WWF at Brendan Byrne Arena (October 27, 1994)

Original Airdate: October 27, 1994

From East Rutherford, New Jersey

Bam Bam Bigelow v Adam Bomb: We have a weird white ring apron tonight, which features the creepy Hart Attack Tour logo of Undertaker standing over Yokozuna’s body (with the impression being that he died of a heart attack). You know it’s a quality house show tonight because Ted DiBiase is actually in Bigelow’s corner. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen him back up one of these charges at a non-televised event. They feel each other out to start, but Bigelow slightly dominating, until Bomb hits him with a jumping clothesline, and Bam Bam bails. Inside, Adam continues dominating, so Bigelow complains of cheating, but Bomb shurgs the accusations off with a facebuster for two. Armbar, but Bigelow escapes, and ten-punches him in the corner. That’s a weird spot for a heel to do. Bam Bam dumps him to the outside for Ted to smack around, but DiBiase just stands there like an idiot, until Bigelow jumps to the outside and sends Adam into the post himself. I would have given DiBiase a much smaller cut for that kind of shitty managing. Bigelow feeds him the steps next, but Bomb beats the count, so Bigelow ropechokes him, then dumps him back out. Adam beats the count again, so Bigelow snapmares him into a chinlock, and delivers a headbutt drop for two. Back to the chinlock, until Bomb can fight free, but a criss cross ends in a double knockout spot. Adam wins the resulting slugfest, and throws a bodypress at him for two. Standing dropkick gets two, and a corner whip rebounds Bam Bam into a clothesline. Bigelow responds by pulling a top turnbuckle pad off, and he runs Adam into it for the pin at 14:52 - with DiBiase covering the buckle back up in case the referee notices. Okay, give that man his full cut, he earned it. This was really lazy work from both guys, they looked like they just did not give a damn out there. DUD

The Smoking Gunns v The Heavenly Bodies: Billy Gunn and Tom Prichard start, and Billy dominates. That draws Jimmy Del Ray in without a tag, but Bart Gunn cuts him off at the pass, and the cowboys hit Del Ray with a tandem Russian legsweep for two. The heels bail, but the regrouping does them little good, and the Gunns continue to dominate once they’re back in, working Prichard over. Bart runs into trouble to turn the tide, and the Bodies cut the ring in half on him. Bart reverses a vertical suplex on Tom, but Del Ray cuts off the tag, so Bart hits him with a sunset flip for two. Del Ray clobbers him with a clothesline to cut off again, but a flying moonsault misses, and that’s enough for the hot tag to Billy - Roseanne Barr the door! Sidewinder looks to finish Tom, but Jimmy saves, and hits Bart with a superkick for two. Blind tag to Billy, and Billy comes off the top with a flying clothesline on Del Ray at 13:21. ¾*

Jerry Lawler v Doink the Clown: Lawler with his usual stall tactics to start, as Doink clowns around to get in his head, and plenty of gags involving either mans mini corner man. Doink with a pair of backdrops and a dropkick, but Dink gets clobbered on the outside, distracting the referee from making the count. Doink stays focused with a powerslam, but the referee is still caught up with the minis, so no count. That finally distracts Doink enough for Lawler to clobber from behind, and a schoolboy scores the pin at 9:33. This was a night off in the ring for either guy, with the whole match structured around theatrics, with very little actual wrestling. ¼*

WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Jim Neidhart: Neidhart attacks him as Bret climbs in after giving away his shades, and a cross corner whip sets up a powerslam for a leveraged pin at 0:25! Holy shit, Anvil is WWF Champion! He’s actually announced as such, and even parades around with the belt, before additional officials run out to inform the assigned referee of the leveraged pin, and he re-starts the match. Bret unloads as the bell sounds, and a backelbow puts Jim down for a headbutt drop to the groin. Hart ropeburns his face, so Neidhart tries a powerslam, but Bret counters with a rollup for two. Bodypress gets the champion two, so he drags Neidhart to the outside for a brawl, and Jim ends up hitting the post. Bret with a slingshot sunset flip for two on the way back inside, but a cross corner whip gets reversed on him, and Anvil goes to work. He grounds Hart in a chinlock, but Bret fights to a vertical base, so Jim short-clotheslines him for two. Matslam leads to a bearhug, but Hart escapes, only to have a rollup blocked on him. Neidhart turnbuckle smashes him ahead of a choke, and another cross corner whip rattles the ring. Neidhart dumps him to the outside for a smash into the timekeeper’s table, but Bret fights him off on the way back into the ring, and unloads in the corner. Bulldog gets the Hitman two, and a small package is worth two. Backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, but Bob Backlund runs out as he goes for the Sharpshooter. Neidhart tries capitalizing with a double team, but it backfires, and Bret schoolboys at 7:17 (8:33 total). Bret tried his best to get something out of this, and the title switch fake out was some great booking to get the crowd invested, even if the match itself wasn’t very good. * ¼ 

Main Event: Casket Match: Undertaker v Yokozuna: Undertaker knocks him to the outside early, and then stalks him around for a while. Undertaker catches up to him with a ropewalk forearm, but Yoko doesn’t go down, so Undertaker tries a series of clotheslines, until Yoko catches him with a Samoan drop. He rolls Undertaker toward the casket, but gets blocked before he can get him inside. Yoko unloads in the corner to soften him up, and a pair of corner whips work, but Undertaker rebounds with a clothesline. DDT follows, and a flying clothesline finds the mark as well. He rolls Yoko into the casket, but Irwin R Schyster shows up to distract him before he can close the lid, allowing Yoko to escape. Yoko hits Undertaker with a belly-to-belly suplex to set up a legdrop, but Undertaker quickly fights back with a jumping clothesline, and a (sorry excuse for a) chokeslam. That allows him to put Yoko in again, and now IRS is nowhere to be found at 6:12. That interference from Irwin felt really out of left field, with him making the save, then disappearing. Normally, the babyface would need to take him out before getting the win, but instead Undertaker just sort of got back on track and won a few second later, while Schyster was probably hitting the showers. ¼*

BUExperience: This version omits the Abe Schwartz/Jim Powers, IRS/Duke Droese, and Lex Luger/Tatanka matches, but I doubt any of those would have made a difference with this terrible card. 

DUD