WWF at Providence Civic Center (September 10, 1992)

Original Airdate: September 10, 1992

From Providence, Rhode Island

Opening Match: High Energy v Skinner and Barry Horowitz: Koko B Ware and Barry start, and Horowitz bails to the outside right away to frustrate him. Inside, Barry tries a backdrop, but Koko blocks, and Horowitz tags out. The heels try to sucker Koko, but he outsmarts them, and passes to Owen Hart. Owen holds Barry in a wristlock, but he manages a tag to Skinner - who quickly gets wishboned. The babyfaces continue to dominate at will, until the heels finally manage to put Koko down, and they cut the ring in half on him. Owen gets the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! Energy whip the heels into each other, and Koko dives with a missile dropkick at 17:19. Way too much time for such boring fare. ½*

Mountie v Tito Santana: Tito dominates early on, but Mountie pounds him down, and takes control. He works Santana over, using a reverse chinlock, and a piledriver, among other more boring moves. He wastes time playing to the crowd, allowing Tito to recover, and Santana makes a comeback. A series of turnbuckle smashes lead to a clothesline, and he nails him with El Paso, but Mountie falls out of the ring. That tended to happen to him a lot, what a terrible finisher. He really should have stuck with the figure four. Tito drags him back in, but gets nailed with a cheap shot in the process, and Mountie hooks a leveraged pin at 12:41. Another yawner. DUD

Shawn Michaels v Virgil: Shawn brings some speed to the table right away with some criss crosses, but after dominating the first few, Virgil catches him with a dropkick, and Michaels ends up on the outside. Inside, Virgil works on the arm, but Shawn fights him off, so Virgil dives with a 2nd rope bodypress for two. Another criss cross ends in Michaels launching him over the top, and he follows to the outside to knock Virgil into the steps with a high knee. Inside, Shawn goes to work, and a standing dropkick gets him two. Michaels works a headlock, until Virgil fights free, and hooks a sunset flip for two. Shawn tries keeping control with a cross corner whip, but he runs into a boot on the charge, and Virgil makes a proper comeback. 2nd rope clothesline gets him two, but Shawn blocks a rollup, and plants a superkick at 12:18. Shawn moving into the singles ranks was such a breath of fresh air, as even against a middling worker like Virgil, he’s working so much crisper and faster than most of the other guys at this level of the card. He’s also one of the few guys who consistently brings it at house shows, working like he’s on TV instead of phoning it in. * ½ 

Randy Savage v Razor Ramon: This match would have made a lot more sense had the match where Razor cost Macho the world title already aired. They get in each other’s faces to start, and Macho hits him with a pair of clotheslines, followed by a high knee. Corner whip, but Razor reverses, only to run into a boot on the charge. That allows Savage a turnbuckle smash, and a ropechoke follows. Macho still selling the leg injury from SummerSlam is some Bret Hart level dedication. He dumps Ramon over the top, but Razor kicks at the leg on the way back in. He goes to work on the part, and tries putting it away with a spinning toehold, but Savage sends him to the outside to escape. Randy follows to feed him the post and the steps out there, and a flying axehandle finds the mark on the way back in. Bodyslam sets up the flying elbowdrop, but WWF Champion Ric Flair shows up! Savage takes the bait and chases, allowing Razor to get hold of Ric’s title belt, and he wallops Randy with it for the pin at 6:33. Kind of on the short side, but solid. *

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Natural Disasters v The Beverly Brothers: Despite winning the title, and despite Earthquake’s history as a top guy, I just never bought the Disasters as a championship level team. On paper, total slam dunk, but it just didn’t work in practice. The Brothers try to blitz them, but the champ fight them off, and clean house. The dust settles on Typhoon and Blake Beverly, and Blake plays mind games, but Typhoon won’t let him get in his head. Could he not afford to give up the space? Blake manages to pound him down in an overhead wristlock, but Typhoon powers out, so the Brothers regroup. They manage to trip the champ up to take control, and they cut the ring in half on him. Typhoon manages to fight Blake off long enough for the tag to Earthquake, and Beau Beverly is is big trouble! Earthquake Splash looks to finish, but Blake trips him up, and makes an illegal switch with his brother. He hits a legdrop to set up a 2nd rope axehandle drop, but Earthquake dodges, and tags back to Typhoon! Typhoon runs wild, and a splash retains the gold at 10:06. This was insignificant, but inoffensive. ½*

Bret Hart v Papa Shango: It’s too bad they never went meta with it, and revealed that Shango was Godfather’s papa. Shango attacks the Hitman on the outside, and he puts the boots to him on the way into the ring. Shango with a turnbuckle smash and a bootchoke, followed by a backelbow. Bearhug wears the Hitman down, but he escapes, so Shango hits him with a straddling ropechoke, and stops to put a curse on him. A nervehold follows, so clearly the curse was on us all. Bret escapes with a bodypress for two, but gets dumped to the outside, and Papa follows to ram him into the apron. Hart beats the count, so Shango hammers him in the corner, and cross corner whips him. The charge in doesn’t work out, allowing Bret to dive on with a sleeper, but Papa quickly drops into the corner to knock himself loose. Shango with a trio of elbowdrops to set up a 2nd rope version, but Hart rolls out of the way! He makes a comeback, delivering a Russian legsweep for two, and a backdrop for two. 2nd rope clothesline is worth two, so he unloads a ten-punch in the corner, but a bodypress gets caught in a backbreaker. That allows Shango to unleash another choke, and he unloads in the corner. Avalanche misses, however, and Bret schoolboys at 11:36. This was like a 1996 Randy Savage match, with Bret just selling for the entirety, before making a comeback at the end. Flair needing to drop the title in a hurry, coupled with Ultimate Warrior bailing really was the perfect ‘stars aligning’ situation for Bret, because I’m not sure where his career would have been going if they weren’t forced to give him a shot the next month. ¾*

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Ric Flair v Undertaker: Flair’s title win over Savage hadn’t aired on TV yet at this point. Undertaker knocks him around in the early going, and even delivers a press-slam, since everyone has to work Ric’s match, no matter who they are. Flair bails to regroup, and goes to the eyes on the way back in, but Undertaker no-sells the chops that follow. Ric begs off, but Undertaker shows no mercy, hammering him. Cross corner whip flips Flair to the floor, but Undertaker drags him right back in. Jumping clothesline, but Flair ducks, and Undertaker ends up on the outside, where Mr. Perfect is ready to pounce. Inside, Flair takes control with a side suplex, but Undertaker fights back with a vertical suplex, so Ric knocks him cold with a loaded fist. That allows him to slap on the figure four, but Undertaker does the sit up, and powers to a vertical base for a chokeslam. Cover, count, but Perfect pulls the referee out at two. Undertaker goes after him, but that allows Flair to attack, and Undertaker meets the steel post. Ric tries capitalizing on the way back in, but Undertaker immediately no sells again, and press-slams him. Jumping clothesline connects, and it’s tombstone time, so Perfect comes in with a chair for the DQ at 8:46. Kind of neat watching Undertaker plug into the standard Flair formula match, I’ll give it that. *

BUExperience: A few interesting pairings, but a pretty boring house show overall - especially in the early going.

DUD