What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 02.26.94

Vince McMahon and Johnny Polo are providing commentary, taped from White Plains, New York.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (4-0) pins the Black Phantom after the Razor’s Edge at 2:09:

The Phantom was David Heath, who later in 1994 would marry Luna Vachon. He was a Boris Malenko trainee who began his career in Florida before going to Stampede and forming the Blackhearts with Tom Nash, Vachon’s husband at the time. After winning Tag Team gold in Stampede, the duo wrestled for All Japan, Herb Abrams’ UWF, and the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA) in Philadelphia before disbanding. As a single, Heath and Vachon developed a new gimmick for him called the Vampire Warrior. He wrestled in Memphis in the summer of 1993, feuding with Jeff Jarrett over the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. That program got him enough attention to become Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Rookie of the Year. That year also saw the WWF bring Heath in for a few tryout matches and use him on some Florida house shows. This enhancement gimmick of him wrestling in a dark tights and mask, while working in the occasional shriek, was the most they would showcase him from 1994-1995. Heath would make more of an impression in 1998 when he would come back to the WWF as Gangrel.

The Phantom does hit a big impact move for an enhancement talent, a DDT off the second rope, but follows it up with a sloppy cover that McMahon and Polo criticize him for. Ramon rallies with a hiptoss counter and pins the Phantom after the Razor’s Edge. After the match is over Polo leaves to prepare to manage the Quebecers.

Gorilla Monsoon’s Update segment revisits the Lex Luger-Yokozuna confrontation on last week’s Funeral Parlor. This segways into a discussion of the Bret Hart-Owen Hart WrestleMania match. Bret gives taped comments about how he is not looking forward to facing his brother. Owen is given some rebuttal time to talk about how he is going to prove to everyone that he is the best Hart brother.

Non-Title Match: The Quebecers (WWF Tag Team Champions w/Johnny Polo) (2-2-1) defeat John Paul & Miguel Rosado when Pierre pins Rosado after the assisted top rope senton bomb at 1:42:

Tony Bueti is the guest fan ring announcer. He is overwhelmed by the role. The Quebecers get the honor of yelling at Nikolai Volkoff this week, who is still parked at ringside. In the split screen, Men on a Mission and Oscar rap about how they are going to win the Tag Team titles at WrestleMania. Paul is booked as the stronger enhancement talent, knocking down Jacques with a few dropkicks. Rosado squanders the advantage by putting his head down too early on an Irish whip, allowing Jacques to hit a hanging piledriver and the Quebecers double team him to recover from the loss on Monday Night RAW to Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid.

Thuman Plugg (4-0) pins Derek Domino after the Overhead Cam at 1:19:

Polo returns to the announce booth and needles McMahon about whether he likes the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Plugg wins a quick squash where he makes the Overhead Cam look devastating. Polo says that he will give the move a name next week as if it does not have one already.

Ray Rougeau interviews Shawn Michaels in the ring where a ladder has been placed for added effect. Michaels explains the rules of the ladder match and says that he is climbing to the top of the WWF, scaling the ladder and sitting on it. He lets Razor Ramon know that he will be standing tall when their match is over. The use of the ladder made the promo memorable as Michaels continues to get better on the microphone since he return last fall.

Irwin R. Schyster (5-2) pins Phil Apollo after the Write Off at 1:33:

Before the match, IRS lets the crowd know that he is tired of people not paying their taxes. He taunts the crowd a bit too much, though, and Apollo schoolboys him for a near-fall. After that, IRS works an abdominal stretch and wins with the Write Off to a dead crowd.

Todd Pettengill does the WrestleMania X Report. One funny bit is that Pettengill keeps wearing more WrestleMania merchandise as the event draws closer. WWF Champion Yokozuna, Jim Cornette, and Mr. Fuji talk about how Lex Luger and Bret Hart are full of confidence but it is false confidence because they have nothing to back up their words. Randy Savage says he has made a commitment to fight Crush and is ready to go. Another match is added to the card, a 10-man tag team match that will pit the Smoking Gunns, Tatanka, the 1-2-3 Kid & Thuman Plugg against the Headshrinkers, Irwin R. Schyster, Jeff Jarrett & Rick Martel.

Bret Hart (2-0) beats Adam Bomb (w/Harvey Wippleman) (2-0) via submission to the Sharpshooter at 4:58:

Like Monday Night RAW, Owen Hart makes his presence felt during a Bret feature match. Unlike RAW, though, he does not get involved. Bomb gets in a fair share of offense but nothing he does is anything noteworthy as he avoids doing his more impressive spots. Bomb does avoid Bret’s second rope elbow drop and goes for the Atom Smasher but Bret backdrops out, knocks Wippleman off the apron, and submits Bomb with the Sharpshooter. And that is how Bomb’s 36-match unbeaten streak in singles competition ends. Rating: **

Tune in next week to see Jeff Jarrett, the Bushwhackers, Diesel, and Lex Luger in action! And Owen Hart will be on the Funeral Parlor!

The Last Word: The string of feature matches goes away with sweeps month so Superstars is likely to settle into a lot of squashes with some insert promos and an interview segment. Adam Bomb’s long unbeaten streak ended without a lot of fanfare but the WWF has not done anything with him over the past year.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge on February 27!

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!