What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – 02.27.94

All American Wrestling had a feature match earlier in the day, commentated by Gorilla Monsoon and Stan Lane. It was taped in Springfield, Massachusetts on February 2:

Rick Martel (1-2) wrestles Thurman Plugg (5-0) to a time-limit draw at 8:56 shown:

Plugg and Martel were travel partners around this time. They were also wrestling in the opening matches at house shows. There is some good mat wrestling to start and Martel begins working the back after throwing Plugg over the top rope. Plugg gets to the ropes to break the Boston Crab as Monsoon and Lane start talking about the time limit, thereby telegraphing how the match will end. Sure enough, time expires when Martel has Plugg trapped in a Flair pin. Despite some decent action, the crowd barely reacted, which explains why each man is where they are on the card. Rating: **

Gorilla Monsoon and Stan Lane are commentating today’s Wrestling Challenge, also in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Opening Contest: Doink the Clown (w/Dink) (6-0) defeats Barry Horowitz after the flying butt splash at 2:25:

In the split screen, Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon talk about how WrestleMania will be the end of the clowns. Doink barely gets Horowitz up for a running powerslam, which is used to set up another victory.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report hypes the release of Royal Rumble ’94 on Coliseum Video this Wednesday. He shows off some Hart family photographs that were given to him by Owen Hart that show Bret restraining Owen. Hayes says this was a sign of Bret holding Owen down later.

Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) (4-0) pins Brian Walsh after a spinning heel kick at 1:29:

Walsh moves quickly and this would be a good squash if not for Kwang having to slow it down to do his martial arts poses. Walsh misses a flying leg drop, cueing Kwang Fu. As stated before, the spinning heel kick is Kwang’s best move so it is good to see him use it as a finisher.

Owen Hart (6-0) defeats Bart Gunn via submission to the Sharpshooter at 4:50:

Speaking of a sibling rivalry, Bart and Billy never seem to accompany the other to the ring when they have a singles match. Bart gives as good as he gets on the mat and from a standing position. He does not have a finisher, though, so it is tough for fans to tell if he is close to winning the match or just doing moves. Owen floats over a suplex late, turns it into a side Russian leg sweep, and submits the Smoking Gunn member with the Sharpshooter. Rating: **

Ray Rougeau does an in-ring interview with Crush and Mr. Fuji for the second time in this feud. Crush reiterates how he is out to end Randy Savage’s career. Then he accuses Savage of jumping him from behind after he got to the locker room after the Royal Rumble. He closes by saving that Savage is not honorable because he has a cowardly heart. Some of the material here could have been better but the lie about Savage attacking Crush off-camera at the Rumble was a nice bit of heeling.

Sy Sperling shows how he could give Mabel more hair. It looks better than the mohawk Mabel would wear in 1995.

Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (3-1) beat Mike Sharpe & Chris Duffy when Mabel pins Duffy after the assisted splash at 1:48:

Sharpe, a second-generation talent, was a trainee of Dewey Robertson (the Missing Link) and had been wrestling since 1975. He was not always used as an enhancement talent by the WWF as he had a main event program with WWF Champion Bob Backlund in February 1983. However, Sharpe slipped down the card quickly after that, used mostly in opening matches at house shows. In 1993, Sharpe appeared in 23 televised matches, always losing to a babyface wrestler or tag team. His most frequent opponent was MOM, losing to them four times with four different partners.

Nikolai Volkoff, who seems to only have one suit to wear to WWF events, tries to rap along with MOM and cannot stay in rhythm. WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers and Johnny Polo do an insert promo about how they will end MOM’s title dreams at WrestleMania. Sometimes Mo struggles in these matches but that was not the case today. After the match, Mabel raises Duffy’s hands and waves them in a funny spot.

Tune in next week to see Jeff Jarrett, Earthquake, and the Headshrinkers in action! Also, there will be a special interview with WWF Champion Yokozuna!

The Last Word: The WWF recycled a lot of bits from WWF Superstars, leading to fewer matches. The Owen-Bart Gunn feature match was fine, although its outcome was never in doubt. Like Superstars, Challenge is going to have less interesting content going forward because of the end of “sweeps month.”

The WWF spent the first part of this week taping house shows for March. After that it had a house show loop through Western Canada and Wisconsin. Here are the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Oshkosh, Wisconsin – Kolf Sports Center – February 25, 1994 (2,300): Thurman Plugg beat Rick Martel…Diesel defeated Virgil (substituting for Marty Jannetty)…WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze beat Heidi Lee Morgan…Mabel defeated Samu. The match was supposed to be Men on a Mission vs. the Headshrinkers but Fatu was injured the night before when Mabel fell on him wrong…Bastion Booger defeated Tom Stone…Doink the Clown beat Bam Bam Bigelow…Bret Hart & the 1-2-3 Kid defeated Owen Hart & Shawn Michaels.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – Northlands Coliseum – February 26, 1994: Adam Bomb beat Jim Powers…WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers defeated the Smoking Gunns…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon defeated Irwin R. Schyster via count out after Ramon tied IRS’ tie to the ring post…Randy Savage pinned Crush in a lumberjack match after a chair shot…Jeff Jarrett beat Bob Backlund with a Flair pin…Lex Luger defeated Kwang (substituting for Ludvig Borga) via submission to the torture rack…WWF Champion Yokozuna pinned Tatanka after a belly-to-belly suplex.

Backstage News*: At a Superstars television taping in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on February 22 the WWF had a segment where Lex Luger took the WWF Championship Belt from Jim Cornette and went to the dressing room, coming out moments later when Vince McMahon announced him as the new champion. There is debate about whether this is revealing the plan for WrestleMania or if it is meant to swerve those reading wrestling newsletters. The WWF has never done a swerve, though, when it has filmed something with a title belt at a television taping.

-Jerry Lawler’s case was settled in Louisville, Kentucky on February 23 as a plea bargain. Lawler pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassing a witness and the counts of statutory rape and sodomy were dropped. He received a 12-month suspended sentence and two years of unsupervised probation. However, if Lawler were to commit any crimes over the next two years he would have to serve the suspended jail time. In five years, the misdemeanor charge can also be expunged from his record if Lawler does not commit any crimes. Lawler favored the plea deal because it would end the case quickly, especially since his legal team had filed complaints against the handling of his case by prosecutors. With the major charges dismissed there is speculation Lawler will return to the WWF at WrestleMania as a manager for Owen Hart.

-In talent relations news, the release of Jim Ross has taken people aback because they thought Vince McMahon would want to keep him on standby when he will not be able to broadcast shows due to his federal steroid trial. Ross reportedly had a meeting with WCW Senior Vice President Eric Bischoff but no job offer was made, possibly because Ross has enemies in the company such as Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone. Curt Hennig’s contract runs through December so WCW cannot sign him until 1995. The WWF still wants Hennig back for WrestleMania as a special guest referee. At the recent television tapings Bill DeMott, who also wrestles as Crash the Terminator, and Rocko Gibraltar (Michael Droese) received tryouts on two nights. Neither were said to impress.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for March 7.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for February 28!

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!