What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 03.26.94

Pictures show Bret Hart winning the WWF title at WrestleMania X with Burt Reynolds announcing him as the new champion.

Superstars gets a new theme song and opening. It has a rock beat and grittier look with wrestlers preparing for action and then fighting it out in the ring.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are commentating, still in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. McMahon emphasizes that the WWF has blasted off into a new decade. That may sound weird since it is 1994 and not 1990 but Hulk Hogan’s big run began in 1984 so this is a nod that the era of relying on Hogan is over. It has also been a decade of WrestleMania. McMahon’s voice is still shot like it was on Monday Night RAW.

Opening Contest: Lex Luger (6-1) defeats Duane Gill via submission to the torture rack at 1:05:

Luger is in a foul mood about WrestleMania, making short work of Gill with a gorilla press slam and the torture rack. After the bell he keeps Gill in the hold for a few more seconds before the referee convinces him to release it.

McMahon narrates highlights of the Luger-Yokozuna WWF title match at WrestleMania.

Tatanka and Kwang are shown getting ready in the backstage area for their feature match on today’s program.

Diesel (6-0) pins John Crystal after the Jackknife at 2:24:

Shawn Michaels is still not at Diesel’s side, recovering from WrestleMania. Diesel slowly works his way through his offense before hitting the Jackknife. At this taping Diesel fell to the mat with his opponent when delivering the move but, as Monday Night RAW showed, he was moving toward a delivery where he would just drop his opponent to the canvas. Also, McMahon hypes a future Razor Ramon-Diesel match for the Intercontinental title just like he did on RAW.

Irwin R. Schyster provides more tax commentary. He says people are tax cheats and are bad at it because they are dishonest and corrupt. He warns people that if they are caught cheating on their taxes he will put children to work and take their allowances.

The WWF has adjusted how it wants to sell house shows on its syndicated programs, replacing Face to Face segments with Live Event News. Stan Lane is put in charge of those. The difference is that wrestlers are back to doing promos separately rather than against each other.

Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) (6-0) wrestles Tatanka (9-1) to a double count out at 6:53 shown:

This is a match with big stakes because it is Kwang’s first televised feature test and Tatanka suffered a big loss to Yokozuna on The March to WrestleMania X special. Kwang appears to have picked up the rest hold fever from Yokozuna on house shows, using nerve holds to dominate the match after a commercial break. Late in the bout Irwin R. Schyster comes to ringside and tells Tatanka that he is going to make sure he pays the taxes he owes. When IRS inspects the headdress, Tatanka escapes a nerve hold, knocks Kwang out of the ring with a dropkick, and comes out and fights IRS, resulting in a double count out because Kwang is unable or too dumb to take advantage of the scuffle. Rating: *

Tatanka and IRS fight until WWF officials come out and separate them. IRS still has the microphone and tells Tatanka that he is going to regret fighting him.

The Smoking Gunns (5-1) beat Rich Myers & Jason Headings when Billy pins Headings after the Revolver at 3:30:

Albert Diltz is the guest fan ring announcer, more interested in his 15 seconds of fame than doing his duties. The squash goes too long and for some reason the Gunns allow Headings to kick out of a double side Russian leg sweep. They notch another win but are going to get leapfrogged in the tag team rankings by whomever Captain Lou Albano chooses to manage.

Todd Pettengill does a final WrestleMania X Report. Donnie Wahlberg says he was happy to get to meet Albano and Classie Freddie Blassie. Yokozuna, Jim Cornette, and Mr. Fuji argue that Bret Hart got lucky in winning the WWF Championship. Contributing to the theory Roddy Piper botched the finish, Cornette blames Piper for having something to do with Yokozuna falling off the second rope when he went for the Banzai Drop. Piper gets promo time, making a funny comment that Hulk Hogan does not have hair anymore because he pulled it all out. He tells Yokozuna’s team to shut up as he called the match fairly. WWF Champion Bret Hart repeats his comments from Monday Night RAW. Owen puts over his win against Bret, telling his brother that he is coming after the WWF Championship.

Owen Hart (10-0) defeats P.J. Walker via submission to the Sharpshooter at 2:46:

Owen works the crowd and does not allow Walker to do much, just giving up a take to the buckle before blasting his opponent with a spinning heel kick and locking in the Sharpshooter.

Lawler heads to the ring after the match and Polo takes his place. That will carry over into next week’s show.

Terrible Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton voiceovers talk about how budget cuts mean that the White House no longer gets cable television so the President cannot watch Monday Night RAW. Hillary calls George H.W. Bush because he has cable.

Jeff Jarrett stops by the announce position to proclaim that he is going to take Thurman Plugg “out of the JJF” next week.

Tune in next week to see Thurman Plugg wrestle Jeff Jarrett! Also, Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, Doink the Clown, and Earthquake will be in action!

The Last Word: The overhaul of parts of the show with its music, introduction video, elimination of Face to Face bits, and having Jeff Jarrett come out in front of the crowd to hype his match next week are all welcome additions. They reinforce that the WWF’s programming is going in a new direction. Unfortunately, the show was boring outside of Lex Luger’s opening squash and some good heel behavior by Irwin R. Schyster during Tatanka’s match.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for March 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!