WTWWW WWE — page 13

Gorilla Monsoon replaces Bobby Heenan as color commentator on Wrestling Challenge, joining Jim Ross to call the action.  They are wrapping up the messy taping in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.

Vince McMahon and Stan Lane commentate the last episode of the tapings in Delhi, New York.

Opening Non-Title Contest:  The Quebecers (WWF Tag Team Champions w/Johnny Polo) (10-3) beat Paul Jones & Chaz Ware when Pierre pins Ware after the assisted flying senton bomb at 1:47:

Polo brings a different book to the ring this time, a text entitled Why Be Moral?  The Paul Jones in this match is not the one of Jim Crockett Promotions fame.  The enhancement talents take the fight to the champions, dropkicking them out of the ring after introductions and posing with the title belts.  That just causes them to receive a terrible beating.  Ware is devastated during the match and then Jones is beat up afterward with the Boston Crab-flying leg drop combination.  After the jobbers have been destroyed, Polo puts the tag belts around their waists as the Quebecers mockingly hold up their opponents’ hands in a callback to how the match started.  Little stuff like this is what more squashes need.

Shawn Michaels tells the 1-2-3 Kid that he is going to end his short career.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are tonight’s announce team, taped from White Plains, New York.  Heenan says that Gorilla Monsoon is all the way in New Jersey and does not scare him.

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan are calling the action, continuing the taping in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.  This would be Heenan’s last broadcast appearance on a WWF syndicated show.

Opening Non-Title Contest:  Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (37-3-2) pins Corey Student after the Razor’s Edge at 1:51:

Ross and Heenan hype the Ramon-Shawn Michaels feud as Ramon has no trouble putting Student away in less than two minutes.

Vince McMahon and Stan Lane are in the booth, still broadcasting from Delhi, New York.  McMahon must be obsessed with celebrating his last Christmas as a free man since holiday themes are littering the WWF’s broadcasts since Survivor Series.  Today, snow falls over he and Lane and McMahon is wearing a Santa hat.

Opening Contest:  Ludvig Borga (20-0-1) defeats John Paul via submission to the torture rack at 2:16:

Like Monday Night RAW, McMahon hypes the Lex Luger-Borga feud but his phrasing makes it seem like they have not faced off even though they did at Survivor Series.  McMahon also announces that Tatanka will return on next week’s program and implies that he will be seeking revenge.  Paul staggers Borga with a few clotheslines but he gets powerslammed trying a flying body press.  Borga does some body shots after that and remains unbeaten in singles competition with the torture rack.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are commentating, live from White Plains, New York.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 3,000 fans.

Opening Contest:  The Steiner Brothers (40-1) beat Mike Khoury & Reno Riggins when Scott pins Khoury after the Frankensteiner at 3:45:

Riggins keeps doing small things to get noticed like posing on the ring apron to the crowd and shouting at them as Khoury is annihilated with suplexes and Steinerlines.  Rick was selling a knee injury in the Survivor Series main event but looks fine here.  McMahon corrects Gorilla Monsoon from the weekend Update segments, saying that the Women’s Championship Tournament will take place over three weeks instead of one.  Scott keeps amazing people by giving Riggins the Steiner Screwdriver and Khoury the Frankensteiner.

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan commentate a new episode, starting the tapings in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place at Carbondale Area High School on November 9.  The taping location shows a continued fall from grace for the WWF from its Hulkamania days.  After the taping the school district lodged complaints that the high school was left in poor condition, trashed with human feces and food, a door was broken, and whiskey bottles were left in a cafeteria.

Opening Contest:  The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (13-0-1) pins Gus Kantarakis after the Tombstone at 1:55:

It is jarring to see the WWF holding a taping in such a small venue.  The aisle looks no more than 20 feet long.  There is more talk of the Undertaker going after Yokozuna as he manhandles Kantarakis with his usual moves.

Vince McMahon and Stan Lane are commentating, taped from Delhi, New York.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on November 10 and drew a sellout crowd of 2,500.  Lane was most famous as a member of the Fabulous Ones in Memphis and the Midnight Express in Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW in the 1980s and early 1990s.  He had just finished doing some work in Japan after a stint in Smoky Mountain Wrestling.  McMahon says that Reo Rodgers will not be appearing anymore because he “fell off of his horse and the horse went into the sunset.”

Lex Luger welcomes fans to the show with his family, wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving.  Like many of Luger’s recent segments, it is awkward.  In a shoot interview, Luger said part of the awkwardness was that he was cheating on his wife.  Bruce Prichard has also said that it took five hours to shoot this 30-second bit.

An unidentified gentleman sings the national anthem.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are in the booth, live from Boston, Massachusetts.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sellout crowd of 15,509.  The pay-per-view drew a buyrate of 0.82 (180,000 buys), a substantial decline from the 1.40 buyrate (250,000 buys) the event received the previous year.  This would end up being the last pay-per-view that Heenan would call for the WWF.  It was not his last pay-per-view appearance, though, as he would return to call the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001.  One wonders how McMahon could stay focused on doing this show when he was arraigned on his federal steroid indictment a day earlier.

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Jim Ross, and Gorilla Monsoon are the commentators for this special, which aired on the USA Network on November 21.  Matches on tonight’s program took place in Bushkill, Pennsylvania and Delhi, New York on November 8 and November 10.  McMahon and Heenan are paired together and Ross and Monsoon are together as the WWF makes it seem that tonight’s show is originating from two separate locations.

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan commentate the last episode of the taping cycle from Glens Falls, New York.

Opening Non-Title Contest:  Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (34-3-2) pins Barry Horowitz after a super backdrop suplex at 2:48:

There is a nice bit in the match where Horowitz is working over Ramon and then a rake to the back makes the Bad Guy turn on the offense.  Ramon decides to win with his trademark move rather than a finisher, something that was not seen too often.

Vince McMahon and Reo Rodgers are commentating, concluding the taping cycle from Burlington, Vermont.  Rodgers is Bruce Prichard doing a heel Dusty Rhodes gimmick and dressed in a cowboy outfit.  According to Prichard, Jerry Jarrett liked his Rhodes impression and had him do it on the show.  Prichard got permission from Rhodes to mimic him but hated doing it.  The gimmick is tiresome after its opening bit.

McMahon says that the Foreign Fanatics will announce a new team member for Survivor Series because Pierre cannot compete due to being knocked out by Lex Luger on Monday Night RAW.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are commentating, taped from Bushkill, Pennsylvania.

Opening Non-Title Match:  Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (33-3-2) pins the Brooklyn Brawler after the Razor’s Edge at 2:54:

For the second straight match, Ramon is attacked before the bell.  However, he gets on track after raising a boot to block a blind charge and bulldogging his opponent.  Big news is broken during the match as McMahon announces that Shawn Michaels has been reinstated by WWF President Jack Tunney and will replace Jerry Lawler at Survivor Series because of Lawler’s legal problems.  Heenan tries to frame the new bout as Michaels trying to get revenge for losing to Bret Hart at last year’s event.  That is a stretch but it is the best thing the company could lean into.  After giving the Brawler a lot of offense, Ramon fights out of a chinlock and dishes out his finisher when the Brawler puts his head down too early on an Irish whip.

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan call today’s action, taped from Glens Falls, New York.  Heenan complains about the Undertaker replacing Tatanka at Survivor Series and argues that it should not be allowed.

Opening Contest:  Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (38-3-1) beats Rich Myers after a stun gun at 3:05:

With Tatanka selling an injury, the door is open for Bigelow to end up with more singles wins than anyone else this year.  Myers does better than his loss to Bigelow on Monday Night RAW on August 16.  They do a creative near-fall spot where Bigelow avalanches Myers but when he tries to do it again a beat up Myers falls out of the corner and Bigelow collides with the buckles.  A dazed Myers covers and the crowd bites on it.  When Bigelow rolls out of the ring, Vachon gets in and slaps Myers.  That does not trigger a disqualification for some reason.  When Bigelow re-enters, a blind charge misses and Myers schoolboys him for two.  But Myers squanders the edge by getting caught with a stun gun on his own charge at Bigelow, losing one of the more entertaining squashes of the year.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, still broadcasting from Burlington, Vermont.  It is revealed that Randy Savage has been barred from commentating after what happened with Crush on Monday Night RAW.

Opening Contest:  Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (15-0) beat Mike Sharpe & Chuck Greenman when Mo pins Greenman after an elbow drop at 3:08:

Lawler makes a good point that he is unsure of what MOM’s mission is.  Greenman avoids a big Mabel elbow drop and an avalanche but cannot press the advantage.  MOM finishes with a Mabel falling clothesline and Mo elbow drop.

In a pre-show promo, Ludvig Borga calls Scott Steiner nothing.  Scott rebuts that he is going to shut Borga up.

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are commentating, live from Bushkill, Pennsylvania.  Savage is returning from his beating at the hands of Crush on October 18.  He promises that all hell will break loose if Crush shows his face.

Call 1-900-454-4RAW to vote for who will face Pierre next week!  Your choices are the 1-2-3 Kid, Doink the Clown, Marty Jannetty, and Lex Luger.  Votes cost 99 cents each!

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan are commentating a new taping in Glens Falls, New York.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on October 19.

Tony Chimel is the new ring announcer for the show, replacing Mike McGuirk.

Opening Contest:  Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) (23-4-2) beats Scott Taylor via submission to the head vice at 1:22:

Taylor takes the fight to Crush, landing a dropkick and clothesline.  But he runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Crush uses a gorilla press drop across the ropes to set up the head vice submission.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report features a new promo from the Foreign Fanatics, who argue that it is impossible for the All Americans to beat them.  They laugh about any replacement the All Americans could find for Tatanka and put over their quest to eliminate the All Americans before Survivor Series.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are commentators, starting a new cycle of tapings in Burlington, Vermont.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on October 20 and drew a sellout crowd of 2,500 fans.

Opening Contest:  Rick Steiner beats Jacques (w/Johnny Polo) after a flying bulldog at 6:16 shown:

The Steiners look dumb for letting the Quebecers get away with not giving them a title shot even though Scott won a match to get that opportunity six weeks ago.  Anyone with sense would have lawyered up and presented a case to WWF President Jack Tunney.  It takes less than two minutes for Pierre to come to ringside, followed by Scott, who rushes out when Polo hits Rick with a cane on the arena floor.  There is a limit on the action shown because of a commercial break but what it shown is fine.  Late in the match, Jacques gets crotched climbing to the top rope, eats a few Steinerlines, and is pinned after Rick’s trademark flying bulldog.  Rating:  **

Heenan does a pre-show talk with Bastion Booger, who is eating lots of food backstage and has crumbs all over his chest.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are in the booth, doing the last episode of the taping in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Opening Non-Title Contest:  Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (31-3-2) beats Bastion Booger (13-6) with a roll up at 7:21 shown:

There is a poorly placed commercial break that happens in the first minute of the match.  Heenan sets up Booger’s bearhug as his biggest move.  McMahon makes the ridiculous claim that Booger has won matches with it when that has never happened.  Booger applies the hold several times after working the back, causing McMahon to call the match “lethargic.”  Ramon catches Booger with a boot on a blind charge; slams him; and goes for the Razor’s Edge, doing a funny shrug of the shoulders before trying.  However, Booger backdrops out and does his sit-down splash finish.  But Ramon counts that into a roll up at two and wins.  As noted before, that finish makes Booger’s finish look ineffective.  He has lost to it twice before in prominent matches.  Rating:  ½*

Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan commentate, concluding the taping in Portland, Maine.  This would be the last WWF television show that Mike McGuirk would be ring announcer for.

Opening Contest:  Marty Jannetty (23-4-2) pins Tony DeVito after the flying fist drop at 3:00:

DeVito takes a big bump out of the ring after eating a superkick.  That leads to him taking the Rocker Dropper and flying fist drop when he gets back in the ring.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (25-2-1) defeat Ralph Mosca & Barry Horowitz when Fatu pins Mosca after the splash off the top rope at 2:42:

Horowitz puts Fatu in a compromising position with an arm drag but Mosca squanders the advantage.  A frustrated Horowitz abandons his partner after the Headshrinkers deliver the doble forward Russian leg sweep to set up their finisher.