As noted in prior columns, this show was a joint effort by the WWF, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. The WWF was looking to expand its global presence while New Japan and All Japan felt threatened by Akira Maeda’s shoot-like Universal Wrestling Federation, which drew a 50,000 person crowd to the Tokyo Dome for a big show in November 1989. To counter them, New Japan and All Japan worked together on a supershow at the Tokyo Dome on February 10. Then, they built on that effort by partnering with the WWF for another big card in Tokyo on April 13 that was named The Wrestling Summit. According tothehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 53,742.
Tim Horner
Shawn Michaels vs. Max Moon (and other Dream Matches)
Welcome to more Dream Matches! This time with my new obsession: random forgotten characters! All of this is readily available on YouTube.
So the accepted story with Max Moon goes as follows: Lucha superstar Konnan was brought in to the WWF by Vince McMahon in hopes of playing this futuristic spaceman superhero-type character. He spends a bajillion dollars on the suit, including gauntlets that fire streamers and a steam-shooting rocket pack to “jump” up the ring steps. But then Konnan, owing to his success in Mexico (where he was actually on a soap opera, plus was selling out major shows) and the fact that the suit took a ton of effort, was like “fuck this” and bailed, never even making TV with the gear. Vince was furious and left with this wildly expensive ridiculous suit, at which point Paul Diamond, probably about to be cut as his “Kato” persona was now a complete jobber act, made one of the smartest observations in history: “Hey, I bet I could fit in that suit”. And so suddenly Diamond is now repackaged as this new character, adding about 4-5 months of WWF paydays to his career until they cut him loose for real. Diamond explains some of it, here.
What the World Was Watching: Smoky Mountain TV – February 18, 1995
Jim Ross and Les Thatcher do commentary and they are at a new taping location in Lenoir, North Carolina. According to prowrestlinghistory.com, the taping at the Mulberry Street Recreational Center drew 375 fans.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – November 11, 1995
WCW Prime for November 6 featured a new match, with Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes on commentary.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Worldwide – November 4, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Worldwide – October 7, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are calling today’s action and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – October 7, 1995
–Chris Cruise, Larry Zbyszko, and Dusty Rhodes are doing commentary for today’s show. The arena is really dark for this show and there are lots of empty seats when the camera pans near the guardrails.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – September 23, 1995
WCW Prime for September 18 included a bevy of new matches, which will be recapped before we get to WCW Pro for September 23. Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes did commentary for these matches.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – September 16, 1995
WCW Prime for September 11 featured a new match.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Saturday Night – September 2, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary for tonight’s show, which was taped in Atlanta on August 21. Tonight’s episode is one hour in length.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Worldwide – August 26, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – August 26, 1995
WCW Prime on August 21 featured a new bout. Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes were on the call.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Main Event – August 20, 1995
–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan are in the studio as per usual for today’s broadcast. Heenan says he is bothered by the tensions between Ric Flair and Arn Anderson because they are good friends of his. He blames Hulk Hogan for their problems.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Saturday Night – August 19, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia. These tapings were done on July 26 according to thehistoryofwwe.com.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – August 5, 1995
–WCW Prime had a new match featuring Big Bubba Rogers and Mark Starr.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Saturday Night – July 15, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary as WCW Saturday Night returns to two hours in the lead up to Bash at the Beach. The matches here were taped in Atlanta on June 21.
–A video package recaps the feud over the tag team titles between Harlem Heat, the Nasty Boys, and the Blue Bloods.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Worldwide – July 1, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – June 24, 1995
The June 19 edition of WCW Prime featured a new match between Tim Horner and Bunkhouse Buck.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Worldwide – June 17, 1995
–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are calling the action from Orlando, Florida. This show was taped on May 5.
What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – June 17, 1995
(Note: With the school year over, I have time to accelerate my 1995 WCW reviews. I will post them each afternoon through throughout the week just like Bayless does for his WWF reviews so by the end of this week we should be through the 1995 edition of The Great American Bash)
The June 12 edition of WCW Prime had a new match featuring Paul Orndorff and Tim Horner with Gordon Solie and Dusty Rhodes on the call:
