WWF @ Paris, France
Bercy Stadium – April 8, 1993
Right after Wrestlemania IX, the WWF split the roster and half of the superstars headed overseas for their annual month long spring European tour. The company’s popularity had exploded in Europe and they were drawing sellout crowds to many of these shows. It’s remarkable when you see what kind of line up the WWF was presenting – no Hart, no Undertaker, no Hogan, no Savage – fucking Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the main event! It’s insane how popular the WWF was overseas during such a down era in the business.
Remarkably, I have three shows from this April European tour – Paris, Sheffield, and Rome. There was even a Barcelona broadcast, but I’ve yet to track that down. I thought it would be great fun to watch and review these shows, which continue the feuds and storylines from Wrestlemania.
As you might guess, the commentary for this Paris card is entirely in French. Raymond Rougeau and some other guy are calling the action. In between matches they cut to some goofball in the back, looking like a poor man’s French Jesse Ventura, interviewing the wrestlers. He tries to translate their answers in French, but pretty much gives up each time.
The Bercy Stadium is an indoor hockey arena, and the fans are red hot for just about everything. People looked so genuinely happy to be at a WWF show, and an excited crowd makes even a subpar card come alive.
Bonus) Frank Andersson pinned Red Tyler at 4:39 with a running senton
Okay, so this is super weird – when retrieving the results for this card, I noticed an additional match was listed as taking place at this event, and weirdly enough it was broadcast on the Italian version of Superstars. Over the years, Italian wrestling collectors have been uploading a lot of rare ass content that only aired in Italy for whatever bizarre reason. Instead of the regular version of Superstars overdubbed, the Italian version seemed to have strange extra matches that aired nowhere else, including a lot of these weird dark matches. I looked this one up on Youtube, and sure enough, someone was cool enough to upload it.
I remember Frank Andersson vaguely from his short WCW run that came after this failed tryout. Andersson was an amateur wrestling champion and Olympic medalist for Sweden. He broke into pro wrestling in the early 90s, but had no real success in North America. I was watching WCW Worldwide regularly in 93 and I remember they had a number of these guys like Andersson, who seemed great, but never really had any feuds or made it to any PPVs. It’s absolutely bizarre that they booked Andersson in exactly one WWF tryout match, on this special Paris card, and then aired it in Italy for whatever batshit reason. Also strange is that they have him against an American jobber, Red Tyler. Did they fly Tyler in for this tour card?! Maybe he was on the ring crew? Who knows. Andersson actually looks great in this match and using fluid mat wrestling and cool takedowns. From a distance he kind of looks like Sting. I’m kind of surprised the WWF didn’t pick him up. They were starved for talent at this point, and a guy like Andersson seemed to have star potential. So cool to see this weird 1993 oddity.
1) WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Bob Backlund with a reversal and using the tights for leverage at 13:10
The actual event kicks off with Backlund challenging Michaels for the IC title. HILARIOUSLY Backlund enters while Sexy Boy is still playing. Fuck, I laughed my ass off at seeing geeky old Backlund entering with that theme. This match was really good, even better than the Coliseum Video match I recently checked out, which took place a good six months before this. Backlund and Michaels had surprisingly great chemistry and the fans got really into Backlund as this wore on. Much like Wrestlemania IX, Backlund loses due to cheating, with Michaels using the tights in a reversal to hold down Bob. Fun match!
2) Crush defeated Doink the Clown via count-out at 8:10 when Doink left ringside after sustaining the head vice on the ring apron
Pretty much the same match as Mania. Crush and Doink had no chemistry. I think the conclusion is that Crush just sucks as a power babyface. The crowd just loves him though. I think a feud with Yoko or another powerhouse like Luger would have done wonders for Crush’s face career. He comes across as a geek, constantly being outsmarted by Doink. A cheap countout finishes this one, but at least the fans got to see Doink trapped in the head vice.
3) The Nasty Boys fought the Headshrinkers (w/ Afa) to a double disqualification at 11:33 when all four men began brawling in the ring
I was hoping for a spirited brawl, but this one never really left first gear. They had a great streetfight on an early episode of Raw, but this was pedestrian house show stuff. Despite being shunted way down the card, the Nasties are hugely over in Paris, with “Nasty! Nasty!” chants ringing out all match long. Lots of stalling and baloney through most of it, with a few hard hitting moments. These teams were capable of something a lot better. Too bad.
4) Mr. Perfect pinned Lex Luger at 6:44 by lifting his shoulder out of a back suplex into a bridge
Hahaha, funny pre-match interview with Mr. Perfect where he can’t even say “the Narcissist” properly. Man, this feud was such a dud. This match was really short and nothing much happens in it. Some basic back and forth action with Luger controlling mostly. I’m so surprised at how flat Luger’s short heel run was. His theme music was fantastic, his look was good, his narcissistic personality fit him perfectly – it was the, um, total package. But this feud was so heatless and his feud with Bret never really left the house show circuit. The forearm knockout gimmick seemed weird and ill-fitting too. I was surprised to see Perfect pick up the clean win, even though it had some mild “controversy”.
5) Kamala pinned Kimchee at 6:45 with a splash to the back; after the bout, Kamala attacked Kimchee with his own hat before putting it on himself
HAHAHAHA!!! Tremendous! You know how much I love this shit!! This was essentially a longer version of the March to Wrestlemania match. It followed the same formula, with Kimchee bullying Kamala and slapping him around before Kamala starts beating the shit out of him. In this version, Kimchee regains control and wears down Kamala with a chinlock and such. The fans are just nuts for Kamala and get hugely behind his comeback. Of course Kamala doesn’t know how to pin Kimchee, a gimmick that’s well past ridiculous at this point.
6) Typhoon pinned Damien Demento at 6:25 with a powerslam
Wow was Damien Demento ever a flop as a character. It was weird how he debuted out of nowhere in fall 92. No backstory, no vignettes, no buildup – he just showed up on Superstars one day. And he never did a damn thing, other than getting some house show wins over El Matador. You know you’re on the bottom of the totem pole when you’re losing to Typhoon of all people. This match was a yawner, but it was fun to see Typhoon pick up a singles win.
7) Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Jim Duggan with a splash in the corner and the Bonzai Drop at 7:31 after Duggan became distracted by Fuji on the floor; after the bout, Duggan assaulted Yoko with his 2×4 and cleared the ring; moments later, Duggan hit Yoko from behind with the 2×4 in the aisle before returning to the ring and leading the crowd in a chant of “USA”
Pretty insane that this is the main event and yet they were drawing big throughout Europe. Duggan is INSANELY over in France. I’d say he gets the biggest reaction of the night. Wrestlemania IX really could have used Duggan on the card. When he returned with the updated look, there was a lot more fire in his work and he had great matches with Yoko, Michaels, and Bigelow before eventually departing in summer. This was a totally enjoyable main event. Even Yoko was working hard and him and Duggan had great chemistry. Yoko wins by cheating, but Duggan of course gets the big comeback and moral victory. Duggan then leads the Paris fans in a USA chant, which is a testament to his global popularity.
This show just breezed by. A really fun watch!
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