What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – February 5, 1994

Vince McMahon and Stan Lane are in the booth, taped from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Opening Contest: Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) (5-0) pins Gary Sabaugh after the superkick at 2:15:

Everyone is loving the superkick recently as Michaels, Kwang, Marty Jannetty, Fatu, and Yokozuna have it in some fashion. Sabaugh does some arm work and reverses a take to the buckle but an errant blind charge opens him up for the kick. McMahon refuses to recognize Sabaugh’s Italian Stallion roots, telling Lane that Sabaugh’s tights say “Italy” because they were made there.

Marty Jannetty & the 1-2-3 Kid (2-0) defeat Fidel Sierra & Barry Horowitz when Jannetty pins Sierra after a superkick at 3:20:

Sierra was a Cuban professional wrestler that got his start in Florida under the tutelage of Hiro Matsuda in 1978. He won a lot of titles in Carlos Colon’s WWC promotion in Puerto Rico in the 1980s and 1990s and worked across North American for World Class, Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, the Pacific Northwest, and Stampede Wrestling. Some fans knew him best as the Cuban Assassin. In 1995 WCW he would be part of an opening act tag team called the Barrio Brothers (and Los Especialistas) with Ricky Santana.

Fans at home probably wondered how the Kid went from being on crutches on Monday Night RAW to being able to wrestle on today’s program. It exposes the problem of taping shows well in advance. The WWF compounds the error of the Kid appearing by putting up an Earthquake vignette before the bout, saying that Earthquake is coming, even though he already arrived on RAW. Jannetty and the Kid work a slower pace than usual, winning what would turn out to be the team’s last televised match together.

Todd Pettengill’s WrestleMania X Report lets viewers know that tickets have sold out for the event. Bret Hart talks about how he would much rather face Lex Luger for the title because they will have a fair fight. But he tells Yokozuna he wants his WWF title back. Bret adds that Owen is going to pay for what he did to him at The Royal Rumble. A new match announced for the card is Randy Savage against Crush in a falls count anywhere match where participants must make it back to the ring in 60 seconds after a fall.

Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) (2-0) pins John Paul after a superkick off the ropes at 1:58:

Lane says that Kwang’s mist is toxic, making one wonder how Kwang keeps it in his mouth. Like Adam Bomb, Kwang’s matches are used to fill time as the announcers discuss the forming WrestleMania card. Fans are treated to a third straight superkick finish on today’s program as Kwang has no problems with his opponent.

Non-Title 10-Minute Challenge Match for a Shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Quebecers (Champions w/Johnny Polo) (1-1) wrestle the Steiner Brothers (1-0) to a time-limit draw at 10:27:

As per the stipulation, the Steiners must beat the Quebecers to get a title shot next week. McMahon announces that Randy Savage and Rick Martel are next week’s feature match. These teams have been going around the horn since the fall so they could wrestle themselves in their sleep. Even though the Quebecers stall a bit, they go for broke with double teams to take the fight the Steiners rather than killing the clock. For some reason ring announcer Bill Dunn does not make the crowd aware of the time, which would have worked the crowd better for the match. After the Quebecers fail to hit their finisher on Scott, Rick gets the hot tag and Scott hits the Frankensteiner on Pierre. However, Polo rings the bell with 48 seconds left. When the restart happens, Rick does a sloppy flying bulldog on Jacques and then the Steiners kill time by giving Polo the Steinerizer. The time limit expires for real, meaning that the Steiners do not get a title match. The outcome was a kick in the gut for fans and seems to derail a natural match for WrestleMania where the Steiners would face the Quebecers for the titles. That could still happen but the way this match ended made the babyfaces look like idiots. Rating: **½

Owen Hart does a taped promo about how Bret’s glory is in the past and has no bearing on their match at WrestleMania. He promises that his rocket will soar. This was another good promo for Owen to keep the feud going.

Doink the Clown (w/Dink) (4-0) pins George South with a German suplex in 33 seconds:

An old guy named Dana Zielke is the guest fan ring announcer and is too clueless to leave the ring afterward so Doink has to usher him out. South does a comedy spot where he chases Dink around before the match and falls on his face. Then, in a great show of sportsmanship Doink attacks South before he can get to his feet and hits a German suplex for a quick pin. These recent spots with Doink are making it seem like he enjoys bullying his opponents. Little wonder why some of the crowds were rooting for Bigelow in their feud.

Rick Martel says Randy Savage wears weird clothes and is an insult to the fashion industry. This is why Martel looks forward to facing him next week.

Tune in next week to see Randy Savage square off with Rick Martel! Also, Crush, the Bushwhackers, and Ludvig Borga will be in action! There will also be an update on the Bret Hart-Owen Hart feud.

The Last Word: The Steiner Brothers have had a bad start to 1994, appearing less than they did in 1993 and having no impact on the Royal Rumble. It could be argued that Scott had the worst performance of any #1 entrant in Rumble history to this point. Their lack of care about losing to the Quebecers showed that they wanted out of the WWF and they would not make a lot of appearances after this.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for February 6!