WWF Superstars (November 20, 1993)

Original Airdate: November 20, 1993 (taped October 20)

From Burlington, Vermont; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Reo Rogers

The Smoking Gunns v Mike Bell and Phil Apollo: Lots of big news this week, as Jerry Lawer is suddenly gone, and replaced by Reo, though no mention is made of what happened to Lawler. Meanwhile, Lex Luger knocked WWF Tag Team Champion Pierre out on RAW, and apparently it was so bad that Pierre is out of Survivor Series, and a replacement will be announced later today. Considering how light on star power that card is, it’s not surprising that they wanted to throw Crush in instead of Pierre. Oh, sorry, SPOILER. The Gunns finish with their backdrop/piledriver combo at 2:49. DUD

Gorilla Monsoon is in the control center with Update, and Randy Savage has been suspended for attacking Crush on RAW a couple of weeks ago. And speaking of Crush, he’ll be the replacement for Pierre on the Foreign Fanatics. Boy they didn’t waste any time with that reveal

Bam Bam Bigelow v Scott Taylor: Reo is unbelievably annoying on commentary, probably the worst ever. Taylor actually gets quite a bit here: dropkicking Bigelow out of the ring, dodging a flying headbutt drop, and hooking a cradle for two before Bam Bam kills him with a dropkick at 1:28. ¼*

Jim Ross is in the studio for Face to Face with guests Irwin R Schyster and Diesel. Both guys seem so lost since their better halves left the promotion

Jim Cornette plays Royal Rumble on Sega. Makes sense that the guy who invented the five-star scale for wrestling would play Razor Ramon v Shawn Michaels

Owen Hart v Iron Mike Sharpe: Reo starts talking about how Owen is ‘the shadow,’ not ‘the rocket,’ thus laying the tracks for that angle. At least I think that’s what he’s talk about, it’s hard to tell with that goofy accent. Owen with a missile dropkick at 1:48. Vince casually mentions that Shawn Michaels will be taking Lawler’s place at Survivor Series because Lawler has been suspended ‘due to pending legal action,’ though no more is mentioned whatsoever. Couldn’t they have at least come up with an angle like Lawler running away because he’s so scared of what the Hart’s are going to do to him, or whatever? I’m not sure how you get to Shawn taking his place, but literally anything would be better than this ‘oh, by the way’ method. ¼*

Jeff Jarrett vignette

Todd Pettengill gives us instructions on how to order pay per view. Yeah, I’m pretty sure buyrates are down because you’re booking shows with promises of four Doinks, not because people can’t figure out how to dial a phone

Well Dunn v Dennis Diamond and PJ Walker: Boy, the build for Survivor Series has been so lackluster and uninspiring, it’s amazing to think we’ve already gotten to the show. It feels like it should still be weeks away, because surely they have something interesting to sell it. Spoiler: they do not. Well Dunn with a combo at 1:30. No one’s getting paid by the hour this week, are they? DUD

Pettengill is in the studio with the Survivor Series Report

Bret Hart v Irwin R Schyster: IRS attacks from behind before the bell, and steals Bret’s shades to mock him. Schyster with a charge, but Hart sidesteps, and Irwins takes a bump to the outside. Hart drags him back in for a headbutt, and a snapmare sets up a pointed elbowdrop. Bret works a chinlock from there, but Irwin fights to a vertical base, and the resulting criss cross ends in Schyster using a drop-toehold, but Hart counters to a hammerlock. Schyster makes the ropes and bails on the break, but ends up in a headlock once coming back inside. IRS makes several attempts at a pin while in the hold, but can’t get past two counts, so he uses a saito suplex to escape. Elbowdrop, but Bret dodges, and goes back to the side-headlock. Man, this Family Feud match is completely dead in the water, as not it’s the Hart Family against a team led by a guy they have no beef with… and we don’t even know who Shawn’s partners are going to be. Like, what a waste. And then they gave it, like, thirty minutes on the pay per view. IRS gets his own headlock on, and Mr. Fuji wanders down to ringside to observe Hart ahead of Yokozuna’s WWF Title defense against the Hitman at Survivor Series Showdown. IRS with a vertical suplex for two, and he works an abdominal stretch, complete with illegal leverage. Legdrop gets Irwin two, so Hart tries a sunset cradle for two, but Schyster cuts him off, and goes to a chinlock. Hart escapes, so Fuji trips him up during a criss cross, cutting off a comeback. That allows Schyster a knee, and he turnbuckle smashes the Hitman. Bret bails to the outside to swipe at Fuji, and he snaps Schyster’s throat across the rope rope, as Yokozuna marches out. Hart with a Russian legsweep for two, and an inside cradle gets two. Backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, but a criss cross allows Fuji a cheap shot with the flagpole, which the referee sees for the DQ at 10:33. Afterwards, Owen Hart runs out to save Bret from a beatdown. **

Ross is in the studio for more Face to Face, with guests WWF Champion Yokozuna, Mr. Fuji, Jim Cornette, Undertaker, and Paul Bearer for some more Survivor Series hype

BUExperience: The promotion for Survivor Series was all over the damn place at this point, with substitutions and replacements up and down the card, and almost no star power. It’s almost amazing how much they were able to do with so little. Like, nothing about the advertised card would make you think they can fill a three hour pay per view. 

This episode was nothing special, but Hart/Schyster was solid, and there were certainly a lot of developments this week, if nothing else.