What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 04.13.96

A video package blends Mankind’s vignettes with his debut on Monday Night RAW last week.

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross are in the booth, taped from San Diego, California.

Opening Contest: The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) (6-1) beat Mike Starr & Larry Sampson when Henry pins Sampson after the Slop Drop at 2:08:

Starr was trained by Bill Anderson and started wrestling in the mid-1980s. A former WWF ring boy, he was known in Vancouver All-Star Wrestling as Michelle Starr, playing a homosexual character. In 1991 and 1992 he worked as an enhancement talent for South Atlantic Pro Wrestling in the Carolinas. He worked his first WWF squash match in 1987 and last appeared in the WWF in 1993.

Sampson was best known to fans of Vancouver All-Star Wrestling, where he worked as Sweet Daddy Sampson. He started doing enhancement work for the WWF in 1991 when the company came to the West Coast. Like Starr, his last WWF appearance was in 1993.

Starr has some outdated pink and purple tights with stars on them. In the split screen, Jim tells the Bodydonnas and Sunny that the Godwinns have some slop ready for them. Ross dubs it “Arkansas goulash.” The squash has very little action as the participants lightly touch and circle each other until Henry slams Sampson and then kicks him to set up the Slop Drop. After the match, the Godwinns have the referee dance with them.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam announces that the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House will be a no holds barred match. Another match added is Jake Roberts against the British Bulldog. The Bulldog and Jim Cornette talk of wrapping Revelation around Roberts’ neck once the Bulldog beats him. The booking of this match is odd because it seemed like the recent Monday Night RAW was laying the groundwork for a Ahmed Johnson-British Bulldog match.

Mankind (1-0) beats Jason Castro via submission to the Mandible Claw at 3:02:

Castro manages to get his foot up for a blind charge but Mankind is only slowed temporarily. After ramming his knee into Castro’s head in the corner, Mankind asks the enhancement talent if he can feel his pain. Even though Castro is in the ropes, Mankind applies the Mandible Claw and Castro does a goofy paralyzing-like sell to fall away from the ropes to put over the hold. As Mankind leaves the ring to his piano music, he tells the fans to “Have a nice day.”

Footage of the Samoan Gangsta Party talking backstage with Fatu airs. Samu tells Fatu that he needs to work with them to make money and he is not making a difference. Fatu disagrees so Samu has Kane, the name given to Matthew Anoa’i, watch the camera as he talks to Fatu some more.

Marc Mero (1-0) pins Adam Croom after a slingshot leg drop at 1:59:

Croom, who went by Adam Haystacks on the independent circuit, wrestled in three WWF matches the previous year, losing to the Bushwhackers, Men on a Mission, and King Kong Bundy.

Ross reports that Hunter Hearst Helmsley is mad at Mero because he is smitten with Sable but she likes Mero more. Mero never gives Groom any room to breathe, flooring him with a headscissors, flying double axe handle, and a somersault plancha before winning with his WCW finishing slingshot leg drop.

Justin Bradshaw (w/Zebekiah) (7-1) pins Davey Starr after the lariat at 2:15:

There was a Davey Starr who did two WWF enhancement matches in 1993 but this Starr does not look like the same person. It is odd to have two wrestlers with the same last name on the show since that is something the WWF tried to avoid.

Bradshaw rushes Starr to start the squash. Perfect makes the ludicrous claim that Bradshaw is undefeated when the Undertaker beat him last week on RAW, albeit by disqualification. Starr mounts no offense and Bradshaw gets a reaction by tearing the jobber’s head off with the lariat. After the bout, Zebekiah brands Starr’s chest as the jobber howls in pain.

The Caribbean Kid (Savio Vega) (1-2-1) defeats Steve Austin (w/Ted DiBiase) (8-0-1) with a small package at 6:54 shown:

So the story is that Austin has refused to give Savio a rematch from WrestleMania XII so Savio’s “friend” the Caribbean Kid wrestles instead. The Kid wears a Puerto Rican mask, a tropical shirt that is torn off at the sleeves, and a big pair of black shorts. McMahon insists that the Kid and Savio were old tag team partners but Perfect sees through the illusion immediately, arguing that it is Savio under the mask. If fans know Savio’s body type they also know what is going on, even more if they remember that Savio once wrestled under a mask as Kwang. Austin bails several times when the Kid gets the best of him, eventually surmising that Savio must be under the mask. The crowd does not get it, though, perceiving the Kid as an enhancement talent. Austin does some mat work and avoids a reverse flying body press. But when he approaches to apply to the Million Dollar Dream, he is small packaged and pinned. The match had inconsistent action and marks the end of Austin’s unbeaten streak. Rating: *½

After the match, the Kid unmasks to reveal Savio, which does illicit a pop from the crowd. McMahon puts over how the score is now even in the feud between the two.

The Slam Jam features some In Your House 7 promos. Diesel, wearing sunglasses, criticizes WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for changing and that he is going to bring him back to who he should be. The big man notes that this match will let him do whatever he wants to his former friend. Michaels, from a WWF control room, argues that people thought he could not win an iron man match and he proved them wrong. He promises to do the same again at In Your House.

A music video for Sunny airs to the tune of Bobby Hebb’s song by the same name.

Tune in next week to see Bob Holly face the British Bulldog! Also, WWF Tag Team Champions the Bodydonnas, the 1-2-3 Kid, and Savio Vega will be in action!

The Last Word: On paper the Caribbean Kid angle was a good way to further the Savio Vega-Steve Austin feud but it had very little build and died in front of a crowd that did not appear to be clued into what was going on. Shawn Michaels and Diesel gave good promos for In Your House and the no holds barred stipulation gives the match a good selling point. On the whole, this was not a bad B-show but next week does not look like anything important is going on and the feature match selection is poor.

The WWF continued its month-long tour of Germany that would run until In Your House. Here were the results of some of its shows there, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Kassel, Germany – Eissporthalle – April 10, 1996 (4,500): Savio Vega pinned Isaac Yankem at 4:40…WWF Tag Team Champions the Bodydonnas beat the Bushwhackers at 8:30…Ahmed Johnson defeated the British Bulldog in an arm-wrestling match via disqualification…Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Duke Droese at 5:20…Justin Bradshaw defeated Jake Roberts at 7:50…The Godwinns defeated Leif Cassidy & the 1-2-3 Kid at 14:50…Intercontinental Champion Goldust beat Razor Ramon at 12:42…Bret Hart pinned Owen Hart at 13:40…The Undertaker pinned Diesel after the Tombstone at 6:58…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Steve Austin at 27:03.

Bonn, Germany – Hardtberghalle – April 11, 1996 (2,400): The Bushwhackers & Duke Droese beat Leif Cassidy, Isaac Yankem & the 1-2-3 Kid…Justin Bradshaw pinned Savio Vega…Owen Hart defeated Jake Roberts…Ahmed Johnson beat Steve Austin via disqualification…WWF Tag Team Champions the Bodydonnas defeated the Godwinns…Intercontinental Champion Goldust pinned Razor Ramon…The Undertaker beat Diesel…Bret Hart defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley via submission to the Sharpshooter….WWF Champion Shawn Michaels pinned the British Bulldog.

Frankfurt, Germany – Festhalle – April 12, 1996 (6,202): The Bushwhackers & the Godwinns defeated the Bodydonnas, Leif Cassidy & the 1-2-3 Kid…Justin Bradshaw pinned Duke Droese…Savio Vega defeated Owen Hart via disqualification…The British Bulldog pinned Jake Roberts with a Flair pin…Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Razor Ramon after the Pedigree…Ahmed Johnson pinned Isaac Yankem…Bret Hart defeated Steve Austin via submission to the Sharpshooter…The Undertaker beat Intercontinental Champion Goldust via disqualification…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Diesel.

Dusseldorf, Germany – Philipshalle – April 13, 1996 (4,000; sellout): The Bushwhackers beat Leif Cassidy & the 1-2-3 Kid…Justin Bradshaw pinned Duke Droese…Jake Roberts defeated Isaac Yankem after the DDT…Steve Austin beat Savio Vega…Intercontinental Champion Goldust pinned Razor Ramon with a Flair pin…WWF Tag Team Champions the Bodydonnas defeated the Godwinns…Ahmed Johnson beat Owen Hart via disqualification when the British Bulldog interfered…Bret Hart pinned the British Bulldog…The Undertaker defeated Diesel after the Tombstone…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Backstage News*: The 4.7-rating for Monday Night RAW this past Monday was the second-largest audience for a cable wrestling program, trailing only the 1988 Royal Rumble on USA Network. That show drew an 8.2 rating. Despite the numerical discrepancy, fewer homes had access to cable in 1988. That Rumble show drew 3.2 million homes versus the recent RAW of 3.05 million homes. The previous all-time high RAW rating was a 3.9, which the WWF drew twice in spring 1995 for a Diesel-Bam Bam Bigelow main event shortly after WrestleMania XI and a King of the Ring qualifying match between the Undertaker and Jeff Jarrett.

-The German shows have averaged gates of more than $100,000. The Frankfurt show on April 12 drew a gate of $235,113. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart received the best reactions.

-In Your House 7 in Omaha, Nebraska has sold close to 5,000 tickets so far. The Monday Night RAW the next night, which is taking place in Sioux City, Iowa, has sold more than 2,000 tickets. These are good numbers and the WWF is close to a sellout of each place.

-The WWF will have a revenue drop from last year’s WrestleMania because the price of the show was reduced from $34.95 to $29.95 and the buyrates between the two were close. However, the WWF went into the show with low buyrate expectations – the opposite of last year – so there should not be major cost cutting measures on the horizon.

-Mr. Perfect will likely return to the ring later this year. The expectation is that he will renew an old feud with Michaels.

-Yokozuna is spending time at a dietary clinic at Duke University to lose weight. He is not expected back until the next In Your House on May 17.

-Pat Patterson is moving back to Connecticut in May. This could indicate that he is going to return to a front office role but the WWF is saying his appearance backstage at WrestleMania XII was only as a guest.

-In injury news, Goldust was hurt against Razor Ramon in Dusseldorf, Germany on April 13, suffering a torn hamstring, torn calf muscle, and torn ligaments in his knee. Also, Vader broke his eardrum in his RAW match with Yokozuna. Billy Gunn will return from his neck surgery in a few months.

-In talent relations news, Diesel and Ramon will wrestle their last show at Madison Square Garden on May 19. There is not a big fear in the company that Bret Hart will go to WCW.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for April 22.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for April 15!