Dark Pegasus Video Review: Bashed In The U.S.A.

You can pick this up, along with many other fine tapes at Wrestletapes.net.

Released June 23, 1993.

Your host is Mr. Perfect, who is on the hunt for the perfect stamp.

The Big Bossman vs. Razor Ramon.

This would have to be shortly after Ramon’s debut. Ramon tries to get a kiss from ring announcer Mike McGuirk. Bossman snaps Ramon’s toothpick in half. Ha ha! GOOCHED! They stall forever…and ever…amen. The first real offensive maneuver, after nearly 4 minutes of stalling, is a slap by the Bossman. Razor tries a shoulderblock, but runs into a wall of Bossman. Ramon calls for a test of strength and cheats to win. Bossman hits him with a reverse elbow and schoolboys Ramon for two. Bossman gets a small package for one. Razor grabs the nightstick, but misses his swing. Bossman charges into the corner, but Ramon gets his feet up. Razor scoops him up and puts his feet on the ropes. Razor gets the win at 7:45. 3/4*

The Model & Money Inc. (w/Jimmy Hart). vs. Tatanka & High Energy.

The Model is Rick Martel. Money Inc. is Ted Dibiase and Irwin R. Shyster. High Energy is the late Owen Hart and Koko B. Ware. Dibiase armdrags Owen to start. Owen dropkicks Dibiase, pulling in IRS. The faces clear the heels out of the ring to regroup. Tatanka absolutely SQUAWSLAPS Martel and sends him out. Koko finally comes in with a bodypress on IRS. Koko is pretty hefty here. Kinda sad really. Martel chokes Tatanka down for some cheap heat. The heels go to work on Tatanka with some pedestrian stuff. Tatanka makes the tag to Koko, but the ref doesn’t see it. Koko distracts the ref while the heels triple choke Tatanka. Tatanka suplexes IRS and makes the HOT TAG to Owen. Owen clotheslines Dibiase out, triggering a huge fracas. Owen and Dibiase brawl on the floor. IRS falls on top of Koko for the pin at 12:12. *1/4

Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels joins us for a profile.

Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Kamala (w/Reverend Slick).

This was during Kamala’s brief face run near the end of his WWF career. Shawn slides through Kamala’s legs and taunts him. Kamala bearhugs him, but Shawn counters with a thumb to the eye. Michaels goes for a scoop slam. Not…smart. Kamala misses a charge in the corner, and Shawn comes off with a flying clothesline. Kamala delivers a thrust kick and a double chop. Kamala tosses Shawn over the top for no reason in particular. Shawn throws Slick down and heads for the back. Kamala chases him down, but not in time to prevent a countout at 4:30. 3/4*

Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Skinner.

This would have been great in 1986. It’s before the Kamala match because Shawn has the Sherri version of the music. Skinner knocks Shawn over the top with a right hand. Shawn backflips off Skinner’s head, but Skinner takes his head off with a clothesline. Skinner drops him with a swinging neckbreaker and a shoulderbreaker. Those get two. Skinner follows Michaels to the floor and gets tossed into the ringpost. Michaels delivers a standing dropkick, but Skinner comes back with an uppercut. Skinner tosses Michaels over the top, but Michaels slides back in and delivers the superkick for the out-of-nowhere win at 4:37. *

Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Virgil.

This would be even earlier because Michaels is announced as the “new Intercontinental Champion.” Michaels drop toeholds Virgil down and smacks him in the back of the head. Virgil drops a forearm and hits Shawn with an atomic drop. A dropkick gets two. Virgil gets a springboard crossbody for two. Virgil charges but takes a superkick right to the face. Great sequence. Michaels was still using the Backdrop Suplex at the time, so he goes to a chinlock. Virgil gets a backslide for two. When he pops up, Shawn levels him with a clothesline. Virgil slams Shawn’s head against the mat with two handfuls of hair. Virgil staggers him with left jabs and knocks him down with a straight right. It gets two. A flying clothesline gets two, but Virgil misses a charge to the corner. Michaels finishes him with the Backdrop Suplex at 7:08. **1/2

Michaels has to leave us because chicks are banging at his door.

40-Man Battle Royal:

Your participants are: Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Sgt. Slaughter, Tatanka, Tito Santana, Virgil, Kerry Von Erich, Barry Horowitz, Jim Powers, The Repo Man, Kato, Skinner, Dale Wolfe, The Brooklyn Brawler, Brian Costello, Reno Riggins, Dwayne Gill, Chuck Casey, Barry Hardy, Col. Mustafa, Tom Stone, Crush, Burt Spears, George Anderson, Ted Dibiase, I.R.S., Beau Beverly, Blake Beverly, Hawk, Animal, Owen Hart, Koko B. Ware, Brian Knobbs, Jerry Saggs, Earthquake, Typhoon and, of course, Ron Cumberland. (That’s three short, but I don’t see anyone else). Typhoon and Earthquake get tossed early. Ron Cumberland goes over. Someone else goes over. Nothing to recap really. Saggs goes over, but helps eliminate Hawk. They brawl up the entryway. Animal and Knobbs eliminate each other. Owen tosses Costello. Repo Man goes out. Shawn tosses Kerry Von Erich out. Crush brawls with both Beverly brothers. Bret and Shawn eliminate each other. Shawn runs back to the locker room before Bret can get at him. Skinner’s gone. IRS eliminates Slaughter. Mustafa backdrops Jim Powers over. Dibiase and Kato toss Crush out. The Brawler goes. There goes Mustafa. Koko charges Dibiase, but Dibiase backdrops him all the way to the floor. The Beverlys can’t seem to eliminate Tom Stone so they toss Kato instead. Finally, they get that pesky Stone out. That leaves Beau and Blake Beverly, IRS and Tatanka. The heels swarm Tatanka. Beau Beverly charges, but Tatanka dodges, sending the Beverly over the top. IRS and Blake try to toss Tatanka, but he grabs the ropes and sends both heels over the top at 13:15. *

Bret Hart amuses himself by drawing caricatures of the WWF heels.

Intercontinental Championship: Bret “the Hitman” Hart vs. “The Model” Rick Martel.

We’re leading into Summerslam 1992. Bret takes him down in a headlock, and they work that for a while. Martel cartwheels away from a punch. Bret tries a reverse monkey flip, but Martel cartwheels away from that too. Bret clotheslines him out. Bret rams Martel into the ringpost. Back in, Martel charges but goes into the post again. Bret armdrags him down to an armbar. Martel bodyslams out of it, but Bret counters his charge with another armdrag. Martel hotshots Bret and takes over with a chinlock. Bret fights out of it and sunset flips Martel for two. Martel stays on offense with a gutwrench. Martel tries a slingshot splash, but Bret gets his knees up. Bret slips out of a suplex and delivers an atomic drop. A flying clothesline levels Martel. Bret gets two from a small package. A Pendulum Backbreaker sets up a Sharpshooter attempt. Martel pulls the referee down as he goes over. Bret moves in, but Martel blasts him with the can of Arrogance (his perfume). Martel puts Bret in the Boston Crab. Out comes Shawn Michaels to attack Bret, triggering a disqualification. Martel and Shawn get in an argument setting up their match at Summerslam. (10:13). **3/4

The Beverly Brothers (w/The Genius) vs. The Natural Disasters.

The Beverlys attack early, but the Disasters do-si-do into clotheslines. The Disasters hit double avalanches in the corner and then one giant quadruple avalanche. The Disasters use their weight advantage to push the Beverlys around until Beau uses the Genius’ scroll to blast Typhoon. The Beverlys take over on Typhoon. Typhoon reverses a whip, but he misses his follow-up charge. Blake talks trash but charges into a big boot. HOT TAG to Earthquake. Earthquake hits Blake with a belly-to-belly. Beau breaks up the count. Earthquake makes Blake pay with a powerslam. Beau breaks up the count again. Earthquake tosses him and goes for the vertical splash. Beau rolls out of the ring. The Genius distracts Typhoon while Beau brawls with the Earthquake. Blake squirts into the ring just before the ref counts ten. The Beverlys win on a countout at 7:14. **

Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer)

HUGE staredown to start. Yoko slugs away, but the Taker simply staggers back and delivers a running DDT. Big pop for that. Undertaker misses an elbow, and Yoko clotheslines him out. Yoko follows him and slams him into the ring steps. Yokozuna delivers a splash to the corner and a leg drop. Taker does the Zombie sit up. Yoko belly-to-belly suplexes him, but Taker sits up again. Yoko freaks out and smashes Taker in the head with his ceremonial salt bucket, drawing the DQ at 4:06. After the match, Yoko tries to squash Taker with the Banzai drop. Taker moves out of the way and chokeslams Yoko down. The only fun comes from seeing Taker so deep into his character. 3/4*

To close, Mr. Perfect shows us what the perfect stamp looks like.

Final Thoughts: Even with a number of Shawn and Bret matches, this tape is awful. The only decent matches are Shawn vs. Virgil and Bret vs. Martel. The other matches are either bland or piss-poor. Don’t waste your time on this one.

Recommendation to avoid “Bashed in the U.S.A..”

J.D. Dunn.