What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 01.06.96

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross are in the booth, taped from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on December 19 in the midst of a blizzard but 1,500 fans still attended.

The first match of the show is scheduled to be Ahmed Johnson against Jerry Lawler to build off a confrontation at In Your House 5. However, Lawler limps to the ring on crutches and tells Johnson that he broke a bone in his leg so he cannot wrestle. He brings Spider #2, who he dubs “The Royal Spider” to replace him.

Opening Contest: Ahmed Johnson beats the Royal Spider (w/Jerry Lawler) after the Pearl River Plunge at 2:17:

Ahmed made a quick impact upon his arrival in the WWF in late October, becoming only the second man to body slam Yokozuna. Cast as a fan favorite, he went unbeaten in eight matches, winning fans over with a physical, hard-hitting style. As the year began, he was feuding with old USWA rival Jeff Jarrett, who attacked him at In Your House 5. To many observers, Ahmed was a good bet to be the first Black wrestler to win the WWF Championship.

The Royal Spider was Glenn Ruth under a mask. Ruth was a Larry Sharpe trainee who started his career in 1990, working as a WWF enhancement talent until 1993. He started to team with Chaz Warrington in 1994, working as the Spiders in Northeast and Texas independent promotions. In 1995 they arrived in Smoky Mountain Wrestling but started wearing skirts and painted their faces, going by the Headbangers. Ruth was known as Thrasher on the team and it was this gimmick that would get him noticed as something more than an enhancement talent, although his bigger break in the WWF would have to wait until 1997.

Seconds into the match, Jarrett comes to ringside and distracts Johnson. The Spider dropkicks Ahmed over the top rope and Ahmed chases Jarrett to the locker room. However, he is not stupid and does not get counted out, returning to the ring to pulverize the Spider with a scissor kick, spinebuster, and his Pearl River Plunge finisher. As the referee counts the fall, Lawler walks to the locker room, showing that he is not really injured.

Dok Hendrix announces on the Slam Jam segment that Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon will defend his title against Goldust at The Royal Rumble. Goldust quotes Sleepless in Seattle, arguing that he looks forward to oozing with Ramon. New names added to the Royal Rumble match include Fatu, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem, Doug Gilbert from the USWA, and a returning Jake Roberts.

Isaac Yankem pins Brian Walsh after the DDS at 2:47:

Yankem was an evil dentist gimmick handed to independent wrestler Glenn Jacobs, who came onto the WWF’s radar screen because of his work as Unabom in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). While in SMW, he was tag team partners with Eddie Gilbert and Al Snow, feuding with the Rock N’ Roll Express and winning the SMW Tag Team Championship. At SMW’s big Superbowl of Wrestling card in August 1995, Unabom wrestled and lost to the Undertaker and eight days later lost a loser leaves town match to Tracy Smothers and the Dirty White Boy, thereby freeing him to wrestle in the WWF. Serving as a way for Jerry Lawler to get back at Bret Hart, Yankem clashed with Bret at SummerSlam, losing via disqualification. The feud between the two carried into October, where Yankem lost a cage match to Bret on Monday Night RAW with Lawler suspended above the ring. After that, Yankem headed down the card because his gimmick was suited for one feud and that program was done. Without a repackaging, he was not long for the WWF.

Walsh was a light heavyweight wrestler who was trained by Killer Kowalski. He broke into the business in 1984 and started appearing on WWF television as an enhancement talent in 1994. In 1995 he appeared in nine matches, losing to Avatar, Bob Holly, Hakushi, Hunter-Hearst Helmsley, Jean-Pierre LaFitte (twice), Sid, the Blue Brothers, and the Smoking Gunns.

To show had terrible Yankem’s gimmick is, the announcers talk about how bad his breath is and using it as a reason fans should hate him. There is some token hype for Yankem’s Rumble chances but more time is spent talking about Tatanka and Jake Roberts participating. Yankem does show athleticism in case the WWF ever wants to take advantage of it, springboarding off the top rope to hit Walsh, who is dangling off the ropes. Yankem’s finisher is a DDT but it is called the DDS because he is a dentist, you see.

Perfect does an in-ring interview with Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon. Perfect does not let Ramon speak much, arguing that Ramon’s masculinity is making him vulnerable to Goldust’s mind games. He presents Ramon with a Goldust teddy bear on behalf of the challenger but Ramon throws the gift down and leaves the ring without saying a word.

Ted DiBiase calls Brother Love, confirming that he will be on his show on Monday Night RAW and he will bring the new Million Dollar champion with him.

A video package recaps the Skip-Rad Radford feud.

Skip (w/Sunny) beats Rad Radford after Zip interferes at 5:47 shown:

Skip was Chris Candido, managed by his real-life girlfriend Tammy Sytch, who was named Sunny. They worked together in Smoky Mountain Wrestling at the beginning of 1995 but left in February to join the WWF. Dubbed by the Bodydonnas, they were given an evil fitness guru gimmick where they criticized fans for being out of shape. After winning some squashes, Skip’s place on the WWF totem pole was established in the low midcard as he lost to perennial enhancement talent Barry Horowitz on The Action Zone and feuded with him all summer and into the fall. The feud never got a defined blowoff as their program’s elimination match was used at the Survivor Series to elevate the newly turned 1-2-3 Kid. While feuding Horowitz, Skip and Radford became teammates as Skip and Sunny tried to get him into shape but he kept falling short. Radford did pin Horowitz in a singles match but he and Skip failed to win the Tag Team titles, causing Sunny to toss Radford out of the group and cause a small feud between Radford and his former allies.

Radford was Louie Spicolli, who came to the WWF after a stint in Mexico’s AAA promotion as Madonna’s Boyfriend. He debuted in May, cast as a grunge fan. The gimmick was never explored much, though, aside from Radford wearing his hat backward and some denim. After some squash wins, he had a brief two-week program on The Action Zone with Shawn Michaels, which he lost, and then jobbed to bigger acts like Bret Hart, Ahmed Johnson, and Diesel. His team with Skip offered the possibility of something to do in the tag ranks but, as noted above, that did not go anywhere as the team failed to defeat the Smoking Gunns for the Tag Team titles.

The match is a run of the mill television encounter where each wrestler gets an equal share of offense. Radford gets the biggest moves, starting a comeback with a superduper overhead belly-to-belly suplex. The referee catches Skip doing a Flair pin late and Radford hits his trademark spinebuster moments later. Radford then delivers his finishing Northern Lights suplex but the referee is distracted by Sunny, allowing another Bodydonna who looks like Skip to get into the ring, drop an elbow on Radford, and that is enough for Skip to defeat his former tag team partner. This would be Radford’s last televised match for the WWF. After a house show match a day after this show he overdosed on somas and was hospitalized. The WWF released him as long as he did not go to WCW, so Radford went to ECW instead, where he would wrestle until getting a WCW contract in 1997. Sadly, he never beat his drug habit and died of an overdose in February 1998. Rating: **

After the match, Sunny castigates Radford for costing her the Tag Team titles in the past. Because Radford was a failure, Sunny says she had to get Skip’s twin brother to come to the WWF and announces his name as Flip. However, that did not work due to copyright reasons so the WWF had to recast the name as Zip. To make the switch, the announcers talk over Sunny and interpret what she “says” to the fans. Ross’ response is comedy gold, yelling “What kind of name is Zip?”

A video package hypes Vader’s participation in the Royal Rumble.

There is a vignette for a superstar who is missing an ear. The superstar wishes us a “Happy New Year!”

There is a replay of the Undertaker-Mabel casket match from In Your House 5.

Hendrix’s Slam Jam segment provides more Royal Rumble hype. WWF Champion Bret Hart tells the Undertaker to “wake up to the real world” and that he is going to need all of the help he can get to win the WWF title.

Footage shows Hunter Hearst Helmsley spending time with Ashley Allen at his mansion. They drink a toast and he argues that 1996 is going to be a good year for “Triple H,” the first time that he has used that moniker.

Tune in next week to see Henry Godwinn face Owen Hart! Also, Barry Horowitz faces Goldust! And Jeff Jarrett will be in action!

The Last Word: This show followed a lot of the same formula as Monday Night RAW, throwing in a match from In Your House 5 and parrying that with a significant feature match. There were some elements that will matter later in company history as there is the first mention of “Triple H,” Ted DiBiase hypes his chosen Million Dollar champion, and there is the first promo of a newfangled character with one ear. It is sad to see Louie Spicolli go as he was a solid worker in this period but the company could ill afford any more bad public relations just a year and a half after Vince McMahon’s steroid trial.

For the first week of 1996 the WWF did a house show loop through its traditional territory in the New York and Connecticut area. Here are the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Long Island, New York – The Nassau Coliseum – January 5, 1996 (5,100): Fatu pinned Bob Backlund with a roll up. After the match, Backlund put Fatu in the crossface chicken wing…The Bodydonnas defeated Marty Jannetty & Barry Horowitz when Zip pinned Horowitz after a fallaway powerbomb…Goldust pinned Bob Holly after the Curtain Call…Henry Godwinn defeated Rad Radford with the Slop Drop…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated Jerry Lawler & Isaac Yankem when Bart pinned Lawler. Lawler originally pinned Bart after hitting him with a foreign object but the match was restarted…Savio Vega beat Hunter Hearst Helmsley via disqualification when Helmsley began whipping Vega with his belt…Diesel & Razor Ramon defeated Sid & Jeff Jarrett (substituting for the 1-2-3 Kid) when Ramon pinned Sid with a roll up…Ahmed Johnson defeated the British Bulldog via disqualification when Jeff Jarrett interfered…Bret Hart & the Undertaker beat Owen Hart & Yokozuna when the Undertaker pinned Owen after the Tombstone.

Albany, New York – Knickerbocker Arena – January 7, 1996 (4,700): Fatu pinned Bob Backlund with a roll up…Savio Vega defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley via disqualification when Helmsley took his belt off and whipped Vega…The Bodydonnas beat Bob Holly & Barry Horowitz when Zip pinned Horowitz. Rad Radford was the special guest referee…Goldust pinned Henry Godwinn with a roll up…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated Isaac Yankem & the British Bulldog (substituting for Jerry Lawler)…Ahmed Johnson pinned Owen Hart after the Pearl River Plunge…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon pinned Jeff Jarrett after the Razor’s Edge…The Undertaker pinned Yokozuna after a flying shoulderblock…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Diesel in a steel cage match by escaping the cage.

Backstage News*: Vader wanted to hold off his arrival until after he had shoulder surgery on January 9 but Vince McMahon pushed for Vader to come in for the Royal Rumble because he wanted a big announcement for Monday Night RAW. A contract has not been agreed to but it is believed the WWF will allow Vader to work major Japan shows, including one against Antonio Inoki in Los Angeles on March 3 that is being promoted by WCW.

-Razor Ramon is unhappy about his feud with Goldust. He and members of the Kliq (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and the 1-2-3 Kid) hate the Goldust gimmick. Ramon is trying to get the feud switched to him facing Helmsley.

-In talent relations news, the Ultimate Warrior was contacted to appear at the Royal Rumble but the Warrior did not show up for interviews and the WWF rebuffed the Warrior’s demand for a guaranteed contract. Rick Martel was not contacted to appear but Dan Severn was, not giving an answer yet. The WWF using Dory Funk, Jr. in the Royal Rumble is an attempt to create a relationship with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Funk will be joined in the match by All Japan’s Takao Omori. The Xanta Claus gimmick has been scrapped because it was not working and John Rechner, who played it, has been released.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for January 9.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for January 8!

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!