WWF Wrestling Challenge – July 31st, 1994

July 31, 1994

From the Stabler Arena in Bethelem, PA

Your hosts are Stan Lane and Ted DiBiase

We see clips of Yokozuna & Crush attacking Typhoon to set up this week’s Yokozuna & Crush vs. Typhoon & Mabel tag team match.

Also in action are Duke Droese, Jeff Jarrett, and Jim Neidhart.

Yokozuna & Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Typhoon & Mabel w/ Oscar

Yokozuna & Crush attack before the bell. They knock Mabel out of the ring but Typhoon comes back with a double clothesline. Things settle down and we get Yokozuna against Typhoon. Yokozuna rakes the eyes but Typhoon comes back to knock him down after three shoulder tackles. Mabel and Crush now tag in and stare each other down before Mabel catches a crossbody attempt and hits a slam. Mabel then drops a leg for a two count but Crush reverses an Irish whip and gets tripped up by Yokozuna before walking into a thrust kick. The crowd starts a USA chant as Crush tries to lift up Mabel and fails before using a snapmare. Yokozuna tags in as Lane mentions how Yokozuna Bonzai-splashed Typhoon’s “ex-partner” out of the company. Crush is back in and grounds Mabel with a leg scissors as Lane plugs the Memory Lane match on “All-American Wrestling.” DiBiase then plugs Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon coming up this Monday night on RAW as Crush lands several kicks to drop Mabel. He then hits a leg drop before climbing up top where he misses a knee drop. Both men are down and tag out as Typhoon runs wild. The match now breaks down then Crush hits Typhoon in the back of the head with a thrust kick and Yokozuna catches Typhoon on the rebound and uses a belly-to-belly suplex for the win as Mabel was not able to make the save (6:45) *3/4.

Thoughts: Better than I thought it would be as it had some decent power spots and nothing they did looked terrible even though it did drag a bit when Crush got the heat on Mabel. Anyway, Typhoon was the least pushed of the four so its no surprise that he ate the pin here. And the announcers still buried Earthquake, this time not even mentioning him by name.

Duke “The Dumpster” Droese vs. Austin Steele

Droese works a chin lock as the announcers talk about the Droese/Lawler feud. Steele backs Droese into the corner and lands a few shots but Droese floats over and uses a back suplex. Droese then hits a clothesline as Lane mocks DiBiase for having to give Tatanka $10,000 after defeating Nikolai Volkoff last week on RAW but DiBiase brushes it off by saying its not a lot of money. Droese stays in control then puts Steele away with a corkscrew elbow drop (1:34).

Thoughts: Most of this was to hype the Droese/Lawler feud as they were still doing house show matches at this point. Also, it was interesting to hear DiBiase not being angry at all that he had to pay Tatanka $10,000 after Tatanka beat Volkoff. Not often you hear a heel be fine with both of those things happening as he did not even seem mad Volkoff lost.

WWF Live Event News hyping the Summer Sizzler tour.

The Leslie Nielsen bit from last week airs.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Jim Powers

DiBiase puts over Jarrett’s singing abilities as Lane doubts we will ever hear him sing. Jarrett retreats to the corner after Powers takes him down then drops him with a cheap shot. Jarrett stays in control as the announcers talk about Jarrett vs. 1-2-3 Kid next week as Jarrett misses an elbow drop. Powers fires away but eats boot on a charge in the corner before getting dropped with a clothesline. Jarrett then lands a dropkick and softens up the leg before the figure four gets the win (2:47).

Thoughts: A win for Jarrett to put him over heading into next week’s rematch against Kid.

SummerSlam Report with Todd Pettengill. We also get the Leslie Nielsen bit we saw on “Superstars” where Nielsen misses the Undertaker delivering him a Domino’s Pizza.

Thurman “Sparky” Plugg vs. Barry Hardy

DiBiase says he will be in Luger’s corner at SummerSlam as Lane calls him out for not being in Luger’s corner against Diesel on RAW, to which DiBiase replies “I was there.” Plugg works the arm as DiBiase says Luger is shy and right there in the ring on RAW when Luger challenged Tatanka. Plugg then catches Hardy with a thrust kick in the corner before using a flying body press for the win (1:58).

Thoughts: This was once again Lane challenging DiBiase’s claims that Luger has signed with the Corporation. Plugg remains a lower midcard talent without direction.

Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart w/ Owen Hart vs. Ray Hudson

Neidhart offers Hudson a handshake then clotheslines him when he doesn’t bite. Neidhart hammers away as the announcers put over Neidhart’s power. The announcers now put over the Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund match from “Superstars” and tease how it was an unbelievable ending while not giving it away. Neidhart stays in control as Owen yells how Neidhart carried the Hart Foundation. The announcers now plug the Summer Sizzler tour while DiBiase says he will be at a Sports Memorabilia show in New York while getting upset after learning Doink & Dink will also be there. Neidhart then hits a slam and puts Hudson away with a Camel’s Clutch (2:43).

Thoughts: They did the bit here on Challenge when they teased something major happening on Supertstars that will be shown next week as a hook to get viewers to watch if they had missed Superstars. And we got more hype for Bret vs. Owen at SummerSlam.

Replay from last week’s Adam Bomb vs. Yokozuna match where Kwang & Harvey Whippleman interfere and cost Adam Bomb the match.

Kwang w/ Harvey Whippleman vs. Chris Kanyon

Lane says he now sees big things for Bomb since he is free from Whippleman. Kwang hammers away as DiBiase says that Kwang can now ride high in the WWF with Whippleman now getting to focus on him more without Bomb around. Kwang takes Kanyon over the top rope with a spinning heel kick and we get shown the double feature. Kwang plls up Kanyon after a clothesline then lands a spinning heel kick for the win (2:13).

Thoughts: The Kwang/Bomb feud is back once again but unfortunately neither guy is over.

WWF Live Event news about the Summer Sizzler tour.

The WWF New Generation ad airs again.

Next week we will hear more from Leslie Nielsen. Plus, an interview with Owen Hart. Also in action are The Headshrinkers, Tatanka, Diesel, and The Bushwhackers.

Final Thoughts: We got the final featured match on Challenge for 1994 and it was better than expected. The rest of the show was hype for SummerSlam and the other top storylines as this show would become even less relevant as the year continues.