WWF Superstars (May 8, 1993)

Original Airdate: May 8, 1993 (taped April 6)

From Tucson, Arizona; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Jerry Lawler

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Mr. Hughes and Money Inc v Kamala and The Nasty Boys: What weird teams. How, exactly, does Hughes fit in with Money Inc, anyway? Just because he dresses like IRS? Ted DiBiase tries to buy Kamala off at the bell, but he just gives it to Slick (who quickly pockets it), and then attacks Ted anyway. That was pretty funny, particularly how Slick ‘rejects’ the cash, but only after it’s safely in his pocket. Vince, of course, clarifies that the money will go “straight in the collection plate this Sunday.” Over to Brian Knobbs, and Ted backelbows him down, but Irwin R. Schyster loses control of things, and ends up getting shoved into Jerry Sags’ underarms. Sags tags in to turnbuckle smash IRS, and he tags Kamala in for an avalanche, but Kamala gets mixed up about where to run, and ends up missing by the time he figures it out. Tag to Hughes, and they do a power showdown, won by Kamala. Tag to Knobbs, so Money Inc come in to attack him, allowing Hughes to turn the tide. The heels cut the ring in half on Knobbs, but DiBiase telegraphs a backdrop, and eats a facebuster. That allows the tag to Sags, as Vince continues to drone on about the collection plate. Let it go, dude. Sags with a piledriver on IRS, but Hughes breaks the count at two, and Roseanne Barr the door! Kamala splashes Irwin, but can’t figure out how to make the pin, and IRS schoolboys him at 8:15. He just did that exact same finish against Bam Bam Bigelow in a match that aired earlier the same day on Mania. Good tempo, not much else. *

Gene Okerlund hosts Face to Face, a new segment in which he conducts simultaneous interviews via split screen, like some sort of news channel opinion show. This week’s guests are WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect, and they hype up a match, though nothing is actually signed yet. Not a great start for this new segment

Smoking Gunns vignette

Yokozuna v Sean Dakota: Jerry calls Yokozuna’s flower girls as ‘babes,’ which somehow deeply offends Vince. Between that, and his collection plate ranting, this version of Vince is really about as far removed from Mr. McMahon as possible. Yokozuna is still looking relatively lithe at this point, though that would quickly change. Banzai Drop finishes at 2:12. Yokozuna looked like he was annoyed with the jobber this week, smacking him around like he’s the lost Steiner brother. ¼*

Gene Okerlund is in the studio with the King of the Ring Report

Crush v Steve Vega: Lawler wants to know how exactly Bret Hart qualified for the tournament without having a match, so Vince clarifies that he qualified by ‘being one of the greatest superstars of all time.’ Not only a stupid response, but also kind of a shot at poor Savage. Crush with the headvice at 2:00. DUD

Gorilla Monsoon is in the studio with a review of the Sensational Sherri/Luna Vachon feud, including new promos from both, with Luna channeling Ultimate Warrior in hers. Though, it would be Sherri who would disappear from the promotion before working the blowoff, so perhaps the wrong woman took on that role

King of the Ring Tournament Qualifying Match: Razor Ramon v Tito Santana: We still haven’t seen the actual brackets yet, which is either bad promotion, or they hadn’t decided who would get slotted where yet. I know that he was just JTTS at this point, but the fact that Tito is getting a shot in the tournament, but Savage - the guy who blew Santana into irrelevance when he came into the promotion in the mid-80s - is supposedly too washed up to even regularly compete any longer. Tito catches him with a jumping forearm early on, but Razor is in the ropes. Santana stays focused with a wristlock, but runs into a hotshot during a criss cross, and Razor puts the boots to him. Razor with a flurry of fists, but Santana responds in kind, and turns it into a full blown comeback! Flying bodypress looks to put it away, but Ramon rolls through at 3:17. This was pretty laid back. ¼*

Doink the Clown continues to creep me out as he cuts a promo on Crush. I know it’s been said a million times, but the original version of this character was something truly special, and it’s a shame it didn’t last longer

Jim Duggan is still angry about Yokozuna squashing him, but he’s ready to move on to the King of the Ring. Not even a mention of his upcoming Intercontinental title rematch with Shawn for RAW, oddly

Raymond Rougeau brings Giant Gonzalez out, and apparently he’s going to decapitate Tatanka to get into the King of the Ring tournament. That’s quite the promise

BUExperience: Not a top level episode, but two star/star matches on one show is pretty big stuff for this era, and definitely beats the parade of squashes we usually get.