Original Airdate: Saturday, December 24th, 1994
Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Poughkeepsie, New York
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Lex Luger vs. Chris Avery
They show highlights of the Lex Luger/IRS match on Raw as he makes his way down to the ring. Luger hits a vertical suplex and a slightly off balance powerslam. He puts him up for the Rebel Rack and that is all. A quick and decisive squash this week for Luger as they build him up as a top contender in the Royal Rumble.
Match Rating: 1/4*
It's time to go to Stephanie Wiand and they show Ted DiBiase at a charity auction. Looking back on this, I'm not really sure why they thought kids would care about any of this.
WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
Heavenly Bodies vs. Bushwhackers
I'm not really sure why the Bodies drew the Bushwhackers in this tournament. I guess someone had to. The Bodies attack them on their way into the ring and it's Luke and Tom Prichard to start. Luke makes a tag to Butch but the referee doesn't see it and it works to the Bodies advantage. Butch gets the hot tag and cleans house. He picks up Prichard from the apron, but Del Ray trips up Butch, Prichard falls on him and the Bodies pick up the quick victory. At least they did the right thing here. The match was too quick to be offensive.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Next week it will be Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart against the Headshrinkers.
King Kong Bundy vs. Gary Scott
Vince and Lawler talk about how impossible it will be to get Bundy out of the Royal Rumble. I never really thought about it too hard, but the Rumble really was hurt by not having Yokozuna in it. Anyway, Bundy wins by pinfall. You didn't miss anything.
Match Rating: 1/4*
It's time for the Royal Rumble Report with Todd Pettengill. Razor Ramon is going to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Jarrett and Razor cuts a pretty pointless promo. Undertaker is also going to take on IRS and Taker cuts a super robotic promo about him being IRS's worst nightmare. Todd goes over the 10 announced competitors and then announces a few more in Mo, Mabel, British Bulldog, 1-2-3 Kid, Bob Holly and Shawn Michaels. Bret Hart and his beard talk about his match against Diesel and respects that Diesel wants to know as badly as he does who's the better man. He wishes everyone a Merry Christmas except Owen Hart.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Taylor
Roadie does a mic check and then gives it to Jarrett so he can spell his name. Vince mocks Jarrett's laugh just to 100% confirm that he's the one who makes Jarrett do that stupid laugh. Jarrett hits a big back body drop and a vertical suplex. He hits an atomic drop into a clothesline on Taylor, but then ducks too early after sending him off the ropes. Taylor then avoids a splash in the corner, but gets crotched on the top rope. Jarrett hits a superplex and slaps on the Figure Four for the victory. Jarrett continues to look good in the ring, even in this rushed squash.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We get a sit down interview with Diesel conducted by Vince. Before Diesel answers the question, he wants to wish us a Merry Christmas because he's such a good guy now. They talk about his match with Bret at King Of The Ring earlier in the year and how there are a lot of unanswered questions from that match. This interview just felt so damaging to the mystique they had built up with this character.
Hakushi vs. Reno Riggins
This is Hakushi's TV debut which I don't quite understand since he didn't end up on the WrestleMania card. Between the tattoos and the entrance music, he was a unique character for this time. He hits a body slam and the second rope splash for a 2 count. Hakushi avoids Riggins in the corner, does a backflip and then a superkick which draws a couple of claps from the crowd. Hakushi dropkicks him out of the ring and then hits a delayed splash on the outside. Hakushi goes up top and hits a shoulder tackle. He goes up to the top again and hits a headbutt for the victory. Hakushi looked really good here.
Match Rating: 1/2*
We get a Kama vignette.
Doink vs. Sonny Pruitt
We don't even get an entrance for Doink this week. Pruitt is a hairy individual. Doink hits a scoop slam and a sunset flip off the top rope for the victory. This was a blink and you'll miss it type of match, which is fine. Doink and Dink go and grab a box of presents and hands them out to the live crowd.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We go back to Stephanie Wiand, who shows us a Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart interview talking about how the Headshrinkers aren't smart enough to beat them. Captain Lou Albano then talks over the Headshrinkers.
Shawn Michaels joins Vince and Lawler. Shawn is upset that the Heartbreak Hotel was preempted today thanks to Diesel. Bah humbug. Vince then gives Lawler a gift while wearing a Santa hat. He opens it up and it's a Burger King hat. I never saw that coming. We then show Diesel leading the WWF office staff in singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". Yes, really.
I am thankful that they kept the Bushwhacker match short here and the Hakushi debut match was impressive, even if it felt like a little bit of an afterthought. However, the main takeaway here was the Diesel interview and how they are so quickly damaging the character that people came to love. There's a reason this time period is infamous and I'm watching it spiral quickly out of control as they kill their new champion.
Overall Rating: 37%
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