July 19, 1993
Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 200
TV rating: 2.9 (USA Network) [up 7.1% from the previous week’s 2.7 rating]
Hello everyone. Welcome to my review of yet another episode of WWF RAW. Tonight’s featured match is the grudge match between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty for the Intercontinental Championship. We also have the RAW debut of Men on a Mission. Let’s get to it.
Here is the list of champions in the WWF at the time:
- WWF Champion: Yokozuna [36th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
- WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [43rd day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
- WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) [30th day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
They start the show with a clip of Lex Luger doing a campaign at the WWF Headquarters, and the Lex Express is officially on the road asking for your support!
RAW’s intro plays and the commentators talk about tonight’s IC Title match as well as Men on a Mission’s debut. Loud crowd tonight.
WWF Intercontinental Championship – Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) vs. Marty Jannetty
Marty looks at Diesel at ringside which allows Shawn to strike first. Backdrop by Michaels is avoided as Jannetty lands on his feet. Marty misses a clothesline, Shawn can’t backslide him as Marty rolls through over Shawn’s back, and clotheslines Shawn for two. Marty with an O’Connor Roll gets two. Shawn blocks a powerslam and goes for an O’Connor Roll of his own, but Marty sidesteps it and Shawn sends himself flying to the outside. Michaels regroups before getting back in. They lockup with Shawn taking control. They each fail hiptoss attempts, Michaels with a thumb to the eye but Jannetty ducks the Superkick anyway, leaving Michaels frustrated. We get a stalemate. HBK cheapshots Marty, and chokes him on the ropes right in front of Diesel to get inside his head. Michaels misses a blind charge in the corner, though, and Marty makes the comeback with several hiptosses and a powerslam for two. Jannetty with an armbar. Michaels escapes and hits him with a back elbow smash. He eats Marty’s boot in the corner, who comes flying off the top rope with a flying clothesline. Marty goes up top again for a flying fistdrop, Shawn ducks it but Marty lands on his feet, Shawn turns around into a DDT for the one, two, three… but the ref sees Shawn’s foot on the bottom rope after the bell rings and eventually calls it off.
Commercial break
We come back with the match resuming. Marty hits a suplex for two. Backbreaker by Marty gets two more. Shawn tries to reverse a whip into the buckle with a springboard leapfrog, but Marty knows it’s coming and simply stops, with Michaels landing right in front of him as Marty puts him in a sleeper. Shawn escapes the sleeper with a backdrop suplex. Blind charge by Marty only finds Shawn’s elbow, and Shawn dumps Jannetty with a knee to the back. Back in, a double collision puts both guys down, with Michaels taking a silly bump to the outside. Diesel gets involved by trying to put Michaels back inside the ring, distracting referee Earl Hebner long enough for Michaels to thumb Jannetty in the eyes just before we take a second break.
Commercial break
We’re back with Michaels ramming Jannetty’s head into the buckle, followed by a flying double axehandle for two. Shawn goes to a chinlock for a while. Jannetty manages to escape, only to walk into a knee to the gut with Shawn going back to the mat with a front facelock. The people get behind Jannetty with “Marty” chants, with Michaels using the ropes behind the ref’s back for extra leverage. The arm drops twice, but Jannetty stays in it and crotches Michaels on the top rope. Leaping back elbow smash by Jannetty gets two. Shawn catches a charging Jannetty in powerbomb position, which Marty turns into a hurricanrana for a very close nearfall. Jannetty knocks himself out on the turnbuckle, though, allowing Shawn to come off the top rope with a crossbody, but the momentum puts Marty on top for two. Rocker Dropper by Marty, who sets up for a Superkick, but Michaels ties his arms on the ropes on purpose. Once Jannetty charges, Shawn unties himself and moves out of the way, with Marty taking a nasty bump on the floor. Diesel immediately puts Marty in the ring, and Shawn crawls and puts one arm on top for the win after 23:00.
- Rating: That was a fantastic grudge match with some amazing nearfalls near the end. The finish could’ve been a lot better, with Diesel hitting a move before putting Jannetty back in the ring. Still, the match was great and my personal favorite in the Michaels vs. Jannetty series. ****
Check out the match here:
Money Inc. interview with Vince McMahon
IRS hypes their rematch with The Steiners for the WWF Tag Team Championship on Superstars. Then, Ted DiBiase starts talking about Razor Ramon, who shows up. DiBiase offers Razor a job, such as cleaning toilets. Razor refuses to work for them, prompting DiBiase to grab some money while reminding Razor that everybody’s got a price. He makes the fatal mistake of hitting Razor with the money in the face, however, with Razor going after them and cleaning house. DiBiase gets on the microphone again afterward, and he challenges The 1-2-3 Kid to a match on RAW, wanting to prove a point. Fine segment.
And now, we get the debut of Men on a Mission here on RAW.
Men on a Mission (Mabel & Mo) (w/ Oscar) vs. Rich Myers & Hank Harris
Oscar raps on their way to the ring to introduce the team. The jobbers jump MOM from behind, with Mabel immediately clotheslining one of them over the top to the floor. The other one takes a drop toehold from Mo, and Mabel follows up with a HUGE legdrop to the back of the head. Mabel launches Myers with a slam, and MOM with a double-team back elbow smash as well as a double elbowdrop. Mabel slams Myers again, and then Mo comes off the top and basically bulldogs Mabel onto Myers, who’s clinically dead at 1:51.
- Rating: This was effective, impactful and the fans were into it. Pretty solid debut. 1/2*
SummerSlam Report w/ Mean Gene
- The Report begins with Mean Gene dancing to Men on a Mission’s rap. Yep, that happened.
- Bret Hart will meet Jerry Lawler at SummerSlam
- The Undertaker will face Giant Gonzalez in a Rest in Peace Match, with Undertaker not knowing the rules yet. I wish I didn’t know either.
- This weekend on Superstars, WWF President Jack Tunney will announce whether Lex Luger will challenge Yokozuna for the WWF Championship.
- Mean Gene mocks Tiny Tim, who will be on Lawler’s King Court tonight.
I wonder what Mean Gene had that night. It was definitely some good stuff!
They show us clips of Lex Luger‘s Lex Express on tour on the road.
Bastion Booger vs. Scott Despres
This gimmick is simply stupid. Booger with a clothesline and a running buttsplash to the back. Legdrop, slam, splash, and that’s it in 1:28.
- Rating: Ridiculous. Just terrible. No one cares about his squashes. DUD
There’s a nice video package promoting a big match for next week – Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow.
King’s Court w/ Tiny Tim
Jerry Lawler says he’s very excited about his rival Bret Hart’s match with Bam Bam Bigelow next week, saying Bam Bam’s gonna squash Bret and he won’t to worry about him. The fans keep chanting Burger King, with Lawler telling them to shut up. Lawler introduces one of the best singers in the world… actually he’d be able to say that, but instead it’s Tiny Tim! Lawler mocks Tim for being from New York City, as well as his fashion. Lawler wants to hear Tim sing, only to cut him off instantly. Jerry asks if that’s his real voice or if his underwear is too tight. Tiny Tim says Lawler is not a Burger King… he’s the Dairy Queen. Lawler takes Tim’s ukelele from him and destroys it, leaving it in pieces. Tim sold that ending well, but his delivery wasn’t particularly great in the rest of the segment.
Main Event
The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Chris Duffy
The Kid with a takedown early on for a two count. Money Inc. show up on the ramp for a closer look, but Razor Ramon appears from the crowd to prevent a run-in. Duffy scores with a hiptoss, but The Kid spinkicks him and hits a series of running legdrops. Kid eats boot in the corner and a shoulderblock, but he comes back with yet another spinkick. Kid dropkicks Duffy in the corner, and sets him up for the flying legdrop off the top rope for the win at 2:17. Razor and Ted nearly get into a fight at ringside afterward.
- Rating: Short squash with the big story being the development of the Razor/DiBiase feud. 1/4*
Then, in a really cool little moment, Savage takes a very young child from the crowd dressed as Macho Man, and the little kid gets to close RAW with the rest of the announcers.
We see a very small clip of the Lex Express on the road before going off the air.
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: This RAW was all about the Michaels/Jannetty match, really. That match delivered, so you can’t say this show wasn’t a success. The debut of Men on a Mission was short, but it was fine with the crowd reacting to them well. The Bastion Booger stuff is pure crap, but at least it lasted a minute or two. They did a good job of further turning Razor Ramon face, which was also good. Overall, this was a good episode. 7/10
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That’s gonna be all from me today. Thank you all for reading. Make sure you don’t miss any of the upcoming reviews here on the blog, as we get closer to SummerSlam. Until next time!
