WWF House Show 1/31/1992

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 1/31/1992
From: New York, NY

Matches:
1.) Rick Martel defeated “Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich
2.) Shawn Michaels defeated Jimmy Snuka
3.) Sid Justice defeated the Mountie
4.) The Warlord defeated Hercules
5.) Sgt. Slaughter & Jim Duggan defeated the Nasty Boys by count-out
6.) Chris Walker defeated Kato
7.) The Undertaker defeated Bret Hart
8.) Repo Man defeated Virgil
9.) Randy Savage defeated Jake Roberts

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan open the show and run down some of the bigger matches. Tonight, we will see Randy Savage take on Jake Roberts and Bret Hart will be in action against the Undertaker.

2. Before the opening match, Rick Martel rips up a fans sign making fun of Arrogance. The very first move they do is a botched arm drag, which hopefully isn’t a sign of things to come. The start of the match is really slow as Martel does a few arm drags and stalls by talking smack to the fans. Tornado went to the floor to talk to the fan that was insulted but was attacked by Martel being sent into the ring steps shoulder first. Tornado comes back with a quick flurry of offense with scoop slams sending Martel to the floor. Martel is controlled for a few moments when he returns to the ring but stops Tornado with a big boot as he charged a corner. Tornado quickly fights back with clotheslines. Martel tried to use Arrogance on Tornado but it is blocked. Martel manages to roll Tornado up and uses the ropes for leverage to win the match! After the match, Tornado hits Martel in the gut with Arrogance and chases him to the backstage area. I thought it was a decent match. It was rather basic and kept simple so nothing all that exciting took place.

3. Jimmy Snuka kicked off the match in an explosive way kicking Michaels over the top to the floor out of the corner. This is a good example of Old School meeting New School. Michaels slaps Snuka and runs away to the ring apron. Michaels is unable to get any lasting offense in during the early moments of the contest as Snuka chops Michaels to the mat several times. Michaels gets out of arm lock by dumping Snuka to the floor through the middle rope which appears to be the opening he needed. Michaels follows to the floor and works on Snuka’s ribs. Michaels misses a middle rope axe handle shot and Snuka regains control with several chops. Snuka nearly wins following a springboard cross body block off the middle rope. However, Michaels stops his offense with a knee lift to the face sending Snuka to the floor. Michaels hits Snuka with a super kick and quickly hits a tear drop suplex for the win! I was surprised how fun this match was. I really enjoyed the bout with Michaels really carrying the match and making Snuka look better then he actually is.

4. The Mountie grabs a microphone and says that MSG is his area of law enforcement. The referee takes the stun gun away from Mountie and Sid quickly choke slams him! Sid hammers away on Mountie on the floor and continues his dominance back in the ring with a big clothesline. Mountie actually gets some offense in after blocking a backdrop and rams Sid face first into the mat. What in the world?! Mountie actually hits a pile driver but that doesn’t affect Sid at all. Sid casually gets up and power bombs Mountie for the win. For a squash match it was enjoyable.

5. Midway through the bout, Hercules wants to do a test of strength against Warlord but low blows him instead garnering some jeers from the crowd. I guess both men are playing the heel role at this point in time. That would explain why the fans are not interested in the match. Warlord wins the bout following a running power slam.

6. Duggan and Slaughter controlled the early moments of the match until Saggs sent Slaughter chest first into the top turnbuckle to gain the advantage for the Nasty Boys. Knobs grabs Slaughter on the floor and rams him into the ring post. Slaughter continues to be controlled while Duggan is on the apron getting the fans behind his partner. Duggan gets the hot tag after Slaughter knocked Knobs off his feet with punches. Duggan cleans house with left jabs but is kicked to the floor soon after. On the floor, Duggan hits Knobs with his 2×4 and Slaughter sends Saggs head first into the ring post. Duggan and Slaughter roll into the ring and win by count-out. This was actually better then what I was expecting to see. Decent match that was really just brawling for the most part.

7. Lord Alfred Hayes is with Paul Bearer and the Undertaker. Bearer talks about how it will not be long for Bret Hart to step in the ring with the Undertaker. Bearer says a loading truck will be filled with pieces of a broken heart. Hayes is joined by Randy Savage as well during the intermission. Savage doesn’t care about anything right now because he can’t get anymore angry. Elizabeth will be here on the show and tells Jake Roberts that he shouldn’t trust him.

8. Chris Walker is one jacked up guy. There is no way he didn’t use steroids or something it is truly impressive how large he is. Walker isn’t having any problems with Kato hitting arm drags and dropkicks to control Kato in the early moments of the contest. They botch a leapfrog attempt with Kato seemingly mistiming his leap. This allows Kato to start his offense on Walker with a backbreaker. Kato kept a rear chin lock on Walker for several minutes but couldn’t make him submit. Walker is able to leap off the top rope to hit a flying cross body to win the bout. The match was really boring, but the cross body was actually impressive since Walker got a lot of air on it.

9. Taker quickly attacked Hart after he gave his sunglasses to a young fan and tried to get back into the ring. Hart has a flurry of offense with an atomic drop, clothesline and dropkicks Taker to the floor but Taker remains on his feet. Hart slingshots over the top to hit a cross body knocking Taker off his feet but isn’t able to keep Taker down as Taker gets up and throat thrusts Hart. Taker rammed Hart into the ring steps before bringing the match back into the ring. Taker tosses Hart viciously chest first into the top turnbuckle after Hart was mounting a brief comeback with right hands. Taker walks the top rope and strikes Hart over the back of the neck. Hart yanks Taker off on a second attempt to do the move a few moments later. Hart comes back with a side Russian leg sweep, snap suplex, backbreaker and a middle rope flying clothesline! Hart gets distracted by Paul Bearer who got on the apron and allowed Taker to knee lift Hart in the back to regain control of the contest. That doesn’t last long as Hart manages to put the Sharpshooter on Taker! Hart has to let go of the hold because Bearer had the referee on the canvas. Taker grabs the urn and hits Hart in the face with it! Taker covers Hart and wins the match! That was a really good match that the fans were into from the opening bell. A great job by everyone involved!

10. Next up we saw Virgil take on Repo Man. Apparently the fans didn’t really care for Virgil even in 1992. I remember being so excited to get his autograph in 1994. Come to think of it, at that point I must have been his only fan. I must have been too young to realize that he was awful since I was 5-years old at the time. Anyway, Virgil tries to steal a win after hiding under the ring, literally, but only got a two count on a roll up. In one of the weakest clean finishes I have ever seen, Repo Man pins Virgil after a back elbow as Virgil charged the corner. I guess they needed a match to kill the crowd for the main event after the good match between Taker/Hart that got the crowd riled up.

11. Elizabeth is at ringside for the start of the match which sees Savage get the early advantage until Roberts tosses Savage to the floor and stalks Elizabeth. Savage rams Roberts head first into the guard railing and rams a chair into Roberts midsection. Elizabeth has walked to the backstage area, I believe. Roberts blocks a double axe handle off the top in the ring with a punch to the gut. Roberts continues to inflict pain by ramming Savage shoulder first into the ring post. Roberts casually pushes Savage with his foot but misses a short arm clothesline allowing Savage to battle back with a back elbow and to hit a double axe handle off the top rope. Roberts stops Savage with a short arm clothesline and signals for the DDT. Savage hangs onto the ropes to block the DDT and Roberts is flat on his back so Savage can hit the top rope elbow drop and gets the three count! I don’t recall these two ever having a lengthy match, which I wish they could have gotten. It was a okay match but nothing spectacular by any means.

Final Thoughts:
This MSG show was missing a lot of top talent. Flair, Hogan, Piper, DiBiase, and LOD all were not on this show. Yet, the WWF still managed to put on a rather fun show. Taker/Hart was by far the best match on the show as it was rather fast paced and didn’t have many rest holds.

A lot of average matches with one good match leaves me to give this a thumbs in the middle. If you can find it and have two hours to kill it wouldn’t hurt to sit down and watch it. Especially if you enjoy house shows.

Thanks for reading.