WWF Action Zone – October 23rd, 1994

October 23, 1994

From the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY. This happened during the 9/28 “Wrestling Challenge” tapings.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengill.

The featured match here is Bret vs. Owen Hart for the WWF Title.

Charlie Minn runs down the show in the aisle. He’s just as terrible here as during the live event news segments. On his way to the ring, Owen tells Minn that he is here to take the title. This is being pushed as Owen’s final shot at the title.

Now we cut to the hosts as Vince promises our Sundays will never be the same again. Pettengill said that the World Series would have started this weekend had their not been a players strike. This won’t be the first shot at a professional sports organization on this show.

WWF World Title Match: Owen Hart vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart

Before the match, Owen snags the belt from the referee and holds it up high while posing on the middle rope. He then says he’s taking it home. Owen also gives his glasses to a young fan but the kid was not impressed. Vince wonders where Neidhart is for this match. Pettengill then said not to wear it as they have “king cooties.” Bret backs Owen against the ropes then we get a shoving match until Owen slaps Bret across the face. Owen ducks underneath the ropes then celebrates as Pettengill continues to rifle off bad jokes. Bret now works the arm then avoids a dropkick and uses a slingshot into the corner for a two count. Bret goes back to the arm and takes Owen down a few times then Owen bails. Neidhart now appears at ringside and talks to Owen. Back inside, Bret goes back to the arm after winning a shoving match as Vince puts over Neidhart as a challenger to Bret. Vince talks about Neidhart creating dissension within the Hart Family then we see Neidhart trip up Bret. Owen stomps away but now we see the British Bulldog head out to ringside just before the break. We return with Owen applying a Camel’s Clutch. Bret escapes and tries a wrist lock but Owen yanks him back down to the mat by the hair. Owen keeps pulling Bret’s hair to maintain control and now works a side headlock. Vince wonders if all of Bret’s title defenses have taken a lot out of him as Owen switches to a chin lock after another hair pull. Owen cuts off Bret with a knee smash to the gut then mocks the crowd before going back to the chin lock. Owen catches Bret with a belly-to-belly suplex for a two count but Bret comes back and gets two with a sunset flip. Bret takes a breather in the corner then fights off Owen. Bret hammers away but Owen reverses an Irish whip and sends Bret hard into the corner. Owen heads up top and connects with a missile dropkick then slaps Bulldog and as that happens, Neidhart rams Bret’s knee against the post several times. Owen attacks the knee then mocks Bret while using a leg lock. The crowd gets behind Bret as Owen stays in control and tells Bret that “mommy” is not here to help him out. Owen continues to attack the knee then puts on a figure-four leg lock. Bret tries to reverse the hold as we take another break. We return with Owen coming off the top but getting hit in the gut. Bret gets several nearfalls and we see Neidhart put Owen’s leg on the ropes to break a pin. Owen gets two with a reverse rollup but Bret reverses that into a two count of his own. Owen brushes off a Sharpshooter attempt then drops Bret and stomps away. Owen shoves Bret off the top to break up a superplex attempt but Bulldog then shoves Owen off and Owen crotches himself then Bret covers for the win (14:48 shown) ***1/4. After the match, Pettengill says that Bulldog broke the rules as Bret celebrates in the ring then how the World Series would pale in comparison to the action in this match. Bret now grabs the mic and says even though he gave Backlund a match and won he will clear off all challengers and will give Backlund his match. Bret tells Backlund to bring everything he has and which generation is the best.

Thoughts: This was a good match that really became exciting near the end but the finish was really lame. It had a similar pacing to that of a “Saturday Night’s Main Event” top match. They tried to get a lot of heat on the Owen/Bulldog feud but that isn’t something all too over with the crowds. But, the big news is Bret giving Backlund the next shot at the title. And remember how on Challenge, Gorilla was handed a note saying we would find out about a future match that would be announced this Monday night on RAW? Well, this would likely be the match in question.

Minn is backstage in front of a monitor with Backlund. However, Backlund does not believe Bret and will not until he sees a contract signed, sealed, and delivered.

Heavenly Bodies defeated Gary Scott & Rich Myers in a match first shown on the 10/23 edition of “Wrestling Challenge.” Vince & Pettengill are doing commentary for the Challenge matches.

We see the debut of Pink on the “Heartbreak Hotel” from the 10/22 edition of “Superstars.”

Tatanka defeats Mike Moraldo in a match first shown on the 10/23 edition of “Wrestling Challenge.”

We get a list of dates for the Hart Attack tour.

Adam Bomb defeats Bob Starr in a match first shown on the 10/23 edition of “Wrestling Challenge.”

The IRS promo from in front of the funeral home on The Undertaker airs. When it ends, we quickly cut to the announcers as Pettengill asks Vince what was in the hearse. Pettengill then said it contained the ratings of “NBC’s NFL Live” then jokes it should be called “NFL Dead” as Vince chuckles. Based on the business of this Hart Attack tour they’re promoting maybe the WWF should have paid more attention to their own product instead of knocking others.

The Undertaker defeats Mike Bell in a match first shown on the 10/23 edition of “Wrestling Challenge.” . After this match, Vince tells us that next week’s featured match will be Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs. Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid for the Tag Team Titles.

Minn is in the aisle and says we are about out of time and hypes next week’s featured match. Vince then plugs tomorrow night’s RAW.

Final Thoughts: A title match on free TV at this time was a rarity and the match was good. However, the rest of the show was recycled bits and of course making sure to knock the MLB and NFL. The Vince & Pettengill combo was subpar as Pettengill’s morning radio DJ tendencies bled through with corny topical jokes that added minimal value to the product. He was much better as a hype man. Essentially, this show was like “All-American Wrestling” minus the studio aspect and with bigger stars in the featured matches, as we will also see next week.