WWF RAW April 5 1993 Review (Post-WrestleMania RAW… Before WrestleMania!)

April 5, 1993 Taped show (on March 22, 1993)
Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 000
TV rating: 2.4 (USA Network) [down 14.29% from the previous RAW’s 2.8]

Welcome everyone to my review of the post-WrestleMania IX edition of WWF Monday Night RAW… taped BEFORE WrestleMania actually took place! Alas, the biggest news coming out of the event is that Hulk Hogan is our new WWF Champion, of course. Check out my WrestleMania IX review for a more detailed recap.

Here is the list of WWF champions post WrestleMania heading into this RAW: (reign durations considering the air date)

• WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [1^st day of his reign] – previous champion: Yokozuna
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [160^th day of his reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [174^th day of their reign] – previous champions: Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Note: in title matches, the defending champions’ names appear underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Randy Savage

We begin the broadcast with the show’s intro.

Vince and Macho recap what happened the previous night at WrestleMania IX, and promote tonight’s upcoming events: including Jerry Lawler’s televised in-ring WWF debut. Outside of the Rumble match, of course, which he was apart of.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Virgil

Bam Bam shows off his power by shoving Virgil to start. Virg goes to work on the arm and hits a dropkick, while the crowd showers him with “Virgil sucks” chants. Way to disrespect the meatsauce god, you pricks. Virgil completely f-cks up a slide spot, and Bam Bam makes up for it with a powerslam into the falling headbutt, but misses and Virgil rolls him up for two. A crucifix attempt is turned into a Samoan drop by Bigelow. We hit the chinlock, while Vince tries to put over WM 9 as the greatest of all time on commentary. People weren’t buying that crap even in 1993. Bigelow goes for a bearhug now, as this match continues to go absolutely nowhere. Virgil finally fights out of it, makes the comeback with a sloppy flying clothesline followed by an even sloppier missile dropkick that gets two. He totally misses a crossbody though, and Bam Bam comes down with diving headbutt for the win at 6:59.

• Rating: Way too long for what it was. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bigelow get the job done in 2 or 3 minutes instead. *

Jerry Lawler comes down to the ring for his match, but the crowd chants “Burger King” at him and he refuses to wrestle.

Mean Gene is in the back with Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji, who claim the match with Hulk Hogan wasn’t even sanctioned. Neither Yoko or Fuji spoke here. Weird, but Fuji wasn’t a strong promo.

Bob Backlund vs. Kim Chee

They’re still trying to get Backlund over as the happy-go-lucky veteran, which wasn’t working at all. He even offers Kim Chee a handshake, which is refused. Backlund takes over with some takedowns, but Kim Chee bails. He takes over with a pair of slams back inside. Bob blocks a suplex but Kim Chee catches him with a back elbow shot. He gets two. Sunset flip gets one and Kim Chee goes to the chinlock. Backlund finishes with a bridge pin out of nowhere at 3:58.

• Rating: Bob Backlund’s return as a face just wasn’t working. This match was no good, but at least it was short. 1/4*

Damien Demento vs. Jim Brunzell

Neither guy gets an entrance, and we get Rob Bartlett live on the phone. He’s stuck in Las Vegas and lost all his money. Unfortunately he still appeared on a few more episodes after this. Demento chokes away on the ropes, and Brunzell nearly steals it with a cradle. A sunset flip gets two more for Brunzell. Demento shoves Brunzell down though, and he takes over. Legdrop by Demento, but he stops to talk to himself instead of going for the pin. Demento drops a pair of elbows and it gets two. Brunzell fights back with a dropkick for two. However, Demento takes him out with the neckbreaker, and the lame kneedrop finishes Brunzell at 5:07.

This turned out to be Jumping Jim Brunzell’s final match in the WWF after years of service, first as a member of the Killer Bees and in later years as a jobber. He would wrestle at WCW’s Slamboree PPV the next month, in a weird cameo that no one remembers.

• Rating: Brunzell is an exciting wrestler who always knew how to fight from underneath, but there’s only so much you can do against someone as dull as Demento. He is awful and this was yet another boring match from him. 1/2*

Snap into a Slim Jim, yeah!

Jerry Lawler comes out foir his debut match once more, but he gets the “Burger King” chants again and he walks to the back again.

A replay of WrestleMania IX will air on PPV the following Monday. Vince declares “if you’ve seen it once, it’s worth seeing it twice”. Dear god.

Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Beverly Brothers (Beau & Blake Beverly)

Rematch from the Royal Rumble right here. Scott starts with a takedown, but Beau claims his hair was pulled and that allows Beau to take over briefly. However, Scott turns things around with the butterfly powerbomb and Beau tags out. Rick comes in as well for the Steiners, only to eat a powerslam from Blake. Rick fights back with a powerslam of his own, though, and Scott gives him the overhead suplex. The Beverlys turn things around with their leapfrog guillotine thing, giving Beau two. And we take a break.

Commercial break

We come back with the referee missing a tag to Rick, as the Beverlys double-team Scott over in their corner. Blake tries a suplex on Scott, who easily reverses it and turns it into his own suplex. Beau cuts off the hot tag attempt, which earns him a tilt-a-whirl slam. This time Rick gets the hot tag, cleaning house like a French maid with a backdrop and a Steinerline on Blake, but Beau breaks up the pin at two. The Beverlys dump Rick, but Scott makes the blind tag and the Frankensteiner puts Blake out at 11:30.

• Rating: Solid TV match here, although it wasn’t as good as their effort at the Royal Rumble in January. Still, this was a lot better than anything on this show so far. **1/2

Main Event

Jerry Lawler vs. Jim Powers

Powers jumps Lawler during his entrance to force the match to happen. Powers sends him into the post, throws him into the ring and comes off the top with a double axe. Clothesline by Powers, and Lawler bails. The crowd give him the “Burger King” chants again, which gets him all worked up. Back in, Powers strikes with a hiptoss into a slam, but Lawler bails once again. Powers with a backdrop back inside and he tries a dropkick, but Lawler hangs onto the ropes to avoid it. Fistdrop by Lawler as he challenges Savage on commentary. Lawler eats boot on a blind charge and Powers rams him into the buckle several times. Backdrop by Powers, but he goes for it one time too many and Lawler ends it with the piledriver (pulling the tights on the pin) at 6:16.

• Rating: Fun basic match done to establish Lawler as a dick. Fine way to introduce to Lawler as a wrestler in the WWF. *1/2

Lawler challenges Macho Man afterwards, claiming he doesn’t have the guts to walk into the ring with the King.

Next week: Money Inc vs. Bushwhackers. It didn’t happen, thankfully.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Quite unremarkable episode for the first ever post-Mania RAW, although it picked up with the final two matches. The Steiners are always fun to watch, and Jerry Lawler is pretty entertaining also with his heel act. They were the highlight of this week’s episode by far, and made it watchable. The fact that it was taped before WrestleMania didn’t help, as they could only do so much. 5/10

POINT SYSTEM

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