What the World Was Watching: WWF March to WrestleMania X

There are two announce teams this evening as the WWF presents the show like a simulcast. Vince McMahon and Johnny Polo commentate matches taped in Liberty, New York on February 23. Gorilla Monsoon and Stan Lane commentate matches taped in Poughkeepsie, New York on February 21.

Opening Contest: Lex Luger (5-0) defeats Jimmy Del Ray (w/Jim Cornette & Tom Prichard) via submission to the torture rack at 8:36:

This match is from Liberty High School and Polo uses the soundboard like Superstars. Luger gets loud support from the crowd throughout a basic match where he takes punishment, avoids Del Ray’s moonsault, and then racks him. The crowd treated this like a WrestleMania main event which is again a consequence of doing this show in a place that hardly gets a big WWF event. Rating: **

After the match, Cornette gets in the ring and tries to hit Luger with his tennis racquet but is caught. Luger gets the racquet and hits Cornette across the rear to a big pop. Cornette retreats and returns with WWF Champion Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji. Luger dares Yokozuna to get in the ring but WWF officials stand in the champion’s way.

Sy Sperling shows how the Hair Club for Men can help Luna Vachon.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (8-2) pins Ben Jordan after a stun gun at 3:35:

The show goes to Poughkeepsie for a long Bigelow squash. Monsoon and Lane tell fans that in the mixed tag team match at WrestleMania Bigelow can only be in the ring against Doink the Clown and Vachon can only be in the ring against Dink. The crowd does not buy into a late Jordan comeback, which is cut off by Bigelow doing a stun gun.

Tatanka, who is backstage, tells McMahon and Polo that he has a score to settle with Yokozuna. He struggles to remember when their last interaction happened, just saying “in the past.” The WWF probably did not want to show footage from October 1993 since Ludvig Borga was in it.

Non-Title Match: Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (6-0) pins Tony DeVito after the Razor’s Edge at 4:11:

This is another squash in Poughkeepsie. Like the Bigelow one it drags and sees Monsoon and Lane hype the WrestleMania ladder match. The crowd was more into Ramon than Bigelow, though.

Polo does an in-ring interview with Owen Hart. A lot of the promo is drowned out by the Liberty crowd doing a long and loud “We want Bret!” chant. Owen argues that Bret is scared, which is why he did not want to wrestle him. He repeats his urging to Crush on RAW to leave some of Bret for him next Sunday.

Earthquake (6-0) pins the Executioner after the Earthquake Splash at 1:56:

The poor Poughkeepsie crowd got nothing for this portion of the show. This match is better than the Bigelow and Ramon squashes because Earthquake’s offense looks like it would kill someone because of the Executioner’s small size.

Todd Pettengill does the WrestleMania X Report. WWF Champion Yokozuna and Jim Cornette talk about how next Sunday will be the last day of Lex Luger’s career. Cornette is confident that Owen Hart will make Bret Hart easy pickings for them later in the night. When it comes to Tatanka, Cornette is confident Yokozuna can handle him.

Polo does a pre-recorded interview with Bret Hart. Bret says he wears his ring jacket because he is a ring general who has more skills than his brother. When it comes to Crush, Bret says that Crush is all talk like his opponents in the past who have sought to beat him. Bret does touch on how he has a bigger challenge than anyone at WrestleMania because he has to prepare for three opponents. That is something none of the commentators have thought about.

Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) (6-0) defeats Bret Hart (3-0) after Owen Hart interferes at 13:39 shown:

The broadcast shifts back to Liberty High School. According to McMahon, Savage was barred from the building by WWF President Jack Tunney so he will not be interfering. The match gets off to a slow start but picks up to a frenzied pace of near-falls at the nine-minute mark. They do a long test of strength bit early but it does have a fun nuance of Bret rolling around to get the advantage and then holding it until the last second when Crush gets to the ropes. Then both men sell their hands. Crush misses a flying knee drop late so Bret goes for the Sharpshooter. Fuji provides a distraction on the apron and there is heel miscommunication when Crush tries to take advantage. Bret ties Crush in a small package but the referee is too busy trying to revive Fuji’s lifeless body. That allows Owen to run in and turn the small package over and Crush notches the biggest win in his WWF career to this point. It is also the best match Crush has had as a singles wrestler. The result was shocking, adding more fuel to the Bret-Owen feud. Bret sells the defeat well, collapsing to the mat in disappointment when it is announced he lost. Rating: ***

Ronda Shear of Up All Night talks about how she hopes to meet Lex Luger when she is guest timekeeper on WrestleMania.

Non-Title Match: The Quebecers (WWF Tag Team Champions) (4-2-1) defeat P.J. Walker & Mike Bell when Pierre pins Walker after the Boston Crab-flying leg drop off the second rope combination at 4:11:

It is time for another long squash match so it is back to Poughkeepsie. The WWF was smart enough not to send Polo out with the Quebecers so it did not ruin the illusion of the simulcast. Captain Lou Albano comes to ringside, irritating the champions. Albano tells the camera he does not like the Quebecers tactics. Bell never tags in as the Quebecers run through all their double teams on Walker. Hopefully he got paid a little extra for that.

In an interview done earlier in the day, Randy Savage tells McMahon that he is out to get his dignity back at WrestleMania. In a great promo that bleeds real life and his character he talks about being disappointed that he is not WWF champion because of Crush’s interference a few weeks ago on Monday Night RAW. He mentions his divorce from Elizabeth and guarantees that he will beat Crush decisively. Savage dressed in all black and acting crazy in this promo could have been a great character in 1994 if the company turned him heel and sent him on a hunt for the championship. He made a play for that by insisting that he would have beaten Lex Luger and Bret Hart at WrestleMania if he was given the opportunity. This was an ECW promo before ECW perfected that style.

Non-Title Match: Yokozuna (WWF Champion w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) (3-1) beats Tatanka (8-0) after the Banzai Drop at 9:15 shown:

The main event goes back to Liberty High School. McMahon puts over Yokozuna’s weight at close to 600 pounds. As noted before, that is wrecking his conditioning and he gets through the match with several long nerve holds. It is a testament to the crowd’s willpower that they stay engaged. Yokozuna dominates until Tatanka takes the champion to an exposed turnbuckle. After a flying chop Tatanka tries to do the Papoose to Go but does not come close to delivering it, leading to his demise. The disappointed crowd quickly files out after that finish, seeing the destruction of Tatanka’s main event dreams. Concerns about Yokozuna’s cardio aside, it was refreshing to see the WWF treat him like the monster he should be as there is no babyface revenge bit after the match. Cornette and Fuji laugh at Tatanka when referee Earl Hebner helps him to the locker room. Rating: *½

Monsoon predicts that Yokozuna will beat Lex Luger at WrestleMania and will also beat Bret Hart. Lane predicts that Lex Luger will beat Yokozuna and then beat Bret Hart later in the night. Polo surprisingly predicts Yokozuna to beat Luger but Bret Hart to beat Yokozuna and become the new WWF champion.

Men on a Mission and Oscar do a WrestleMania rap. It is mixed with old WrestleMania footage and is a better attempt than the Royal Rumble rap.

The Last Word: The hot Liberty crowd carried the show, enhancing each of the feature matches they were treated to. Randy Savage also did one of his best promos since 1991, focusing just as much attention on the WWF Championship as he did Crush. The WWF has done a much better job building this year’s WrestleMania than last year’s as the WWF title match(es) have a good backstory, the Intercontinental title match has a unique gimmick, and other matches like Bret Hart-Owen Hart and Savage-Crush have good stories. It sure beats Hulk Hogan doing promos in absentia for a Tag Team title match and wrestlers trading insert promos. The next three WWF television broadcasts just provided recaps of feuds for WrestleMania and had no original matches. As a result, coverage jumps to WrestleMania X the following Sunday.

Before WrestleMania week, the WWF did more overseas shows in Germany and then came back to the Philadelphia area. Here were the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Scherwin, Germany – Sport und Kongresshalle – March 11, 1994: Thurman Plugg beat the Brooklyn Brawler…Diesel defeated Virgil…Earthquake defeated Adam Bomb…Tatanka beat Kwang…Jeff Jarrett beat Rick Martel…Randy Savage defeated Crush…WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze beat Leilani Kai…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Pittsburgh Civic Arena – March 12, 1994 (4,500): The Bushwhackers beat Well Dunn when Butch pinned Steven Dunn after the Battering Ram at 10:28…WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers beat the 1-2-3 Kid & Jim Powers (substituting for Marty Jannetty) when Jacques pinned Powers after a clothesline at 4:36…The Smoking Gunns defeated Samu & Afa (substituting for Fatu) when Billy pinned Samu after a sunset flip at 9:54…Yokozuna & Bastion Booger defeated Men on a Mission when Yokozuna pinned Mo after a belly-to-belly suplex at 13:44…Doink the Clown & Dink beat Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon when Doink pinned Bigelow with a roll up after Bigelow was distracted by Dink at 14:06…Bret Hart & Lex Luger defeated Owen Hart & Irwin R. Schyster when Luger pinned IRS with a roll up at 17:17.

Backstage News*: The WWF has been teasing Yokozuna turning babyface on house shows. In tag team matches with Bastion Booger he has wrestled the entire match after Booger refuses to tag in and then attacks Booger afterward. This has led to rumors that he will turn at WrestleMania.

-In talent relations news, the WWF has reached out to Roddy Piper about being a guest referee at WrestleMania. It is almost certain that Jerry Lawler will return at WrestleMania in some fashion. Bull Nakano may arrive in December.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for March 21.

Up Next: WrestleMania X!

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