What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 06.11.94

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are commentating, starting a new taping cycle in Erie, Pennsylvania. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 3,500 fans attended but it was a papered crowd.

Opening Contest: Crush & Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) defeat the Smoking Gunns (12-1) when Yokozuna pins Billy after a leg drop at 7:33 shown:

The Gunns rush the ring and knock their opponents to the floor. Crush wrestles most of the match for his team, which is not a surprise, and the commercial break cuts off a good portion of the heat segment on Bart. There is a frenzied finish after the hot tag as all four men brawl and the Gunns do mounted corner punches to their opponents. Yokozuna backdrops Bart out of the ring but Billy floors Yokozuna with a flying forearm off the second rope and nearly wins. He cannot fight off two men, though, and Crush gorilla press slams him and Yokozuna follows up with the leg drop to give the heels a hard-fought win. McMahon puts over the Gunns fighting spirit in defeat. Both of their losses have been to makeshift teams involving Crush this year. Rating: **¼

Stan Lane talks about some awards that the WWF has won for its “Unbelievable!” campaign.

Doink the Clown (w/Dink) (18-1) pins Derek Stone after the Whoopie Cushion at 1:58:

Stone was a trainee of Charlie Fulton, starting his career in 1993 using the ring name Cornette.

The new enhancement talent gets a few shots in but Doink suplexes him when he puts his head down too early on an Irish whip. McMahon and Lawler hype Doink’s feud with Jeff Jarrett as he works the arm and wins with the Whoopie Cushion.

Lawler says that Roddy Piper is ugly and he is out to make the children in Canada cry. Piper provides a taped rebuttal from the boardwalk, promising to bring the impersonator with him to The King of the Ring. He says it will be a secret. Announcing it publicly is not a secret, though.

Get the new WWF Magazine! Diesel is on the cover. The announcers hype a story about Stan Lane.

Irwin R. Schyster (15-2) defeats Kenny Hendrix via submission to the Penalty in 58 seconds:

Like Derek Stone, Hendrix was a Charlie Fulton trainee who began wrestling in 1993. He also received training from past WWF enhancement talent Ron Cumberledge. Hendrix wrestled one WWF enhancement match in 1993, working under the name Ken Hamilton. He lost to Doink the Clown. Later in life Hendrix became a stunt performer.

David Paul is the guest ring announcer and IRS shut him down on the way to the ring, arguing that the biggest tax cheats of the week are Tatanka, Oscar, and Mabel. Oscar and Mabel do a split screen promo to hype the King of the Ring match, saying IRS has written a check that his body cannot cash. Hendrix gets a fluke body press off the ropes for a one count and IRS quickly locks in the Penalty thereafter.

Todd Pettengill does The King of the Ring Report. WWF Champion Bret Hart delivers a messy promo, saying he is not going to let Shawn Michaels be a factor in the outcome of his match against Diesel.

Duke Droese (3-0) pins Reno Riggins after the tilt-a-whirl powerslam off the ropes at 1:50:

Riggins gets some good work out of Droese, overselling his power moves. There is some comedy as Riggins puts Droese in a headlock and screams “I’ve got him!” just to have Droese whip him off the ropes and hit a powerslam. That leads to the tilt-a-whirl powerslam off the ropes and Riggins’ defeat.

Ted DiBiase is this week’s guest on the Heartbreak Hotel. Before he makes an entrance, Shawn Michaels says he is confident that Diesel is going to bring their group the WWF Championship. DiBiase is happy that he has found the Undertaker and has him come out. Lights near the entrance show that it is not the real Undertaker because his face is different. DiBiase has the Undertaker speak and “the Undertaker” says that people should fear his wrath. As noted by Dave Meltzer, the WWF put Mark Calaway’s voice over this promo in post-production so it sounded like the Undertaker. Arena reports said that the crowd quickly turned when they realized DiBiase had an imposter. The imposter was Brian Lee, a former Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight champion.

Jeff Jarrett (17-3) defeats Marty Garner via submission to the figure-four leglock at 2:11:

Garner was a North Carolina wrestler who went by the name Cham Pain on the independent circuit. He would achieve some recognition later in the decade in ECW as Puck Dupp.

The 1-2-3 Kid does an insert promo, promising to bring everything he has to the King of the Ring Tournament. Garner’s inexperience shows in the match as he has problems bumping for some of Jarrett’s moves. Despite that, he manages to hit a flying body press for two and then takes a sick bump to the floor when he tries a plancha and misses. It is refreshing to see an enhancement talent pull out all the stops to try to win after they catch their big break. After that, Jarrett’s leg work and figure-four seem unnecessary to get the win.

Tune in next week to see Mabel face Nikolai Volkoff! Also, Razor Ramon, Owen Hart, and WWF Tag Team Champions the Headshrinkers will be in action! And Diesel will be interviewed on the Heartbreak Hotel!

The Last Word: Mabel vs. Nikolai Volkoff sounds terrible next week but that is unfortunately where the WWF midcard is heading. Still, it is good to see feature matches continue on Superstars as the WWF fights hard to keep it in syndication. This was a fun show to keep the hype going for The King of the Ring. There was also the beginning of the Undertaker vs. Undertaker angle that has been reported in various newsletters.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for June 12!

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!