This Tuesday In Texas
Venue: San Antonio, Texas
Date: 03/12/91
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan
This Tuesday In Texas was an experimental ninety minute pay-per-view to see if the WWF could sell a show at short notice and to try and generate more revenue after buy rates had declined in 1991. The show was based around two big matches; Hulk Hogan challenging The Undertaker for the WWF Heavyweight Championship after Ric Flair had cost him the title six days earlier at Survivor Series, and Randy Savage versus Jake Roberts in the aftermath of the famous angle where Savage was bitten by Robert's king cobra.
Review
Bret Hart defended the Intercontinental Title against Skinner (Steve Keirn) in the opener which was a decent affair. Hart retained the title after forcing Skinner to submit in the Sharpshooter... Randy Savage then attacked Jake Roberts on his way to the ring to kick start their big grudge match which was a good intense brawl. Surprisingly the match only went about six minutes as Savage pinned Roberts with the top rope elbow drop. The reason for this was to facilitate a lengthy post match angle where Roberts got his heat back hitting three DDTs on Savage before giving Elizabeth a (pretty phony looking) slap as she begged him not to unleash the cobra on her husband again. The whole thing was well done if you look past the fact that no officials came down to the ring for ages to stop this until Roberts looked like he was about to open the snake bag. Backstage Mean Gene Okerlund was sickened by Roberts who showed no remorse for his actions. We didn't get to see enough of heel Jake in the WWF, he was a riot. Savage's post match interview saw him go into meltdown.
The British Bulldog defeated The Warlord after pinning him with a crucifix in a match that while decent enough was not as good as their Wrestlemania clash. The full nelson spot went on a bit too long for my liking... Virgil teamed with Tito Santana (who had been repackaged as "El Matador") looking for revenge on Ted Dibiase and Repo Man after they cheated him out of the Million Dollar Belt back at Survivor Series Showdown. They didn't get it however as Dibiase and Repo won an entertaining bout albeit with a bit of a weak finish where Virgil went down to a knee in the back as he confronted Sensational Sherri... Finally Hulk Hogan defeated The Undertaker to regain the WWF Heavyweight Championship in a match that was much better than their Survivor Series stinker. Due to the restrictions of his 'zombie' gimmick Undertaker wouldn't have many good matches until he began to change his style in 1996 but this was about as good a match as he would have in his first five years in the WWF. After a bit of a mixed reaction at Survivor Series the crowd was hot again for Hogan here as he fired out of the blocks before things slowed down in the middle part of the match. Ric Flair made his way down once again despite Jack Tunney being at ringside to ensure a "fair and just outcome" but was nailed by a Hogan chair shot that also sent Tunney down. Flair's attempts to screw Hogan backfired this time and Hogan scored the victory after throwing ashes from Paul Bearer's urn into the Undertaker's face. There were some sloppy moments but the bout started well and had an exciting and memorable finish. The title would later be declared vacant due to the controversial finish here and at Survivor Series meaning the winner of the Royal Rumble match in January would be the undisputed champion.
Overall
Whatever your thoughts on the WWF's attempts to squeeze more cash out of it's customers this was a good show, streets ahead of Survivor Series. The two big matches delivered well enough, the three supporting matches were all of good quality and the crowd were really receptive. It also helped that the main event was, you know, the main event. As the show was only 90 minutes long the live crowd were treated to Ric Flair versus Roddy Piper before the show (Flair won) as well as other dark matches including the likes of Chris Chavis (Tatanka) and the Harris Brothers (Blu Brothers/Disciples of Apocalypse). This Tuesday In Texas drew only 140,000 buys so the experiment was deemed not worth repeating but the show is worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
Rating
13.5/25 = 54%
Results
1 Bret Hart (c) def Skinner by submission to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (13:46) **1/2
2 Randy Savage pinned Jake Roberts (6:25) ***
3 The British Bulldog pinned Warlord (12:45) **1/2
4 Ted Dibiase & Repo Man def Virgil & El Matador by pinfall (11:28) ***
5 Hulk Hogan pinned The Undertaker (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (13:09) **1/2
Star Rating Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
*** Good
** OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1 min)
