First Duggan sighting on Superstars since WrestleMania VIII as far as I recall, and can't say I missed his presence?
Duggan's last years in the Fed feel a bit underutilised as far as big-time matches on PPV go (he worked near main event programs on house shows, but was a sort of surrogate Hogan so missed out on some of the big shows) and ultimately just not being used much on TV after a point.
SNME XXV: Had been feuding with Savage over the crown since Sept 1989 and it was ended here, as Savage moved on to the Dusty feud.
WrestleMania VI: Duggan didn't get given a new feud heading into Mania and then just had a random match with Dino Bravo, which should've been run the previous year to blow off their long feud. He did get hit hit with two Quakes post-match that would set him up for house shows post-Mania.
- With Hogan taking a good number of dates off between Mania and SummerSlam, Duggan was Quake's main house show opponent. Rather than trying to get Tugboat over as Hulk's buddy, maybe they'd have been better just using Duggan. But it makes sense that they'd try to get a new face over using the Hogan rub and we didn't really need Duggan against Bravo on TV.
SummerSlam 1990: Nikolai Volkoff is turning face, so they team him up with Duggan to take on the Orient Express. Slaughter returned on this show after almost 6 years away.
- Slaughter/Volkoff feuded, which led in to a Slaughter/Duggan feud.
Survivor Series 1990: But at the big PPV (perhaps because of the required booking due to the Ultimate Survivor concept), Duggan wasn't team captain opposite Slaughter or even opposite Slaughter at all. Volkoff was, while Duggan was on Hogan's team against Quake, even though he'd moved on.
Royal Rumble 1991: He didn't get his Slaughter match here, as Sarge was winning the title off Warrior.
The Main Event V: He got his big TV Slaughter match here, which was used to set up Hogan/Slaughter for Mania.
- Starts working with Adnan on house shows.
WrestleMania VII: Due to Hogan/Slaughter, he had nothing to do, so came out dressed as Uncle Sam to do commentary for the first match. I guess he could have had a match with Quake here to finish off their interactions. Could not really do Duggan/Adnan because who cares and Adnan was in Slaughter's corner in the main.
- Starts working with old rival under new gimmick, Sheiky Baby as Colonel Mustafa. Also still worked house show matches with Slaughter, sometimes boot camp matches.
SNME XXIX: Was in a battle royal won by Mr. Perfect, where Tugboat (who Hogan eliminated at the Rumble) eliminated Hulk.
SummerSlam 1991: Because of the main event they ran (Hogan/Warrior vs. Slaughter/Sheik/Adnan), Duggan was left with nothing at this show.
- Slaughter started doing his "I want my country back" face turn and Duggan was a part of that, accepting him, to allow the fans to cheer him again. Due to this, he didn't have a main fixed feud at the time so had a slew of different house show opponents, like I.R.S and Typhoon on the European tour (while Quake was against Davey Boy with Andre in his corner to continue the Quake/Andre feud that never had a blowoff). He was Taker's main house show opponent in October and November, while Hogan was doing house shows with Flair and feuding with both Flair and Taker on TV. Again in a prominent spot on house shows as a surrogate Hogan.
Survivor Series 1991: Slaughter replaced the injured-in-storyline Anvil in Duggan's team against Mustafa/Adnan/OX.
This Tuesday in Texas: Not on this short PPV card.
- Continued facing Taker on house shows through to early Jan in singles and tags with Savage and Jake, while the Duggan/Slaughter tag team was pushed on TV and began a feud with former tag champs the Nasty Boys.
Royal Rumble 1992: He and Virgil eliminated each other at the same time in the Rumble.
SNME XXX: As replacements for LOD, Duggan/Slaughter defeat the Beverlys in under 3 mins.
- Faced Jimmy Hart's other team the Natural Disasters on house shows as LOD replacements before the Disasters face turn.
WrestleMania VIII: Rather than getting their own tag match against the Nastys, Duggan/Slaughter were in the Family Feud 8-man tag.
- Slaughter moved on to a singles feud with Mountie and Duggan was not left with much to do on TV and worked less on house shows than usual. Could've at least had Mountie injure Duggan if you were not going to use him much. He could then come back to feud with Mountie after he had gone over Slaughter. He was team captain of WBF guys in a tug-of-war against a Mr. Perfect-led heel team of WWF guys in July. Guest ref for a few Savage/Flair house show matches, which is quite odd.
SummerSlam 1992: With most feuds being switched about shortly before this show, Slaughter/Mountie was still happening on house shows but was not on the big show (perhaps due to not wanting to run a USA/Canada match in Europe). Duggan had no feud but was in the opener opposite The Mountie in a 6-man with the Bushwhackers and Nasty Boys, but the match was not shown on the US PPV broadcast. While it featured the man his pal Slaughter had been feuding with and the Nastys (who they were feuding with earlier in the year), it just felt like a house show level match with fun personalities to get the the crowd going. In fact, putting Duggan in this match over Slaughter is a sign that the Fed knew the UK crowd would want to see him.
- Not on many house shows between SummerSlam and December, but some of those were prominent, subbing for Taker against Razor Ramon.
Survivor Series 1992: Not on the show
- More house show appearances in Dec (main opponent being Kamala) than Sept-Nov but no feud.
Royal Rumble 1993: Not on the show.
- Filmed before the Rumble but aired after, he did the Knockdown Challenge against Yoko in early Feb and won, before Yoko hit him with 3 Banzais and had him coughing up blood. This was followed by interviews with his wife saying she didn't want him to return to the ring and his father encouraging him to and then one with Duggan apologising for letting his family and country down.
WrestleMania IX: This feels set up for a Yoko/Duggan match at Mania IX, but again poor Duggan is put in a feud where he won't be able to get the big PPV match. Yoko faces Bret at Mania and Duggan's return to the ring is right after Mania.
- Duggan is calling out Yoko post-Mania but because of the change of plans with the title going to Hogan, Yoko/Hogan will be the match at KOTR. So yet again Duggan is just a surrogate Hogan, facing Yoko on house shows. In examples of some of his better ring work ever in the WWF, Duggan beat the IC Champ HBK by countout one week and then lost to him in a lumberjack match the next (attacking lumberjack Yoko during his entrance). He even had new ring gear (USA singlet and stars knee pads), so this felt like a possible heating up of Duggan after all the departures in the last year.
King of the Ring 1993: Lost to Bam Bam in 5 mins in the quarters of the tournament.
- Now he became the surrogate Luger while the Lex Express was running wild.
SummerSlam Spectacular 1993: Gets his TV Yoko match and blow-off but its just to give the champ a win to set him up for Lex at SummerSlam.
- And that was it for Duggan, the Yoko Spectacular match being his final one of this WWF run.
He must have made good money considering that he was in plenty of house show mains and featured matches against top stars and he was good in his surrogate role for Hogan, but it still feels like he was underutilised overall on PPV. Certainly he could have had a far superior resumé.
Let's go for a semi-realistic rebooking of Duggan's PPVs to give him a nicer run.
Mania VI: vs. Savage for the crown
SummerSlam 90: in the corner for Hogan vs. Quake as Tugboat's replacement
Survivor Series 90: Given what is coming up, better to have him be in Hogan's team vs. Quake than be captain opposite Slaughter
Royal Rumble 1991: In the Rumble, have Quake eliminate him before Hogan eliminates Quake for the win
WrestleMania VII: vs. Quake, while it is Hogan vs. Slaughter in the main
SummerSlam 1991: vs. Slaughter in a boot camp match, while Hogan/Warrior vs. Jake/Taker in the main (could do with that June PPV to run the Hogan/Slaughter rematch)
Survivor Series 1991: As it was really, letting face Slaughter join his team against Mustafa/Adnan.
Royal Rumble 1992: In the Rumble
WrestleMania VIII: w/Slaughter vs. Nasty Boys
SummerSlam 1992: Duggan taken out by Mountie in the build for Slaughter vs. Mountie
Survivor Series 1992: Duggan vs. Mountie, given that they moved away from the tags concept or could do them as opposing team captains
Royal Rumble 1993: Do the Knockdown Challenge against Yoko at the Rumble
WrestleMania IX: vs. Yoko
Almost feels like he'd have to win that Yoko Mania match. Yoko is just another short-lived monster gimmick.
Kilgore rejoices. Maybe Bret replaces Warrior at Survivor Series in this universe and gets the pin over Flair (giving him claim to a title shot), then beats Flair at Rumble for the title (Savage wins the Rumble) and defends against Savage at Mania. Should definitely feel far less of a midcard champ.
Nighty night.
