WWF RAW November 8 1993 Review (Scott Steiner Vs. Ludvig Borga)

November 8, 1993 Location: Bushkill, Pennsylvania, USA (Fernwood Resort & Country Club) Announced attendance: unknown TV rating: 3.0 (USA Network) [up 7.1% from the previous week’s 2.8 rating]

Hello everyone. Welcome to another RAW review here on the website. This week, The All-American’s Scott Steiner faces Foreign Fanatic Ludvig Borga in a Survivor Series preview. Rick Martel, Bob Backlund and Men on a Mission will be in action as well.

Here is the list of WWF’s champions heading into this episode:

• WWF Champion: Yokozuna [148th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan

• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon [28th day of his 1st reign] – previous champion: Shawn Michaels, before it was vacated

• WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) [56th day of their 1st reign as a team; Jacques’ 1st individual reign & Pierre’s 1st individual reign] – previous champions: The Steiners (Rick & Scott Steiner)

Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage

The episode begins with a video package promoting tonight’s Scott Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga matchup, as well as comments from both men. Borga says he’ll finish Steiner because he’s superior; Steiner doesn’t like Borga’s attitude and tonight he’ll shut him up!

RAW’s intro plays and the commentators hype up tonight’s events.

Vince announces a poll for fans to pick Quebecer Pierre’s opponent next week: Doink the Clown, Marty Jannetty, The 1-2-3 Kid or… Lex Luger. Really?!

Scott Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga

Borga jumps Scott before the bell even rings, as usual. Clothesline by Borga, who goes up top to deliver a flying clothesline. The fans’ USA chants wake up Steiner, who comes back with a butterfly powerbomb. Steiner follows it up with a pumphandle slam, and Borga takes a powder. The crowd chants USA even louder to throw Borga off his game. However, Borga gets the upper hand once he gets back inside the ring, applying a headlock. Steiner escapes the hold and explodes with an overhead belly to belly suplex for two. Borga comes back with a jumping clothesline for a two count of his own. Powerslam by Borga, but Steiner avoids an elbowdrop and hits a weak dropkick that knocks Borga to the outside. Again, Borga takes his time to get back inside the ring. The Quebecers join him at ringside right before we take a break.

Commercial break

We’re back with Steiner suplexing Borga off the apron into the middle of the ring. Steiner applies a Boston Crab just as his brother Rick Steiner comes down to ringside to prevent The Quebecers from interfering. Borga finally makes it to the ropes to break the hold. Ludvig Borga misses a blind charge in the corner, Steiner whips him into the buckle and rolls him up for two. Small package gets two more. Scott hits a dropkick for two. He goes up top for a very weird missile dropkick (he only hit Borga’s knees) that still gets a two count. Borga manages to come back with a powerslam for two. Borga knocks Steiner to the floor with a right hand and stops to mock the crowd. Meanwhile, Rick Steiner gets up on the apron and Borga attacks him. Rick fights back with a suplex to Borga, The Quebecers jump him and the referee calls it a double DQ at 10:33. The Steiners clear the ring with a double clothesline to Borga.

Result: draw (double DQ)

• Rating: This was actually a pretty solid matchup with the crowd heavily invested in it from start to finish. The no-contest ending was somewhat predictable, and I have no problem with it as the build towards Survivor Series continues. **1/2

Jeff Jarrett is back with another vignette.

Men on a Mission (Mabel & Mo) (w/ Oscar) vs. Corey Student & Steve Smyth

The last Men on a Mission squash here on RAW was actually quite entertaining, so let’s see if they keep it up. Smyth has the wonderful idea of shoving Mabel to start. Needless to say, the guy gets knocked on his ass immediately. Mabel backdrops Smyth before tagging in Mo for a double dropkick. Student gets a few shots on Mo, but he turns his back to celebrate and that earns him a clothesline from Mo. Sunset flip by Mo for two. Men on a Mission double-team Student before Mo applies a sleeper. Mabel squashes the poor guy like a bug in the corner, follows it up with a DDT and Mo bulldogs Mabel on top of Student for the win at 3:37.

Winners: Men on a Mission

• Rating: Not as fun as their last squash, but it was still effective. 1/4*

Survivor Series Report w/ Todd Pettengill

• Pettengill recaps the rules and endless potential scenarios of the traditional Survivor Series matches

• He recaps the card, which will have a “double main event”

• First, The All Americans will take on The Foreign Fanatics

• Tatanka’s replacement will be announced this coming weekend on WWF Superstars

• The second half of the “double main event” will feature The Hart Family (Bret, Owen, Bruce & Keith) versus Jerry Lawler & his mystery Knights

• Bret Hart cuts an intense promo saying Lawler will regret messing with his family; it’s one thing to mess with just him, but the whole family wants to take Lawler down

• Midcard match added to the card – Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid will take on Diesel, IRS, Rick Martel & Adam Bomb

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

• We see a recap of Superstars where Doink messed with The Headshrinkers before their match

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

Meanwhile, The Undertaker tells you not to drink and drive in a very unique way.

Rick Martel vs. John Paul

Good to see more of Martel after the awesome Intercontinental Title match against Razor Ramon last month. Martel dominates early on thanks to some cheating. Hiptoss and a slam by Martel, but John Paul keeps fighting back. Martel gets more and more cocky in control, as McMahon announces he’ll face Razor in a rematch for the IC Title on Superstars. John Paul tries to make a small comeback with a dropkick, but misses a springboard crossbody and Martel finishes him off with the Boston Crab in 2:52.

Winner: Rick Martel

• Rating: Solid squash to get Martel over ahead of his title shot on Superstars. 1/4*

Crush is scheduled to come out next for a match with Dan Dubiel. Randy Savage goes after him immediately, even shoving Vince McMahon before getting to Crush. They fight all over ringside, leading to the scheduled match being changed.

Main Event

Bob Backlund vs. Barry Horowitz

Horowitz surprises Backlund with a hiptoss to start. Backlund eventually turns things around and takes Horowitz to the mat. Meanwhile, Randy Savage comes down and returns to the commentary table. Back in the ring, Backlund wants a handshake, for whatever reason. Backlund and Horowitz are doing absolutely nothing, with the focus totally on Savage. They show Crush exploding out of his locker room backstage, and Savage runs after him so they can brawl again.

Commercial break

We come back from break and… no mention of the match, which was thrown out at around 3:49.

Result: draw (no-contest)

• Rating: The match meant nothing. The focus was always on the Savage/Crush angle. DUD

Meanwhile, the results of the poll are announced. Next week, Quebecer Pierre will face… Lex Luger. Shocking!

The show goes off the air with Savage and Crush fighting outside the arena.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: An improvement from last week’s episode, but still not as good as it was a few months ago. The featured match was fun with a hot crowd to boot, and Savage/Crush carried the rest of the episode. However, the squashes could’ve been better. Men on a Mission usually appear on RAW but they’re not feuding with anyone yet, Rick Martel (finally) getting a win on RAW was essentially a glorified ad for Superstars, and the less said about Bob Backlund’s match the better. Still, a decent episode overall with nice build for the main event of Survivor Series and especially the feud between Savage and Crush. 6/10

POINT SYSTEM

Click here to find out how the point system works.

That’s all from today’s post. Reviews of WCW Clash of the Champions, WWF Survivor Series Showdown, the actual Survivor Series PPV and, obviously, more episodes of RAW are coming up soon. Make sure you don’t miss any of those. As always, thank you very much for your time. Take care!

Written by:

Tomás Cunha