What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – 05.30.94

All American Wrestling had an exclusive squash match. Here is the result of that match:

Lex Luger (13-2) beat Barry Horowitz via submission to the Rebel Rack at 2:07

Duke Droese is in a dumpster that is lowered from a dump truck. He says that he is going to be wrestling today.

Stan Lane and Ted DiBiase are calling today’s action, taped from Springfield, Massachusetts. Lane does not believe that DiBiase has contacted the Undertaker.

Opening Contest: Duke Droese (2-0) pins Tony DeVito after a tilt-a-whirl powerslam at 1:50 off the ropes:

Droese needs to work on slapping the hands of fans. He just throws himself into them by the guardrail instead. Based on some of his antics in the match, like taunting DeVito’s size and clapping a lot, it seems like the WWF wants Droese to fill a Bushwhacker-like role in the singles division.

Ray Rougeau interviews Intercontinental Champion Diesel. After putting over Bret Hart’s wrestling ability, he says he is going to shift gears and capture the WWF Championship. Again, Diesel’s weird cadence in these promos makes it tough to take him seriously. It is going to take more than win over Razor Ramon to make fans believe he can beat Bret.

The Smoking Gunns (10-1) beat Jim Messenger & Derek Domino when Billy pins Domino after the Sidewinder at 3:21:

DiBiase cracks Lane up by saying that Derek is Fats Domino’s son. The Gunns do a nice double team where Bart holds Domino up for a suplex and then Billy dropkicks Domino to complete the move. That preps the Sidewinder.

Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) (14-1) beats Tim McNeany after a leg drop at 2:19:

Crush rips up a poster of Lex Luger on his way to the ring. Yokozuna and Jim Cornette do an insert promo warning the Headshrinkers that they may not be able to find their heads after The King of the Ring. DiBiase hypes the heels combined weight for that match as Crush takes his time vanquishing McNeany, eventually using a leg drop for the win. After the match, Crush gives McNeany a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and puts a gaudy Lex Luger t-shirt on him. Then, Crush drops an elbow and stomps him.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (16-2) pins Tony Roy after the falling headbutt off the ropes in 53 seconds:

Vachon’s hair is disheveled for reasons that are not explained. Razor Ramon does a split screen promo where he claims that he is going to put Bigelow’s flames out in the King of the Ring Tournament. Bigelow pulverizes Roy with headbutts to win in less than a minute.

Vachon puts the boots to Roy after the match. That brings Alundra Blayze out. She lifts Vachon for a slam and awkwardly dumps her over the top rope into Bigelow’s arms. Bigelow gets in the ring to stand up for his woman and Vachon tries to clothesline Blayze from behind but miscommunication occurs instead. Then Blayze knocks Vachon out of the ring with a dropkick. The WWF is back to heating up the Blayze-Vachon feud because Vachon’s hand injury has healed.

Todd Pettengill does The King of the Ring Report. Jeff Jarrett says that facing the 1-2-3 Kid is going to be a guaranteed victory for him. Jerry Lawler argues that Roddy Piper is going to be able to collect on an insurance policy for his face.

Lex Luger (14-2) beats Reno Riggins via submission to the Rebel Rack at 2:07:

Crush does an insert promo about how Luger makes him sick and that Luger is going to have to find a way to survive on the WrestleMania Revenge Tour. Luger bowls over Riggins with clotheslines and racks him, earning his second win over Riggins this year. The piped in crowd noise gives the impression that the finish is like Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant in the Pontiac Silverdome. Speaking of Hogan, the WWF has Luger pose like he is Hogan at the end of the match.

The Quebecers (w/Johnny Polo) (10-4-1) beat Steve King & Paul Van Dale when Pierre pins Van Dale after the Boston Crab-flying leg drop combination at 2:41:

Van Dale had been an enhancement talent for the WWF since the late 1980s. In 1993 he wrestled three matches, losing to Mr. Perfect, Jimmy Snuka, and Owen Hart. His daughter would become WWE superstar Carmella.

Jacques may be leaving soon but he is still putting in good effort, screaming into the camera that the Quebecers will get their belts back from the Headshrinkers. The Quebecers share their double teams between their two opponents, winning a fun squash that would normally put the Quebecers back in the title mix. The Quebecers put extra English on the finish as Pierre does the flying leg drop off the top rope. During the finish Lane and DiBiase do a silly bit where Lane spills coffee on DiBiase. After winning, the Quebecers beat up King on the apron.

Tune in next week to see Razor Ramon, Irwin R. Schyster, Jeff Jarrett, WWF Tag Team Champions the Headshrinkers, Doink the Clown, and the Heavenly Bodies in action! And Owen Hart will appear for a special interview!

The Last Word: It is still nice to get some angles on a C-show so the Alundra Blayze-Luna Vachon interaction was welcomed. The Quebecers easily had the best match but unfortunately, their time is coming to an end.

After doing television tapings early in the week, the WWF headed back to Europe with its “A” circuit. Here were the results of one of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Nuremberg, Germany – Frankenhalle – May 29, 1994: The 1-2-3 Kid beat Thurman Plugg…The Bushwhackers defeated Kwang & Adam Bomb…Tatanka beat Irwin R. Schyster…Yokozuna defeated Mabel…WWF Tag Team Champions the Headshrinkers beat the Quebecers…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Owen Hart.

Backstage News*: Brian Lee will be working as a fake Undertaker. At television tapings a minority of fans bought the illusion but most chanted “fake” when he started working a match. In television production, the WWF is going to use Mark Calaway’s voice so the illusion remains decent as having Lee do some of that work exposed he was a fake to most of the crowd. The WWF has some tentative plans for there to be an Undertaker vs. Undertaker match, which will eventually lead to the fake Undertaker aligning with the real Undertaker.

-Jerry Jarrett has moved from Stamford, Connecticut back to Memphis, Tennessee and will no longer be part of the WWF’s creative team. Some think Jarrett might start a company to lease enhancement talent to major organizations so that they could save costs and liability.

-Monday Night RAW’s rating continues a wild swing, falling to a 3.0 this week.

-Raymond Rougeau & Virgil worked together in a dark match at television tapings this week, but it is unclear whether they were being tested for a run or were filling in.

-In talent relations news, the WWF gave tryouts this week to Bruiser Mastino, Vladimir Koloff, and Austin Steele. Typhoon has been signed for more matches to replace Earthquake. Well Dunn will also be returning after spending time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. There is interest in bringing back the British Bulldog, who left WCW before Starrcade last year.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for June 6.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for May 30!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1993 WWF, 1993-1994 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!