Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 8/2/1992
From: San Francisco, CA
Opening Contest: Skinner vs. Virgil: Skinner attacks before the bell working over Virgil on the floor. Skinner sends Virgil shoulder first into the ring post. Skinner continues his offense by dropping Virgil throat first across the top rope from the apron. Virgil gets out of an abdominal stretch with a hip toss but can’t get any momentum. Skinner is dominating the match as Virgil tries to get some momentum but nothing happens for him. Virgil finally gets some offense by dropping Skinner with a series of strikes and rams Skinner head first into the corner. Virgil hits a side Russian leg sweep but only gets a near fall. Virgil gets another two count following a dropkick. Virgil avoids a charge in the corner and rolls Skinner up for the win. (1/2*. Well, that was quite boring. A bad start to the show for sure.)
Second Contest: Kato vs. Tito Santana: This one apparently goes eleven minutes. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Tito wins the match following a leaping forearm strike. As basic a match as you can get for eleven minutes.
Third Contest: The Undertaker vs. The Berzerker: Taker fights Berzerker off before the bell with a series of throat thrusts and chokes him in the corner. Berzerker sends Taker over the top to the floor with a big boot and they brawl on the floor briefly. Taker rams Berzerker face first into the ring steps a couple of times. Back in the ring, Taker punches Berzerker causing him to do a split. Taker misses a leaping clothesline and is sent to the floor again. Berzerker sends Taker into the ring steps before returning to the ring. Guess what? They go to the floor yet again clearly because these two don’t connect well inside the ring. With the referee distracted, Taker uses a chair on Berzerker. Berzerker comes back with a scoop slam on the floor and taunts the fans. Berzerker chokes Taker with a microphone cord as well. They return to the ring where Berzerker ties Taker in the ropes to get several shots in. Berzerker spikes Taker with a piledriver two times! However, Taker no sells them so Berzerker hits a third one. Taker sits up and blocks a sword shot. Taker connects with a leaping clothesline and puts Berzerker away with the tombstone piledriver. (*1/2. The brawling on the floor was an obvious way to hide their lackluster chemistry, but it made for a far more entertaining match than it had any right to be.)
Fourth Contest: WWF World Tag Team Champions The Natural Disasters vs. Money Inc: All four men start brawling before the bell with the challengers being sent into each other. Typhoon splashes IRS while Earthquake works over DiBiase. The champs hit a double splash on the challengers despite the referee begging for them not to. Quake misses a splash and crashes over the top to the floor. IRS and Typhoon legally start the match with Typhoon hitting a scoop slam on IRS before choking DiBiase, but IRS comes from behind with a briefcase shot to get the cheap advantage. DiBiase enters and casually works over Typhoon with strikes. IRS misses a shoulder strike in the corner but tags in DiBiase to prevent a tag to Earthquake from happening. DiBiase works over Typhoon with a sleeper hold and IRS adds extra leverage. The fan recording the show says this match is horrible and that children are crying because of it.
Typhoon breaks the sleeper hold by ramming DiBiase into the corner but still can’t quite tag in Quake as IRS entered and dropped several elbows for a two count. Typhoon clotheslines both DiBiase and IRS but is still stopped by DiBiase from tagging out. Typhoon begins to power his way out of a front face lock and tags in Quake, but IRS predictably enters to distract the referee. Typhoon takes IRS over with a vertical suplex and Quake gets the hot tag. Quake sends IRS into the corner and delivers an elbow. Quake atomic drops DiBiase into the corner and Typhoon grabs Jimmy Hart. Quake has a rollup on IRS but DiBiase hits Quake with the briefcase and that causes the DQ. (*. Your standard tag match that the fans seemed to be into aside from the guy recording it. The Typhoon in peril left a lot to be desired but the fans were really into Quake and popped when he briefly entered the match. The finish is fine as the feud was going to continuing for several more months.)
Fifth Contest: The Beverly Brothers & The Genius vs. Legion of Doom & Paul Ellering: The guys filming start chanting for Rocco, the dummy that isn’t with LOD, and want a refund. Thus far, they are the most entertaining aspect of the show. Ellering and Genius start the match with Genius trying to showoff by flexing and doing a cartwheel. They don’t touch as Blake tags in and wants a test of strength with Ellering. Animal tags in and Blake naturally stalls because that’s what heels do. Beau comes from behind to attack Animal and Blake gets the upper hand as the referee was distracted. Animal powers out of it and attacks the heels. Animal delivers a head butt to Blake’s lower midsection. Hawk tags in and clotheslines Blake. Beau enters but stalls on the apron until Hawk pulls him over the top and drops him face first to the canvas. Hawk drops Beau with ten head butts. Ellering enters and hits a neck breaker on Beau! Beau drops Paul throat first across the top rope thanks to Genius providing a distraction.
Blake works over Ellering and delivers a back breaker for a two count. Genius tags in and is taken down by Paul with a cross body for a two count. Ellering tries to tag out but is prevented by Beau who hits a back suplex for a two count. Ellering stumbles towards his corner to tag in Animal as Blake enters as well. Animal cleans house with a leaping shoulder block and clothesline. Animal plants both Beverly’s with a DDT and Hawk enters to send Beau to the floor. Animal clotheslines Blake in midair and Ellering attacks Genius as Animal gets a three count. (*. That was rather boring and uninteresting. A tag match between LOD and Beverly’s would have been better due to the heat they had been generating on TV. Genius and Ellering didn’t offer anything to the match, at all. Had they done the Doomsday Device on Genius it would have been a better match, too.)
Sixth Contest: Nailz vs. Big Bossman: Nailz attacks Bossman before the bell by choking him. Bossman blocks a splash by getting his knees up and drops Nailz with a right hand. They are on the floor where Nailz sends Bossman into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Nailz ties Bossman up in the ropes and delivers several shots. Bossman is free from the ropes but is sent off the apron to the floor. Bossman trips Nailz and rams him groin first into the ring post. Bossman sends Nailz into the corner and delivers an upper cut followed by a spine buster. Bossman slides to the floor to punch Nailz as he was across the middle rope. Bossman returns to the ring and Nailz hits him with a nightstick to cause the DQ. (DUD. Yeah, that wasn’t any good. Similar to the tag match, the finish had the DQ because the feud needs to be dragged out for the next several months and you can’t ruin any rematches with a clean finish.) After the match, the referees help Bossman up but Nailz returns and attacks Bossman again.
Main Event: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango: Warrior wastes no time going after Shango and sends him over the top to the floor. Warrior tosses Shango over a table on the outside. Warrior slams the table onto Shango and props the table against the apron to toss Shango into it again. Warrior pummels Shango in the corner with several right hands and delivers a clothesline. Shango ducks a clothesline to spike Warrior with a piledriver and hits a second one, but Warrior refuses to stay down. Shango hits the shoulder breaker and taunts the fans. Papa goes for the cover but Warrior kicks out at two. Shango works over Warrior with several stomps in the corner. Shango sends Warrior into the corner but he collides with the referee. Warrior begins to get a second wind and ducks a shot with the wooden stick. Warrior grabs it and whacks Shango over the back with it several times. Warrior hits a big splash and the referee magically recovers in time to count the pin. (1/2*. Just a bad way to finish off the show. For a ridiculous angle the matches are mostly the same between these two guys.)
Final Thoughts:
Easily one of the worst house shows I’ve ever watched. I’m a sucker for WWF circa 1992, but this was just all around bad. It didn’t help that there wasn’t anything involving the better workers for the company like Michaels, Bret, Martel, Bulldog, Flair or Savage. A thumbs down for this one and it’s not even close.
Thanks for reading.