What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – February 6, 1994

Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon are doing commentary, taped from Florence, South Carolina. Monsoon makes a good point that Bret Hart was the big winner of the coin toss on Monday Night RAW because he gets the second title match on the card. That means Bret will face a weakened Lex Luger or Yokozuna.

A video package recaps the Doink the Clown-Bam Bam Bigelow feud that has been going on since October.

Opening Contest: Doink the Clown (w/Dink) (5-0) defeats Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (4-1) via count out at 8:40 shown:

The match turns into a pseudo tag team bout as Vachon and Dink interfere regularly. Referee Bill Alfonso does not care when Dink gets into the ring to hit Bigelow and break submission holds or break up a late pin after Bigelow hits the flying headbutt. When Bigelow and Vachon try to get their hands on Dink several times they fail. On their last attempt, Dink headbutts Bigelow in the groin, causing him to fall out of the ring and get counted out. The booking of this made no sense as Dink getting involved, especially after the flying headbutt, should have led to a disqualification win for Bigelow. Rating: *

After the bell, Dink is unconscious from the headbutt spot so Vachon lays him out for Bigelow to do the flying headbutt. Doink and the referee prevent that from happening. Doink carries Dink to the locker room over his shoulder, saddened by his condition.

Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels) (2-0) defeats Brad Anderson after an elbow drop at 1:50:

Ross and Monsoon put over how imposing Diesel is as he once again uses the big boot-elbow drop combination to win a match.

There is another video package to hype Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze.

Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) (2-0) beats Tyrone Knox via submission to the head vice at 2:03:

Knox has the right idea of immediately placing Crush in a sleeper hold but he cannot hold onto it. Ross and Monsoon spend the time talking about who the guest referees could be for the title matches at WrestleMania.

Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (2-1) defeat Fidel Sierra & Terry Thomas when Mabel pins Thomas after the assisted splash at 3:24:

There is a funny bit where Sierra and Thomas double clothesline Mo and mock MOM’s dance. Then Mabel gets tagged in and the fun ends for the enhancement team. As the squash drags, Ross floats the idea of MOM getting a Tag Team title shot. Monsoon makes the statement he wants to see MOM vs. the Headshrinkers so it can be assumed Monsoon did not want Monday Night RAW a few weeks ago.

Tune in next week to see Tatanka battle Jeff Jarrett! Also, Shawn Michaels, Thurman Plugg, and the Bushwhackers will be in action!

The Last Word: There were fewer matches on this week’s episode but that was owed to giving the feature match time to breathe. That is a trade off many fans were fine with. Next week’s show will be the sternest test that Jeff Jarrett has faced to this point in his WWF run so it will be interesting to see how his match with Tatanka goes.

After a round of new television tapings the WWF headed over to Europe for some shows while another group went through Canada. Here were the results of a few of the European cards, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Vienna, Austria – Stadthalle – February 4, 1994: Jeff Jarrett beat Jim Powers…Doink the Clown defeated Bam Bigelow…The Steiner Brothers beat WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers via disqualification…Adam Bomb defeated Billy Gunn…Diesel beat Marty Jannetty…Lex Luge & Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna & Kwang.

Innsburck, Austria – Olympiahalle – February 5, 1994: Adam Bomb beat Billy Gunn…Kwang defeated Jim Powers…The Steiner Brothers beat WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers via disqualification…Lex Luger defeated Jeff Jarrett…Doink the Clown beat Bam Bam Bigelow…Diesel defeated Marty Jannetty…Bret Hart beat WWF Champion Yokozuna via disqualification.

Backstage News*: The WWF running three European tours in two months – they will return again from March 4 to March 12 and do a tour of Germany starting March 25 – is a sign of continuing troubles with domestic house show business. The strong ratings for Monday Night RAW are not leading to higher attendance on the road or, as the low buyrate for The Royal Rumble showed, more pay-per-view purchases. The only big town booked in the United States for February is a February 18 show in Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon. WCW has even followed in the WWF’s footsteps of scheduling its own German tour in March. The two companies will have shows several days apart in Halle, Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg.

-The WWF was hoping the Lex Luger-Bret Hart coin toss would get a 4.0 rating for Monday Night RAW but instead it came in at a 3.3.

-The WWF had to reschedule a show for Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada on February 3 because they accidentally sent the ring to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Fredericton show will now take place on February 14.

-In talent relations news, Marty Jannetty was fired on the European tour for his behavior on February 6. This is the third time that the WWF has fired Jannetty since 1992. Heidi Lee Morgan and Debbie Combs will be in the women’s division. It has not inked any deals for Japanese talent as of right now.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 14 and 28.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for February 7!