What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 10.29.94

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, wrapping up the taping in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Opening Contest: Adam Bomb (17-6) pins Mike Bell after a DDT at 2:23:

Bomb does not show any wear and tear from Bob Backlund’s crossface chicken wing on RAW. Bell throws several blows at Bomb throughout but Bomb does not sell them, doing a mixture of technical and power wrestling. Bomb opts to finish with a DDT instead of the pumphandle slam.

Todd Pettengill does The Survivor Series Report. Bob Backlund says he wants to turn his WWF title match into a submission match. New matches added to the card are another elimination match between the Bad Guys (Razor Ramon, the 1-2-3 Kid, the British Bulldog & the New Headshrinkers) against the Teamsters (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart) and a casket match between the Undertaker and Yokozuna. To prevent a repeat of The Royal Rumble, Chuck Norris will appear as a troubleshooting referee. The Undertaker and Paul Bearer are confident that Norris’ inclusion means that Yokozuna is going into the casket.

Jeff Jarrett (32-6-1) defeats Rich Myers via submission to the figure-four leglock at 2:37:

This marks the third time that fans have seen this matchup this year. Myers scores a fluke flying body press off the ropes for two after Jarrett finishes strutting like Ric Flair in a fun spot. Myers’ blind charge eats buckle and he tries one final offensive push with a body slam but Jarrett goes under a clothesline, chop blocks him, and works the leg until scoring the submission with the figure-four.

Irwin R. Schyster is shown kneeling by the grave of “John Dough,” the dead man who was in the hearse last week. IRS says that, like he suspected, Dough was a tax cheat for trying to deduct a birthday dinner of his daughter. $131.37 is owed, so IRS repossesses flowers on the grave to pay it off. He promises to investigate further because if Dough cheated once on his taxes he probably cheated more times. McMahon acts like all of this is akin to a war crime.

Non-Title Match: Razor Ramon (31-4) pins Gary Scott after the Razor’s Edge at 2:40:

When Ramon catches Scott’s body press off the ropes he carries him to the second rope to do the fallaway slam. After some stretching, Scott succumbs to the super backdrop suplex and the Razor’s Edge. When the match is over, Lawler uses the Royal Magistrator to draw a body cast over Ramon, which he believes will be Ramon’s condition after Survivor Series.

The New Headshrinkers (w/Afa & Captain Lou Albano) (1-0) beat Bob Starr & Barry Horowitz when Fatu pins Starr after the top rope splash at 2:58:

Matt Orsino is the guest ring announcer, doing a better job than most. Even McMahon was impressed. The new Headshrinkers duo do not have matching tights so Afa and Albano are doing a poor job as managers. Horowitz gives Fatu some DDTs but Fatu’s thick head just causes him to bounce up and he knocks Horowitz down with a thrust kick. Sione mauls Starr but Fatu tells him to take it easy on the apron, which is not traditional Headshrinkers behavior. The top rope splash finishes as the Headshrinkers seem to be falling further behind in the Tag Team title race.

Jim Neidhart (w/Owen Hart) (14-1) beats Mike Khoury via submission to the Camel Clutch at 1:32:

Neidhart enjoys tossing Khoury around the ring, later catching a body press attempt and slamming him. The short squash makes this less dull than Neidhart’s past outings. After the bell, Owen snaps Hitman shades back in Khoury’s face.

McMahon does an in-ring interview with the Million Dollar Team from the Hart Attack Tour. Ted DiBiase casts his squad as eliminators, saying that Bam Bam Bigelow will take care of Adam Bomb and King Kong Bundy will neutralize Mabel. Jim Cornette talks about how DiBiase is giving he and the Heavenly Bodies good money to take out the Smoking Gunns. To close, DiBiase calls Lex Luger a big loser who will fail to run the gauntlet against his team.

Mabel (18-2) pins Nick Barberri after the leg drop at 1:24 shown:

Barberri gets in a cheap shot when Mabel goes for a handshake and Mabel responds by tossing him across the ring. Barberri goes for a body slam but he is not Lex Luger so that does not happen. A spinning heel kick and big leg drop end the squash in less than 90 seconds.

Tune in next week to see Billy Gunn wrestle Tatanka! Also, Doink the Clown, Diesel, and Duke Droese will be in action!

The Last Word: The matches were filler while Survivor Series announcements took center stage. A submission match is the best use of Bret Hart and Bob Backlund and fits Backlund’s gimmick so that is a wise choice to add intrigue to the WWF title match. Chuck Norris’ inclusion as a special enforcer was a nice touch for the casket match but it is a hard sell as a main event when the WWF has been featuring that for months on the Hart Attack Tour and several big markets have already seen it.

Up Next: The Action Zone for October 30!

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!