World Wrestling Federation (1990-)

[LowBlowPodcast]

This SNME felt like a true big-time WWF show with fast pacing and clear stakes from top to bottom. The opening promos did a good job setting the tone and giving every major match a reason to matter. Benoit beating Dynamite Kid with Frenchy Martin’s involvement was simple and effective, clearly moving that pairing forward. The tag title match ending in chaos fit the teams and kept the belts protected while adding heat. Lawler cheating to beat Kevin Von Erich was exactly what it needed to be and kept the King strong without hurting Kevin too much. The Dusty/Dustin win over Funk and Fernandez delivered classic brawling drama and advanced the Funk feud in a smart way. The battle royal was a fun, star-heavy main event, and Jake Roberts winning the #30 spot felt earned and dangerous heading into the Royal Rumble.

[ErictheDragon]

(During a special Christmas Eve addition of WWF Prime Ttime, we get two more vignettes showing talent debuting in 1991)

Nighttime on a grassy plain. We zoom in on a raging fire where Wahoo McDaniel stands a serious expression on his face. The shot widens and we see two more figures come into view. One is instantly recognizable as Tatanka, the other is a young native American man his face adorned with war paint. Wahoo gives a signal and the two rush each other. Tatanka clearly has the edge as the tussle about but the other man is tenacious and no matter how many times he's shoved away he gets up and comes right back. Finally he gets a hold of the right leg before lifting Tatanks off the ground and riving him down into the dirt. Wahoo gives another signal and the action stops. He approaches the two who stand despite their mutual fatigue. there's a brief silence before Tatanks breaks out laughing and slapping the younger man on the shoulder. Wahoo beckons the younger man over and presents him with a full feathered headdress. The three turn to face the camera, the very image of a united front.

Blazing a trial in 1991...The Navajo Warrior!

The camera slowly approaches a lone bull hauler. Suddenly the vehicle begins to shake about as muffled shouts can be heard. Shot of rodeos clowns running for their lives, Bull fighters whose reflexes were just a second too slow and even from the world famous running with the bulls, all showing what happens when a person is caught by a enraged Bull. As the clips play, the hauler shakes ever more violently, the bellowing getting louder and less human. Finally the the door of the hauler flies off and a large, bulky man wearing a bull helmet charges the camera, roaring in absolute fury.

Charging into the WWF in 1991....The Minotaur!

Tune in next week for the WWF year end awards!

[kevinmcfl]

Nice job with the introduction of some of your new talent.  Looking forward to their real debuts.  

[spaldoni]

These vignettes are pretty damn cool. You've got a lot of new and fresh talent coming in. 

[ErictheDragon]

On this special New Year's Eve edition of WWF Prime Time "Mean" Gene Okerlund hosts the first annual Year End awards.

Best PPV: WrestleMania VI

Most Popular: The Ultimate Warrior

Most Hated: Terry Funk

Tag Team of the year: The Ronin

Most Shocking Moment: Terry Funk Pildrives Dusty Rhodes on the concrete from SummerSlam.

Best Champion(s): The Ronin

Match of the year: The Ultimate Warrior vs Rick Rude, steel cage match at Summerslam

Rivalry of the year: Rhodes family & allies vs The Texas Outlaws

Wrestler of the year: Dusty Rhodes.

[ErictheDragon]

New Year's Bash!

January 1 1991

Madison Square Garden.

Airing live on the MSG Network.

On Commetary: Vince McMahon & Lord Alfred Hayes.

"Chief" Wahoo McDaniel defeated "The Russia Bear" Ivan Koloff after turning an attempted "Russia Sickle" into a backslide. The Russian Pitbulls run down and jump Wahoo with Ivan joining in until Tatanka and the Navajo Warrior make the save. The Pitbulls seemed content to keep fighting but Ivan called for the retreat.

"The Ace" Bob Orton defeated Scott "Flash" Morton with a lariat.

High Energy (Koko B Ware & Tom Zenk) defeated The Samoan Headhunters (Alofa & Kokina) when Zenk pinned Alofa with a sunset flip off the top rope.

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake defeats Masahiro Chono with A little bit off the tope".

WWF Tag Team Championship.

The Ronin (Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki)(c) defeat Power & Glory(Hercules & Paul Roma) w/"Sensational" Sherri Martel with "Senpukku" on Roma. Roma's neck was clearly bothering him and he needed help returning to the back.

Loser Leaves Town New York Street Fight.

Bad News Brown defeats Nailz with the "Ghetto Blaster" with a chain wrapped around his leg.

WWF Intercontinental Championship.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan(c) vs "TFhe Walking Natural Disaster" Earthquake w/"Le Commandant" Frenchy Martin ends in a double D.Q.

Main Event. Eight man tag to determine whether Dusty Rhodes or Terry Funk gets to choose the stipulation for their WWF Championship Match at the Royal Rumble.

"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, The Ultimate Warrior & Tito Santana defeated The Texas Outlaws (WWF Champion Terry Funk, Manny Fernandez, Dick Murdoch & Black Bart) when Bart accidentally hit Fernandez with a clothesline leaving him vulnerable to a Warrior splash. As the Outlaws retreated to the back, Fernandez was reading Bart the riot act. Bart look apologetic, Murdoch looked sympathetic and Funk just looked pissed at the whole thing.

[spaldoni]

The end of the year awards was a great way to cap off 1990 

1991 kicks off with a bash in MSG. Let's do this! 

I liked how you used the vets Wahoo and Ivan to start up a program with the Pitbulls/Tatanka/Navajo Warrior 

Orton shows he's still an Ace 

Zenk and Koko are definitely high energy and they pick up a huge win over the Samoans 

Brutus gets a nice win over Chono. I think Bruti could have a big year as a top babyface 

The Ronin show why they were the tag team of the year. Looks like Roma might be banged up. Not a good sign 

Bad news for Nailz as Brown sends him packing. Slick's got to be worried about this 

Looks like Duggan and Earthquake will go at it again. This will be a fun hard hitting feud. 

I can't imagine what stipulation Dusty will pick for the Royal Rumble title bout. This is the match fans have been waiting for. Could we be seeing the end of the outlaws? 

 

[kevinmcfl]

Loved the awards... nice way to move into the new year.  You beat me to it as this is part of my next show!

The main event at MSG was awesome.  Can't wait to see what Dusty picks as the stipulation

Looking forward to 1991 as your roster has a nice balance to it with so many possibilities

[ErictheDragon]

Originally airing 1 7 1991 on HBO.

Unless stated otherwise, matches were taped at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester Massachusetts.

Ventura and Monsoon welcome the audience to 1991 and say this week's show will feature a host of new faces to the WWF.

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake defeats The Iron Sheik with "A little bit off the top".

Sean Mooney's interview with Jake Roberts is shown. Robert says that a snake needs to find the perfect place to strike from in order to bring down its target and he gave himself the best spot imaginable when he secured himself the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble.

Disco Inferno defeats Tom Stone with the "Chart Buster" (Ace Crusher). A lot of the kids in the audience were dancing along with him after he won.

Ventura & Monsoon discuss the drawing in the Royal Rumble for the benefit of new fans.

Mean Gene gives the Royal Rumble Report. The Rumble takes place at the Baltimore Arena on January  31st live on PPV. He then plays a VTR of Dusty Rhodes as he reveals the stipulation for the WWF Championship Match at the event. Rhodes says he and Funk have been doing this dance for so long he can't remember a time when they weren't. Says Funk has done a whole laundry list of horrible things to him but nothing compared to the War Zone match back in July when he was handcuffed to the ropes, forced to watch as Terry Funk nearly used a branding iron on his first born son. At the Royal Rumble, he'll pay Funk back for that and everything else he's done to the Rhodes family when they meet one last time...inside a STEEL CAGE.....Loser Leaves the WWF!

The Russian Pitbulls' squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown.

The Minotaur defeats Ron Steel with "Running with the Bulls" (Pounce).

Ranger Ross defeats "Russian Brute" Boris Zhukov with the "Combat Kick".

Bob Orton's squash from RAW a few weeks ago airs.

Navajo Warrior w/Wahoo McDaniel defeats Kent Carlson with 'The Last Mile" (Power slam).

Horace the Psychopath defeats Terry Davis with "Delirium" (Inverted DDT).

Tugboat defeated Tom Bennett with "Capsized".

Billy Jack Haynes squash from Wrestling Challenge is shown.

Feature Match.

Haku w/"Sensational" Sherri Martel defeats "The Boy from New York City" Jimmy Valiant w/"The Guiding Light" Capt Lou Albano with the "Tongan Death Grip".

[spaldoni]

It's the new year which means get ready for the Royal Rumble! 

Great promo by Jake. The snake has the advantage, we'll see if he can slither his way to a royal rumble win. 

Disco Inferno has one of the catchiest themes in wrestling 

There's no better way for the Funk/Dusty feud to end. One man leaves the cage world champ, the other leaves the WWF. This is going to be the epic showdown. 

All your new talent gets to shine and show off their finishers. We also get some vets looking strong. Nice mix here. 

Haku looks to be back in top form. 

 

[Jimmy Jack Punk]

WWF ringing in the new year with the New Year's Bash!

Great battle of two legends to kick things off between Wahoo and Ivan!

Big win for High Energy over the Samoans!

Poor Chono

I like Sherri paired with Power & Glory

Great star studded main event to for the first show of the year!