What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – February 19, 1994

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

WWF Superstars

I know that I haven’t continued my 1994 Superstars reviews for a while, but I’ve had some time to get caught up. When we last left, it was a few weeks after the Royal Rumble. Ludvig Borga was just sent packing after an ankle injury and the Undertaker is gone after getting destroyed by ten men plus Yokozuna at the Rumble. The WWF is in the midst of its WrestleMania X push and a major focus is the beginning of the Bret Hart-Owen Hart feud.

-Vince McMahon and Stan Lane are in the booth.

-Opening Contest: “The Rocket” Owen Hart vs. Marty Jannetty:

Owen finds a young fan at ringside and tears apart his ring glasses in front of him. The look on the kid’s face is priceless. Both men show off their agility and Owen ends that with a slap. Jannetty responds with two arm drags and Owen bails after a dropkick. Back in, Owen gets a cheap shot over the referee and goes to work on the back. Owen catches Jannetty with a spinning heel kick off the ropes for two. Jannetty floats over on a blind charge and blasts Owen with a superkick for two. A powerslam gets two. Owen catches Jannetty with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. A blind charge eats elbow and Jannetty hits a clothesline for two. Owen blocks a rollup, but Jannetty gets a body press off the ropes for two. Owen nails Jannetty with a swinging neckbreaker when Jannetty puts his head down too early and applies the Sharpshooter for the submission at 4:19. Whoever made the decision to only give these guys four minutes should be thrown in jail. Grade: C+

-In a pre-taped promo, Bret Hart discusses the matches that he is going to have at WrestleMania X.

-Johnny Polo joins McMahon in the announce booth because Stan Lane has left to do an interview. Anyone know why Raven hasn’t been contacted by the WWE to come back as a color commentator?

-Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) vs. Scott Taylor:

I never understood why wrestlers wanted Wippleman as a manager. His managing pedigree was terrible, but I guess Kwang didn’t have the luxury of seeing him manage Well Dunn prior to arriving in the WWF. Taylor flips over Kwang in the corner, but Kwang catches him with a spinning heel kick on a blind charge. Kwang spits his mist into the air and showcases his martial arts skills. A superkick off the ropes finishes at 1:27.

-Stan Lane is fulfilling Jim Ross’s role this week in the “face to face” segments and he talks about how tickets are available for the WWF Fan Festival and the Paramount Theatre. Lane is so much better at this than Ross. Shawn Michaels talks about the ladder match he’s going to have with Razor Ramon at WrestleMania.

-Little Richard says he can’t wait to be at WrestleMania X.

-WWF Women’s Championship Match: Alundra Blayze (Champion) vs. Heidi Lee Morgan:

Morgan gets the jobber entrance. This was a rematch of the finals of the Women’s title tournament that Blayze won. If I recall correctly it wasn’t much of a tournament because only three women participated. Morgan attacks Blayze from behind and gets a flying forearm for two. A slam gets two. Blayze goes to the second rope, but Morgan tosses her off by the hair and slams her for one. Blayze blocks a German suplex with an elbow to the face and pins Morgan after a Northern light suplex at 1:52. This was a serviceable match and is better than anything the WWE is giving us as “women’s wrestling” today, but I think that goes without saying. Grade: D

-Todd Pettengill delivers the WrestleMania X report.

-Earthquake vs. Jim Massenger:

Nina Francis is our guest ring announcer and she does a really good job. Massenger attacks Earthquake from behind to start, but that goes about as well as you’d expect and Earthquake squashes him with an elbow drop. A blind charge eats buckle, but Massenger can’t take advantage and Earthquake dropkicks him. Earthquake appears in the split screen and he says he can’t wait to face Ludvig Borga at WrestleMania. A powerslam, elbow drop, and Earthquake Splash finish at 1:52. This was kind of slow, but I always felt that Earthquake’s dropkick was very impressive for a guy his size.

-The Funeral Parlor with Paul Bearer sees him scream about the Undertaker’s spirit. His guest this week is WWF Champion Yokozuna, who comes out with Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji. Cornette says that he feels uncomfortable and complains about the temperature. Uh, what did you expect Jim? Lex Luger comes out after Cornette says that he’s corrupt and tells Yokozuna that he’s going to slam his big, fat carcass and win the title at WrestleMania. This could’ve been shorter, but it got the point across.

-Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels) vs. Mike Miraldo:

Diesel taunts Nikolai Volkoff, who is sitting at ringside, and when the match starts he hits Miraldo with a knee. Miraldo goes over Diesel on a slam and unleashes a few dropkicks, but he gets caught trying a body press off the ropes and gets slammed. As Diesel delivers a sidewalk slam Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon appears in the split screen and talks about WrestleMania. Diesel blocks a sunset flip and pins Miraldo after Snakes Eyes at 1:26. A good squash for Diesel, but I’m glad he developed the Jackknife as a finisher.

-Stan Lane talks some more about the WWF Fan Festival. Owen Hart says that he doesn’t have any regrets about how he’s handled the situation with his brother and that Bret is too damn selfish. Wow, cursing in a WWF promo during this era? It was really hard not to be sympathetic in some way to Owen during this feud.

-Adam Bomb and Harvey Wippleman say that Bret Hart may not make it to WrestleMania.

-Tune in next week to see Bret Hart square off with Adam Bomb! Also, the Quebecers will be in action.

The Final Report Card: This was a pretty good show, with an entertaining light heavyweight match between Owen and Jannetty and some quick squash matches. I feared that they would give the Women’s title match more time than the opener, but thankfully that didn’t happen.

Show Grade: B-

Logan Scisco has been writing wrestling reviews for Inside Pulse since 2005. He considers himself a pro wrestling traditionalist and reviews content from the 1980s-early 2000s. Most of his recaps center on wrestling television shows prior to 2001. His work is featured on his website (www.wrestlewatch.com) and he has written three books, available on Amazon.com.