WWF Superstars (April 15, 1995)

 

Original Airdate: April 15, 1995 (taped April 4)

From Glens Falls, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix, in his debut

The Allied Powers v Bert Centeno and Tony DeVito: Putting Luger and Bulldog together was a great fit, but they never did anything. Other than getting (and losing) a shot at the tag title on pay per view in July, they did nothing notable, and felt directionless. In an alternate universe, they could have been an awesome super team, but 1995 WWF was one of the most perplexingly booked promotions in history. Davey Boy Smith with the running powerslam at 2:52. They needed a combo finisher to really put them over the top. ¼*

Stephanie Wiand is in the studio with the In Your House Report. Not much of note yet, but the main event of Diesel defending the WWF Title against Sycho Sid is announced

WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze is healing up from her broken nose. In a wallpaper store, it appears

Clips of Bob Holly winning a stock car race. No idea if he was actually driving, or if the car actually won, since the clip is just a car driving on a track. It could be anything

Bob Holly v Black Phantom: I never liked Dok as a babyface hype guy, and hearing him do a heel act here is somehow even more annoying. Holly with a flying elbowdrop at 3:22. ¼*

Backstage, the Smoking Gunns are now martial arts experts, apparently?

The Smoking Gunns v Hakushi and Kwang: The heels attack before the Gunns get out of their entrance gear, and they dump Billy Gunn to the outside so they can double team Bart Gunn, but Billy comes flying back in with a slingshot clothesline on both. The dust settles on the Gunns working Kwang’s arm, and Billy uses a dropkick and a bodyslam for two. Back to the arm, as they work the part with quick tags, in and out. The Gunns with a bearhug/jumping clothesline combo, but Shinja distracts the referee, so no count is made. That allows Kwang a superkick on Bart, and that allows the tag to Hakushi. The heels double up on Bart in their corner, and Hakushi hits a pump-splash for two. They cut the ring in half on Bart, until a double knockout allows the hot tag to Billy. A bodypress on Kwang gets two when Hakushi saves, but a double team backfires, and Billy schoolboys Kwang at 6:46. This didn’t feel lazy, but it also didn’t really connect. Afterwards, Hakushi and Kwang come to blows over the miscommunication. *

In Your House ad

WWF: in a class of its own

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vignette. The accent is really over the top at this point

Adam Bomb v Mike Bell: A fan does the ring announcing here, and the poor kid gets stuck having to read ‘Poughkeepsie’ in front of thousands of people. Lucky for him, it’s 1995, so that’s ‘thousands’ including the home audience. Bomb with a flying clothesline at 2:57. DUD

WWF Merchandise Catalog ad

Wiand is back with another In Your House Report. I like how the whole selling point is ‘it’s cheap’

Henry Godwinn v Nick Barberri: Vince is very excited about the house giveaway as part of the promotion of the first In Your House. Man, I was pretty excited about that myself at the time. Not that I even know what I would do with a house if I won one before I was even in my teens, but it definitely sounded cool. Godwinn with the inverted DDT at 1:57. Godwinn isn’t a terrible worker, but his squashes haven’t connected at all thus far. DUD

Bob Backlund hangs out on a beach for spring break, yelling about dictionaries, or whatever the fuck

BUExperience: A pretty dull one this week. I’d forgotten how many times they replayed the whole Diesel/Shawn Michaels/Sid turn from RAW on these shows. But, hey, it was a good angle, can’t blame ‘em.