Written By: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 1/30/1993
From: Providence, RI
NOTE: One match was not taped from this show. The match saw Tito Santana defeat Skinner in the opening contest. A few of the matches are summarized considering they are jobber matches, really.
Opening Contest: Jim Powers defeated the Predator: Powers picks up the win following a snap power slam after roughly eight minutes of action. Who honestly cares about that? NR
Second Contest: Typhoon defeated the Berzerker: Another match with two guys that haven’t done anything noteworthy in several months. So, this match will get another “long story short” summary. Typhoon manages to get the win following a school boy after the Berzerker thought he had won the contest. NR
Third Contest: Steiner Brothers defeated Double Trouble: I should point out here that Double Trouble consists of two rather overweight guys. The finish of the match was quite impressive as Rick Steiner lifted up a 400lbs man onto his shoulders and Scott leapt off the middle rope to DDT the man off Rick’s shoulders to win the match. Just an extended squash, though. NR
Fourth Contest: Mr. Perfect defeated Ric Flair: Perfect shoves Flair down to start off the contest and they just stare at each other for a few moments. Hammerlock by Flair but Perfect counters with one of his own. They trade a few go behinds on the mat until Perfect regains control with a hammerlock. Flair gets to his feet and grabs the ropes to force Perfect to break the hold. They trade a few slaps that echo throughout the arena. Flair shoulder blocks Perfect but Perfect drop toe holds Flair and delivers a slap before taunting Flair. Flair punches Perfect in the corner followed by a few chops and begins to stomp away on Perfect’s knee. Flair snap mares Perfect before heading to the top rope. Perfect cuts Flair off and slams Flair down to the mat! Perfect quickly locks in the figure four and gets a few near falls. Flair is able to eventually reach the bottom rope and pokes Perfect in the eyes. Flair limps over to Perfect and chops away on him in the corner followed by right hands. Perfect counters and begins to chop Flair several times in the corner. Perfect backdrops Flair as Flair comes out of the corner. Perfect hammers away on Flair until Flair delivers a low blow to stop the momentum. Flair tosses Perfect over the top rope to the floor. Flair gouges Perfect’s eyes on the apron to prevent Perfect from entering the ring. Flair keeps control in the ring by yanking Perfect down by the hair while having a arm bar locked in. Perfect misses a splash in the corner as he hits his shoulder on the top turnbuckle. Flair goes back to a arm bar and uses the ropes the leverage. Perfect blocks a few right hands and chops from Flair and drops Flair with a right hand. Perfect punches Flair ten times in the corner and Flair flops down on his face. Flair dumps Perfect to the floor but Perfect goes for a sunset flip from the apron and gets a two count. Flair’s trunks are down as Perfect backdrops Flair followed by a rolling neck snap! Perfect dropkicks Flair and goes for a backdrop but Flair elbow smashes Perfect across the back of the head. Perfect blocks a backdrop and hits the Perfect Plex to win the match. ***
After the match, Razor Ramon runs down to the ring and tosses Perfect over the top to the floor. Ramon sends Perfect into the ring post and nails Perfect with a chair! Ramon tosses Perfect into the ring post again as Flair casually heads to the backstage area.
Fifth Contest: Tatanka defeated Damien Demento: Tatanka wins the bout following the Samoan Drop. NR
The ring announcer announces that Andre the Giant has passed away. There is a moment of silence for Andre the Giant.
Sixth Contest: WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels fought Randy Savage to a double count-out: Michaels bails to the floor to stall for a few moments while Savage remains in the ring. Savage backs Michaels into a corner but Michaels gets a cheap shot in with a right hand and stomps Savage to the floor. Michaels rams Savage chest first into the guard railing and heads back into the ring. Michaels stomps Savage from the apron before rolling Savage back into the ring. Michaels leaps off the top rope connecting with an double axe handle and Savage is kicked to the floor. Michaels maintains the advantage by choking Savage in the corner for a few moments. Michaels snap mares Savage and keeps control with a sleeper hold. Savage gets up and fights out of the hold. Savage manages to avoid a clothesline but runs into a back elbow. Michaels sends Savage into a corner but misses a spear and ends up hitting the ring post shoulder first! Savage blocks a backdrop by ramming Michaels face first into the mat. Savage comes off the ropes and collides head first with Michaels knocking both men down. Savage heads to the top rope looking for an double axe handle but is punched in midair by Michaels. Savage and Michaels head to the floor where Savage sends Michaels into the guard railing and ring post face first. Savage climbs to the top rope looking for the elbow drop but Michaels rolls to the floor and grabs his championship. Savage catches Michaels on the aisle way and brings Michaels back to the ringside area sending Michaels into the ring steps. Savage rolls Michaels back into the ring and leaps off the top rope connecting with the elbow drop! Savage covers Michaels but they have already been counted out. *1/2
Seventh Contest: Razor Ramon defeated Big Bossman: Bossman backs Ramon against the ropes and slaps Ramon. Ramon attempts a shoulder block but Bossman doesn’t budge and ends up rolling Ramon up a few times for a near fall each time. Ramon bails to the floor to regroup for a few moments. Ramon wants to do a test of strength but instead pokes Bossman in the eyes. Ramon controls Bossman with a bow and arrow type of move. Bossman eventually gets up and counters the hold until Ramon low blows Bossman while the referee was out of position. Bossman blocks a back drop with an upper cut and atomic drops Ramon. Bossman scoop slams Ramon and delivers a flurry of punches in the corner. Bossman misses a splash in the corner and Ramon rolls Bossman up for the win. ½*
Main Event: WWF World Champion Bret Hart defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow to retain the title: Hart has a side headlock on Bigelow to kick off the match but Bigelow gets out of it and shoulder blocks Hart to the floor. Bigelow misses a clothesline and Hart dropkicks Bigelow. Bigelow misses a quick elbow drop which allows Hart to start to hammer away on Bigelow’s left arm. Bigelow gorilla presses Hart up but Hart falls onto Bigelow for a near fall, which sees Bigelow send Hart to the floor. Hart slides back into the ring and punches Bigelow before knocking Bigelow to the floor with a running uppercut shot. Bigelow regains control by ramming Hart into the ring post and simply rolls back into the ring to taunt the fans. Bigelow drives Hart down to the mat with a back suplex for a two count. Bigelow catches Hart coming off the ropes with a bear hug and keeps the hold locked in for several moments. Bigelow connects with another back suplex and follows up with a scoop slams. Bigelow heads to the top rope and leaps off only to miss a diving head butt! Hart punches Bigelow several times in the corner and delivers a side Russian leg sweep for a two count. Hart leaps off the middle rope with a clothesline but only gets a near fall on the cover. Hart leaps off the middle rope again and plants Bigelow with a bulldog! Hart goes for the Sharpshooter but Bigelow is able to kick Hart away. Hart gets out of a bear hug and goes for a side belly to belly suplex but Bigelow lands on top of Hart nearly getting a three count! Bigelow runs into a big boot in the corner and Hart is able to pin Bigelow with a victory roll! **3/4
End of show
My Take: As you can see four matches were squash matches so this section of the recap will be pretty quick compared to others.
Perfect/Flair was a good house show bout. I think a few people were confused by Flair appearing on the show considering five days earlier on RAW he lost a Loser Leaves WWF match against Perfect. I find it odd as well, but it is what it is. The fans were into it and it is obvious to me that Perfect was incredibly over at this point. It’s a shame how quickly he would seemingly lose all that heat, though. I enjoyed the beat down by Ramon on Perfect afterwards, too. Makes me believe that maybe they were thinking of a Ramon vs. Perfect match at WrestleMania IX.
Michaels/Savage to my knowledge haven’t wrestled against each other all that much, maybe a handful of times. Anyway, their match here wasn’t all that good. I don’t believe it was intended to be good actually. Considering Savage is being phased out by the WWF at around this time he wasn’t going to go over the younger Michaels in any way shape or form. A disappointing match that I thought would be a sleeper. Boy, was I wrong about that.
Ramon/Bossman was really short and to the point. Again, Bossman is a guy being phased out by the company so Ramon picking up the win can’t be considered a shock or anything.
Bigelow/Hart started off kind of slow but they delivered a good outing to close out the match. A good finish to keep Bigelow strong to a certain extent as Hart wasn’t able to get his finisher on him. It’s too bad that by the end of the year Bigelow would be a complete joke, though.
Overall, Flair/Perfect and Hart/Bigelow were good matches. Everything else was really just squash matches that involved people that didn’t matter, aside from the Steiner’s and Tatanka. A mediocre show at best and only that because of the two previously mentioned good matches.