WWF at Arrowhead Pond (September 24, 1994)

Original Airdate: September 24, 1994

From Anaheim, California

Opening Match: Abe Schwartz v Louie Spicolli: Abe grabs a side-headlock right away, but Spicolli forces a criss cross, so Abe armdrags him into a wristlock. Spicolli reverses, so Abe counters to a hammerlock, but Louie throws an elbow to break. Criss cross allows Spicolli a hiptoss and a bodyslam, so Abe bails, stalling out the momentum. Inside, Abe pounds him down, and delivers a neckbreaker. Backelbow finds the mark, and a clothesline gets two, but a knee is countered with a schoolboy for two. Abe thinks fast by dumping Spicolli to the outside to avoid a comeback, and he nails him with a baseball slide out there. What else?! Back in, Abe misses a corner charge, allowing Spicolli a dropkick, and he corners him for a ten-punch. Abe fights back with a corner whip and a DDT, and Spicolli is done at 6:51. Whole lotta nothin’ here. ¼*

Bob Holly v Steven Dunn: Dunn with a cheap shot out of the initial lockup, but Bob avoids a corner whip, and hiptosses him. Holly with a dropkick, and an armdrag leaves Steve in an armbar. Criss cross sees Holly actually botch another armdrag, but he still ends up holding an armbar anyway. Dunn goes to the eyes to escape, and he dumps Bob to the outside, then follows to bodyslam Holly on the floor out there. Back in, Dunn goes to work, with Bob doing his usual crazy oversell for any moves involving shots to the face. He was so oddly specific with that. Dunn with a jumping clothesline for two, and a somersault necksnap follows. Standing dropkick gets him two, so he goes to a chinlock, but Holly fights out with a sunset flip for two. Dunn cuts him off with a clothesline, but Holly reverses a vertical suplex on him, so Dunn desperately tries an elbowdrop, but Bob rolls out of the way. He makes a comeback, hitting a powerslam for two, and diving with a flying bodypress at 9:09. This wasn’t bad, they just never really clicked. ½*

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Razor Ramon v Owen Hart: They trade wristlocks to start, and Razor gets the better of it by throwing a right hand, with Hart taking a great bump off of it. The challenger bails to regroup, and he accuses Ramon of hair pulling on the way back inside. Hart grabs a standing side-headlock, so Ramon tries side suplexing him, but Owen lands on his feet. Bodypress, but Ramon catches him in a fallaway slam for two, and the Bad Guy unloads chops in the corner. Charge misses, allowing Owen to hammer him, and dive with a missile dropkick. Straddling ropechoke leads to a side suplex for two, and a backbreaker gets him two. Hart with more choking, and a leg-feed enzuigiri gets him two. Sleeper, but Razor escapes, and wins a slugfest as they get to their feet. Clothesline sends Owen over the top, and he bails up the aisle, but Ramon chases him. Inside, Hart puts the boots to him, but telegraphs a backdrop, and it’s Razor’s Edge time at 9:34. This was nothing special, but it’s too bad these two never had a proper (as in, a non-tournament final where they’re surrounded by angles and time constraints) match on pay per view, it likely would have been great. ¾*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Shawn Michaels and Diesel v Fatu and 1-2-3 Kid: Samu had left the promotion after the previous day's show in Sacramento, leaving us with this pairing until they put Sionne with Fatu as the New Headshrinkers a couple of days later. Shawn and Fatu start, and a big criss cross ends in the challenger using an inverted atomic drop. Hotshot follows, and Kid tags in to spinkick Michaels out of the ring. Kid dives after him with a plancha, and Fatu is on the champion with a headbutt before rolling him back in for Kid to unload on with a series of strikes. Tag to Fatu for another headbutt, so Michaels goes to the eyes, allowing the tag. Diesel comes in with furor on Fatu in the corner, and an avalanche connects. Cross corner whip, but Fatu rebounds with a clothesline, and takes Diesel down for a headbutt drop to the groin. Tag back to Kid to nail Diesel with a headbutt of his own, but the champion quickly drills him with a short-clothesline, and he biels him across the ring. Backdrop, but Kid counters with a sunset flip, though Diesel counters back with a chokeslam. Tag to Michaels with a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope elbowdrop, and he chucks Kid over the top for good measure. Diesel grabs him for a bodyslam on the floor out there, but Kid beats the count, so Michaels blasts him with a superkick for two. The champs work Kid over, until Shawn dramatically misses a corner charge (complete with an incredible sell), and Fatu gets the tag. He comes in hot, and Michaels bumps around for him. That draws Diesel in, but Fatu fights them both off with superkicks, then passes back to Kid to dive at Michaels with a flying bodypress for two. Rollup, but Shawn shoves Kid into a big boot from Diesel, and Michaels hooks the leg at 8:14. This was fun, but never got into high gear, sadly. They would a few days later in a match taped for Action Zone, with Ramon replacing Fatu, though. ** ½ 

WWF Women's Title Match: Alundra Blayze v Bull Nakano: Bull nails her with a clothesline after some squaring off, but Blayze rolls through a catapult, and throws a dropkick. 2nd rope bodypress, but Nakano ducks, and chucks Alundra across the ring by her hair a few times. Legdrop gets her two, and a chokeslam is worth two. Bull with a facebuster and a ropechoke to wear the champion down, and Luna Vachon lends a hand with a cheap shot. Bull with a catapult underneath the bottom rope, and a clothesline gets her two. Bull works a crab hold, but Blayze makes the ropes, so Bull dumps her to the outside for Luna to attack. Bull follows with a clothesline on the floor, and a piledriver gets her two on the way back inside. Clothesline, but Blayze counters with a schoolboy for two, before getting clobbered by the challenger again. Bull works a double knucklelock into a sitdown splash for two, and a vertical suplex is worth two. Bodyslam for two, and Blayze recovers with a dropkick, so Luna trips her when she runs the ropes. That allows Nakano an elevated DDT, but they’re in the ropes on the cover. Powerbomb gets her two, but Blayze counters another one with a sunset cradle for two. Alundra tries getting up the ropes, but Bull slams her off, only to have a pop-up powerbomb countered with a rana into a cradle for two. Nakano stays on her with a bodyslam to set up a flying legdrop, but Blayze dodges, and makes a comeback. 2nd rope dropkick connects, but the referee is distracted by Luna, so no count. Blayze goes to deal with her, allowing Bull to recover, but Blayze fights off the attack with a bridging German suplex at 11:23. This wasn’t the best entry in their series, but it got really good towards the end, and I appreciated that they did a different match than the ones from the spring/summer months. ** ¼ 

WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Jim Neidhart: Poor Bret couldn't even go on last during the house shows for this reign? Neidhart attacks during the entrances, and unloads on the Hitman for a while, but hits a boot on a corner charge. That allows Bret to apply the Sharpshooter, but Owen Hart (in street clothes) makes the save. The heels kick the crap out of Bret until officials can intervene, but since the opening bell still hasn’t sounded, no DQ is called. Owen takes a ringside seat as the match officially begins, and Bret wins a slugfest with a backelbow. Headbutt drop to the groin finds the mark, and the Hitman corners him for a ten-punch, before running his face across the rope. Rollup, but Anvil blocks, so Bret comes at him with a bodypress for two instead. They spill to the outside, where Bret ducks a punch, and Neidhart bashes his hand into the post. Bret stops to tip Owen’s chair over on his way back in (in a great funny moment), and the Hitman uses a slingshot sunset flip for two. Corner whip, but Neidhart reverses, ratting the ring. Neidhart bootchokes the champion and delivers a matslam, before grounding the Hitman in a cobra clutch. Bret slugs free, so Anvil drills him with a short-clothesline for two, and rattles the ring again with a cross corner whip. Bearhug, but Bret bites his way out of trouble, so Jim pounds him. Powerslam gets him two, so Neidhart chokes him some, before dumping him to the outside for a shot into the guardrail. Bret fights him off on the way back inside, however, and delivers a bulldog for two. Russian legsweep gets two, and a backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Vertical suplex, but Neidhart powers him to the top rope to block, then slams him off. Neidhart tries a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop of his own, but Bret dodges, and goes for the Sharpshooter again. Cue Owen, so Bret lets off to go and deal with him. That allows Neidhart to recover, but Bret dodges the sneak attack, and Jim barrels right into Owen. That allows Bret a schoolboy to retain at 11:59 (14:43 total). Neidhart was bringing nothing (and I mean nothing) to the table here, but Bret was working hard to carry this, significantly more so than his usual efforts on the house shows. Based on this performance, I’m fairly certain Hart could have pulled a miracle off if he ever had a proper pay per view match with Neidhart. **

Main Event: Casket Match: Undertaker v Yokozuna: Yoko tries a sneak attack, but Undertaker sees that coming, in the surprise of the century. Big boot knocks Yoko out of the ring, and Yoko does some comical selling (in a good way) on the way back inside. Undertaker with the ropewalk forearm, but Yoko comes back with a Samoan drop, and unloads some headbutts to knock the Dead Man to the outside. Yoko follows to nail him with a chair, and we get a funny bit where two officials struggle to hold Paul Bearer back. Undertaker fights him off on the way back inside, so Mr. Fuji chucks a handful of salt on his eyes, allowing Yoko to recover. He unloads in the corner, and a clothesline puts Undertaker down for a legdrop. He goes for the casket, and gets Undertaker in, but then wastes time instead of closing the lid. That allows Undertaker to climb out, and it’s comeback time. Jumping clothesline connects, but an elbowdrop misses, allowing Yoko a belly-to-belly suplex. Backdrop, but Undertaker counters with a DDT, and he uses a chair to knock Yoko into the casket at 10:57. Yokozuna was becoming increasingly limited at this point, getting to the point where he couldn’t even stay off the ropes for extended periods, not unlike Andre the Giant towards the end. DUD

BUExperience: Some great star power on this card, and some decent matches, but overall nothing particularly interesting. I’d say the WWF Title match is worth a look just to see how Bret Hart could make something out of absolutely nothing, and the WWF Tag Team title match is like a fun preview of the famous Action Zone tag that came a few days after this.

*