WWF House Show 11/30/1991

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation House Show
Date: 11/30/1991
From: New York, NY

Opening Contest: Kato vs. Tito Santana: Kato attempted to get the early advantage but that didn’t work so well. Santana dropkicks Kato to the floor in the early moments. Kato returns to the ring and gets the advantage with a few strikes but misses an elbow drop. Santana clotheslines Kato over the top to the floor but the referee prevents him from going on. Tito avoids Kato in the corner and focuses his offense on the arm. Kato catches Tito running the ropes hitting a back breaker. Kato is focusing his offense on the lower back as Kato comes off the middle rope with a double axe handle for a near fall. Tito fights back with jabs but runs into a big boot. Kato has a rollup with his feet on the ropes but the referee stops his count. Tito nearly wins with a rollup of his own. Tito face plants Kato into the canvas. Santana clotheslines Kato and plays to the crowd. Santana comes off the ropes to hit a leaping forearm smash and gets the three count. (*1/4. As expected, it was really basic and formula kind of match. Santana is still fun to watch even with the cartoonish gimmick he has now.)

Second Contest: The Berzerker vs. Kerry Von Erich: Berzerker goes on the attack before the bell delivering a big boot. Berzerker nearly wins following a leaping shoulder block. Von Erich avoids a dropkick and punches Berzerker over the top to the floor. Berzerker comes back in but is backdropped over the top to the floor again. Von Erich misses a spear and hits the ring post shoulder first. Berzerker sends Von Erich face first into the ring steps but Von Erich returns the favor. The bell sounds and apparently Von Erich has won by count-out. (*. I’d imagine that it was quick to setup a future match between the two and to also protect Berzerker since he is still a new act. I wasn’t overly bored by it, so that’s a plus.)

Third Contest: Skinner vs. Virgil: Virgil starts the match with a clothesline and several jabs causing Skinner to bail to the floor. Skinner comes back into the ring and elbows Virgil to avoid a go-behind in the corner. Skinner dumps Virgil to the floor and stomps him from the apron. Virgil misses a running cross body and crashes through the middle rope to the floor. Skinner plants Virgil with a reverse DDT but Virgil gets his foot on the bottom rope. Skinner elbows Virgil to avoid another go-behind for a two count. Virgil surprises Skinner with a sunset flip and pins Skinner. (*. Wow, these matches are sucking to start the show. Skinner controlled 95% of the match it felt like and Virgil pulls out a fluke win, it came across as at least.)

Fourth Contest: Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan: Hogan chases after Flair on the outside until Flair rolls into the ring and chops away on Hogan. Hogan fights back with right hands and chops of his own. Hogan clotheslines Flair in the corner and Flair falls flat on his face. Hogan bites the forehead of Flair and delivers more right hands. Hogan sends Flair over the top to the floor with another clothesline. Hogan sends Flair head first into the guard railing. Hogan sets Flair up on the floor and delivers a vertical suplex on the floor! Hogan knocks Flair into the crowd for a brief moment before returning to the ring where Flair is begging off. Flair drives Hogan down with a back suplex but Hogan no sells and runs over Flair with a clothesline. Hogan sends Flair flipping into the corner but Flair pokes the Hulkster in the eyes followed by strikes that have no impact. Flair flips over the ropes onto the apron and Hogan clotheslines Flair to the floor. Flair drops Hogan throat first across the top rope, but Hogan again doesn’t sell it. Flair heads to the top but Hogan cuts him off and press slams Flair to the canvas. Hogan clotheslines Flair and continues with right hands. Hogan hits the big boot and a delivers a leg drop but Flair gets his boot on the bottom rope. The referee counted three but sees the foot and restarts the match. Flair goes right after the knee of Hogan with stomps. Flair wraps Hogan’s leg around the ring post.

Mr. Perfect comes out and wraps Hogan’s leg around the ring post with the referee distracted. Flair continues to focus his offense on the left knee. Perfect yanks down on Hogan’s leg over the apron and delivers a knee drop. Flair has the figure four locked in and Perfect is adding leverage but Hogan refuses to give in. Hogan rolls over and reverses the hold but Flair lets go of the hold. Perfect hands Flair brass knuckles and Flair knocks Hogan out with them. Flair has the cover and pins Hogan in the middle of the ring! After the match, officials come out and tell the referee about the brass knuckles which causes a reverse decision and Hogan is declared the winner. Hogan kicks Flair away to avoid the figure four and pummels Flair with right hands. Hogan tosses Flair over the top to the floor to end the match. (***. I enjoyed this encounter as the crowd atmosphere felt like they had been waiting for this showdown for a long time and there was a lot of interest in it. The brawling was good and Flair was presented fairly well, I thought. The finish should allow them to continue to meet on the house shows since Hogan didn’t actually defeat Flair. This was much needed to keep my interest in the show.)

Fifth Contest: The Barbarian vs. Jim Duggan: Duggan jabs Barbarian several times knocking him to the floor. Barbarian clubs Duggan over the back and delivers several strikes to knock Duggan around. Duggan misses a splash in the corner hitting his shoulder and Barbarian showcases his strength delivering a back breaker. Barbarian continues to weaken Duggan with a bear hug. Duggan breaks free and backs Barbarian into a corner following a clothesline. Duggan works over with strikes. Duggan delivers another clothesline and wins. (1/2*. God damn it. Slow, plodding and a lame finish. Moving on…)

Sixth Contest: WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart vs. The Mountie: Big Bossman came out and got the shock stick from Mountie. Hart goes on the attack delivering a leg drop as Bossman went to the back with the stick. Hart rams Mountie head first into the turnbuckle ten times. Hart rubs Mountie’s eyes across the top rope and attempts a back breaker but Mountie rakes his eyes. Hart fights back with strikes after biting the forehead of Mountie. Hart pummels Mountie in the corner with a fury of strikes. Hart misses a spear in the corner hitting the ring post shoulder first. Mountie takes advantage with a leaping elbow strike but only gets a near fall. Mountie sends Hart hard chest first into the corner. Mountie has a camel clutch but pulls on Hart’s hair before putting the hold back on. Mountie puts Hart in the tree of woe stomping away on the champion. Mountie goes to the outside and pulls on Bret’s hair. Mountie sends Hart to the floor and rams the chair into Bret’s midsection.

Back in the ring, Mountie spikes Hart with a piledriver. Mountie traps Hart so he can’t put his arms up and rams Hart face first into the corner a few times. Mountie misses a springboard cross body attempt crashing to the canvas. Hart gets up and hammers away on Mountie. Hart delivers a side Russian leg sweep and Mountie is begging off. Hart drives Mountie down with a back breaker before leaping off the middle rope to hit a forearm drop for the win. (**. Compared to anything else on this show, aside from Flair/Hogan, this was a fine bout. Mountie didn’t come across like a major threat to Hart. We didn’t get the usual final sequence from Hart, which was a nice change.)

Seventh Contest: IRS vs. Big Bossman: IRS attacks from behind but that doesn’t last long. Bossman big boots IRS and delivers a throat thrust sending IRS to the floor. Bossman knocks IRS down following a few strikes. Bossman jumps onto IRS as he was over the middle rope. Bossman works over IRS very casually and seemingly effortlessly. Bossman splashes IRS in the corner and plays to the crowd. IRS avoids another splash in the corner and Bossman hits the top turnbuckle before crashing to the canvas. IRS delivers a leg drop to the groin area and Bossman rolls to the floor. IRS sends Bossman into the ring post shoulder first. IRS delivers a series of elbow drops but Bossman powers out at two on the cover attempt. Bossman rolls IRS up from behind but IRS gets his shoulder up and stops Bossman with an uppercut. IRS keeps a basic offense until Bossman gets a sleeper hold and they both just crash in the corner from exhaustion. IRS sends Bossman chest first into the corner. Bossman fights back and splashes IRS. Bossman decks IRS with an uppercut. IRS sends Bossman to the floor and the Mountie attacks from behind with the referee distracted. IRS comes off the top but is met with a big boot. Bossman decks Mountie with a right hand on the floor. Bossman nearly pins IRS with a rollup. Bossman big boots IRS but isn’t able to get a three count. IRS gets his briefcase and whacks Bossman from behind to get the three count. (*1/4. IRS is a boring singles wrestler and the action was dull when he was in control of the match. This match followed the theme of the others one as being boring and brawling oriented.)

Main Event: The Rockers vs. The Nasty Boys: Sags and Michaels kick off the main event with Sags clotheslining Michaels a couple of times. Michaels bites out of a bear hug and clotheslines both men. Jannetty leaps off the top to hit a double clothesline! Knobbs tags in to try his luck against Jannetty. Marty hammers away on Knobbs and uses his speed to knock Knobbs down with a spinning elbow strike. Knobbs delivers several forearm strikes to control Jannetty. Marty nearly gets Knobbs with a rollup. Sags and Michaels tag in with Sags missing a splash in the corner allowing Michaels to hit a top rope fist strike. Knobbs stops Michaels with a knee strike and Sags knocks Michaels to the floor with a knee strike. Knbobs rams Michaels back first into the ring post while the referee was distracted. Sags rams Michaels into the ring post a second time into the ring post. Knobbs drops Michaels with a clothesline and Sags enters with control with a camel clutch. Knobbs enters and maintains control on Michaels with a bear hug. Sags tags in after Michaels got out of a bear hug. Sags drives Michaels with a side slam and gets a two count. Michaels has a pin on Sags with a sunset flip but the referee was distracted.

The Nasty Boys have largely kept Michaels on the canvas with bear hugs, which doesn’t make for exciting action. Sags tries to splash onto Michaels but is met with double knees to the groin. Knobbs enters the match as does Jannetty. Jannetty face plants Knobbs and knocks Sags down with a right hand. Jannetty super kicks Knobbs and avoids an elbow drop from Sags who hit Knobbs on accident. Sags and Knobbs are sent into each other. Michaels accidentally rolls Sags onto Jannetty as they were in an inside cradle. Michaels can’t fix his mistake and Jannetty is pinned. (**. Disappointing match as the Rockers weren’t able to do any exciting offense that they normally would provide. Nasty Boys kept a slow pace and the finish wasn’t all that high energy or anything.) After the match, Michaels and Jannetty have words but leave without coming to blows or anything.

Final Thoughts:
Aside from the Flair/Hogan match, this show was rather boring and didn’t provide much entertainment. It’s not a weak lineup, really, so I was even more disappointed with the action provided.

Thanks for reading.