WWF RAW November 15 1993 Review (Lex Luger Vs. Pierre)

November 15, 1993 Taped show (on November 8, 1993) Location: Bushkill, Pennsylvania, USA (Fernwood Resort & Country Club) Announced attendance: unknown TV rating: 3.1 (USA Network) [up 3.3% from the previous week’s 3.0 rating]

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another RAW review here on the website. As voted by fans last week, Lex Luger will meet Quebecer Pierre on the road to the Survivor Series. Furthermore, Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, The Headshrinkers and Diesel are all in action.

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

• WWF Champion: Yokozuna [155th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan

• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon [35th day of his 1st reign] – previous champion: Shawn Michaels, before it was vacated

• WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) [63rd day of their 1st reign; Jacques’ 1st individual reign & Pierre’s 1st individual reign]

Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan

The show starts with a recap of Randy Savage‘s attack on Crush last week. Let’s find out what the consequences will be!

RAW’s intro plays, the announcers introduce themselves and we go to the first match…

Razor Ramon vs. The Brooklyn Brawler

During Razor’s entrance, McMahon announces on commentary that Shawn Michaels has been officially reinstated. He wants the Intercontinental Title back, but first he’ll compete in Jerry Lawler’s place at the Survivor Series, as Lawler is facing some legal issues.

In the ring, The Brawler assaults Razor from behind before the bell even rings. The referee prevents The Brawler from attacking Razor with his own IC Title belt, but Brawler remains in control anyway. Brawler rams Razor into the corner several times. Finally, Razor raises his boot on a blind charge and follows it up with a bulldog. Ramon takes it to The Brawler, with the crowd making a lot of noise for Razor, as usual. Fallaway slam by Razor. He applies an abdominal stretch, with The Brawler raking the eyes to escape. The Brawler bites Razor and hits a back elbow smash. Another thumb to the eye by The Brawler, who keeps using his unique style to stay in it. Chinlock by Brawler. Ramon escapes it, Brawler goes for a backdrop as Razor runs the ropes, but Razor catches him in Razor’s Edge position. He connects to finish The Brawler at 2:54.

Winner: Razor Ramon

• Rating: Razor continues to deliver the best squashes on TV. The match didn’t even last 3 minutes, yet The Brawler was able to get more than enough offense in to get heat, while Razor hit all his signature moves before scoring the predictable win. As always with Razor Ramon, it was fun to watch. 3/4*

Pre-taped Crush promo. Not only did Randy Savage get the beating of his life after jumping Crush last week, he also lost his announcing job in the process. Crush promises Savage will lose a lot more if he gets in his way again, brudda.

They air a video package promoting the WWF Championship match between Yokozuna and Bret Hart at Survivor Series Showdown.

The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu) (w/ Afa) vs. Mike Bucci & Mike Maraldo

Bucci shoves Fatu to start, which doesn’t sound like a good idea at all. Fatu catches Bucci for a slam, but Maraldo jumps in with a dropkick and the jobbers nearly steal it! Fatu stops the party with a superkick to Maraldo. The Headshrinkers follow it up with a double-team faceplant. Fatu uses the tag rope to choke Maraldo while Samu distracts the referee. Double headbutt by The Headshrinkers. The Headshrinkers with a double-team facebuster and Samu hits the flying splash for the win in 4:25.

Winners: The Headshrinkers

• Rating: Basic squash here to put The Headshrinkers over ahead of the Survivor Series. 1/4*

We see a recap from the last episode of Superstars, with Lex Luger announcing Tatanka’s replacement for The All-Americans at the Survivor Series: The Undertaker.

Lex Luger vs. Quebecer Pierre (w/ Johnny Polo)

Note: this is Lex Luger’s first televised match since SummerSlam, and his first match on RAW since April 26.

Luger takes it to Pierre to start. He hits a backdrop suplex for two. Pierre bails right away, taking a second to discuss strategy with Johnny Polo. Back in, Pierre unloads with shots in the corner. However, Pierre eats boot on a blind charge and Luger hits a clothesline out of the corner for a nearfall. Pierre runs away again, with Luger chasing him this time. Polo sneaks in with a cheapshot from behind, distracting Luger. Pierre tries to jump him from behind, only for Luger to backdrop him on the floor as we take a break.

Commercial break

When we return, Luger is covering Pierre for two. Armbar by Luger, broken by Pierre with knees to the gut. A clothesline puts Luger down. Pierre wants to hit a suplex, but Luger is way too strong for that. Luger explodes out of that with a clothesline of his own. Back to the armbar goes Luger, which Pierre escapes again with knees to the midsection. Polo trips Luger as he runs the ropes, and Pierre knocks him to the outside with a high knee. Pierre slams Luger into the ring post. He covers Luger back inside the ring for two. Vader Bomb by Pierre gets two. Pierre applies a reverse chinlock for over a minute, until Luger finally overpowers Pierre and slams him down. However, Pierre hits a piledriver on Luger for a nearfall. Slam by Pierre, who goes up top for a very sloppy flying legdrop that gets two. Pierre nearly came down on Luger’s face there. Anyway, Pierre puts Luger down again with a sideslam, and he goes up top once more. He goes for a senton bomb, but Luger moves out of the way. Luger makes his comeback with numerous shots to Pierre followed by a big backdrop. Luger with a couple of clotheslines and a scoop slam for a very close two count. He places Pierre on the top rope, seemingly for a superplex, only for Pierre to knock him off the top. Luger slams Pierre off the top, anyway, and delivers a shot to an interfering Polo. Then, Luger shows off the exposed forearm and knocks out Pierre for the three count at 13:32.

Winner: Lex Luger

• Rating: Solid back-and-forth match with lots of cheating from the heels as expected. Pierre was able to hang in there with Luger as long as he did because of that, with the two delivering a decent bout. Luger’s controversial forearm shot allows the story to continue heading into the main event of Survivor Series. **1/2

Pierre gets taken out on a stretcher afterwards, having apparently been knocked out from Luger’s forearm shot. Has Pierre been “eliminated” from the Survivor Series much like Tatanka?

They show the Yokozuna/Bret video to promote Survivor Series Showdown yet again.

Main Event

Diesel vs. Sid Garrison

Garrison tries to go after the arm in the first seconds, but it doesn’t take him anywhere. Diesel with a backbreaker, but he misses an elbowdrop. Garrison goes back to the armbar, only for Diesel to escape rather easily. Diesel controls the action as he delivers a gutwrench powerbomb. Sideslam by Diesel, who follows it up with a neck vice. Diesel with a running choke on the middle rope, a Big Boot and an elbowdrop for the easy win in 3:29.

Winner: Diesel

• Rating: A quick win for Diesel, who’s still stuck in limbo during Shawn Michaels’ absence. 1/4*

Survivor Series Report w/ Todd Pettengill

• Pettengill runs down the Survivor Series card:

  • The All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker & The Steiners) will take on The Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga & The Quebecers) in the main event

  • Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Diesel, Rick Martel, IRS & Adam Bomb

  • Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger & The Headshrinkers will face four Doinks

  • The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express will defend the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship against The Heavenly Bodies

• We see a recap of Doink (or Doinks?) distracting Bastion Booger on WWF Superstars

Jeff Jarrett vignette. Everyone on his country music team sucks. Except him, of course.

The announcers promote the Survivor Series Showdown one last time before Raw goes off the air.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: The featured match (Luger vs. Pierre) was solid and had another angle leading up to the main event of Survivor Series. There were nothing but squashes outside of that, and I feel the WWF could’ve done a bit more to promote the upcoming PPV, as well as the Survivor Series Showdown TV special. Still, for a 50-minute episode, this wasn’t bad. 5/10

POINT SYSTEM

Click here to find out how the point system works.

That’s all from me this week. Make sure you don’t miss any of the upcoming reviews here on the site. Coming up soon I’ve got the Survivor Series PPV, the Survivor Series Showdown special, more episodes of RAW as always, but also WCW’s Battlebowl PPV.

Note: the following week didn’t feature an episode of RAW, as the Survivor Series was held on a Wednesday. To make up for it, I will upload a review of the Survivor Series Showdown TV special (which aired Sunday, November 21, on the USA Network).

Written by:

Tomás Cunha