What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 01.27.96

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross call the action, kicking off a new taping in San Jose, California that took place on January 23.

Opening Contest: Duke Droese (2-0) pins Steve Rizzono after the Trash Compactor at 2:20:

Rizzono was in the early stages of his career, wrestling his first match on March 29, 1995. He received training at the All Pro Wrestling School in California. While working for All Pro Wrestling he became a Tag Team champion with Mike Modest and Tony Jones. Both of those teammates appeared in the 1999 wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat.

Perfect insists that Hunter Hearst Helmsley would have won the Royal Rumble if he had received the #30 number, blaming WWF President Gorilla Monsoon for his misfortunes. Droese pummels Rizzono, defeating him after a clothesline, powerslam, and the Trash Compactor.

When the match is over, Droese brings his trash can into the ring and poses. Helmsley attacks him from behind and Pedigrees him on the trash can lid. That is not enough, though, as Helmsley takes some scissors out of his pocket and cuts Droese’s hair.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam hypes In Your House 6.

Intercontinental Champion Goldust does a taped promo, telling Razor Ramon that he could not tell fact from fiction, positioning his overtures to Ramon as a great acting job.

Footage of Ahmed Johnson being taken to the hospital at The Royal Rumble after taking the guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett is shown. The impact of this would have been more pronounced if Ahmed did a stretcher job at the event rather than running to the locker room afterward.

Justin Bradshaw (w/Zebekiah) defeats Bob Holly after a lariat at 3:46:

Bradshaw was a minor league professional football player who received training from Black Bart and Brad Rheingans, beginning his journey in wrestling in the fall of 1992. The first promotion he worked for was Global, going by John Hawk, and winning the Tag Team titles there with Bobby Duncum, Jr. He would win those titles with Bart later. To polish his resume, Bradshaw went abroad to work in Japan for Network of Wrestling (NOW), Mexico’s CMLL promotion, and Otto Wanz’s CWA. While in the CWA he won more Tag Team gold, this time with Cannonball Grizzly. After kicking around the Texas independent scene when he was not traveling abroad, he got a WWF tryout in late 1995 and was signed.

Holly had been with the WWF since 1994 but had never had a sustained run out of the lower midcard. A team with the 1-2-3 Kid showed promise in early 1995 as they substituted for the Smoking Gunns in the WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament and won it. However, they lost the belts the next night to the Gunns and were unable to get them back. The team disbanded off camera and Holly returned to the singles ranks. He took Jeff Jarrett to the limit in an Intercontinental title match on The Action Zone on April 30, causing the title to be held up for a week, but he lost a rematch for the belt a week later. Undeterred, Holly defeated Mantaur a few weeks later on Monday Night RAW to qualify for the King of the Ring Tournament. However, he was defeated by the Roadie in the first round in what turned out to be the best match of the pay-per-view. After this, Holly settled into a position of enhancing heel talent that the WWF wanted to push, jobbing to Hunter Hearst Helmsley at SummerSlam, Skip, Isaac Yankem, Goldust, the British Bulldog, and Buddy Landel. That was a spot he found himself back in today on this show.

Bradshaw’s gimmick is an imitation of Stan Hansen, carrying a bull rope with a bell on it to the ring. Dutch Mantel returns to the WWF after a few months absence to join him, now referred to as Zebekiah instead of Uncle Zebekiah, the name he had when managing the Blu Brothers. Bradshaw squashes Holly with power moves like a pumphandle slam and all Holly can muster are three clotheslines before getting mowed down by a lariat. The match was nothing special for a debut but it was not bad either. At least Bradshaw has a more realistic gimmick than what has been offered to other WWF heels in recent years.

When the match is over, Bradshaw keeps putting the boots to Holly until Zebekiah holds him back by throwing a bull rope around his neck.

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McMahon announces that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon suffered multiple injuries to his neck and chest when Vader attacked him on Monday Night RAW. Fans are urged to write well wishes to Monsoon in a “Get Well Gorilla” campaign, directed to send them to Get Well Gorilla, P.O. Box 3857, Stamford, Connecticut 06905. Perfect asks who the next WWF President will be and McMahon promises an announcement about that on Monday Night RAW.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (1-1) beats Tim Patterson via disqualification when Duke Droese interferes at 3:03:

Patterson was a Bill Anderson trainee who did WWF enhancement work going back to 1986. He also appeared in some episodes of Herb Abrams’ Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). Patterson had not been seen on WWF TV since 1993, where he appeared in five televised losses to El Matador, Typhoon, Kamala, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and Virgil.

Brian Mitchell is the guest fan ring announcer, doing a good job. Helmsley brings another young woman with him to the ring named Tylen John. John has no idea what to do when she gets to the ring so Helmsley has to direct her. Patterson looks stunned when he is able to block a sunset flip with a fist and is unable to follow up, missing a dropkick. Helmsley takes his time setting up the Pedigree because Droese takes a while to come into the ring with a trash can. In a funny spot, Droese goes to hit Helmsley with the trash can but Helmsley stands Patterson up out of the Pedigree so the enhancement talent takes the blow across the back of the head. Droese chases Helmsley to the locker room and poor John is left by herself at ringside.

Shawn Michaels pins Tatanka (w/Ted DiBiase) after Sweet Chin Music at 5:41 shown:

Michaels had a great 1995 campaign, becoming one of the most, if the most, popular babyfaces on the roster. The year started with him as a heel, working guest commentary on Monday Night RAW, and becoming the first competitor to win the Royal Rumble from the number one position. Michaels added Sid his bodyguard, defeating bigger opponents like Adam Bomb and the British Bulldog to prepare for a battle against his former bodyguard Diesel at WrestleMania XI. Michaels stole the show in the title match and was turned babyface the next night when Sid attacked him. He returned in May and qualified for the King of the Ring Tournament against King Kong Bundy. Although he was pegged as a favorite to win it, he was eliminated in a time-limit draw with Kama. Michaels went on to end Jeff Jarrett’s six-month reign as Intercontinental champion at In Your House 2 in one of the best matches of the year and then had the match of the year against Razor Ramon in a ladder match at SummerSlam. A match with Dean Douglas was planned for In Your House 4 but weeks before the show Michaels suffered injuries in a fight with U.S. Army corporal Douglas Griffith outside of a bar in Syracuse, New York. The WWF recast the incident as Michaels being attacked by multiple “thugs” and he forfeited the title. Michaels returned to action a month later at Survivor Series, surviving a Wild Card elimination match with Ahmed Johnson and the British Bulldog. The next night, though, he collapsed in the ring wrestling Owen Hart, laying the foundation for a comeback angle that was incorporated into his Royal Rumble victory, positioning him to become the next WWF standard bearer at WrestleMania.

Tatanka’s 1995 was much worse than Michaels. Having worked for the WWF for close to four years Tatanka had his worst year in the company as his tag team with Bam Bam Bigelow failed to win the WWF Tag Team titles in a tournament at The Royal Rumble and then he lost a seven-month feud to Lex Luger in a cage match the week before WrestleMania XI. A feud with Bigelow followed but it was uninspired and did not have a pay-per-view blowoff. Then Tatanka started falling down the card, given nothing to do and being a feature piece for televised losses to the Undertaker and Michaels. After September, Tatanka made no more televised appearances because he was named in a sexual assault lawsuit by a woman who alleged that he and Jimmy Del Ray attacked her after a 1994 house show in Anaheim, California. The WWF took him off the road because Anaheim was going to be the site of WrestleMania XII and they did not want bad press. Tatanka was eventually exonerated and returned at the Royal Rumble. However, the time off killed whatever remaining momentum he had and it was uncertain where his character should go next because DiBiase’s Corporation was also bleeding out as an act and his 1992-1994 babyface run as a Native American hero would feel dated by 1996 standards.

Michaels does some gestures to mock Tatanka’s Native American ancestry in the early going to “play mind games.” Tatanka stun guns Michaels when Michaels tries a hurricanrana and DiBiase even gets in on the act, putting Michaels in the Million Dollar Dream on the floor. Tatanka does not get a long heat segment, which might be for the best since he has dreadful offense as a heel, and after a double KO Michaels kips up and hits a flying forearm. DiBiase holds Tatanka’s leg when he is whipped into the ropes to prevent him from rebounding into Michaels Sweet Chin Music, so Michaels chases DiBiase around and inside the ring. Tatanka follows but Michaels moves around both of them, catches Tatanka with Sweet Chin Music, and wins. This was just a filler TV match that gave Tatanka less than five offensive moves but it would have been unbecoming of Michaels to go toe-to-toe with Tatanka at a time when Tatanka was no longer a valued asset. Rating: *¾

McMahon announces that the Michaels-Owen Hart match that was set up on Monday Night RAW will happen at In Your House.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam recaps the Michaels-Owen feud.

Michaels is shown having a good time in the crowd after his match. Road agent Gerald Brisco seems less than pleased trying to get him through the sea of humanity.

Tune in next week to see Razor Ramon battle Jeff Jarrett in a battle of former Intercontinental champions! Also, the Godwinns will debut as a tag team!

The Last Word: The main event was a decent showcase of Shawn Michaels and it is always nice to get some angles and feud development on a B-show, so the Duke Droese-Hunter Hearst Helmsley interaction was welcomed. The only problem with the show is that the roster was so thin it made for lots of replays of Monday Night RAW segments, making fans wish they had a fast forward button at home sometimes. WCW did not have that problem since their roster was so big but the WWF had to play a different game.

The WWF returned to doing house shows after The Royal Rumble, the biggest of which happened at Madison Square Garden. Here were the results of some of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

White Plains, New York – Westchester County Civic Center – January 24, 1996 (3,000): Savio Vega beat Bob Backlund…Fatu defeated Isaac Yankem…Tatanka pinned Bob Holly…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated the Bodydonnas…Hunter Hearst Helmsley beat Duke Droese…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Intercontinental Champion Goldust via submission to the Sharpshooter…Ahmed Johnson beat Jeff Jarrett…Steve Austin beat Hakushi…The Undertaker & Diesel beat Yokozuna & Owen Hart via count out.

Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore Arena – January 25, 1996 (5,900): Steve Austin defeated Henry Godwinn via submission to the Million Dollar Dream…Duke Droese, Fatu & Bob Holly beat Bob Backlund, Isaac Yankem & Tatanka…Owen Hart pinned Hakushi after an enzuigiri…Ahmed Johnson pinned Jeff Jarrett after the Pearl River Plunge…WWF Champion Bret Hart beat Diesel in a steel cage match by escaping the cage…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated the Bodydonnas when Bart pinned Zip…Savio Vega beat Intercontinental Champion Goldust via count out when Goldust left ringside…Shawn Michaels pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley after Sweet Chin Music…The Undertaker pinned Yokozuna.

New York, New York – Madison Square Garden – January 26, 1996 (15,000; 12,800 paid): Tatanka & Isaac Yankem defeated Bob Holly & Fatu when Tatanka pinned Fatu after the End of the Trail…Duke Droese (substituting for Razor Ramon) beat the 1-2-3 Kid. After the bout, Droese put the Kid in a trash can…Owen Hart pinned Hakushi after an enzuigiri…Ahmed Johnson pinned Jeff Jarrett after the Pearl River Plunge…Steve Austin defeated Henry Godwinn via submission to the Million Dollar Dream at 11:20 after Ted DiBiase interfered…The Undertaker pinned Yokozuna after a big boot caused Yokozuna to collide with Owen Hart on the ring apron at 4:22. After the match, Owen and Yokozuna argued and Yokozuna shoved Owen to the canvas and chased him backstage…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns beat the Bodydonnas when Billy pinned Zip with a sunset flip…Savio Vega defeated Intercontinental Champion Goldust via count out when Goldust left ringside…Shawn Michaels pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley after Sweet Chin Music. Michaels initially won the match via disqualification when Owen Hart interfered but Michaels wanted the match continued and it was…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Diesel in a steel cage match after escaping the cage at the thirteen-minute mark. After the match, Diesel attacked Bret and attempted to the Jackknife but the Undertaker’s music began. The Undertaker confronted Diesel, leading to Bret jumping Diesel before Shawn Michaels ran out and leapt off the cage. Bret and the Undertaker and Diesel and Michaels had to separated by officials and WWF talent. Diesel eventually gave Bret a middle finger and returned backstage.

Backstage News*: Ratings for the WWF’s weekend shows on USA Network like WWF Mania and Action Zone are not doing well. Ratings have been below a 1.5 share and that is bad at a time of year when television viewership is higher because people are indoors.

-In injury news, Vader’s shoulder surgery is scheduled for February 1 and he will not be available until WrestleMania.

-Jean-Pierre LaFitte is thinking of staying with the WWF although Jacques Rougeau is pressing him to go to WCW.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for January 29.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for January 29!

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!