WWF This Tuesday in Texas (December 1991)

As a companion piece to the 1991 Survivor Series, take a look back at the first effort by the WWF to expand the pay per view market to a monthly format – as after using the Survivor Series to set up a number of angles, they promised blowoffs ‘This Tuesday in Texas’ – and the card literally took place the following Tuesday, from, well, Texas – as an experiment to see if their audience was prepared to purchase a half length, budget priced pay per view shortly after buying a major one. It was an idea not unlike their later In Your House series, in the mid-90s, however, This Tuesday in Texas failed to perform at the box office, and the idea was scrapped in favor of a return to the standard pay per view schedule.

From San Antonio, Texas; Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Bret Hart v Skinner: Bret controls with a series of armdrags to start, and catches him with both sides of an atomic drop to clean house. Inside, Hart works an armbar, but Skinner posts him to take control. Rope-assisted abdominal stretch and a shoulderbreaker gets two. He whacks Bret with his 'gator glove (Skinner's gimmick was that of an alligator hunter), and chokes away - using the ropes, his hands, his boots, etc. Bret takes his sternum first corner bump, and an inverted DDT gets two. Skinner comes off of the 2^nd rope, but eats boot, and Bret HARTS UP!! Russian legsweep for two! Suplex! Backbreaker, and the 2^nd rope elbow get two! Rollup, but Skinner tosses him off, and heads up, only to get slammed off of the top! Sharpshooter finishes at 13:46. Basically just an extended version of the dozens of TV matches they had around this period. Hart's offense looked good, and crisp - and his selling flawless as ever, but Skinner's heat segment was dull, and plodding. ½*

Randy Savage v Jake Roberts: This was part of an awesome angle, where Roberts attacked the 'retired' Savage on an episode of Superstars, unleashing his cobra on him, and allowing it to legitimately bite his arm (the snake had been devenomized) - in one of the more terrifying moments presented to a six year old. That was enough to get WWF President Jack Tunney to reinstate Savage, to get revenge - and this is his first match since WrestleMania VII. It's remembered as one of the best angles the WWF ran, and though I hadn't become a fan until early '94 - I did watch Superstars from time to time, as most kids do, and remember seeing it. It was truly unsettling - and even people in the audience didn't know what to make of it, as the gritty nature contrasted so strongly with the rest of the cartoonish product. The crowd is pumped for it, too, and Savage jumps Roberts on the way to the ring, absolutely unloading on him. Flying axehandle, and Jake decides to go back home, but Savage won't have that shit. He beats him back to the ring, but Jake manages to dump him when the referee holds Savage back. Jake posts him out there, making sure to hit the cobra-bitten arm. Savage starts swinging wildly (the angle being that the 'venom is spreading,' making him rabid), and Jake gets an inverted atomic drop to put him down. Jake works... the bite... and tears the medical gauze off. Short-clothesline, and Jake goes for the DDT, but Savage shoves him off, and the Big Elbow finishes at 6:25. Oh, but the fun isn't over! Savage grabs the ring bell to finish him off - as the crowd loses it cheering him on - but the referee's meddling causes him to get DDT'd. A second DDT, but now Jake wants to finish him, bringing out the snake bag. That draws out Elizabeth, covering Savage with her body (oh, yeah, dig it!), and begging for his life (okay, less sexy), but Jake is scum, and DDT's Savage again, right in front of her. Savage is a corpse, so Jake turns his attention to Elizabeth, slapping her in the middle of the ring for not begging properly. Oh, he's dead now. Unfortunately, Savage just ate three DDT's, and selling was still something wrestlers did back then, so he doesn't make the save - rather a horde of WWF Officials clear Roberts out, as the crowd looks to be near riot. Not a blowoff, by any means, as the angle was so hot, they were pushing towards WrestleMania at this point - with Hogan/Flair on top - until things changed. ½* - but the rating’s trivial. This was an incredible angle.

The Warlord v Davey Boy Smith: They do a power-stalemate - standard in any big lug matchup - to start, until Warlord suckers Davey into a test-of-strength, and nails him off of it. They spill outside, and Davey tries a slingshot bodypress, but gets half-caught (they botched it), and posted. Inside, Davey with a missile dropkick, but he gets crotched in the ropes on a bodypress attempt. Warlord backdrops him, and grabs a bearhug. Warlord with a belly to belly suplex, but he plays to the crowd instead of going in for the kill. He continues to hammer the back, but gets caught in a sunset flip for two. You'd think that would motivate him to focus, but he continues to showoff to the crowd, while Davey is down, ready to be pinned. Full Nelson (his finisher), but Davey won't quit, and Warlord lets off. Blind charge misses, and Davey hits a 2^nd rope flying clothesline. Hanging vertical suplex gets two, and the Running Powerslam looks to finish, but Warlord topples him with a bodyblock for two. Criss cross, and Davey catches him with a crucifix for the pin at 12:45. Standard stuff - with both guys not particularly looking to work outside of the confines of a formula match - though certainly bolstered by a hot crowd. ½*

Virgil and Tito Santana v Ted DiBiase and Repo Man: Repo and Santana (both in gimmick hell - as Repo is Barry Darsow, Lone Ranger-masked, and gimmicked as a guy who steals your shit; while Santana drew the bullfighter-gimmick card) start, and Tito works the arm. Tito hiptosses him over the top, and DiBiase comes in to properly fuck a guy up. That draws Virgil in, and he hits a sunset flip for two. Atomic drop puts DiBiase on the outside, but back in, Virgil misses a blind charge. DiBiase with a gutwrench suplex, and they cut the ring in half on Virgil, but he catches DiBiase with a swinging neckbreaker, and both guys tag. Tito's a casa of arson, and the jumping forearm hits Repo, but DiBiase gets involved. They work Tito over, but a double knockout spot gives us Virgil/DiBiase. Virgil unloads fists of fury, and hits a Russian legsweep to finish, but that causes a four-way brawl to break out. In the chaos, Repo nail Virgil with a kneelift, and DiBiase gets the pin at 11:28. Well, if they knew it was a kneelift they needed all along! Well paced, and worked - if average. Luckily, they soon figured out that pairing DiBiase with IRS was a better match. ¾*

Main Event: WWF Title Match: The Undertaker v Hulk Hogan: Jack Tunney sits at ringside to make sure that the Ric Flair doesn't try any shenanigans this time around. Because that’s what will stop a world champion caliber pro-wrestler. An old man sitting on a folding chair. Hogan takes it right to him coming in – not even waiting for the bell – and unloads with a ten punch count. Inverted atomic drop, and a clothesline, but 'Taker keeps coming. Slam, but he sits right up, so Hogan clotheslines him to the floor. He follows, but 'Taker catches him with a shot to the throat, and chokes away on the floor. Hogan beats the count in, but faces more choking - which is essentially the extent of early-Undertaker offense. Ropewalk forearm, and more choking. Nervehold, but Hogan powers up, and starts to make a comeback. 'Taker botches a criss cross, tripping himself up in the ropes, but they recover nicely as Hogan improvises a cross corner spot, before 'Taker hits the originally intended jumping clothesline for two. Ropewalk again, but Hogan pulls him down, and HULK UP!! Cue Ric Flair, pushing his way through Tunney, as Hogan unloads. He then decides, 'hey, fuck winning the WWF Title, let's fall into the dirtiest player in the games trap!' and jumps to the outside, taking Flair out with a chair. Back in, 'Taker has predictably recovered, and he and Flair attempt a double team with a chair, but Hogan reverses, and hits the big boot. Undeterred, Undertaker's manager, Paul Bearer, hops up on the apron with the urn, but a shot with that misses - hitting Undertaker instead - and Hogan spills the remains of the Undertaker’s parents onto the wrestling mat, throws them casually into his eyes, and schoolboys him for the pin at 13:09. This was basically a ten minute chokehold, and then an overbooking mess - but the crowd loved it, as Hogan drew unreal heat throughout. Still, better than the steaming pile they passed off as a match the week before, at Survivor Series. The honeymoon wouldn't last, however, as Tunney stripped Hogan of the title the following weekend due to the ‘controversial nature’ (see: he threw dead people in the dudes eyes!) of the title change, and declared it vacant. I would have loved to see Tunney make a return during the Attitude Era. There would literally be no title changes. ¼*

BUExperience: Not much in the way of classic wrestling, but certainly not an uninteresting show, bolstered by a ferociously hot crowd (particularly for Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, and Hulk Hogan), and some angle development – though, most of that would play out further, as nothing was actually settled here, despite some token wins – and even title victories – for our heroes.

I’m actually somewhat surprised that the buyrate tanked as much as it did. Sure, even on paper the card isn’t a blow away, though you’d think the return of Randy Savage to action (and in such a hot feud), as well as the rematch between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker would be enough to carry it. I don’t think the concept was poor, just the execution – as holding the event less than a week after Survivor Series definitely had to impact the number of people who could afford to open their wallets again – even if they wanted to. Had they held the event later in the month, it would have likely been more successful. As a fan watching a few years later, after seeing the Survivor Series I was definitely excited to rent the VHS of this show to see what happened next – so the marketing was there. *.