WWF UK Rampage 93

UK Rampage 93
Sheffield, England
Arena
April 11, 1993

Of all the UK special events from the early 90s, UK Rampage 93 was the only one to receive a full and proper US release. Why?? It really makes no sense! While the other UK specials were like mini PPVs, this was basically a house show with excellent production and commentary. Why in the world would they choose this show as a US release and not the much better previous ones? What a head-scratcher!

This release was also part of that elusive and mysterious three tape series that I discussed in my Wrestling Grudge Matches review. Much like Grudge Matches, I first saw this advertised in WWF Magazine and was dying to see it for years thereafter. I snagged a brand new sealed copy of this tape off of eBay in the early 00s, and while it was a treat to watch and finally see, I found it to be nothing too special and parked it on the shelf.

Watching it now, in the context of the era, I found it to be way more entertaining than I remembered. The whole show is less than two hours long and just breezes by. Like the previous UK specials, this was aired live on SKY Sports and they flew in Jim Ross and Bobby the Brain Heenan to provide commentary. Ross was only a couple weeks into the company, and it’s hilarious to hear him react to all of Heenan’s material for the first time. Ross still has a lot more WCW style in his commentary and Heenan is having a blast bouncing all of this jokes off of him.

The roster is exactly the same as the Paris show from three days earlier, but the matches are completely mixed up. Jerry Sags is the only guy not featured at all. Had I seen this tape back in 93, I would have LOVED all of these aspects. I was fascinated with house show booking and substitutions.

The card itself is a lot weaker and nonsensical than the Paris show and seems to serve more as an advertisement for the rest of the UK tour, as they don’t feature any feud based matches, but sure hype them up. What saves this below average card is an absolute red hot crowd. It’s insane how this was a full sellout in Sheffield and these fans are hot for just about everything going on in the ring.

1) Fatu (w/ Afa) pinned Brian Knobs at 9:43 with his feet on the ropes for leverage

Not sure what happened to Sags, but he’s back wrestling on the next couple cards. Just like in Paris, the fans are super hot for the Nasty Boys. They’re chanting endlessly for Knobs, which is crazy considering how far down the tag team ranks they Nasties were. No wonder they asked for their releases soon after this. This match followed basically the same format as the Paris tag match, with a lot of the same spots. I wish it would have been a hard-hitting war. Most surprisingly, Fatu wins by cheating! Weird to see a heel go over in an opening house show match. I suppose it was to get fans excited in other UK cities to buy tickets to see the Nasty Boys get some revenge.

In between matches Lord Alfred Hayes was conducting interviews, the best one was with Doink, who kept insisting that Wrestlemania IX was just an illusion and that Crush was suffering from double vision.

2) Doink the Clown pinned Kamala at 5:54 by using the tights for leverage

You know how much I love wacky shit like this! What a hilarious pairing! I’ve seen a few other Doink-Kamala matches from this time and they’re endlessly entertaining to me. Good guy Kamala was always such a wimp and he’s afraid of Doink and his tricks at first. But then Kamala starts battling back and we get a spirited bit of action. Have I mentioned just how fucking hot this crowd is? People were going nuts for Kamala! Doink wins with a sneaky roll up and we get to hear his awesome music again.

3) Mr. Perfect pinned Samu (w/ Afa) with the Perfect Plex at 13:34 after Samu missed a headbutt off the top

Holy shit! What a surprisingly great match! Perfect and Samu go at it fast and furious, laying into each other with stiff shots and great wrestling. The fans are absolutely losing their minds for Perfect! His matches with Luger have been so blah, so it was really refreshing to see Perfect at his best again. It’s weird, Perfect started the year so hot, wrestling Flair in one of the greatest matches of the 90s on Raw, then slowed down with the Luger feud. Over the spring Perfect had that excellent series of matches with Doink and then with Bret at KOTR. It seemed like he was headed for an absolute classic against Michaels at Summerslam, but then he dropped off again. His matches against Michaels were all pretty disappointing and Perfect would be gone again at the beginning of November. I wonder if his back injury caught up with him again? Perfect’s 92-93 run is really strange in hindsight. Here in Sheffield, he was showing off some of that classic Mr. Perfect fire and Samu was up to the task, making for a really great match. Perfect gets the surprise perfect plex and blows the roof off of the building.

4) Bob Backlund pinned Damien Demento with a roll up and bridge at 7:56

The card bogs down with a couple crap matches in a row. WTF was up with Demento? His character just sucks. I remember as a kid thinking he was going to be a cool and evil new character, along the lines of Papa Shango, but he was such a flop. This match is just plain boring and slow and even the red hot crowd cools right down. This goes on seemingly forever until Backlund scores the pin.

5) Typhoon pinned the Brooklyn Brawler at 9:49 with a powerslam after hitting a splash in the corner

When I first watched this tape, I couldn’t figure out what the fuck the Brooklyn Brawler was doing on an England special event, but now it makes more sense, as the Brawler was working most nights as Kimchee. This match was easily the worst, most boring on the tape. Even Ross and Heenan are bored. Why was this given almost 10 minutes? It’s nothing but the Brawler wearing down Typhoon with chinlocks and shit. This should have been over in 2 minutes, but it drags for-fucking-ever until Typhoon eventually pins him, waking the crowd back up.

6) Crush defeated WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels via count-out at 8:51 when Michaels left the ring

Welcome to the Shawn Michaels show! Crush is massively over and really brings the crowd back into things. Crush dominates the majority of this match, pinballing Michaels all over the ring. This is exactly the type of match Crush should have been having months ago to make him look a lot more dominant. Michaels is the king of countouts, as he leaves to save his title. As much as I hate this finish, it goes a long way in making him look like a cowardly dick heel. Crush hauls him back to the ring and puts the beat down on him for the enjoyment of the fans.

Bobby the Brain Heenan is in the ring with Mr. Fuji (or ‘Fugi’ as it’s spelled on the VHS box) and Yokozuna, trying to get to the bottom of what happened at Wrestlemania IX with Hulk Hogan. Fuji incoherently rambles and Yoko nods along during this nothing segment.

7) Lex Luger defeated Jim Duggan via disqualification at 6:42 when Mr. Perfect attacked Luger, preventing him from making the cover on Duggan; after the bout, Luger and Yoko double teamed Perfect until Duggan cleared the ring with his 2×4

So the main event of this UK special is fucking Hacksaw Jim Duggan against the Narcissist! And they drew a sellout crowd based on this! Unbelievable the popularity the WWF had overseas at this time. It’s really fun watching this weird ass match, but there’s not much to it. As much as his matches stink, I’m kind of enjoying watching the short-lived Narcissist run. It’s crazy how fast they turned Luger looking back on it. The end of this match becomes a big schmozz with Perfect and Yoko getting involved. I marked out huge at the absolute weirdness of seeing Luger and Yoko working together to beat down the faces!!! It was surreal!! The crowd is all on their feet and going absolutely crazy for this huge post match brawl. Duggan clears the ring with his 2×4 and the building erupts like it’s the birth of Hulkamania! Holy shit!

The tape ends here for whatever reason. There is a Yoko-Duggan dark match that takes place after with Duggan pinning Yoko. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t included?

What a fun show! The crowd made this so entertaining, and the booking from spring 93 really tickles my imagination.