WWF at Osaka-Jo Hall (May 9, 1994)

Original Airdate: May 9, 1994

From Osaka, Japan

Opening Match: Fatu v 1-2-3 Kid: Fatu with a bodyslam to start, so Kid backs off, and regroups. A criss cross goes better for Kid with a spinheel kick, but Fatu no sells him. Kid keeps coming with strikes into the corner, but Fatu reverses a cross corner whip, and Kid ends up taking the count on the outside. Fatu holds the ropes open for him, but then clobbers Kid when he takes the bait. I guess he’s not a babyface in Japan. Fatu with a ropechoke, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Kid delivers a series of kicks, then a jumping clothesline to send him to the outside. Kid dives after him with a plancha, but Fatu catches him, and rams him into the post out there. He adds a whip into the guardrail for good measure, but Kid beats the count, so Fatu hits him with a three-alarm backbreaker for two. Short-clothesline gets him another two count, so Fatu works a chinlock. Backelbow finds the mark, and Kid is knocked silly, but still kicks out at two. Fatu with a headbutt, but Kid gets a second wind, and starts throwing wild punches. Fatu absorbs them, however, and he plants Kid with a piledriver. Bodyslam, but Kid slips free, and peppers him with strikes - Fatu no selling, and blasting him with a superkick. Fatu goes upstairs, but Kid throws a dropkick to knock him off, and dives with a flying bodypress for two. Again, but Fatu catches him in a powerslam for two, and a hotshot follows for two. Backdrop, but Kid blocks with a facebuster, though Fatu no sells again. Kid keeps coming with a suplex, but Fatu counters with a powerbomb for two. Side suplex, but Kid counters with a victory roll at 9:47. Not bad at all, though Fatu’s constant no selling got a bit annoying by the end. Did he talk to Scott Norton before getting on the plane, or something? **

Bret Hart and Randy Savage v Owen Hart and Adam Bomb: Second match on the card, no less! Savage and Bomb start, and Adam powers him around, so Savage goes to a waistlock, and then passes to the Hitman after frustrating him a bit. Bret wants Owen, and the heels oblige… eventually. There was a good minute of debate first. The brothers measure each other some, then feel each other out on the mat, trading holds. Bret dominates until Owen gets sick of it and bails, teasing walking out on the match altogether, before coming back - and promptly getting schoolboyed by Bret for two. Tag to Savage, and he bashes Owen with an elbowsmash, then snapmares him to set up a kneedrop - only for Owen to dodge. I really want to see a proper Savage/Owen match, but a quick check reveals that they only ever crossed paths in a handful of tag matches in ‘94, and never anywhere in North America. In fact, Savage’s last ever WWF match was tagging with Bret against Owen and Jim Neidhart in Germany that September. Bomb tags in with a backelbow, but Savage blocks a suplex, and passes to Bret. Bret pounds him, and uses a backbreaker to set up a legdrop. Back to Savage for a flying axehandle, but he gets suckered into the heel corner, and clobbered. The heels cut the ring in half on Randy, but a miscommunication sees Owen hit Bomb with an elbow, and Savage is able to tag! Bret nails Owen with a clothesline for two, and a Russian legsweep follows for two. Vertical suplex gets two, but Owen counters another backbreaker with a tombstone for two. That one looked close to being dangerous. Kneedrop connects, so he passes back to Bomb, but Bret blocks a corner charge, and nails him with a 2nd rope clothesline. Sharpshooter, so Owen runs in, but Savage cuts him off, and Bomb submits at 15:03. They had it firmly in low gear with this one. ¾*

Undertaker v Jinsei Shinzaki: Shinzaki reveals a severed Undertaker ‘head’ before the bell, to try to get into his real head. Shinzaki tries knocking him over in the early going, but he can’t get the Dead Man off his feet, and Undertaker uses a drop-toehold to set up an STF. Shinzaki makes the ropes, so Undertaker turnbuckle smashes him, and chokes away in the corner. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Shinzaki rolls out of the way, and he unloads with strikes. Pair of dropkicks fail to take ‘Taker off of his feet, so Shinzaki goes up with a missile version, and that works. Bodypress, but Undertaker counters to the Tombstone at 3:31. Well, that was certainly to the point. DUD

WWF Women's Title Match: Alundra Blayze v Bull Nakano: They shove each other to start, and Bull gets the better of things with a clothesline, but Blayze comes back with a dropkick. Blayze with a shoulderblock, and a series of kicks put the challenger down for two. Bull regroups and challenges her to a test-of-strength, and she dominates that once Blayze accepts, so the champion kicks her, and hooks a northern lights suplex for two. Bull manages to keep the knucklelock applied through the move, however, and she snapmares the champion a few times, ragdolling her. Bull with a sleeper, wearing Blayze down for two, and a two-handed bulldog follows. Again, but Blayze kicks her out of the ring to block, and then dives with a suicada! Right back in with a spinkick for two, and Blayze grounds her in a chinlock from there. Bull names the ropes, so Alundra gives her an earringer, but Bull gets fired up, and clobbers her with a clothesline. Vertical suplex gets the challenger two, so she ties the champion up in a surfboard sharpshooter. I’m surprised no one really ever stole that spot, it’s great. Bull hammers her in the corner, so Blayze tries a mulekick, but Nakano gives her the Mr. Deeds sell. Blayze bails, so Bull follows to send her into the post a few times, but Blayze beats the count. Nakano welcomes her in with a ropechoke, and a piledriver gets her two - Bull breaking her out pin as a taunt. Pop-up powerbomb, but Blayze counters with a rana into a cradle for two. Bull tries staying on track with a backdrop, but Blayze counters with a sunset flip for two, and a corner whip sets up a corner clothesline. Bull sets her on the top turnbuckle so she can have the pleasure of slamming her off, but Blayze comes back with a bridging German suplex for two. Bull tries her own, but Blayze counters with a victory cradle for two. A (poorly executed) powerbomb gets two, and Blayze messes up again by slipping off the middle rope while trying a dive, and just planting. Bull capitalizes with a bodyslam, but a flying legdrop misses, and Alundra grabs a bridging German suplex at 12:26. Good on them for handling that botch in the best, most organic and professional way possible. That said, I grossly overrated this one the first time around. ** (Original rating: *** ¾)

Yokozuna v Genichiro Tenryu: I don’t have high hopes for this one. Posturing to start. Yokozuna manages a bodyslam, but Tenryu pops up and bitch slaps him, leading Yoko to cry in the corner for a while. He gets charged up and comes out guns blazing, unloading on Tenryu, and delivering a clothesline to take him down. Elbowdrop follows, and Yoko blasts him with a pretty furious chop, before dumping him to the outside. Mr. Fuji (wearing his old school tuxedo/bowler hat deal, for whatever reason) attacks out there, and Yokozuna keeps the hurt going with an armbar once Tenryu is back in. Tenryu fights back with a series of enzuigiris to stagger the big man, and a Russian legsweep takes him off of his feet. Tenryu goes up with a flying backelbow drop for two, but a stupid attempt at a piledriver gets countered with a backdrop. Yeah, what the fuck was that about? Yokozuna with a legdrop for two, and a splash gets him two. Belly-to-belly suplex gets another two, so Yoko tries whipping him into the ropes, but Tenryu starts throwing clotheslines. Series of chops knock Yoko to the outside, and Tenryu follows to slug it out. They brawl around ringside, until the referee gives up trying to restore order, and rules it a double countout at 12:26. Yokozuna was showing some fire here, but this wasn’t at all good. ½*

Main Event: 18-Man Royal Rumble Match: This is one of only two non-televised Rumble matches in history, and we've got two minute intervals for this. Rick Martel gets #1 and Bob Backlund draws #2. Hey, two longevity record holders! Bob dominates, but running into a cheap shot, and nearly getting tossed. Martel celebrates too early, and runs into an airplane spin, and Bob nearly gets him out, as #3 entry Jinsei Shinzaki (the future Hakushi) joins the party. He initially hangs back to let them fight it out, but goes after Backlund when Bob is trying to get Martel out, and they double team the Bobster. Man, how I wish I had a time machine, just so I could go back to this show, and see the looks on everyone’s faces when I tell them that Backlund would be WWF Champion again before the year is up. Of course, the looks of confusion on their faces might be more because I don't speak any Japanese than anything else. Adam Bomb gets #4, and goes after Backlund, as Shinzaki fights Martel. The balls on them booking a guy named 'Adam Bomb' in Japan. #5 is 1-2-3 Kid, and he piles onto Martel with Shinzaki. Masashi Aoyagi is #6, and he teams up with Shinzaki to hit Kid with a tandem knife-edge chop. They team up on Bomb next, but that predictably doesn't go well for them. Tatanka gets #7, as Kid teases an elimination via Martel. #8 is Billy Gunn, and he saves Backlund from Shinzaki, then goes after Bomb in the corner. This has been a pretty terrible Rumble thus far, without any cutesy spots, or anything beyond very basic battle royal fare. Compare it to the one they did at the Garden a few days before the pay per view version in January, which was actually a pay per view caliber Rumble. Nobukazu Hirai gets #9, as Kid and Shinzaki trade kicks. Shinzaki tries a big charge, but Kid ducks, and Shinzaki is done. Bart Gunn draws #10, but doesn't really add anything. Owen Hart gets #11, and goes after Kid, but fails to dump him. Bam Bam Bigelow is #12, as Owen does a cool elimination tease where he ends up standing on the top rope as a method of blocking a suplex from Bart, but then dives at Gunn with a missile dropkick from there before Bart can knock him to the outside. That was really unique, and I'm actually surprised Owen never busted that one out on a bigger stage. Billy Gunn tries to superplex the Rocket, but Owen manages to ride him down to the mat to block, as Randy Savage draws lucky #13. Owen has been pretty much the lone bright spot of this thing thus far. He teases an elimination from Savage next, but Martel saves, and they double team the Macho Man. Both Smoking Gunns are still in there, but aren't bothering to work together at all... oh, too late. Both are gone. One courtesy of Savage, one via Bigelow. Samu draws #14, and holy shit, both Martel and Backlund are still in this thing. #15 is Undertaker, and it's goodbye Martel! Quick, someone call Leslie Nielsen! Martel a nice backdrop bump on the way out, too. Bigelow and Samu double up on Undertaker, as Owen skins the cat to save himself from a Savage elimination. Fatu gets #16, as Tatanka goes to town on Owen. #17 is Bret Hart, and you can guess for yourself who he goes right after. Backlund is still in this! Doink the Clown rounds out the field at #18, as Bret dumps Bomb. Tatanka makes a fiery attempt on Bigelow, but ends up getting reversed, as Owen finally ends Backlund's night. Bret and Owen then do a double elimination, as Undertaker gets rid of Samu. That leaves Bigelow, Savage, Undertaker, and Fatu as the final four, and Macho tries diving at Bam Bam with a flying axehandle, but gets caught, and run into the corner. Bigelow then whips him right into a backdrop from Fatu, and that's the end of Randy's night. Last Rumble match he'd ever compete in, too. They gang up on Undertaker next, but unlike that other Royal Rumble ‘94, it doesn’t work out so well for them. Bigelow accidentally dropkicks Fatu out, and Bam Bam's a goner at 46:15 after Undertaker dodges the flying headbutt. Kind of funny to think that this was actually a longer Rumble than the 1995 pay per view version ended up being, despite the significantly smaller field. This is far (far, FAR) from a good Rumble, but it's kinda worth a look just for the sheer novelty. ¾*

BUExperience: The Nagoya show the day before was some really interesting stuff, this one… less so. The concept of a non-pay per view Rumble is interesting enough, but not interesting enough to bother with this one. 

DUD