WWF RAW May 3 1993 Review (Michaels Shines In Hogan’s Absence)

May 3, 1993 Taped show (on April 26, 1993)
Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center)
Announced attendance: ca 1 000
TV rating: 2.6 (USA Network) [down 18.75% from the previous week’s 3.2]

Hey everyone, welcome to yet another RAW review here on the blog. Doink the Clown, Kamala, The Headshrinkers and Kamala are all in action this week. Furthermore, Hacksaw Jim Duggan challenges Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship. We’re just about a month away from the first-ever King of the Ring PPV in June.

Here is the list of champions in WWF heading into this RAW (reign duration considering the air date):

• WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [29^th day of his 5^th reign] – previous champion: Yokozuna
• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [188^th day of his 1^st reign] – previous champion: The British Bulldog
• WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [202^nd 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

This week begins with Shawn Michaels coming out to the ring for his IC title defense.

RAW’s intro plays before Jim Duggan makes his way down to the ring.

WWF Intercontinental Championship – Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan does his usual routine to start, while Michaels keeps walking out of the ring. Duggan strikes first with a series of three consecutive clotheslines, and Shawn bails. Duggan slugs away back inside with some horrible looking punches, and Shawn tries to take a walk and keep the belt via count-out but Duggan takes him back to the ring. And we take a break.

Commercial break

We’re back with Shawn outsmarting Duggan and finally turning things around with a necksnap on the top rope. Shawn unloads on Duggan and chokes away with the help of the ropes. Michaels continues cheating and goes up top for a flying double axehandle. Shawn goes to a chinlock while Vince mentions this is the first title shot Duggan ever got in his WWF career. Hm, how about that time he challenged Rick Rude for the IC title on SNME in 1989? How about that other time he challenged Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF CHAMPIONSHIP in 1991, also on SNME? Anyway, a blind charge by Duggan only finds Shawn’s boot in the corner, and Shawn drops a pair of elbows for two. Shawn goes back to the chinlock, as this match keeps sucking despite the loud crowd. Duggan makes a small comeback attempt that Shawn quickly kills with a knee to the gut, and Shawn dumps him to the floor. Michaels rakes Duggan’s face on the ropes, and goes back to the chinlock… again. This match is painful. Duggan escapes and unloads with the corner punches, followed by the spinning powerslam. That sets up the 3 Point Stance Clothesline, which ends up knocking Michaels all the way to the floor. Duggan follows Shawn and clotheslines him over the railing, which is enough to give Duggan the count-out win but not the IC title at 11:17.

• Rating: This is possibly the worst Shawn Michaels singles match I have ever seen in my entire life. There wasn’t much Duggan could do at this stage in his career besides yelling ‘USA’ and ‘OOH’, so it was dumb to give this 11 minutes, especially considering the finish. *1/2

Duggan throws furniture around afterwards and claims he was wronged with this decision, apparently not knowing the rules. Duggan says he won’t leave the ring until he gets another chance, and sits in a chair in the middle of the ring as the show goes to commercial.

The show comes back on the air with Duggan still in the ring.

King of the Ring Report w/ Mean Gene

• Brought to you via ICOPRO, via Crush!
• Okerlund runs down the list of wrestlers already qualified for KOTR: Bret Hart is automatically in it for being screwed out of the WWF title at WM 9, while Lex Luger qualified last week.
• Mr. Perfect and Doink the Clown wrestled to a draw in a qualifying match last week on Superstars. Mean Gene says there will be a rematch on TV soon.
• Yokozuna will challenge Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship at the PPV.
• Mean Gene has been told Jim Duggan has just left the ring and he’s calling Jack Tunney.
• This week’s KOTR qualifying matches:
  • Tito Santana vs. Razor Ramon on WWF Superstars
  • Jim Duggan vs. Papa Shango on WWF Wrestling Challenge

Doink the Clown vs. Kamikaze Kid

Kamizake Kid is making his debut here, and he would become sort of a big deal in coming weeks. Doink jumps The Kid right away and beats him from pillar to post. Overhead suplex by Doink into an STF, but Doink releases the hold so he can add more punishment. Doink drops some elbows and finishes with the Stump Puller at 2:07.

• Rating: Decisive win for Doink, who continues to climb up the ladder in the WWF. Kamikaze Kid (Sean Waltman) would become a regular jobber in the next number of weeks, until he shocked the world out of nowhere one week and became the 1-2-3 Kid. 1/2*

WWF Mania ad featuring Todd Pettengill plays.

Bob Backlund vs. Duane Gill

Gillberg refuses the handshake to start, so Backlund wrestles him down to the mat. Backlund sweeps the leg to remain in control, as Gill hides on the ropes. Gill takes Backlund down for a headscissors, while the commentators announce Michaels and Duggan will have a rematch for the IC title next week, this time in a Lumberjack match. Vince says Jack Tunney has been making a lot of great decisions as of late. That’s Barry Horowitz’s gimmick, man. Gill works an armscissors for about a minute next, as you can just feel the crowd’s excitement of watching a jobber in complete control over a veteran who held the World Title for FIVE YEARS. Backlund bridges and rolls through, muscling his way out of the hold before taking Gill down with a backdrop. Bob cradles Gill into the bridging position for the win at 3:40.

• Rating: The final 30 seconds were pretty cool, I’ll give them that. Outside of that, no one was into Bob Backlund as the happy-go-lucky veteran babyface wanting to recapture the hearts of the fans. Him exchanging wrestling holds for minutes with Duane Gill of all people didn’t help matters in any way. 1/4*, all for the finishing sequence.

Tatanka wants you to try IcoPro.

Jim Duggan interview

Duggan comes out for an interview at ringside with Vince. He’s glad Jack Tunney gave him a second chance after his win in tonight’s title match. Vince tells him to be careful, as there will be many people around the ring in the Lumberjack match, including some folks who may not particularly like Mr. Duggan. But Duggan isn’t worried, as he’s used to having multiple people around him from his football days. He’ll be the Intercontinental Champion after next week.

Meanwhile, Captain Lou Albano makes his WWF return and joins commentary for this next match.

The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu) (w/ Afa) vs. Jay Sledge & Jim Bell

Albano wastes no time in mentioning his time managing the Wild Samoans, and how he doesn’t like what the Samoans have been doing lately. Also, he doesn’t like Bobby Heenan whatsoever. The Headshrinkers jump the jobbers right off the bat, and Samu dumps one of them for a brief beatdown outside. Meanwhile, Vince announces Yokozuna will be one of the lumberjacks next week. In other words, Duggan is f*cked! Back to the match, as Fatu superkicks each jobber. The Headshrinkers follow it up with a double team spike piledriver, and now Albano likes what they’re doing. Fatu chokes away on the ropes, and Albano convinces him not to cheat in Samoan. The Headshrinkers remain in control, until Fatu finishes one of the jobbers with the flying splash at 5:42.

• Rating: This went on a bit too long, but at least it had a story. 1/2*

Smack ‘Em Whack ‘Em commercial: The Bushwhackers do something stupid with Lord Alfred Hayes.

Main Event

Kamala vs. Rich Myers

They’ve really been going for the old Saturday Night’s Main Event strategy in recent weeks, putting the marquee match on first and then having all the filler near the end. We learn Mr. Perfect will also be a lumberjack next week. In other words, Shawn is f*cked! You know the deal by know – Kamala absolutely dominates the guy, hits the splash and only gets the win at 3:07 after Slick & the crowd tell him to properly do a pinfall. Who seriously thought Kamala as a babyface would be a good idea?

• Rating: This sucks. DUD

Bobby Heenan is in the back for an interview with Shawn Michaels, who can’t believe Jack Tunney’s decision. He says it’s crazy how Duggan can call Tunney at home, while Shawn can’t even have the man’s phone number. He reminds us he has a few friends out there, though.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Definitely a decline after last week’s surprisingly enjoyable episode, but at least stuff is happening now. King of the Ring qualifying matches are already happening, the IC title is being featured prominently in the absence of the World Title (where is Hogan?), and the Headshrinkers are now going somewhere as well. We’re slowly heading in the right direction compared to the last few months, but this particular episode wasn’t exactly enjoyable. The fact that Michaels/Duggan wasn’t any good doesn’t help. Still, props for actually trying lately, WWF. 4/10

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. Merry Christmas!

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