What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 02.24.96

A video package hypes today’s Shawn Michaels-Shinobi match, saying that Jim Cornette has gotten a ninja to avenge Michaels’ recent triumphs against Camp Cornette.

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross are in charge of calling today’s action, taped in Huntington, West Virginia on February 20. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 4,500 fans attended the taping.

Opening WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament Contest: Owen Hart & the British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) defeat Barry Horowitz & Hakushi when the Bulldog pins Hakushi after the running powerslam at 3:16:

In the split screen, Diana Hart Smith pleads with interim WWF President Roddy Piper to give her husband better competition, not pleased that he had to wrestle Yokozuna at In Your House 6. Diana struggles with the announcement and is wooden. The whole insert was weird, making it seem like the Bulldog needed his wife to argue on his behalf. Diana is also sitting in the front row for the match. Horowitz and Hakushi are crushed, never mounting more than a few strikes or takedowns. After Hakushi gets a hot tag, Owen hits him in the back of the head running the ropes and the Bulldog scoops Hakushi up for the running powerslam. This marks the first time that the Bulldog has won a televised match in 1996. Rating: *

Cornette, with Shinobi and Owen, argues that Shinboi is an “Oriental assassin” that knows 47 different ways to paralyze the human body.

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Duke Droese (3-1) pins Scott D’Amore after the Trash Compactor at 2:53:

D’Amore, a Canadian wrestler, was trained by Doug Chevalier, among others, staring his career in 1992 in the Ontario area. The next year he did a squash match on WWF television against the Steiner Brothers and was also used in that capacity by WCW the following year. D’Amore underwent more training at the WCW Power Plant and toured Europe in 1995, working in three WWF squash match appearances in the fall. He lost to the Smoking Gunns, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Ahmed Johnson. While D’Amore never became a player in the industry as a wrestler, he later became the owner of Border City Wrestling and then as a road agent and on-screen personality in Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling in the 2000s.

As Droese beats up D’Amore, Hunter Hearst Helmsley watches the action in the split screen as the woman of the week pets his hair. Helmsley talks about “putting a lid” on Droese. Droese is now wearing a t-shirt with his pants instead of another layer on top as was usually the case prior to In Your House. D’Amore thinks he is great when he knocks Droese down but that is all he manages to. When the match is over, Droese puts his trash can over D’Amore and hits it with the lid.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam sees WWF Champion Bret Hart congratulate Shawn Michaels for earning a title shot at WrestleMania XII. However, his respect for Michaels does not mean he is going to let up on him in the ring.

The Bodydonnas (w/Sunny) (1-2) defeat A.C. Connor & Major Yates when Zip pins Connor after a splash off the top rope at 2:31:

Connor, a certified public accountant, entered the wrestling business in 1994 after receiving training from Larry Sharpe. In 1994 he started making WWF enhancement appearances and went to Smoky Mountain Wrestling, paired with the Gangstas as their head of security. While there he adopted the name D’Lo Brown and ended up as an opening act who lost a lot. In 1995 Connor appeared in four WWF matches, losing to Bam Bam Bigelow, the Allied Powers, Bob Holly, and the Smoking Gunns. Since he was young and showed promise, the WWF signed him after Smoky Mountain Wrestling closed its doors and sent him for more training to Les Thatcher’s Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA). In a few years WWF audiences would know him better under the Brown persona, which would be revived in the Nation of Domination.

Yates, despite his name, did not have a military gimmick. He did enhancement matches for the WWF from 1990-1992 and then resumed doing them in 1994. In 1995 he wrestled two televised squashes, losing to Waylon Mercy and Skip.

In a pre-match promo, Sunny tells Perfect that she is perfect and she sends her team against Connor and Yates before the bell. The squash is meant to build the Bodydonnas for the Tag Team Tournament since they have eaten two feature match losses. Ross makes the dubious claim that they have been “red hot” in recent weeks. Connor gets a jobber hot tag but his fire is quickly extinguished by a nice clothesline-trip double team by the heels. The match ends with the Bodydonnas complicated super hurricanrana-flying butt drop finish. Although Connor gets up too far away from the turnbuckles for Zip to do the flying butt drop so it looks like a weird splash that hits nothing instead.

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Hunter Hearst Helmsley (4-1) beats Derek Stone after the Pedigree at 1:48:

Stone was trained by Charlie Fulton and entered the business in 1993. He wrestled one squash match for the WWF prior to this, losing to Doink the Clown in 1994.

Alex Taylor is the woman accompanying Helmsley to the ring this week. Duke Droese tries to follow Helmsley but WWF officials keep him away. Helmsley spams moves with his knee, winning a fifth-straight match after a high knee.

Droese rushes into the ring after the match with a trash can lid but Helmsley escapes. WWF officials try to prevent Droese from getting at Helmsley but he gets away from them and chases Helmsley to the locker room. Taylor, left alone, is taken to the back by officials.

Shawn Michaels (3-0) pins Shinobi (w/Jim Cornette & Owen Hart) after Sweet Chin Music at 6:06 shown:

Shinobi was Al Snow under a different mask than his Avatar character. The Shinobi character gets the Orient Express music, the go-to theme for a talent who is billed from Asia. The idea of a heel martial artist going against a babyface was an old WWF trope, last used when the Super Ninja wrestled the Ultimate Warrior on Saturday Night’s Main Event in 1989. Owen interferes early to help Shinobi, pulling down the top rope to cause Michaels to fall to the arena floor. Shinobi dominates the first half of the match but Michaels avoids a moonsault and goes into his comeback. After Michaels does a flying elbow drop, Shinobi throws him to the floor and Owen holds Michaels in place for a pescado but heel miscommunication occurs. That also happens back int the ring when Shinboi attempts a clothesline when Owen slides in to prevent Sweet Chin Music. Michaels hits his finish on Shinobi after that, notching yet another win against Cornette’s stable. This was good fun for a TV match, with the end sequence saving it from turning into a Michaels cosplay of early 1990s Randy Savage getting his ass kicked by a heel until he hit a few moves to win. Rating: **

When the match ends, Michaels sunset flips Owen Hart for an unofficial three count and then hits Cornette and pins him too. Michaels dances with Cornette’s tennis racquet as fireworks go off, popping the crowd.

On the Slam Jam, Yokozuna tells Vader that their battle will be man vs. beast and that Vader time is going to end with a “Banzai.” The Undertaker, with Paul Bearer, says that Diesel will rest in peace at WrestleMania.

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Tune in next week to see Intercontinental Champion Goldust defend against Hakushi! Also, the Godwinns face the New Rockers in the WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament! Jake Roberts and the Ringmaster will be in action too!

The Last Word: Shawn Michaels has been money in television matches for a while, always turning in an entertaining effort. That makes a B-show watchable, even if the match with the random Shinobi character did not break the star ratings scale. The company is trying to do something with Duke Droese and Hunter Hearst Helmsley but even though Helmsley cut Droese’s hair, it does not really interest the audience, probably because they can see the end result a million miles away.

After taping a lot of Monday Night RAW and WWF Superstars episodes the WWF did a loop through Pennsylvania and then headed to the Meadowlands. Here are the results of some of these shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Scranton, Pennsylvania – Catholic Youth Center – February 23, 1996: The Godwinns beat the Bodydonnas…Justin Bradshaw defeated Marty Jannetty…Ahmed Johnson beat the British Bulldog…Savio Vega (substituting for Razor Ramon) defeated Intercontinental Champion Goldust via count out…Steve Austin defeated Bob Holly…Yokozuna beat Owen Hart…Fatu beat the 1-2-3 Kid…Duke Droese defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley…WWF Champion Bret Hart wrestled the Undertaker to a no-contest when Owen Hart interfered.

East Rutherford, New Jersey – The Meadowlands – February 24, 1996 (8,500; matinee): Fatu (substituting for Barry Horowitz) pinned Bob Backlund with a roll up…Steve Austin defeated Bob Holly…The Bodydonnas beat the Godwinns…Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Duke Droese after hitting him with a trash can lid…Roddy Piper (substituting for Razor Ramon) pinned the 1-2-3 Kid after hitting him with the ring bell…Intercontinental Champion Goldust defeated Savio Vega…Ahmed Johnson pinned Tatanka (substituting for Jeff Jarrett) after the Pearl River Plunge…The Undertaker defeated WWF Champion Bret Hart via disqualification when Goldust prevented the challenger from scoring the pinfall…Shawn Michaels & Yokozuna beat Owen Hart & the British Bulldog when Michaels pinned Owen after Sweet Chin Music.

Backstage News*: There are growing fears that more babyfaces beyond Diesel and Razor Ramon could leave for WCW, which is why the Ultimate Warrior has been signed to a new deal that will have him return at WrestleMania and a select number of house shows. McMahon insists that the Warrior will be under the same steroid testing policy as other talent after fielding some criticisms of the Warrior hire as being hypocritical in light of his recent attacks on WCW. McMahon added that the Warrior is diligent with his training and diet to get the physique he has.

-Razor Ramon was suspended on February 21 for six weeks due to a positive drug test, the same day that he gave the WWF a required 90-day notice that he is leaving. The suspension would cause him to miss WrestleMania so the WWF will have to pivot his program with Goldust. It is believed that Ramon is done with the WWF and will make no more appearances until his WCW debut.

-House show business remained strong as the returns in Pittsburgh were the highest for a house show in four years while Cleveland was the best in six years. The Meadowlands business was the highest in four years.

-In the wake of boxer Tommy Morrison testing positive for HIV the WWF told The Miami Herald that it may adopt a testing policy.

-In injury news, Diesel dislocated and fractured his shoulder in the cage match against Bret Hart at In Your House 6 and was out of action for house shows this week, aborting plans for triple threat matches featuring himself, WWF Champion Bret Hart, and the Undertaker. There was heat on him for not attending the Meadowlands show and then a double shot at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena and Gund Arena in Cleveland because he was supposed to interfere in the Bret-Undertaker matches. To try to please fans, who were sold on the idea of a triple threat match – which would have been booked like a WCW triangle match like Fall Brawl 1994 – the WWF had Roddy Piper wrestle the 1-2-3 Kid. In other injuries, Vader reinjured his shoulder doing run-ins at In Your House 6 and Monday Night RAW, so he missed the WWF Superstars taping the next night.

-A house show in Bushkill, Pennsylvania scheduled for February was cancelled because of the number of headliners who could not appear due to injuries or suspensions. The toll that injuries have taken on the roster has led to talks of Mick Foley going on the road earlier than WrestleMania with the Mankind gimmick.

-In talent relations news, the WWF gave Herman the German a tryout at the Monday Night RAW taping in Cincinnati. Johnny Ace purportedly sent in a videotape of a March 1995 match of he and Steve Williams battling Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi but the WWF turned him down for the gimmick Justin Bradshaw is currently doing. Vader has signed a two-year contract that allows him to work Japan dates. Ricky Morton was reportedly backstage at the WWF Superstars taping in Huntington, West Virginia.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 26, March 4, and March 11.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for February 26!

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