WWF Superstars – April 23rd, 1994

April 23, 1994

From the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler

The show starts off with footage from two weeks ago when Doink the Clown doused Jeff Jarrett with a bucket of water as Jarrett was chasing Dink up the aisle.

This week’s featured match is Razor Ramon vs. Adam Bomb.

The hosts are in front of the ring to run down the show. However, Vince’s mic is unplugged as Lawler cracks some jokes. Doink comes out for his match and dumps a bucket of confetti on Lawler.

Doink the Clown w/ Dink vs. Bert Centeno

Vince laughs at what happened to Lawler. Centeno gets in Doink’s face so Dink crawls behind him and assists Doink with a trip. Doink attacks Centeno then laughs but Centeno sneaks up from behind with a rollup for a two count. Centeno gets a one count after a dropkick as Vince puts over Doink & Dink’s charity work. Doink regains control and grounds Centeno for a bit. Vince says that IRS will explain his actions from last week later on in the show as Doink stays in control. Lawler then says he has a surprise in store for Razor Ramon and wants to talk to him then Doink hits the Whoopie Cushion for the win (2:45). After the match, Vince laughs at the antics of Doink & Dink then mentions that Mr. Perfect will be guest on the “Heartbreak Hotel.”

Thoughts: Since they already went over the Doink/Jarrett feud before the show opened the announcers used this match to talk about other things in the promotion, including Lawler mentioning he has a surprise for Razor.

Heartbreak Hotel with guest Mr. Perfect. Before bringing out Perfect, Shawn mocks Razor’s accent and asks Razor to put the Intercontinental Title on the line against Diesel. Shawn says Perfect proved to be a stand up guy and a perfect referee at WrestleMania X. He then asks about the rumor that he holds a grudge against Lex Luger. Perfect says he is not a guy to hold a grudge then offers Shawn a handshake because they had a past history together. Perfect brings up how Luger knocked him out at WrestleMania IX and how he did not hop aboard the Lex Express but still doesn’t hold the grudge. Shawn then reaches the conclusion that its Luger who holds the grudge as Perfect agrees. Perfect then tells Luger he will not get away with putting his hands on him as the segment ends with Vince plugging Luger vs. Perfect on the WrestleMania Revenge tour. More or less the same promo Perfect has been cutting since WrestleMania X. However, the real important news here was that Perfect injured his foot as reported by Wade Keller in the 4/23 issue of the “Pro Wrestling Torch” newsletter. The estimated time he was supposed to miss was six weeks. And we will definitely learn more about this in the coming weeks.

Smoking Gunns vs. Austin Steele & Joe Smith

Lots of cuts to screaming women in the crowd during the Gunns entrance. Bart works over Steele to start. Vince now brings up to Lawler how the Heartbreak Hotel and King’s Court all pale in comparison to the Piper’s Pit. The Gunns now work over Smith as Lawler plugs Nikolai Volkoff as his guest this Monday night on RAW as the Gunns hit the sidewinder for the win (2:08). Lawler then wants Piper to have the guts to face him in the ring.

Thoughts: They are portraying the Gunns as heartthrobs of sorts which is at least something. And they also used this match as a backdrop to discuss the Piper’s Pit/King’s Court comparisons to start a feud between Piper and Lawler.

The WWF Live Event News once again tells us about the WrestleMania Revenge Tour. They were plugging the undercard matches too such as Sparky Plugg vs. Kwang, Alundra Blayze vs. Luna Vachon, and Howard Finkel vs. Harvey Whippleman in a Tuxedo Match. I’ll get into this card more in depth soon in my recaps.

Replay from last week where IRS destroyed Tatanka’s headdress then beat down Chief Jay Strongbow as Tatanka was tied up in the ropes.

IRS vs. Burt Stiles

IRS runs down Tatanka for being too stupid to not pay taxes on his “turkey feathers” then he turns his attention to Volkoff in the crowd and wants him to get a new suit. Okay, that wasn’t actually terrible. IRS grounds Stiles and rubs his face into the mat. Lawler cracks jokes about Strongbow as IRS now works the arm. IRS beats down Stiles then we have Vince ask Strongbow, who is shown in an insert promo, what will happen when IRS and Tatanka face off during the WrestleMania Revenge tour. Strongbow softly replied “war.” Strongbow did not do anything here to make you want to see this match. IRS holds the ropes for leverage while applying an abdominal stretch and continues to beat him down until he puts him away with the Penalty (3:30).

Thoughts: Lots of hyping for IRS vs. Tatanka for the WrestleMania Revenge tour.

We get another Duke “The Dumpster” Droese vignette. It even features a name graphic for him as he is at the dump picking through trash and joking with colleagues before saying he is taking out the trash in the WWF. I have zero clue as to why this character was chosen. Also, there were reports that Droese’s dark matches at the TV tapings were horrendous too so yeah, not a whole lot for Droese to offer here.

Adam Bomb w/ Harvey Whippleman vs. Razor Ramon

Bomb attacks Razor before the bell then hammers away in the corner. He then drops Razor with a lifting chokehold and follows that with a powerslam. Razor avoids an elbow drop then fires away and even clotheslines Bomb over the top rope. Bomb regroups with Whippleman before pulling Razor outside. Bomb clotheslines Razor then rolls him back inside where he hits a slingshot clothesline for a nearfall. Bomb yells at the ref then Razor rolled him up for two as Vince asks Bomb “How stupid can you be?” Bomb attacks Razor and hits a back suplex for a two count as Vince says Bomb would be better off without Whippleman. Bomb ducks his head for a back drop but Razor knees him in the face then Razor hits the Razors Edge for the win (3:36) **.

Thoughts: Bomb looked good and took the majority of the offense but the real story was on commentary as Vince, after insulting Bomb for being stupid, then turns around to state how Bomb would be better without Whippleman. Between this and the WWF Magazine cover and story on how he liked video games, they were telegraphing a face turn.

Razor is looking at himself on the video wall before going backstage but is confronted by Lawler, who wants to ask some questions. Lawler wants to know if Razor is so tough then why hasn’t he offered Diesel a shot at the Intercontinental Title. Razor wants us all to listen as he refers to Lawler as “chubby.” Razor says he loves a good fight and for Lawler to tell Shawn & Diesel if they want some of his gold then they can have it anytime, anyplace. Lawler asks if that means next week so Razor smiles and tells Lawler he’d love that and accepts before leaving. The interactions between Razor and Lawler were great as the match that has been teased since the RAW after WrestleMania X will finally take place next week.

Another segment hyping the WrestleMania Revenge tour.

Guest ring announcer Dominic Shaw introduces the next match. Predictably, Lawler makes fun of him.

Scott Taylor & Ben Jordan vs. The Quebecers w/ Johnny Polo

Vince mentions Polo filibustering The Headshrinkers attempt to get a title shot and how WWF President Jack Tunney will make his decision this Monday on RAW. The Quebecers beat on Taylor as we hear Capt. Lou Albano in an insert promo say that Tunney has made the decision the Quebecers have to defend the titles. The Quebecers stay in control then use an assisted senton for the win (2:10). After the match, The Quebecers stick their Canadian flags between Taylor’s arm.

Thoughts: The focus here was on whether or not The Headshrinkers would receive a title shot, which we will learn about on RAW. However, we get something else behind the scenes here as also reported in the 4/23 edition of the “Pro Wrestling Torch” that Jacques Rougeau gave his notice to the company. The reason he gave was wanting to spend time with his family and that he was not making enough money to make it worth staying in the company. Dave Meltzer elaborated in the “Wrestling Observer Newsletter” that Rougeau would be finishing up on 6/25.

The WWF Greetings on Call ad airs.

“The Rocket” Owen Hart vs. Gary Sabaugh

On his way to the ring, Owen yells into the camera that he deserves a title shot. We get some arm work to start but Owen ends up taking control. The crowd chants for Bret then Owen drops Sabaugh with an enziguiri. The announcers talk about Bret vs. Owen on the WrestleMania Revenge tour as Owen goes back to the arm. Sabaugh blocks a turnbuckle smash then fights back briefly until he runs into a spinning heel kick. Owen then turns Sabaugh for a Sharpshooter and the win (3:09).

Thoughts: They hyped up Bret/Owen on the WrestleMania Revenge tour as Owen got a strong heel reaction from this crowd.

Another Live Event News segment about the WrestleMania Revenge tour.

Lawler is now in the aisle with Shawn & Diesel. We hear Diesel tell Razor that next week the Intercontinental Title will return to the Heartbreak Hotel.

Final Thoughts: The huge news coming out of this show was setting up for next week’s Intercontinental Title match. They also hyped up RAW and other matches for the WrestleMania Revenge tour, with some of them never taking place. Anyway, its about to get more interesting in this company, mostly behind the scenes and most of that was not positive.