WWF Superstars (February 5, 1994)

Original Airdate: February 5, 1994 (taped January 12)

From Fayetteville, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Stan Lane

WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers and the Steiner Brothers offer their thoughts, ahead of their non-title clash later on

Shawn Michaels v Gary Sabaugh: Vince announces that Lex Luger has won the coin toss, and will face WWF Champion Yokozuna first at WrestleMania, while Bret Hart will wrestle brother Owen before getting his shot at the gold. McMahon also describes Michaels as a ‘thinking man’s type wrestler,’ which is not exactly how he’s ever been presented, really. Shawn with a superkick and a somersault cradle at 2:09. This was energetic enough. ¼*

Jim Ross is in the studio for Face to Face. Why does he always sound like he’s in the middle of a sentence when these segments start? He’s got guests Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette, who promises that Yokozuna is going to be fatter than ever by the time WrestleMania rolls around. That sounds terrifying, but nothing compared to that phony smile JR has plastered on his face

Earthquake vignette

Marty Jannetty and 1-2-3 Kid v Fidel Sierra and Barry Horowitz: I wish Jannetty and Kid stuck around as a team for longer. That had legs, and the division could have used a good worker team to anchor it. Marty superkicks Sierra at 3:19. ¼*

Todd Pettengill is in the studio with the WrestleMania X Report

Kwang v John Paul: They put this over as Kwang’s debut, but he’d already appeared on Wrestling Challenge before this. Maybe ‘debut’ in the sense that it’s his first appearance on Superstars? He’s got Harvey Wippleman as his manager, so clearly they wanted a very defined ceiling for him. Kwang with a superkick at 1:58. ¼*

Paul Bearer is in a cemetery somewhere, feeling dudes’ spirits, or some shit

The Quebecers v The Steiner Brothers: There’s a ten minute time limit, and the title is not on the line, but if the Brothers win, they’ll earn a title shot. Pierre and Scott Steiner start, and Scott nearly gets a takedown, so Pierre throws an elbow. Backdrop, but Scott counters with a butterfly powerbomb for two, so Jacques runs in, but Scott cuts him off with a clothesline. Pierre manages to bail to avoid any more punishment, so Scott chases after him, and bashes his head into Jacques’s on the floor. Inside, Scott snapmares him on his way to a tag, and Rick Steiner looks to do some damage, so Pierre goes to the eyes. Bodyslam leads to a flying dropkick, but a flying sunset flip misses, and Rick covers for two. Jacques pulls Pierre out of the ring to regroup, and Jacques tags in officially from there. He manages to pound Rick down, but takes a press-slam during a criss cross, and Steiner covers for two. Rick grabs an armbar, but Jacques fights to a vertical base, so Rick tags out, allowing Scott to trap Jacques in an armbar of his own. Pierre tries a cheap shot, but it backfires, and Scott bodyslams Jacques. Scott with a rollup, but Pierre clotheslines him before a count can be made, and that’s enough to turn the tide in favor of the heels. They work Scott over with combo after combo, but Pierre goes to the well once too often with a straddling ropechoke, and Scott backdrops him over the top. Jacques cuts off the tag and delivers a piledriver, allowing the Quebecers to go for the Tower of Quebec finisher, but Scott rolls out of the way, and gets the hot tag to Rick - Roseanne Barr the door! Scott catches Pierre with the Frankensteiner, and he makes the cover, but Johnny Polo rings the bell before a count can be made. Everyone thinks time has expired, and by the time the official sorts it out, the moment is gone. Plus, there’s under a minute left. Rick stays on Jacques with a flying bulldog, so Polo runs in to try and force a DQ, but gets hit with the flying bulldog combo for his trouble. And that bit of bullet taking saves his team, as time expires at 10:14. Really fun match here, with good pacing, and lots of combos from the Quebecers. ** ½ 

Owen Hart respects Bret’s accomplishments, but he thinks they’re all in the past, while Owen is the future

Doink the Clown v George South: We get the fan guest ring announcer deal here, and they’re using an adult, which seems to defeat the whole purpose. My guess is they were having trouble finding kids who could read, based on last week’s guest. Doink with a bridging German suplex at 0:32. DUD

Ross is back with Face to Face, and he’s got Crush and Randy Savage now. This was a weird one, as they cut right to Crush mid-promo to start the segment, which is a huge departure for them with these segments. Also, Randy’s ‘WWF Mania’ hat is a nish-nish

Rick Martel is ready for Randy Savage next week

BUExperience: Solid episode this week, with a good tag match, and more WrestleMania build. It’s hard for me to be objective with these episodes, since they’re some of the first I ever saw, and they’re building to my all time favorite pay per view event, so expect a lot of gushing.