WWF Superstars (October 22, 1994)

 

Original Airdate: October 22, 1994 (taped September 27)

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

Bob Backlund v Bob Holly: They feel each other out to start, with Holly holding his own, but outmatched by Backlund. Backlund with a pair of bodyslams, but Holly manages to armdrag him into an armbar. Backlund escapes, so Holly criss crosses, but gets clobbered. That allows Backlund to go to a chinlock, until Holly escapes, and gutwrench suplexes him. Holly with a few takedowns, and a monkey flip follows. Dropkick gets two, and a powerslam is worth two. Clothesline, but Backlund ducks, and turns it into the crossface chickenwing at 9:28. This was really dull, and more along the lines of a house show match than what you’d usually get on TV during this period. DUD

1-2-3 Kid v Chris Canyon: We get a fan doing the ring announcing for this one, and as usual, Lawler mercilessly tears into him. The announcers are really talking Canyon up here, and I’m surprised he didn’t get a shot, considering he was talented, and the roster was especially thin during this period. Canyon misses a flying moonsault press, allowing Kid a missile dropkick at 2:19. ½*

Action Zone ad

King Kong Bundy v John Crystal: I get that Bundy was a pretty big star in the 80s, and had the cachet that goes with headlining a WrestleMania against Hulk Hogan, but he just seemed past his sell-by date at this point. Especially when they were pushing the New Generation stuff so hard. Bundy with an avalanche and an elbowdrop at 1:37. DUD

Todd Pettengill reviews the Hart brothers feud, ahead of their ‘final showdown’ this Sunday on the debut episode of Action Zone

Davey Boy Smith v Duane Gill: The crowd continues to give Bulldog a warm reception here. Davey with the running powerslam at 2:28, ‘Bulldog style’ per Vince. To this day, I find it odd that they never pushed a bulldog on him as a finisher. Or even as a signature move. It just seems like exactly the sort of ‘on the nose’ stuff bookers go for. DUD

The World Wrestling Federation… our season never ends. Not quite the flex they think it is

Tatanka v Aaron Ferguson: Tatanka takes a cheap shot right at the bell, and Vince is shocked that he’d do that. Why? He’s already done far worse. Hardly shocking. Tatanka with a Samoan drop at 2:17. Tatanka seemed to be settling nicely into working heel by this point, though he never really got beyond this stage. DUD

WWF Tag Team Champions Shawn Michaels and Diesel host the Heartbreak Hotel, with guests Doink the Clown, and pals Dink and Wink. Poor Shawn is a trooper trying to make sense of this whole angle, and Diesel is pretty hilarious as he glares at Dink and Wink. And then Doink introduces Pink as his newest pal, one upping Jerry Lawler in their arms race

Irwin R Schyster hangs around at a funeral parlor, making sure the recently deceased are up to date on their taxes. IRS in natural light is pretty unnerving 

The Smoking Gunns v Kerry Davis and Tony DeVito: I know they did some stuff on the house shows, but did they ever reference the Gunns’ issue with the Heavenly Bodies on TV again? Because the Gunns have nothing going on at this point, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea. A quick check shows that they did have a match at Sunday Night Slam ahead of Survivor Series, and then were on opposite teams at the pay per view, so okay, fine. The Gunns with the Sidewinder at 2:12. Billy got some hang time on that one, wow. ¼*

Live Event News is a look at Ted DiBiase visiting some remote town in NW Canada. Why do they keep using heel DiBiase for all these PR bits?

BUExperience: The Backlund/Holly match was really disappointing, and there was nothing else really going on here.