WWF SuperStars: January 7, 1995

Bob Carpenter Center – Newark, DE

Before the intro, Vince McMahon breaks the news that The Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy) had to withdraw themselves from the WWF Tag-Team Tournament due to injuries sustained by Bart in a recent rodeo accident. A rodeo accident it was not. Replacing the Gunns in the bracket is the young upstart duo of The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly. They’ll now square off with Well Dunn this week on WWF SuperStars in the final quarterfinal match in the tag-team tournament. Jerry “The King” Lawler, meanwhile, well, he’s looking forward to watching Mr. Bob Backlund in action.

WWF Tag-Team Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match:
The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly
-VS-
Well Dunn [Timothy Well & Steven Dunn] w/ Harvey Whippleman

Result/Analysis: The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly via pinfall (6:47) when Holly pins Steven Dunn following a sunset flip from off the top rope. Surely The Smoking Gunns would have advanced to the semifinals had they not withdrawn from the tournament so the babyface and underdog tag-team of The Kid and Holly were going to fill the vacuum with the vacated spot. The tournament field had predominantly second-rate teams in it so an underdog story I suppose generated at least some fan interest. Next up for The Kid and Holly is a match with The Heavenly Bodies. Both that semifinal and the semifinal between The Headshrinkers and Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka will occur on the January 14th WWF SuperStars. The winners meet at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view with the vacant tag-team titles at stake.

Rating: **1/4

Stephanie Wiand, the total flake she is, has an update from the WWF Live Events Center. We hear from The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Sione), whom Wiand name drops as the “favorites” to win the tag-team championship tournament being they’re the former tag-team champions. Well, Fatu and Samu had been the tag-team champions in 1994 but Samu is no longer so it’s a different team now Ms. Wiand. She’s an idiot. Captain Lou Albano, the manager for The Headshrinkers, talks smack about Bam Bam and the renegade Indian, Tatanka. Meanwhile, “Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, Bam Bam and Tatanka respond. DiBiase is confident in his “Million-Dollar Corporation” because they have the brains unlike The Headshrinkers where there isn’t a brain amongst any of them. Bam Bam and Tatanka talk the talk and plan to walk the walk all the way to winning the titles.

Bob Knight -VS- Mr. Bob Backlund

Result/Analysis: Backlund via submission (2:15) with the cross-face chicken wing. Nothing to see here. Vince, on commentary, predicts that either Backlund or King Kong Bundy will win the Royal Rumble match. Neither will. Backlund asserts on his insert promo that he will win the Rumble and therefore, get another opportunity to win back the WWF Championship to have the title belt around his waist. Yeah, no one wants to see Backlund “Main Event” WrestleMania XI. After Backlund wins this match, he stops in the aisle to admire his application of the cross-face chicken wing on the video wall, and, in his delusion, says into the camera that all of us “love him.” Nope. We don’t. Go back to 1983 bucko.

Rating: DUD

Meanwhile, still in action this week are Mabel (from Men On A Mission), King Kong Bundy is set to appear on “The Heartbreak Hotel” interview segment, “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, and Mantaur, who makes his debut.

Todd Pettengill has the Royal Rumble report. These PPV updates lost their “feel” once “Mean Gene” Okerlund left the WWF. Pettengill was mostly a tool throughout his tenure. First, he promotes the WWF Championship Match between the new titleholder, Diesel, and challenger (and former champion), Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Todd makes sure he tells us that these are the two most popular SuperStars in the “New Generation.” We hear from both, first, from “The Hitman.” Bret says he feels great, he’s at 100-percent and he’s never felt better. He says he can’t wait to get back in action and he appreciates Diesel for granting him a fair shot at the title. Bret, as he always, frames matches of his against another top babyface, by stating everyone will find out who “the best” is. First up on Bret’s New Year’s “hit list,” however, is his brother Owen. Bret says he’ll be on RAW on Monday night. Well, I’d hope so as it’s the two-year anniversary show. Diesel is second to give a promo only his is one of playing the role of a cheesy game show host where “Bret” gives all the wrong answers to the word association questions being asked to him. “Big Daddy Cool” comes off as the less serious one in these promos, and that’s intended, but he’s confident he’ll both walk into the Rumble the champion and leave the Rumble still as the champion. Pettengill has a take that Bret is looking a bit despondent lately and he thinks Bret is perhaps more focused on gaining retribution against Owen than on the WWF Championship match he’s been given. As for the rest of the Royal Rumble card, the WWF Intercontinental Championship will be on-the-line when “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon defends the title against “Double J” Jeff Jarrett. The Undertaker squares off with I.R.S. in another match. Pettengill wonders if the druids that I.R.S. brought out to the ring with him to play mind games with The Undertaker on Monday Night RAW two weeks ago will appear again at the PPV? The rules for the Rumble match itself are expounded upon with the new wrinkle being the time intervals in-between entrants is now only 60 seconds! Pettengill reminds us that Pamela Anderson of “Baywatch” will escort the winner of the Royal Rumble to the ring at Wrestlemania XI for the WWF Championship match that’s earned. Well, that surely eliminates Vince’s predicted winners of either Backlund or Bundy right off the bat. The confirmed participants for the Rumble are these: Lex Luger, King Kong Bundy, Doink The Clown, Mr. Bob Backlund, Kwang, Adam Bomb, Duke “The Dumpster” Droese, Dick Murdoch, Henry Godwinn, “The Portuguese Man O’ War” Aldo Montoya, “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, Mo and Mabel (Men On A Mission), The 1-2-3 Kid, Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly, and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels. The new names just announced are Crush, Mantaur, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, and as he announced this past Monday night on RAW, “The King of Hart’s” Owen Hart. That’s 20 of the 30. Pettengill wonders if The Smoking Gunns, who had to withdraw from the tag-team championship tournament will enter the Rumble, or if the team of Well Dunn, just eliminated from the tournament, will seek individual entry. At the Rumble the finale of the tag-team championship tournament will take place. Pettengill previews the rest of SuperStars for this week to end his LONG report.

“Iron” Mike Sharpe -VS- Mabel (w/ Oscar)

Result/Analysis: Mabel via pinfall (1:44) following a leg drop. We were starting to see more of a solo singles push for Mabel with Men On A Mission as a tag-team phased out. Vince always fancied the big guys and Mabel fit that mold. Lawler asks Vince who could throw Mabel over the top rope in the Rumble? Vince’s response? Bundy. Quick squash match here that gives Vince and Lawler time to promote the two-year Monday Night RAW anniversary show. Lawler breaks it that he’ll Bret “The Hitman” Hart on “The King’s Court” with him. That’s a win-win!

Rating: 1/2*

“The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels is back again this week to host the hottest show on television according to him, “The Heartbreak Hotel.” Michaels’ special guest is the man who pundits are saying is the odds-on favorite to win the 1995 WWF Royal Rumble. Without further ado, joined by his manager, “The Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, is King Kong Bundy. There’s some booing but even worse, many people in the crowd give no reaction to Bundy. I swear Vince was time warped into a 1983-87 mindset by pushing Backlund and Bundy as two of the top heels. Shawn begins the segment by cutting right to the chase as he references the scuttlebutt chatter that has Bundy being the odds-on favorite to win the Rumble. DiBiase says of course Bundy is the favorite because there’s no one that’s bigger or meaner in all of the WWF, especially none of the 29 other imbeciles who are entered. To the contrary, Shawn gives DiBiase a name of a guy who could stand up to Bundy. He name drops Mabel of Men On A Mission but then mentions himself as a likely winner of the Rumble. Bundy takes exception and he gets face-to-face with Michaels reminding him that in the Rumble it’s every man for himself and should their paths cross then it will be Shawn getting tossed over the top rope. Shawn’s retort is that there are no friends in the Royal Rumble noting that he and Bundy have never been friends. Meanwhile, Backlund walks his tired old ass to the ring to join in on this discussion. Michaels asks Backlund what he’s there to add? Backlund lectures the crowd to sit up straight (or stand up straight) while he’s talking as he makes a comparison to the people’s lack of posture to the besmirching of society from those in the “New Generation.” This senile going nowhere is enough to bring out “The British Bulldog” as Davey Boy Smith stakes his claim for why he’ll win the Rumble. Michaels takes control back as the interviewer by cutting off the segment entirely saying that he’s the real favorite. Given the lackluster field, throw in Mabel if you want, this group of guys are the focal point. Notice that last year’s co-winner Lex Luger is MIA here. It’s clear that Vince had thrown the in on him as 1995 began.

Mike Khoury -VS- “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith

Result/Analysis: “The British Bulldog” via pinfall (1:40) following a running powerslam. I guess it had escaped me at the time, but hey, I was only a 14 year-old with other things on mind, the push that Davey Boy Smith was getting. Really, for the top babyface guys you only had Bret Hart, Diesel, Razor Ramon and The Undertaker, though he wasn’t involved with chasing the WWF Championship, ahead of Smith in the pecking order. It’s taken me this 30-year look back now to realize The Bulldog was a bona-fide contender. The confusing part was his recent tag-team partnership with Lex Luger so I’ll say that’s what I more recalled from this early 1995 time period that’s thrown me off. This brief match was a mere power display for The Bulldog with Vince promoting the return of the “WWF Action Zone” television program and Davey Boy’s scheduled one-on-one match with Bundy. You’d have thought The Bulldog would have won but he actually lost. He injures his knee, legit or storyline planned, on a slam attempt prompting referee Earl Hebner to stop the match and award the decision to Bundy. The match is available to view by going here: https://youtu.be/ydEDTvVvR3s?si=D0db2U7iOaCIW6FZ. Furthermore, Bundy was winning a series of house show matches clean against Davey Boy around this time which also surprises me. Bundy-Mania was back in the WWF?!? That, too, escaped my memory. I may have been more hyper focused on the goings on at WCW in 1995 with many of my childhood heroes now there.

Rating: 3/4*

Mantaur -VS- Walter Slow

Result/Analysis: Mantaur via pinfall (1:42) following a vertical splash. No one reacts to anything Mantaur does in his debut match which basically tells you his shelf life is to be a short one. His ring entrance was perhaps the most noteworthy as he wore a buffalo head, quite enormous in size. It’s one of the worst debuts I can recall in my 40+ years of watching professional wrestling. But hey, Mantaur is entered into the Royal Rumble match so maybe he’s less bad then?

Rating: DUD

Stephanie Wiand is back at the Live Events Center again. This time we hear from the now semifinalist tag-team of Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly and The 1-2-3 Kid. Well, we hear from The 1-2-3 Kid as Holly just stands there nodding his head to everything that’s said. The Kid feels confident he can win tag-team gold as he’s already done it once before and with Holly as his partner he knows he can do it again. The Kid says they’re both sorry to hear what happened to The Smoking Gunns. Wiand transitions to The Heavenly Bodies, the semifinal opponents for The Kid and Holly, with manager Jim Cornette doing the talking for Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray. Cornette says that his Heavenly Bodies are on a roll in the tag-team tournament because they’ve already eliminated those sardine breathed baldheaded Bushwhackers and now they draw “The Brat Pack” in The 1-2-3 Kid and “Sparky” Bob Holly “Plugg.” Wiand classifies this semifinal match as one of experience versus determination and we’ll find out next week which wins out.

Vince and The King are back at the arena to conclude SuperStars for this week. Vince shows the ending sequence in the victory earlier by The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly over Well Dunn. He and King discuss the semifinal matchups slated for next week on SuperStars. Diesel, the WWF Champion, will also appear for a special interview.

The Verdict: The big takeaway is the underdog story of the substitute tag-team of The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly advancing in the tag-team championship tournament replacing The Smoking Gunns. WWF fans will surely rally behind them. Shawn Michaels’ “Heartbreak Hotel” segment shed light on the Royal Rumble favorites in a diluted field. We learned of the TV return of the “Action Zone” and the feature bout between “The British Bulldog” and King Kong Bundy. I watched that match, it wasn’t too bad. It’s also becoming apparent that Mabel from Men On A Mission will get a push in the singles ranks throughout 1995. Pettengill gave the Royal Rumble the hard sell in his PPV report. Next up, the two-year anniversary show for “Monday Night RAW.” That was discussed plenty on this episode of SuperStars.