December 3rd, 1991
Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas
Attendance: 8,000
This Tuesday in Texas was the World Wrestling Federation’s experiment to establish Tuesdays as a great night for a mid-week Pay Per View.Â
It was an experiment that failed, and quite badly at that.
Despite using the entire Survivor Series ’91 show as essentially one long commercial for this event, it only drew a 1.0 buyrate and was largely dismissed as unsuccessful.
That may have been due to the fact that this took place just one week after the aforementioned Surivor Series, or it may have been down to something else, like a bland event name that didn’t really capture the imagination.
Lackluster titles aside, This Tuesday in Texas wasn’t actually that bad a show.
Here’s what went down.
The Undertaker promises to Bury Hulkamania
In case you missed Survivor Series 1991, this is what went down.
The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan for the World Wrestling Federation title after Ric Flair came down to ringside and stuck his nose in.
WWF President, Jack Tunney was very unhappy about this and ordered a rematch for This Tuesday in Texas.
Prior to tonight’s show kicking off proper, we get a recap of the promo The Undertaker cut at the end of Survivor Series 1991 in which he claims that, having killed Hulkamania at Survivor Series, he will proceed to bury Hulkamania this Tuesday in Texas.
At one point in the promo, The Dead Man urged Mean Gene Okerlund to look inside a nearby coffin.
Gene did so, only to reveal that the coffin actually contained a fully working video camera which just so happened to be filming.
With that out of the way, we were greeted by our favorite commentary team, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon before the action really got underway with an Intercontinental Championship match.
Intercontinental Championship Match:
Intercontinental Champion Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart vs. Skinner
Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart showed up in fighting mode and took the contest to his challenger in an exciting opening match.
Though it would be easy to give all the credit here to The Hitman, Skinner played his part well, providing a steady-paced aggressive counter to Hart’s hard-and-fast technical assault.
Both men traded the advantage several times, with Skinner gaining the upper hand thanks to a cheapshot with his trusty crocodile claw before finally succumbing to the champion’s deadly Sharpshooter.
Your Winner and still WWF Intercontinental Champion: Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart
Heading to the back, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts continued his now legendary feud with Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage in a chilling promo.Â
Roberts first insisted that he was looking forward to seeing the fear-stricken across the pretty eyes of one Miss. Elizabeth before addressing the Jack Tunney-imposed stipulation that no snakes could be in the corner for the upcoming match.
Grinning a sinister grin, Roberts claimed that was fine, that anything that happened out in the ring would now be on the head of the WWF President, and that, above all, we had to trust him.
Offering a retort, a wild-eyed Randy Savage claimed that not only did he not trust Roberts, but he didn’t even trust himself, and as soon as the Macho one heard Robert’s music blaring somewhere in the arena, he was off and after his bitter rival.
Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts vs. Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage
Jake began his way to the ring, only to be attacked halfway there by a livid Macho Man. Randy battered his foe into the ring, around the ring, and outside the ring, all while decked in his pre-match garb.
Yet Savage’s trip to the pay windah that night would be far from short.
Roberts made a full recovery and attacked his rival, drilling him with a DDT and pummelling him into submission before revealing that he had a snake hidden beneath the ring all along.
As referee Earl Hebner made the most feeble of attempts to stop him, Jake continued his threats to unleash his snake from a black bag which clearly had no snake in it at all.
Still, that little niggle aside, the drama was intense.
I’ve seen many things in my 30+ years of wrestling fandom, but the sight of Randy Savage flying off the top rope, landing a forearm, and then continuing to walk around, all whilst wearing the most ridiculous of hats, is certainly one of the more amusing.
As for the match itself, this was a short, sharp burst of violence and aggression. Both men tore into each other with a passionate hatred, making the animosity between the two legendary grapplers seem as a real as anything ever carried out in a professional ring.
After not very long at all, Savage flew off the top, struck his enemy with the famous flying elbow drop and earned himself a three count.
Your Winner: Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage
Miss Elizabeth ran to ringside and practically begged Roberts to leave Savage alone. Then, after toying with the couple for some time, Jake finally dragged Liz up by the hair and clouted her around the chops, prompting a rush of WWF personnel to hit the ring and break up this most gripping of angles.
It wasn’t over just yet.
Backstage, Roberts an evil figure as he laughed at his physiological torture of Savage and Liz, even going so far as to insist that hitting Elizabeth felt so good, he’d be prepared to pay for it.
As far as effective heels went, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts really had no equal back in the early 90s. Everything he did on this show was chilling.
The British Bulldog vs. The Warlord (w/ Harvey Wippleman)
At a time when the World Wrestling Federation was toning down on it’s giant powerhouse stars and beginning the very-slow shift towards solid grapplers, a match between the humongous Warlord and a British Bulldog (who had seriously bulked up since his time in the tag ranks) probably wasn’t the best way to go.
Still, this was a mostly enjoyable match. Slower-paced than our last two bouts, sure, but perhaps all the better for it.
Indeed, the change of pace was much welcome and suited both men well as they delivered a match that was at least watchable.
That is, until the Warlord slapped on a bearhug, and then a full nelson, both of which seemed to last for several centuries and succeeded in draining the life not only out of his opponent, but out of every fan in San Antonio and, indeed, your writer.
Somehow, Davey Boy recovered and put us all out of our collective misery, hitting his trademark crucifix and, for probably the first and only time ever, actually scoring a three count on it.
Your Winner: The British Bulldog
Backstage, a hysterical Macho Man collapsed in a heap, blaming himself for what happened to Elizabeth in the earlier fracas with Jake Roberts.Â
Seriously, everything involving those two men reached a new level of awesome on this show.
Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase & Repo Man (w/ Sensational Sherri) vs. Tito Santana & Virgil
Here’s how this one worked:
Summerslam 1991 saw Virgil upset his former boss, Ted Dibiase and capture the Million Dollar Championship. Embarrassed, Dibiase then hired former Demolition member turned hunchbacked crook The Repo Man to help him erm, well, repossess the gold.
That happened, then Tito Santana came along to make up the numbers, and we had ourselves a fun, enjoyable tag team contest that really struck a nerve with a Texas crowd who, admittedly, had already been on fire for most of the evening.
Both teams performed their roles well; the conniving heels going up against the courageous babyfaces in a match that may not stand out as a classic, but is definitely worth a watch if you feel like being entertained for a short while.
In the end, the bad guys scored the win, and left Tito and Virgil with a one-way ticket to Jobbersville for the remainder of their WWF careers.
Your Winners: Ted Dibiase and The Repo Man
Prior to our main event, challenger Hulk Hogan spoke to Mean Gene about his upcoming match with The Undertaker.
Among other things, Hogan made numerous references to his “teeny tiny Hulksters” and claimed that Jack Tunney had awarded him a rematch against ‘Taker not because it was fair, not because they needed a main event for the Tuesday PPV, but simply because “we believed in ourselves.”
World Wrestling Federation Championship match
WWF Champion The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Hulk Hogan
It’s hard to know what to say about this match beyond stating the obvious.
This was a match in which The Immortal Hulk Hogan battled an Undertaker who was still in that early heel mode of no-selling everything and moving around like he had planks of wood attached to the back of his limbs.
If that sounds like your idea of a great match, it was a great match, if it sounds like hell on earth to you, that’s how it will seem when you watch it.
In reality, the main event was neither good nor bad. It was just a typical early-90s WWF main event; Hogan being beaten down by a big heel, making a comeback, and beating his foe around the ring.
The only difference this time happened at the end.
In what can only be described as a clusterf**k finish, Ric Flair got involved, Hogan struck him with a chair so that The Nature Boy fell on top of Jack Tunney, and Paul Bearer got involved.
Hogan stole the urn, tipped it on the floor, scooped up some of the ashes, blinded ‘Taker with them, then rolled up the champion, scored a quick pinfall, and reclaimed the title.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan
Alas, Hogan’s reign as champion would this time be short-lived. The World Wrestling Federation title would be held up until the 1992 Royal Rumble. There, it would be captured by Nature Boy Ric Flair in one of the greatest Royal Rumble matches of all time.
WWF This Tuesday in Texas: Final Thoughts
The crazy thing about This Tuesday in Texas is that, despite being a commercial failure, it was mostly a creative success. Sure, the Bulldog/Warlord match didn’t quite hit the mark, and sure, the main event was the best you were going to get between Hulk Hogan and an Undertaker who was still restricted by the Zombie Mortician aspect of his character.
However, the opening Intercontinental title match delivered in spades, the Jake Roberts/Macho Man was some of the most compelling stuff I’ve ever seen in wrestling and even the tag team match entertained.
‘Til next time, thanks for reading.
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EVENT REVIEW: WCW Clash of the Champions XVI – Fall Brawl ’91
PPV REVIEW: WCW Starrcade 1991 – Battlebowl – The Lethal Lottery
Prior to the PPV starting, there were five dark matches:
1.Ron & Don Harris defeated Brian Donahue & Brian Costello
2.Sir Charles (Papa Shango) defeated Dale Wolfe
3.Chris Walker defeated Brian Lee (The Underfaker/Chainz)
4.Chris Chavis (Tatanka) defeated JW Storm ("Jumpin'" Jeff Farmer)
5.Ric Flair defeated Roddy Piper by pinfall with his feet on the ropes
It's very odd they didn't put Flair vs. Piper on this PPV.
Has there ever been a reason given why Flair/Piper was a dark-match? Would've certainly made Tuesday in Texas better for all sorts of reasons.
Yeah it would have.
Also, in regards to Hogan throwing his strop to get a rematch with Taker for the belt, no other former world champion (Savage, Warrior, and Slaughter) ever went crying to Jack Tunney for an instant rematch after losing their belt.
Flair vs Piper should have opened the show.