WWF SuperStars – Saturday, January 2, 1993
Brown Coliseum – Green Bay, WI
Announcers: Vince McMahon, Jerry “The King” Lawler & “Macho Man” Randy Savage
It’s announced during the introductions that “Macho Man” and “The King” are entrants into the 30-man Royal Rumble Match. Savage, meanwhile, was making a full transition into the broadcast booth, first on WWF SuperStars, and later, Monday Night Raw, debuting soon.
Match 1: Mr. Perfect vs. The Berzerker
Result/Analysis: Mr. Perfect via pinfall (4:30 – shown) with the Perfectplex. The Berzerker successfully brawls which throws Perfect off his game. Ric Flair makes an appearance to further his feud with Perfect. The feud stemmed from Perfect aligning himself with Savage at the ‘92 Survivor Series in a tag-team match opposite Flair and Razor Ramon. Perfect had actually “retired” from wrestling so far as an in-ring capacity following his loss to Bret “Hit Man” Hart at SummerSlam ‘91 due to a broken tailbone suffered in the match along with bulging discs he had in his lower back prioe to. Perfect then became Flair’s “Executive Consultant” after Flair joined the WWF in the fall of 1991 and that role lasted for the next year. Savage was to team with The Ultimate Warrior at Survivor Series but Warrior was relased from the WWF weeks prior to the event. Perfect had transitioned away from Flair to being a co-host on “Prime-Time Wrestling” in the meantime. Savage asked Perfect to be his tag-team partner to draw the ire of Flair. Perfect initially refused, but later changed his mind when Bobby “The Brain” Heenan commanded him to follow orders from Flair and levied degrading comments. Perfect became a “fan favorite” in the WWF for the first time and teamed with Savage at Survivor Series. In the aftermath of the PPV, Perfect and Flair continued their feud, though Flair had requested his contractual release to return to WCW so the feud was short-lived with the sole purpose being the build up of Perfect as a babyface. There was a match here but it had no importance or relevance whatsoever. The Berzerker (John Nord) was a portrayal of a clumsy and cartoonish Icelandic Norseman. In the matches he won, albeit rare, they were often by countout. “Huss! Huss!” Nord’s life fell on hard times after wrestling and he suffers from ALS. Both Flair and Perfect wind up as participants in the upcoming Royal Rumble match.
Rating: 3/4*
Meanwhile, in “Mean Gene” Okerlund’s update segment, Heeanan announces the impending arrival of “The Narcissist” (Lex Luger) with pointed comments toward Perfect. With Flair soon to be gone, Perfect’s next adversary would be Luger. Good stuff. Bobby kept saying “Narcissus” here so that must have been the initial plan for Luger’s gimmick. It’s all the same, but “The Narcissist” fit Luger much better.
Match 2: George Anderson vs. Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji)
Result/Analysis: Yokozuna via pinfall (2:48) following the banzai drop. Squash. That was every Yokozuna match for a while after his debut in the latter stages of 1992. Matches like these to build up a SuperStar, one the caliber of Yokozuna, were just so useful. The era of “jobbers” or enhancement talent, the nicer term, was very useful. The WWF only had four (there would be five in 1993) pay-per-view events in the old days and wrestling was on television once per week. Yokozuna was so effectively pushed in the early days. I miss squash matches! Earthquake, meanwhile, interjects pre-recorded commentary to say he’ll be the one to prevent Yokozuna from winning the Royal Rumble. Yeah, Okay, Quake.
Rating: 3/4*
Sean Mooney gives the television audience an update on the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV. “Native American” Tatanka and Bob Backlund each believe they’ll win the Rumble match. Yeah, Okay. In another match, Bam Bam Bigelow will square off against The Big Boss Man. Bam Bam promises Boss Man he’ll go down in flames.
Vince shows the television audience a clip from the debuting “WWF Mania” that was one week away where “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon beats up “The Rocket” Owen Hart in the locker room to get the attention of the reigning WWF Champion Bret “Hit Man” Hart. Todd Pettengill would host that weekly show from the WWF Studios. The weekly programming was expanding from just WWF SuperStars and WWF Wrestling Challenge with the addition in 1993 of WWF Mania and “Monday Night Raw.”
Match 3: Tom Stone vs. Marty Jannetty
Result/Analysis: Jannetty via pinfall (3:11) following a flying fist drop. The Rocker Dropper was the set-up move here but it was later Jannetty’s finishing move sans Shawn Michaels. The match is a total snooze despite Vince claiming fans certaintly enjoy Jannetty’s matches because Marty will always pull out surprise moves (said no one ever). Doink The Clown appears at ringside in all his evilness and later scares Jannetty with a water bucket that was empty when he went to toss it. LOL. Vince teases the return of Sensational Sherri, also. Jannetty, in his October 1992 WWF return, had accidentally struck Sherri with Michaels’ mirror in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, as an act of revenge toward Michaels and his betrayal from their Rockers tag-team days. Jannetty had been fired from the WWF in January 1992 after an altercation with police in Tampa, Florida where he assaulted a police officer and was found to be in possession of drug paraphernalia, including cocaine (or “blow”). Jannetty had to serve six months of house arrest and his planned singles feud with Michaels was put on hold, including their singles match at WrestleMania VIII. The Jannetty-Michaels feud was rekindled with the events from Saskatoon and they’d fight over the Intercontinental Title, first at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in three weeks, for much of 1993.
Rating: 1/4*
A Royal Rumble PPV advertisement airs.
Match 4: Damien Demento vs. Mitch Bishop
Result/Analysis: Demento via pinfall (3:12) following a knee drop. Exciting stuff. Actually, Demento had himself a move set. On jobbers, it worked. Demento heard voices during his matches and talked to himself. Lawler believed, as he illustrated to the audience using his “Royal Magistrator,” that Demento was hearing the voice of Doink The Clown. Funny. The best part of Demento was that he was billed from “The Outer Reaches of Your Mind.” The WWF writers must have smoked some serious crack in the old days to come up with such wacky concepts.
Rating: 1/2*
“Mean Gene” has a Royal Rumble report. Bret Hart delivers comments at Royal Rumble opponent Razor Ramon, his challenger for the WWF Championship. Okerlund then goes over the rules for the Rumble match before announcing the confirmed entrants: “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Undertaker, “Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, Irwin R. Schyster, Mr. Perfect, Bob Backlund, The Berzerker, Yokozuna, “Native American” Tatanka, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Earthquake, Carlos Colon, Crush, Papa Shango and Rick “The Model” Martel. Gene says he’ll announce more names next week. Also, just announced, is a tag-team match between The Beverly Brothers and The Steiner Brothers. These PPV updates just gave off a goosebump-feel to them as a kid, which, for me, I was, in January, 1993, being only 12 years old.
Match 5: Dave Sigfrids vs. Crush
Result/Analysis: Crush via submission (2:41) with the Kona Crush. Nothing match here that Crush dominates. Savage was at least impressed anyway. Doink made his second appearance of the show and squirted water out from his coat at several kids sitting at ringside. After the match, Crush sees Doink throwing a ball at another kid so he grabs Doink’s arm and threatens him to stop his antics. The feud to end all feuds was just getting started here.
Rating: 1/4*
Sean Mooney has another Royal Rumble update. The Beverly Brothers give comments on their match versus The Steiner Brothers. We also hear from Rumble entrants Virgil, Papa Shango and The Undertaker.
Vince tells the TV audience that next week on SuperStars, we’ll see action from Bam Bam Bigelow, The Undertaker, “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala and the WWF debut of The Steiner Brothers.
Raymond Rougeau interviews Crush to ask his thoughts on Doink’s recent ringside antics. Crush claims his grandfather was a clown (yeah, right) and was someone who made everyone laugh and a person that was a pleasure to be around. Really now? Doink, however, according to Crush, has gone too far by picking on the kids. Crush hopes Doink will heed his advice and stop.
The Verdict: The first WWF show of 1993 was in the books. Flair was after Perfect. Yokozuna was squashing the competition, literally. Marty Jannetty was “Rockin” out like it was 1989 but no one cared. Royal Rumble news was relayed. Crush and Doink became a highlighted feud which tells you where the overall product was at. Finally, Bobby Heenan shared that “Narcissus” was on his way.
The Sharpshooter’s Verdict 