What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – January 23, 1994

Todd Pettengill hosts the show from his living room, hyping the encore presentation for The Royal Rumlbe on Tuesday night. Commentary for the matches is provided by Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon, who wrap up the matches from the Augusta, Maine taping. The WWF did not redub it for events that happened at the pay-per-view for audiences that got Challenge on Sunday so Pettengill has to cover several times for Ross and Monsoon talking about the Rumble happening “tonight” when it took place a day earlier.

Opening Contest: Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) (3-0) pins Tony Roy with a small package at 1:34:

Michaels barely breaks a sweat in the squash, hitting a superkick and teasing a piledriver before doing a small package to mock the fans.

Pettengill is cryptic about Owen Hart’s actions at The Royal Rumble but his tone leads viewers to believe that Owen did something bad.

Owen Hart (w/Bret Hart) (3-0) defeats Scott Taylor via submission to the Sharpshooter at 2:28:

Due to the events that happened at The Royal Rumble this will be the last time Bret will be in Owen’s corner for a while. Owen has no problems with Taylor, setting up the Sharpshooter after a belly-to-belly suplex off the ropes.

The Smoking Gunns (2-0) beat Bert Centeno & Barry Horowitz when Billy pins Centeno after an powerbomb-flying elbow drop combination at 1:55:

Horowitz gives Bart all he can handle and drops him with an inverted DDT. However, Centeno comes in and is summarily dispatched by the Gunns, who win their first squash of the year.

Pettengill remains cryptic about Royal Rumble results, simply saying that the ending of the Rumble was “historic.”

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Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (2-1) pins Phil Apollo after a falling headbutt off the ropes in 59 seconds:

Before the match, Bigelow looks under the ring to make sure that Doink the Clown and Dink are not around. Bigelow does a nice stun gun to set up winning with a falling headbutt off the ropes.

Pettengill talks about calling WWF President Jack Tunney to give a rundown of events from the pay-per-view.

Irwin R. Schyster (2-2) defeats P.J. Walker after a double underhook suplex at 1:23:

Walker was trained by Keith Hart, Lance Storm, and Chris Jericho, beginning his career in the New England independents in 1992. He wrestled in 18 matches for the WWF in 1993, scoring an upset of IRS on Monday Night RAW on September 20 because of a distraction from Razor Ramon. That would have been the upset of the year had it not been for the 1-2-3 Kid beating Ramon in May. Walker would eventually get signed to a deal by the end of the year, repackaged as masked Portuguese wrestler Aldo Montoya.

Ross does reference Walker’s victory over IRS last year. He wonders why IRS is wrestling aggressively which in kayfabe can be explained by IRS not wanting to be winless for the week. The tax man kicks out of a schoolboy attempt, slams Walker’s leg into the ring post several times, and secures a quick pin after a double underhook suplex.

Pettengill says that he wants to talk more about what happened at The Royal Rumble but his producers will kill him.

Lex Luger (2-0) defeats Chris Duffy after a superplex at 1:29:

Luger keeps the streak of quick squashes going, clotheslining his opponent out of the ring and giving him a superplex when he gets back inside to pave a path to WrestleMania.

Pettengill closes by running down The Royal Rumble card for the encore presentation and still hypes the Tatanka-Ludvig Borga match.

The Last Word: Aside from the interesting format choice of Todd Pettengill broadcasting from his living room, this was a worthless show that hyped a pay-per-view that already happened. Fans were not even told what happened so if they tuned in expecting that news they were disappointed.

Here is a sampling of the WWF’s house shows that happened the week of The Royal Rumble, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

New York City, New York – Madison Square Garden – January 17, 1994 (9,000): Scott Putski pinned Mike Sharpe after the Polish Hammer…Rick Steiner wrestled Ludvig Borga to a double count out…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon beat Jeff Jarrett via disqualification when Shawn Michaels interfered…WWF Champion Yokozuna pinned Tatanka with the Banzai Drop. After the match, Tatanka was given another Banzai Drop and was carried out of the ring on a stretcher…The Quebecers beat WWF Tag Team Champions Marty Jannetty & the 1-2-3 Kid after Pierre pinned the Kid after the assisted top rope senton bomb at 21:24 to win the titles…Owen Hart won a 30-man Royal Rumble after eliminating Fatu at 70:06. The final four of the Rumble match were Owen, Fatu, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart. After the match, the Harts fought off the Headshrinkers.

Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore Arena – January 23, 1994 (4,500): Thurman Plugg beat Rick Martel…Diesel defeated Marty Jannetty…Bret Hart pinned Irwin R. Schyster…Randy Savage & Lex Luger defeated Crush & Kwang (substituting for Ludvig Borga)…Adam Bomb defeated Bob Backlund…The Steiner Brothers beat WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers via disqualification…WWF Champion Yokozuna beat Tatanka in a steel cage match.

Bristol, Connecticut – January 23, 1994 (900): The Smoking Gunns defeated the Black Knight & the Red Knight (Steve Lombardi & Barry Horowitz)…Bastion Booger beat Jim Powers…Owen Hart wrestled Jeff Jarrett to a double count out…Doink the Clown defeated Bam Bam Bigelow…The Headshrinkers beat Men on a Mission…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon beat Shawn Michaels in a ladder match.

Backstage News*: The Royal Rumble Hotline did big business during the pay-per-view, although critics have alleged that the WWF is just trying to milk more money out of its customers after they paid $24.95 for the show. Dave Meltzer also accuses the WWF of engaging in scam-like behavior by having fans vote on polls under the belief that they will influence existing storylines when a storyline direction has already been chosen. He worries that the WWF may start having television broadcasts end in the middle of a match and fans have to call a 1-900 number to get the finish.

-Monday Night RAW pulled a 3.6 rating on Monday night, which was the highest rated show for the week on cable television. This is a sign that more people are choosing RAW as the one WWF television show they will watch during the week.

-The dark match of The Royal Rumble saw the Brooklyn Brawler pin Jim Powers after a swinging neckbreaker.

-The WWF is reportedly going in 50/50 with Summit Media Group on a World Martial Arts Federation show that will be syndicated in September. The show will have 26 episodes, budgeted between $3 and $3.5 million.

-Jerry Lawler’s pre-trial hearing was moved from January 24 to February 23 because prosecutor Lisa Schweikert has asked for a continuance. This means it will take longer for Lawler to get his motion for dismissal heard.

-The Undertaker was written off for a while at The Royal Rumble because he wants to spend time with his newborn son. He requested time off last November.

-In injury news, the 1-2-3 Kid will be out for six weeks with a blown knee, which happened in the Royal Rumble at Madison Square Garden on January 17.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for January 31.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for January 24!

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!