This Tuesday in Texas

Legacy Review

This Tuesday in Texas

December 3, 1991 from the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Here we have WWF's attempt to establish weeknight PPVs. The problem is, it's only a week after Survivor Series and fans hadn't yet been conditioned to monthly PPVs, much less two within a week. They certainly did the hard sell for this one though, turning Survivor Series basically into a setup show for this one.

The show opens with a replay of the Undertaker/Paul Bearer promo from the go home show last week....er, the major Big Four PPV last week. Thanks for talking your parents into forking out 20 more bucks, kids!

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def Skinner in 13:46- Skinner gets a jobber introduction while Bret's music is playing. Fortunately it was impossible for anyone to think he had less of a chance of winning. Skinner's billed as undefeated, even though Bret himself beat him during the '91 King of the Ring tournament that Bret ended up winning (which was completely memory holed when KotR started as its own PPV in '93). Bret schools him with wrestling early. Atomic drops from both sides and Bret clotheslines Skinner out. More feeling out arm work. Skinner goes to the heel 101 playbook, hiding in the ropes and taking control with a Greco Roman thumb in the eye. He throws Bret into the corner and Bret's shoulder is posted. Abdominal stretch with the rope leverage game. Shoulderbreaker for 2. Bret gets a boot up on a charge but misses the follow up elbow. Skinner gets his can of chaw from the corner, and while the ref is taking it away he takes his alligator claw and pokes Bret in the throat with it. Slow follow up, and lots of choking. Bret bump! Now Skinner, after hurting both the shoulder and the throat, starts working Bret's leg! Even Monsoon and Heenan call him out on that. Skinner hits his alligator drop or whatever the official name was finisher (basically a Scorpion Death Drop) but Bret kicks out. He tries coming off the second rope but Bret gives him a boot in the face. Bret plays possum as he liked to do, pops up and goes to work. Five Moves of Doom! While Bret's arguing with the ref Skinner rolls him up. Bret's kickout pushes him outside the ring. After Bret follows Skinner tries to suplex him back in. Bret slips out and tries a roll up of his own, but Skinner uses the rope to block it. Pretty good actually. Now Skinner tries the top rope and eats a Flair throw. Bret decides he's had enough, hooks in the Sharpshooter, and we're done. A textbook example of Bret Hart being able to make absolutely anyone look good. **1/4

Jake Roberts is in the back with Sean Mooney. It's an absolutely classic heel Roberts promo, almost orgasmic in enjoying Elizabeth's fear from the cobra attack and saying Jack Tunney will be to blame for anything that happens. Roberts' "Trust me" is one of the most underrated catchphrases ever in wrestling. Quick cut to Savage's rebuttal. You know he's serious because he cuts off Okerlund after a couple of words and flips his glasses off. Overall it's much better than his rather generic Survivor Series promo. Roberts' music starts as the promo ends and Savage says the time is now....

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 6:25- This is Savage's first match back after being reinstated from (storyline) forced retirement. While Roberts is walking in Savage charges down the aisle and attacks him from behind! Savage gives him a pillar to post beating outside and inside the ring while still having his jacket and plumed hat on. Double ax handle off the top! Roberts powders. Savage finally gets his entrance gear off and chases Roberts down. While Hebner's trying to get some order restored Roberts gets a shoulder in Savage's gut and throws him outside to get some recovery time. He slithers out, they brawl on the floor and Savage gets posted, hurting the arm that took the cobra bite again. Roberts has a target. Back in Savage tries to fight back but Roberts stays on the arm and makes good headway with it. He tears the bandages off and it's bleeding (well, it's pre-bloodied tape). Savage ducks the short clothesline and hits a Dusty Rhodes-esque elbow but the arm is still bothering him too much. Roberts hits the short clothesline and calls for the DDT. Savage backs him up hard into the corner and commentary thinks Roberts might have cracked a rib. Savage climbs up, hits the elbow, and gets the 3! It was short, but intense, hard worked and psychologically airtight. Very underrated. ***1/4

And they're not done. Savage wants to do more damage. He grabs a chair but an official takes it away. He takes the ring bell and threatens Roberts with it. Hebner takes it away, and Roberts uses the opening to plant Savage with a DDT. Both guys recover, and Monsoon loses himself and thinks the match is still going on. Roberts with a second DDT. He starts to leave but smiles and turns back. He says he promised Tunney, the snake's not here (points to the corner), it's under the ring! It's the tiny cobra bag. He taunts Savage with it. Elizabeth comes out. Liz pleads while Roberts continues to taunt. Thankfully Liz manages not to corpse this time. Roberts picks Savage up, points to Liz, and gives him a third DDT. He opens the bag and takes the snake handler's glove out. Roberts gets in Liz's face and says "You want to save his ass you better start begging now!'. He grabs Liz's hair and slaps her in the middle of the ring! Finally Jack Tunney himself comes out and makes Roberts leave. Roberts offers a handshake, then pulls out the swerve: "There is no snake in this bag!". The refs carry Savage to the back. A brilliant piece of business from start to finish. Remember, at this point the plan was still that Savage and Roberts would blow off at Wrestlemania 8 in most likely the #2 match after Hogan/Flair.

Cut to Roberts shouting at Mean Gene to congratulate him. Roberts really walks the PG line by saying slapping Elizabeth was the kind of pleasure you normally "have to pay for" and begs Savage to bring her back so he can touch her again. Okerlund is incensed and throws Roberts out.

 

 "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def The Warlord (w/Harvey Wippleman) in 12:45- This is a rematch of a pretty underrated (Bulldog carried) power match at WM 7. Warlord's got his hair cut in a W on the back of his head. I don't think I ever noticed that without high def before. Powerhouse lockups. Warlord wants a test of strength but it's a RUSE! Bulldog responds with a takedown and diving headbutt in the gut. Warlord's clotheslined 360 and out. Bulldog follows up with a plancha! Warlord is supposed to catch him but Bulldog lands on his feet, so Warlord scoops him back up and posts his back. Bulldog comes back with buckle shots and hits a missile dropkick off the top. Warlord gets tied in the ropes. Wippleman gets him out and Bulldog dives into the ropes and crotches himself. Warlord brings the workrate to a screeching halt with his *ahem* methodical offense. They do the piledriver attempt/sunset flip reversal spot that was also in the WM 7 match. Warlord hooks in the full nelson and it goes on....and on....and on....finally he gives up because Bulldog didn't submit and lets it go. Bulldog comes back with a clothesline off the second rope. He goes for the powerslam, but Warlord grabs the top rope and falls on Bulldog for 2. Off a whip and rope run Bulldog hooks in a crucifix and gets the pin. Twice as long as their WM match and a fraction as good. 1/2*

Sean Mooney is with Savage, who's distraught and out for blood. He's borderline incoherent but in context of the story, it works. He also does a good job of getting out of the usual promo comfort zone by moving around a lot and even laying on the floor in anguish.

 

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Repo Man (w/Sensational Sherri) def "El Matador" Tito Santana and Virgil in 11:28- Santana and Repo start. They have an arm wringer tradeoff. Santana tricks Repo into running the ropes a bunch of times and he and Virgil bounce him back and forth a bit with punches. Now they block each other's hip tosses until Santana wins near the ropes and sends Repo out. DiBiase tells the ref to make Virgil wrestle instead of box and unloads on him. Virgil gets a sunset flip for 2. An atomic drop sends DiBiase over and out. The heels trap Virgil and choke him with the tag rope. A DiBiase gut wrench suplex gets a long 2. Virgil counters a backdrop with a neckbreaker and tags. Flying flan! Santana calls for the spike in the bull's neck or whatever new finisher. DiBiase grabs his foot and Repo hits him from behind. Santana takes a stair shot and goes matador in peril. They do the phantom tag and the heels double team. Repo and Santana double clothesline and both tag out. Virgil cleans house. Donnybrook! Sherri goes to hit Virgil with the Shoe of Extraordinary Pointiness +2 but Virgil dodges and DiBiase gets it. But, Repo hits Virgil from behind, DiBiase covers, and gets the 3. Inoffensive house show style stuff. **

 

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan def The Undertaker (c) (w/Paul Bearer) in 13:09- President Tunney will be at ringside to make sure everything's on the up and up after all the interference in the Survivor Series match. I have my doubts. Hogan gets tearing his shirt off out of the way down the aisle so Taker and Bearer can jump him getting in the ring. They take a double noggin knocker. Tunney appears to be on Clinton Standard Time as he hasn't shown up at ringside yet. Oh, here he is. Taker fights off one slam attempt but Hogan gets it on the second try. Zombie sit up. Mandatory Taker 360 clotheslined over and lands smooth on his feet spot. He almost ended up in Tunney's lap there. Short prayer to the urn. Taker drags Hogan out and takes control with the usual slow zombie Taker arsenal. Lots and lots of choking. Taker almost sells a buckle shot before going on offense again. Rope walk punch. Taker puts on the same claw/smother hold he used at Survivor Series and gets a couple of near falls with it. They do the arm drops and Hogan powers back. Taker legit slips and falls while hitting the ropes. Whoops. They do a quick recover and reset, and hit the flying clothesline spot that was probably supposed to happen earlier. The match feels like it's gone into stall mode while they're waiting for Flair to show up. Taker rope walks again but Hogan pulls him down. Ah, here comes Flair. As Tunney confronts Flair Hogan hulks up. 3 punches and he clotheslines Taker out again, and Taker does not land on his feet. Hogan goes out, grabs a chair, and whacks Flair in the back, taking Tunney out in the process. Back in Taker keeps cutting Hogan's offense off. Flair sets up a chair but Hogan reverses Taker into it. But again Taker gets the edge. He holds Hogan for Bearer to hit him with the urn but again Hogan dodges and Taker takes the shot. Hogan opens up the urn, throws the ashes in Taker's face, and rolls him up to win. While that's happening Flair props Tunney back up to make sure he sees Hogan cheating. Due to all the shenanigans the next week on TV Tunney would hold the belt up and put it on the line in the Royal Rumble, where it would be won by Flair. Still not too good, but it's way better than the Survivor Series match. Hogan looked like he was trying this time (he was also winning, which I'm sure was a complete coincidence). From a historical perspective, like the Survivor Series match, it's important viewing regardless of quality. *3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's got a bad reputation thanks to the ill advised scheduling. and while it's pretty dull it's not a complete turd. It was sold hard on the top two matches, and one delivered (especially the postmatch angle) while the other was definitely an improvement over Survivor Series. The weak buyrate for this show would kill the weekday PPV idea until it was revisited in the early WWE brand split years for Taboo Tuesday, which lasted a few years before moving to a more traditional Sunday slot. WWF wouldn't attempt to add to the PPV calendar again until making King of the Ring the 5th PPV in 1993.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-