WWF Wrestling Challenge: January 8, 1995

From: Liberty, NY

Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon & “The Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase

Duane Gill -VS- Adam Bomb

Result/Analysis: Adam Bomb via pinfall (2:48) following the atom smasher. An impressive showing against the jobber Duane Gill. Monsoon and DiBiase discuss the Royal Rumble match on commentary throughout. Mabel has an insert promo wherein he promises he’ll eliminate Bomb from the Rumble. Mabel, as was the Men On A Mission tag-team, was a babyface yet he doesn’t sound like one here. DiBiase only believes that his man, King Kong Bundy, will win the Rumble and he won’t pay any mind to the talk of someone else winning despite Monsoon rattling off name after name as threats to Bundy. I liked Adam Bomb in his WWF run (heel or babyface) but he didn’t have a meaningful feud.

Rating: 3/4*

Monsoon and DiBiase discuss the tag-team championship tournament. Gorilla highlights the replacement of The Smoking Gunns (due to an injury to Bart Gunn) by the dynamic The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly yet DiBiase says it doesn’t matter since his team of Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka are winning the tournament. Monsoon’s retort to that claim by DiBiase is so far Bam Bam and Tatanka have only made the semifinals. Speaking of Bam Bam and Tatanka, they’re in action up next …

Nick Barberri & Chris Kanyon
– VS-
“The Native American” Tatanka & Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ “The Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase)

Result/Analysis: Bigelow & Tatanka via pinfall (2:55) when Bigelow pins Barberri following a diving headbutt. Monsoon calls the match solo with DiBiase at ringside. The Headshrinkers have an insert promo with Cpt. Lou Albano discussing their readiness for the semifinal tag-team championship tournament match next week on WWF SuperStars against Bam Bam and Tatanka. I never realized that Chris Kanyon began as a jobber. You can see here he at least has ring awareness. Bigelow works him over of course. Tatanka tags in only to be the recipient of a double dropkick from Barberri and Kanyon. That represents the only resistance though as Tatanka fights back and grounds Barberri with The End of the Trail. Bam Bam tags in for his diving headbutt finisher and it’s a short night of work for The Million-Dollar Corporation. Of note: Chris Kanyon and Bam Bam would later on be two of three in The Jersey Triad stable in WCW in 1999 with Diamond Dallas Page. Who would have guessed that in January 1995?

Rating: *

Tamara Murphy (“Sunny” a few months later) promotes the WWF’s Holiday Wish Tour with upcoming live events in the New York and New Jersey Tri-State area. It’s weird to see “Sunny” in this backstage role before she’d become such a staple over the next several years.

Monsoon promotes the newest “WWF Magazine” with the reigning WWF Champion Diesel on the cover. I can’t say I had that particular issue but maybe?

Aldo Montoya “ The Portuguese Man O’ War” -VS- Tony DeVito

Result/Analysis: Montoya via pinfall (2:38) following a reverse flying bulldog. Neither the Portuguese heritage nor his Man O’ War gimmick is getting Montoya over. The reaction to him isn’t much. Monsoon tries to accentuate the high flying move set on commentary but did anyone’s jaw drop over anything they were seeing? I doubt it. Gorilla reminds DiBiase, too, that Montoya had turned down his offer to join up with The Million-Dollar Corporation but it’s not like Montoya would have fit in or gotten any more “over” as a heel. Montoya gives a bilingual insert promo during the match to speak about his entrance into the Royal Rumble saying it’s his opportunity at a WWF Championship match. DiBiase doubles down again on King Kong Bundy, his henchman, as the would-be winner. The pudgy jobber DeVito has an offensive burst but it’s mere window dressing. If I was at the arena, this is the bathroom or concession stand run.

Rating: 3/4*

The Pamela Anderson Royal Rumble vignette re-airs with her to listening to different SuperStars leaving messages on her answering machine. I wonder if the PPV buy-rate spikes anything measurable because she’s the host of the event.

Raymond Rougeau has a special interview with “Double J” Jeff Jarrett:

Rougeau asks Jarrett about how much time he’s spent recently in Las Vegas. Jarrett says that Vegas truly appreciates what a great talent he is unlike Nashville, a city that missed the boat on how great an entertainer he is. Rougeau next asks about The Roadie but Jarrett scoffs at the question not wanting to go into detail about who The Roadie is only that he does whatever he, “Double J” asks him to do. Jarrett reminds Rougeau he’s come out to the ring to talk about Razor Ramon. Rougeau sets the stage for Jarrett’s Royal Rumble match with Ramon. Jarrett says the Rumble is a very important stop on his ‘95 “Ain’t I Great Tour” and that’s because all he’s missing is the Intercontinental Title. Jarrett promises to Ramon, who he knows is listening in the back, that he’s going to humiliate him. Afterwards, when he’s back out on the “Ain’t I Great Tour” he’ll be introduced as the world’s greatest singer, the world’s greatest entertainer, the world’s greatest wrestler, and the NEW, the NEW Intercontinental Champ-ion! Jarrett spells out his name for us as all as it will be listed for to see on the marquee. The fans in attendance in small town Liberty, NY boo as Jarrett struts in the ring to his music.

A Kama vignette airs. “The Supreme Fighting Machine” is on his soon way to the World Wrestling Federation. DiBiase remarks on how big Kama is. Just how will Kama mix things up and with whom when he arrives?

Chris Avery -VS- Kwang (w/ Harvey Wippleman)

Result/Analysis: Kwang via pinfall (1:25) following a spinning heel kick. That move Kwang uses several times in this short match. Between spinning heel kicks and spewing mist that’s the extent of Kwang. The attention turns to Wippleman afterward as he runs down ring announcer Howard Finkel as being a bald-headed “Yankee” whom he’s going to pluck like a chicken on “Monday Night RAW.” Wippleman is referencing the “Tuxedo Match” that he and Finkel have the next night. What a feud. Oh, and the mighty Kwang, Wippleman says, will win the Royal Rumble.

Rating: 1/4*

Mike Maraldo -VS- Henry Godwinn

Result/Analysis: Godwinn via pinfall (2:43) following the slop drop. The hog farmer notches another win, in a string of wins, though like so many guys on the roster who had similar résumés, Godwinn wasn’t feuding with anyone so who cared? The obvious babyface to pair Godwinn against would have been Duke “The Dumpster” Droese but who was dying to see matches between them therein lies the problem. The slop bucket that Godwinn brought to the ring with him was something no one wanted dumped on them that’s for sure. It looks gross! A real pig would have been harder for Godwinn to herd than Maraldo. The jobbers for this “Wrestling Challenge” episode were some of the worst available.

Rating: 3/4*

Rich Myers -VS- “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon [WWF Intercontinental Champion]

Result/Analysis: Ramon via pinfall (2:36) following the Razor’s edge. Poor Rich Myers is bitchslapped here by the reigning Intercontinental Champion as Razor tunes up his move set for a title defense coming up on RAW against Owen Hart. If he overcomes that challenge, “Double J” Jeff Jarrett awaits him at the Royal Rumble in Tampa, FL. Ramon was such an over babyface it’s surprising to me that he, just as much as Diesel isn’t looked upon as a main event star in the “New Generation “ Ramon should have been afforded a WWF Championship run with the winged eagle belt, too, at some point. The fact he never was still blows mind this day (2025).

Rating: 3/4*

Tamara Murphy is back again from the Live Enters Center to run down the card for the Holiday Wish Tour.

The Verdict: Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka had their tuneup match prior to facing The Headshrinkers in the semifinals of the tag-team championship tournament next week on “WWF SuperStars.” “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon readied himself for Owen Hart on “Monday Night RAW” with a defense of his Intercontinental Title. The bottom tier guys on the roster got TV matches. “Double J” Jeff Jarrett promoted himself and his “Ain’t I Great Tour” in his interview segment with Raymond Rougeau The Royal Rumble is only two weeks away.