WWF Grudges, Gripes & Grunts

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation presents Grudges, Gripes & Grunts
Date: 9/22/1993

Opening Contest: WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan: Duggan stalks towards Michaels, who just leaps to the floor to avoid any contact for the time being. Michaels stalls for a few moments as Duggan gets the crowd behind him. Duggan sends Michaels into the ropes and connects with a series of clotheslines. Michaels staggers around and falls to the floor. Michaels grabs the 2×4 but the referee and Duggan prevent Michaels from using it. Duggan blocks a boot and delivers left hands and a right hand to knock Michaels down. Michaels walks up the entrance ramp but is stopped by Duggan who carries Michaels back to the ring. Duggan drops Michaels back into the ring. Michaels drops Duggan throat first across the top rope as the show returns from commercial. Michaels with right hands and chokes Duggan on the middle rope. Michaels jumps onto the back of Duggan who was still across the middle rope. Michaels chokes Duggan for a couple of seconds. Duggan no sells right hands but Michaels maintains control with a rake of the eyes in the corner. Michaels with a double axe handle off the top and goes back to choking Duggan. Duggan comes back with shoulder rams in the corner. Duggan runs into a big boot in the corner and Michaels drops a series of elbows to the chest of Duggan. Michaels with a sleeper hold but Duggan gets to his feet. Duggan with punches and a shoulder block. Michaels stops Duggan with a running knee lift to the midsection. Michaels sends Duggan through the middle rope to the floor. Michaels leaps off the apron and drives a double axe handle across the back of Duggan. Duggan is on the floor and the crowd gets behind him. Duggan is rammed head first into the top turnbuckle and poked in the eye. Michaels rubs Duggan’s eyes on the top rope and goes back to a sleeper hold. Duggan gets his arm up before three drops and rams Michaels head first into the top turnbuckle. Duggan goes back to work on Michaels with left hands and hammers away on Michaels in the corner. Duggan sends Michaels into the ropes and power slams Michaels. Duggan signals for the clothesline and takes Michaels out with the clothesline. Michaels flips around and falls to the floor. Michaels heads to the backstage area but Duggan stops Michaels again with a right hand. Michaels sends Duggan into the guard railing but Duggan clotheslines Michaels over the guard railing into the crowd. Michaels is counted out! (**½. Some decent action throughout between these two guys. Duggan seems to be a little more motivated and that certainly helped the quality of the match. These two would meet again on the tape. Manhattan, NY, 5/3/1993)

Second Contest: Tatanka vs. Ric Flair: A slow start to the match as Tatanka reverses a top wrist lock to take Flair down to the canvas. Tatanka leg drops Flair’s arm and goes to the corner where Flair begins to chop Tatanka and Heenan is ranking the chops. Flair drops a knee across Tatanka’s face and continues to have control of the match. Tatanka blocks a right hand and begins to deliver several chops of his own. Flair comes out of the corner and Tatanka hits a high elevated backdrop. Flair regains control by wrenching on Tatanka’s left arm. The referee sees Flair using the ropes and has to break the hold. Flair dumps Tatanks over the top to the floor. Tatanka goes for a sunset flip from the apron and nearly wins the match. Flair pokes Tatanka in the eyes but Tatanka manages to get a sleeper hold locked in until Ric breaks it with a back suplex. Flair delivers a knee breaker and locks in the figure four right in the middle of the ring! Flair slaps Tatanka while in the hold and Tatanka begins to counter the hold and rolls Flair over. Flair breaks the hold and rolls to the floor. Tatanka stops Flair on the top and slams him down to the canvas! Flair heads to the top and is met with a chop in midair for a near fall. Tatanka goes on the War Dance and delivers several overhand chops. Tatanka leaps off the top but Flair strikes him in the midsection. Flair hits a cross body and they fall over the top rope to the floor. Neither man manages to return to the ring and it ends in a double count-out. After the match, Flair locks in the figure four on the floor. Mr. Perfect comes out and confronts Flair. They shove each other with Perfect dropping Flair with a right hand. Ric runs away from his former friend. (*1/2. A basic match and the fans didn’t seem to be overly behind Tatanka as he was making his comeback. If this was a test to see if Tatanka could be a main event guy, I think it showed that he wasn’t ready at this point. Erie, PA, 11/23/1992)

Third Contest: Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. The Beverly Brothers: Hogan and Blake kick off the contest. Hogan shoves Blake across the ring and plays to the crowd. Hogan pokes Blake in the eyes and atomic drops Beverly over the top to the floor. Beau comes in and the same happens to him. Beefcake enters and avoids a few elbow drops. Brutus tags in Hogan and they hit a double big boot on Blake. Beefcake goes for a backdrop but Blake blocks it and tags in Beau who works over Brutus in the corner. Beefcake avoids a head butt but is driven down by Blake with a back breaker. Beau comes off the top but Brutus gets a boot up. Hogan gets tagged in and hammers away on Beau before hitting a big boot. Hogan gets the megaphone and hits Beau to win the match. (*. The megaphone shot was completely unnecessary here. The match felt like a squash match with there never being a doubt as to who was going to win this one. Should have just finished it off with the leg drop. Augusta, GA, 3/9/1993)

Fourth Contest: Papa Shango vs. Mr. Perfect: Shango attacks as Perfect stands on the middle rope. Shango controls Perfect in the corner with a series of strikes to the midsection and tosses Perfect over the top to the floor. Perfect ducks under a clothesline and dropkicks Shango over the top to the floor. On the floor, Perfect follows up by sending Shango into the ring steps after a few chops. Back in the ring, Shango sends Perfect hard back first into the corner to regain control of the match. Shango drives Perfect down with a back breaker. Shango splashes Perfect in the corner to stop Perfect from fighting back. Shango scoop slams Perfect and delivers a few elbow drops. Shango has a sleeper hold on Perfect and uses the ropes for leverage. Perfect begins to fight back and knocks Shango off his feet with a leaping clothesline followed by a rolling neck snap. Perfect scoop slams Shango and holds his back in pain. Shango sends Perfect face first into the middle turnbuckle and goes for a head butt, but Perfect moves and hits the Perfect Plex to win the match. (*. A rather boring match between these two guys. Shango seemingly only had entertaining matches with Bret Hart during his run. Augusta, GA, 3/9/1993)

Fifth Contest: The Undertaker vs. Repo Man: Repo tries to attack Taker from behind but that doesn’t work out very well for him. Taker nails Repo with a big boot and a couple of strikes. Taker easily scoop slams Repo and is in complete control until he misses an elbow drop. Taker gets distracted and Repo hits Taker with his metal hook but Taker isn’t hurt by it. Taker sends Repo over the top to the floor. Repo is sent shoulder first into the ring post. Repo has his hubcap and hits Taker in the head as the referee was distracted by Paul Bearer. Taker is again not hurt and continues to beat down Repo. Taker walks the top rope to come down across Repo’s arm. Taker finishes Repo off with the tombstone to win the match. (DUD. A complete and utter squash match. Nothing Repo did had any impact even using weapons. Glens Falls, NY, 6/29/1992)

Sixth Contest: Beverly Brothers & Little Louie vs. The Bushwhackers & Tiger Jackson: I try to avoid Bushwhacker matches and this will be no different. The finish saw Tiger leap off the top to hit a cross body on Louie for the win. (NR. Fayetteville, NC, 3/7/1993)

Seventh Contest: WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan in a lumberjack match: Duggan drops to the floor before the match to attack WWF World Champion Yokozuna with a right hand. Shawn Michaels comes out using crutches claiming to have been injured because he was attacked by Mr. Perfect. Perfect punches Michaels and sends Michaels into the ring where it is revealed he isn’t hurt. Duggan knocks Michaels to the floor and sent back in by Perfect. Duggan with a atomic drop and scoop slams Michaels into the corner a couple of times followed by slamming Michaels to the mat. Duggan drops a standing elbow for a near fall. Duggan rips off Michaels shirt and goes to work with several punches. Duggan drives Michaels down with a delayed vertical suplex for a two count. Duggan sends Michaels into the corner and Michaels flips. Duggan goes back to work with a overhand clubbing blow. Duggan clotheslines Michaels as he comes off the ropes. Duggan with several shoulder rams in the corner and Michaels is choked as well. Michaels tries to leave but Duggan grabs Michaels and chops Michaels as he comes off the ropes. Duggan locks in a rear chin lock and moments later locks in a bear hug in the middle of the ring. Duggan scoop slams Michaels and gets a two count. Michaels pokes Duggan in the eyes but Duggan knocks Michaels down with a head butt. Duggan with a standing front face lock and hammers away on Michaels in the corner. Duggan with forearm shots and Michaels gets caught in the ropes. Duggan sends Michaels over the top to the floor. Michaels tries to bail to the backstage area but is carried back to the ring by Perfect and Bob Backlund. Back from commercial, Michaels charges towards the corner and misses a big splash. Bam-Bam Bigelow distracts Duggan and this allows Michaels to send Duggan to the floor. Yokozuna chops Duggan down to the floor and drops a leg across the chest. Michaels simply covers Duggan but Mr. Perfect rolls in and attacks Michaels causing the DQ. (**¼. Not as good as their first match but still had some entertaining qualities to it. I would have expected Michaels to get a pin fall over Duggan even if it were to be cheap since Duggan’s days were numbered, but at least they gave a reason for Bigelow/Duggan at KOTR. Manhattan, NY 5/10/1993)

Eighth Contest: WWF World Tag Team Champions Money Inc. vs. the Natural Disasters: The champs decide to bail but the challengers go up the aisle way and Earthquake rolls DiBiase into the ring. Typhoon works over DiBiase and delivers a clothesline to the champs. All four men are in the ring with the challengers sending the champs into each other. Typhoon splashes IRS in the corner as does Quake to DiBiase. Typhoon splashes the champs in the corner and Quake splashes all three men in the corner to hurt the champs. Quake misses a splash in the corner and crashes to the floor. IRS leg drops Earthquake’s groin area. DiBiase puts the tag rope into his trunks and enters to choke Earthquake. Quake rams DiBiase head first into the top turnbuckle. IRS gets tagged in and prevents the tag from being made by delivering several elbow drops onto Quake. DiBiase has a sleeper hold on Quake but Quake doesn’t fade away so he is double teamed. Quake is stopped from making the tag a second time. Quake tags in Typhoon but the referee was out of position. Quake clotheslines the champions and crawls towards Typhoon to finally make the tag! Typhoon cleans house with several clotheslines and rams the champs into each other. Typhoon splashes IRS several times in the corner. Quake has Jimmy Hart on the apron. IRS has a briefcase and goes to hit Typhoon but hits DiBiase on accident. Quake gets tagged in and elbow drops DiBiase to get the three count to win the tag titles! (**. A decent match and a good title change to have featured on this video. That really helps my interest in the tape. The crowd enjoyed the match and Money Inc. did a good job of working over Quake for the extended period of time. Worcester, MA, 7/20/1992)

Main Event: WWF World Champion Randy Savage & WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair: Michaels and Hart start the main event with Michaels arm dragging Hart and taunting him afterward. Hart atomic drops Michaels and had tagged in Savage, who runs over the heels with clotheslines. Flair gets tagged in and backs Macho into the corner and backs off smirking at the champ. Flair gets to the ropes to break a hammerlock by Savage. Randy slaps Flair and the crowd is heavily interested in the match. Savage slaps Flair again and the fans are eating this up. Savage fights his way out of the corner as the heels double team him. Michaels is able to beat Randy down in the corner to gain control. Michaels goes shoulder first into the corner and Hart tags in to work over the shoulder that hit the ring post. Michaels hammers away on Savage in the corner but Macho clotheslines Shawn and Hart tags into the bout. Shawn scoop slams Hart and tags in Flair, who misses an elbow drop. Flair gains control with a chop in the corner and a right hand. Hart backdrops Flair out of the corner and Savage tags back into the match with a series of jabs. Michaels is knocked off the apron and Savage continues to jab Michaels. Flair atomic drops Savage and goes for the figure four but Macho kicks him away twice. Michaels enters and drops Macho with a super kick! Randy rolls to the floor where Michaels holds the champ so that Perfect can deliver a cheap shot. Back in the ring, Savage is getting worked over by the heels. Flair stands on Macho’s chest while the referee is distracted by Hart. Flair holds Savage so that Michaels can hit a strike from off the middle rope. Flair gets tagged in and axe handles Macho. Flair has a cover on Savage with his feet on the ropes but Savage continues to kick out. Savage backslides Flair but Shawn breaks up the pin attempt. Macho has an inside cradle on Shawn but Flair rolls Shawn on top for a near win. Michaels drives Savage down with a back suplex. Savage fights out of a sleeper hold from Michaels but the heels prevent the champ from tagging out. Flair locks in a sleeper hold but Savage sends Flair into the turnbuckle face first. Ric heads to the top and Macho press slams Flair to the canvas. Hart gets the hot tag and hammers away on Flair. Hart backdrops Flair and knocks Michaels down as well. Hart kicks Michaels into the air and he lands on the top rope. Hart suplexes Flair from the apron back into the ring for a near fall. Savage nearly pins Michaels with a roll up. Michaels knocks Sherri off the apron and Savage rolls Michaels up to win the match despite not being the legal men. (***. A good match that the crowd was really into. It shows that the feuds in the match were completely over and it all meshed together into a match filled with heat. A mixture of veterans and young guys really worked as well. Four of the best workers in the company in one match and it produced a good match as I was hoping to end the tape. Worcester, MA, 7/20/1992)

Final Thoughts:
Aside from the two Duggan/Michaels matches, the title change and the main event, the matches came across as being squash matches. As a whole, the tape isn’t worth your time. The main event is on Savage’s DVD and I’m sure the title change is on YouTube at this point. A thumbs down for the release.

Thanks for reading.