WWF at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena (February 13, 1993)

 

Original Airdate: February 13, 1993

From Oakland, California

Opening Match: Tatanka v Predator: Predator is some random masked dude, played by Horace Hogan. He never made TV, and just worked house shows and dark matches for a while in 1993. Predator dominates early, and uses a sidewalk slam ahead of a chinlock. Tatanka escapes, and makes a comeback, finishing with a Samoan drop at 5:45. Nothing of note here. DUD

Kamala v Kimchee: Kimchee uses a distraction to attack and slug Kamala down, and he goes to work on him. Kimchee decides to go after Slick, which ends up allowing Kamala to recover, and he chases him around out there. Inside, Kamala delivers a superkick and a bodyslam to set up a splash, but he covers the wrong side of him. Slick tries explaining, but Kamala doesn’t get it. Another splash, and Kamala still doesn’t get it. Finally, Slick is able to explain things so he can understand them, and Kimchee is donechee at 3:47. DUD

Typhoon v Terry Taylor: Posturing to start, with Taylor playing mind games. He works a wristlock, but Typhoon reverses, so Terry bails. Inside, Typhoon works a standing headlock, until Taylor is able to sucker him into a cheap shot, and that turns the tide. Taylor goes to work with a ropechoke, but all of his pin attempts are shrugged off by the much larger Typhoon. Taylor stupidly tries a vertical suplex, which gets reversed, and Typhoon makes a comeback from there. He lands an avalanche, so Taylor goes to the eyes. Taylor tries capitalizing with a flying bodypress, but gets caught in a powerslam at 9:22. ½*

Bob Backlund v Doink the Clown: They posture in the early going, with Doink initially dominating, but Bob catching a second wind, and sending him running with a bodyslam. Doink stalls for a bit before coming back in, and he takes Bob down into referees position, but Backlund reverses. Doink pops him with an elbow to shake that off, and he puts Backlund in a bow-and-arrow. Bob fights to a vertical base, so Doink shoves him into the turnbuckles to rattle him, and reapplies the hold. Bob fights to reverse, so Doink tries to cradle, but Backlund reverses for two. Bob goes to a wristlock from there, but Doink fights, so Backlund shifts to a cross-armbreaker. Doink finally escapes, and starts working the leg, before putting on a Boston crab. Bob escapes, so Doink dumps him to the outside, and feeds him the guardrail to move this beyond just hold after hold. He leaves him out there to take the count, but Bob beats it, so Doink comes off the top with a flying axehandle. Doink adds a facebuster to a feisty Backlund, and he grounds him again, this time in a front-facelock. Bob escapes with a fireman carry slam, so Doink tries a backdrop, but Backlund counters with an earringer. Bob tries a backdrop, but this time Doink blocks. He goes to the top, but Backlund slams him off, and barrels into him with a shoulderblock that leaves both men down. Doink is up first, and swings, but Backlund ducks, and hits an atomic drop that puts Doink on the outside. Bob tries suplexing him back in, but Doink pops him with a weapon. Cover, but the referee sees the weapon, and calls a DQ at 18:02. That’s a really terrible finish for a near twenty minute match. This was really long and technical, though not especially engaging. The psychology was there, but the action wasn’t. ½*

Randy Savage v Yokozuna: Quality outfit for the Macho Man here, he didn’t phone it in for the house shows. They square off for a while to start, and take nearly two minutes before the first contact is even made. Yokozuna gets control right away with his power, and he hammers Macho down for some stomps. Yokozuna dumps him to the outside for a shot into the rail, but Macho starts popping off jabs on the way back in, so Yokozuna tags him with a headbutt. A bodyslam sets up a legdrop, but an avalanche misses, and Randy gets to the top for a flying axehandle. He goes up for another, but Mr. Fuji hits him with the flagpole to knock him off, and Yokozuna capitalizes with a belly-to-belly suplex at 4:55. This was not good or exciting. Also, you had to know they were strapping a rocket to Yokozuna when he’s basically squashing Randy Savage in under five minutes. And then, afterwards, Macho takes the banzai drop to really hammer the point home, but he manages to dodge, and knock Yokozuna out of the ring to get some heat back. DUD

Tito Santana v Damien Demento: Posturing to start, dominated by Tito. Tito gets a standing headlock, but Demento manages to throw him into the ropes, and plant a backelbow to turn the tide. Demento goes to work with a legdrop to the groin, and a jumping shoulderblock gets him two. The execution there was terrible. Demento goes to a chinlock, but Tito fights free, and hooks a small package for two. Tito keeps coming with the jumping forearm, but Demento is in the ropes at two, and bails to the apron. Tito drags him back in for a slam, but Demento topples him for the pin at 8:53. ¼*

The Steiner Brothers v The Beverly Brothers: Scott Steiner starts with Beau Beverly, and they posture, with Scott dominating. Beau manages to pound him down after some cheating, but Scott runs him off, and the Beverly’s stall. The dust settles on Rick Steiner and Blake Beverly, and a distraction from Beau allows Blake to nail him. Blake unloads in the corner, and a powerslam connects. Clothesline, but Rick ducks, and wins the resulting criss cross with a powerslam of his own. Over to Scott for an overhead suplex, but a criss cross ends in Beau taking a cheap shot to turn the tide. The Beverly’s immediately add a double team to capitalize, and they work Scott over with quick tags. Scott reverses a vertical suplex on Blake, but Beau cuts off the tag. Beau with a snapmare to set up a legdrop for two, but a charge in the corner gets blocked, and Scott unloads. He manages a tilt-a-whirl slam ahead of the hot tag, and Rick runs wild! A clothesline on Blake gets two, so Beau tosses Rick out, and Roseanne Barr the door! The heels isolate Scott, but Rick comes back in to save him from a combo, and Blake takes a rana at 10:05. Fun stuff here, with both teams working hard, and not phoning it in at all. **

Main Event: WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Crush: Crush is subbing for Mr. Perfect here. Stalling from Shawn to start, as he tries to cool Crush’s fire. He still manages to bump around even while stalling, though. Crush with a backbreaker, so Shawn bails, and stalls some more. Inside, Crush gets a standing side-headlock, so Shawn forces a criss cross, but gets caught in a bearhug. Shawn goes to the eyes to shake that off, and he throws a clothesline, but Crush no-sells, and press-slams him. A clothesline knocks Michaels over the top, and Sensational Sherri attacks him out there for good measure. Crush rolls him in to finish off, so Shawn tries a choke out of desperation, but Crush tosses him off. Crush tries a corner splash, but Michaels dodges, and a high knee knocks the challenger to the outside. Shawn quickly follows to feed him the steps, and he shoves Crush into the post from there. Crush looks to beat the count, so Michaels kicks him in the head from the apron, but he still beats it in anyway. Shawn with a 2nd rope axehandle, but Crush is still stirring, so Michaels gives him another one. Crush keeps coming, so Michaels delivers a third, but Crush still won’t stay down, so Shawn superkicks him. That gets the point across, and a 2nd rope elbowdrop finds its mark. Crush starts getting up again, so Michaels delivers a DDT, but gets caught up chasing Sherri around on the outside instead of finishing the job. That allows Crush to recover, and he attacks on the outside. Crush presses Michaels back into the ring, but wastes time checking on Sherri, and Shawn grabs the title belt - walloping Crush with it for the DQ at 12:35. This took a little while to really get going, but it was solid once it did. *

BUExperience: Not exactly the most exciting of house shows here, though the tag match was cool.

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