WWF Live Event – November 30, 1991: That’s Why It Doesn’t Work (Includes Full Show)
WWF House Show
Date: November 30, 1991
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 15,000
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Lord Alfred Hayes
Eh let’s have some fun with something like this as the house shows are almost always a good time. We are freshly off the Survivor Series, meaning Undertaker is actually the WWF Champion at the moment. That’s not something you see very often at this point but it could make for something interesting. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence, as this is from the WWE Old School series.
Commentary welcomes us to the show and you can see Tito Santana (El Matador in this case) coming to the ring behind them.
Tito Santana vs. Kato
Oh this is a house show opener for sure. Kato tries to jump him to start and gets armdragged down for his efforts. Some shots against the ropes slow Santana a bit and he can’t get an O’Connor roll. A running clothesline works a bit better though and Kato crashes out to the floor. Back in and the armdrag into the armbar has Kato in more trouble as commentary talks about Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair.
A hiptoss takes Kato back down and we hit the armbar again. Kato finally fights up and grabs a backbreaker for his first real offense. Another backbreaker gives Kato two and we hit the reverse chinlock, though Heenan wants a Boston crab. Santana powers up, with McMahon going into a bizarre (for him) explanation of the physics of how Santana is doing this the hard way. Kato’s rollup with feet on the ropes gets two so Santana gives him a faceplant. Another knockdown sets up El Paso del Muerte (Flying Salsa according to Heenan) to finish Kato at 10:05.
Rating: C. Santana is almost as perfect of an opening match wrestler as you can get as the fans know and respect him. It made for a fine match, even against a low level tag wrestler like Kato. The comeback worked and while the match might not have been anything great, it did exactly what it needed to do.
Texas Tornado vs. Berzerker
Berzerker jumps him to start and hits a big (furry) boot but misses a dropkick. Tornado slugs away and clotheslines him to the floor (with Tornado trying a second one and hitting Berzerker’s upside down feet). Back in and Tornado misses a charge into the post and they head outside, where Berzerker is sent into the steps. That’s enough for the countout at 2:02, likely because Tornado appeared to be somewhere over Jupiter. Vince: “That’s one of the strangest matches I’ve ever seen in Madison Square Garden.”
Virgil vs. Skinner
Virgil throws the punches to start and gets slapped in the corner for his efforts. This leaves Vince to ask Alfred about rumors of a comeback, with Hayes, who hadn’t wrestled in eight and a half years, laughing it off. Skinner bails to the floor before coming back in, with Virgil backing him into the corner. An atomic drop sets up a headlock, which is driven into the corner so Skinner can hit a shoulder to the ribs.
Skinner seems to bite Virgil’s ear before sending him outside for the assorted stomping. Back in and Virgil slugs away, only to get tossed to the floor again. A reverse DDT drops Virgil for a terribly slow count, which doesn’t matter anyway as Virgil had a foot on the rope. An elbow to the face gets two more and my goodness the referee is actually getting slower. Vince complains about said referee, saying he was both out of position and “rotund”. Geez man. Anyway, Virgil gets a sunset flip for the pin at 6:08.
Rating: D. I’ve seen Skinner have a good match on occasion, but that was not the case here. This was every bit as dull of a match as you would have expected and it somehow dragged down a show which was already pretty low when this match started. Oh and commentary was right on the referee. That was inexcusable and I’m sure it has to do with the athletic commission, which has a place, but not when it comes to picking referees.
Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair
Mr. Perfect is…not here with Flair, despite being introduced with him. Flair struts on the apron to start and the chase is on, with Flair managing to strike away in the corner back inside. Hogan switches places and fires off the chops, followed by a running clothesline. A hiptoss is blocked and Hogan knocks him to the floor, meaning it’s time for some quick posing.
Flair gets sent into various hard objects and a clothesline sends him into the fans. Back in and something is stuck to Flair’s back but falls off when he grabs a belly to back suplex. That’s shrugged off for a hard whip into the corner, leaving Flair to hit the ineffective chops. Going to the eyes only gets Flair so far as he heads up top, only to crash down in the exactly expected manner. The big boot and legdrop connect but Flair gets his foot on the rope just in time. That means Hogan has to yell at the referee, allowing Flair to kick at the knee.
NOW Mr. Perfect comes to the ring, allowing Flair to wrap the knee around the post. Perfect does it as well and then rams the knee onto the apron, with Heenan thinking his monitor has gone dark. The Figure Four goes on with Perfect grabbing the hands, though Hogan is able to turn it over anyway. Since the referee is a moron, Perfect is able to hand Flair a foreign object for the big knockout pin at 9:25. And hang on as some other officials come out and find the object, meaning it’s a reversed decision.
Rating: C. This was a good example of what was wrong with Hogan vs. Flair: it was really only interesting on paper. They didn’t have much in the way of chemistry and there is only so much drama in Flair using the Figure Four. Outside of some crazy sneaky cheating, Flair feels more like a pest to Hogan than a threat and that’s not going to work. And hey look, it really didn’t.
As usual, Hogan takes his sweet time posing after the match.
It seems that we skip intermission as commentary previews the second half.
Jim Duggan vs. Barbarian
Barbarian throws his….cape? Pelt? Whatever it is, at Duggan, who beats on it with his 2×4 in a funny start. They lock up to start about a minute and a half in and it’s an early standoff. A lockup goes to Barbarian as he shoves Duggan into the corner for some more stalling. Duggan knocks him to the floor, followed by some knees to the ribs back inside as Heenan goes on a pro-Flair rant.
Barbarian comes back with a choke on the ropes and they just start brawling, with the referee doing NOTHING. Vince is all over him (same one as earlier) as Barbarian plants Duggan and grabs the bearhug. Duggan fights out and is quickly cut off with a shot to the ribs. The bearhug sequel goes on and stays for a bit longer, though Duggan slugs out again. Some clotheslines and right hands in the corner rock Barbarian before another clothesline finishes for Duggan at 7:48.
Rating: D+. This is another case where you know what you’re going to get as soon as the match is announced as it’s not like they’re going to do anything else. That doesn’t make it any better, but at least we got to see the worst referee imaginable again. Commentary is right to mock him endlessly, as he does absolutely nothing out there and it just keeps getting worse.
Post match Barbarian jumps him again but Duggan grabs the 2×4 to clear the ring.
Intercontinental Title: Bret Hart vs. The Mountie
Hart is defending and gets his whole hometown listed while Mountie is just from “Canada”. I guess you have to be a champion to get a city. Then again, law and order represents all of Canada so maybe it’s appropriate. Mountie holds him off with the shock stick so here is the Big Boss Man to take it away, allowing Hart to jump Mountie and start fast. Some rams into the corner and an elbow put Mountie down, followed by an elbow for two.
Mountie comes back with some forearms and a bite to the head, with Vince praising the referee (a WWF regular) for breaking it up. Hart bites him right back as Vince makes sure that Hayes is awake. Some right hands in the corner have Mountie in trouble as Hart is looking more fired up than usual for a house show. Hart’s charge hits the post and Mountie elbows him down for two more.
Now Hart goes chest first into the buckle (there it is) and the reverse chinlock goes on. Mountie even pulls the hair for a bonus, with Heenan saying is a way to grow the hair. With that not working, Mountie puts him in the tree of woe for some upside down hair pulling. Heenan complains about Boss Man taking the shock stick away from the Mountie, who is the Excellence Of Electrocution (if that isn’t an electrical company somewhere in the south, I don’t know what we’re doing).
A chair to the ribs (right in front of the referee) has Hart down again on the floor, followed by a piledriver back inside. Some rams into the buckle give Mountie two but Hart ducks a middle rope crossbody. Hart starts the comeback by slugging away, setting up the Five Mo…well never mind actually as the middle rope elbow is enough for the pin to retain at 12:57.
Rating: C+. The ending was definitely a surprise and I can go with that over seeing the same things over and over again. Hart was clearly rising up the card at this point and there was a reason to believe that he was going to be turning into one of the bigger names. Mountie wasn’t a bad opponent either and this worked well enough.
IRS vs. Big Boss Man
After insulting the litany of tax cheats in New York, IRS bails to the floor. Boss Man picks up the referee and gets jumped from behind, but manages to get a boot up in the corner. That’s enough to send IRS outside again and we hit the stall button again. Back in and Boss Man hits the running crotch attack to the back of the head, followed by a nice ram to the buckle (with the referee getting in the way for a bit before letting it go).
A running splash in the corner crushes IRS again but a missed charge cuts Boss Man off fast. That’s enough to send Boss Man outside and IRS gets in a heck of a posting. Back in and some elbows give IRS two, followed by the abdominal stretch (with a rope grab of course). With that not working, the chinlock goes on, followed by some cranking on the leg to keep things fresh.
Another chinlock goes on but this time Boss Man reverses into a sleeper. That’s broken up as they both fall down (likely out of boredom) before Boss Man misses another charge into the corner. The chinlock goes on again but thankfully Boss Man is out faster this time, setting up a running splash for…no count. Back up and IRS sends him outside, where the Mountie runs in for a running knee. IRS goes up and dives into a raised boot, followed by a regular boot to the face. Mountie gets on the apron so IRS nails Boss Man with the briefcase for the pin at 13:41.
Rating: D+. Boss Man was falling fast by this point and that was on full display here. There was quite a bit going on, but losing a singles match to IRS really isn’t a great sign. This would have been better with about five minutes cut out, but Boss Man’s top days were long gone and this was about as good as it was going to be for the rest of his run with the company. The match was just a bunch of dull stuff with Boss Man trying to get in some offense but not getting anything going. IRS isn’t about to be exciting no matter what he’s doing, so how was this going to work?
Rockers vs. Nasty Boys
The Rockers have been having some issues as of late. We get a long stretch of stalling after the bell, with no contact for the first two minutes of the match. Sags bails to the floor but Knobbs suckers Michaels in for a cheap shot so Sags can take over. Michaels bites the nose to get out of an early bearhug and it’s Jannetty coming in with a double clothesline from the top.
Jannetty comes in and, after about a minute of standing around, Knobbs comes in and gets punched in the face. The jumping back elbow sets up the armbar on Knobbs, who fights up without much trouble. Jannetty sticks the landing on a backdrop attempt and gets two off a rollup, meaning the armbar can go on again. Michaels comes in for his own armbar before doing the same thing to Sags.
The Boys fight back but Michaels is right up top for a shot to the head. Michaels goes after Knobs on the apron though and Sags jumps him from behind to take over. That includes a pair of postings on the floor, setting up the reverse chinlock back inside. After quite a bit of that, Knobbs comes back in for a bearhug as this just keeps going. Sags’ side slam gets two but Michaels is back with a sunset flip…which the referee doesn’t notice for a good while.
Sags kicks out and grabs a bearhug of his own, even taking it to the mat in case the regular version was too interesting. Michaels finally gets his knees up for something close to a low blow and the much needed tag brings in Jannetty to clean house. Everything breaks down and Sags elbows Knobbs by mistake. Jannetty gets a small package on Sags, which is turned over. Jannetty turns that over as well, but Michaels isn’t paying attention and turns it back over to give Sags the pin at 17:54. Even commentary seems confused.
Rating: D+. The match wasn’t very good and the ending was unique, but the problem here was how uninteresting the whole thing was. You had the long stalling at the beginning and then a lot of laying around in holds. There is something to be gotten from doing a match like that, but there needs to be a lot more than “here’s the same hold for a few minutes and then the same thing from my partner”. We didn’t get there here and it tanked the match.
Michaels explains himself as the issues continue. These two need to talk. Like at a barber shop. About two days from now.
Overall Rating: D. This was pretty dull stuff, with nothing worth going out of your way to see and only a handful of passable matches throughout. Hart was doing his thing well enough and Michaels would be VERY different when they were back here next time, but egads this did not work. I was interested in seeing what they had here and now it’s easy to see why this was such a dead time for the company.
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