WWF Wrestling Challenge - July 18th, 1993:

- After going through what seemed like 50 years of compilation tapes, I think I'll go the easy route and cover an episode of WWF Syndication television, which saves me a few hours of bitching and moaning about how horrible the stuff I'm watching is, despite it's my choice to watch it. There are many words to describe people like me. One side of the fence says dedication, the other says hypocrite. You be the judge! Just to get it out of the way, Bobby Heenan and Jim Ross are pulling commentary duty.

- The Smoking Gunns & Tatanka vs. The Head Shrinkers & Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Afa & Luna Vachon):
Due to time running out of the July 11th broadcast, we get to see the conclussion of this match, because Vince McMahon really gives a damn about us. I'm still waiting for the finish to that Undertaker/Skinner match from a Monday Night Raw we never saw. We join in on Bart Gunn driving elbows into the midsection of Samu and puts him down with a shoulder block. Samu misses a cross body press, but catches Bart with a powerslam. Bigelow tags in and headbutts Bart in the ribs. Irish whip, and Bart connects with a really ugly dropkick. He connects with a second to drop Bigelow, but at least it was better than the first. Billy Gunn gets the Smoking Tag, and hammers away with rights. Ugly dropkick to Bigelow and a back drop to Samu. Fatu runs in to get back dropped as well. Billy with a clothesline to Samu and mounted punches to Fatu. He puts down Samu with a big punch, and the Gunns toss him into the ring post. Billy Gunn with more rights and another dropkick. Fatu sneaks in with a reverse thrust kick, and that wins it at a (JIP) 2:47. 1/2* Not much substance, and the fact this same combination put on a ***+ match at SummerSlam the next month is really a baffling thought, considering the entire face side kinda sucked.

- Opening Title features clips of Shawn Michaels' fist punching a whole in the graphic, The Undertaker, Scott Steiner (no Rick?), Bam Bam Bigelow, The Narcissist who isn't a Narcissist anymore, Tatanka (with the Papoose to Go), Razor Ramon, Mr. Hughes, Bret Hart, The Head Shrinkers, Yokozuna, and Randy Savage giving an elbow drop to a camera. Definitely a who's who of the WWF then. Rumors are Shawn Michaels was asking around the sum of $100,000 to be featured in this opening, but neither side could agree for a full body shot, and thus his arm made the cut for a slim $5,000.

- Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes: Brought to us by WWF Ice Cream Bars, available in stores everywhere. Recap of Lex Luger giving Yokozuna one of the most pathetically fake body slams in the history of wrestling. Luger will be doing an extended tour of America, dubbing the call to action campaigne "The Lex Express." Lord Alfred selling out by saying "America is the greatest country in the World" makes me sick. Apparently, Mr. Fuji refuses to grant Luger a World Title shot, but people are flooding Jack Tunney with hate mail and letter bombs. We get clips of the Lex Express... traveling~! Wow, what exciting television. Yes, this just ate up 6 minutes of television.

- Doink The Clown vs. Ken Hamilton:
Rather late in the heel run of Doink, as Steve Keirn and Matt Borne were switching duties with the gimmick, depending on how much of a shit kicking Borne's demons were giving him the previous night. The television gives us a double Doink visual, but that's just lame. Lockup into the ropes, and Doink gives him a cheap shot and boots to the side of the head. Doink with a nasty looking (in a good way) release german suplex, then taunts Hamilton and bitch slaps him. Doink mounts Hamilton from behind like his name was Viscer and applies a half-nelson. Doink gets caught using the ropes for leverage, so he appies a wristlock. Hammerlock is countered for about 2 seconds by Hamilton, before he gets dropped with an elbow to the side of the head. Irish whip to the corner, followed by a quick follow-up clothesline by Doink. Scoop slam into the corner, and Doink comes off the top rope with the Whoopie Cussion (butt splash) for the victory at 2:43. * The maximum rating I can give a squash match, because it was a bit fun, and showcased that whichever Doink this was is capable of doing more than punch-kick like most of the top heels at the time.

- Face-to-Face with "Mean" Gene Okerlund: Interview with Marty Jannetty, who is scheduled to face Mr. Hughes later in the broadcast. Jannetty calls the recently debuted Johnny Polo "Johnny Solo", proving he too isn't that clever when it comes to giving people goofy nicknames. Next we cut to Adam Bomb & Johnny Polo, both new to the promotion. For those who don't remember Johnny Polo is better known as Raven (and formerly known as Scotty Flamingo), and Adam Bomb (Bryan Clarke) as The Night Stalker, Wrath, and his actual name. Johnny Polo calls Marty "Confetti" a long haired freak-show, then pretends he never heard of Randy Savage. I miss the old Event Centers. I'm guessing this portion of the show didn't last long, because I remember the Center in the fall of 1993.

- Marty Jannetty vs. Mr. Hughes (w/ Harvey Wippleman):
The feature match of the week, and quite honestly, I'm concerned. Curt Hennig was incapable of getting a good match out of Mr. Hughes at the King of the Ring, so I don't expect Jannetty to be much more successful in this one. Hughes and Wippleman are still lugging around the Undertaker's urn, which they, along with the Giant Gonzalez, stole the weekend of the King of the Ring "last" month (OK, 12 years and 3 months ago by todays standard). In a slightly cool bit of continuity, Jannetty is wearing the same vest he had on during the face-to-face interview. Jannetty dances and tries sweeping the leg from under Hughes, but instead sends Hughes into the posts. Jannetty scoops up a leg, but gets kicked away. Jannetty tries again, but Hughes yanks him down by the hair. Jannetty works in his inside-out sell off the bat on a shoulder block sell. Irish whip, and Jannetty connects with a dropkick, followed by several arm drags, sending Hughes out of the ring. Back into the ring, and Hughes wants a greco-roman knucklelock. STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL. Jannetty proves to be smarter than the average bear, by turning it into a wristlock. Hughes no sells off course, and tries throwing Jannetty off, without success. He breaks it with a slam, but Hughes misses an elbow drop and Jannetty goes back to the wristlock. Irish whip, and Jannetty gets yanked by the hair and kicked in the back. Hughes with a series of sledges across the back as we go to a Commercial Break. We come back to Jannetty selling outside the ring, but he sends Hughes crashing into the ringpost. Jannetty boots him a few times, but gets dropped across the security rail in a hurricanrana attempt. Back into the ring, and Hughes is going in slow motion. Hughes with the delayed suplex then wastes about 50 years before covering for a two count. Jannetty tries a comeback, but gets rakes in the face. Irish whip to the corner, and Jannetty goes into selling mode. Jannetty gets sent to the corner again, but avoids a charge. Jannetty with several rights to the bread basket, followed by a boot to the face and a second rope diving bulldog. Jannetty hammers away on Hughes, and escapes a back drop to connect with a superkick. Jannetty goes up top with a missile dropkick. He heads up once more, and nails a second dropkick for a two count. Shoulder tackle by Jannetty sends Hughes outside, and he comes off the top rope with a fist drop. Back into the ring, and Jannetty once again goes to the top, and even Hughes the Dumbass is capable of figuring out what's coming, and he's able to catch him off a cross body attempt with a powerslam for the victory at 11:29. *1/4 The last two minutes were pretty good, but the rest of the match was just brutal, thanks to the horrible work from Mr. Hughes, and the 5 year stall on the test-of-strength.

- Promotion Consideration Paid for by the Following... Ico-PRO with "The Former Narcissist" Lex Luger, and that's all? Damn cutting off into the next segment. BASTARDS!

- SummerSlam '93 Report with Gene Okerlund: Only announced matches are Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler in a match to determine the true king of the WWF, and The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez in a R.I.P. Match. What, exactly, is an R.I.P. Match? Apparently the death for the Giant Gonzalez, because it was the second to last time we saw him (the other being a 20 second appearence in the 10/4/93 Monday Night Raw Battle Royale). No promos from anyone, which makes me sad in pants.

- (Courtesy of Monday Night Raw) Crush vs. Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji): We're joined in progress (and shown in super fast clip mode) as Yokozuna is down on the canvas and Crush is heading to the top rope. Crush gets whacked in the back with the Japanese Flag pole from Fuji, and outside the ring, Yokozuna slams down Crush. Back into the ring, and Yokozuna with the fat-assed leg drop, and finally finishing off Crush with the Banzai Drop. After the match, Yokozuna would go on to Banzai Drop Crush 3 more times, ignoring the help of Tatanka and Reno Riggins (!?!), who gets sent down faster than you could say "Buffalo", but shits his pants in fear of Randy Savage, who was barred from interfering with the matches. Talk about filler...

- The King's Court (hosted by Jerry Lawler) with "The Rocket" Owen Hart: More filler from this show, and we get some storyline advancement on the Lawler/Bret Hart feud heading into SummerSlam. Short and sweet run down of the segment... Lawler bashes the Hart Family for being a collection of losers, Owen Hart gets defensive, probably by calling Lawler "Burger King", which results in them agreeing to have a match next week on Wrestling Challenge. Hold me back, I can't stand the anticipation for such a classic encounter...[/sarcasm] It seems that Owen always gets made to look like a punk loser for the guys Bret is feuding with. Remember Razor Ramon mopping the floor with him in January leading up to the Royal Rumble?

- Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) vs. Chris Hawn:
Back to the squash matches, we go. Michaels is the reigning Intercontinental Champion, but only an idiot would think this was a title match. I'm sure someone here can think of someone that would think of it that way. This is fairly early in Diesel's run in the WWF, and he still hasn't switched from the blue jeans and white jacket for all black leather. We find out Shawn Michaels will defend the IC Title against Marty Jannetty the next night on Monday Night Raw. Shawn has his tights way up around his belly, an easy visual that he's packed on some unwanted weight. Michaels with a standing side headlock, and a criss cross leads to a scoop slam. Lockup, and Michaels applies a wristlock. Hawn counters (JR keeps saying HAAAAWN in a drawn out manner). Sloppy kick to the face, by Haaawn, but he misses a dropkick. Michaels stomps on him with a vengeance, then chokes across the middle rope. Michaels with jabs in the corner and slams Haaaawn face first into the canvas. Shawn with a shitty suplex as Bobby Heenan makes fun of Stu Hart ("it takes him 3 and a half hours to hello"). Michaels off the top rope with a clothesline, followed by the superkick. Michaels ends it with a piledriver at 3:08. 1/2* Meh... I've seen better, and from this same show to be exact. Too stretched out, and good thing Michaels decided against the piledriver as an actual finisher, since that hasn't been much of a credible move for a good 15 years.

- Face-to-Face with "Mean" Gene Okerlund Part Deux: Doink The Clown is our first guest, and Okerlund brings up the feud with Crush, also known as the Feud that Won't End. With a special television hook up (a.k.a another video taped earlier) Doink shows up on both screens. Doink #2 plays with a noise maker while Doink #1 makes Okerlund look like a jackass. The Steiner Brothers (with new shiny tag belts) are the next on the great screen with a sparkly backdrop. The Steiners have an open contract to whoever wants to face them.

- Next Week in Action on Wrestling Challenge: Men On A Mission (a.k.a MOM with Oscar), Mr. Perfect, The Debut of Ludwig Borga (the spelling on the graphic), and in the feature Match, Owen Hart vs. Jerry Lawler.

Final Thoughts: Not much of a show, as it seems like they did everything possible to fill up time. A King's Court, the finish of last weeks feature match, and a recap of the Crush/Yokozuna match from Monday Night Raw.The feature match was nothing to brag about, and the squash matches were alright, but nothing special. Judging from the next weeks lineup, it doesn't look too promising either, but I'll recap it sooner or later.