WWF Superstars (June 4, 1994)

Original Airdate: June 4, 1994 (taped April 27)

From Albany, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Live Event News opens us up to hype up the first ever Hall of Fame induction ceremony

Nikolai Volkoff v Derek Domino: Volkoff now has tights with ‘cent’ symbols on the sides, and ‘property of the Million Dollar Man’ on the back. Another nice touch, but again, all of this basically went nowhere, as we were supposed to feel bad for Volkoff, but then he got paired against babyfaces on the house shows, and never actually told Ted DiBiase off to pay the whole thing off. Volkoff with a Boston crab at 2:32. That was one ugly Boston crab. DUD

Paul Bearer thinks Ted DiBiase is a liar

Adam Bomb v Kwang: Harvey Wippleman doesn’t show up in either guy’s corner, continuing the biggest mystery in the WWF since SummerSlam ‘92. Kwang attacks before the bell and hammers away, but Bomb chokes him down, and they spill to the outside to continue brawling, as the crowd gives them nothing. Wippleman shows up as the action goes back inside, where Kwang cross corner clotheslines Adam. Bomb fights back with a clothesline of his own, and a big right hand sends Kwang over the top, where Harvey aids him. He tells Kwang to take a walk, and Kwang is counted out at 3:05. This was energetic, but that’s all it had going for it. ¼*

Tatanka v Reno Riggins: Riggins works really hard making Tatanka look like an absolute killer this week, as Vince explains what a Lumberjack match is for the uninformed. Which, to be fair, was me in 1994. McMahon was great at making sure you could easily get into his product as a new viewer no matter where you dove in. Tatanka with a Samoan drop at 2:49. ¼*

Todd Pettengill is in the studio for the King of the Ring Report. 

Owen Hart v Phil Apollo: We get a fan doing the ring announcing, and the guy goes into a full bodied Bill Dunn impression. Owen really looked like a star during this period. I think I’ve noted it before, but it’s worth repeating. Meanwhile, Vince runs down the attendees for the Hall of Fame, and promises guys ‘from a long time ago.’ Way to put it over for the young kids. This kind of stuff lands a lot better today in an era when they don’t actively ignore their own history. Like, as a kid watching in 1994, I had no idea who most of those guys were, even though most of them were only from, like, twenty years earlier. Meanwhile, today, most kids definitely know all the big stars from the Attitude Era, and even back through the 1980s. Owen with the Sharpshooter at 2:44. ¼*

WWF Intercontinental Champion Diesel and Shawn Michaels gloat about laying WWF Champion Bret Hart out on the King’s Court last Monday. Meanwhile, Bret responds, promising to bring in a mystery family member for backup at King of the Ring to counteract Shawn’s interference 

The Quebecers v Tony Roy and Tim McNeany: Pretty much the end of the line for the Quebecers on this run, as they only had one more TV appearance after this. I always really liked them as a team, but they really didn’t have anywhere to go in the division at this point, so them sticking around wouldn’t have likely led to anything interesting. There wasn’t even really anyone for them to feud with, though I could see a program with the Smoking Gunns yielding interesting matches. The Quebecers with a combo at 1:41. ¼*

Live Event News hypes the D-Day Challenge, which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day with a WWF v military tug of war aboard the USS Intrepid. One thing the promotion was fantastic at this stage was feeling like there was always something going on

Ted DiBiase promises that he’ll produce Undertaker right here next week

BUExperience: Solid enough episode this week. King of the Ring hype is in full swing now, and they’re doing a good job of making you want to see the show… even if the Roddy Piper/Jerry Lawler match is falling kind of flat