WWF at Madison Square Garden (May 20, 1994)

Original Airdate: May 20, 1994

From New York, New York

Opening Match: Thurman Sparky Plugg v Kwang: Kwang attacks before the bell, unloading on Plugg in the corner. Cross corner whip sets up a corner splash, but Plugg dodges, and uses a series of armdrags ahead of a dropkick. Plugg with a ten-punch in the corner to fop Kwang, and Sparky covers for two. He works an armbar from there, but Kwang goes to the eyes, so Plugg dropkicks him out of the ring. Plugg chases, but gets clobbered out there, but manages to beat the count, so Kwang savate kicks him. Plugg comes back with a bodypress for two, so Kwang tries a backdrop, but Thurman counters with a small package for two. Kwang pounds him down before he can continue, however, and it’s nervehold time! Maybe the actual golden age of wrestling had already ended by this point, but between Kwang, Yokozuna, and the Headshrinkers, 1994 was truly the golden age of the nervehold. Plugg escapes and dives with a 2nd rope bodypress for two, but Kwang savate kicks him again for two. Back to the nervehold, and a corner whip sets up a corner spinheel kick. Kwang takes him up for a superplex, but Plugg blocks, and dives with a flying clothesline. Sparky makes a comeback, landing a dropkick for two, and delivering a backdrop for two. Charge, but Kwang dodges, and Plugg goes over the top. Kwang tries suplexing him back in, but Plugg counters with a rollup for two, so Kwang nails him with a spinheel kick at 9:23. A perfectly watchable opener. * ½ 

Jeff Jarrett v Doink the Clown: Jarrett attacks as Doink rolls into the ring, but Doink fights off the blitz. Doink holds him in a full-nelson for Dink to mess with, and Doink schoolboys for two. Backslide gets two, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two. Backdrop leaves Jarrett so loopy that he falls out of the ring, so he goes after Dink, but Doink saves. Inside, Doink works an armbar, but Jeff fights to a vertical base, and uses a drop-toehold into a side-headlock. Doink quickly counters to a hammerlock, but a whip into the ropes results in Dink taking a bump to the floor. Well, maybe his ass shouldn’t have been on the apron. That distracts Doink, preventing him from going for a cover after delivering a DDT, and Jarrett recovers with a dropkick. Backelbow finds the mark, as do a pair of 2nd rope punches. 2nd rope clothesline connects, and a piledriver gets him two when Doink is in the ropes. Straddling ropechoke gets Jarrett another two count, and a vertical suplex is worth two. Chinlock, but Doink escapes, so Jarrett switches to a sleeper. Doink fights to a vertical base, so Jarrett clobbers him with a clothesline, but gets distracted by Dink. That allows Doink the recovery time necessary to dodge a 2nd rope fistdrop, and the clown makes a comeback. 2nd rope bodypress misses, but Jarrett again makes the mistake of chasing Dink around rather than finishing. That allows Doink a slingshot sunset flip, but Jeff counters with a leveraged cradle at 13:25. It’s kind of a shame that this gimmick was the height of Ray Apollo’s career, because he wasn’t a bad worker, and Jarrett was actually the weak link in this one. The match would have been a lot better without all the clowning around. ¾*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Afa and The Headshrinkers v Johnny Polo and The Quebecers: Close to the end of the line for the Quebecers here. Polo has his Scotty Flamingo jacket during the entrances, which is weird. Samu starts with Jacques, and it turns into a slugfest right away, won by Samu. Jacques tries a monkeyflip, but Samu blocks with a headbutt drop, and Jacques cowers in the corner. Tags to Fatu and Pierre, and Pierre lands a 2nd rope clothesline for two, but walks into a jumping shoulderblock as they criss cross. Fatu tries a bodyslam, but Pierre counters with a schoolboy for two, and sends him spiraling with a clothesline. Clothesline, but Fatu ducks, and hits a jumping axehandle, before passing to Afa. Afa nails Pierre with a knife-edge chop to set up a headbutt drop, and he bails to Jacques, so Afa lets Fatu have back in. Jacques tries a facebuster, but Fatu pops right back up with a superkick, so Pierre runs in, but Fatu dispatches him with a powerslam. The heels decide to walk out, but then have a sudden change of hearts, and run back in just ahead of the count. That bit doesn’t really work as well without a title the referee can threaten to take away if they don’t return. Dust settles on Samu and Pierre, and Samu delivers a pair of dropkicks, so Polo takes a cheap shot. That allows the heels to gain control, and they go to work on Samu. They go for the tower of Quebec finisher, but it misses, and Fatu gets the hot tag. He runs wild on both Quebecers, and the flying splash combo finishes Pierre at 13:22. Afa and Polo were total nonfactors in this terribly boring match. Which is both very good and very bad, considering Polo is probably the best worker of the bunch. ½*

WWF Women's Title Match: Alundra Blayze v Luna Vachon: Luna throws knees at her out of the initial lockup, but loses a criss cross when Blayze delivers a dropkick. Blayze with a sunset flip for two, so Luna goes to the eyes. Blayze fights that effort off by sweeping the leg, frustrating the challenger, and causing her to bail to strategize with Bam Bam Bigelow. Back in, Luna pounds her down for a ropechoke, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. Vachon with a suplex for two, so she goes back to the chinlock. Blayze fights to a vertical base, so Luna uses a swinging neckbreaker, and she turnbuckle smashes the champion a few times, but gets reversed after going to the well once too often. Blayze looks for a comeback, but Luna quickly cuts her off, and delivers another swinging neckbreaker. Pump-splash gets her two, but a flying splash misses, and now it’s comeback time, for real. Snap suplex gets two, and a bridging German suplex looks to finish, but Bigelow breaks the count. Blayze slaps him, which allows Vachon to recover, but the sneak attack backfires. That allows Blayze a bridging German suplex, and this time it gets three at 7:08. I like Luna as a character, but not necessarily as a worker, and this was a big step down for Blayze after working with the likes of Bull Nakano and Sakie Hasegawa on the Japanese tour. ½*

Lex Luger v Crush: It’s the match the coin flip robbed us of! Crush pounds on him to start, and a ropechoke leaves Luger gasping for air. Criss cross allows Lex to come back with a series of clotheslines, and Crush bails to regroup. Back in, Crush railroads him into the corner to choke, but a backslide gets reversed for two, and Luger knocks him out of the ring with a shoulderblock. He tries following with an axehandle from the apron, but Crush blocks, and Lex eats the post. Crush grabs a chair, but Luger blocks, and returns the favor with the post, then feeds him a helping of steps for good measure. What a babyface. Inside, Luger tries an elbowdrop, but Crush rolls out of the way. Crush works the back in dull fashion, until Lex fights out of a lengthy bearhug. Crush keeps control with a press-slam to set up a legdrop for two, but Luger counters a suplex with an inside cradle for two. Crush clobbers him again to prevent a proper comeback, but Lex sidesteps a corner splash, and hooks a schoolboy for two. Crush cuts him off again, and, honestly, I’m over it. Get to the damn finish already. Thankfully, Lex feels the same, and drops him with a DDT for two, and makes a proper comeback. Backelbow gets two, and a kneelift sets up a pointed elbowdrop for two. Crush shoves Lex into the referee to bump him, allowing Crush an inverted atomic drop, and a superkick. With the referee still down, Crush decides to grab a chair, and he tries a dive off the middle rope with it, but misses. Lex makes another comeback with a jumping forearm, and a second official runs in to count the pin at 16:53. Do something nice for the next coin you see. ¼*

Tuxedo Match: Howard Finkel v Harvey Wippleman: Howard comes out to Real American, in a funny bit. Wippleman attacks from behind, though it’s not really a cheap shot, as the bell had sounded, and Finkel turned his back. Harvey tackles him, but Howard gets the better of the exchange, and does some tearing. They keep rolling around and trading off, until Finkel gets him out of the tuxedo at 3:39. I really don’t get why this feud even existed, let alone for as long as it did. I’m guessing Vince McMahon found it hilarious, and that was the long and short of it. DUD

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Diesel v Razor Ramon: Razor slides in and goes right at him with right hands to kick start the match, and Diesel ends up on the outside. The champ regroups out there, and comes in with a knee on the Bad Guy, allowing him to hammer him with elbowsmashes. Diesel works the lower back, and a short-clothesline drops the challenger. Big boot, but Razor ducks, and delivers a clothesline. Cross corner whip works, but the charge in doesn’t, and Diesel bootchokes him. Diesel with a facebuster and a sleeper, but Razor side suplexes his way out, and covers for two. Charge, but Diesel sidesteps, and Ramon goes flying over the top. Diesel follows to bash him into the steps out there, but Ramon beats the count, so Diesel unloads in the corner. Pair of corner whips lead to a sidewalk slam for two, and a snake-eyes rattles Ramon. Straddling ropechoke and an elbowdrop gets the champion two, so he works a chinlock. Razor escapes, so Diesel big boots him back down for two, and slaps on an abdominal stretch. Ramon escapes, and applies one of his own, but Diesel quickly hiptosses out of it. Elbowdrop, but the Bad Guy dodges, and he makes a comeback. 2nd rope bulldog gets him two, and a bodyslam leads to the Razors Edge, but Diesel backdrops him over the top to block. Diesel follows to add a cherry on top, but before he can come back in to take his countout, Razor slugs at him - the two brawling to a double countout at 12:12. This was okay. * ¼ 

Bam Bam Bigelow v Mabel: Bigelow tries unloading, but Mabel corner whips him, and delivers a backdrop for two. Avalanche, but Bam Bam dodges, and throws an enzuigiri to knock the big man to the outside. Bam Bam follows to feed him the steps out there, but Mabel beats the count, so Bigelow blasts him with a jumping clothesline for two. Chinlock, but Mabel fights to a vertical base, so Bigelow pops him with another enzuigiri. Bodyslam, but Mabel topples him for two, and a clothesline sets up a legdrop. 2nd rope splash, but Bigelow rolls out of the way, and goes up with a flying headbutt drop at 4:30. This was short, thankfully. For the life of me, I can’t see what Vince saw in Mabel. Other than just being really big, he had nothing going for him. Maybe he could have skated by in another era, but mid-90s fans wanted workers, and Mabel was anything but. ¼*

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Owen Hart: Bret’s got his gear from WrestleMania on, so clearly he’s not a superstitious man. Owen plays mindgames as they feel each other out, with some sequences lifted directly from their WrestleMania match. They trade hammerlocks, dominated by Bret, so Owen uses the hair to get him into a wristlock. Hart manages to counter to an armbar, and a crucifix gets him two. Back to the hold, so Owen tries forcing a criss cross, but Bret is ready with a hiptoss. Armdrag sends Owen running for the outside, and the challenger stalls out there, complaining of a hair pull. Owen comes back in trying to get in Bret’s face, but the older brother slaps him away, and schoolboys for two. Back to the armbar, but Owen forces a criss cross, and catches him with a knee to the gut to turn the tide. Owen stomps the groin from there, and a cross corner whip leads to a camel clutch. Bret fights to a vertical base, so Owen shifts to a chinlock to hold control, then to a side-headlock when Bret nearly escapes again. Owen uses the hair throughout to keep Bret in his holds, but the referee never catches him, then admonishes Bret when Bret finally loses it and starts responding in kind. Owen goes to a sleeper, but Bret recovers on the third arm drop, so Owen belly-to-belly suplexes him for two. Back to the chinlock, but Bret fights to a vertical base, and hooks a sunset flip for two. Bret goes to town in the corner, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Bret nearly snaps the ring in half with his bump. Owen dives with a missile dropkick for two, and he bashes the Hitman’s knee into the post to start working the part. Figure four looks to put it away, but Bret reverses, and they end up in the ropes. Bret’s still battered, however, allowing Owen to keep attacking in the corner, but a charge hits boot. The champion capitalizes with a 2nd rope clothesline, and an inverted atomic drop sets up a clothesline for two. Russian legsweep gets two, and an inside cradle is worth two. Owen tries bailing, but Bret keeps him inside for a backbreaker, setting up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Owen tries bailing again, and this time manages a mulekick when Bret looks to keep him inside, and the Rocket dumps him to the outside. Owen follows to ram Bret into the post, and he grabs a chair, but Bret dodges. Owen tries going to the top on the way back inside, but Bret vertical superplexes him off for two. Sharpshooter, but Owen goes to the eyes to block, and hooks a rollup for two - reversed by Bret for the pin at 22:28. This was pretty disappointing compared to their two classic pay per view matches in ‘94, though certainly not a bad match by any stretch of the imagination. A good deal of this was surprisingly similar to their WrestleMania encounter, though, which was just two months prior, and in this same building to boot. ** ¾ 

BUExperience: This was not the most interesting house show, with no great matches, and not even any charmingly unique pairings. 

DUD