Original Airdate: Saturday, January 13th, 1996
Stabler Arena
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
We kick off the show with them showing Shawn Michaels throwing his name in the Royal Rumble and that no matter who the champion is, they will be facing him at WrestleMania.
Henry Godwinn vs. Owen Hart
Here's a match that I can get behind. We get some good pro wrestling to start off and Owen hits a top rope elbow drop before slowing things done. Godwinn hits a back body drop and a clothesline to regain the momentum. Godwinn hits a big press slam and goes for the Slop Drop. Jim Cornette gets on the apron and that's enough for Godwinn to go after him. That allows Owen to hit an enziguri and then puts his feel on the ropes for the victory. That was shorter than it deserved to be, so it never had a chance to live up to my expectations. I guess I shouldn't be surprised with it being Superstars, but a guy can dream. After the match, Godwinn tries to slop Owen, but he ducks and it hits Cornette.
Match Rating: *1/2
We get more Shawn Michaels with more of the press conference shown of him declaring that he is in the Royal Rumble. We hear from some Superstars on Shawn being in it including Diesel, Owen Hart and Razor Ramon.
Smoking Gunns vs. Jason Ahrndt & Phil Apollo
The announce team lets us know that the Gunns will be defending their titles against the new team of the Body Donnas at Royal Rumble. This is the usual squash here with the Gunns looking good. They hit the spinning double team neckbreaker for the victory.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We go to Dok Hendrix who is wearing leather gloves and a leather jacket for some reason. He hypes up Royal Rumble before we hear from Paul Bearer and Undertaker. I guess the skies are already dark over Fresno. It's probably just the pollution. Bret says Taker will fall to the excellence of execution.
We go to Vince and he introduces the Vader promo video.
Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Hardy
We get a Goldust interview during the match and he talks about getting his hands on Razor's body. Meanwhile, Razor hits a fall away slam before setting him up for the super back suplex. He signals for the Razor's Edge and then out comes the usher of Goldust. He holds a photo of Goldust centerfold type picture. Razor goes after him and rips up the picture and that leads to Hardy winning the match by countout. He takes his frustration out on Hardy and hits the Razor's Edge.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Next week it's Diesel vs. Isaac Yankem. Oh boy.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Marty Garner
They show Jarrett going after Ahmed on Raw with his guitar and it didn't work out. After watching some Honky Tonk Man recently, it is just so crazy how much more over he was able to get over than Jarrett ever was able to. I'd argue that Jarrett is more popular in 2025 than he was at his peak. Anyway, he slaps on the Figure Four and no one cares.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We see clips of the Ringmaster's debut on Raw with Brother Love.
Duke Droese vs. The Spider
So I guess Droese still exists. In 2025, I think it's fair to say that we wish he never did. Speaking of no one caring about matches, this one would also qualify. JR claims he is underrated and he hits the Trash Compactor for the quick win.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We go back to Dok and he says that Duke is trying to claim one of the last three spots in the Rumble. He names British Bulldog, Savio Vega, Bam Bam Bigelow, Vader, King Mabel, Barry Horowitz, Bob Backlund, Hakushi, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Henry Godwinn and Jerry Lawler, Dory Funk Jr., Owen Hart, Tatanka, Diesel, Jake Roberts, Isaac Yankem, Marty Jannetty, Yokozuna, Ringmaster, Kama and Shawn Michaels. I may have missed one or two there. We hear from Lawler, Marty and Diesel in between there. The Marty one is particularly lame.
Barry Horowitz vs. Goldust
It seems like a lot of fake crowd noise being pumped in on this episode. Before I even think about wanting to bother typing about this one, Goldust hits the Curtain Call for the quick victory. Horowitz got a couple of moves in and that was all. They show Razor Ramon in the back watching on the screen and he's not impressed. Why didn't he come out and cost him his match. They then show Goldust unzipping his ring wear and making most kids at home uncomfortable. He then reveals a hear with Razor in the middle painted on his chest. Razor is disgusted and yeah.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Next week it will be Aldo Montoya and Avatar against Sid and 1-2-3 Kid. The Ringmaster also makes his Superstars debut. We then go to Billionaire Ted's War Room...
Another pretty poor episode here as there are just a lot of characters that no one really seems to care about. I like this era probably more than 99% of fans but when you look back on it, it's pretty easy to see why they were failing. By the end of the year, things started heading in the right direction but unfortunately, I may never get to re-live it. We shall see.
Overall Rating: 34%
No comments:
Post a Comment