–Vince McMahon says that on today’s show Jerry Lawler will make a “royal decision” about whether to accept Bret Hart’s challenge.
–McMahon and Dok Hendrix are handling commentary and they are doing the last of this cycle of tapings in Danbury, Connecticut.
–Opening Contest: The Allied Powers (11-0) beat Mike Bell & Gus Kantarrakis when Lex Luger gets Bell to submit to the Rebel Rack at 3:33:
McMahon and Hendrix briefly spar over how to pronounce Kantarrakis’s last name but it makes zero difference because he is not going to be on the winning side of this bout anyway. Luger does a lot of arm drags and actually gets the win for his team, something that has not happened in two months, with the Rebel Rack.
–Jerry Lawler, sitting on a throne and surrounded my servants, says that he has not washed his feet in more than two weeks and will not do so until after the King of the Ring. Lawler says that he will agree to face Bret Hart at King of the Ring in a “kiss my foot” match where the loser has to kiss the loser’s feet. Bret is a little flummoxed in how to respond but gets around to saying that he will tear Lawler apart at King of the Ring, thereby agreeing to the conditions that Lawler has set forth.
–Skip (w/Sunny) defeats Scott Taylor after a super hurricanrana at 2:25:
Taylor is not the Taylor of later WWF fame and is instead an enhancement talent wearing a white outfit with pink tassels all over it. This is Skip and Sunny’s debut after a month’s worth of vignettes have been presented to the audience. Skip yells at fans at ringside about how fat they are while squeezing a lot of moves into this brief squash match. In a nice touch, Skip pins Taylor while doing some push-ups.
–Todd Pettengill tells Stephanie Wiand on Live Event News that WWF President Jack Tunney has replaced Diesel on the New York house show circuit with Shawn Michaels. Also, Sid has been added to the Nassau Coliseum card to face Bam Bam Bigelow.
–King of the Ring Qualifying Match: The Roadie (w/Jeff Jarrett) pins Doink (w/Dink) (8-2) with a schoolboy at 5:09:
Of all of the King of the Ring qualifying matches this one is the most puzzling because the Roadie’s only in-ring appearance prior to this point was the handicap match against Razor Ramon at In Your House. One could say that this is another extension of Doink’s past issues with Jarrett, since the Roadie’s interference caused Doink to lose to Jarrett on Monday Night RAW last month. After trading some basic wrestling sequences, Doink gets ready for the Whoopie Cushion but gets distracted by Jarrett chasing Dink outside the ring. This leads to Doink getting rolled up and lose and he hugs a distressed Dink, who rightly feels that he cost his buddy the match. Like the Kama qualifying match a few weeks ago, this did nothing to put over the heel as a threat, but hey, it looks like Bob Holly has an easy match to get to the semi-finals, right? Rating: *
–A vignette hypes a new wrestler coming into the company: Waylon Mercy. The character is played by Dan Spivey, who is doing a version of Robert De Niro’s role in Cape Fear.
–Bob Holly (6-6-1) beats Roy Raymond after the Pit Stop Plunge at 2:09:
McMahon puts over the Nassau Coliseum’s 20-man battle royal, although that match loses its purpose since the winner will not get a WWF title match against Diesel since Diesel is on the shelf. Raymond does what more jobbers should do – attack their more respected opponent – and it works for a while until he runs into Holly’s patented dropkick and Pit Stop Plunge.
–McMahon announces that the Fabulous Moolah will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining other announced inductees Antonio Rocca, Ernie Ladd, and Ivan Puttski.
–Hendrix interviews Bertha Faye and Harvey Wippleman. Faye comes out to her new theme music, which is a catchy, slow dance love song with occasional words added in from Wippleman. Hendrix suggests that Wippleman is upset that WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze beat him at bowling in a “battle of the sexes.” Wippleman puts over Faye as the woman that has “whipped all the women in the trailer park,” which is about as Memphis-style of a build for a character as you will ever see. Faye adds that she has more sex appeal and talent than Blayze. It seems like we are going to get a match between these two soon, logically at King of the Ring, but no time for a televised match has been given.
–Rad Radford (3-0) pins Bert Centeno after a Northern Lights suplex at 1:51:
Michael Vitelli is the guest fan ring announcer, a grown man wearing a nice WWF polo shirt. Radford really needs more character development. Why is the audience supposed to hate someone that listens to grunge music, which was popular among youth in the 1990s? And why is he in the WWF in the first place? Centeno stands no chance here as Radford beats him pillar to post.
–Candidate Bob Backlund promises criminals that jail “will be like going to purgatory” and their parents will be forced to pay to keep them alive there. He expands on his “tough on crime” platform by saying he wants to create a penal colony and get rid of parole. I am sure that some of these proposals are unconstitutional but hearing Backlund rant about them was funny.
–The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (6-0) beats Tony DeVito after the Tombstone at 2:08:
DeVito lasts longer than many of the Undertaker’s recent enhancement-style opponents but in the end his fate is sealed with a Tombstone to the delight of the fans. After the match, the Undertaker and Paul Bearer put DeVito in a body bag as McMahon hypes a house show match between the Undertaker and Sid at the Meadowlands next week.
–Wiand does another sell for next week’s house shows. Jim Ross pipes in to say that Shawn Michaels is a big attraction that the fans should be happy to see, especially in the twenty-man battle royal at Nassau Coliseum and he puts over Michaels current tensions with the Million Dollar Corporation. Ross does this so much better than Wiand.
–Tune in next week to see highlights of the British Bulldog facing Owen Hart in a King of the Ring qualifying match that will take place on RAW! Also, Jerry Lawler will be on the show!
The Last Word: If you are going to put the Roadie into the King of the Ring Tournament, why not put Jarrett in there instead? Jarrett was a more established talent and would have lent the tournament more star power than inverting the partner’s wrestler-manager relationship. The Undertaker, healed from some recent injuries, is also appearing more frequently on television. That is a good thing for the company as it needs more attractions on the syndicated shows.
Up Next: The Action Zone from June 4!
What the World Was Watching: Reviewing the History of Wrestling 