WTWWW WWE — page 11

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are handling commentary, taped from Poughkeepsie, New York.

Opening Contest:  Crush (w/Mr. FujI) (21-4-2) beats Phil Apollo via submission to the head vice at 2:48:

Crush’s heel look consists of purple, black, and silver gear with face paint to match.  Like his Demolition days from 1990-1991 he is reunited with Fuji as a manager.  Crush does his usual power offense, he just does not play to the crowd any longer.  And his finisher is still the same, using the head vice for a submission win.  After the bell, Crush puts the boots to Apollo and does a leg drop to the back of the head after Fuji tells him to.

Johnny Polo argues that he could beat Marty Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid, who will face off in the next match.

All American Wrestling had a feature match, taped in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 28.  Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon were commentating:

Rick Martel (1-2-1) beats Owen Hart (11-5) via count out after Jerry Lawler interferes at 8:25:

Owen has been an All American warrior this year, wrestling five matches on the program.  As expected, this is a good exchange of technical wrestling as each man counters the others opening moves in the first few minutes.  Martel seizes control after whipping Owen chest-first into the corner and begins to work the lower back, as is his custom, scoring a near-fall from a gutwrench suplex.  The Boston Crab is never applied, though, as Owen stops a Martel aerial attack off the second rope with a fist.  A flying body press gets two for Owen, who is tossed to the floor shortly thereafter.  That allows Lawler to run out and throw Owen into the ring post, giving Martel a count out win.  The match was average as everything was building to Lawler’s appearance to keep the Harts-Lawler feud going.  Rating:  **

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, taped from Worcester, Massachusetts.  Randy Savage is absent because of the beating suffered at the hands of Crush on Monday Night RAW.  Lawler laughs about what happened to Savage and does a funny impression of him.

Opening Contest:  Doink the Clown (29-7-3) pins Barry Horowitz after the flying butt splash at 3:27:

Horowitz tries to do the hockey trick of pulling Doink’s jacket over his head to lay in punches but all of his attempted blows miss.  McMahon floats the idea of there being multiple Doinks at the Survivor Series.  This is not a smooth squash for Doink as he takes lots of time between moves and takes a long time to set up a belly-to-belly suplex.

Vince McMahon narrates a video package that likens Cold War summits to the one that will take place later tonight between Randy Savage and Crush.

McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Savage are in the booth, live from Poughkeepsie, New York.

The exclusive match for this week’s All American Wrestling broadcast took place in Portland, Maine on September 29.  As usual, Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon were commentating:

Marty Jannetty (22-4-1) defeats Pat Tanaka (0-1) with a tombstone piledriver at 6:57:

These two are old rivals from their Rockers and Orient Express days, something that Ross and Monsoon ignore.  Ross also mistakenly refers to Tanaka as Tatanka a few times.  Tanaka blocks a Jannetty hurricanrana with a sit-out powerbomb but Jannetty does not lay his shoulders on the mat so referee Danny Davis does not count, robbing the maneuver of its effect.  After some kicks, Tanaka catches Jannetty with his trademark flying forearm and another sit-out powerbomb for near-falls.  Jannetty misses a flying clothesline and the two opt for one of their vintage finishes where Tanaka goes for a tombstone piledriver but Jannetty blocks it by shifting his weight and doing his own.  Tanaka looked better here than he did against the 1-2-3 Kid a day earlier.  This bout was still middling compared to past battles with Jannetty, though, as both men worked a slower pace.  Tanaka was not signed after this aired and he would work in ECW for a while longer, feuding with Public Enemy.  Rating:  **

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage provide commentary, starting a new taping in Worcester, Massachusetts.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping occurred on September 28 and drew a crowd of 2,000 fans.  This is the second time that Worcester has hosted a Superstars taping this year.

Opening Contest:  Tatanka (34-0-3) pins Mike Bell after the Papoose to Go at 3:13:

This is a rematch from the June 19 edition of Superstars where Tatanka beat Bell in two minutes.  Hype is provided for the Savage-Crush summit on the next RAW as Tatanka wins to keep pace with Bam Bam Bigelow in the race for most singles wins in 1993.

There is a nice video package that recaps last week’s Intercontinental title battle royal and how hard it is to win a championship in the WWF.

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are commentating, concluding a long taping in New Haven, Connecticut.

All American Wrestling’s exclusive match had the debut of the Rock N’ Roll Express.  It was taped in Portland, Maine on September 29.  Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon provided commentary:

Well Dunn (w/Harvey Wippleman) (5-3) defeat the Rock N’ Roll Express via count out at 11:41 shown:

The Express, composed of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, began teaming together in 1983 in Memphis as a stand-in for the Fabulous Ones.  They achieved their greatest fame in Jim Crockett Promotions in the mid to late 1980s, winning the NWA World Tag Team Championship four times and feuding with teams like the Midnight Express, Ivan Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev, and Ole Anderson & Arn Anderson.  The duo’s run ended in 1988 over a pay dispute, although they would return to the newly named WCW in 1990.  Unable to find their past success, Morton turned on Gibson in 1991 and they had a disappointing pay-per-view match at The Great American Bash that year, which Morton won.  In the summer of 1992, the team reunited in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling.  Positioned again as a top act, they engaged in a long feud with the Heavenly Bodies that got some play in WCW until Bill Watts was fired as Executive Vice President.

The Express are announced as the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions and come to the ring with the titles.  Monsoon even argues that everyone, including people in the WWF, want a shot at them.  Again, this was mind blowing for wrestling fans because the WWF had typically refused to recognize the existence of other promotions.  If the Express were wresting somewhere in the South they would have gotten a better reaction for their entrance.  As it is, the Portland crowd still gives them a decent reception.  A few minutes into the match, Jim Cornette comes to ringside to provide managing assistance to Well Dunn, eventually providing a distraction to give them an edge on Morton.  If Well Dunn had better offense, this match would flow nicely but they literally choke off its potential with chinlocks.  After Gibson receives the hot tag, the Express blast Dunn with their double dropkick but Cornette gets in the ring and hits Gibson with his tennis racquet while the referee is trying to get Morton out of the ring.  Gibson chases Cornette down the aisle and Cornette trips.  Gibson thinks he has Cornette where he wants him but the Bodies run out and attack Gibson, allowing Cornette to get in a few additional racquet shots.  The referee is not seeing any of this, focused on Well Dunn and Morton in the ring and when the referee starts his ten count, Gibson cannot make it back in.  The Express were protected in this defeat, which was meant to put heat on the Express-Bodies feud.  The only reason they lost is because Well Dunn is a WWF product, which will always win these political games.  The outcome is Well Dunn’s fifth-straight victory.  Rating:  **¼ 

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage provide comments on the action, wrapping up the television taping in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Lawler and Savage debate the significance of Columbus Day.

Opening Contest:  Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (11-0) beat Damien Demento & Anthony Green when Mo pins Green after a Rocket Launcher at 3:37:

Adding red boots and tassels to his look has not improved Demento’s fortunes.  Men on a Mission have a house show program going with Well Dunn but it is so lopsided that it does not warrant a mention by the announcers.  Demento does not want to mix it up with Mabel, throwing Green into the ring and whipping him into the big man.  MOM runs through a lot of moves on Green, with Mabel placing Green too far from the corner with a DDT for the Rocket Launcher finish.  This would be Demento’s last televised appearance, making no significant impact on the company during his tenure.  He would return to the independent circuit and retire in 1994.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan provide commentary, taped from New Haven, Connecticut.

All American Wrestling got back to having a feature match.  This bout took place in Portland, Maine on September 29 and had Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon commentate it:

Rick Martel (0-1-1) beats the 1-2-3 Kid (13-4-1) via submission to the Boston Crab at 7:13 shown:

The bout is more of an extended squash for Martel as he dominates six of the seven minutes of in-ring action, focusing his offense on the Kid’s lower back to set up the Boston Crab.  The Kid finally gets something going after catching a Martel dive off the ropes with a kick to the mid-section.  A spinning heel kick gets a close near-fall but the Kid makes another error in a big match, missing a reverse flying body press off the second rope.  That Koko B. Ware-like mistake leads to the Kid submitting to the Boston Crab, giving Martel a second positive in-ring result this week.  The Kid has been struggling in feature matches since SummerSlam, a combination of rotten luck because of Shawn Michaels’ suspension and the WWF trying to corral his backstage antics.  Rating:  *½

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage are in the booth, taped from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Savage calls Lawler “bucket head” because of what Doink the Clown did to him on Wrestling Challenge.

Opening Contest:  The Steiner Brothers (34-1) beat Tom Bennett & Chad Miller when Scott pins Miller after the Steinerizer at 3:49:

Bennett kills time by jawing with a fan on the apron but that just delays the inevitable beating he receives from the former Tag Team champions.  He fails to rotate enough on a Scott overhead belly-to-belly suplex so his head gets driven into the canvas.  Before the Steiners finish Miller, McMahon says “It’s Miller time!”  After the match, Lawler uses the Royal Magistrator to draw a clown face on Rick and call attention to the Steiners no longer having the WWF Tag Team titles.

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage provide commentary, live from New Haven, Connecticut.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show attracted a crowd of 5,500.  3,200 of those fans paid for their tickets.  Having a bigger venue for RAW relative to where it has been all year makes the show look more important.

WWF President Jack Tunney gives a taped announcement that Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels has been suspended for failing to meet contractual obligations and appearances.  As a result, the Intercontinental Championship is vacated and there will be a 20-man battle royal on next week’s show.  The last two competitors in that battle royal will meet the following week to determine the new champion.

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan call today’s action, starting a new taping in Saginaw, Michigan.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on September 1 and drew a crowd of 3,000 fans.  Heenan is still selling his “cold” from Doink the Clown throwing water on him last week on Monday Night RAW.

Opening Contest:  The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (11-0-1) pins Steve Moore after the Tombstone at 2:54:

Moore was a trainee of Jim Lancaster, who ran Ohio Midwest Championship Wrestling.  He made his debut in 1982 and spent the next decade working the Midwest independent circuit, with a few enhancement appearances for the AWA and Jim Crockett Promotions.  In a few years he would make a bigger name for himself in Smoky Mountain Wrestling as Al Snow.

Since the Undertaker is on a collision course with Yokozuna he annihilates Moore, slowing him down with chokes before winning with the Tombstone.

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage are doing commentary, taped from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, this taping took place on August 31 and drew a sellout crowd of 3,500 fans.

After showing the attack by Shawn Michaels and Diesel on the 1-2-3 Kid on last week’s show, Mr. Perfect does a taped promo about being in the Kid’s corner today so that Michaels and Diesel cannot push him around.

Opening Contest:  Adam Bomb (w/Johnny Polo) (20-0) pins Kevin Kruger after the Atom Smasher at 2:34:

Polo is announced as a co-host on Jim Ross’ Radio WWF program.  He opts for simpler attire, clad in a Hawaiian shirt and sporting a putter.  Bomb slaps his opponent around, doing some shaky movements with his arms before doing his finish, which must be some way to channel the explosive power of an atom bomb before doing the move.

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are in the booth, taped from the Manhattan Center in New York City.  This would be the last Manhattan Center RAW until February 24, 1997.

McMahon recaps how the Quebecers won the WWF Tag Team Championship on last week’s program.

Opening Contest for a WWF Tag Team Title Shot:  Scott Steiner (1-0) beats Pierre (w/Johnny Polo) after the Frankensteiner at 12:41 shown:

These two had some good exchanges in last week’s Tag Team title match.  Scott dominates all the action before the commercial break, nearly winning with a piledriver.  Pierre heads to the locker room and after the break, Jacques comes out.  Rick is on his heels and the chaos allows Pierre to attack Scott from behind.  He slows down the action with several chinlocks, excusable when one considers that this is the second match these two have wrestled at the taping.  Scott kicks out of a corner slingshot splash and flying leg drop off the second rope.  He avoids a corner slingshot splash to start a comeback, with McMahon still calling a Steinerline a “Steinerliner.”  After a double underhook suplex, Scott delivers the Frankensteiner and Jacques and Polo do not bother intervening, allowing Pierre to take a clean loss.  Scott’s part of this match was great but Pierre started to run out of things to do at the end.  No date is given for when the Steiner Brothers were going to get their return title match and due to their upcoming house show suspension the answer would be never.  Rating:  **½

All American Wrestling had another feature match, taped in Grand Rapids, Michigan on August 31.  Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon commentated the bout:

The Heavenly Bodies (w/Jim Cornette) (5-1) defeat the Smoking Gunns (15-1) when Jimmy Del Ray pins Bart after Cornette interferes at 6:08 shown:

The Bodies struggle to slow down the Gunns early, losing several brawling sequences that culminate in a dazed Tom Prichard monkey flipping Del Ray.  A blind tag finally lets the Bodies put Bart in peril, although Bart screws up that sequence by falling before Prichard can run into the ring and bulldog him.  Bart avoids a Del Ray splash so that Billy can receive the hot tag.  Not a lot happens there until the Gunns try to set up their backdrop-piledriver combination finish.  As Prichard distracts the referee, Cornette gets in the ring and hits Bart with his tennis racquet.  When Bart falls, Billy inadvertently ends up backdropping Del Ray onto his partner, with Del Ray rotating enough to splash onto Bart and that allows the heels to end the Gunns ten-match win streak.  This quickly checked off all the requirements for a tag match but it was not given enough time to develop into anything better.  The finish was unique, though.  Rating:  **¼

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage provide commentary, taped from White Plains, New York.  Lawler has upgraded his attire to a black jacket with royal insignia, which looks better than the other gear he has been wearing to commentate for shows like a red cape that looked like it was bought at K-Mart.

Opening Contest:  Bret Hart (8-3) defeats Blake Beverly (1-5) via submission to the Sharpshooter at 4:20:

Bret may have wanted this match booked to reboot his standing in the company as the last time he wrestled Blake in 1992 he was WWF champion by the next WWF television broadcast.  Blake won that encounter, only to have the decision reversed by Sergeant Slaughter.  Lawler is conveniently absent from commentating, going after a young fan who has a critical poster of him.  Blake is once again positioned as Bret’s kryptonite, blocking a crucifix with a Samoan drop and scoring a few near-falls.  Bret gets his head back in the game when Blake uses his momentum to send Bret to the floor when Bret does a standing switch.  The Hitman gets on the apron and uses the ropes to send Blake to the floor and when the action resumes, the moves of doom and a Sharpshooter follow.  This would be Blake’s last television appearance, wrapping up a year of filler singles performances.  He would head to New Japan and wrestle on the Minnesota independent scene before re-emerging in WCW in 1996.  This was a good match to go out on, though, as it showed he could hang with the best technical wrestler in the company.  Rating:  **

After the match, Savage uses the Magistrator to draw a chicken leg from Bret’s Sharpshooter position, putting a crown on it to represent Lawler.

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are doing commentary, live from the Manhattan Center in New York City.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sellout crowd of 1,200 fans.

McMahon announces that tonight’s WWF Tag Team title match will be conducted under “Quebec Province Rules” meaning that the Steiner Brothers could lose the titles by count out or disqualification; and that piledrivers, coming off the top rope, and throwing an opponent over the top rope are illegal.  The rules appear to be a parody of what Bill Watts was doing in WCW during his run of the company in 1992 and 1993.  It also makes the Steiners look like idiots agreeing to these unfavorable stipulations.

All American Wrestling’s feature match took place in Saginaw, Michigan on September 1.  It was commentated by Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon:

Marty Jannetty (18-4-1) beats the 1-2-3 Kid (12-3-1) via count out at 7:21 shown:

Ross hypes this unique babyface clash as a contender match to Shawn Michaels’ Intercontinental Championship.  There are some good reversal sequences as the Kid traps Jannetty in a victory roll for a near-fall and Jannetty counters a hurricanrana attempt with a sit out powerbomb.  Jannetty then does a creative spot where he slingshots the Kid into the ropes and rolls him up on the rebound for a two count.  He could win by count out after a pescado but opts to toss the Kid into the ring.  That backfires when the Kid dropkicks him off the top rope and the Kid follows with a somersault plancha that he overshoots and nearly ends up in the first row.  Back in, Jannetty uses a headscissors to set up the flying fist drop but the Kid gets a foot up to block.  However, the Kid takes one risk too many as a suicide dive misses and Jannetty beats the count back into the ring.  As the summary attests, this was a match ahead of its time, especially with the high-flying spots, and it is a shame it ended up on a D-show.  The outcome was weird, though, as the Kid was still on the receiving end of a push while Jannetty was going in the opposite direction.  Rating:  ***½

After the match, Jannetty checks on the Kid’s condition and brings him into the ring so he can acknowledge his effort.