WWF, Cincinnati, OH
A request! This was a dark match at a Wrestling Challenge taping, which also featured a 40-man battle royal! That one was on “Bashed in the USA” while this match was exclusive to the “UK Fan FavoUrites” Coliseum Video extravaganza.
Undertaker is a pretty freshly-turned babyface still, having turned in February when he prevented that goddamned Jake “The Snake” Roberts from splattering Miss Elizabeth with a steel chair.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
We’ve got Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon calling the action here. They didn’t get a lot of time to work together, but Ross has always been incredibly complimentary about working with Gorilla, and I always like the chance to hear them together because of that.
“Gorilla Monsoon was like a father figure to me. … When fellow broadcasters like “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Lord Alfred Hayes gave me the proverbial cold shoulder when I first arrived in WWE, Gorilla vocally — and with authority — intervened to get both individuals to give me a chance to prove myself to them and not to prejudge me. … He was old school through and through and could be harsh on talents whose bouts we broadcast in voiceover sessions for Wrestling Challenge and a litany of other programs. He could be so stiff that I would ask to stop rolling tape so that we could take a break and go sit at a picnic table behind the TV facility where Gorilla could vent to me about the talents that he thought were “phoning it in.” Then, with it out of his system, we would resume voiceovers and get our work done in a professional manner. (WWE.com)
The Mountie had his solo peak in early ’92, beating a bedeviled-by-fever Bret Hart at a house show to win the Intercontinental title, which he promptly lost to Roddy Piper at the Royal Rumble to set up Piper vs Hart at WrestleMania. What a role ol’ Jacques played. Technically you could say the Mountie had his peak as half of the Quebecers, although that was no longer the Mountie, also technically.
Monsoon reckons that Mountie has simply not been the same since he spent a night in jail after SummerSlam ’91. But in the ring, Mountie laughs off the “scary” entrance of Undertaker, faking his knees knocking in fear. Undertaker has no response, of course. This is house show shtick, he’s doing it over and over, maybe they weren’t told this was being taped for Coliseum Video. Do you think the lads were ever told their match was being taped for Coliseum Video? Were they, like, “Oh, shit, I gotta REALLY do my best chinlock for this one, a few thousand people are going to see it.”
To no surprise the bulk of this is Mountie avoiding any physical confrontation with ol’ Undie. They do some cutesy house show stuff, which is entirely fair because this is a cutesy house show match, including Mountie trying to slingshot Taker in from the apron, instead getting yanked over to the floor because Big Jacques is gonna BUMP, baby! At least the once.
Taker’s bump comes when he misses his jumping clothesline, but he just rolls out to Draw Strength From the Urn. Mountie fetches a steel chair and uses it wrong. This does drop Undertaker to his knees for a second, but it really has no effect. Neither does a piledriver back in the ring. Neither does a second piledriver. A package piledriver (!) does keep Undertaker down.
HEY! Does this match KICK ASS?
Mountie doesn’t pin, because he’s an idiot. He gets the mic to say he is the Mountie, so Undertaker sits up, grabs the GOOZLE. Mountie and Jammin’ Jimmy try to leave, but the great American, Sgt. Slaughter, is in the aisle to chase them back to the goofy zombie, whom we would learn later was also quite the patriot. Tombstone city forget about it! Slaughter gives Undertaker a salute, I assume they both get ridiculous boners before heading backstage to listen to Lee Greenwood together.
The match may not really kick ass but it kinda kicks ass? For what it is and all that. It’s got some fun shit to it. Can’t ask for more from a Wrestling Challenge dark match in Cincinnati.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 