August 9, 1993 Taped show (on July 25, 1993)
Location: Alexandria Bay, New York, USA (Castle Recreation Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1000
TV rating: 3.4 (USA Network) [up 15.9% from the previous week’s 2.9 rating]
Welcome everyone to another RAW review here on the blog. With SummerSlam just 3 weeks away, Yokozuna and Lex Luger will sign the contract for their WWF Title match at the PPV. After Jim Cornette’s shocking WWF debut last week, his team of the Heavenly Bodies will wrestle their first match. Also, Tatanka faces Mr. Hughes, and Razor Ramon will be in action.
Here is the list of WWF Champions heading into this RAW:
- WWF Champion: Yokozuna [57th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
- WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [64th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
- WWF Tag Team Champions: The Steiners (Rick & Scott Steiner) [51st day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)
Enjoy the review!
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
The broadcast begins with a clip of Lex Luger in Chicago before the RAW intro plays.
Vince, Savage and Heenan hype up tonight’s events before we head up to the first bout.
Tatanka vs. Mr. Hughes (w/ Harvey Wippleman)
Tatanka’s undefeated streak is on the line here. Hughes jumps Tatanka from behind to start us off. They blow up a criss-cross sequence with Hughes failing to duck down properly during a Tatanka leapfrog, hitting him right in the groin. Tatanka gets up awkwardly while Hughes just looks at him. I’ve already seen enough, thanks. Hughes takes over in the corner with some blows. He whips Tatanka into the other corner, misses a blind charge and Tatanka rolls him up for two. Running crossbody by Tatanka gets two. Tatanka charges at Hughes who’s supposed to hit a clothesline, but Hughes barely extends his arm and it looks terrible. Vince: “it’s like running into a brick wall”. It’s like watching a brick wall too. Tatanka runs off the ropes until Hughes grabs him by the hair and drives a knee to the back. We take a break.
Commercial break
We’re back with a Hughes chinlock. Tatanka escapes, Hughes hits the post on a blind charge in the corner and Tatanka IS ON THE WARPATH BY GAWD. He makes the comeback with the usual chops, shoulderblocks Hughes but gets dumped over the top to the floor on a charge. Hughes follows him to the floor, beats him up until Tatanka backdrops him on the floor and beats the count back in at 4:58.
Winner: Tatanka (count-out)
- Rating: This was terrible. Hughes might be one of the least exciting wrestlers I’ve ever seen. His look is cool but he struggles to do the basics. The leapfrog and clothesline spots both looked awkward as fuck. 1/2*
Hughes beats up Tatanka after the match and leaves with the urn. As I’ve said in previous reviews, Hughes was fired shortly thereafter and the feud with The Undertaker went nowhere. Probably for the better.
We hear a similar interview from Lex Luger as last week. This week, he’s talking about his time in the University of Miami. He talks about starting to play football at 19 and eventually making it to the NFL. After that, he went to study to become a lawyer but instead ended up becoming a professional wrestler. Better interview than last week.
The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke) & Macho Midget vs. Blake Beverly, The Brooklyn Brawler & Little Louie
The Macho Midget interfered in last week’s match between Randy Savage and Doink, helping Savage win. Little Louie is a fellow midget. The Bushwhackers were barely around by this point. I believe this is only their second RAW appearance. Macho Midget dances around for about a minute after the bell rings. The action finally begins with Beverly and Luke. Blake misses a clothesline in the corner and they all proceed to bite each other’s asses in the ring. Ah, the comedy. Macho Midget dropkicks Little Louie and the heels retreat while the Bushwhackers and Macho Midget do the Bushwhacker taunt in the ring. Little Louie shoves Macho back in the ring and then runs the ropes until he runs out of gas. Macho Midget finally gets in front of him, tells him to stop and hits him with a dropkick. Butch drives a knee to the gut on Beverly. He follows it with a bulldog and goes for the pin, which Brawler tries to block but drops an elbow on Beverly by mistake instead. Double noggin knocker by Butch and Macho Midget attacks Little Louie. The midgets come back in once again for a comedy pinfall spot with referee Earl Hebner. Butch comes back in with clotheslines on both Beverly and Brawler. The Battering Ram takes out Beverly and a double DDT puts Brawler away, but Macho Midget is the one who’s legal. Thus, he adds a flying splash off the top rope and pins Brawler after a very long 6:29.
Winners: The Bushwhackers & Macho Midget
- Rating: Not exactly the best way to use ten minutes of TV time so close to SummerSlam. This was way too long for what it was. DUD
The Bushwhackers and Macho Midget celebrate after the match and attack Brawler some more.
Yokozuna/Lex Luger contract signing
Multiple WWF agents and officials are in the ring for this signing, as are the announcers. Jim Cornette comes out to the ring with Fuji and Yokozuna. Fuji reveals Cornette is their new American spokesperson. Cornette immediately puts over Japan as the worldwide leaders when it comes to industry, finance and commerce and as the most honest people in the world. That earns him a giant ‘USA’ chant from the crowd. Cornette adds Yoko and Fuji have been at a disadvantage in the WWF, because they have a limited knowledge of the English language. Plus, they have been given false information by bad lawyers given to them by crooked WWF officials such as Jack Tunney. McMahon introduces Lex Luger, who comes out in a suit with a red, white and blue tie. Yokozuna is the first one to sign, doing so while not taking his eyes off Luger. Lex signs next, looking down at the paper. After they sign it, Cornette grabs the microphone and says a final clause was added. If Luger wins, he will indeed win the WWF Championship, which draws a big reaction from the crowd. BUT – adds Cornette – if he doesn’t beat Yokozuna, then he’ll never ever get another title shot. Luger says stipulations don’t matter, not the elbow pad and not this one, all he asked for was one shot. He says America is all about opportunity and he won’t need more than one shot. Well, about that! Luger says he’ll win the title and bring it back to America. He says he wants Yokozuna to remember something that will be ringing in his ears on the flight back to Japan, leading to the USA chants.
Good segment with the biggest news being Jim Cornette joining Yokozuna and Fuji. Surprisingly there was no beatdown afterwards.
Razor Ramon vs. Dan Dubiel
Razor is wearing red, white and blue wristbands in support of Lex Luger. Razor takes it to Dubiel to start and hiptosses him out of the corner. Fallaway slam by Razor. Abdominal stretch while the announcers promote Ramon vs. Ted DiBiase coming up at SummerSlam. Razor hits the backdrop superplex, setting up the Razor’s Edge for the win at 2:11.
Winner: Razor Ramon
- Rating: Dominant win for the newly-turned face Razor Ramon. 1/4*
SummerSlam Report w/ Mean Gene
- Mean Gene goes over the new stipulation for the main event that was addressed in the contract signing earlier tonight
- Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
- The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez – RIP Match
- Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. Perfect in “what could be the greatest IC Title match ever”, says Mean Gene
There’s a camera backstage with Jim Cornette & The Heavenly Bodies, but Cornette says we’ll see what they’re all about after the break and tells the cameraman to leave.
Main Event
The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray & Tom Prichard) (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. Bobby Who & Mike Bucci
Mike Bucci is the future Simon Dean aka Nova, believe it or not. Prichard starts in control with a DDT after a cheap thrust kick from behind by Del Ray. Regular thrust kick by Del Ray, who is now legal, and he sends Who to his corner to force the tag. Jimmy ducks a clothesline by Bucci and turns it into a floatover DDT. That looked pretty good. Tag to Prichard leading to a Del Ray spinning sideslam into a Prichard kneedrop combination. Double-team suplex by the Heavenly Bodies, who then jump Bobby Who in the corner. They turn their attentions back to Bucci, with Jimmy hitting a moonsault block off the top for the win in 2:37.
Winners: The Heavenly Bodies
- Rating: Pretty good squash match to introduce the Heavenly Bodies. They looked impressive and smooth as a tag team. 1/2*
After the bell, Cornette gets on the mic and calls out The Steiners yet again for ignoring his challenge.
A video package airs promoting WWF SummerSlam Spectacular coming up 2 weeks later. The featured matches are Yokozuna vs. Jim Duggan in a non-tile bout and The Steiners vs. Money Inc. inside a steel cage for the tag titles.
Next week: “special interview” with Giant Gonzalez, Ludvig Borga, Men on a Mission, IRS vs. El Matador and The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Ted DiBiase.
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: A poor episode after months of consecutive good episodes. A lot of that had to do with the six-man “comedy” match which ate up 10 out of the 40-45 minutes of air time. That’s way too long especially so close to a big show like SummerSlam. The featured match between Tatanka and Mr. Hughes was really bad after a run of great featured matches in previous weeks (Doink/Savage, Bret/Bigelow, Jannetty/Doink, etc) and the squashes were nothing special, with the exception of The Heavenly Bodies’. The highlight of this RAW was Jim Cornette being announced as Yokozuna’s new American spokesperson. Hopefully it gets better soon. 3/10
POINT SYSTEM
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That’s all from me today. Make sure you stay tuned as we get closer and closer to SummerSlam. Until next time!
