What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – February 24, 1991

Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are in the booth, still broadcasting from Savannah, Georgia.

Opening Contest: Hacksaw Jim Duggan (4-0) pins Pez Whatley after the three-point stance clothesline at 1:28:

Whatley takes a powder after a few Duggan clotheslines but it does him no good when he re-enters the ring. Duggan has no match for WrestleMania, unusual for someone of his standing.

Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report segment hypes the Legion of Doom-Power & Glory match for WrestleMania.

The Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart) (4-0) defeats Tom Landel via submission to a nerve hold at 2:47:

Tito Santana does an insert promo about how he has experience facing bad men and he will use it to beat the Mountie at WrestleMania. One feels bad for the Mountie’s opponents because several of his “control” maneuvers do not allow his opponents to protect themselves going into turnbuckles or the floor. Monsoon argues that some of the Mountie’s offense resembles the Big Bossman, providing more hints of a future program between the two. After the match, the Mountie handcuffs Landel and shocks him.

At Toys R Us, Gene Okerlund finds the Big Bossman, who says he is in Toys R Us to arrest all the lawbreaking action figures. He also handcuffs Okerlund to the shelf and takes off with his own action figure. It is funny that Okerlund is getting bullied by babyfaces in these recent advertisements.

Tito Santana (2-0) pins the Brooklyn Brawler after the flying forearm at 2:29:

In the split screen, the Mountie and Jimmy Hart tell Santana that he will learn at WrestleMania that the Mountie is the only law enforcement authority in the WWF. Santana quickly vanquishes the Brawler, not showing vulnerability as he sometimes did in these bouts.

Gene Okerlund interviews WWF Champion Sergeant Slaughter and General Adnan. Adnan holds a poster of Hulk Hogan as Slaughter talks about how the WWF is going to learn to play by his rules. Then, Slaughter sets the poster on fire to symbolize what will happen to Hogan at WrestleMania. At least that is the idea but the poster does not cooperate and takes a long time to go up in flames.

Greg Valentine (1-1) defeats Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart) (0-1) via disqualification when Earthquake interferes at 2:50:

The one positive of Valentine’s face turn is that he gets entrance music. Monsoon and Heenan miss a lot of background about this match as it is a clash of former tag team partners and Bravo’s attempt to avenge his elimination in the Royal Rumble. Valentine dominates most of the match but when he goes to put on the figure-four, Earthquake interferes and puts a stop to it.

After the bell, Earthquake squashes Valentine with an elbow drop. He goes to do the Earthquake Splash but the masked man that attacked Rick Martel on the February 16 Superstars makes the save, knocking Bravo and Earthquake out of the ring.

Okerlund does the WrestleMania Report. Hulk Hogan tells Sergeant Slaughter that families on his USO tour told him that the fate of America hinges on him beating Slaughter. Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri reminds the Ultimate Warrior that he is in his shadow.

Ricky Steamboat blows lots of fire in his new vignette.

Rick Martel’s squash from Prime Time Wrestlingairs.

Tune in next week to see the Nasty Boys, the Big Bossman, the Undertaker, the Texas Tornado, and Ted DiBiase in action! Also, Hulk Hogan will show up for a special interview!

The Last Word: Lots of acts got time to hype their WrestleManiamatches. The biggest mystery is who is the masked man was that saved Greg Valentine, but the WWF is not leaning much into that at the moment. Dino Bravo’s destruction in the feature match is another signal of him falling further and further down the card now that Hulk Hogan has moved on from the Earthquake feud.

Here is a recap of the WWF’s house show action from the middle of February, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Kansas City, Missouri – The Kemper Arena – February 20, 1991 (1,500): Tito Santana beat Dino Bravo…Hacksaw Jim Duggan pinned General Adnan…Kerry Von Erich defeated Ted DiBiase…The Nasty Boys beat the Rockers…The Undertaker pinned Tugboat…The Legion of Doom defeated Demolition…The Big Bossman beat Earthquake via disqualification when Dino Bravo interfered.

Rochester, New York – The War Memorial – February 23, 1991 (8,000): The Big Bossman pinned Dino Bravo…The Undertaker beat Tugboat…Hacksaw Jim Duggan pinned General Adnan…The Legion of Doom beat Demolition when Animal pinned Smash…The Texas Tornado pinned Ted DiBiase…The Nasty Boys defeated the Rockers…The Mountie beat Jim Powers via submission to a nerve hold…Hulk Hogan beat Earthquake in a stretcher match.

Tempe, Arizona – Arizona State University Activity Center – February 23, 1991 (6,000; 4,800 paid): The Barbarian beat Koko B. Ware with a flying clothesline at 8:40…The British Bulldog pinned the Warlord with a roll up at 10:38…WWF Tag Team Champions the Hart Foundation defeated Power & Glory when Bret Hart pinned Paul Roma with a small package after Hercules and Jim Neidhart reversed the move behind the referee’s back at 14:12…Roddy Piper beat Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect via count out at 11:12…Jimmy Snuka pinned Haku at 12:17…The Bushwhackers beat the Orient Express at 8:44…Jake Roberts pinned Rick Martel with the DDT at 13:47…WWF Champion Sergeant Slaughter (substituting for Randy Savage) beat the Ultimate Warrior in a non-title steel cage match when Sensational Sherri interfered at 19:37. After the match, the Warrior ripped Sherri’s top and skirt off until the Orient Express attacked him. Sherri returned to the ring with new clothes and was gorilla press slammed by the Warrior and taken out on a stretcher.

Backstage News*: A survey done in November 1989 by SMG found that 39% of people dislike or really hate professional wrestling. It also found that the WWF was most popular with the 18-25 demographic. The public’s poor perception of wrestling is why it garners terrible advertising rates on television.

*The WWF house show at Arizona State University took place the night before WCW’s Wrestle War pay-per-view in Phoenix and the company made the show more than four hours to try to burn out the crowd for the next day.

*Rick Martel’s sister passed away on February 22 but Martel still worked the Arizona show the next day.

*The reason that Tugboat is losing momentum after the Hulk Hogan feud with Earthquake is that the WWF expects him to bolt for WCW now that brother-in-law Dusty Rhodes is booking there.

*The Undertaker gimmick is starting to get babyface reactions, making some hesitant about booking a summer feud between him and the Ultimate Warrior.

*Shane Douglas has left the WWF and will go to work as a teacher.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer from

Up Next: Prime Time Wrestling for February 25!