after the big body slam on the U.S.S. Intrepid. We’ve already covered what Bret Hart has been up to lately, and based on the finish of the last match, I wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw some retaliation from Jerry Lawler.

As soon as Yoko gets inside the ring, Bret is on him with a flurry of right hands. Yoko counters a body press with a slam, but misses the big elbow drop. Bret rocks the behemoth with a dropkick and drops an elbow across the back of the head to take the big man down. Bret goes for the door, but Yoko grabs the ankle and drops an elbow across the chest. Bret blocks Yoko’s first attempt for the door and both men go down from a headbutt. U-S-A chant to support the man introduced from Calgary, Alberta. Bret avoids the Hulk Buster, but another attempt for the door is blocked. Yoko takes a pair of clotheslines and cuts Bret off with a Super-Kick. He dishes out some punishment in the corner and sends Bret into the opposite turnbuckle WITH AUTHORITY. Bret avoids the avalanche and comes off the second rope with a bulldog. He tries climbing out, but Fuji jabs him through the bars with the flag pole to send him crashing down while it hurts inside. WHERE’S THE REF?! Yoko sets up for the Banzai Drop… in the same corner as the door! Bret kicks the door into Fuji’s face as he scrambles for the exit, but Yoko cuts him off at the last moment and holds on for dear life.

Yoko makes a move for the door, and while straddling the middle rope, Bret punts it for an uncomfortable situation. Bret climbs and here comes Lawler! OF COURSE! Yoko yoinks Bret off the cage, and this time Bret is the one straddling the ropes. Yoko with a slam, but he misses the big splash. Bret gives Yoko the first taste of the cage and comes off the ropes with the Hart Attack clothesline! Lawler tosses the salt bucket into the ring as we continue to overbook things. Bret thumbs his eye to block the bucket and blasts Yoko with it. The big bastard bumps into Bret on the way down, so Bret sells the leg too. Nice touch. Bret crawls over and covers, and Hebner COUNTS? Whatever. I know they do that from time to time, but I still hate inconsistent rules. Bret whacks Yoko with the bucket again, with classic tree falling over selling. Bret climbs and gets powder thrown in his face to prevent the escape. Yoko slowly crawls for the door as Bret is incapacitated and retains at 21:37. Post-match, to add insult to injury, Yokozuna gives Bret the Banzai Drop. Full disclosure, I’m not a fan of cage matches, especially “escape the cage” rules, so my bias is probably going to shine through on the rating. I get the story being told, and you need to protect the babyface by having all the junk thrown at him to overcome, until it’s too much and the heel steals a win, but there was A LOT of laying around and they went to the well of “Yokozuna misses a big move” a little too much. This match could have trimmed 6-7 minutes easily and made it less a chore to get through. **½

Bastion Booger vs. The Brooklyn Brawler:
Wow, there’s cool-down matches, and then there’s junk like THIS. Bastion Booger (Mike Shaw, formerly Norman in WCW) was one of those new faces who debuted with much hype and LOST his first match. TO VIRGIL. I don’t know if this gimmick is better or worse than Friar Ferguson, but that gimmick lasted all of one taping, and was quickly dropped. Brawler complains to the referee about the smell of his opponent. Booger misses a slow-motion sneak attack, allowing Brawler to unload with right hands. Whip is reversed and Booger with a soft clothesline. Brawler avoids a leg drop, then misses an elbow drop. Booger does his silly little dance and does the tea bag drop for three at 1:21. Booger might be the worst wrestler on the roster, which is a shame, because he has a decent body of work before coming to the WWF.

Howard Finkel addresses the crowd to hype the WWF returning to Madison Square Garden on Saturday, September 25th. Irwin R. Schyster faces “The Undefeated” Tatanka! Mr. Hughes rumbles with Razor Ramon! There will be THREE Championship Matches (assuming all the Champions entering SummerSlam leave with their titles)! Shawn Michaels defends the Intercontinental Championship against the young man who made his MSG debut earlier tonight, The 1-2-3 Kid! The Steiner Brothers defend the Tag Team Titles against the unlikely tag team of Bam Bam Bigelow and Adam Bomb! Finally, Yokozuna defends the WWF Championship against the man who always RISES to the occasion, The Undertaker! CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Six-Man Tag Team Elimination Match:
Tatanka, Mr. Perfect, and Marty Jannetty vs. Shawn Michaels, Diesel, and Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon):
Final match of the night, and one of the main events advertised to make this a “Super Card” event (and probably give them an excuse to raise ticket prices). It was very unusual to see an elimination rules match used outside of Survivor Series, a house show gimmick used a bunch in 1987, maybe to test the audiences to see if the concept would be a draw. That’s 100% speculation on my part, but considering they decided to do an entire PPV based on the concept (with larger teams), it’s not out of the realm of possibility. On paper, the marriages might be obvious, with Tatanka and Bigelow working for most of the Spring and Summer, but we’re quickly transitioning Mr. Perfect away from Michaels and into a series of singles matches with Diesel, and Marty Jannetty’s shine is already gone, as he’s a lower-tier babyface that gets beat like a drum. Speaking of Diesel, he was still just a bodyguard, having yet to wrestle a match on television.

Guys shuffle in and out until we settle on Tatanka and Bigelow starting. Tatanka grabs a headlock, but Bigelow counters with a back suplex. A headbutt misses the target, allowing Tatanka to hit a pair of clotheslines and cross body press for a two-count. Jannetty tries a monkey-flip and… yeah, that doesn’t work. Diesel assists Michaels off the top with a rocket launcher, but that misses as well. The former Rockers hit the ropes, with Jannetty outsmarting Michaels. Marty with a Super-Kick and clothesline sends Shawn out of the ring. Perfect tracks Michaels down and holds him in place for a plancha. Perfect and Michaels have a fine sequence, with Michaels avoiding the dropkick, but a game of cat ‘n’ mouse going in Perfect’s favor. Perfect meets the buckle on a missed charge, bringing Bam Bam back in. He goes for a suplex, but Perfect escapes and hits a running dropkick.

Tatanka comes off the top with the big chop, but is quickly cut off with a cheap shot from Diesel. He tags in for the first time, planting Tatanka with a gut-wrench slam, followed by a big boot for a near-fall. Tatanka fights out of a Michaels chin-lock, but a sunset flip is canceled out with Bigelow getting the blind tag. The heel side continues working Tatanka over until Shawn meets the post on a missed charge. Jannetty runs wild with right hands and a diving back elbow. Whip to the ropes and Marty with a powerslam for two. Jannetty with a suplex and flying fist drop, but Bigelow saves. Heck runs wild, and during the chaos, Diesel tags in, blasts Jannetty with the RIGHT HAND OF DOOM, and covers for the first elimination at 12:40.

Perfect’s bright idea is to hit Bigelow with shoulder blocks. Bigelow runs through him like a meal cooked by Tito Santana at WrestleMania VI, and follows with a high-angle back suplex for two. Michaels with a whip and dropkick, followed by a blatant choke. They trade blows until Shawn rakes the eyes. Tatanka takes the bait of Shawn’s taunting, allowing some double-team work on Perfect. There’s a cut in the action as Perfect is caught in a front face-lock, but I can assume it was the spot where the referee misses the tag. Bigelow misses his flying headbutt, allowing Tatanka to get the hot tag. He hits the stick to initiate the special meter, and lays into Bigelow with chops. He spikes Bigelow with a DDT and comes off the top with a cross body press for two. A clothesline takes both men over the top rope, and they continue brawling until both are counted out at 18:15, leaving Perfect alone with Shawn and Diesel.

Perfect avoids the 2-on-1 attempt, sending Diesel over the top rope with a dropkick, then dumping Michaels into his arms. Back inside, the squeeze works, trapping Perfect in the corner. Whip across the ring and Shawn meets the boot. I don’t think ANYONE has hit a charging attack to the corner throughout this entire match. Michaels gets sent to the corner and the Perfect-Plex eliminates Shawn at 22:26! The celebration is short lived, as Diesel hits Perfect with the RIGHT HAND OF DOOM and covers to be the sole survivor at 22:35. I guess we didn’t need any of the top babyfaces going over on this card. Fun match with mostly non-stop action, different combinations to keep things fresh, and the right order of eliminations, including a surprising clean loss by the Intercontinental Champion while the two babyfaces who took pin-fall losses were done so in scenarios where they were caught off guard. With the talent featured, I went into this with somewhat elevated expectations, and was glad to see those expectations were met. ***½

Strength of Card: The WWF Championship being defended, and inside a Steel Cage, automatically lifts this to a higher grade, with a Six-Man Tag Team Elimination Match featuring a bunch of Intercontinental Title level contenders, as well as Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow, who have feuded all Spring and into the late Summer. The under-card isn’t much to speak of, but it’s not scraping the bottom of the barrel. We definitely got the better of the roster split with this lineup. Grade: B+

Highs: The Six-Man Tag was easily my favorite match of the night, getting the best out of most of the talent involved, and utilizing Diesel with the right level of protection, coming in for a few spots, being a difference maker, and spending as little time in the ring so he’s not selling too much. Even Shawn, who was probably not at his physical peak at this point, was pulling his weight (pun intended). Doink and the Kid put on a clinic to really add something unique underneath in a spot, again providing us with evidence how excellent Matt Borne was under the clown paint, and the Smoking Gunns vs Headshrinkers is almost a guaranteed good match, even though this is probably one of their lesser outings.

Lows: Savage and Lawler, probably 3rd from the top as far as promotion went, was no good. I like schtick, so it’s not like I didn’t enjoy it because they weren’t dumping each other on their heads. It was typical Savage formula of the time where he doesn’t do much of anything but lay around selling, and we didn’t even get a big comeback victory! When people constantly moan how wasted Savage was around this time… the matches were crap. It didn’t matter who he was working with, what the city was, what the show was. It was the same thing every night, and it wasn’t entertaining. Also, the Booger and Brawler match was a waste of time. Why even bother sending them out there to work a sub-90-second match?

The Rest: The Bret/Yokozuna Cage Match is one of those mileage will vary situations, depending on how much you like or hate the cage gimmick. I’m personally not a fan of them, so while the work was fine, I was just indifferent when all was said and done. The opener between Owen and Blake Beverly was fine, but nothing you’re going to go out of your way to see.

Final Thoughts: A quality night of WWF action, with most of the matches delivering satisfactory levels of entertainment. Like I mentioned when breaking down the elimination match, all the high profile matches featured the heels going over, so if you’re someone who likes that happy ending feeling, this show does not hit that note. It’s also a weird transition period, as we’ve moved on from Hulk Hogan, but we’re not quite sure where things are going from there, even with the big push for Lex Luger as the next Great American Hero. Things would only get more confusing as the year wraps up, and we all know it’s not going to get much better any time soon. Final Grade: B (too many heels going over, and two of the three top tier matches were average or of poor quality)

As always, if there’s any particular show you want covered, feel free to leave a comment below. Next time, we’re jumping back to 1994 and no, it won’t be another Madison Square Garden card.