WWF Wrestling Challenge – April 24, 1994

April 24, 1994

From the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY

Your hosts are Stan Lane and Ted DiBiase

This week in action are The Headshrinkers, Earthquake, Diesel, and Lex Luger. Plus, an interview with Jeff Jarrett and more!

Men on a Mission w/ Oscar vs. Iron Mike Sharpe & Emilio Ulcia

DiBiase jokes that he should give MoM some money for singing and dancing lessons then laughs about them only having the Tag Team Titles for two days. Mabel now as “Whoomp There It Is “written across his chest. Sharpe challenges Mabel to a test of strength and gets shoved down. Mabel continues to overpower Sharpe with ease until Sharpe rakes the eyes. Mabel gets clotheslined a few times but stays on his feet then plants Sharpe with an enziguiri. Ulcia tags in and MoM work him over the hit a double uranage for the win (2:00). The camera shows Nikolai Volkoff in the front row bopping his head slightly to Oscar’s rap as DiBiase wants to know why Volkoff is still here every week.

Thoughts: The focus here was mostly on Mabel as we also see that Volkoff is back in the crowd. And soon we shall find out why Volkoff has been appearing week after week.

WWF Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes. This is about IRS destroying Tatanka’s sacred headdress. Hayes also adds how all gifts must be cleared through the internal revenue service and that after the tax deadline has passed, IRS used his civic duty to retrieve the headdress. We see a clip of the attack then go back to a smiling Hayes as he blames Tatanka for bringing this on himself by not paying taxes. We then cut to Strongbow, with a replay of the attack in the background, as he turns into the camera and says “this means war” and once again does not show any conviction. More heel Lord Alfred here as they have given this feud a ton of TV time.

Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Mike Freeman

Lane promises that Tatanka will get his hands on IRS during the WrestleMania Revenge tour as DiBiase laughs. Freeman surprises Crush with a dropkick but gets caught in a chokeslam. Crush hits a thrust kick as DiBiase credits Fuji for Crush’s improvements. Lane notes that Crush is even more aggressive than ever since losing at WrestleMania as Crush stays in control of the match. Crush then heads up top for a flying clothesline and continues to beat him down until he takes off his glove and hits a press slam then uses the heart punch for the win (4:00). We see an American flag wave in the crowd.

Thoughts: They are now trying to build up Crush as being more devastating than ever because he now uses a heart punch but in reality this guy lost the Doink feud and the Savage feud so really, he’s been branded as a strictly midcard guy. They also played up the Crush anti-American stuff here on commentary a bit.

We now see Luger doing crunches backstage. They segued from the Crush match ending to this and with good reason since Perfect never wrestled Luger due to injuries/quitting and Crush was his replacement. They way this came off seemed like it was done quickly in post-production but who knows.

WWF Live Event News segment to plug the WrestleMania Revenge tour

Now we are shown the replay of Capt. Lou Albano introducing The Headshrinkers as the team he wants to challenge for the Tag Team Titles. This is also to plug WWF President Jack Tunney’s decision as to whether or not The Quebecers have to honor the challenge they accepted.

The Headshrinkers w/ Afa vs. Tyrone Knox & Derec Domino

Lane says The Headshrinkers will beat The Quebecers for the Titles should they face off as DiBiase agrees, even going as far to say Money Inc. would not have fared against them because of the Headshrinkers aggressiveness. Domino tries to attack Fatu but that fails. Fatu drops Domino with a thrust kick then tags out as Samu hits a big chop. The announcers want to know where Albano is as The Headshrinkers stay in control. Knox is in the match now and Samu chokes him out then the Headshrinkers hit Knox with a spike piledriver then they use a Doomsday Device for the win (3:39).

Thoughts: The Headshrinkers beat the crap out of their opponents here as the announcers hype them up as being the most devastating team in the company. They are almost like tweeners but still more on the heel side in how they are presented.

Johnny Polo welcomes Jeff Jarrett to the ring. Polo puts over Jarrett for being a great dancer, singer, and wrestler but has been having a problem lately with the “7-11 dream date” Sparky Plugg and “Big Top Refugees” Doink & Dink. Jarrett says everytime he has Plugg beat, Doink & Dink interfere in his business. Jarrett then says in the weeks to come his name will be in lights and will take over the WWF, and called it the Double J-F. And when he becomes champion he will go back to Nashville where they will beg for his services. However, he has to take care of Doink & Dink and they will find out who laughs last laughs the loudest. Not much of a promo here as Jarrett used the same phrases and talking points that he did in his debut vignettes before turning attention to this Doink feud. Now, while I thought Jarrett did a fine job at his role in this Doink feud the reality is Doink is just not over as a face.

Earthquake vs. Mike Melaccio

Lane talks about Roddy Piper being the best talk-show host while DiBiase says its Lawler. Melaccio attacks Earthquake from behind and hammers away in the corner. Earthquake fights back as the announcers say that Yokozuna is in the only one in the WWF bigger than Earthquake. Melaccio gets stepped on as Earthquake stays in control while the announcers run down the WrestleMania Revenge Tour then Earthquake finally puts Melaccio away with the sit-down splash (2:47).

Thoughts: More casual mention of a Lawler/Piper feud while we are heading towards an eventual Earthquake vs. Yokozuna match.

We get a video package hyping up next week’s Owen Hart vs. Mo match. We get featured matches again on Challenge due to sweeps.

Diesel w/ Shawn Michaels vs. Mike Bucci

The graphic reads “Mike Buisy” for the future Nova. Shawn is taunting Nikolai for his fashion choices. Lane jokes that Nikolai’s suit was custom-made for Gorilla Monsoon in Japan back in 1963. DiBiase says its the only suit Nikolai has left as Lane said they should not poke fun at him if that’s the case. Diesel beats the crap out of Bucci as the announcers talk about the Diesel vs. Razor Intercontinental Title match next week on “Superstars.” DiBiase broke the news to Lane here. Shawn taunts Bucci then Diesel goes back on offense then hits the Jackknife for the win (2:45). DiBiase predicts next week there will be a new Intercontinental Champion.

Thoughts: While not outright saying it like on “Superstars” the announcers did hint at Volkoff’s financial problems. Most of the focus was on the Diesel/Razor Intercontinental Title match next week on Superstars.

We get another new Duke “The Dumpster” Droese vignette. He says he can always take out the trash. These have all been terrible by the way and the gimmick itself is a dead end. It probably amused Vince though and really at the end of the day that is what matters in this company.

Lex Luger vs. Black Phantom

The announcers talk about the Luger/Perfect feud as Luger attacks Phantom in the corner. Luger now works the arm until Phantom cheap shots him after the break. We get a mild USA chant as Luger blocks a suplex then hits one of his own. Luger then hits a powerslam before using the Torture Rack for the win (2:17). The announcers then plug Luger vs. Perfect on the WrestleMania Revenge tour. Luger poses to the fans and they are not responding.

Thoughts: The focus was on the Luger/Perfect feud. However, the first night of the WrestleMania Revenge tour, which kicked off the day prior at the Richfield Coliseum, Luger wrestled Crush and apparently needed help getting backstage after taking a press slam. He did appear to work throughout the rest of the tour, however.

Another WWF Live Event News segment plugging the WrestleMania Revenge tour airs. Besides Perfect not appearing, Luna Vachon was absent (I believe it was later reported she had a hand injury she was working through and only did appearances on TV to continue storylines) and The Steiner Brothers never appeared on the tour and were replaced by Men on a Mission as they left the company. Some way to kick off this tour.

Next week in action are The Steiners, 1-2-3 Kid, Tatanka, and the featured match of Owen Hart vs. Mo. Plus, Johnny Polo interviewing Bret Hart and more.

Another music video set to clips of this show closes things out.

Final Thoughts: The only exclusive segment was a forgettable interview by Jarrett. The focus was on hyping the WrestleMania Revenge tour and next week’s match between Diesel and Razor Ramon. However, next week we actually get a featured match on the show so that is something to look forward to seeing.