Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation presents Superstars
Date: 1/7/1995
From: Newark, DE
Matches:
1.)The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly defeated Well Dunn to advance in the WWF World Tag Team Championship Tournament
2.)Bob Backlund defeated Bob Knight
3.)Mabel defeated Iron Mike Sharpe
4.)Davey Boy Smith defeated Mike Khoury
5.)Mantaur defeated Walt Snow
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. It was originally supposed to be the Smoking Gunns taking on Well Dunn, however the Gunns had to drop out because Bart Gunn suffered a knee injury due to his horse falling on him. Thus, Kid and Holly took their place. That was the actual excuse given by McMahon.
2. Kid and Dunn kicked off the match with Kid hitting a spinning heel kick in the opening moments. Holly enters to hit double dropkicks on Well Dunn and the heels bail to the floor. Well tags into the bout and yells at Holly. Holly hits a head scissors a slam, and a dropkick! Holly continues to control Well with an arm drag before tagging in Kid who comes off the top rope to strike Well. The referee is distracted when Dunn pulls the top rope down and Kid crashes to the floor. Well drops Kid with a short arm clothesline back in the ring. Well hits a top rope spinning back elbow for a two count. Kid continues to be double teamed by Well Dunn. Kid nearly pins Dunn with an inside cradle. Kid is slingshotted off the top rope and driven down to the canvas gut first. We hear from Billy Gunn who says he wishes Holly and Kid good luck. Kid comes off the ropes to hit a double clothesline! Holly gets the hot tag and Bob cleans house. All four men are in the ring until Holly sends Well into the ring steps. Holly goes up top and pins Dunn with a top rope sunset flip as Dunn was working over Kid! (**1/4. Kid took a good beating and sold very well as usual. The win isn’t a shocker as Well Dunn weren’t exactly promoted as a top tag team. A fine television match with some good action throughout.)
3. Bob Backlund says that at the Royal Rumble he will have the opportunity to have the WWF World Championship around his waist. McMahon is picking Backlund or King Kong Bundy to win the Rumble.
4. Shawn Michaels is in the ring for the Heartbreak Hotel. His guest this week is King Kong Bundy and his manager Ted DiBiase. Michaels talks about how Bundy is being called the favorite to win the Rumble. Ted never settles for anything less than the best. He asks who is bigger or stronger than Bundy. DiBiase doesn’t think Bundy will be tossed out of the ring by anyone. Michaels mentions guys like Mabel and says that Shawn Michaels has a good shot to win it all too. Michaels says there are no friends at the Royal Rumble. Shawn says has never been friends with Bundy. Here comes Bob Backlund to crash the scene. Backlund wants everyone to sit up correctly when he speaks. Backlund rambles and out comes Davey Boy Smith! Smith says he is in the Rumble and is going to get the shot at the champion. Michaels ends the segment because he doesn’t want anymore of it!
5. This is the debut of Mantaur in the WWF. It’s possibly one of the most embarrassing characters ever to step foot in the WWF.
Final Thoughts:
An average episode this week for Superstars. The feature match was fine and the Hotel segment wasn’t all that bad, it just didn’t get me excited for the match. Next week there are two feature matches for the tag tournament. Hopefully those matches deliver.
Thanks for reading.
I remember seeing that “Heartbreak Hotel” segment, and it still impresses me how they were doing a good job of making the Rumble seem like the biggest deal in the world. Importance seems to vary from year to year, but in 95 when heels were even turning on each other over it (I remember Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart almost coming to blows over it once) it really amped up the significance.