What the World Was Watching: WWF Action Zone – 10.23.94

Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengill commentate the first edition of The Action Zone, taped from White Plains, New York. The Action Zone and Wrestling Challenge typically shared a taping site so that was the case here. As noted before, this show replaced All American Wrestling on Sundays at noon on USA Network.

The opening video of the show has some synthesized sounds and shows off some high impact moves. It is a better intro than the spastic one that was given to Wrestling Challenge a while back.

Charlie Minn welcomes fans to the show, hyping the feature match. He catches Owen Hart coming to the ring. Owen reiterates that he is going to take the WWF title from his brother on today’s program.

Opening Contest for the WWF Championship: Bret Hart (Champion) (8-3) beats Owen Hart (38-2) after the British Bulldog interferes at 14:43 shown:

Before the match, Owen snatches the WWF title belt from the referee and poses with it for a while. He throws his shades at Bret, who catches them and gives them to a fan at ringside, who is not happy to receive them. Pettengill is worthless as a commentator, wanting to throw in random jokes that detract from some of the seriousness of the match. Jim Neidhart comes to ringside two minutes in when Owen takes a powder, making his presence felt by tripping Bret when he runs the ropes. That brings the British Bulldog out to even the odds. The smooth, technical ring work that has been in their other matches is on display again, although it gets chopped up by commercial breaks. Neidhart intervenes again behind the referee’s back to whip Bret’s leg into the ring post several times, allowing Owen to work over the body part for some near-falls. Bret stops an Owen dive off the top rope after a second commercial break, transitioning into the moves of doom. Neidhart prevents Owen from getting pinned after the second rope elbow drop, putting Owen’s leg over the bottom rope. Owen blocks a Sharpshooter but Bret blocks a suplex. He goes for a superplex but Owen blocks that by throwing Bret off the ropes. Before he can do something, though, the Bulldog hops on the apron and pushes Owen off. Owen gets crotched on the top rope and falls to the canvas and Bret covers to retain. Owen could have shown more desperation in the match since this was his last shot at the title, which was something the commentary team also failed to sell well. The ending was a bit disappointing as the last title match between these two should have had a more definitive finish. It was a gutsy effort by Bret, who had cracked his pelvis at a house show and was in a lot of pain. Rating: ***½

As Owen and Neidhart retreat to the locker room, Bret tells fans that he is going to give Bob Backlund a title match. No reason is given for this change of heart by the champion so that is lazy storytelling.

Minn is backstage with Backlund, who is skeptical that he is getting a title match until he gets a contract.

The Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette) (15-0) beat Rich Myers & Gary Scott when Tom Prichard pins Scott after a flying knee drop at 3:19:

The enhancement talents frustrate Prichard but Jimmy Del Ray gets the team on the right track by superkicking Myers and giving him a stun gun. McMahon and Pettengill make fun of former Dallas Cowboys football coach Jimmy Johnson, saying that he picked Owen in the WWF title match because he makes a lot of bad picks in his new role as an NFL analyst. Prichard struggles with the Bodies opponents again, but Del Ray rights the ship a second time by giving Scott a devastating gourdbuster. That sets up a Prichard flying knee drop as Prichard gets a rare squash winning pin for the duo.

Tatanka (w/Ted DiBiase) (30-4-2) pins Mike Moraldo after the End of the Trail at 3:40:

Pettengill argues that DiBiase tries to keep The Action Zone off the air so he could keep his gig on All American Wrestling. To Tatanka’s credit, he is starting to wrestle better as a heel by showing more fire in beating down his opponents. Moraldo helps that by doing a 360 degree sell from a clothesline. Even though the squash lasts a long time, it is not a plodding match as Moraldo scores near-falls from a reverse flying body press and schoolboy roll up. When the match ends, Tatanka angrily stomps Moraldo and delivers another End of the Trail.

Adam Bomb (15-6) pins Bob Starr after the pumphandle slam at 2:26:

Bomb does not get an entrance. McMahon shifts his ire at NFL talking head Howie Long, saying that he has given up and tuned into The Action Zone. Bomb’s program with Bam Bam Bigelow is not mentioned as McMahon announces that next week’s show will see WWF Tag Team Champions Shawn Michaels & Diesel defend against Razor Ramon & the 1-2-3 Kid. Starr mounts no offense as Bomb destroys him with power moves.

After the IRS vignette from Superstars airs, Pettengill piles onto the NFL shots by saying that NBC’s NFL ratings were in the hearse.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (6-1) defeats Mike Bell after the Tombstone at 2:36:

Bearer now carries around the ridiculously oversized urn he brought to SummerSlam. Everything goes wrong for Bell as the Undertaker kicks him in the gut to start the match, knocks him out of the ring, and pins him after a flying shoulder block and Tombstone.

Minn reiterates how next week’s show will have a Tag Team title match. He is unfazed as the Undertaker walks past him, which McMahon probably hated.

Tune in next week to see WWF Tag Team Champions Shawn Michaels & Diesel defend the titles against Razor Ramon & the 1-2-3 Kid!

The Last Word: This was a successful debut of the show even though the digs at professional sports leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Football League got old. Next week’s booking of a Tag Team title match shows that the WWF is serious at making the show work, even if it is just a more glorified edition of Wrestling Challenge.

On Wrestling Challenge there were a few squash matches that did not air on The Action Zone. Gorilla Monsoon and Ted DiBiase commentated them.

Jim Neidhart (w/Owen Hart) (13-1) defeats Cory Student via submission to the Camel Clutch at 3:06:

Neidhart shows off some of his power by hiptossing the bulky Student across the ring and slamming him. After that energetic opening, things slow down a lot as Neidhart takes his time to lay in punches and stomps. Owen is good for a soundbite about how he came to ringside for a fight but Neidhart is killing his opponent instead. Since Bob Backlund gets triggered thinking about his loss to the Iron Sheik in 1983 it seems odd that he is fine that someone on the roster is using the move that beat him. After the match, Owen brings back the Hitman shades routine as Neidhart keeps Student locked into the Camel Clutch.

The 1-2-3 Kid (20-4-1) pins Nick Barberri after a spinning heel kick at 2:58:

Barberri is resilient, brushing off some heel kicks and a dropkick against the corner to beat on the Kid and score a near-fall after a suplex. However, he takes too long going to the top rope, gets thrown off, and the Kid blasts him with a spinning heel kick for a seventh-straight victory.

After doing television tapings, the WWF went to do house shows in Canada. Its card in Montreal had Jacques Rougeau’s farewell match and drew the biggest house show crowd of the year. Here were the results of some of these shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada – October 20, 1994: P.J. Walker pinned Abe Schwartz with a reverse cradle…WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze pinned Bull Nakano with a German suplex…The Smoking Gunns defeated the Heavenly Bodies following the Sidewinder…The British Bulldog pinned Owen Hart with a reverse cradle…King Kong Bundy defeated Doink the Clown when Doink failed to body slam Bundy…Lex Luger beat Tatanka via submission to the Rebel Rack.

Montreal, Quebec, Canada – The Montreal Forum – October 21, 1994 (16,843; 15,534 paid; sellout): Adam Bomb pinned Kwang after the pumphandle slam…The Bushwhackers defeated Well Dunn after reversing a small package behind the referee’s back…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon pinned Jeff Jarrett after the Razor’s Edge. Jarrett initially won the match via count out but demanded it resume so he could have a chance to win the title…Irwin R. Schyster pinned Bob Holly with a Flair pin…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Jim Neidhrt with a roll up after heel miscommunication with Jeff Jarrett, who had helped Neidhart beat up Bret before the match started at 8:26…The Undertaker beat Yokozuna in a casket match…Diesel pinned Sione with the Jackknife…Jacques Rougeau (w/Ray Rougeau) pinned Pierre (w/Johnny Polo) with a flying body press. Rougeau used “We Are the Champions” as his theme song. After the match, Jacques and Pierre shook hands.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Maple Leaf Gardens – October 23, 1994 (3,500; matinee): The Bushwhackers defeated Well Dunn…WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze beat Bull Nakano…Lex Luger wrestled Tatanka to a double count out…Irwin R. Schyster beat Bob Holly…Diesel beat Sionne…The British Bulldog defeated Jim Neidhart…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund…The Undertaker beat Yokozuna in a casket match.

Backstage News*: Before a WWF Superstars taping on October 18, Vince McMahon held a meeting with the roster and had them watch a tape of his recent interview with Chet Coppock, arguing that his responses are what they need to say when it comes to WCW or steroids. He also told talent that they need to kayfabe more. The meeting ended with Bret Hart reportedly ranting about how The Wrestling Observer would report on the meeting and Dave Meltzer does not rate his matches well.

-The recent Monday Night RAW drew a 2.8 rating, better than most recent episodes.

-Bret may be wanting to take a chance on Hollywood. His agent Carl Demarco is negotiating with Alliance Productions for Bret to do two action films. George Steele is also looking for more movie roles after people liked his performance in Ed Wood.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for October 31.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for October 24!

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