What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – 06.19.94

Stan Lane and Ted DiBiase are in the booth, taped from Canton, Ohio.

Ray Rougeau interviews WWF Champion Bret Hart. Bret repeats lines from previous promos, emphasizing that he is going to run over Diesel at The King of the Ring.

Opening Contest: Jeff Jarrett (18-3) beats Gary Sabaugh via submission to the figure-four leglock at 2:48:

The 1-2-3 Kid tells Jarrett that it is time to put up or shut up at The King of the Ring. Jarrett has a few nerdy fans in the front row. That will not get him a music contract but it provides some encouragement for him as he whips Sabaugh’s knee into the ring post and submits him with a figure-four.

Crush & Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) (1-0) beat Marty Garner & Kenny Hendrix when Yokozuna pins Hendrix after a leg drop to the back of the head at 3:46:

Garner and Hendrix have more unity than most enhancement tandems, wearing matching zebra stripe singlets. WWF Tag Team Champions the Headshrinkers, Afa, and Captain Lou Albano do a split screen promo, screaming about how they are ready for The King of the Ring. The only fun thing about the squash is Garner taking another crazy bump, flipping over after taking a double chokeslam from Crush and Yokozuna.

Duke Droese (4-0) pins Derec Stone after the Trash Compactor at 2:40:

Lane and DiBiase have a thrilling discussion about the virtues of being a sanitation worker. DiBiase argues that Droese is like the Bushwhackers, an apt description of Droese’s ceiling with this gimmick. That is unless the WWF were to put an edge to the character and have him find out secrets from the talent by going through their discarded notes and items. Droese does fine working the crowd but his in-ring work does not have a good rhythm to it. His finish is called the Trash Compactor.

The 1-2-3 Kid (8-1) beats Austin Steele after a tornado DDT at 2:24:

The Kid and Jeff Jarrett were left out of the big brawl on WWF Superstars between King of the Ring qualifiers so they are left to cut promos against each other. Jarrett does an insert bit about how the Kid will be the first of his three victims in the tournament. For a Kid squash this is not a good one but he does use a nice tornado DDT as a finish. He should have used that move more.

Todd Pettengill does the final King of the Ring Report. Razor Ramon promises to snuff out Bam Bam Bigelow’s fire. Owen Hart says that the pay-per-view will be his day so that means it will be Tatanka’s unlucky day. Pettengill makes different King of the Ring predictions, saying that fans may get an Irwin r. Schyster-Tatanka final, with Tatanka winning. Jerry Lawler alleges that Roddy Piper is nervous to face him. Intercontinental Champion Diesel and Shawn Michaels talk of turning WWF Champion Bret Hart into a hood ornament. Diesel also screams about becoming the WWF after he gets both singles titles.

Irwin R. Schyster (16-2) defeats Billy Koby via submission to the Penalty at 3:45:

IRS tells fans that even though Canton is the home of the NFL Hall of Fame it should be known as the Hall of Tax Cheats. He wears down Koby with multiple holds as Lane wonders if IRS can submit Mabel with the Penalty. In the split screen, Mabel and Oscar say it is time for him to pay a ghetto tax. Koby gets a fluke sunset flip for two but cannot go further than that, submitted with the Penalty after a boring three minutes.

The Last Word: The last squash does not bode well for IRS’ first round match against Mabel in the King of the Ring Tournament unless the WWF keeps it short. For fans who got this episode in their market on Sunday they probably wondered why so many wrestlers in The King of the Ring were wrestling on the same day as a pay-per-view, especially the tournament participants.

Leading into The King of the Ring the WWF continued its WrestleMania Revenge Tour. Here was the result of the card when they hit the Philadelphia Spectrum, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The Philadelphia Spectrum – June 18, 1994 (5,000): The 1-2-3 Kid beat Kwang…WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze beat Luna Vachon…Howard Finkel defeated Harvey Wippleman in a tuxedo match…Jeff Jarrett defeated Doink the Clown…Lex Luger beat Crush…Irwin R. Schyster defeated Tatanka via disqualification…Yokozuna beat Typhoon…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Owen Hart.

Up Next: King of the Ring ’94!

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