WWF RAW March 22 1993 Review (Go Home Episode... Well, Sort Of)

Tomás Cunha
Oct 30, 2022
6 min read

Updated: Apr 25

March 22nd, 1993 Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center) Announced attendance: ca 1 000 (capacity: ca 1 000) TV rating: 2.8 (USA Network) [down 0.1 from the previous week’s 2.9]

Hi everyone. Welcome to my review of the final episode of WWF RAW on the way to WrestleMania 9. Well, yes and no, but more on that story later in the review as well as in the next review. This week, the show is back to the Manhattan Center with The Bushwhackers making their RAW debut. Money Inc and Tatanka are in action ahead of their respective title matches at WM9, and Doink faces Kamala in the main event.

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

WWF Champion: Bret Hart [161stday of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [146th day of his reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [160th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage & ROB F*CKING BARTLETT

We kick off with the show’s intro this week.

The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch) vs. Repo Man & Damien Demento

Yes, a Bushwhackers match on the last episode of RAW before WM. They make their entrance through the crowd and lick the RAW girl. I’m shocked this didn’t convince anyone to purchase WrestleMania. Nothing happens for about the first minute or so, until the Bushwhackers bite the heels’ asses. Yes, great stuff. Randy Savage promotes his match against Yokozuna at March to WrestleMania while this nonsense happens, which is what will be airing on RAW’s timeslot the following week. The heels jump The Bushwhackers from behind as Demento bites Luke’s forehead. This match is truly something. They collide on a double shoulderblock attempt, but Demento gets up first and his team remains in control. Butch gets the tag and makes the comeback with the double noggin knocker. The Bushwhackers set up Demento for a double clothesline, but Repo Man trips them up from the outside. Repo Man elbowdrops Demento by mistake and the battering ram finishes Repo Man at 5:28.

Rating: There was biting in the ass and in the forehead, so I guess that counts as diversity in a Bushwhackers match. DUD

Tatanka vs. Reno Riggins

Reno attacks Tatanka from behind to start the matchup, but Tatanka turns things around rather quickly with chops and a backdrop. Reno goes for a sleeper, but Tatanka rams his head into the buckle to escape and gets an atomic drop. Sloppy armdrag by Tatanka and he goes to an armbar. Tatanka unloads with more chops but Reno sidesteps a high crossbody. Reno takes over very briefly, but Tatanka no-sells a whip into the buckle and makes the comeback with the usual before finishing with the Not Samoan Drop at 3:28.

Rating: This was actually a pretty fun squash match. The jobber was quite cocky and had personality, putting Tatanka over in a big way and making his stuff look great. *

Andre the Giant officially becomes the first Hall of Famer in WWF/E history. They play a really touching video remembering his career.

PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION PAID FOR BY THE FOLLOWING!

Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) vs. Scott Rich & Jeff Armstrong

DiBiase takes over with a shoulderblock and a clothesline on Armstrong. Meanwhile, Rob Bartlett is shown watching some other TV shows in his monitor. What the f-ck is this guy still doing here after ten episodes? He’s horrible. IRS comes in with a quick suplex, before it’s back to DiBiase for some chops. Back to IRS as Money Inc. hits a double clothesline. They exchange quick tags back-and-forth as they cut the ring in half. IRS finishes one of the geeks with his running clothesline at 3:02.

Rating: Not much to this one as the focus was on Rob Bartlett for some stupid reason. It’s not like these guys are in a featured match at WrestleMania or anything. 1/2*

WrestleMania IX Report w/ Mean Gene

Bret Hart defends the WWF Championship against Yokozuna in the main event
Next week, you can see the contract signing for their title match on both WWF Superstars and Wrestling Challenge
Mean Gene goes through some of the other matches on the card
Caesars Palace is being turned into a Roman coliseum to host WrestleMania
Don’t wait until the 11th hour, call your local cable company RIGHT NOW!

Main Event

Doink the Clown vs. Kamala (w/ Reverend Slick)

Doink comes out with a gift for Kamala, only to take it away from him at the last second. Doink cheapshots Kamala and goes after the arm. Kamala fights out of the hold and goes for the comeback, but Doink rakes the eyes and takes him back down. Back to the arm goes Doink. Kamala escapes with a hiptoss and hits a corner splash as we take a break.

Commercial break

We’re back with Kamala dumping Doink and chasing him on the floor as Doink runs away from him. Doink stops by the gift and finally hands it to Kamala, which distracts him and allows Doink to sneak back in and steal a cheap count-out win at 6:00. I wish I was making this up, trust me. Kamala takes a steel chair afterwards and Doink runs away from him.

Rating: Doink’s original run is awesome but this is face Kamala, so what can you do? Of course it ended with an incredibly lame, childish finish because that was Kamala’s shtick after his face turn. I can’t believe this was their last segment on RAW before WRESTLEMANIA. No wonder people were running away from this gaga. This was really bad. 1/4*

Todd Petttengill wants you to join him for WWF Mania every Saturday morning. Just brush your teeth first.

We’re back with a stupid Rob Bartlett segment alongside his “fan club”. It’s a bunch of fat women whom Bartlett kisses. It’s supposed to be hilarious but it’s really just pointless.

THANKFULLY they cut off this crap and go to a Slim Jim commercial instead.

Vince promotes March to WrestleMania coming up the following Sunday on USA Network: Macho Man vs. Yokozuna and Undertaker vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. Sounds like a pretty big card.

The following week didn’t feature an actual episode of RAW. Instead, they aired the replay of the previous night’s March to WrestleMania event during RAW’s timeslot. Instead of skipping RAW and going straight into WM, I will be reviewing that show as if it was an episode of RAW since it technically also aired during RAW (its replay).

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: And I thought last week’s show was bad. Sheesh. This is the last f-cking episode of RAW before your biggest event of the entire year and this is the best you got to offer? A Bushwhackers match when they’ve been working pretty much just house shows for the last year (if not more) and are OBVIOUSLY off the WM card? Really? Kamala falling for an empty “gift” and getting counted-out in the main event? Your last chance to sell WM on a RAW episode and that’s what you end it on? Get outta here. The only positives on this episode were that Money Inc. and Tatanka scored wins over jobbers on their way to WM. That’s saying something. 2/10

Check out all my RAW reviews here

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That’s all for today’s post. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming reviews of March to WrestleMania followed by WrestleMania IX itself. Download our web-app which you can find in your link bar. See you next time.

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