WWF Action Zone (November 13, 1994)

 

Original Airdate: November 13, 1994 (taped October 19)

From Albany, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengill

Charlie Minn is in the crowd to open the show, being accosted by Jerry Lawler’s midget army

Jerry Lawler v Bob Holly: I always found it odd that they would make cheap short jokes at the expense of Lawler’s little people, but would defend Dink against the same. Hypocrites. Posturing to start, with Lawler complaining of a hair pull. “He doesn’t have any hair to pull,” moans Todd. Say what you will about the King, but you can’t knock his ability to grow hair. Holly uses a bodyslam, so Jerry bails, and rakes the eyes on the way back inside. That allows the King a backdrop, but another one gets reversed, and Bob dropkicks him for two. Lawler hides in the ropes to break the momentum, and manages to sucker Holly into getting nailed. Bob fires back, so Lawler hides again, and pops Holly with a turnbuckle smash to shake him off again. Jerry works him over with punches before dumping him to the outside for his boys to attack, and Lawler delivers a DDT on the way back inside. Jerry adds a fistdrop, and a hanging vertical suplex sets up another fistdrop, but Bob dodges this time. That allows Holly to go on the comeback trail, and a backdrop sends Lawler bailing. Holly chases after him, and Lawler accidentally crashes into his littles out there. That allows Holly to roll him in for a snap suplex, and a monkeyflip follows. Holly with a corner whip, but a bronco buster misses, and Lawler covers at 8:31. This was pretty solid, buoyed by the psychology and storytelling. *

Survivor Series Report

The Smoking Gunns v Nick Barberry and Jeremy Cutter: This also aired on the November 13 episode of Wrestling Challenge. The Gunns with a combo at 2:39. The Gunns were reliably energetic squashers. ¼*

Irwin R. Schyster is at the cemetery, digging up bodies and shaking them to try and get back taxes

Irwin R. Schyster v Mike Bell: This also aired on the November 13 Challenge. Irwin with the jumping clothesline at 1:20. DUD

We take a look back at Bob Backlund losing the WWF Title to Iron Sheik in 1983, which stuck in his craw so badly, that he snapped on Bret Hart eleven years later. It was a hell of a premise for an angle, and elevated tremendously by Backlund’s incredible, committed performance 

WWF Champion Bret Hart thinks Backlund has lost his mind, but that isn’t going to stop him from getting a submission out of him at Survivor Series

Jim Neidhart v Scott Taylor: This also aired on the November 13 Challenge. Owen Hart is out with Jim here, hyping his spot as Backlund’s towel man at Survivor Series. Combining the Backlund angle and the Hart family feud was a great decision, especially with the finish they came up with building both programs simultaneously. Neidhart with a camel clutch at 1:23. Jim was trying, but he’d already declined a lot since his prime, even by this point. He wasn’t embarrassingly bad, like he would be by 1997, but even this basic squash was clearly taxing for him. DUD

Raymond Rougeau brings the Bad Guys out for an in-ring interview, and it’s pretty funny to hear Razor Ramon call the New Headshrinkers ‘former tag team champions’ when it’s not even the same team. Or, maybe he’s just counting Fatu as two guys? He was pretty big at this point, so it’s possible. Anyway, not much here, just some simple Survivor Series hype

Lex Luger v HD Ryder: Also aired on the November 13 Challenge. Lex has a kid playing flag bearer for him here, as they continue to rib the poor guy with these fan interaction roles. Lex with the torture rack at 2:20. Luger looked bored with this squash, not even going down with Ryder during a powerslam. DUD

Outside the building, Minn catches up with Ted DiBiase, King Kong Bundy, and Bam Bam Bigelow, who are going to prove their strength as a team before Survivor Series with a warmup match right here today

King Kong Bundy and Bam Bam Bigelow v Phil Apollo and Todd Mata: Also from the November 13 episode of Challenge. The fats with a fat combo at 2:38. DUD

BUExperience: Solid episode, with good hype for Survivor Series.