WWF Superstars (June 12, 1993)

Original Airdate: June 12, 1993 (taped May 24)

From Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Jerry Lawler

The Steiner Brothers v Iron Mike Sharpe and Ralph LaRue: Savage promises to jump over the top rope and congratulate whoever wins the King of the Ring tournament, which is indeed exactly what he did! I always loved that little moment, but never realized that it wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing. The Brothers with a combo on LaRue at 2:26. The usual jobber brutalization here. ¼*

Gorilla Monsoon shows us some still images of Shawn Michaels winning the WWF Intercontinental Title back from Marty Jannetty at a house show, with the aid of the debuting Diesel. I’m surprised that, to this day, we still haven’t seen any video footage of that one. Did they just not tape it? Anyway, now that Shawn is the champion again, his match with Crush at King of the Ring is now for the title

1-2-3 Kid is considering Razor Ramon’s $7,500 offer to wrestle again, but while it’s a lot of money to him, it’s just not worth the risk. So no. Lawler suggests he reconsider, so he can buy acne medicine, which probably set off a little lightbulb in Vince’s head, since they had tons of sponsorship deals with those companies over the next few years

Razor Ramon v Bert Cenento: Bret Hart appears on the video wall before the match to mock Ramon, wondering how Razor believes he can beat the Hitman when he couldn’t even beat an unknown kid. The crowd chants ‘1-2-3’ at Ramon as he takes his frustrations out on Bert, finishing with the Razor’s Edge at 1:23. DUD

Gene Okerlund is in the studio with Face to Face, with guests Jim Duggan and Lex Luger. Duggan isn’t scared of Bam Bam Bigelow because he’s ‘not a three year old kid,’ while Luger can’t wait to knock Tatanka out at King of the Ring

Jim Duggan v Mike Bell: Say what you will about some of the later versions, but they were doing a hell of a job building up this tournament. Duggan with the three-point stance at 0:51, letting Mike hear the bell in short order. DUD

Boni Blackstone brings Yokozuna out for an interview, and no wonder she didn’t last long, she sounds terrible here, and way off brand for the promotion. Anyway, Mr. Fuji says he’s been bulking Yokozuna up ahead of King of the Ring, and he’s now fifty pounds heavier, so suck that, Hulk Hogan. Vince goes out of his way to note, for the second time in this episode, that Yokozuna does not represent the country of Japan, so I assume they were getting complaints from some group that week

Undertaker v PJ Walker: Vince keeps harping on Walker being afraid of Undertaker, which sure, but why is he driving it home so hard? Was there a complaint from some group representing undertakers, or something? Chokeslam finishes at 1:29, as Giant Gonzalez makes his way down. Afterwards, Giant comes in, but Undertaker actually holds his own against him. That draws Mr. Hughes out, and he slams Paul Bearer, allowing Harvey Wippleman to steal the urn. That allows Hughes to put Undertaker down, and wow, they must have completely given up on Giant at this point, because he looked like a total loser here. Also, Harvey was only twenty seven years old at this point? That’s the most shocking thing I’ve heard today. DUD

Gene is in the studio with the King of the Ring Report. That is, if he can get over his DISGUST at Mr. Hughes stealing the urn! I mean, a heel stealing Undertaker’s urn? Well, I never! Well… actually… no one had ever at that point, so I guess his pearl clutching is understandable

Men on a Mission vignette 

Money Inc v Tony Ray and Buddy Lane: Money's Inc's WWF Tag Team title is not on the line here. Savage isn’t too worried about Undertaker, but Paul Bearer might be dead, and that mildly concerns the Macho Man. Meanwhile, Vince hypes up an article in WWF Magazine about Ted DiBiase caught ‘red handed’ doing something, though he never actually bothers to clarify what that something is. No matter, Million Dollar Dream finishes at 1:39. Why did referee’s only check a jobbers arm once, not three times? These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night. Afterwards, the Steiner Brothers come out to make a challenge, and Money Inc decline - though the Brothers would go on to win the belts two days after this aired, at a house show. And then lose them back two days after that. But then win them back three days after that. So, happy ending for all! I mean, except for Money Inc. ¼*

Gene with another Face to Face with Bret Hart and Razor Ramon, so they can cut one last round of promos on each other ahead of King of the Ring

BUExperience: I enjoyed this episode. There was a good final push for King of the Ring, and it felt like the promotion had a lot of exciting stuff going on, which often felt like it was contained to other shows during this period, but it was nice to see it translate to Superstars as well (even if a lot of it was in recap form).