WWF All American Wrestling – August 14th, 1994

This week we’re going towards the end of the All American Wrestling run. Interesting cold open as Roddy Piper crashes through a window in a warehouse in a car stunt, then calls out for himself to be president of the WWF. Eighteen months later, he was!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZxJQomijw

Hosted by Todd Pettengill and Ted Dibiase.

Lex Luger vs. Chad Miller

From Raw. To further the angle between them, Ted comes out and acts like he’s buddies with Lex. It’s technical Lex as we get to see him doing armdrags and armbars and trying an O’Connor roll, which he rolls back on like a Weeble being rolled across the floor. When Miller starts kicking Lex thinks fuck this and finishes with a nice clothesline and the metal forearm shot. Much better, stay in your lane, Lex.

Back in the studio, Ted claims his influence on Lex is even apparent in him using the “bionic elbow” to finish off the jobber. Not a bad stretch, actually. So, this takes us back to the closing moments of Bam Bam and IRS beating Doink and Tatanka, with the Million Dollar Corporation guys doubling up on Tatanka and then backing off when Lex comes out to make the save. Lex and Tatanka then have their own static, with Bam Bam feigning being the peacemaker with Lex.

Later, Lex goes looking for Dibiase and is greeted kindly by Nikolai Volkoff and gets caught by Tatanka with his hand in the cookie jar. Boy, you can’t say they’re not putting the effort in to recapping this angle, but it was for a thoroughly boring feud.

Bob Backlund vs. John Paul

Bob has turned heel by this point, but hasn’t clipped the hair short or gone to the robe yet. Gorilla gives JR a history lesson on Bob, claiming Arnold Skaaland always thought he was a bit of a nut. Nice, Arnie(!). Bob counters a monkey flip attempt quickly into a lift and then locks in the chickenwing in no time, refusing to release upon the submission, then doing the staring at the hands deal.

Roddy Piper’s Bottom Line

They were still doing these at this point? I thought King of the Ring was the end of them. Roddy’s on the set of Jungleground, which looks as bad as it sounds. Roddy rambles but at least looks really well. Topical reference of the week is an inversion of Four Weddings and a Funeral as Four Funerals and a Wedding, of all things.

The Smoking Gunns vs. Tom Stone and Butler Stevens

The jobbers attack from behind to start, but both get dropkicked out. Double Russian legsweep on Stevens. Bart’s rile the crowd up calls are more “Yeow!” and less “Yee-haw!”. JR, desperate to get the Gunns over talks about how he saw them signing autographs earlier for little kids. I guess this was in addition to helping old ladies cross the street and visiting the hospital to see sick patients. Original Sidewinder, which was a backbreaker/flying whatever combo, finishes.

Ted and Todd talk in the studio, identifying this as a UK edition of the show with how and when we can watch Summerslam on Sky Sports. Can’t fault them for adjusting for their market. Discussion of the double main event, with Bruce making one of his many unwelcome cameos to tell off Owen and Jim on the King’s Court on Raw. Notice how he never really got a beating whenever he turned up?

Leslie Nielsen continues his search for the Undertaker in front of a green screen. I loved The Naked Gun and Police Squad, but these were so out of touch when the push was for the New Generation.

Jimmy Snuka vs. Buddy Rose

This is a Memory Lane match from early 1983, with Gorilla and JR doing new commentary. Great to see a bit of variation, but again doesn’t it go against the New Generation motif too? Gorilla does the “He might be fat, but he could move” comment for Rose, who tries a piledriver and has it reversed on him. Snuka headbutt as we can hear Vince’s original commentary just underneath. Great bump from Rose on the chop, then a backbreaker and flying splash finishes in less than three minutes shown.

All American Wrestling Exclusive video promo from Jim Cornette, who refutes the comments that Yokozuna isn’t at Summerslam because he’s scared of the Undertaker and instead says he’s boycotting the event due to lack of competition. This is a home movie submission from Cincinnati, which means it’s probably a Mark Curtis special.

Adam Bomb vs. Timothy Well

Unintentionally hilarious bit from Todd before the match: “Harvey Wippleman no longer has Adam Bomb, but he does have Timothy Well!”. So, before they programmed Bomb with Bam Bam, probably just on the similar names, Adam worked his way through his former manager’s stable of Kwang and Well Dunn, with Steven Dunn also at ringside. Well gets a bulldog and goes up top with a nice reverse elbow. Runs into a boot and a slow motion clothesline, then a terrible DDT, so Harvey comes up while Well Dunn get a double DDT behind Tim White’s back, who eventually realises what’s going on and disqualifies Well. The Southern Rockers were a pretty decent team, but sticking them in the goofy singlets with the thongs over them, as well as making Harvey their manager, was the kiss of death. Bomb makes his own comeback to end this heatless mess.

Leslie Nielsen continues his search for the Undertaker in a wordplay special. A bit better than the last in the way that a stab wound is better than a decapitation.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Ben Jordan

Dropkick early, but Jordan gets his own volley going, so Jeff kicks at the leg and tries the figure four, which he fucks up with and almost get small packaged. Pair of shinbreakers set it up for real and the win.

Ted and Todd finish by throwing us to Razor Ramon and his corner-man Walter Payton. Being English, I had no idea about the significance of this but was impressed when he went into chase mode on Shawn Michaels.

The red, the white, and the blue: Worst bit was the pointless Bottom Line. Thanks for sending the tapes in, Roddy. Best bit is a struggle, so I’ll go with the level of Summerslam promotion and market-specific inserts for the non-US version of this episode. Weirdest bit was whoever thought including Leslie Nielsen made sense. At least bring Anna Nicole and her big boobs along!