WWF Wrestling Challenge: January 22, 1995

From: Liberty, NY

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

Prior to the intro, Gorilla discusses the semifinal matches held last week on “WWF SuperStars” that determined the final two teams in the tag-team championship tournament. While hardly a who’s who in the annals of tag-team combinations this tournament was, the WWF promoted it big time and made each match leading up to the finals seem important so they get a kudos from me. With talk of the tournament at the forefront, one of the two teams sees action to begin “Wrestling Challenge” on the very day of the Royal Rumble PPV.

The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly -VS- The Brooklyn Brawler & Barry Hardy

Result/Analysis: The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly via pinfall (3:27) when The Kid pins Hardy following a missile dropkick from Holly into a Northern Lights Suplex. It wasn’t a finishing combo move well-executed despite the creativity to come up with a put away move. The Brooklyn Brawler still around is its own story. The “Cinderella” team of The Kid and Holly win again and they enter the Royal Rumble riding a tailwind of momentum toward the finish line 🏁. DiBiase admits on commentary he’s not taking The Kid and Holly for granted but says his Million-Dollar Team of Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka are the next WWF Tag-Team Champions without a doubt. If given time on the undercard at the Rumble, the finals of the tag-team championship tournament has potential to rate better than people might think.

Rating: 1/2*

In the Live Event News segment with Tamara Murphy we hear from “The King of Hart’s Owen Hart on his involvement in the Rumble match. Owen relays a previous message of his reminding everyone that when he predicts he’s going to do something he does. Owen says he predicted he’d defeat his brother Bret at WrestleMania X and he did. He then predicted he’d become “The King of Hart’s” by becoming the King of the Ring and he did. Now Owen predicts he’ll outlast 29 other WWF SuperStars to win the Rumble thereby earning himself a WWF Title shot in the main event at WrestleMania XI and the opportunity to defeat either Bret or Diesel, with Diesel the most likely of the two per Owen. There’s certainly a strong argument to be made for Owen to be booked as the Rumble winner with Bret also regaining the WWF Championship to then have the final culmination to their one year plus feud. I’d think that had to be at least discussed … Why? The early returns on Diesel as both a babyface champion and as a box office draw were mixed.

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

Result/Analysis: Bundy via pinfall (1:46) following the avalanche. Yawn. Each Bundy match against name the jobber was the same. Gorilla again talks up Bundy as the Rumble favorite. Mabel, however, has an insert promo wherein he talks down Bundy while naming himself the man that’s headlining WrestleMania XI. The Bundy and Mable confrontation has been speculated upon for several weeks now so expect that to come to a head. I personally never found Bundy at all entertaining beyond March 29, 1987, the date of WrestleMania III, when he squashed midget wrestler Little Beaver in front of a crowd of “93,173.” That was a defining moment in Bundy’s career and an underrated WrestleMania moment!

Rating: 1/2*

Todd Pettengill gives us the FINAL Royal Rumble report. We hear from Bret “The Hitman” Hart on his title matchup with Diesel in the main event of the PPV. Bret reiterates to Diesel that he’s a changed man from their prior encounter, a match marred by outside interference, saying there’s no more “Mr. Nice Guy” with him because he wants the belt back. As for the Intercontinental Title bout between “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon, the reigning champion, and his challenger “Double J” Jeff Jarrett, both men have different games on the outcome of that championship match. Jarrett promises to win the belt and says once he does it will resemble proof to him being the greatest wrestler in the world with everyone already knowing he’s both the greatest singer and entertainer. Ramon’s message for Jarrett, of course calling him “Chico” in his entire promo, is simple. He says the time for talking has ended, that he’ll do whatever it takes to hold onto his most precious gold and he’s ready to fight. Pettengill concludes the report with mention of the I.R.S. versus Undertaker match, the finals of the tag-team championship tournament and naming off the 30 WWF SuperStars entered into the Rumble match. Newly named as Rumble participants in the eleventh hour are The Headshrinkers and The Smoking Gunns.

Man Mountain Rock 🎸 has new vignette where he’s asked for his personal thoughts on rock legends Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Nirvana and Jeff Jarrett. He naturally vomits over Jarrett’s mention. MMR says he loves the thought of professional wrestling because he can legally beat people up while he kicks ass on stage. What could be better?

Duke “The Dumpster” Droese -VS- “Iron” Mike Sharpe

Result/Analysis: Droese via pinfall (2:13) following an elbow drop. Much like “The Dumpster” gimmick itself, this match was pure trash. How exactly “Iron” Mike Sharpe was still hanging around in 1995 collecting an appearance fee check, even on a rare occasion, solely to do a job for any WWF star, is beyond my comprehension. Monsoon and DiBiase don’t discuss the match on commentary instead choosing to banter over Bob Backlund’s longevity record in the Rumble and Bundy being a primary reason for the ring needing heavy reinforcement. As you’d expect, the fatigued crowd at the end of the LONG TV taping couldn’t have cared less here.

Rating: 1/4*

The coming soon Kama vignette airs once again. His WWF debut comes after the PPV.

“The King of Hart’s” Owen Hart -VS- Mike Khoury

Result/Analysis: Hart via submission (3:19) with the sharpshooter. Gorilla makes a point that Owen’s best chance at earning another WWF Title shot is for him to win the Rumble. He also adds that he’s heard Owen has been kicked out of The Hart Family and perhaps removed from Stu and Helen’s will. DiBiase agrees with Gorilla about Owen needing to win the Rumble but he doubles down on Bundy of course. The crowd chants “we want Bret” but it’s a dead feel in the high school gymnasium in Liberty, NY so do they actually? Owen continues to carry around the towel from Survivor Series which he made Helen throw in the ring to cost Bret to lose the WWF Championship in a twisted submission ruling. As far as heels go, Owen was top notch in everything he would do or say.

Rating: *

Courtesy of the Holiday Wish Tour, Jim Ross interviews The Undertaker (and Paul Bearer) to discuss The Deadman’s upcoming Royal Rumble match against his latest nemesis, I.R.S., of Ted DiBiase’s Million-Dollar Corporation. Ross first asks Bearer if The Undertaker is concerned with the number of druids I.R.S. may bring with him and if The Undertaker is afraid of the unknown? Bearer asks Ross to remember that his Undertaker walks among the unknown every night and at the Rumble Irwin R Schyster will know three things: death, taxes and rest in peace. Ross asks ‘Taker if the repossession by I.R.S. of four “John Doe” tombstones was a slap to the face despite their already well-documented physical altercations? In response, ‘Taker says, “I.R.S., it seems for some reason that is incomprehensible to me you’re trying gain my attention. You got it. There have been several WWF SuperStars that have tried to attack the physical well-being of The Undertaker and they’ve suffered the consequences. But there has been no individual that has had the audacity to attack the final burial rights of a recently departed person. The same person(s) whose spirits live on through The Undertaker. So I.R.S., for “John Doe,” and all my creatures of the night, the Royal Rumble will not only be the end of the Holiday Wish Tour but it will be the beginning of your death wish tour. I.R.S. Rest in Peace.”

The Pamela Anderson Royal Rumble advertisement of her coming back home to listen to voice messages left by multiple WWF SuperStars airs. I think the only time Doink was heard from in the lead up to the event was his voice message here.

Bob Knight & Cory Student
-VS-
The Heavenly Bodies [“The Doctor of Desire” Tom Prichard & “The Gigolo” Jimmy Delray] (w/ James E. Cornette)

Result/Analysis: The Heavenly Bodies via pinfall (2:29) with a sit-out powerbomb/moonsault combo. This match is missing from the copy of this “Wrestling Challenge” episode I’m watching off YouTube. What’s to analyze, however? Both Prichard and Delray are entered into the Rumble match to thereby take up two spots that could have been used for others. Hakushi (somehow left out) and Jerry “The King” Lawler (announcing, yes) are better entrants.

Rating: N/A

We see William Shatner and Bret “The Hitman” walking and talking after “Monday Night RAW” last week after Bret’s victory over Jeff Jarrett. “TekWar,” Shatner’s new TV series, is advertised as following RAW on Monday night’s.

“Made in the U.S.A.” Lex Luger -VS- Mike Bell

Result/Analysis: Luger via submission (2:22) with the torture rack. Gorilla refers to Lex’s finisher as the “rebel rack” and I didn’t recall ever hearing that. You learn something new everyday. Oddly, but perhaps not given his drastic fall from grace, Luger isn’t mentioned here nor was he mentioned anywhere by any announcer as a Rumble pick. If his singles push was to be forever stalled, Luger’s tag-team partnership with “The British Bulldog” should have become more serious. Of any “star” that Vince ever signed it was Luger that was wasted the most. Perhaps I’m wrong or in the minority in thinking that but consider the WWF roster from 1993-95.

Rating: 3/4*

The Verdict: A plethora of nothing matches to drum up last minute Royal Rumble hype. Once upon a time “Wrestling Challenge” was at least the “B” show for weekend WWF programming. I wouldn’t even say by early 1995 it was the “C” show behind “RAW” and “SuperStars” as “The Action Zone” was at least promoted to have one decent match or on this weekend it held the drawing for the Rumble match. But hey, we heard The Undertaker give last rights to I.R.S. so we tuned in and got that feel, right?