WWF Wrestling Challenge: January 15, 1995

From: Liberty, NY

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

Monsoon probes DiBiase at the top of the show as why there will be no members from his Million-Dollar Corporation competing on “Wrestling Challenge” this week. DiBiase says it was a corporate decision not to have anyone appear.

“Double J” Jeff Jarrett (w/ The Roadie) -VS- Walter Slow

Result/Analysis: Jarrett via submission (1:43) with the figure-four leg lock. Despite toweling off afterward, “Double J” didn’t break a sweat here against Slow, who Monsoon points out as a rough-looking haircut on him. Gorilla doesn’t think Jarrett can unseat Razor Ramon as the Intercontinental Champion at the Royal Rumble but DiBiase disagrees and thinks that “Double J” will first give Bret “The Hitman” Hart a wrestling lesson on “Monday Night RAW.” Jarrett is being seen everywhere leading up to the Rumble unlike Ramon. That’s telling. But after all, ain’t he great?

Rating: 3/4*

Stephanie Wiand, even flakier than she usually is, comes to us from the Live Events Center to further discuss Jarrett and how he’s replacing Bob Backlund on the Holiday Wish Tour in WWF Championship matches opposite “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel. In pre-recorded comments we hear from “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels and Jarrett on the switcheroo with both confident that Diesel’s reign on top of the WWF will end with “Double J” first winning the title at The Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey then having a successful title defense the next night at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. Michaels wasn’t on the tour in a wrestling capacity but in the corner of Jarrett and Backlund prior to the change for these matches. He was the color commentator on RAW with Vince McMahon and hosting “The Heartbreak Hotel” interview segment but seemingly on sabbatical from having matches himself leading into the Rumble.

The coming soon vignette for Man Mountain Rock 🎸 airs. It’s a different one than what aired on “WWF SuperStars.”

Mabel (w/ Oscar) -VS- Mark Bellagio

Result/Analysis: Mabel via pinfall (2:29) following a flying crossbody press (from the middle ropes/turnbuckle). The announcers spend the match discussing the Diesel versus Jarrett matches now featured for the Holiday Wish Tour but Monsoon does jab DiBiase with Mabel being the biggest threat his protégé King Kong Bundy in the Royal Rumble. An altercation between the two men has been teased a lot on the TV tapings so you’d think that confrontation comes to fruition in Tampa, FL. Men On A Mission was primarily a solo act only in January 1995 with big Mabel getting a look in singles with Oscar still appearing as his manager. Mo is entered in the Rumble, however. M.O.M. did compete in the tag-team championship tournament but they were beaten in the quarterfinals by Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka.

Rating: 1/2*

Monsoon and DiBiase discuss the two semifinal matches to air on “WWF SuperStars.” DiBiase has his team easily winning the two matches remaining to capture the vacant titles.

The Pamela Anderson Royal Rumble vignette airs where she arrives home to listen to voicemails left on her answering machine by various SuperStars. The WWF did very much narrow down the list of potential Rumble winners when they told us Pamela would walk that person to the ring at WrestleMania XI. Take your pick of names and scratch them off.

Buck Quartermaine -VS- Mantaur

Result/Analysis: Mantaur via pinfall (2:12) following a standing splash. This “Wrestling Challenge” debut was at least better than his “WWF SuperStars” sojourn a week earlier. Given the TV tapings schedule, though, both matches likely occurred within days of each other. The crowd reaction here to Mantaur is at least more lively. The gimmick itself can’t possibly get over but with the Rumble soon upon us having yet a 400-pound behemoth for that match at least keeps Mantaur relevant initially. What could the long-term plan with him be? I can’t think of anything.

Rating: 3/4*

The interview which Diesel had on “WWF SuperStars” on this same weekend with Vince McMahon is shown. Monsoon then plugs Diesel on the cover of the newest “WWF Magazine.” The intent was certainly to make “Big Daddy Cool” look cool. Whether or not it was working on a measurable scale is another thing.

Mr. Bob Backlund -VS- Nick Tarentino

Result/Analysis: Backlund via submission (:43) with the cross-face chicken wing. Yawn. Looney tunes Backlund is at it yet again with his deranged character given to us on overload. Thankfully, his matches were both short as they were terrible. The fact Backlund was pulled from the Holiday Wish Tour matches with Diesel speaks volumes. Backlund couldn’t draw a dime at the box office. Vince must have owed him something still though because while being removed from the main event on live events is one thing, Backlund’s TV exposure hadn’t changed any and wouldn’t for a while. Mike Moraldo and Chris Kanyon, two enhancement talent guys, assist Tarentino after the bell as Backlund refuses to release the hold. The interjection backfires on Moraldo with Backlund putting the cross-face chicken wing on him, too.

Rating: DUD

The Kama vignette airs. At least with all the coming soon guys the WWF was promoting, Kama seemingly had the most potential from the jump. Didn’t “The Supreme Fighting Machine” sound like a cool gimmick if you were a kid in 1995?

Todd Pettengill gives the latest Royal Rumble Report. I’ll give you the rundown from my “WWF SuperStars” review:

Pettengill mentions the “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel versus “The Hitman” Bret Hart main event WWF Championship and says that match is the real “Super Bowl.” He says Diesel/Hart is perhaps the greatest WWF Title match of all-time but wouldn’t we expect him to say so? Another classic battle at the PPV according to the Toddster will be the Intercontinental Championship match between champion, Razor Ramon and challenger, Jeff Jarrett. The Royal Rumble card also features the taxman I.R.S. against the unearthly Undertaker. Pettengill explains the rules of the Royal Rumble match, which will feature one-minute intervals in this year’s event between the entrants, and he mentions that the draw will be held on the “WWF Action Zone” the morning of the PPV. Pamela Anderson of the hit TV series “Baywatch” will host the event and she’ll walk the winner of the Royal Rumble to the ring for the WWF Championship match at WrestleMania XI. The confirmed SuperStars signed on to compete in the Rumble are these men: “Made in the U.S.A.” Lex Luger, King Kong Bundy, Doink The Clown, Mr. Bob Backlund, Kwang, Adam Bomb, Duke “The Dumpster” Droese, The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch), Dick Murdoch, Henry Godwinn, “The Portuguese Man O’ War” Aldo Montoya, “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, Men On A Mission (Mo and Mabel), The 1-2-3 Kid, Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly, “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Crush, Mantaur, “The King of Hart’s” Owen Hart, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Well Dunn (Timothy Well and Steven Dunn), and the new tag-team of Jacob and Eli Blu. The finals of the tag-team championship tournament will also take place at the PPV. The differences in this Royal Rumble report are that Michaels, Ramon and Owen Hart get individual promo time. At least the PPV updates from show-to-show varied enough as different SuperStars were highlighted based on who had a promo.

Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart -VS- Tim Dyer

Result/Analysis: Neidhart via submission (2:07) with the camel clutch. Poor Tim Dyer gets punked out. With the TV taping for this “Wrestling Challenge” having occurred weeks prior, Neidhart, by the time January 15 came around, was no longer in the WWF. He began to not appear at house shows leading his termination. The PPV reports given by Pettengill still had “The Anvil” included as a Royal Rumble entry but scratch him off. Bret Hart would write in his autobiography later on after his career was long over that the initial creative plan the WWF had for the tag-team championship tournament was to have Neidhart and Owen Hart win the titles. If true, Neidhart squandered a career resurgence.

Rating: 3/4*

The same Hakushi video package which had aired on “WWF SuperStars” is shown to ominous tones. Of all the newer talent, or any incoming talent yet to debut, Hakushi was the one to open people’s eyeballs.

“The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith -VS- Mark Starr

Result/Analysis: Bulldog via pinfall (2:40) following a running powerslam. The powerhouse Davey Boy Smith is being talked about as a big Royal Rumble favorite though DiBiase compares him to the “Tin Man” from “The Wizard of Oz” as he sings “If I only had a brain.” Haha. Lex Luger has an insert promo to acknowledge his friendship and tag-team partnership with Davey Boy but says he’ll be the one to win the Royal Rumble. Monsoon jabs DiBiase over his million-dollar team of Bam Bam and Tatanka losing a tag-team match to Bulldog and Luger on RAW several weeks back and says it’s a good thing they didn’t enter the tag-team championship tournament or Bam Bam and Tatanka would be out.

Rating: *

We hear from Diesel in the live event news segment regarding Shawn Michaels’ plot to substitute in “Double J” Jeff Jarrett for matches on the Holiday Wish Tour at the Meadowlands Arena and Madison Square Garden on back-to-back nights. Diesel says he’s feeling clairvoyant on what will happen in those as he looks into his own crystal ball 🔮. He promises to deliver jackknife powerbombs to both “Double J” and The Roadie then get himself some of Michaels. “Big Daddy Cool” says the WWF is running on diesel (power) now.

The Verdict: “Wrestling Challenge” offered little to nothing on a weekly basis with matches that had no significance to them on each show. Monsoon and DiBiase discuss the pertinent items while bantering with each other. Rinse and repeat every week. This week, the focus was on Diesel, Jarrett, Bulldog and the newcomers. Talk of the Royal Rumble dominated. If you couldn’t get enough of the WWF you’d tune in for each hour of programming. It was a way of life. The nostalgia feel to these weekly syndicates still remains, however, as I’m watching in present day 2025.