What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 08.20.94

Razor Ramon and Walter Payton let Intercontinental Champion Diesel know that time is ticking away on the rest of his reign. Payton promises that the Heartbreak Hotel will have a vacancy if Shawn Michaels tries to mess with him at SummerSlam.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, taped from Wheeling, West Virginia.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Diesel (Intercontinental Champion w/Shawn Michaels) (19-0-1) pins Kevin Krueger after the Jackknife at 1:43:

Diesel devastates Krueger with his usual power offense, finishing him with a big boot and Jackknife. Only one foot is needed for the cover.

In a special interview conducted earlier in the week, McMahon interviews Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart inside of a steel cage. The arena is darkened and blue lighting shines in the ring, giving the segment a cool aura. Owen promises to hurt WWF Champion Bret Hart because he ruined his childhood. McMahon announces that the match will be won by the first wrestler who can escape. Owen insists that Bret is scared, which means Owen will win like WrestleMania X. This was easily one of Owen’s better promos in this long feud.

Thurman Plugg (17-3-1) pins George Anderson with the flying body press at 1:54:

Plugg continues to, well, plug away in the midcard. He does nothing fancy except his finish, which wins the match in less than two minutes. The announcers prefer to use the match to talk about the Bret-Owen cage match.

Adam Bomb & the Smoking Gunns beat Kwang & Well Dunn (w/Harvey Wippleman) when Bomb pins Steven Dunn after a pumphandle slam at 5:04:

The heels have more unity than the babyface tandem since they come out together. Bomb is back to wearing a blue and yellow color scheme. In hyping the historical segment on All American Wrestling, Lawler points out that he once beat Andre the Giant. The match is a showcase for Bomb, who waits until the hot tag to enter and cleans Steven Dunn’s clock. Timothy Well and Kwang break up a pin after Bomb hits the Neutron Bomb so he takes advantage of heel miscommunication when Wippleman hops on the apron to and plants Dunn with a pumphandle slam for the win. No one in the match was over as the crowd was silent throughout. Despite that, the action was fine. Rating: **

Bam Bam Bigelow & Irwin R. Schyster (w/Ted DiBiase) (1-0) beat Sonny Rogers & Tom Stone when Bigelow pins Rogers after a back splash at 1:47:

Rogers was trained by Bob Sabre and Kevin Clayton and spent much of the 1980s as an enhancement talent for the AWA. He also worked as an enhancement talent for the WWF starting in 1987, a role he held regularly until 1990. In 1993, Rogers wrestled three matches, losing to Mr. Hughes, Ludvig Borga, and Bastion Booger.

As Bigelow pounds on Stone, the Headshrinkers and Captain Lou Albano appear in the split screen. Albano says that the champions are ready to face Bigelow and IRS at SummerSlam. Is that all the value that Albano has? That was the same promo he cut when the Headshrinkers were facing Yokozuna and Crush at The King of the Ring. DiBiase’s team does not have a lot of teamwork, winning after Bigelow hits Rogers with a double underhook backbreaker and back splash.

Paul Bearer is shown digging in a cemetery. He says that DiBiase’s Undertaker is evil and that the real Undertaker will come to SummerSlam and vanquish him.

Todd Pettengill provides the SummerSlam Report. WWF Champion Bret Hart tells his brother that wrestling in a cage is different than wrestling in the Dungeon and that SummerSlam will not be WrestleMania X. Lex Luger yells about how Tatanka has not been a good friend because he has jumped to conclusions. WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze delivers a wooden promo about how Bull Nakano and Luna Vachon will feel the heat. Nakano and Vachon rebut that the title is coming to Japan.

Tatanka (24-3-2) pins Todd Becker after the Papoose to Go at 1:10:

Becker, a Minneapolis, Minnesota talent, first did enhancement work for the WWF in 1989. He also did enhancement work for the AWA in 1989 and 1990. In 1993 he worked three televised WWF matches, losing to Kamala, Bastion Booger, and Adam Bomb.

A young boy named Trevor Nicholas is the guest fan ring announcer and does a good job since he knows how to speak into a microphone. Tatanka attacks Becker before the bell, which is heelish behavior. He has a split screen promo air as he crushes Becker, arguing that the world knows Luger sold out. Becker lands a few blows but did not scout Tatanka enough as he makes the mistake of taking Tatanka to the buckle and Tatanka goes on the warpath, adding another win with the Papoose to Go.

A tribute airs for referee Joey Marella. The WWF took a long time to acknowledge his death because they did not want to reveal that their shows were taped.

Tune in next week to see Duke Droese face Jeff Jarrett! Also, the Fake Undertaker and Ted DiBiase will be guests on the Heartbreak Hotel!

The Last Word: The action breezed by this week. The six-man tag was fine and Owen Hart had a good promo. Next week will be Duke Droese’s first feature test on television. He will be the underdog against Jeff Jarrett, who has been receiving a steady push in the midcard all year.

Up Next: Wrestling Challenge for August 21!

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