What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – May 14, 1994

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

WWF Superstars

-Vince McMahon and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth.

-McMahon interviews WWF Champion Bret “the Hitman” Hart. Bret says he looks forward to facing Owen again and says that he will accept Intercontinental Champion Diesel’s challenge for the King of the Ring. A good interview from Bret that put over that he was a fighting champion.

-Opening Contest: Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) vs. Tony Outter:

Kwang practices his martial arts offense on Outter as Lawler rips on Bret. Outter gets in a few token shots, but can’t knock Kwang down and Kwang hits a spinning heel kick while Outter is in mid-air for the win at 1:33. The finishing sequence was a nice visual.

-Stan Lane talks about the Yokozuna-Earthquake feud.

-King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Pierre vs. Mabel:

The winner of this match faces IRS in the first round of the King of the Ring tournament. Johnny Polo and Oscar have agreed not to be at ringside for this match, but that doesn’t keep Oscar from rapping on the big screen. Pierre attacks Mabel when he steps into the ring and hits a missile dropkick for two. Pierre goes back to the top rope, but Mabel tosses him off. A splash off the second rope misses and we have a quick double KO. Pierre hits a leg drop off the top rope for two. I expected a Cannonball there, but Jean Pierre LaFitte isn’t here yet. Pierre tries a slam, but Mabel falls on top of him for two. A Bossman slam finishes at 2:57. That anti-climatic finish foreshadowed that the Quebecers were on their way out of the company. Kudos to both guys for working a good three minute match. Rating: *½

-Todd Pettengill gives the King of the Ring report.

-Doink (w/Dink) vs. Major Yates:

Mike Fox is our guest ring announcer and he must have stage fright because he waits until Doink gets three-quarters of the way to the ring to announce the participants in the match. Yates wisely ignores Dink at the beginning of the match and nails Doink before the opening bell. It’s about time someone did that. Doink comes back with a knee lift and delivers a knee drop for two. A dropkick and small package get two. A suplex gets two. A slam and Whoopie Cushion finish at 1:53. Wow, a Doink squash I actually liked.

-Footage is shown of Ted DiBiase and Nikolai Volkoff showing up to the arena earlier in the day. DiBiase gets on Volkoff for not opening his limo door early enough.

-Earthquake vs. A.C. Conner:

D-Lo Brown…I mean Conner tries to knock Earthquake off his feet, but fails and Earthquake knocks him down with a clothesline. As Earthquake squashes Conner with a leg drop and elbow drop, Jim Cornette and Yokozuna appear in the split screen and hype the sumo match with Earthquake this Monday night on Raw. A powerslam and Earthquake Splash get the pin at 2:10.

-Some pool cleaners talk about how they saw the Undertaker.

-Nikolai Volkoff (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. Duane Gill:

The Volkoff angle was really a rehash of the Hercules angle of 1988 except for the fact that DiBiase actually got Volkoff to do his bidding. Volkoff is still wearing his old USSR/USA ring jacket from 1990 showing that for some the Cold War never ended. Volkoff outwits Gill with his veteran know how, but doesn’t heel it up and DiBiase disapproves. Each time Volkoff and DiBiase argue Gill attacks Volkoff from behind, but his offense goes nowhere. A clothesline to the back of the head finishes at 2:45. This match demonstrated that Volkoff’s early 80’s style wasn’t going to work in the New Generation WWF. After the match, Volkoff beats on Gill because DiBiase orders him to.

-Duke “the Dumpster” Droese tosses his garbage can around the land fill in his latest vignette.

-Tatanka’s attempted attack on IRS on last week’s show is shown.

-Tatanka vs. Gus Kantarakis:

Tatanka tosses Kantarakis around the ring because he’s still angry about what IRS did to his feathers, but McMahon and Lawler want to talk more about Lawler’s match with Roddy Piper at the King of the Ring. Go figure. Kanatarakis catches Tatanka with a DDT out of nowhere for two. Kantarakis takes Tatanka to the buckle, but that merely causes Tatanka to go on the war path and finish him with the Papoose to Go moments later at 2:31. Serviceable squash for Tatanka, which was usually the case when he was a face.

-Lane talks about some recent WWF house shows on the WrestleMania X Revenge Tour.

-Jeff Jarrett hypes his match with Lex Luger next week to play us out.

-Tune in next week to see Jeff Jarrett battle Lex Luger in a King of the Ring qualifying match!

The Final Report Card: This was another average show, but most of the talent on the card brought their working boots. The crowd wasn’t buying into the Volkoff-DiBiase storyline and it never ceases to amaze me how DiBiase was so good at getting himself over, but wasn’t able to translate that same charisma to the wrestlers he managed. Of course, it wasn’t like he was ever given a lot of serviceable talent to fill his Million Dollar Corporation with in the first place.

Show Evaluation: Thumbs Up

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.