What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 04.30.94

McMahon narrates a video package to hype today’s Razor Ramon-Diesel match for the Intercontinental Championship.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler commentate the action, starting a new taping in Rochester, New York. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on April 13 and drew a crowd of 6,000 fans.

Opening Contest: Mabel (w/Oscar) pins Jim Messenger after a DDT at 2:25:

The WWF is teasing a MOM breakup by putting Mabel and Mo in separate singles matches this week. Messenger tries to take Mabel to the canvas but Mabel falls on him to put a stop to that. Messenger should sell that more than he does but he casually gets up for Mabel to put him back down with a spinning heel kick. The squash was not interesting, boding ill for turning Mabel into a singles star.

Gorilla Monsoon discusses how he and other WWF superstars raised money for leukemia awareness.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels) (10-0) beats Razor Ramon (Champion) (13-0) after the Jackknife to win the title at 5:47 shown:

Seeking revenge from Monday, Ramon rushes the ring and tries to do a quick Razor’s Edge but Diesel backdrops out. Ramon does an impressive electric chair drop to escape a neck vice and spark a late rally until Michaels put a stop to it. As Diesel lays in knees in the corner, Michaels removes the turnbuckle. Ramon whips Diesel into that corner, causing Michaels to fly into the aisle but it has the effect of also stopping Diesel from eating the steel because Michaels blocked it. Diesel then reverses an Irish whip to send Ramon into the exposed turnbuckle and hits the Jackknife to capture his first singles championship. This breaks Ramon’s long 38-match winning streak that goes back to the previous August. A longer match would have been nice but it may also have overexposed Diesel. Rating: **½

As Ramon is knocked out in the ring, Diesel leaves with the title and Michaels, who comes to his senses, jumps into Diesel’s arms when he sees the big man with the title. Lawler uses the Royal Magistrator to draw a truck driving over Ramon’s body.

Thurman Plugg (10-1-1) defeats Tony DeVito after the Pit Stop Plunge at 2:46:

Plugg does not give DeVito an ounce of offense as McMahon chastises Lawler for making fun of Nikolai Volkoff on Monday Night RAW, even though nearly the entire heel roster has done so by now.

Todd Pettengill does the first King of the Ring Report. He announces that qualifying matches start next week on WWF Superstars. The first one will feature Scott Steiner against Irwin R. Schyster. Only Monday Night RAW and Superstars will have qualifying matches this year, further relegating Wrestling Challenge to the dustbin.

Duke Droese’s latest vignette sees him at a trash facility, calling out Jeff Jarrett, Adam Bomb, and Mr. Perfect so fans know for sure he is a babyface character. It makes one ponder what a heel garbage man gimmick would be like.

The Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette) (4-0) defeated P.J. Walker & Mike Khoury when Jimmy Del Ray pins Walker after the Veg-o-matic at 3:28:

Aside from having to sport the silly wings it is an open question whether the Bodies have been told to tone down their work. They do not use any creative double teams until they finish off Walker with a Veg-o-matic, winning arguably their worst squash match to date.

Doink the Clown is on vacation so Dink is interviewed by Lawler. It kind of ruins the Doink-Dink friendship when Doink would just leave his small friend to fend for himself. Dink comes onto the set with a baseball hat, glove, and ball. Lawler spams short jokes, holding the microphone over Dink’s head so he cannot respond. Doink’s music plays and he appears with a red box. He pulls out two pies but instead of using them on Lawler he smashes them in Dink’s face. Then he sprays silly string on Dink as well, topping it off with whipped cream, which gets some heat. As McMahon wonders whether Doink has turned heel, Dink falls off the platform and Doink pulls off rhis green wig to reveal Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett repeats his vow to get the last laugh on Doink.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (13-2) beats Jason Headings after a sit-down splash at 2:34:

Mike Colb is the guest ring announcer, a 40-year-old guy wearing a Doink t-shirt. It makes him look creepy in a John Wayne Gacy kind of way. Bigelow does not hold the t-shirt against Colb because he vanquished Doink at WrestleMania. Headings avoids Bigelow’s falling headbutt off the ropes but when he tries a sunset flip Bigelow just crashes his weight on top of him to block and score a tenth-straight singles win.

The new WWF videotape Inside the WWF releases on May 4!

Intercontinental Champion Diesel and Shawn Michaels get into a limousine backstage and stand through the sunroof as it drives away.

The latest Undertaker sighting comes from a traffic cop in an undisclosed location. He says a coffin fell out in the middle of the street, the Undertaker got out of it, and then walked into a local park before he disappeared.

A replay of the announcement of Diesel as the new Intercontinental champion ends the show.

Tune in next week to see Scott Steiner wrestle Irwin R. Schyster in a King of the Ring qualifying match! Also, Owen Hart, the 1-2-3 Kid, Jeff Jarrett, and Lex Luger will be in action! And Ted DiBiase will be on the Heartbreak Hotel!

The Last Word: Getting any title change on a syndicated program was a big deal. Diesel has rocketed up the card since Survivor Series when he was treated like an afterthought in the Razor Ramon-Irwin R. Schyster team elimination match. His elevation is also helping Shawn Michaels, who is developing an edge to go with his “Heartbreak Kid” character. If Michaels was not such a great athlete in the ring he would have made a great full-time manager and commentator. The show had a strong midcard angle for the Jeff Jarrett-Doink the Clown feud with Jarrett doing a great non-verbal impression of Doink throughout. Jarrett just needs to work on diversifying some of his promos as he is falling into the trap of saying the same thing too many times. In other news, the King of the Ring Tournament should be a boon for television over the coming months as it will allow fans to see feature matches with some stakes attached to them.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for May 1!

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!