WWF SuperStars: January 21, 1995

Bob Carpenter Center – Newark, DE

Announcers: Vince McMahon & Jerry “The King” Lawler

This week, “The Hitman” Bret Hart is the guest of Shawn Michaels in “The Heartbreak Hotel.”

“The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon [WWF Intercontinental Champion] -VS- Charlie Hunter

Result/Analysis: Ramon via pinfall (2:20) following the Razor’s Edge. The IC champ has a pre-Royal Rumble tune up match before facing “Double J” Jeff Jarrett in a title defense. There’s nothing to this match with enhancement talent Charlie Hunter mere fodder. Speaking of Jarrett, he appears on the video wall afterward to goad Ramon into putting the IC title up on SuperStars saying there’s no need for them to wait until the Rumble on Sunday night. Razor gets handed a microphone to answer Jarrett on his challenge but the mic mysteriously cuts out as he tries to speak. Jarrett responds that he figured Ramon would say nothing and choose to cowardly back away from his challenge only if to hold onto the belt for a few more hours. It’s revealed after a commercial break that The Roadie coerces the audio tech guy in the control center to let him test out the sound. As we see Ramon trying to talk into the microphone it’s then The Roadie flips off a switch to cut off the sound. Just how will Razor deal with The Roadie as a distraction at the Rumble as he aims to successfully defend the IC title? That’s a storyline for that match-up.

Rating: 1/2*

Henry Godwinn -VS- Rich Myers

Result/Analysis: Godwinn via pinfall (2:28) following the slop drop. Crowds just weren’t responding to Godwinn in his gimmick of being an angry hog farmer from fictitious “Bitters,” Arkansas. The slop bucket 🪣 he brought to the ring with him, particularly given its contents, was a fearful thing, however. Unlike many other newcomers to the WWF as they continued to roll out, Godwinn was solid in the ring as he had plenty of experience given his prior work for WCW as “Shanghai Pierce.” It was Godwinn playing a heel that was the mistake. He was meant to a “fan favorite.” Godwinn has an insert promo wherein he discusses his upcoming participation in the Royal Rumble with the intent of winning and going onto WrestleMania. Lawler discusses Pamela Anderson and the post-Rumble date with her he “has” wherein he’ll be showing her his “Desert Storm” medals … at least, as King says, that’s what he’s told her.

Rating: *

Bam Bam Bigelow, meanwhile, is the latest WWF SuperStar given the “Slim Jim” advertisement spot.

We hear from Owen Hart in the Live Event News segment with Stephanie Wiand. Owen reminds us all that he’s done everything (over the last year) that he predicted: he beat his brother Bret at WrestleMania and he became “The King of Hart’s” by winning the King of the Ring. Next up winning the Royal Rumble to main event WrestleMania XI. Owen predicts that Diesel will defeat Bret to make Diesel his WrestleMania opponent. Before taking on Diesel to win the WWF Championship, however, Owen says that first he’ll take on Bret again only to soften up himself as a ‘Mania warm-up. Given how the brotherly Bret and Owen feud dominated the WWF for 1994, and was continuing as 1995 began, you couldn’t rule out Owen as the winner of the Rumble match. He’s a name on my short list.

Man Mountain Rock 🎸 has another new vignette this time being asked for his thoughts on rock legends such as Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Nirvana, Metallica and Jeff Jarrett. Yes, Jeff Jarrett. MMR vomits over “Double J” being thrown in. He says he loves the thought of professional wrestling because he can legally beat people up while kicking ass on stage. Given Jarrett’s country music acumen (self-professed) / being the world’s greatest singer and entertainer, you’d think if MMR can handle himself in the ring there’s a future match for him versus Jarrett in mind for down the line.

Adam Bomb -VS- Mark Starr

Result/Analysis: Adam Bomb via pinfall (3:05) following a flying clothesline. Vince actually refers to Bomb as one of the Rumble favorites. C’mon!!!My prediction is he’ll eliminate a few guys of even lesser stature while not lasting too long himself. Lawler spends the match reading a fictitious apology letter he received from William Shatner which Vince points out is a letter in Harvey Wippleman’s handwriting. I liked Adam Bomb but as a babyface there was no lane for him to be in. In his insert promo, Bomb says his “Bomb Squad” will be with him at ground zero during the Rumble. Bomb had fans?

Rating: 3/4*

Todd Pettengill gives his final Royal Rumble report in the lead up to the pay-per-view. After he explains the rules and ramifications for the Rumble match itself, Todd gives us the “30” WWF SuperStars entered. The names include: “Made in the U.S.A.” Lex Luger, King Kong Bundy, Doink The Clown, Mr. Bob Backlund, Kwang, Adam Bomb, The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch), Duke “The Dumpster” Droese, 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 Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Crush, Mantaur, Owen Hart, Well Dunn (Timothy Well and Steven Dunn), Jacob and Eli Blu, The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Seone), The Heavenly Bodies (“The Gigolo” Jimmy Delray and “Doctor” Tom Prichard) and The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart). Pettengill mentions that The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly withdrew from the Rumble this week so they could solely concentrate on winning the tag-team titles. Their removal from the Rumble allowed The Smoking Gunns their entry. That’s a field of “29” guys despite Pettengill saying he named all “30” competitors. Not listed is Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart who was entered but had been fired only recently. As for the remainder of the PPV card, Pettengill turns back to the finals of the tag-team championship tournament with Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka squaring off against The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly. The brat pack duo gives pre-recorded comments with Holly confident they’ll take the checkered flag and The Kid believing in himself that he can become a 2x tag-team champion. The Intercontinental Title will be on-the-line when “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon defends the gold against “Double J” Jeff Jarrett. The can’t miss feud between I.R.S. and The Undertaker will come to a head as they’ll do battle. I.R.S. in pre-recorded comments says, no one will rest in peace until everyone pays their taxes, including The Undertaker. In response, ‘Taker tells I.R.S. to take this time before they meet to reflect upon the mockery of death, the innuendos thrown at his integrity and to come face-to-face with fear. Lastly, in the main event, the WWF Championship is up for grabs as “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel defends against “The Hitman” Bret Hart. It’s the jackknife powerbomb versus the sharpshooter. Diesel has a creepy close up promo to discuss “time” and the ways it’s measured as it pertains to Bret facing him in Tampa, FL. Following Diesel’s comments, Pettengill flashes back to the Hart WWF Championship defense against Diesel at the 1994 King of the Ring with Diesel delivering the jackknife powerbomb to Bret only for Neidhart to interfere on behalf of Owen to cause a disqualification. Usually the Rumble match is the “main event” finale but in the event for 1995 it might be the WWF Championship that culminates the event. We shall see.

A Kama vignette airs to promote the soon arrival of “The Supreme Fighting Machine.” Add him to the Rumble, Vince. While that would make sense for his debut Vince instead states that Kama will be in action next week.

King Kong Bundy (w/ “The Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase) -VS- Nick Barberri

Result/Analysis: Bundy via pinfall (1:40) following an avalanche and elbow drop combo. What you had was a rinse and repeat formula as this Bundy match mirrors every other match he ever wrestled in against a nameless scrub. Vince’s favorite to win the Rumble, at least one of his named favorites joining with Backlund, Mabel and even Dick Murdoch now, goes over in a retro push to end all past or future ones of its kind. Bundy says in his insert promo the Rumble is a custom made match for him and that he’ll win it to earn a WWF Title match at WrestleMania. No chance in hell there’s BundyMania ever again. Remember WrestleMania 2?

Rating: 1/4*

“The Heartbreak Hotel” w/ Bret “The Hitman” Hart:

Courtesy of The Holiday Wish Tour (or a TV taping) set in another location, Shawn Michaels brings us another “Heartbreak Hotel,” with HBK calling it the only show on all of television that could bump “Home Improvement” out of the number one slot. Shawn welcomes “The Hitman” to the set after introducing Bret as a man that’s undergone some changes lately since his return while noting he’s the former WWF Champion. Shawn asks Bret if the scuttlebutt talk that’s been going around the WWF is true and that he’s a changed man? Bret tries to divert the question to his starring bit on the “Lonesome Dove” TV series which happened during his hiatus but Shawn cuts off any talk of Hollywood, the ice hockey team Bret sponsors up in Canada or rubbing elbows with William Shatner because those things aren’t the story. Shawn wonders, speaking to Bret man-to-man, if he’s not been focused on his Royal Rumble opponent for the WWF Title? Bret says all he did during his time at home was think and think and think. He’d think about being screwed over by his brother Owen. Bret adds he thought about the seven-foot Diesel being the new WWF Champion, thought about Diesel a lot as their upcoming match won’t be their first. Shawn again cuts Bret off mid-sentence to say he too remembers that match back when Diesel used to be a somebody and recalls that Diesel lifted Bret up for the jackknife powerbomb and dropped him before he was saved from defeat otherwise Diesel would have been the WWF Champion a long time ago. Shawn tries to goad Bret into a more aggressive tone with his next response by saying there is no more family or friends and when Diesel has the jackknife seven-feet high and drops him for the last time what will he do? Bret answers rather cagey telling Shawn he remembers how the jackknife felt yet he was neither pinned nor did he give up (back then). Bret adds though he’s not certain he can beat Diesel with the sharpshooter given, you know, Diesel has long legs. Shawn says he doesn’t care in response nor does he care which one is the WWF Champion only wanting each to destroy the other. Bret rips the microphone away from Shawn to the delight of the live crowd to give a final long winded retort of how he’s the “excellence of execution,” to remind everyone that there’s never been anyone to ever outwrestle him and to admit he has changed because he won’t be a Mr. Nice Guy anymore or so easygoing because he wants the belt back. This segment had such a great edginess to it as Bret and Shawn were such hot sauce together. In a different era, instead of Diesel versus Bret one-on-one at the Rumble, another possibility would have been to have a triple threat match with Owen involved. Backlund was useless as a draw otherwise he’d have fit a fatal four-way match. Michaels was perfectly slotted into the Rumble as-is. Another reviewer I read mentioned in his recap that booking Diesel versus Owen in the title match would have been wise with his point being a true face versus heel match was necessary over trying to make people look upon Bret as a heel. Bret could have screwed Owen in a Diesel match to return the favor from Survivor Series and with the Rumble match needing another mega-star, Bret slots into that trying to win for the second straight year (Luger co-won with him in 1994) with Michaels there as the heel alternative to win. Yeah, the WWF could and should have booked the pay-per-view like that in my 30-year retrospective mind.

The Royal Rumble promo of Pamela Anderson walking the beach airs as SuperStars fawn over her. Exactly how much the PPV buy rate is to be affected I can’t say.

Nick Tarentino -VS- Aldo Montoya “The Portuguese Man O’ War”

Result/Analysis: Montoya via pinfall (2:26) following a flying bulldog. Vince makes note on commentary that Montoya remains undefeated on “WWF SuperStars” and he puts him over someone that’s a risk taker. Lawler, meanwhile, buries Montoya’s Portuguese heritage and he cracks a joke as to why Portuguese mothers are so smart as it’s because they raise dumbbells. Haha. Montoya gives a bilingual insert promo during the match on his Royal Rumble prospects. Crowds weren’t responding to the “Man O’ War” gimmick despite Montoya being a “credible,” no pun intended, wrestler.

Rating: *

With another Live Events News segment, Stephanie Wiand profiles King Kong Bundy of Ted DiBiase’s Million-Dollar Corporation to chronicle his WWF return thus far. We then hear from Bundy directly in comments he made to Live Event News following his earlier victory on “WWF SuperStars.” To summarize, Bundy feels his time has come in 1995 to dominate and win some gold. Bundy name drops both Diesel and Bret Hart in the promo for who he’ll take the WWF Championship away from at WrestleMania. The communication skills Bundy had very underrated at least. He could deliver an effective promo more times than not.

Back at the arena standing in the aisle, Vince asks Lawler to give his royal prediction for the Rumble. Owen Hart comes out to interject himself beforehand, however, and to say he’s the only man that will win. Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart is next (though unemployed by this January 21 date) to remind Owen that he made him “The King of Hart’s” and that he’s going to be the next WWF Champion after he wins the Rumble. Davey Boy Smith, “The British Bulldog” and Adam Bomb also appear to predict themselves as the Rumble winner. Last but not least, “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels prances and dances his way into the group to tell them all the Rumble isn’t some fantasy island and because of that he’s assuredly the winner calling Owen, Anvil, Bulldog and Bomb all pinheads if they think otherwise.

The Verdict: The hard sell for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view was in overdrive. The attempt to make Bret Hart less popular than Diesel hadn’t worked. The IC Title match has juice to it and you can just sniff the Jarrett victory. Relative newcomers in Godwinn and Montoya receive a last minute rub. I can see Godwinn being a factor in the Rumble match. In the month lead up to the PPV, it’s been Bundy, Bundy and more Bundy as he either wrestles on every TV taping and/or he’s discussed ad nauseam. One reviewers take that Owen Hart and not Bret as Diesel’s opponent I agree with. Hindsight is of course 20/20 but the WWF could have been secretive about Bret’s return and had him came back officially at the PPV to screw Owen out of wining the title and then make himself a last minute entrant into the Rumble match. Bret’s star power was needed there and not shadowing the new babyface champion.