WWF Superstars (April 17, 1993)

Original Airdate: April 17, 1993 (taped March 8)

From North Charleston, South Carolina; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Jerry Lawler

Crush v Glen Ruth: I don’t think I ever noticed it before, but Crush’s theme is actually pretty cool. Lawler notes that he wouldn’t care to visit Hawaii, which to Vince is about the most shocking thing possible. He reacted like Lawler admitted to eating feces, or something. Not one, but two Doinks split screen in to cut a promo on Crush, as Lawler and Savage debate how many Doinks really were at WrestleMania. Savage swears he saw two with his own eyes, though really, are we considering Macho Man a reliable narrator? After everything he ‘saw with his own eyes’ in 1988-89? Crush with the headvice at 2:13. “A submission maneuver,” notes Vince. He’s literally squeezing a dude’s head until he gives up, hardly a collegiate hold. DUD

Sean Mooney recaps the catfight between Sensational Sherri and Luna Vachon on RAW. This is notable for being Mooney’s last TV appearance

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The Headshrinkers v JD Stryker and Ron Preston: The announcers are still hyped up about the catfight. What passed as ‘good looking’ in pro-wrestling pre-1996 was pretty incredible. With a few notable exceptions, obviously. Savage, of all people, you’d expect to have higher standards. Lawler, meanwhile, thinks Jack Tunney should back off of Lex Luger, before he ends up like Boris Yeltsin. Pickled? The Headshrinkers with the flying splash at 2:23. Samu really had the easy end of that finisher, didn’t he? DUD

The Nasty Boys are ready to fight to the death over the WWF Tag Team Title. This isn’t Japan, guys

Papa Shango makes some general threats. Odd that they’re wasting airtime on the Nasties and Shango, considering they were all half way out the door at this point, and didn’t even have any angles to promote. Why not use the time to get guys you actually need to get over over?

Mr. Perfect v Barry Hardy: We take a look back at Luger knocking Perfect out at WrestleMania IX… which somehow led to a feud with WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels. I like when guys have more than one thing going on, but they did a lot of start/stop stuff during this period which they never bothered to follow up on ever again. Taking Luger, for example, as he had issues with Perfect and Bret Hart at this point, and neither of them were ever really resolved. To their credit, they did try bringing the Luger/Perfect issue back up in the aftermath of WrestleMania X, but then it never went anywhere again. They did a better job booking Michaels, as he had issues with Perfect, Crush, and Marty Jannetty that summer, and all of them at least led to some sort of resolution. Lawler calls Perfect ‘Curt Hennig,’ which feels like something that would not have pleased McMahon. Perfectplex finishes at 3:01. DUD

Bam Bam Bigelow v Owen Hart: Owen has a knockoff version of Bret’s jacket here, in blue. Hart with a dropkick right away, but he gets suckered into a leg-feed enzuigiri. Well, he’d certainly learn something from that mistake. Criss cross allows Owen his own leg-feed enzuigiri, and a dropkick follows. That allows Owen to get to the top for a flying version, and a sunset flip gets him two. Hart works a wristlock, so Bigelow bodyslams his way out, only to miss an elbowdrop. That allows Owen to slap a fujiwara armbar on, as Savage suggests he try dumping a bucket of water on his head. Shit, the Doink feud now makes that much more sense! Bigelow escapes, and dropkicks Hart to the outside, but Owen uses speed to avoid Bigelow on the way in. Crucifix, but Bam Bam uses a Samoan drop to block, and he puts the boots to the Rocket. Bigelow press-drops Hart across the top turnbuckle, and a pop-up flapjack follows, as Owen bumps all around the ring. Owen really came up during the wrong era, he would have been an even bigger star if he’d broken out ten years later. Bigelow with a corner whip to set up a headbutt drop for two, Another corner whip, so Owen tries springboarding, but slips, and hurts his knee on the landing. That allows Bigelow a bodyslam, and the flying headbutt drop finishes at 7:35. Not surprisingly, this was good, with lots of energy. I think the knee injury was legitimate here, as Owen worked a tag match two days after this taping, and then didn’t wrestle again until two months later. ** ½ 

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Yokozuna v Chris Katowski: Lawler goes on another run against Tunney, this time making some great points about how unfair Hulk Hogan’s WWF Title win was. It wouldn’t have worked in that era, but now I kinda wish we got Lawler as President of the WWF. That would have been crazy entertaining, that much is for sure. More multiple front wars, as Yokozuna has beef with Hogan and Jim Duggan, but again, at least those were resolved. Duggan split screens in to ho. Banzai drop finishes at 2:32. Yokozuna’s stuff was still drawing ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the crowd at this point, and rightly so. “I think this man still wants to be the World Wrestling Federation Champion,” notes Vince. Well, yeah. What else would he be doing here? Getting his cardio in? Not that that would be a bad idea. ¼*

Razor Ramon is the happiest guy in the WWF, and he wants the ‘big gold.’ Well, if he wanted that, he should have stayed in WCW

Undertaker is happy too, about death

BUExperience: Decent show this week, buoyed by the good Bigelow/Hart match.