What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 02.03.96

A video package hypes today’s Razor Ramon-Jeff Jarrett main event, playing some of the song “With My Baby Tonight” that fans heard a lot in the summer of 1995.

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross are back on the call, taped from San Jose, California.

Opening Contest: The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) (1-0) beat James Samudo & Ed Moretti when Phineas pins Samudo after the Slop Drop at 1:32:

Moretti was a heavy-set West Coast wrestler who had worked in various territories like Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW), All Pro Wrestling, and NWA All Star Wrestling in Vancouver. A former NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion, he started doing enhancement work for the WWF in the 1990s, last appearing in 1993 where he wrestled four television matches. Those featured losses to Typhoon, Kamala, the Steiner Brothers, and the Nasty Boys.

During the Godwinns entrance, Phineas comes by and shakes hands with McMahon and Ross. Perfect refuses to engage. McMahon tells fans that Phineas “is touched.” In the split screen, Jim says he is proud of the Godwinns and that no one is going to mess with his country boys. The Godwinns do not do a lot of double team moves as the match is mostly a showcase for Phineas. He gets to score the winning pin for the second time this week with the Slop Drop on the smaller Samudo.

Interim WWF President Roddy Piper tells people that he does not believe Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, and Vader are not innocent and that they all need to be dealt with. Oh, and do not forget to write to Get Well Gorilla!

Isaac Yankem (1-2) pins Avatar after the DDS at 2:25:

Smoky Mountain Wrestling’s Dynamic Dudes explode! Ross encourages fans to use the WWF fax line to tell them what they think about the product. Since that was only mentioned once, the WWF must have hated the feedback. This is not a competitive match as Avatar throws a few spin kicks but never recovers after Yankem delivers a gorilla press slam. This would be the death of the Avatar character, which never had many televised appearances anyway.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam segment hypes In Your House 6. Shawn Michaels repeats that Owen Hart is wrong about putting him on the shelf.

Marty Jannetty (0-1) pins Greg Davis after the Rocker Dropper at 3:08:

Davis is a short, red-haired wrestler who Jannetty lets do an armbar and punch and those moves from Davis do not look realistic. Jannetty has become an afterthought since In Your House 5, demonstrated by the announcers using the match to talk about the Duke Droese-Hunter Hearst Helmsley feud. It also comes through the match as Jannetty takes a while to finish Davis off, taking a suplex. That seems to wake Jannetty up and he finishes Davis with the Rocker Dropper shortly thereafter.

The announcers hype the tag team match between Shawn Michaels & Diesel and Yokozuna & the British Bulldog on Monday Night RAW.

Hakushi (1-1) defeats Buddy Wayne after a missile dropkick at 2:08:

Wayne was a trainee of former WWF competitor Buddy Rose and Ole Olson. Starting his career in 1985, he worked in the Northwest for Vancouver All-Star Wrestling and Pacific Northwest Wrestling. He first did WWF enhancement work in 1991 and in 1993 he wrestled on television three times, losing to Bam Bam Bigelow, Razor Ramon, and Shawn Michaels. Between 1993 and this show he did some enhancement matches for WCW as well. His son, Nick Wayne, later entered the wrestling business and competes for All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

Hakushi does an insert promo where he speaks in Japanese and then says he is number one. The purpose of this squash is to build Hakushi for a match with the 1-2-3 Kid this Monday on RAW. Speaking of the Kid, the split screen reveals he is talking backstage to Jeff Jarrett. Hakushi uses more aerial moves than his recent matches because his match with the Kid is being sold as a clash of high-flyers. Wayne fails to ground Hakushi, who devastates him with a backspring elbow, flying forearm, springboard shoulderblock, and a missile dropkick.

A video package recaps the intrigue around the WWF Championship concerning Bret Hart, the Undertaker, Diesel. It traces what each man was doing last year.

Razor Ramon (0-3) beats Jeff Jarrett (2-1) via disqualification when the 1-2-3 Kid interferes at 6:12 shown:

There is not a lot of talk about the feud these two had in the first half of 1995. There are a quick series of near-falls exchanged as Jarrett tags Ramon with a dropkick and hits a swinging neckbreaker off the ropes. When Jarrett argues with referee Tim White about the count, Ramon rolls him up for two. During a double KO the Kid comes to ringside with a stroller and a baby bottle. After a commercial break, Ramon leaves the ring and decks the Kid. In the ring he gives Jarrett the super back suplex but Jarrett throws him out of the ring to avoid the Razor’s Edge. After Jarrett throws Ramon into the ring post the Kid tries to shove Ramon into the stroller and put the baby bottle in his mouth. When that does not work well the Kid just hits Ramon with the stroller, getting Jarrett disqualified. Ramon and Jarrett were always a good combination in the ring and this match was no exception. Unfortunately, the match had a weak finish to continue the Kid-Ramon storyline but Ramon is finally on the board with a win in 1996. Rating: **

Before Jarrett and the Kid can do a lengthy double team of Ramon, Ahmed Johnson makes the save and chases the heels to the locker room.

Hendrix talks more about In Your House 6. Owen Hart, with Jim Cornette, calls Shawn Michaels “the Concussion Kid” and argues that Michaels must have brain damage to put his WrestleMania title shot against him. Duke Droese tells Hunter Hearst Helmsley that he wants revenge at the pay-per-view. Helmsley holds some of Droese’s hair in his rebuttal promo, arguing that it will be his pleasure to face Droese again.

Tune in next week to see Fatu wrestle the Ringmaster! Also, Owen Hart will be in action! And Shawn Michaels will appear for a special interview!

The Last Word: The feature match between Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett was solid, appearing to set up a possible tag match down the road involving the 1-2-3 Kid and Ahmed Johnson. Most of the other matches were dull, though, exposing how the WWF had a lot of work to do with its lower card acts.

The Action Zone, which aired Sunday on the USA Network, had a feature match, which was taped in Stockton, California on January 22 with other Monday Night RAW episodes.

Zip (w/Sunny) beats Bart Gunn after Skip interferes at 7:30 shown:

Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect handle the commentary. Sunny uses her beauty for distraction to help put Zip in command of the match, which the crowd does not care much about because seeing tag team wrestlers compete in singles is hard to get excited for. The action is fine, especially after a commercial break, but Bart’s comeback is lacking fire. There is also a convoluted bit where he whips Zip into the corner and Zip has to act dazed for a long period of time while Bart gets on the apron, runs to the corner, scales the top rope, and comes off with a bulldog. That should end the match but while Sunny distracts the referee Skip goes to the top rope and does a flying headbutt to Bart, enabling his partner to steal a victory. Rating: *½

After the match, Sunny tells the crowd that they need to respect the Bodydonnas.

The WWF went abroad to India, looking for international income to bolster its finances because international cards tended to draw better than what it was doing domestically. Here are the results of some of the Indian shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Bombay, India – Andhei Sports Complex – February 2, 1996 (12,000): Results are incomplete. Bart Gunn & Henry Godwinn (substituting for Billy Gunn) defeated the 1-2-3 Kid & Tatanka…Razor Ramon defeated Intercontinental Champion Goldust via disqualification when the 1-2-3 Kid interfered…The Undertaker beat Isaac Yankem…Diesel defeated Owen Hart…WWF Champion Bret Hart beat Yokozuna.

Bombay, India – Andhei Sports Complex – February 3, 1996 (16,000): Results are incomplete. Ahmed Johnson beat Isaac Yankem…Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Doink the Clown (Steve Lombardi)…The Undertaker beat Yokozuna…WWF Champion Bret Hart defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Bangalore, India – Kanataka Football Stadium – February 4, 1996 (30,000): Doink the Clown (Steve Lombardi) defeated Zip…Ahmed Johnson defeated Skip…Henry Godwinn (substituting for Billy Gunn) & Bart Gunn defeated Owen Hart & Yokozuna…Savio Vega beat Isaac Yankem…Razor Ramon defeated the 1-2-3 Kid…The Undertaker beat Intercontinental Champion Goldust…Diesel defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley…WWF Champion Bret Hart beat Tatanka.

Backstage News*: The initial plan was to run the Huckster vs. Nacho Man match at WrestleMania XII, but since this would allow WCW to sue the WWF for marketing intellectual property the match is going to be moved to the Free for All. The segments do seem to be affecting WCW as Hulk Hogan did a job for Ric Flair on Monday Nitro on January 29, nullifying the recent Billionaire Ted sketch about Hogan never losing because it is in his contract. The WWF has responded to Eric Bischoff’s letter to Vince McMahon, which the WWF aired on its weekly television shows, by threatening to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about having their freedom of speech infringed upon. They also cite WCW’s infringement of WWF characters by Madusa and the Renegade.

-Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid are not happy with the crybaby match stipulation for their match at In Your House 6. The Kid is angrier than Ramon because he figures he is going to lose the match. The Kid missed some house shows last week because he was so upset about the booking, which is why he lost to Duke Droese in Madison Square Garden. Ramon was initially going to face Goldust in a rematch of The Royal Rumble but that was shelved, possibly due to Ramon’s objections to working Goldust in the first place. Ramon also recently missed house shows because of family issues.

-Jim Cornette will be moving to Connecticut and become a full-time piece of the WWF creative team.

-New Japan’s Antonio Inoki is trying to arrange for an event for world peace that would take place in Los Angeles in May. Thus far, the WWF, WCW, AAA, EMLL, and New Japan have committed to the endeavor. Inoki met with Linda McMahon on January 25 to secure the WWF’s participation, reportedly due to plans to invest the profits from the event in a wrestling school in the Los Angeles area.

-In talent relations news, Tatanka is telling people that he will be leaving soon to pursue other business ventures. Jake Roberts will be coming back as a babyface and will have the ability to work as he wishes. Jean-Pierre LaFitte decided to sign with WCW and will be teaming with Jacques Rougeau there this summer.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 5.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for February 5!

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!