WWF RAW May 10 1993 Review (Lumberjack Night)

May 10, 1993
Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 200
TV rating: 2.5 (USA Network) [down 3.85% from the previous week’s 2.6]

Hello everyone, welcome to yet another RAW review here on the blog. In the fallout from last week’s IC Title match, Shawn Michaels puts the gold on the line against Hacksaw Jim Duggan once more, this time in a Lumberjack Match. Bam Bam Bigelow meets Typhoon in a King of the Ring qualifying match. Plus, Yokozuna and Mr. Perfect are in action, aside from being lumberjacks in the main event.

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

• WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [36^th day of his 5^th reign] – previous champion: Yokozuna
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [195^th day of his 1^st reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [209^th day of their 2^nd reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

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

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage

Earlier tonight: Lord Alfred Hayes interviews Shawn Michaels out in the streets of New York. A wild Mr. Perfect appears and they brawl in the middle of the fans. Perfect even tosses Shawn into a car and breaks the windshield. Well, that’s a slightly different start to the show!

The RAW intro plays and Vince is all excited this week.

KOTR Tournament Qualifying – Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Typhoon

Shoulderblocks are no-sold to start, as Vince is all like “talk about the beef” here. Typhoon powerslams Bam Bam and goes into a wristlock, but Bigelow rakes the eyes returns the powerslam. Bam Bam misses a headbutt, however, and Typhoon tries the wristlock again. Bigelow powers out of it with a backdrop suplex, but Typhoon pops right back up and dumps Bam Bam to the floor with a clothesline. And the crowd goes mild. Seriously, it’s crazy how Typhoon fell down the card as soon as Earthquake left the WWF for Japan. Back in, Bam Bam rams Typhoon’s head into the post twice to take back control. Bigelow goes to a chinlock, because that’s exactly the best way to capitalize after you’ve thrown a man’s skull into a post twice. Typhoon sends Bigelow into the buckle to escape, but Bam Bam goes back to the chinlock and we take a break.

Commercial break

Typhoon takes Bigelow down with a clothesline when we return, and Vince declares this a SEE-SAW MATCHUP BACK AND FORTH, thus nearly ruining his entire reputation with such a controversial statement. Bigelow picks up Typhoon for a Samoan drop and follows it up with the diving headbutt, which is enough for him to advance at 5:08.

• Rating: Just a match, really. Typhoon had no chance whatsoever, Bam Bam is in the tournament at the PPV, moving on. *1/2

Meanwhile, the Smoking Gunns are coming soon to the WWF. Man, these vignettes are so poorly edited it’s not even funny.

Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. PJ Walker

Been a while since Yoko’s wrestled on RAW. He seemed to wrestle every single week during the buildup to WM. And even before I can even finish typing this, Vince announces Yoko will take on Kamala next week. Meanwhile, Heenan has the balls to say, and I quote: “what a proud man, Yokozuna. I felt so sorry at WrestleMania with the way he was jobbed”. Vince is all like “well…” and immediately hypes up Hogan/Yoko at King of the Ring. I bet he got that look from Vince right away. Yoko absolutely murders the future Aldo Montoya / Justin Credible with a belly to belly followed by a massive legdrop. Running buttsplash and the Banzai damn near breaks the poor kid in half at 2:12. That finish was nuts.

• Rating: Just incredible squash for Yoko on his way to Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring. 3/4*

King of the Ring Report w/ Mean Gene

• Brought to you by IcoPro, which is brought to you by Lex Luger!
• WWF Champion Ghost Hogan (where the hell are you?) defends his title against Yokozuna at the PPV
• Mean Gene runs down the list of people already qualified for the tournament. It goes as follows:
  • Bret Hart automatically in due to his controversial title loss
  • Lex Luger advanced over Bob Backlund via count-out
  • Razor Ramon qualified over Tito on Superstars
  • Jim Duggan beat Papa Shango on Wrestling Challenge
  • Bam Bam Bigelow beat Typhoon earlier tonight
• There are only 3 spots left, and Gene announces 2 qualifying matches for this coming week – Mr. Perfect vs. Doink on Challenge, and Giant Gonzalez vs. Tatanka on Superstars

Mr. Perfect vs. Iron Mike Sharpe

Before the match, Perfect stuffs his gum in the RAW girl’s mouth. And she likes it, perhaps hoping perfection’s contagious. Mike no-sells a shoulderblock to start, so Perfect leapfrogs over and dropkicks him all the way to the floor. Perfect lays in the chops back inside the ring, rams Mike’s head into the buckle repeatedly and the Perfect necksnap connects. Sharpe throws a couple of chops with extra mustard himself, leading into a chopfest that is won by Perfect. Sharpe misses a blind charge and Perfect gets two. Meanwhile, Heenan flips through the channels to avoid watching Perfect wrestle, but Perfect overcomes Bobby’s hate and NOW YOU’RE GONNA SEE A PERFECTPLEX at 4:40.

• Rating: Pretty fun for a squash. It was nice to see Iron Mike Sharpe being allowed to shine, as he was one of the company’s best jobbers for more than a decade. This was much better than it had any right to be, as Perfect has clearly been the episode’s MVP thus far. **

Up next: Mr. Hughes’ WWF debut match.

Mr. Hughes (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Cannonball Kid

Second week for Mr. Kid here. This will be important very soon! Hughes throws Kid around for a while, big boot and a chokeslam of sorts ends it at 2:19.

• Rating: Just a squash. Not very impressive for a debut. 1/4*

Main Event

WWF Intercontinental Championship – Lumberjack Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan

The lumberjacks, as seen in the match card graphic above, are: Mr. Perfect, Typhoon, Bob Backlund, Terrific “Rooster No More” Terry Taylor, Bam Bam Bigelow, Typhoon, Mr. Hughes and Yokozuna.

Duggan jumps Yokozuna during his entrance. Shawn, sporting street clothes, comes out on crutches due to Perfect’s attack earlier in the show to avoid defending the title. However, Mr. Perfect goes after him and Shawn runs back into the ring to escape, leading to the official start of the match. Duggan with an atomic drop and Shawn is selling like a fish tonight. Duggan picks up Shawn for a few slams onto the buckles, and Duggan drops an elbow for two. Duggan slugs away on Michaels while ripping his shirt apart, and a delayed vertical suplex gets two. The beating continues as Shawn takes his classic bump in the corner. Duggan with a clothesline that Michaels sells brilliantly, and onto the corner for some choking while Yokozuna looks on. Hacksaw locks in a modified chinlock and onto the bearhug. Shawn finally gets something in with an eye rake, but Duggan quickly cuts him off without even trying, while Shawn gets “Shawn is gay” chants from the crowd. Duggan dumps Michaels onto the babyface lumberjacks, who prevent him from taking a walk as we go to break.

Commercial break

We’re back with Duggan slamming Shawn, only to miss a kneedrop. Meanwhile, Shawn takes off his own boot and hits Duggan with it, knocking him into the outside. Shawn with the classic guillotine buttdrop by the middle rope, as Shawn finally takes the driver’s seat in this match. Duggan tries to turn things around, but eats boot on a missed blind charge in the corner and Michaels gets two. Michaels tunes up Sweet Chinlock Music, but Duggan fights out with a backdrop. Duggan plants Shawn with a delayed powerslam for a nearfall. Three Point Stance connects, but like in every other Jim Duggan match, the impact ends up knocking the opponent to the floor. And we take a final break.

Commercial break

Vince is yelling when we return because WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME! Don’t worry, if we do run out of time you’ll show us the finish next week, much like you did with that Undertaker match a couple of months ago, right Vince?! Michaels tries to run wild but knocks himself silly after eating post on a missed running splash in the corner. Duggan gets distracted with Bam Bam Bigelow on the apron, though, and Michaels smartly dumps Duggan onto Yokozuna so he can finish the job for him. Yoko absolutely MURDERS Duggan with a legdrop on the floor, and Duggan is easy pickings. Yoko throws Duggan’s carcass back in the ring so Shawn can pin him, but Perfect jumps Shawn before he can do it and causes the DQ at 17:20.

• Rating: This has to be considered an absolute miracle after their terrible normal match last week. It was basically a giant beatdown from the first minute to the last, with Duggan beating HBK from pillar to post until the DQ finish. The DQ doesn’t hurt the match that much for me, since it was about to end anyway. But we know Duggan was saving the job for Yokozuna in his final date with the WWF, setting up Hulk Hogan’s job for Yokozuna in HIS final date with the WWF. Some things never change! Well, at least Duggan didn’t walk away from here with the belt. Shawn’s bumping made this a lot better than expected, while the lumberjacks didn’t steal the spotlight at all until their natural involvement near the end. One of Duggan’s all-time best WWF matches, if not the best. **3/4

BRAND NEW WWF figures ad! Looks like they’ve finally removed British Bulldog from the ad, now that he’s scheduled to challenge Vader for the WCW World Title at Slamboree. What a coincidence! Sgt. Slaughter is no longer in the ad either, having retired nearly a year prior.

Meanwhile, we’re back with Finkel announcing Shawn as the official winner via DQ. Perfect jums him once again, leading to a fight involving all the lumberjacks. Duggan runs everyone off with the 2×4 as this week’s show fades to black.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: A solid weekly episode that wasn’t a pain to sit through. Imagine that. It started on fire with a VERY rare street fight for 1993 WWF, between Michaels and Perfect. There was also a KOTR qualifying match and a big IC title match in the main event, which helped carry this week’s show. Mr. Hughes’ squash was very forgettable for a debut, but besides that it was a solid RAW. Even Mr. Perfect vs. Iron Mike Sharpe was a joy to watch! 6/10

POINT SYSTEM

That’s all from me today. Don’t miss any RAW review here on the blog, as well as the upcoming PPVs: WCW’s Slamboree in May, and WWF’s King of the Ring in June. Also, download our web-app for a quick and easier access to the site, which you can find in the link bar on top of the page. See you all next time. Have a GREAT 2023, people!

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