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WWF At Munich, Germany
August 1, 1993

by Scrooge McSuck

- A while back, I recapped a fan-cam from Vienna, Austria that was part of that last tour featuring Hulk Hogan in the WWF before taking time off to film Thunder in Paradise and be swayed into signing a deal with WCW. Really, that's the only thing the international tour is known for. For the longest time, it was thought to be the last footage of the Hulkster in a WWF ring... until now. Yep, someone was in Munich on August 1st with a camera, three days after the Vienna show, so now we've got this as the last known footage of Hogan's WWF run. It's the same lineup, but the quality of the footage is SO MUCH BETTER, so I might as well give it a look and see if there's any nuggets lost in here...

"El Matador" Tito Santana vs. The Predator

Santana, with 10 years uninterrupted service to the WWF, was finishing up with the company, working only a couple of shows after this tour before moving on to working Indies. Predator, as we've mentioned before, is a masked Michael Bollea, best known for his time in WCW as Horace Hogan, the real-life nephew of Hulk. Yeah, I bet I can guess how he got booked on this tour. We're Joined in Progress, with Predator playing to the crowd. Predator with a knee to the midsection and clubbering blows. Crisscross and Santana with a monkey-flip, followed by a deep arm drag. Predator offers a handshake, and he's sincere, honest and true. Santana teases accepting but hits an atomic drop and sends the goof out of the ring with an arm drag. We clip ahead (looks like all stalling is edited) to Predator working a wrist-lock. They go back and forth, with Santana sending him scurrying after another arm drag. Whip to the ropes and Santana with a hip toss, followed by another arm drag into the arm bar. Predator with a cheap-shot to the midsection before tossing Tito through the ropes with a handful of tights. Back inside, Predator puts the boots to him while playing to the crowd. Whip to the corner and Predator charges in with a clothesline. He drops the leg across the back of the head in honor of his Uncle, but it only gets two. Santana briefly counters a chin-lock, but Predator keeps control. Santana fights out again and unloads with rights. Whip is reversed and Santana gets a boot up on the charge. He lays in with more rights and a dropkick. He plants Predator with a pair of slams and comes off the ropes with a knee lift. El Paso Del Muerte connects and it's over at 7:50 (shown). The fan editing obviously makes it hard to give solid ratings, but based on previous work, Predator wasn't awful, but he was very generic in the ring, and Santana brought his typical fire.

"The Rocket" Owen Hart vs. Papa Shango

These two were such a non-factor on the WWF roster at the time they were loaned out to USWA as part of a WWF Invasion storyline. Shango plays the stalling game to start us off. Owen grabs a side headlock. Crisscross and Shango counters a body press with a back breaker. Owen rolls away from an elbow drop and goes to work on the arm with a wrist-lock. Crisscross, including a leapfrog from Shango, ends with Shango missing a dropkick, allowing Owen to go back to the arm. Owen feeds the boot and connects with an enzuigiri. Whip to the ropes, Shango blocks a hip toss and counters with a short clothesline. He sends Owen into the corner and chews. Whip across the ring and he barrels in with an avalanche. He looked like a train chugging in there. Whip and an elbow for two. Owen takes advantage of Shango's arguing with the referee to roll him up, but Shango quickly regains control with a clothesline. Owen fights out of a chin-lock but runs right into a knee. Shango tosses him to the floor and sneaks around the corner to nail him from behind. Seems pointless, but at least he did something. Back inside, Shango sends Owen to the corner again, but this time he meets a boot charging in. He tries it again and meets the turnbuckle this time. Owen unloads with mounted right hands and takes Shango over with a back body-drop. Spinning heel kick connects for two. Owen with a flying body press but Shango rolls through and hooks the tights for three at 7:04 (shown). Seemed like this was all here, minus one early edit. Looked solid, in the ** range, which is way higher than the usual Shango contest.

Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

These two kicked off a feud where Tatanka came to the defense of Sensational Sherri, so Bigelow gained a measure of revenge by trimming the red hair that represented the Native American bloodline (or something). Tatanka rushes the ring, sends Bigelow through the ropes, and nails him with a (attempted) tope suicida. We cut to the action back in the ring, with Bigelow putting the boots to Tatanka. Whip to the ropes and Bigelow bulldozes Tatanka with a shoulder tackle. Cut to Tatanka fighting back from beneath, only for Bigelow to cut him off with a rake to the eyes. Whip and Bigelow with another shoulder tackle. Tatanka ducks a clothesline and rocks Bigelow with a diving shoulder tackle. He nails Bigelow with a dropkick and cross body press for two. Whip to the corner is reversed, but Bigelow meets an elbow charging in. Tatanka with three clotheslines for a two-count. Whip and Tatanka counters a body-drop with the DDT. He climbs the ropes and misses a flying body press. Tatanka fights out of a chin-lock but is met with a dropkick for a near-fall. Bigelow with a big headbutt, sending Tatanka through the ropes. Back inside, Tatanka has another comeback cut short. Whip to the corner and Bigelow follows in with an avalanche. Tatanka gets a boot up on a second attempt but is crushed attempting a sunset flip. Bigelow unloads with a series of a headbutts, including bouncing off the ropes with a diving version for a two-count. Tatanka fights out of a chin-lock with elbows to the midsection. He lands a series of chops and starts the comeback trail, only for Bigelow to clubber him with an enzuigiri. I LOVE THAT SPOT. I WILL NEVER GET TIRED OF IT. The comeback is real, though, and Tatanka fires off a flurry of chops, sending Bigelow out of the ring. He gives chase and gives Bigelow the Samoan Drop on the floor before rolling back in the ring for the Count-Out victory at 9:59 (shown). Post-match, Bigelow ambushes Tatanka during his celebration (of a COUNT OUT VICTORY) and leaves him out cold, threatening to cut his hair before referees intervene. Good match, and based on their other outings from the time, in the *** neighborhood.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The Steiner Brothers (c) vs. The Headshrinkers

Hmm... maybe this one will be better than their efforts from Vienna. Samu and Fatu attack from behind and dump the brothers, but the Steiner's quickly re-enter the ring and hit synchronized belly-to-belly suplexes to clear the ring themselves. Things settle down, with Samu and Scott in the ring. Samu appears in control, but Scott quickly turns it around and hits the double under-hook suplex before going to work on the left arm. Samu manages to take Rick to the corner and tag in Fatu, but they fail miserably at cutting the ring in half. Fatu wants a test-of-strength as a ploy for Samu to sneak attack Rick. That backfires, so Fatu goes the honorable route and locks up before hitting a well-placed kick to the midsection. Whip to the ropes and Rick counters a leapfrog with the powerslam, sending Fatu out of the ring for a new game plan. We cut ahead to Scott getting worked over. I don't think I've seen many, if any, matches where Rick takes the brunt of the punishment. Rick inadvertently distracts Bill Alfonso, allowing the Headshrinkers to freely choke Scott out with the tag rope. Scott fights out of a (lengthy) nerve-hold, only to get thrown down by the hair. More double-teaming in the corner with the referee distracted. Whip to the corner, Fatu meets a boot and gets turned inside-out with a clothesline. Samu cuts him off, only to eat the post on a missed dive, finally allowing Rick to get the hot tag. He runs wild with Steiner-Lines. Double Noggin Knocker BACKFIRES. We get heel miscommunication, allowing Rick to roll Fatu up for three at 9:13 (shown). Post-match, they attack Rick, but Scott makes the save. Too much editing to get a true gauge, but felt like they did a lot of shtick, and likely wouldn't break two stars.

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. "Terrific" Terry Taylor

I completely forgot that Beefcake was on this tour, too. He comes out to his Barber theme and has some gear from the late 80's. I expect a lot of shtick here, and wouldn't you know it, both men strut around after snubbing handshake offers. Lockup into the corner and Taylor gives a clean break. Cut ahead to Taylor working the arm, but Beefcake quickly turns that around. Taylor goes to the ropes for the break and yanks the hair to take control with an arm bar. Beefcake escapes with an elbow, comes off the ropes with a shoulder tackle for two, and takes Taylor to the canvas with a side headlock. Taylor escapes and takes Brutus over with a hip toss, but Beefcake gives him a mule kick and slam before going back to the headlock. Taylor forces another break and drives a shoulder into the midsection. Taylor cuts off the comeback with an odd leg sweep for a near-fall. Beefcake won't give him more than 10-seconds of offense before going to another headlock rest spot. Taylor with a slam and knee drop, finally stringing something together. Taylor with a back breaker for two. He bickers a bit with the referee and grabs a chin-lock. Beefcake escapes with elbows but runs into an elbow from Taylor. Taylor hits a sorry-a$$ Vader Bomb for two. Whip to the ropes and Beefcake with a sunset flip (yanking the tights down) for two. Taylor with an aggressive rake of the eyes. Whip to the corner, Beefcake greets him with an elbow and unloads with rights and lefts. Whip and Beefcake with a back body-drop. He gives Taylor a taste of the turnbuckle and hooks the Sleeper. Taylor manages to escape and tries to steal a fall, but the referee catches him. The distraction allows Beefcake to roll him up for two. Whip and Beefcake with a cross body press for two. Crisscross and the Barber's high knee finishes at 10:58 (shown). Not as much editing here, so safely call it *1/2 and be thankful Beefcake's WWF career was done.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Bastion Booger

Well, even with editing, I don't expect this one to go long. Duggan gets the MUNICH crowd to chant USA. That's how over Jim Duggan is, even in 1993. He hushes them down so he can lead them in the chant again. JESUS. Booger tries playing to the crowd, but he isn't as well received. They finally lockup, but it ends in a stalemate. Lockup into the ropes and Booger isn't afraid to take the cheap shot. Whip is reversed in super-slow-motion and Duggan hits Booger with a series of clotheslines, knocking him over the top rope on the third one. Back inside, Duggan unloads with the left jabs and the wind-up right hand. There's shtick, and then there's Jim Duggan. Whip to the ropes and Booger drops an axe-handle across the back of Duggan. Booger with choking across the middle rope, using his girth for more pressure. The crowd is firmly behind Duggan, chanting U-S-A as Booger grabs a bearhug (wouldn't that make it a Booger-Hug?). Duggan escapes with short rights, but Booger remains in control. Cut ahead to Duggan making his comeback, throwing more punches. Booger misses a splash. Duggan gets Booger up for the slam and finishes with the three-point stance clothesline at 6:03 (shown). This was as bad as you could've expected, but Duggan's shtick would generously score the full match ½*.

WWF Championship Match: Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. Hulk Hogan (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Main Event and final match of the card. Hogan's bizarre return of 1993 ended for the TV audience at King of the Ring, but he would work a handful of US dates in the days after, finally wrapping up with this tour of Europe, ending on August 6th in Sheffield, England. Hogan does the usual, beat up his opponent and the manager then finishes his entrance routine. We get some stalling once the bell rings. Lockup and Hogan shoves Yoko into the corner, making sure to flex afterwards. Yoko returns the favor, minus the posing. He unloads on the Hulkster with chops, but Hogan rakes the eyes and returns fire. He goes for a slam, but Yoko easily blocks that and punishes the back. Hogan rolls away from an elbow drop and throws more right hands. Hogan is fighting dirtier than the heel. Whip across the ring and Hogan charges in with a clothesline. More rights rock the Champion, but Fuji interrupts by jabbing Hogan with the flagpole. Yokozuna recovers and nails a thrust to the throat to regain control. Yoko grabs a blatant choke as we get more "U-S-A" chants. Who knew Munich loved America so much? Yoko comes crushing down with a chop and I bet that hurt inside. We slow things down with the nerve hold and might as well hit fast forward. Hogan escapes with elbows and comes off the ropes with a pair of clotheslines. Yokozuna counters a third with a clothesline of his own and hits a BIG SPLASH for two. Hogan kicks out WITH AUTHORITY and its HULK-UP TIME. Yoko's overhand rights have no effect. Hogan throws the right hands and nails Yoko with the big boot. More rights and another boot takes him down. Hulk drops the leg, but Fuji comes in for the Disqualification at 9:43 (shown). Post-match, Hogan lays out Fuji and knocks Yoko out of the ring with the megaphone. LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN! More watchable than the King of the Ring match, but who knows how much stalling was edited at the start (there didn't appear to be any once they first lockup). *1/2

Final Thoughts: Automatically a non-recommendation for the fact there's so many matches edited, making it a tough experience to sit back and enjoy the matches. The only recommendation I can give is if you're a hardcore collector and a Hulkamaniac, as this is the last match known to the public of Hogan in a WWF ring before departing for another shot at Hollywood and WCW.

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