Category: RAW

February 15^th, 1993
Location: Manhattan, NY (Manhattan Center)
Taped show (on Feb. 1^st 1993)
Announced attendance: ca 1 000 (capacity: ca 1 000)
TV rating: 3.3 (USA Network) [up 0.3 from the previous RAW’s 3.0]

Welcome everyone to yet another review of WWF RAW. RAW is back after a one-week absence, as The Dog Show aired on USA Network the previous week instead of RAW. Tonight’s show features a 15-man battle royal and Brutus Beefcake’s return to the ring, against ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase. Let’s get to it.

Here is the list of champions in WWF heading into this episode of RAW (air date):

• WWF Champion: Bret Hart [126^th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [111^th day of his reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [125^th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage & Rob Bartlett

– We hear from Brutus Beefcake and Ted DiBiase to start the program. Brutus says he’s ready for action, while Ted promises something bad will happen. Jimmy Hart doesn’t think it’s necessary, but Ted says everything will be just fine!

– The RAW intro plays to kick off the show

The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Glen Ruth & Bobby Who

Really, Bobby Who!? Scott easily overpowers Ruth in the beginning. Impressive dragon suplex by Scott while Savage faces some problems with his microphone. Damn it, why couldn’t it be Bartlett’s!? Rick with an explosive belly-to-belly on Bobby Who, and Scott follows it up with a dropkick on Who. Scott gets him up in Razor’s Edge position, and Rick comes off the top with a flying elbowdrop for the double-team. Rick with a chinlock for a while. The jobber actually hits Rick with a bunch of wussy forearms to the chest, which earns him THE MOTHER OF ALL CLOTHESLINES. What are you even thinking, Mr. Who?? Scott follows it up with the butterfly powerbomb, and then The Steiners end it with the Doomsday Bulldog at 3:32.

• Rating: The Steiners are always exciting to watch, even if it is just a squash. Very explosive, hard-hitting bout. The Steiners came out of it looking awesome as usual. Effective squash. *

WrestleMania IX Report w/ Mean Gene

• Brought to you by IcoPro!
• Gene promotes the main event: World Champ Bret Hart against the Royal Rumble winner Yokozuna for the WWF Championship
• The first preliminary matches have just been added to the card: The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez (good lord almighty…) and Crush vs. Doink the Clown, with Crush looking for revenge from Doink’s vicious attack last month on Superstars
• Call your local cable company for availability. What are you waiting for? DO IT NOW!

Yokozuna vs. Ross Greenberg

Savage’s microphone is still not working. Greenberg charges right into a clothesline from Yoko to start. Yoko with a massive belly-to-belly suplex. Vince puts over Jim Duggan’s recent feat of being the first wrestler to ever knock Yokozuna off his feet. Yeah, talk about a wasted star-making moment. Jim f*cking Duggan…. Anyway, Yoko drops the big leg on Greenberg, kills him with the corner Avalanche and adds the exclamation point with the Banzai at 2:01.

• Rating: Another easy win for Yokozuna as he heads towards his WWF Title shot at WrestleMania. 1/2*

Meanwhile, Savage steals Bartlett’s mic. YESS!!

Special Report w/ Lord Alfred Hayes

• Hayes recaps Yokozuna’s showdown with Jim Duggan a couple of weeks earlier on Superstars. Duggan was successful in getting the huge man off his feet, only to get squashed like a bug by the angry Yoko immediately afterwards. Yoko gave him a handful of Banzais, the last with the American flag covering Jim’s body. Duggan was bleeding internally and had to be taken out on a stretcher.

– Vince announces all the participants in the upcoming battle royal refused to have Giant Gonzalez join the field. We then see a recap of three jobbers walking away from their 3-on-1 handicap match against Gonzalez on the last episode of Superstars

– PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION PAID FOR BY THE FOLLOWING: Bret Hart tells you what IcoPro is all about! WWF Figures are sold separately DIG IT! Need a little excitement? You know what to do, OHHH YEAAH!

15-Man Battle Royal

Your list of official participants: Bob Backlund, Damien Demento, Typhoon, The Berzerker, El Matador, Razor Ramon, Terry Taylor, Tatanka, Iron Mike Sharpe (did someone no-show!??), Kamala, Skinner, IC Champion Shawn Michaels, Koko B. Ware, Owen Hart and Kim Chee.

Big melee to start with everyone going at it in the corners, while Kim Chee waits outside. He sneaks in rather quickly and joins everyone else, though. Backlund backdrops Sharpe over the top for the first elimination. It’s pretty impossible to follow the action. Kim Chee sneaks out once again. Koko tries toss Shawn out, but ends up charging into a backdrop by HBK for another elimination. Tito goes up top for a flying fistdrop on Berzerker, which is never good strategy in a battle royal. It works here, but it’s still dumb. A bunch of near-eliminations going on near the ropes on all corners of the ring. What is even the purpose of this battle royal? Maybe something huge is on the line here and I totally missed the announcement like a dumbass. I honestly don’t know. Skinner stops to dance on the ropes like a complete moron, and Typhoon clotheslines him out. Tito rams Razor’s head into the turnbuckle numerous times, while Kamala dumps Demento out. Berzerker gets rid of Owen. Santana tries to capitalize and quickly eliminate Berzerker from behind, but he’s unable to do it. HBK slugs away on Tito in the corner. Kamala eliminates Berzerker with a terrible “superkick”… well it’s the thought that counts! Kim Chee comes in from behind while Typhoon attemps to eliminate Kamala, eliminating him. Kamala goes back in and gets rid of Kim Chee, who runs away through the crowd into the concession stand. Kamala chases him while we take a break.

Commercial break

We’re back with Kamala still chasing Kim Chee all over the arena. Terry Taylor is no longer there, apparently getting tossed out sometime while the cameras were focusing on the whole Kamala/Kim Chee stuff. Courtesy of Tatanka. Backlund went out too, at the hands of Razor. Thanks Cagematch! Typhoon squashes Michaels in the corner. However, he misses a blind charge in the corner and Michaels manages to throw the big man out. It’s down to Michaels, Razor, Tito and Tatanka. Again, what is this for? I’m genuinely lost! Shawn goes after Tatanka aggressively, with Savage bringing up Tatanka’s huge pinfall win over Shawn last week on Superstars. I recommend that one, by the way. What a huge pop for what used to be a rare non-title over a champion. Tito gives Tatanka a hand, though, and both babyfaces manhandle the Intercontinental Champion. Razor is just hanging out watching. A double-whip into the buckle leaves Michaels laying on the top rope, as then both Tatanka and Tito kick HBK to the outside for the elimination. They go after Razor together next… but Giant Gonzalez is here. Razor smartly leaves the ring and watches as Gonzalez tosses Tatanka. Gonzalez chops Tito and tosses him as well. Gonzalez walks away alongside Harvey Wippleman. Razor sneaks back inside the ring and Finkel announces him as the official winner after 13:37. Apparently this was for nothing… yep.

• Rating: A near 15 minute battle royal as a set-up for a 30-second Giant Gonzalez run-in so he can toss a couple of dudes over the top rope and leave. About as exciting as it sounds. What a waste of TV time. How about… I don’t know, an actual interaction between Bret and Yokozuna? No? Anyway, this was pointless and boring. 1/2*

Main Event

Ted DiBiase (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Brutus Beefcake

This is Beefcake’s first wrestling match since July 1990. Lockup and Brutus sends DiBiase flying into the turnbuckle. Beefcake hammers away with a series of rights on DiBiase, who bails. Back inside, Beefcake remains in control with a side headlock. Beefcake sends him flying with yet another series of punches, and Ted is getting quite irritated. DiBiase goes after Brutus back inside, only to get sent into the buckle. Back to the side headlock goes Beefcake, as IRS comes down to ringside. Jimmy Hart asks IRS what he’s doing out there, but IRS doesn’t wanna hear it. DiBiase whips Beefcake into the ropes, and IRS hits him with a shot with the briefcase to Brutus’ back for the DQ at 4:26.

IRS joins the ring for the beatdown on Brutus afterwards. DiBiase holds Beefcake’s arms for a briefcase shot to the face. Jimmy Hart begs IRS not to do it, so IRS shoves Jimmy to the outside. IRS charges and destroys Beefcake’s broken face with a shot with the briefcase. Jimmy checks on Beefcake inside the ring while Money Inc walk away without their manager. Jimmy begs for someone to come and give some help. Great selljob by Jimmy Hart, who was the MVP of this whole angle in my view. There are shots of blood all over the ring canvas. Vince tells us no major damage was done to Brutus’ face, though.

• Rating: The angle was pretty good, it did a good job of setting up Hulk Hogan’s eventual return. It made sense for the heels to target Beefcake’s legitimately broken face. As far as the actual match goes, though, it was very basic and it wasn’t very good. I didn’t like how Beefcake, who hadn’t wrestled any match at all in nearly 3 years, totally dominated not only a veteran, but a reigning champion in WWF. DiBiase literally got no offense in. I understand their match was nothing but a set-up for the angle, but it wasn’t a good match. 1/4*

Next week: Money Inc are in action, which means Hulk Hogan might actually show up. Plus, a six-man tag team match.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: I liked the first two squashes and the final angle was good too. However, everything else was completely skippable, especially that pointless battle royal. I’m not the biggest fan of battle royals to begin with, but a 15-minute one with nothing on the line where someone who wasn’t in the match “won” makes it even worse. I didn’t like the main event match either, but they made up for it with the post-match angle to close the show. I didn’t think it was terrible, but some actual build towards WrestleMania would help. Silent Rob Bartlett did help, though, so there’s that! 4/10

POINT SYSTEM

Find out more about our point system here

That’s all from me here. Make sure you don’t miss my upcoming review of the WCW PPV, SuperBrawl III. Don’t miss any of the other RAW reviews either. See you next time!

Do you enjoy the content we put out here on SmarKDown? If so and you would like to support us, please consider donating as it would help us improve. You can donate yearly, monthly or just once, choosing one of the amounts below or a custom one as you wish. All donations are appreciated!

Written by:

Tomás Cunha

February 1^st, 1993
Live from Manhattan, NY (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 000 (capacity: ca 1 000)
TV rating: 3.0 (USA Network) [up 0.4 from the previous RAW’s 2.6]

Thank you for joining me for yet another 1993 RAW review. It’s the fallout from the previous week’s Loser Leaves WWF Match which saw Ric Flair leave the company. Tonight, Brutus Beefcake makes his return to WWF. Doink the Clown and “The Narcissist” Lex Luger both make their televised WWF in-ring debuts as the build towards WrestleMania continues.

Here is the list of WWF champions heading into this week:

• WWF Champion: Bret Hart [112^th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [97^th day of his reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [111^th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage & Rob Bartlett

– RAW’s intro plays to kick off this week’s show

– We’re going straight to the ring for the first match of the evening

Tatanka vs. Damien Demento

Demento takes control early on, until Tatanka surprises him with a small package for two. Tatanka with a hiptoss, a slam and a clothesline dumps Demento over the top to the floor. Demento stops to talk to the voices in his head (they talk to him, they understand too?) allowing Tatanka to chop away on the outside. That’s pretty dumb if you ask me. Back inside for a few more chops, but Demento takes him down with a clothesline. Back elbow smash by Demento and he follows it up with a legdrop for two. Demento goes to a headlock while the crowd chants “we want Flair”. Tatanka escapes the headlock, marches around the ring as he makes the comeback before finishing with the Not Samoan Drop at 4:10.

• Rating: Extended squash for Tatanka. Basic but not awful. *

– A clip airs of Bret Hart, representing the company as the reigning WWF Champion, presenting a 100.000$ donation check at the “Headlock on Hunger” charity event

Brutus Beefcake returns to the WWF

Vince McMahon joins Beefcake in the ring for an interview. Brutus wants to make his return to action, but Vince wonders if it’ll be a good idea due to the parasailing accident. Brutus explains that it wasn’t just the accident, as shortly before his mother passed away. His dad went right after her, due to a heart attack. And THEN his wife left him for some other guy. She was probably just tired of having Hogan around the house, I honestly can’t blame her. Beefcake continues by saying that then the parasailing accident occurred. He was just about to quit, he was broke, he was destroyed, his jaw had 8 steel plates, 30 screws, 500 stitches but the first thing he saw… was the red and yellow as Hulk Hogan reached his hand and all went well. Oh dear god. His career is in shambles, but Hogan told him “go for it, Brutus” so he’s decided to do so. He kinda had me there at the start, but then it all turned into “Hulk Hogan saved the world” territory and he totally lost me. But hey, Brutus is back to the ring. Yey!…

High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware) vs. Iron Mike Sharpe & Von Krus

Well, this one shouldn’t take too long. Sharpe overpowers Owen with a shove off the early lockup. Shoulderblock by Sharpe, but Owen kips up and cuts him off with a dropkick. High Energy with a double-team backdrop to Krus, as then Koko takes care of Iron Mike Sharpe by dropkicking him off the apron. That leaves Von Krus alone, allowing High Energy to finish him with Koko’s missile dropkick straight into Owen’s jackknife roll-up combination for the easy squash at 1:31. Von Krus is the future Big Vito, by the way.

• Rating: In ‘n’ out squash. 1/4*

– Recap of Doink taking out Crush last month on Superstars

Typhoon vs. Doink the Clown

This is Doink’s in-ring debut in the WWF, if you don’t count the already-taped matches on Superstars that only aired later that month. Doink immediately takes Typhoon off his feet with a single-leg takedown. Typhoon sends Doink flying with a huge hiptoss, but Doink manages to take him down yet again, into a front facelock. Typhoon overpowers Doink to escape the hold, only for Doink to wrestle Typhoon down once more as he goes to work on the arm now with a hammerlock. Doink switches into a headlock, but Typhoon rams him into the turnbuckle to block it and puts the clown in a bearhug. Typhoon with a powerslam, only to miss an avalanche in the corner. Doink takes advantage with a flying clothesline and he steals the pin with a handful of tights at 3:10.

• Rating: This was there to show that Doink actually knows a thing or two about this wrestling stuff. It wasn’t good or exciting, but it got the point across well enough. 1/2*

– WWF Mania ad followed by a short interview with the show’s host, Todd Pettingill

– 10-bell salute to Andre the Giant, who died the previous week.

– PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION PAID FOR BY THE FOLLOWING: Try some IcoPro! How about these WWF Figures! Oh, and don’t forget… snap into a Slim Jim ooooh yeaaah!

Yokozuna vs. Bobby DeVito

Good luck out there, Mr. DeVito. Yokozuna is fresh off winning the Royal Rumble the week before. DeVito charges into a superkick from Yoko right off the bat. Yoko with a belly to belly followed by a legdrop, as we hear from Jim Duggan on the phone. Yeah, good luck to you too, Duggan. Yokozuna destroys the poor jobber a bit more for fun before ending him with the Banzai Drop at 2:38.

• Rating: Another squash. Effective way to put Yokozuna over as a pretty big deal on his way to WrestleMania. 1/2*

Interview with Money Inc

Vince asks how does it feel to get into an arena and get such a negative reaction. DiBiase tells him that the only thing that bothers him is an empty bank account, which he never experienced. Hahah! They accept Brutus Beeefcake’s open challenge for his return bout and flip a coin to see who will take on him. However, this draws Jimmy Hart to ringside, who doesn’t exactly agree with the idea since one of them can get hurt and risk the team’s success. The champions tell him not to worry about it, but Jimmy still isn’t into the idea at all.

– Mr. Perfect vignette airs

Main Event

“The Narcissist” Lex Luger vs. Jason Knight

Yet another debut here as this is Luger’s first match in WWF. Luger takes Jason down with a hiptoss and immediately stops to pose. What, a man has priorities! Luger destroys Knight with a hard clothesline out of the corner and poses some more. Stungun by Luger and more posing. Powerslam by Luger followed by a running clothesline. Luger ends Knight with a forearm and pins him with his pinky at 2:38.

• Rating: Basically what I said about all the other matches. 1/4*

Vince closes by saying RAW won’t air next week because The Dog Show will be on. RAW returns in 2 weeks with Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted DiBiase.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Well, this was a pretty discreet episode filled with squashes all over the broadcast. I wouldn’t say it was terrible as a number of things happened here, including a return and multiple in-ring debuts, but I wouldn’t exactly recommend this one to anyone, especially compared to the previous episode which had Perfect/Flair. But it’s not like it will make you question your life choices after watching it or anything like that. 4/10

POINT SYSTEM

Find out more about the point system here

That’s all from me. Make sure you don’t miss any of the next reviews. Also, download our web app which you should be able to find on top of the page, near the link bar. See you all next time!

Do you enjoy the content we put out here on SmarKDown? If so and you would like to support us, please consider donating as it would help us improve. You can donate yearly, monthly or just once, choosing one of the amounts below or a custom one as you wish. All donations are appreciated!

Written by:

Tomás Cunha

January 25^th, 1993
Taped (on Jan. 18^th, 1993) from Manhattan, NY (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 000 (capacity: ca 1 000)
TV rating: 2.6 (USA Network) [down 0.2 from the previous RAW’s 2.8]

Welcome to another review of an early episode of Monday Night RAW. This week, Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect finally go at it in a one-on-one match, with the loser being forced to leave the World Wrestling Federation! Additionally, Randy Savage is looking for redemption against Repo Man after last week’s theft.

Here is the list of WWF champions heading into this episode (considering the date the show aired):

• WWF Champion: Bret Hart [105^th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [90^th day of his reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [104^th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Rob Bartlett

– RAW opens with Repo Man, still possessing Randy Savage’s hat, showing up in a flat truck outside to cut off Sean Mooney’s intro.

– The intro of the show plays.

– McMahon, Heenan and Bartlett welcome us to RAW at ringside.

Randy Savage vs. Repo Man

Savage jumps Repo Man from behind right off the bat. Savage takes him outside for a kneedrop. Back in the ring, Macho goes up for a flying kneedrop that gets two. Repo Man throws Savage to the outside. However, he stops to celebrate and Savage comes up with a high knee to the back from behind. Repo Man tries to take a walk to the dressing room, but Savage stops him. Savage takes him back to the ring to continue the beating. A trip to the steps followed by one to the ring post turn things around for Repo Man, though. Heenan with the line of the night by asking Vince “where did they get this guy” [Bartlett] after one of Bartlett’s stupid lines. Repo Man puts Savage in a sleeper, Savage fights out of it and we go to a break.

Commercial break

We return with Repo Man still in control. Legdrop by Repo Man gets two, brother. Bodyscissors by Repo Man. Savage escapes with a kick to the gut, but Repo Man immediately throws him down with a clothesline. The crowd chants for “Macho” while Repo Man chokes away on the ropes. Backdrop suplex by Repo Man gets two. Savage tries to fight back, but Repo Man sends him into the turnbuckle to stop him. Backbreaker by Repo Man. Repo Man goes up but ends up landing in a clothesline by Savage in mid-air. The Macho Elbow connects and that’s all at 13:30. Savage celebrates in the ring afterwards with HIS HAT BACK ON! All is right in the world again!

• Rating: This was a two-week long feud over a hat! It’s not surprising that it turned out to be nothing special. It went a bit long due to the lack of heat, and it honestly felt like little more than a showcase victory for Randy Savage. Not much to this match or “feud”. *1/2

– WrestleMania IX advert airs.

Kamala (w/ Reverend Slick) vs. The Brooklyn Brawler

Brawler goes after Kamala from behind before the bell. He tries a slam on Kamala, but Kamala easily reverses it and hits a slam of his own. Brooklyn Brawler wants a handshake, but the crowd advises Kamala to refuse via a “you are a man” chant. My god! Kamala obliges and chops Brawler instead. Kamala hits a superkick of sorts and follows it up with a buttdrop in the corner. Kamala goes for a pin off some choking in the corner, but he struggles to do the pinfall properly and the match continues. Big boot by Kamala and he does the dumb inverted pinfall once again. Alright, we get the point. Kamala finally hits the splash and keeps rolling the Brawler over until he finally gets him in proper pinfall position at 3:32.

• Rating: Absolutely awful nonsense. DUD

Vince McMahon leaves commentary for an interview with Kamala and Slick. Vince congratulates Slick for the job he’s done with Kamala lately, but Slick says the credit goes to all the fans.

Royal Rumble Report w/ Mean Gene

• Royal Rumble will be available on Coliseum Video on February 11^th 1993
• Mean Gene recaps Bret Hart’s successful WWF Title defense over Razor Ramon, as well as Yokozuna’s Royal Rumble win – that will be our main event at WrestleMania.
• Okerlund also recaps Bobby Heenan’s reveal of “Narcissus” and the debut of Giant Gonzalez
• Mean Gene closes by promoting SmarKDown’s review of the Royal Rumble 1993, which you can see here. How nice of you!

– PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION PAID FOR BY THE FOLLOWING: Bret Hart wants you to try IcoPro! Snap into a Slim Jim oooh yeeeaah!

Main Event

Loser Leaves Town Match – Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect

Both guys exchange slaps to start. Flair strikes first with a shoulderblock off the lockup. Flair off the ropes, Perfect with a drop toehold and a number of bitchslaps! Flair bails and Heenan is about to have a heart attack over on commentary. They battle over a hammerlock back-and-forth, Flair takes him down with a drop toehold into a headlock, which Perfect turns into a hammerlock. Flair escapes the hold with an elbow in the corner. He goes for chops, but Perfect fires away with chops of his own and Flair begs off. Great commentary by Heenan and Vince, putting over both men’s defensive strategy due to the stipulation. Flair unloads with the chops in the corner. Perfect once again throws chops himself, and follows with a series of jabs as Flair backs off yet again. Flair pokes the eye, dumps Perfect to the floor and grabs a chair, but the referee prevents him from using it on Perfect. We go to a break.

Commercial break

We come back with Flair in control back inside the ring. Flair sends Perfect flying all the way to the outside on a hard whip into the buckle. Perfect is busted open. Flair takes him back inside the ring for another hard whip into the buckle. Flair works the count a few times with his feet on the ropes. Perfect fights back with a clothesline out of the corner that gets him two. Flair goes for a hiptoss, which gets blocked by Perfect and turned into a backslide for two. Perfect with a backdrop out of the corner, and Ric is begging off. Perfect slugs away with fists in the corner, until Flair stops him with an atomic drop and rolls Perfect up for two. Flair goes outside, but Perfect is having none of his mindgames. Perfect chops the f-ck outta Flair’s chest while on the apron, and brings him into the middle of the ring with a suplex for two. Heenan is losing his mind on commentary and I’m loving it! Flair catches Perfect in a sleeper. Perfect fades down to his knees and Heenan is YELLING for the referee to ring the bell while punching the announce table! The ref checks on Perfect, but his arms only drop twice so he’s still in it. Perfect runs Flair into the turnbuckle out of desperation to escape the hold. Now Perfect applies a sleeper of his own, which Flair eventually escapes with a backdrop suplex. Figure Four by Flair, but Hebner breaks the hold after catching Naitch grabbing the ropes for leverage. Flair climbs up to the top rope, but Perfect SHOCKINGLY slams him off. We take a final break!

Commercial break

We’re back with Flair using the ropes to get back up to his feet. Vince lets us know we only have about 9 minutes left on the air. Flair reaches for some brass knuckles on his knee pads. The POWER OF THE PUNCH turns Perfect’s lights out. Flair adds a cheap kneedrop for good measure. Flair covers Perfect to end his WWF career… but Perfect has a foot on the ropes! Now Flair is pissed, so he hammers on Perfect’s cut repeatedly. Perfect no-sells a number of Flair chops in the corner, and he’s all fired up. Perfect with his own chops followed by a big backdrop. Clothesline by Perfect. Whip into the buckle by Perfect, Flair flip into the top rope, but Perfect catches him in mid-air with a clothesline for a nearfall. Flair takes Perfect down for a bunch of two counts, but gets caught using the ropes again. Hebner kicks Flair’s legs away, leading into a cradle by Perfect for two. Flair sets up Perfect for something off the ropes, but Perfect catches Flair with a quick Perfectplex for the win to send Naitch back to WCW at 23:00.

Bobby Heenan is cussing and throwing stuff around ringside after the match while Perfect celebrates.

• Rating: Amazing job done by Perfect and Flair here. They told a brilliant story throughout the entire matchup, with both playing defense at first (which was addressed on commentary) before risking a bit more as tensions grew in the final moments of the match. This lacked a few more nearfalls to take it to that next level, and the commercial breaks in the middle didn’t help, but it was still a heck of a match. The first truly awesome match in the (then brief) history of RAW. ****

– Vince tells us that Ric Flair must honor his already-signed WWF bookings before leaving for good. For those wondering, he worked until February and finished up after the European tour, where he put over the likes of Bret Hart and Undertaker. Here are his final matches, courtesy of Cagematch:

– Next week: Typhoon vs. Doink the Clown. Feel the excitement!

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Savage/Repo Man was decent at best (a feud over a hat could only go so far…) and Kamala’s squash match sucked, but at the end of the day it all comes down to the main event. Nothing else mattered. Flair/Perfect was awesome and that’s all people were going to remember from this show anyway. Rarely did a match with such huge implications happen on WWF TV at this time, so this show felt huge. Like I said at the beginning of the paragraph, not everything was good, but at the end of the day this will forever be one of the most memorable episodes of RAW due to what happened in the main event. 8/10

POINT SYSTEM

Check out our point system here

That’s gonna be all from me. Make sure you don’t miss the next reviews of RAW, as well as the upcoming pay-per-views from both WCW (SuperBrawl) and WWF (WrestleMania IX). See you in my next review!

Do you enjoy the content we put out here on SmarKDown? If so and you would like to support us, please consider donating as it would help us improve. You can donate yearly, monthly or just once, choosing one of the amounts below or a custom one as you wish. All donations are appreciated!

Written by:

Tomás Cunha

January 18^th, 1993
Live from Manhattan, NY (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 000 (capacity: ca 2 200)
TV rating: 2.8 (USA Network) (up 0.3 from the previous RAW’s 2.5)

Welcome everyone to my review of the second episode of Monday Night RAW. This week, on the go-home edition for the Royal Rumble, Ric Flair, Mr. Perfect and Marty Jannetty are in action. But the real question is… can Bobby Heenan actually get into the arena this time around!?

Here is the list of WWF champions heading into this RAW:

• WWF Champion: Bret Hart [98^th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [83^rd day of his reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [97^th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage & Rob Bartlett

– The show opens with Rob Bartlett ripping a picture of Bobby Heenan, before Repo Man ambushes Macho Man Randy Savage from behind.

– The RAW intro plays.

Mr. Perfect vs. ‘Terrific’ Terry Taylor

We’re starting off the show with a LONG awaited rematch from SummerSlam 89! Savage is absent from commentary as he’s looking for Repo Man, by the way. Perfect takes down Taylor early and slaps him. Savage makes his way back to ringside at this time, without his hat which apparently was stolen by Repo Man. Perfect with a powerslam into a dropkick, but Taylor runs away like a, ahem, like a chicken. Easy target I know, gimme a break! Perfect works a chinlock and the crowd wants Flair. Taylor breaks the hold and hiptosses him, but Perfect kicks him off. Slam by Perfect, but now Taylor kicks him off, only for Perfect to catch him with an armdrag into an armbar. Meanwhile, Bobby Heenan is live on commentary via phone call. He speaks his mind… and they cut to break. Man, poor Heenan!

Commercial break

We return with Taylor pounding away on Perfect around ringside, and with Heenan still on the line. Taylor catches Perfect with a jawbreaker back inside as he takes over. He gets two with a backbreaker. Perfect shows some life near the corner, but Taylor quickly cuts him off with a thumb to the eye. Perfect escapes a chinlock by Taylor, only to walk right into a spinebuster that gets Taylor a two count. Terry with a gutwrench powerbomb for two more. Perfect finally makes a comeback and scores with an atomic drop, followed by the Perfect necksnap. However, Ric Flair comes down to ringside to challenge Perfect, drawing Perfect to the outside for a beatdown while Taylor has the referee distracted. Flair throws Perfect back inside for Taylor to finish him off, but a suplex attempt by Taylor is reversed right into a Perfectplex for the win at 10:30. Perfect rolls out and runs after Flair as soon as it’s over.

• Rating: Quite the good little TV match here. Taylor held his own against Perfect through his cheating early on, and later through Flair’s interferences. Taylor got a couple of solid nearfalls throughout this match, in what might actually be his very best match ever in the WWF, unless I’m forgetting something. It made sense for it to go a bit longer as Perfect was still slowly getting back to in-ring shape after more than a year out of the ring, while Taylor had always been active in both WCW and WWF. ***

– PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION PAID FOR BY THE FOLLOWING! Bret Hart wants you to try IcoPro!

– Snap into a Slim Jim oooh yeeeaah!

Vince McMahon interviews Bret Hart

Vince brings back Razor Ramon’s words about Bret and the Hart Family in his promo last week on RAW. Bret says he’s alright when someone comes after him, but Razor crossed the line when he jumped Owen. Bret adds that Razor is the lowest scum in the WWF. Vince wants to know if the upcoming World title match at Royal Rumble will be the typical Bret Hart technical wrestling match. Bret says the championship means Bret Hart is the best wrestler currently, but he’s gonna throw the rule book out the window at the Rumble. He promises to beat up Razor from one side of the ring to the other to get revenge, and Razor will find out that Bret is not only the best but also the toughest. Good follow-up to Razor’s promo the previous week, it did a good job of selling their issues.

– The Undertaker & Paul Bearer promote “Headlock on Hunger”, a show later that month in MSG to raise awareness for children in Somalia.

Marty Jannetty vs. Glen Ruth

Marty is challenging Shawn Michaels for the IC Title in six nights at the Rumble. For those of you who don’t know, Glen Ruth would later work for the WWF as Thrasher, one half of the Headbangers. Glen wants a handshake before the match, only to jump Marty from behind. He ends up running into an elbow on a blind charge, though, and Marty comes off the top rope with a faceplant. Jannetty works the arm before catching Glen with a clothesline off a criss-cross sequence, as Shawn Michaels speaks live via phone call too. Shawn says the Rockers were successful once all because of himself, and promises Sherri will be with him after the Royal Rumble. Jannetty hits a suplex and spends almost the entire phone working on the arm. Marty slugs away on Glen in the corner and shoots him off with a hard Irish whip. Jannetty slides between Glen’s legs and catches him with the Rocker Dropper at 5:10.

• Rating: Not good. Jannetty spent much of the match working holds before finishing the guy out of nowhere. Shawn’s interview kept it somewhat interesting, but it was not a very impressive performance from Jannetty ahead of the big clash with Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble for the Intercontinental title. Ineffective squash. 1/2*

– We see a recap of Doink finally making his de-facto debut after MONTHS of introductory cameos, brutally attacking Crush and hospitalizing him last week on Superstars.

– Sean Mooney is outside and Repo Man passes by with Macho Man’s hat. Savage challenges Repo Man right away and leaves the commentary booth.

Royal Rumble Report w/ Mean Gene

• Razor Ramon cuts a promo on Bret Hart. He’s got gold on his fingers and on his neck. After he’s done with Bret, he’ll have gold on his waist.
• Mean Gene follows up by hyping the Royal Rumble match, which will determine the challenger for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania IX.
• Gene hypes the Intercontinental title matchup between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty as well.
• What are you waiting for? CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CABLE COMPANY FOR AVAILABILITY!

– Randy Savage is outside with Sean Mooney looking for Repo Man on the streets, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

Main Event

Ric Flair vs. ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana

The fans actually go back-and-forth with chants for both guys. Tito strikes first with a shoulderblock. He follows it up with a powerslam and a side headlock. Flair tries to block the hold, but Tito uses the ropes for leverage and goes back to the side headlock. Flair manages to escape it on a second try, only to immediately eat a shoulderblock and a clothesline. Santana goes back to the side headlock and we take a break.

Commercial break

We’re back with Flair avoiding a monkey flip out of the corner, and he gets two off a jackknife roll-up. Flair drops a pair of knees on Tito’s head, whilst trash talking Savage. That allows Tito to explode with a backdrop out of the corner. He slugs away in the corner, but Flair thumbs him in the eye. Flair goes up, only to get slammed off by Tito. Shocker, I know! Santana makes the comeback and pounds away on Flair while he begs for mercy. Kneelift by Tito and he calls for the Flying Jalapeno. He actually connects with it, but goes for it a second time and Flair sends him flying to the outside. Mr. Perfect comes down to ringside and gets into a huge brawl with Flair, as the match gets thrown out without an ending at about 8:40.

• Rating: Decent match. These two shared good chemistry, and had some good matches throughout Flair’s WWF run in 91-93. This was the last time they wrestled, and while it wasn’t as good due to the non-finish and the focus on Flair’s issues with Perfect, it was solid enough. **1/2

Commercial break

– We come back from break with the brawl still going on. A number of officials separate them, and Flair comes down to ringside to challenge Mr. Perfect for a loser leaves town match next week on RAW!

– Mr. Perfect speaks next, and he immediately accepts the challenge. He says he’s willing to put his own career on the line for a chance to get rid of Flair.

But wait, since both guys are in the Rumble on Sunday, what if the loser of next week’s match had won the Rumble match the night before? Does that mean he still gets to main event WrestleMania for the title? What if he won THAT as well?? Could we then see a WWF Championship match main event that year’s Starrcade!? Sadly no one addresses that very real possibility!

– The announcers promote next week’s show: Flair v. Perfect in a loser leaves town and Randy Savage v. Repo Man are announced.

– The show goes off the air with Repo Man stealing Rob Bartlett’s car while still wearing Savage’s hat.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: I liked this more than the prior week’s inaugural episode, honestly. The numerous interactions between Flair and Perfect were very fun to watch, with the final segment being of course the highlight, leading into next week’s Loser Leaves WWF match. It did a good job of promoting not just the Royal Rumble PPV, but also the next episode of RAW. Additionally, Mr. Perfect v. Terry Taylor was a nice surprise. Plus, Rob Bartlett wasn’t as unbearable this week, THANK GOD. A genuinely good episode in my opinion. 7/10

POINT SYSTEM

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That’s all for today’s post. Make sure you don’t miss the reviews of all the other episodes of RAW, as well as my upcoming Royal Rumble 1993 review. Over on the WCW side, SuperBrawl III featuring Sting vs. Vader III is coming soon as well. See you soon!

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Written by:

Tomás Cunha