As the years go buy and fans seem to get more and more disillusioned with the current product of their favourite wrestling promotion, more wrestling fans than ever are dipping into archive footage and yearning for times gone by. The announcement of the WWE Network brought out old fans from the woodwork who will no doubt subscribe purely for nostalgia.
In a brand new monthly feature, we delve into the annals of time to bring you the very best matches to look out for and news from an era long since passed. We also finish up with a fun look back at what was going on in the world of pop culture too!
As the year 1994 drew to a close, the wrestling landscape appeared more in a state of flux than ever before. All the major companies entered 1995 facing serious questions:
WWF: Will the major influx of new young talent and going to the unproven Diesel as champion make fans feel the company is freshening up or going low-rent, particularly with the jump of Randy Savage to WCW combined with the others giving the public the perception wrestlers are scampering in the other direction for the first time since 1984? It appeared that the rapid decline of 1992-94 had slowed although there were no indications that the situation was reversing either.
WCW: Will the new direction, which is attempting to copy WWF of the late 80s with the same talent, pay off? At this time, when it came to week-by-week interest level, it appeared the company would spend more money for about the same or a slightly lessened amount of interest, but the Hogan name to this point delivered PPV buys. Starrcade would be a major test because there’d also been no proof that the Hogan name meant much of anything without the Flair name attached to the other end of the marquee. It’s also the first PPV they’d tried where every match looked like death going in.
WCW NEWS
Macho Man Randy Savage made his WCW debut in December 1994. Savage gave a good interview to get over the storyline that he’d be at Starrcade and wanted to confront Hulk Hogan and didn’t know if he’d slap him or shake his hand. Rumours were running rife that Savage would be immediately pushed into the World Heavyweight Championship picture.
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A grieving crowd of about 250 consisting largely of long-time Portland wrestling fans and former area wrestling personalities attended the funeral of Art Barr in Springfield, OR.
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Brian Armstrong quit WCW to join the WWF. He was replaced by his brother Scott.
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There were rumours that Sherri would leave Harlem Heat and join Steve Regal and Jean-Paul Levesque
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WCW signed a contract with all Prime Cable outlets for a weekly afternoon show. This was WCW Prime.
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WCW Starrcade 1994 aired on PPV on 27th December. It was a real dud but drew a genuine sellout of 8,200 fans. It’s first major show sell out in years.
Results from the show were:
Vader defeated Jim Duggan to win the WCW United States Championship (12:06)
Alex Wright defeated Jean-Paul Levesque (14:03)
Johnny B. Badd defeated Arn Anderson to retain the WCW World Television Championship (12:11)
The Nasty Boys defeated Harlem Heat by disqualification (17:49)
Mr. T defeated Kevin Sullivan (3:50)
Sting defeated Avalanche by disqualification (15:26)
Hulk Hogan defeated The Butcher to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (12:07)
According to Dave Meltzer, the highest rated match on that show was Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat. He gave it **1/4.
WWF
Tickets for WrestleMania XI officially went on sale. Price for front row was $250. Imagine getting those prices today?
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Bob Holly drove a WWF sponsored race car in the Snowball Derby
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Bull Nakano was suspended for six weeks which also meant Alundra Blayze was off the road for six weeks aswell as they were working together on house shows.
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Luna Vachon was released from WWF
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WWF sent a threatening legal letter to WCW saying Jacques Rougeau was under contract and to cease and desist any conversations with him.
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WWF Superstars were given their frequent flyer miles back indicating the company was in a better financial state. It was not.
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A new TV character called Kama was introduced to WWF screens. The gimmick was a complete copy of a UFC fighter by the name of Kimo. At one point, WWF even tried to claim that it was the real Kimo, saying he was from a world of Ultimate Fighting.
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A direct line from December 1994’s edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter – “Shawn Michaels starts back at the Rumble. He can’t work right now because he’s got two pins in his hand. He’s going to go on the road and be in Bob Backlund’s corner for matches with Diesel at the house shows. Michaels has to be the favorite in the Rumble because it appears the hottest potential issue in the promotion right now is Michaels vs. Diesel.”
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Jim Ross was re-hired to work in the booking department and to produce television.
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WWF sent out a memo to all employees saying any contact with anyone at WCW would result in immediate dismissal.
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Chris Candido and Tammy Fitch signed with WWF.
Videos to watch
Macho Man’s WCW debut
Mr T. vs. Kevin Sullivan – WCW Starrcade 1994
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AhGlnO9zm8
Sting vs. Avalanche – WCW Starrcade 1994
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Hi2BldAI8
WWF Monday Night RAW – 26th December 1994
World News
6th – The Queen gives the go ahead for oil drilling to take place in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
11th – Russian troups invaded Chechnya in an unsuccessful attempt to restore Moscow’s power in the region.
15th – Former 800m Commonwealth gold-medallist Diane Modahl is found guilty of taking a banned drug – but is cleared a year later on appeal.
30th – Two women are shot dead and at least five others injured after a gunman opens fire at two neighbouring abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Music Charts (UK)
#1 – STAY ANOTHER DAY by EAST 17
#2 – ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU by MARIAH CAREY
#3 – MIGHTY MORPH’N POWER RANGERS
#4 – LOVE ME FOR A REASON by BOYZONE
#5 – CROCODILE SHOES by JIMMY NAIL
#6 – WE HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD by LOUIS ARMSTRONG
#7 – PLEASE COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS by BON JOVI
#8 – THINK TWICE by CELINE DION
#9 – LET ME BE YOUR FANTASY by BABY D
#10 – ANOTHER DAY by WHIGFIELD
Movie Charts
#1 – DUMB & DUMBER
#2 – MIXED NUTS
#3 – LEGENDS OF THE FALL
#4 – LITTLE WOMEN
#5 – RICHIE RICH
#6 – STREET FIGHTER
#7 – DISCLOSURE
#8 – THE JUNGLE BOOK
#9 – IMMORTAL BELOVED
#10 – THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE
Video Games
9th — Namco releases its first 3D fighting game Tekken in the arcade.
10th – Nintendo releases Wario’s Woods, the last official game to be released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America before Nintendo would officially discontinue production of the console.
21st – Bungie releases Marathon, one of the earliest original (non-ported) first-person shooters for the Macintosh.
24th – Heretic is released by id Software. It the first in Raven Software’s Heretic/Hexen series and also the first game bundled with DWANGO, one of the earliest online multiplayer services.
– By Dean Puckering