Mike Reviews Shows Considered To Be Stinkers – WWF UK Rampage 1993

Happy Friday Everyone!

We’re back with another Stinker Review today, where I look at an event with a low reputation and see if that reputation is fair. Today’s topic/target is WWF UK Rampage 1993, which was a UK and European special show on the Sky Channels. We’ve got a thrilling Main Event of Lex Luger Vs Jim Duggan to look forward to, with no Bret Hart, Steiner Brothers, Razor Ramon, Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow or Undertaker. We do have Bob Backlund and Typhoon though, so there should be no shortage of fun!

You can view the full card for UK Rampage by clicking the link below;

WWF UK Rampage 1993 Card

Scott Keith has also reviewed this show and you can read his thoughts on it by clicking HERE

UK Rampage is emanating from the Sheffield Hallam Arena in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England on the 11th of April 1993

Calling the action are Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan. Boo, I wanted Bobby and Gorilla!

Judo Al Hayes sends us over to our announce team, who hype up the big matches tonight.

Opening Match
Headshrinker Fatu w/ Afa Vs Nasty Boy Knobbs

Yes we’ve got two tag team wrestlers working a singles match here. What is this, WWF Rage in the Cage for the SEGA CD? The crowd are at least really up for some wrestling, with Knobbs getting a great reception from the audience, complete with fans doing the air horns and yelling “Nasty”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Nasty Boy this over in all honesty. Heenan legitimately makes Ross laugh at one stage when they talk about English Football and Ross puts over Sheffield Wednesday, leading to Bobby pondering what they do on other days. No mention for Sheffield United though, but I’ll mention you Blades. You gave us Dominic Calvert-Lewin and for that I’ll always be grateful as an Evertonian.

Interestingly, this show happened one day after Manchester United had defeated Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford in a match that emboldened their march on a first ever Premier League Title. It’s a game remembered by most for Steve Bruce’s two goals and Nigel Worthington showing about as much enthusiasm in stopping the ball going over the line for the first goal as Kevin Nash did in an average Nitro match back in 1999. I’m avoiding talking too much about the match as there isn’t really a lot to say about it. Knobbs is really over and Fatu is drawing good Heel heat, but they mostly just have a basic punch and kick fest.

Fatu does some eye rakes and whatnot in order to establish himself as a villain, whilst Knobbs sells well enough and actually takes some decent bumps, including when he gets flung out of the ring by Fatu at one stage so that Afa can deliver a cheap shot. The crowd reactions continue to be fantastic when you consider that they’re having the most basic match imaginable. Knobbs eventually starts making a bit of a comeback after getting worked over, with the crowd enjoying it and Fatu taking his customary bump for a clothesline. Fatu manages to catch Knobbs with a rope assisted pin though and that’s the three count.

10 Minutes

WINNER: FATU
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was okay for an opener, as they kept it basic and mostly focused on working the crowd, who were up for cheering or booing basically anything the respective wrestlers did. Knobbs didn’t really have much in the way of big moves for near falls or signature spots, so the match was always going to have a ceiling, but it wasn’t terrible and it did the job required of warming the crowd up, although I might have switched the winners so that you could start UK Rampage off with the crowd being happy and pleased

Al Hayes interviews Doink the Clown in the interview area, who hopes that the UK appreciates a sense of humour more that the USA does. He hypes up the match with Kamala tonight, further matches with Crush on the tour, and then squirts Hayes in the face with his flower. Hayes is so flustered that he thinks Gorilla Monsoon is booked tonight. I wish he was Al, I wish he was.

Second Match
Doink the Clown Vs “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala

Doink was still evil at this stage, which was a much better version of that character, whilst Kamala was a bumbling babyface savage, which was a much worse version of that particular character. The Dutch angles for Doink’s entrance are fantastic and a great way of making him look like an unnerving scary character. It’s a shame we never got a Doink Vs Undertaker feud for the WWF’s own version of Joker Vs Batman. I think few matches do a better job summing up the WWF’s product around this time than this one, as everyone is wearing outlandish outfits and have wrestling styles that are primarily based around character work. Don’t expect there to be a lot of slick technical wrestling going on here is what I’m saying. Doink tries sneaking in some kind of weapon up his sleeve, but referee Danny Davis finds that and takes it away.

Doink does actually try going for holds, but Kamala uses his Ugandan savage strength to keep breaking out of them. Doink does a lot of good facial expressions, showing how he’s unsure how to deal with this large moon bellied fellow he’s opposing here. Doink takes most of the match with stomps and the occasional hold, but Kamala makes a comeback and splashes Doink on the back. However, Kamala isn’t sure how to pin someone, so the bout continues. Ridiculous as it was that Kamala STILL didn’t know how to pin someone after however many years he’d been wrestling, the crowd did at least get involved there trying to explain it to him. Anyway, a confused Kamala tries to enquire with the referee as to why the ref wasn’t counting, and that leads to Doink getting a clothing assisted roll-up for the three count.

6 Minutes

WINNER: DOINK
RATING: *

Thoughts: There was little wrestling going on here outside of a small handful of holds from Doink, and the drama/character work didn’t really make up for it in my opinion. These two both understood their characters and worked them diligently, but it just didn’t translate to an entertaining match

Lord Alfred is interviewing Mr. Perfect in the interview area. Perfect is still mad at Lex Luger, meaning that feud is still going. Perfect notes that Samu is a tag team wrestler, so Perfect will have the advantage here in a singles match. That’s sound logic!

Third Match
Headshrinker Samu w/ Afa Vs Mr. Perfect

Strange choice for a match this really. Perfect had gone babyface at the end of 1992 and the fans were definitely into seeing babyface Perfect kicking the muck out of the Heels in the promotion, but he still wasn’t 100% when it came to his health and he’d end up taking nearly 4 years out of the ring at one stage before returning to action in WCW in 1997. The crowd loves Mr. Perfect here, giving him a huge ovation for his entrance, meaning they are really into what would otherwise just be a throwaway match between the two. Both wrestlers seem jazzed by the reactions as well, as they go at it in the early going with Samu even doing leapfrogs and the like. I’d say Samu had his working boots on, but he’s not actually wearing boots, so such a comment would feel churlish.

Perfect keeps getting the better of Samu in a straight wrestling match, so Samu decides to turn it more into a fight like the good Heel he is. I’ve always liked stuff like that as it’s essentially the Heel just admitting that the babyface is the better wrestler, which is why they need to start roughing the babyface up in order to have a chance. It’s almost like wrestling is a morality play at its heart or something. Samu getting more physical leads to the cut off, with even Afa getting involved at one stage when the referee isn’t looking. The crowd sticks with Perfect, who of course takes some good bumps for Samu’s bruising offence.

I think the only critique I could give the match is that the heat segment possibly goes on for a bit too long, as Samu beats up Perfect a bit too much and it starts getting dull to watch. Despite working Perfect over for quite a bit, Samu is unable to put Perfect away, even when he gives Perfect a headbutt right in the Robbinsdale’s whilst Afa distracts the referee. The crowd never gives up on Perfect though, and cheer loudly whenever it looks like Perfect is going to fight back. Eventually Samu misses a diving headbutt from the top rope and Perfect gets the Perfect-Plex for the three count as the crowd goes radio rental.

14 Minutes

WINNER: PERFECT
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: I would have preferred if they’d given Perfect more of a comeback there, as he essentially got battered for about 75-85% of the match and then caught Samu out at the end. The crowd was just happy that Perfect won, so the bout was a success overall, but we got about 10 Minutes of Samu just clobbering Perfect and after a while it started to get a bit samey. I think a slightly longer shine for Perfect and a proper comeback at the end would have made this a more enjoyable outing. I wonder if part of the reasoning was to ensure Samu still looked strong in defeat. That’s always a curious thing for me though. Some people will feel that if a wrestler gets to batter their opponent all match and then simply slips up at the end, it makes them look strong in defeat. But really what you’re saying with that kind of match structure is that you can throw basically everything in your arsenal at your opponent but they’ll STILL be able to win when it’s all over, which just kind of makes your offence look ineffective

Fourth Match
Damien DeMento Vs Bob Backlund

Why yes, this was a match the WWF thought was worthy of a supposedly big international televised event, why do you ask? DeMento had kind of a time travelling evil caveman look going on, and he’s probably best known online for getting really annoyed when the Wrestle Crap website inducted him and some fans had the nerve to refer to him as a jobber. Damien DeMento a jobber?!?! Perish the thought. Backlund was a former WWF Champion who returned to action in 1993. He was dying on the vine as a babyface but they turned him into a crazy old man in 1994 and that was a pretty effective redo for him.

Despite the crowd being hot for Knobbs, Kamala and Perfect, they don’t seem to care that much about Backlund, even with him being in full “Duck Arse” mode as OSW Review would say. Even the commentary team doesn’t seem that interested in this one, instead using it as a chance to plug other stops on the UK tour. Backlund actually isn’t too terrible on offence, but his 1970’s in-ring style doesn’t do much for the crowd, and neither does DeMento’s dazzling display of gurning and rest holds. Backlund eventually catches DeMento in a pinning hold and that’s enough for the three count.

8 Minutes

WINNER: BOB BACKLUND
RATING: *

Thoughts: I hope the folks on concessions weren’t too overworked by the queue’s that surely developed at their stalls the longer this bout went on. The actual wrestling wasn’t terrible, it just bored the crowd to tears and the match eventually became a penance to sit through

Judo Al is interviewing Mr. Perfect once again, who is selling the aftereffects of his match with Samu. Perfect puts Samu over on the mic as a tough opponent and then threatens Luger for the rest of the tour.

Fifth Match Match
The Brooklyn Brawler Vs Typhoon

Yes, they booked Steve Lombardi against The Shock Master here at UK Rampage. It’s almost as if the WWF was taunting the poor European audience at this point. I will say that we in the UK have a history of liking cheerful big blokes who can’t wrestle that well, so Typhoon was probably an act that made the older fans in the crowd quite nostalgic. They should have tried promoting him as Big Daddy’s cousin from the USA, it might have sold a couple of extra tickets. Despite my snarking, Typhoon actually does get a reasonable response from the crowd for his entrance. Maybe the fans heard his music hit and thought they were going to get to see Earthquake?

Bobby talks about there being a town in Japan called Sheffield, but he’s a bit off there. I had a Google and apparently Sheffield and Kawasaki have a friendly relationship dating back to 1990, so he might have meant that. Sheffield United do finally get a shoutout in this one, but that’s only to mention that Wednesday recently defeated United at Wembley in the FA Cup. That game was initially supposed to be played at Elland Road in Leeds, with the Football Association not unreasonably thinking that a trek down to London would be a bit of an annoyance for both fans when Leeds was just down the road. However, both sets of supporters really wanted to go to Wembley, so the FA moved it (probably with a smile on their faces because now they could make some money from the ticket sales)

Anyway, as I’m going on another footy tangent you can possibly guess that this match isn’t the most exciting battle to ever take place. Typhoon does bust out something approaching a dropkick in the early stages in fairness to him. The crowd is more into this one than the DeMento/Backlund bout, owing mainly to the fact that they actually like and/or know who Typhoon is. Typhoon eventually misses an elbow drop and that leads to Brawler working some heat. Typhoon sells reasonably well and Brawler’s offence is standard Heel stuff, including choking on the ropes, biting and just general rest hold’s. Bobby referring to Typhoon as “Buffoon” is humorous at least.

The crowd kind of dies once Brawler takes over, with him not really drawing any boos when he mouths off to them. That DeMento Vs Backlund bout was such a plodder that I think it’s almost derailed the entire event. It feels like the heat goes on forever as well due to how flat the crowd are for it all, although they do show a bit of life when Typhoon manages to survive a debilitating chin lock from the Brawler. Is Brawler REALLY the best option they had as a lower card Heel to work with Typhoon here? Couldn’t they have booked Repo Man or something, who at least has a fun cheesy character with a snazzy entrance theme? Anyway, this is another match without a proper comeback, as Typhoon blocks a Slam attempt from Brawler, gets one of his own, and then delivers a Powerslam for the flash three count.

10 Minutes (Yes, they gave this Ten Minutes. TEN!!!)

WINNER: TYPHOON
RATING: *

Thoughts: Whoever has been agenting these matches needs to mix it up a bit. Every Heel win has seen the Heel get a dirty pin of some kind outta nowhere, whilst every babyface win has seem them just get a move outta nowhere for the three count. How about you actually do a full comeback and a bit of back and forth before taking it home? Are you worried it’ll overstimulate the British crowd or something? This match was duller than a blunted butter knife, featuring more Brooklyn Brawler than any sane person could have wanted to see in 1993

Lord Alfred is interviewing Lex Luger in the interview area. Luger brags about ringing Mr. Perfect’s bell at WrestleMania and cuts the usual cocky Heel promo that Luger was quite good at.

Sixth Match
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champion: “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels Vs Kona Crush

Oh thank goodness, with HBK we’ve at least got someone with both in-ring ability and some star power. Crush was actually feuding with Doink at the time after they had a stirring bout back at WrestleMania IX but he would also have a side feud with Shawn going on as well. Shawn still had the Sherri Martel version of his entrance theme here, although we can’t be far away from the version he sings himself. Crush gets a great reception, which makes sense as he was getting a reasonable push at the time and only lost at WrestleMania due to chicanery. Shawn ragdolls all over the place for Crush to start, with the crowd loving it and Shawn doing an excellent job as Crush’s personal crash test dummy.

Crush tries to fling Shawn over the top rope to the floor from a Press Slam position, but referee Danny Davis blocks that so Crush has to content himself by slamming Shawn into the ring and then giving Shawn a clothesline to the floor. Crush eventually misses a charge in the corner and that allows Shawn to knock Crush out to the floor and send Crush head first into the ring post for the cut off. I believe George Hackenschmidt used a similar technique in his 1907 bout with Willie “The Wrangler” Wrangleman in Gothenburg, Sweden. Shawn works some heat on Crush following that, mostly focusing on a chin lock, with the crowd getting behind Crush. Crush starts making a comeback, so Shawn runs away and gets counted out to save his belt.

9 Minutes

WINNER BY COUNT OUT: CRUSH (Shawn Michaels retains)
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: Terrible finish aside, UK Rampage needed this match because the middle portion of the show had really flattened out the crowd, so Shawn Michaels taking multiple bumps and tumbles in order to wake the folks in Sheffield up was just what the doctor ordered

Crush throws Shawn back into the ring following the bout and lays him out to make the crowd happy.

Bobby Heenan heads down to the ring to interview Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji, who are still mad over Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Title from Zuna back at WrestleMania IX. Fuji states that no contract was signed, so he sees Yokzuna as the Champ still. Threats are also thrown out to Jim Duggan, who I believe Zuna was going to face on other stops during the tour.

Judo Al is interviewing Jim Duggan, who says that this is a wrestling match not a bodybuilding contest, so Duggan will have the advantage. I’m sure if Vince McMahon could just declare the person with the best body the winner by default then he’d do so.

Main Event
“The Narcissist” Lex Luger vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

This was an odd choice for the Main Event really, seeing as they’re both feuding with other people. Speaking of which, Yokozuna has stayed at ringside for this one in order to get a piece of Duggan if he can. I believe they were still doing stuff with Duggan for the time being as he had some matches with Yokozuna and Shawn Michaels in 1993 until the WWF decided to send him on his way later in the year and he ended up in WCW in 1994. Duggan gets a decent response from the crowd, but it doesn’t sound any louder than the ones Crush and Perfect got, which makes it even stranger that they’ve made him a Main Eventer here. The British crowd show their customary politeness by chanting “USA” for Duggan despite this event not actually taking place in the United States of America. We’re nice like that.

Luger stooges around for Duggan to start, with Duggan doing his usual array of clotheslines and yelling, which the Sheffield crowd enjoys. Luger responds with some clotheslines of his own and goes to a chin lock, as the crowd continues to be HOSS for this match. What a great crowd, imagine if they’d given them a show that wasn’t cack? Duggan eventually blocks getting rammed into the buckle and bounces Luger’s head into it instead. He follows up with his usual array of exaggerated haymakers and the crowd continues to love him. However, Duggan ends up taking a spill to the floor when the two bounce into one another, leading to Luger distracting the referee so that Yokozuna can sit on Duggan. This draws Mr. Perfect down to the ring to even the odds and the crowd goes ape as the bell rings for the DQ.

7 Minutes

WINNER BY DQ: LEX LUGER
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: They clearly still had some plans for Duggan here seeing as he didn’t get pinned in this one and he actually won a match with Yokozuna on this very show once the broadcast ended. However, by King of the Ring a couple of months later he was getting easily dispatched by Bam Bam Bigelow. This match was just punches, clotheslines and rest holds, but the fans were into it to a near ludicrous level

Duggan and Perfect clear the ring after the bout to send the fans home happy

Is It Really A Stinker?

I wouldn’t say that UK Rampage is a total stinker because, awful though some of the matches were, the crowd ultimately seemed to have a good time in spite of it all and the WWF was at least smart enough to let them go home with a smile on their faces at the end. It was almost insulting to serve up some of the matches they did to the hapless UK crowd here, as some of these matches were barely good enough for an episode of All American Wrestling, let alone a supposedly big event like I’m guessing UK Rampage was meant to be.

Mr. Perfect and Samu had match of the night honours, with Shawn Michaels entering his customary good performance in there, so there wasn’t zero watchable wrestling on the show, but it was certainly at a premium. The DeMento/Backlund and Brawler/Typhoon section of the show was so bad that it nearly sent the entire event off the rails, but thankfully Shawn Michaels got things back on track and then Luger and Duggan had a match that the crowd was inexplicably hotter for than the sun facing side of Mercury, so the show ended on the up somewhat at least.

I thought that the reason the WWF sent such a limp roster for this show was because they had a concurrent domestic tour going on back in the USA and thus needed talent for that. But, from looking at the event schedule from that time, that didn’t appear to be the case and they seemingly just decided that the UK could get lumped with the skeleton crew. They had Bret Hart, Undertaker and The Steiner Brothers on the continental Europe section of the tour, so I guess they just let them have a break during the UK stretch of the tour and left the English fans with Brooklyn Brawler and Damien DeMento clogging up the card.

The efforts of Perfect, Samu, Shawn, Crush and Duggan prevent this from being a full-on Stinker, but it’s certainly Stinker adjacent and I wouldn’t go out of your way to give this one a viewing as the 1992 version of the show is better overall and also features Randy Savage wrestling Shawn Michaels in a match combination we didn’t get to see a lot of.

Final Score – Stinky
(Scores done on a scale of Stinker/Stinky/Odourless/Pleasant/Fragrant)