What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – 12.11.94

Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengill are in the booth, concluding the taping in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Charlie Minn is backstage, talking about how Lex Luger is talking strategy with his young flag bearer. What strategy is entailed in waving a flag is left to one’s imagination.

Opening Contest: Lex Luger (33-3-1) beats Owen Hart (42-4) after the running forearm at 6:57 shown:

Owen trips Luger when he gets to the ring and drags him to the floor. That backfires, though, as Owen gets whipped into the ring post. When the match gets into the ring Luger hits a flying clothesline off the second rope for two but has his early momentum cut off by a spinning heel kick. There is a good flow to the action as each man scores close near-falls when in control. Owen gets crotched going to the top rope, enabling Luger to hit a superplex and begin a quick comeback with clotheslines. He blasts Owen with the running forearm for a three count but Owen gets his boot on the ropes at the count of two. The referee does not see that, though, and awards the match to Luger. Rating: **¼

McMahon and Pettengill talk about the WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament. Pettengill picks Men on a Mission, Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart, the Bushwhackers, and the Smoking Gunns to win in the first round. He picks the Gunns to win the whole tournament.

Irwin R. Schyster (w/Two Druids) (32-3) pins Jason Ahrndt after the Write Off at 2:26:

IRS allows Ahrndt a few fluke near-falls as Ahrndt schoolboys him after a missed blind charge and gets a sunset flip later. The announcers wonder if IRS will audit Santa Claus next. IRS wins a faster paced squash than usual to push him closer to a big match with the Undertaker.

Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (11-2) beat J.S. Storm & Mike Haywood when Mabel pins Haywood after the assisted splash at 2:52:

Men on a Mission get this squash to build interest for their tournament match against Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka next week on Superstars. They tag in and out to wear down Storm, allowing Haywood to get tagged in so they can beat him down too. Mabel avalanches Haywood against the buckles to set up the assisted splash. At least Mo looked like he could hold his own in this encounter.

Bret Hart’s appearance at a Canadien dinner to raise money for the Special Olympics is shown. Fans are reminded that he will return to in-ring competition next month.

Tatanka (36-4-2) pins John Crystal after the End of the Trail at 4:07:

Ted DiBiase is not with Tatanka because this match aired on Wrestling Challenge as well where DiBiase was a color commentator. Crystal attacks Tatanka when he steps through the ropes and scores a body press off the ropes for a one count before breaking the cover. He follows up with a flying body press but that only gets a one count. After that, the squash becomes less exciting as Crystal takes a stun gun and Tatanka spends what feels like an eternity to put the enhancement talent away. Ending after the stun gun would have been nice.

Footage of Stephanie Wiand being unveiled by Santa Claus as a new host for WWF Mania yesterday is shown. Wiand was an aspiring actress that the WWF signed to replace Randy Savage on the show.

Duke Droese (20-2) beats Dave D’Amaglio after the Trash Compactor at 2:42:

Pettengill gushes over Wiand to the point that someone would think that Santa brought him a mail order bride instead of a new co-host. The best part of the squash is Pettengill dropping a news bit that Royal Rumble reports start next week. Droese swats away a D’Amaglio dropkick, sends him high into the air with a backdrop, delivers a running powerslam, and takes out the trash with the Trash Compactor. There was good effort here but Droese still moves awkwardly in the ring, which hurts his ability to move up the card.

King Kong Bundy (10-0) pins Jeff Hardy after the Avalanche at 1:46:

Ted DiBiase’s stable has invaded The Action Zone today. Bundy dominates the younger Hardy brother but what stands out is Hardy’s selling ability, which would get him called back for more work later. Hardy does a 360 degree sell from a Bundy clothesline and Bundy avalanches him for a five-count pin.

The British Bulldog (9-1) pins the Brooklyn Brawler after the running powerslam at 3:10:

The Brawler stalls a few times to get the Bulldog out of a rhythm, giving him the opportunity to land a few blows. However, a blind charge sends him shoulder-first into the ring post and the Bulldog mows him down with a clothesline, vertical suplex, and the running powerslam.

There is a replay of the controversial finish to the Lex Luger-Owen Hart match earlier in the show.

Tune in next week for a rematch between the 1-2-3 Kid & Aldo Montoya and the Heavenly Bodies!

The Last Word: Lex Luger and Owen Hart did not have a lot of matches against each other but had good chemistry. The rest of the squash matches were fine except for Tatanka’s. The Native American star has had nothing interesting happen with him since his heel turn at SummerSlam and he is no longer over with the crowds.

Wrestling Challenge had an exclusive match with Gorilla Monsoon and Ted DiBiase commentating:

The 1-2-3 Kid (25-5-1) pins Reno Riggins with a Northern Lights suplex at 3:35:

There is some discussion of how the Kid and Aldo Montoya were not invited to compete in the Tag Team Championship Tournament even though they have a win over the Bodies. DiBiase argues that if Montoya accepted his offer a few weeks ago that he would probably have made the tournament. Riggins is competitive with the Kid, stun gunning him and briefly working the back. The Kid suckers him into doing a second body guillotine, blasts him with a spinning heel kick and he counters a DDT attempt with a Northern Lights suplex to prevail. Rating: *

The WWF continued its European tour through England and Germany and also ran shows in New York during this week in its history. Here are the results of those cards, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Berlin, Germany – Deutschlandhalle – December 7, 1994 (10,000; sellout): Aldo Montoya beat Pierre…The Bushwhackers defeated Timothy Well & Barry Horowitz (substituting for Steven Dunn)…Duke Droese beat Kwang…Lex Luger defeated Tatanka…The Smoking Gunns defeated the Heavenly Bodies…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon beat Jeff Jarrett…The British Bulldog beat King Kong Bundy.

Syracuse, New York – Syracuse War Memorial – December 10, 1994 (1,500): The New Headshrinkers beat the Executioners…Adam Bomb pinned Bam Bam Bigelow…The 1-2-3 Kid pinned Nikolai Volkoff…Doink the Clown beat the Brooklyn Brawler (substituting for Jerry Lawler)…WWF Champion Diesel pinned Bob Backlund after the Jackknife in 37 seconds…Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart defeated Men on a Mission when Owen pinned Mo…The Undertaker pinned Irwin R. Schyster after the Tombstone.

Backstage News*: In Syracuse, Diesel got a pop for his entrance and for quickly beating Bob Backlund but attendance was half of what the WWF’s “B” shows do in smaller New York towns.

-Royal Rumble tickets moved quickly, with the bottom third of the building sold out by mail-order pre-sale by the time the general public had the chance to purchase seats.

-Monday Night RAW scored a high 3.3 rating since competition from the NFL has ebbed.

-WWF Women’s Champion Bull Nakano has been suspended for six weeks, causing her matches with Alundra Blayze to be cancelled.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for December 19.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for December 12!

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!