WWF Superstars (October 30, 1993)

Original Airdate: October 30, 1993 (taped September 28)

From Worcester, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

The Smoking Gunns v The Executioners: Lawler is dressed as Randy Savage in honor of Halloween, since Randy is still off licking his Crush wounds this week. I know it’s not quite the Shawn Michaels feud he was hoping for, but the Crush feud was a very nice way for Macho to ride into the sunset in the WWF (even if the actual blowoff match was pretty disappointing). The Gunns with some nice combos on their way to victory at 2:20. ½*

Gorilla Monsoon is in the control center with Update, which again serves as just a second Survivor Series report as opposed to anything unique. Couldn’t they just recap the Savage/Crush segment here instead of throwing it on earlier?

Bam Bam Bigelow v Tim McNeany: Doink the Clown appears on the video wall during the entrances to mock Bigelow. Why does Vince saying ‘bucket’ sound like he’s saying ‘fuck it?’ “He dropped a bucket of water on Bam Bam Bigelow” is not a sentence that should give me the giggles, but fuck it, it does. Bigelow with an avalanche at 0:40. DUD

Joe Fowler is in the studio with Face to Face, with guests Mr. Perfect and Diesel, so they can hype all the matches they’re totally going to have all across the country, as well as Survivor Series. Totally

The Steiner Brothers v Bert Centeno and Chris Duffy: WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers split screen in with Johnny Polo to promise Rick Steiner a ‘personal beating’ next week. Well, that’s just so much nicer than an impersonal one, at least. The Brothers with the flying bulldog combo at 2:19. ½*

The Heavenly Bodies v PJ Walker and Mark Thomas: Lots of tag action this week. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express split screen in to hype their SMW Tag Team title match at Survivor Series. At least Vince notes how odd it is that the champions are chasing the challengers. Jimmy Del Ray with a flying moonsault press on Walker at 1:27. Not much to this one. ¼*

Fowler is in the studio with the official Survivor Series Report. Not like that bullshit unauthorized report Monsoon was selling out of the trunk of his car earlier. Apparently, there will be ‘a Doink in every corner,’ which, honestly, might still be preferable to what we got at WrestleMania 2000

Tatanka v Ludvig Borga: Both guys have undefeated streaks going in here, which usually means we’re getting a double countout, or something. Borga hammers him with bodyshots to start, but an avalanche misses, and Tatanka unloads with chops. Trio of clotheslines put Borga down, and Tatanka works a headlock. Borga forces a criss cross, so Tatanka tries a shoulderblock, but Borga doesn’t move. Tatanka tries again, same result. Third try gets dodged all together, so Tatanka throws a dropkick, followed by a bodypress for two. Tatanka tries a lockup, but Borga takes a shot to the ribs to block, and a nice gutpunch puts Tatanka on the mat. That looked (and sounded) great. Borga with a sidewalk slam, as Mr. Fuji wanders down to ringside. Borga with a hanging vertical suplex and a chinlock, but Tatanka fights to a vertical base, so Borga takes more shots at the ribs, and reapplies. Tatanka manages a side suplex to escape, but Borga steamrolls him with a clothesline before he can follow up. Back to the chinlock, but Tatanka chops his way out, so Borga strikes at the ribs again. Turnbuckle smashes trigger a war dance from Tatanka, however, and he makes a comeback! Borga cuts him off with a punch to the ribs, and he tosses Tatanka over the top. Borga follows to blast Tatanka with a chair on the outside (with the referee distracted by Fuji), and he rolls Tatanka in to pin with a single finger to the chest at 11:09. As noted, this kind of thing almost always ends in some sort of cop out non-finish, so this was a pretty big moment. They clearly thought they had something with Borga. The match itself was not particularly good, however. Afterwards, WWF Champion Yokozuna shows up, giving Tatanka a Banzai drop to the ribs to put him out of Survivor Series. Lex Luger runs out to make the save (wasting time slapping hands like there isn’t an emergency at hand), but the Quebecers attack him, slowing him down from making the save before the real damage is done. Strong segment here. * ¼ 

Fowler is in the studio with Face to Face, and promises to spend the rest of the show giving us updates on Tatanka’s condition. There are four minutes left in the show, Joe. His guests are the Smoking Gunns, and apparently they’ll be more than happy to just watch Survivor Series on pay per view, since that’s almost as good as participating. What?? Also, Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon don’t care how many Doinks are coming to Survivor Series, the more the merrier. Well, that’s very much in the spirit of the season

BUExperience: Good episode this week, with a major angle.