WWF Superstars (April 16, 1994)

Original Airdate: April 16, 1994 (taped March 22)

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

Lex Luger v George South: Vince promises that Luger will catch up with Mr Perfect sometime very, very soon. Well, if he considers three years ‘very, very soon,’ then I guess. Lex with the torture rack at 1:40. Luger was actually looking pretty fired up here. ¼*

Irwin R Schyster reminds us all about the tax code

Tatanka v Kwang: They trade wristlocks to start,until Kwang takes a shot to the throat, and then adds a superkick to take control. Kwang with a headbutt, but a spinkick misses, and Tatanka starts throwing tomahawk chops. Overhead armdrag and a bodyslam allow Tatanka to go upstairs, and he dives with a flying tomahawk for two. Kwang responds by going to the throat again, and he snapmares Tatanka into a nervehold, as IRS wanders down to ringside. Tatanka fights out of the hold and tries a sunset flip, but Kwang blocks, and puts the boots to him. Back to the nervehold, but Tatanka fights free, so Kwang strikes him in the gut to cut off a comeback attempt. A superkick gets him two, and he goes back to the nervehold yet again, as IRS helps himself to Tatanka’s headdress. Tatanka sees it and goes after him, but Kwang blasts him with the mist - getting disqualified, but stopping Tatanka in his tracks at 5:30. This wasn’t good at all, but it was better than their match from a few weeks prior. Afterwards, IRS delivers a beatdown to a blinded Tatanka (who looks like a homeless man with the mist all over him), and he rips the feathers up as Tatanka tries to get out of the ropes. That draws Chief Jay Strongbow out to make the save, but he ends up getting wrecked by Irwin as well, with Tatanka unable to intervene. Vince, of course, is great at getting all of this over. And it was pretty good stuff, just kind of a shame they wasted it on a pretty cold act like IRS. ½*

Men on a Mission v Black Phantom and Joey Stallings: I guess I kind of blanked on how much they talked about MOM being ‘former tag champions’ during this period. I always kind of assumed the switches were never acknowledged on TV, but it’s quite the opposite, actually. I feel like they stopped mentioning it after a bit though, I guess we’ll see. Mabel with a spinheel kick at 2:41. DUD

Bam Bam Bigelow v Mike Freeman: Bam Bam’s theme is underrated. Catchy and properly menacing. Bigelow takes his time with this one, before finishing Mike with a flying moonsault at 1:48. Wait, under two minutes?! This dragged badly. DUD

Duke Droese vignette. I always so associate him with 1995 that I tend to forget that he actually came around well before that

Shawn Michaels and Diesel host the Heartbreak Hotel, with guest Owen Hart, who is ready for a rematch with brother Bret Hart now that Bret has that nice new WWF Title belt to put on the line

Earthquake v Eric Cody: We get the fan as guest ring announcer deal here, and the poor guy has to wear a Tatanka t-shirt to get the gig. Some things just aren’t worth it, kid. The Earthquake Splash puts it away at 1:47. DUD

Crush v Tony Roy: Crush tries to have Nikolai Volkoff thrown out because he hasn’t got any money, as Lawler offers to send ‘Chief Jay Slingshot’ a WWF Greeting on Call. I’ve missed Lawler in this role. Crush with a nicely executed heart punch at 2:22. ¼*

Stan Lane brings us Live Event News, which sees the Bushwhackers at the White House Easter Egg Hunt. I think it’s important to keep two guys who look like them as far away from the Capitol as possible these days

Johnny Polo is backstage with IRS, who clarifies that he doesn’t feel bad, because Tatanka brought it on himself for ignoring his repeated warnings to pay the damn gift tax

BUExperience: Even though everything else was junk, I really enjoyed the Tatanka/IRS angle, and for these one hour shows, one strong segment is enough to carry it.