WWF Boston Garden – January 9th, 1993

January 9, 1993

This is fan-cam footage of the show so there is no commentary. Its not the complete card but includes four out of the six matches and the two matches not included are nothing you’d want to see anyway (Crush vs. Skinner and Terry Taylor vs. Jason Knight, who was subbing for Lance Cassidy as Cassidy had quit the promotion).

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Money Inc. (c) w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Nasty Boys

The Nasty Boys attack the champs to start. Sags misses an attack in the corner then DiBiase goes to work on the arm. Sags fights back as the Nasty Boys now work over the arm of DiBiase. The Nasty Boys stay in control until IRS runs in to save his partner from the Pit Stop. IRS tags in but Knobbs works his arm. IRS takes down Knobbs with a drop toe hold then we have the two trade holds. Sags is now in the match but IRS takes him down with a throat thrust then Hart distracts the ref to allow his team to cheat in order to keep control of the match. The champs neutralize Sags in their as the crowd gets behind the Nasty Boys. DiBiase uses a bearhug as the camera shows the arena, which has tons of empty seats, but the fans in attendance are at least vocal. A young crowd it seems with lots of kids jumping around. IRS now uses a bearhug but Sags escapes. Money Inc. prevents Sags from tagging out then Knobbs tries to enter and is held back by the ref. Sags snaps IRS’s neck off of the top then knocks into DiBiase, who knocks into the ref and Knobbs rolls Sags outside and drags the ref over to him and covers for the three count as the Nasty Boys win the match and presumably the titles but then we learn the ref ruled the match must continue as the legal man did not make the pin. DiBiase now has Sags in the Million Dollar Dream. Sags breaks out as both men are down then tags out as Knobbs runs wild. The Nasty Boys hit their finisher on IRS but DiBiase makes the save then the match breaks down with DiBiase hitting Sags from behind with IRS’s briefcase then IRS covers for the win (14:26) *1/2.

Thoughts: Basic tag match formula here wrestled at a slower pace than usual. No one stood out and the ref bump looked bad. The crowd was into this though, perhaps because of the two matches proceeding this being so bad anything would look good by comparison.

Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer vs. Papa Shango

Undertaker beats on Shango after a staredown. Undertaker hits his ropewalk attack then follows with a throat thrust. Undertaker gets kicked after dukcing his head for a back drop but no-sells that and scoops up Shango for a slam. Undertaker then hits a hotshot but Shango hits Undertaker with his skull after the ref was yelling at Bearer. Shango lands a few shots before catching Undertaker with a sleeper that Undertaker breaks up with a jawbreaker. Shango comes back and stomps away then hits three elbow drops but misses a leg drop then soon after that Undertaker catches Shango with a chokeslam for the win (5:40) 1/2*.

Thoughts: About as good as it was going to get between these two. And its telling to see how Shango was used here as he was not positioned as a threat and Undertaker was in control for most of the match and won clean. The Shango experiment as a top heel is over.

Typhoon vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Both men fight over a lockup then Typhoon catches Bigelow with a front falling slam as Bigelow rolls out for a breather. Bigelow finally returns and surprises Typhoon with a kick. Typhoon slams Bigelow again and hammers away but Bigelow is able to ram Typhoon in the corner. We hear a few boring chants as Bigelow works a front facelock. Typhoon escapes then proceeds to fuck up a suplex like I’ve never seen before as Bigelow ends up falling on top of Typhoon. Bigelow now uses a chinlock then switches to kicks before going back to the front facelock. Bigelow uses a reverse neckbreaker for a nearfall but tries a slam and has Typhoon fall on top. Typhoon hits a few clotheslines then hits an avalanche that gets two. Bigelow gets his feet up to block a second avalanche attempt then climbs up to for a diving headbutt and the win (6:51) -*.

Thoughts: Awful match. Typhoon was gassed halfway through and nothing looked good at all, Bigelow included. This was even worse than usual Typhoon standards. Earthquake I believe was already gone from the company but was in the Rumble match and a few house show dates prior to the PPV but now Typhoon was on his own as a face, a role he failed miserably at over two years ago.

Ironman Match for the WWF World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart (c)

The match starts off on the mat with Bret finally taking advantage with a hammerlock. They end up in the corner then Flair knees Bret in the gut and applies a chinlock but Bret reverses and grounds Flair once again with the hammerlock. Flair is able to get Bret into the corner once again and hits some chops before working the arm. Flair puts his feet on the ropes for leverage while doing everything he can to keep control. Flair works an armbar for a very long time then misses an elbow drop. Bret reverses an Irish whip and skies Flair with a back drop then Bret uses the figure four as the crowd goes nuts. Flair escapes to the apron but Bret brings him back inside and tries for a Sharpshooter but Flair rakes the eyes. Flair rakes the eyes again and tosses Bret outside as the crowd boos. Bret rolls back inside and is able to break up a figure four attempt then applies one of his own. Flair makes the ropes then Bret starts softening up the leg. Flair tosses Bret outside then breaks up a sunset flip attempt. Flair beats on Bret then hits a back suplex but misses a clothesline and Bret uses a reverse rollup for the first pinfall of the match (27:17). Bret catches Flair with a sleeper but Flair uses a shinbreaker to escape as both men are on the mat. Flair is up first and hits another shinbreaker then continues to target the leg. Flair puts Bret in a single leg crab for a bit then struts around after Bret reached the ropes. Bret fights off a few figure four attempts then Flair uses a chair to whack Bret’s leg while Heenan distracted the referee. Heenan is then tossed and escorted backstage while Bret clutches his leg in the corner. Flair now applies a figure four and ends up dragging Bret near the middle of the ring and holds the ropes for leverage while applying the figure four as Bret submits as we are tied 1-1 (35:00). Flair is admonished by the referee then goes back to stomping Bret’s injured leg. Flair puts on another figure four and this time holds on to the bottom rope for leverage to win another fall via submission as he takes a 2-1 lead (37:40). The ref checks on Bret then Flair goes back to targeting the leg. Flair kicks Bret outside and follows him out but the ref orders him back inside. Flair drags Bret back into the ring and puts the figure four on again but Bret reaches the ropes and the ref kicks Flair’s hands off of the ropes. The crowd chants for Bret as he fights back. Flair hits another shinbreaker but Bret rakes the eyes on the landing as both men are down. Flair puts his feet on the ropes again this time for a pin attempt but fails to score a pin. Bret wins a slugfest then almost scores another pin with a Russian leg sweep. Flair kicks Bret low in the corner and takes a breather after that. Bret wins a battle over a backslide but that only got two then he ends up getting caught with a sleeper hold. The crowd is behind Bret but Flair stays in control of the match. Both men are down after Flair hits a vertical suplex but Flair is up first and covers for two. Flair heads up top now but takes forever and gets tossed off by Bret. Flair begs for mercy as Bret hobbles over then backs off as his chops do not have any effect. Bret fires away then places Flair up top for a superplex as that gets two. We learn there are five minutes left then Bret turns over Flair with the Sharpshooter and Flair submits as we are tied at two (55:03). Heenan is back into the ring to talk with Flair but the ref orders him out. Bret tries for another superplex but Flair shoves him off. Flair covers for two then uses another figure four. Bret reaches the ropes then gets tossed outside. Bret uses a sunset flip and pulls down Flair’s trunks but still unable to get a pin. Flair hits another shinbreaker then goes for the figure four after pulling Bret off of the ropes but Bret surprises him with a small package for the pin (59:42) and that ends up getting Bret the win (60:00) ****.

Thoughts: The first twenty minutes of this match was incredibly slow but they built things up well with Flair getting the 2-1 lead and the rest was great. According to Bret in his book, he came up with the finish and was telling Flair in the dressing room but Flair began to tell him what they were going to do instead. Bret then said he regretfully dressed Flair down in front of several wrestlers and said they were going to do what he said because he was the champ (Bret himself felt like the heel should always call the matches except for when wrestling the champion because he felt the champ should protect the title and the company) and Flair agreed then proceeded to mess up the timing of the falls (something I did not particularly notice). Bret also said that they had better matches with Flair as champ because as the challenger, Flair wanted to dominate the matches. Now, according to Flair, Bret whines and complains to everyone about anything. But the big storyline was behind the scenes involving Ric Flair and the WWF, which I will get to tomorrow.

Final Thoughts: The ironman match was worth seeing but skip the rest. This was a matinee show that drew about 5,800, which was almost double what the garden drew in the previous month so it was a good number for the time. This same crew then did a show in the evening up in Portland, ME. This is available on YouTube and I’ll post the link in the comments section. If the company did film this at the time it would be a great add for the Hidden Gems section of the Network.

Here is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Thursday: WWF Superstars 1/9/93, WWF Challenge 1/10/93

Friday: WWF Monday Night RAW 1/11/93 (Debut Episode)

And for the rest of the year and New Years Day, my goal is to do several episodes of Mid-South and maybe even mix in a shoot interview recap so I’ll give updates on that as the week progresses. Hope you all had a Happy Holidays and thanks for reading.