-The backstory for the Smoking Gunns-Men on a Mission match is shown. Four months prior, when the Smoking Gunns were the tag team champions, they had defeated Men on a Mission on the Action Zone in a title match and Men on a Mission flipped out and destroyed the Gunns. Their heel turn was solidified when they destroyed the Gunns a second time during an “apology†segment.
-Our hosts are Vince McMahon and “Handsome†Doc Hendrix
–Opening Contest: Bob “Spark Plugg†Holly vs. Mike Bell:
Lockup starts us off and Bell backs Holly into the corner before unloading and whipping him into the opposite corner. However, a blind charge eats buckle and Holly gets a schoolboy for two. Holly and Bell trade arm sequences and Bell takes down Holly with a shoulderblock. Holly gets a hiptoss but Bell comes back with a backbreaker for two as Vince discusses WWF President Jack Tunney’s retirement. Hendrix argues that Hillary Clinton is a candidate because she wants to be president of something eventually. After Bell gets in a few more shots, Holly hits a clothesline and a powerslam off the ropes for two. Holly hits a dropkick for two. Holly runs the ropes and when Bell puts his head down too early on a whip Holly gets a small package for the win at 2:27. This was a fun match to watch because it is unusual that you see a jobber kick out of any pinning combination.
-Henry O. Godwinn is shown tasting his slop last week and dumping it on Adam Bomb.
-Adam Bomb warns that Godwinn has awoken a “nuclear giant†and that he will take Godwinn to ground zero.
-Henry O. Godwinn responds and says if Bomb did not like the slopping he should do something about it…if he can.
–Jean Pierre LaFitte vs. Nick Barberi:
Adam Hanzel is our guest ring announcer and he does a pretty good job. Lockup starts and LaFitte runs through Barberi with a clothesline. LaFitte puts his head down too early on a whip and Barberi messes up hitting a clean running kneelift. LaFitte backdrops Barberi out of the ring when he runs at him and then cannonball onto him on the floor. Edge significantly injured his opponent with that move in his WWF debut and has never used it since. Back in, LaFitte ties Barberi in the ropes and splashes onto him several times. McMahon says that LaFitte is one of the most hated men in the arena as elements of the crowd are noticeably cheering him. LaFitte hits a Frankensteiner, slams Barberi, and Cannonballs him for the win at 2:36. I’ll give Barberi credit for taking quite a beating in this match.
-Live Event News with Stephanie Wiand. Come see the Madison Square Garden card on August 12th as Diesel and Shawn Michaels battle Jeff Jarrett and Sid. Sid and Jeff Jarrett along with Ted DiBiase and the Roadie cut a promo against Diesel and Michaels. Sid says the face team is going down. Wiand tells us Bam Bam Bigelow will square off against Tatanka so call the number on the screen and get your tickets now!
-Clips of Bam Bam Bigelow fighting Sid on Monday Night Raw are shown. Bam Bam bumped into Henry Godwinn on the way to the ring and the two started to brawl in the aisle. Bigelow had Sid beat but Godwinn tossed him off the top rope during the match and Sid got the pin. It was at this instant that Bigelow’s stock in the WWF began to fall and that his days in the upper midcard were gone.
-Highlights of WWF superstars at the Special Olympics are shown.
-Men on a Mission say that the Smoking Gunns will get a royal beating and will bow down to King Mabel. I have a feeling that won’t happen even if the Gunns lose the match.
–Hakushi (w/Shinja) vs. Jeff Hardy:
Ah, one of these gems where the Hardy Boys were jobber feed. Jeff is wearing short hair here as well which is a really weird visual. Before the match, Hakushi digs into a bag and pulls out a severed Bret Hart head. Jeff hits a bodypress off the ropes and works the arm after Hakushi’s initial salvo is ineffective. Jeff moves out of the way of a Hakushi charge in the corner but Hakushi goes over Jeff when he charges him in the opposite corner and hits him with a thrust kick. Hakushi slams Jeff’s head into the canvas and delivers a snapmare and running knee drop. After taunting the crowd, Hakushi delivers a slam and a pump splash from the second rope. Hakushi nails a springboard flying shoulderblock from the apron and locks in a cross armbreaker for the submission at 2:57. The good thing about Hakushi squash matches is that they are fast paced and squeeze lots of action into a small period of time. You will also notice in my column that some of these squash matches do not always end with a finishing move and that helps explain why fans didn’t sit on their hands during non-finishing moves in matches because anything could be a potential match ender.
-Call 1-800-TITAN-91 to get a Razor Ramon t-shirt for $20. You can also get a 1-2-3 Kid t-shirt that looks really bad. I wonder how many people bought that shirt.
-Jeff Jarrett’s music video of “With My Baby Tonight†is shown. I have a feeling that I’m just going to have to tolerate this for the next few shows until In Your House 2. The strange thing is that as a kid I actually liked this video. I’m glad those days are behind me.
–Men on a Mission vs. The Smoking Gunns:
Billy and Mabel start and Billy works in a headlock but that goes about as well as you’d expect. Billy shrugs it off and locks up but that fails as well. Mabel misses a blind charge but recovers to whip Billy into the corner and slam him. However, Mabel misses a big fat elbow drop and Billy delivers a series of dropkicks. The third time is one too many, though, and Mabel swats him aside and tags in Mo. Mo puts his head down too early on a whip and Billy gets a small package for two. Billy reverses a hiptoss and applies an armbar after an armdrag. Tag Bart who continues to work the arm until Mo fights out of it and hits an elbow off the ropes. Mo misses an elbow drop and Bart hits a backdrop before going back to the arm. The Gunns hit a double Side Russian legsweep after Billy is tagged in and that gets two. Bart is tagged in and continues the work on the arm until Mo busts out an eye rake and tags in Mabel as we go to a commercial break.
When we get back, Bart goes underneath Mabel on a whip and dropkicks Mabel into the corner. However, Mabel reverses a whip into the buckle and hits a Bossman slam. Mabel chokes Bart on the second rope and tosses him to the arena floor. Back in, Mabel hits a slam and covers for two. Tag Mo and his suplex attempt is blocked and Bart delivers his own for a double KO spot. Mabel gets tagged in quickly and Bart tries a sunset flip. Mabel tries to squash him but in a nice piece of continuity Bart moves out of the way for double KO #2. This was a nice spot because Mabel had squashed the Gunns with that sit down splash twice in the months prior to this match. Bart makes the momentum swinging tag to Billy and he hits Mabel with three clotheslines. A dropkick puts Mabel on one knee and Billy hits a top rope bodypress for two as Mo forgets to run in forcing Billy to break the pinning combination for no reason. Billy takes out Mo and the Gunns hit a double bulldog on Mabel as the referee loses control. Mo throws Bart outside and then breaks up Billy’s cover of Mabel at two. Billy then tussles with Mo and Mabel squashes him against the turnbuckles, leading to a belly-to-belly suplex that ends it at 7:40 shown. The match dragged at the beginning but had a hot finish that made up for it. **
-Live Events News with Stephanie Wiand. Diesel and Shawn cut a promo against Sid and Jeff Jarrett. Bret Hart vs. Jean Pierre LaFitte has been added to the MSG card so call to get your tickets now for August 12th!
-Next week tune in to see Hunter Hearst-Helmsley battle Duke “the Dumpster†Droese in a culture clash! This was definitely around the time that Monday Night Raw surpassed Superstars as THE show in WWF programming. Waylon Mercy will also be making an appearance.
-Jerry Lawler is shown at the office of Isaac Yankem D.D.S. yelling at a young patient for commenting on his bad breath and reading National Geographic. His sister tries not to laugh at Lawler’s antics. A patient is shown running out of the office with a cloth over his mouth. We close the show with a visual of what Isaac Yankem D.D.S. looks like..
The Final Report: Better show than last week with a solid tag team match for a main event. All of the jobber matches were pretty fun to watch as well so this was about as solid of a Superstars show as you could expect by mid-1995.
