Sage Cortez
Why did I cut things off at October 11th? Who knows, honestly. No significance to the date, but the article couldn’t be any bigger than this. Heading into these months after SummerSlam, to be quite honest I don’t really know what to expect. Except for one thing, that is. I know Shawn Michaels increasingly gains weight and leaves, vacating his title. He actually looked a bit rotund at SummerSlam and much before that. I’m really interested to watch some of these shows, I believe I’ve only seen one match from them before. So, here we go!
– August 31st, 1993, from Grand Rapids, Michigan
Lex Luger vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Is this insulting to Luger to stick him in this match one day after SummerSlam? Maybe. This could be a good matchup, but anyone watching this after reading my review can see that Michaels is very heavy. That certainly makes it tough for these two to have a good match.
Match Review: These two take some time to lock up, and Luger shoves Michaels hard into the corner. He really is a new Hogan. Luger puts a headlock on Michaels, then runs him over once that’s done. Luger takes him down and armbars him, then Michaels tries to slam Luger and can’t, so Luger slams him. Michaels takes a great tumble out of the ring, then Diesel distracts Luger so that Michaels can attack Luger from behind. Michaels drives Luger’s back into the apron, then brings him inside and repeatedly strikes that back with double axehandles. Michaels covers for 2, then he hits Luger with a flying back elbow for another 2 count. Michaels goes to a chinlock, which Luger fights out of only to be nailed with a superkick that gets 2. Michaels goes for a PILEDRIVER, but Luger reverses that to a backdrop. Michaels goes to the eyes, then misses a charge to the corner. Luger dodges another charge to the corner, then nails Michaels with a clothesline. Luger hits him with a back elbow, and follows with a powerslam for 2. Luger then punts Michaels to the outside, at which point he decides to leave and get counted out after 9:05.
Diesel tries to attack Luger, but Luger hits him with the LOADED FOREARM to knock him out.
My Thoughts: That was a smart post-match, it allowed Luger to save face after failing to win a title for the second night in a row. Luger suffered a back injury during this match and was out for a month, so his push got stalled even more, if it ever was going to exist at all. Michaels did a good job having a basic house show match and getting the crowd heated. **.
– September 1st, 1993, from the Civic Center in Saginaw, Michigan
Marty Jannetty vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a hell of a match to tape for a minor show like All-American Wrestling, so I really hope these two guys busted their asses and tore the house down. If not, this should still be good. I think I’m looking forward more to this than anything else. Incredible that Marty still used the Rockers theme music.
Match Review: These two shake hands, so there won’t be any funny business. When they lock up, they trade hammerlocks for a while until Marty hip tosses Kid and they both do a kip up spot. That’s interesting. Kid does a great trip for a 2 count, then Marty does the same for his own. All this canned sound is really annoying. Marty has a head-scissors on Kid, who flips out of it and Marty then bridges up, but Kid blocks the backslide and flips back to a standing position. Marty goes back to the headlock, then shoulders Kid down for 2. Kid comes back with a victory roll for 2, that looked very good. Kid goes for a hurricanrana, but Marty powerbombs him for 2 as we head to commercial.
Back from the commercial, Marty has an armbar on Kid. Marty then misses a charge to the corner, so Kid covers him for 2. Kid goes for his own powerbomb, but Marty backdrops him for 2 and we get some pin reversals until Marty slingshots Kid into the ropes and covers for 2. Marty then reverses a slingshot attempt and whips Kid out to the floor. Marty follows that up with a baseball slide, then a plancha! Marty throws Kid back in the ring, then heads up top only for Kid to dropkick him all the way to the floor. Now Kid heads up top, and does a CANNONBALL into Marty and the rail. Oh my God. They get in there and Marty does a flying head-scissors for 2, then he heads up top and flies down with a fist drop that misses. Marty flies all the way out of the ring, so Kid flies out with a dive that completely misses. Sadly, Kid then gets counted out after about 8 minutes. Marty checks on Kid after the match, then they hug each other.
My Thoughts: This was as good as I expected, I can’t complain about anything that happened here. They did some crazy stuff, especially for the time period. That dive Kid did off the top was insane. It’s weird to see a babyface match at any point other than right now, and it was nice to see them completely abandon the punching aspect of wrestling and focusing on trying to out wrestle and out crazy each other. ***.
– September 13th, 1993, on Monday Night Raw, from the Manhattan Center in New York City, New York
The Quebecers vs. The Steiner Brothers in a QUEBEC PROVINCE RULES MATCH for the WWF Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: I am confused as to how the Quebecers could get such preferential treatment in their first title challenge. The rules are that if the Steiners are counted out or disqualified, they can lose their titles. Piledrivers are illegal, throwing somebody over the top rope is illegal, and jumping off the top rope is illegal.
Match Review: Jacques and Rick Steiner start things off, and Jacques knees him in the gut a few times. Rick comes back with a powerslam, then STEINERLINES him nearly over the top, which could have been a DQ. Jacques nearly forgot the rules. Pierre gets in the ring and runs into a back elbow, then Rick powerslams him for 2. Scott tags in, and he drops Pierre with a tiger bomb for 2. Scott goes to an armbar, then hits Pierre with a dropkick for 2. Scott misses a charge to the corner, then Pierre comes off the second rope with a clothesline that gets 2. Pierre hits Scott with a flying headbutt for 2, but Scott comes back with a backdrop and hits Jacques in the gut when he charges into the ring. Rick tags in and teases a piledriver, but he can’t do that. Time for a commercial!
We’re back, and Jacques is working Rick over with knees. Jacques blocks a German suplex, then Rick tosses him to the outside. Pierre makes a tag in, as does Scott. Scott takes him down with a headlock, but Pierre gets up and clotheslines him. Scott comes back with a belly to belly suplex, which gets 2. This is fun. Scott puts Pierre in a half crab, which Jacques tries to break up and can’t. Rick tags in, drops an elbow on Pierre, and covers for 2. Rick puts the half crab on as well, and Jacques gets caught breaking that up. As Rick gives Pierre a belly to belly suplex, Johnny Polo has shown up at ringside. He’s now the manager of the Quebecers! Pierre wrecks Rick with some knees, then puts him on the top rope for a superplex that Rick blocks by dropping Pierre to the canvas. Jacques then accidentally elbow drops Pierre, and the Quebecers leave the ring for some strategy.
After a commercial, Scott gets clotheslined from behind while running the ropes. Pierre makes a tag in, and they ram Scott’s head into the mat. Then Jacques picks up Pierre and bodyslams him onto Scott, after which Pierre press slams Jacques onto Scott for a 2 count. The Quebecers then drop Scott on the top rope, which looked sick. After Jacques chokes Scott with the ropes, Pierre sneaks in there and chokes Scott with the tag rope. Pierre makes a tag, and takes Scott out with a clothesline while Jacques trips Scott. A cover gets 2, then Pierre goes to the chinlock. Pierre bodyslams Scott, then goes to the second rope for a pump splash that gets 2. Jacques tags in, and hits Scott with a great back elbow for 2. Jacques goes for a backdrop, but Scott breaks it up with a kick. Pierre tags in and cuts Scott off from the tag, then he slams Scott. Jacques tags in, then he backdrops Pierre onto Scott. Scott fires off a DDT when he gets up, then Pierre has to run in to stop the tag. So, Rick beats Pierre down while Jacques throws Scott to the outside. Johnny Polo has his hockey stick primed and ready, but he’s not going to use it. Instead Scott is thrown back into the ring, where it’s time for a big double team. Jacques gives Scott a SPINEBUSTER, then Pierre comes off the second rope with a leg drop. Now Jacques has a Boston crab on Scott, and Rick runs in to slam Pierre off the second rope. This match is so good. Pierre cuts Scott off with an elbow drop, but Scott hits the Quebecers with a STEINERLINE when he gets up. Scott finally makes the tag out, and Rick destroys the Quebecers with STEINERLINES. After some scoop slams, Scott walks over and dropkicks them both. Scott takes Pierre down with the FRANKENSTEINER, but Jacques breaks up the cover. Polo gets on the apron, and Rick clobbers the guy. Now Jacques has the hockey stick, and Scott has to take it away from him. Then Scott gets caught beating Jacques up with the hockey stick and gets disqualified after about 22 minutes, so the Quebecers are the NEW CHAMPIONS!
My Thoughts: It was completely bizarre that the Quebecers won the titles with absolutely nothing leading somebody to believe that could possibly happen, but that’s how things were sometimes. I loved this match. There was the right amount of double teaming, the right amount of heat, and the segments were all the right length. This is definitely one of the Steiners best matches. I’d like to hear from other people if they disagree. ****, one of the easiest ratings I’ve ever given out. The rules were perfect given that the Steiners may not have been willing to job otherwise. They sure weren’t in WCW. The only reason I can’t go higher with my rating was that there was no big finishing sequence.
Following that up, we were given a Mr. Perfect squash match to watch. The guy he faced was a fat manlet. They were pushing the idea that Perfect may feud with Diesel. What a terrible series of matches that would have been. Incredible to hear Vince talking about the Oslo Accords given everything that’s happened since then.
Vince was pushing the idea that Ludvig Borga confronted Lex Luger in the locker room, and they even had video! Yeah, they definitely knew Luger’s push was not supposed to be that strong. They had to have. Borga will crush him like CRUMBLING AMERICA.
Razor Ramon was facing some guy called the Executioner here. Not Terry Gordy, either. I think Razor was one of the best squash match workers ever. All of the moves he’d use in them looked like they could seriously injure someone. He finished the guy with the back superplex, which was certainly one of those moves. When the match was over, he gave the guy the Razor’s Edge and people cheered anyway.
For some reason the Quebecers walked out there again. Jacques pointed out that the Blue Jays and Canadiens were champions, and now they are too. For the Steiners to get a rematch, one of them must win a singles match next week. Interesting. The Steiners walked out there, and apparently Pierre will be the Quebecers choice for that match.
Closing out the show, we got to see Doink squash some guy. The crowd loved Doink. During the match, Crush was on the phone and after Randy Savage spoke to him, Crush hung up. Good foreshadowing. After the match, Doink doused Heenan with a bucket of water. Interesting. Doink was terrible as a babyface though. Good episode given how long the great match on it was.
– Taped to air September 20th, 1993, on Monday Night Raw, from the Manhattan Center in New York City, New York
Pierre (WWF Tag Team Champion, w/Johnny Polo) vs. Scott Steiner
Pre-Match Thoughts: This could be quite good, and if not I’ll be sad. This is a really good mixture though. Before the match, they showed extended highlights from the previous week’s contest. This could and should have been a much bigger feud than it actually was. Rick Steiner not being at ringside is strange, but he’ll show up later I’m sure.
Match Review: They slug it out, then Steiner gives Pierre an inverted atomic drop. He goes up top for some reason, and hits Pierre with a STEINERLINE. Steiner then throws Pierre over the top, because these aren’t the same rules as slast week. He puts Pierre back in the ring, then joins him and PILEDRIVES him for 2. Steiner puts a bad Indian deathlock on Pierre, then breaks it for no reason. He goes to a half crab, but Pierre quickly makes the ropes. Steiner is playing the heel to some degree. He gives Pierre a belly to belly from the second rope, so Pierre rolls to the outside. Steiner grabs the hockey stick now, and Pierre runs to the back to get away from him. Sadly, we have a commercial.
They didn’t cut anything, though. We come back with Jacques and Pierre both coming out to the ring, so here comes Rick Steiner as well. We get a tease of this turning into a tag team match, but Pierre attacks Scott Steiner from behind and Rick Steiner has to leave the ring. Pierre drops Scott with a DDT, then leaps on Scott’s back and follows with a diving headbutt. Rick grabs a chair and holds onto it, as Scott gets choked up against the ropes. Pierre hits Scott with a clothesline for 2, then Scott comes back with a sunset flip only for Johnny Polo to distract the referee. Pierre goes to the chinlock, and knees Scott in the gut when he gets out of it. After covering for 2, he slams Scott and goes up to the second rope for a pump splash that gets 2 again. Back to the chinlock, then Scott gets up and drives Pierre into the corner. Pierre gets up first and slams Scott again, then his leg drop from the second rope gets 2. Scott comes back with a backslide that gets 2, then he cradles Pierre up for another 2 count. Pierre goes to the eyes, then back to the chinlock. Come on with that. Pierre slams Scott again and goes to the second rope again, but this time the pump splash misses. Scott backdrops Pierre, then nails him with a STEINERLINE. Scott follows that up with the double underhook bomb, then signals for the FRANKENSTEINER. There it is, and there’s the match after about 13 minutes or so.
My Thoughts: This match was too long, it felt like they were filling time after a certain point. Pierre was hammering that bodyslam, chinlock, and splash combination like I couldn’t believe. That felt like he had a lack of ideas. I don’t believe they did a title rematch on Raw, but I may be wrong. I’ll find out soon. Anyway, that was just **. I probably shouldn’t have written so much about it.
Next up, Bam Bam Bigelow had a squash match that was done with the purpose of getting Luna Vachon over as well. Lots of talk about her. Crush was on the phone again this week, and he sounded mad at Savage this time. Said he’ll never speak to Savage again.
Heenan has been rolling with an angle of being sick after Doink doused him with water, which they showed again. Vince being a known germaphobe makes this amusing.
Bret Hart was interviewed after that and he talked about the SummerSlam incidents. I think it’s a real bummer that they didn’t even have Bret work on the vast majority of these Raw episodes.
I guess there were two more matches left. The first featured Mr. Perfect. He faced Mike Bell, who was in “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*”. I strongly recommend watching that. His brothers were on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience and their conversation with Rogan about prescription drug abuse was very enlightening.
Unfortunately, they showed another Ludvig Borga vignette in which he shit on America. LOOK AT ALL THE POLLUTION. I thought these guys didn’t believe in taking care of the environment.
Lastly, it was time to see IRS face PJ Walker. I’ve seen this before. I always thought this was stupid and didn’t see the point of it. That being said, before Shawn Michaels left the WWF on a temporary basis, clearly Razor Ramon was going to be programmed with IRS. If anyone doesn’t know already, Walker beat IRS after IRS was distracted by Razor. First win in the illustrious televised career of Aldo Montoya/Justin Credible.
Oh wait, there’s one more thing left. The Quebecers aren’t going to give the Steiners their title shot! The advertised lineup for the next week’s show looked like a shit sandwich. Not a great episode, this one.
– September 27th, 1993, on Monday Night Raw, from New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut
Starting off the show, Jack Tunney announced that Shawn Michaels had been skipping shows and was now STRIPPED of his Intercontinental Championship. That wasn’t all either. The Steiners also got suspended. Maybe that’s why there was a promo spliced in where the Quebecers said they weren’t going to give the Steiners a title shot. I don’t know.
The matchups on this show aren’t out of this world by any stretch. First up, we had Tatanka take on Rick Martel. That’s a much awaited WrestleMania VIII rematch! Martel hadn’t been on TV in quite a long time. It wasn’t an easy process by any stretch, but the WWF really needed to find new talent. Don’t see any reason for Martel to have been there. After about 10 minutes of back and forth, they did a cop out finish where both men were counted out after brawling outside the ring. Way to make Martel look strong before the battle royal next week. That was no better than *1/2.
Some dork named Joe Fowler announced next week’s battle royal lineup. I’ll be sure to post it when I watch that show. This lineup made the WWF roster look so bad. They couldn’t even fill the whole thing without using guys like Jimmy Snuka and Most Valuable Player. LOL.
Unfortunately I got to watch another Ludvig Borga squash. He got straight in there and destroyed the guy. You can tell Vince liked him. IT’S THE SIZE.
No idea why they’d use Jimmy Snuka here, but he got a squash match too. He looked old and weathered. I wonder if this taping was a try out of sorts. Imagine if they’d have signed him. With Snuka, Martel, and Bob Backlund on this show, there’s some serious experience. Apparently Crush wasn’t invited to the battle royal and Randy Savage was. Both of them sounded angry. The squash, by the way, was both long and terrible.
I was SHOCKED at Vince McMahon calling IRS “Mr. Rotundo”. SHOCKED. That seems unbelievably out of character.
The 1-2-3 Kid and Barry Horowitz vs. The Quebecers (w/Johnny Polo) for the WWF Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: This seems kind of odd. The Quebecers theme is the absolute best. If you don’t like it, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU. Oh, now I understand. Apparently the Quebecers signed to face Barry Horowitz and Reno Riggins. Instead, Riggins didn’t show up and Kid took his place. It was implied that the Quebecers would face a much better team in the first place. When Horowitz said it was Kid, the Quebecers were okay with it.
Match Review: Kid wanted to shake hands with Jacques, but that wasn’t going to happen. All this phony laughing Polo is doing is cracking me up. Kid hits Jacques with a spinning kick ot the face, then a second knocks him down. Kid hits Pierre with one too, then the challengers clear the ring with dropkicks! Jacques gets back in there and suckers Kid into turning his back on Pierre, who runs in and clotheslines him. Now Pierre makes a tag, and they do a great trip and clothesline double team. Pierre slams Kid, then tags in Jacques for more double teaming. That includes Jacques slamming Pierre onto the Kid and Pierre doing the same to Jacques. Pierre makes the tag in, and they pick Kid up and drop him on the top rope. Pierre drops some elbows on Kid, then tags back out only for the Quebecers to drop Kid on the top rope again. Jacques misses a cross body from the second rope, so Kid kicks him out of the ring knocking him out. What? Way to get over Kid, if the crowd cared at all. Polo gets some referees to bring a stretcher out there and put Jacques on it, so they do. This is strange. Now Pierre has to face both guys by himself.
After a commercial, we’re back with Pierre stomping a mudhole in Horowitz. He picks him up and slams him, then goes to the second rope for a leg drop. That would have gotten three, but Pierre picked him up. This is really confusing. Pierre suplexes Horowitz, then goes to the second rope for a diving headbutt. After yet another bodyslam, Kid makes the tag in. Pierre goes straight to work on him, giving him a big flapjack. A clothesline follows that, but Kid comes back with some kicks. He boots Pierre in the face, then misses a spinning wheel kick and takes an incredible bump over the top. Can’t believe Kid’s knee was still intact. Polo throws Kid back in the ring, so Pierre covers him for the victory.
My Thoughts: I don’t understand what the point of that was. There were a lot of different ways they could have done that, and they picked that one. Hard to find words for that, I really got nothing. *.
Closing out the show, Razor Ramon did an interview at ringside. Savage looked unhappy standing there given they were both in next week’s battle royal. The Quebecers pretty much carried these three episodes and without them there would have been nothing worth watching on any of them.
– September 28th, 1993, from the Memorial Auditorium in Worcester, Massachusetts
Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’ve been trying to cut down on these excess matches, but there’s absolutely no way I would ever miss a match like this. This is so Memphis, the fans at the show were lucky to see something like this regardless of how good it turned out to be. Even a heavily deteriorated version of this pairing makes me happy.
Match Review: Oooh, I hate when they crop out the entrances like that. Savage decides to chase Lawler around the ring, then gets posted. That didn’t take long. Lawler rams Savage into the steps, then throws Savage into the ring and punches him after leaping off the top rope. Lawler chokes Savage in the corner, and wow is Johnny Polo funny on commentary or what. Lawler rams Savage into the buckle and teases the crowd, then he goes up to the second rope for that big fist drop. Lawler takes Savage into the steps again, then they go back inside for Lawler to choke Savage with his boot. Lawler tries to wishbone Savage against the post, but instead Savage pulls Lawler’s face into the post. Savage then rams Lawler into the steps, and posts him for good measure. Back into the ring, up top, and Lawler hits Savage on the way down. Lawler goes for the piledriver, but Savage backdrops him. Up top he goes, and Lawler rolls out of the ring. Now Bret Hart meets him in the aisle as he walks to the back, so he’s forced back to the ring. So, Savage rolls Lawler up for the win after 5:59.
My Thoughts: If you didn’t like this on some level, there is most definitely something wrong with you. It was good fun and featured Lawler doing what he did best. He talked a lot, cheated a lot, worked the crowd, got heat, and lost. Lawler had still only beaten Owen Hart and Jim Powers in his WWF career. **.
– Taped to air October 4th, 1993, on Monday Night Raw, from New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut
20 MAN BATTLE ROYAL
Pre-Match Thoughts: The last two men in this match will go on to face each other for the WWF Intercontinental Championship the next week. Of course, the battle royal is first. In this match, we have MVP, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger, Mabel, IRS, Diesel, 1-2-3 Kid, Marty Jannetty, Tatanka, Mr. Perfect, Adam Bomb, Razor Ramon, the Quebecers, Giant Gonzalez, Randy Savage, Owen Hart, Bob Backlund, Jimmy Snuka, and Rick Martel.
Match Review: Savage decided to start the match by attacking Gonzalez with some double axehandles. That was cool. Now everyone wants rid of Gonzalez, so they throw him right out. Way to destroy his gimmick. For some reason Kid goes on to take on Mabel and Bam Bam Bigelow. Yikes. Shockingly, Kid did face Mabel in the future and it was on a Smackdown episode that I’ll certainly watch. Lots of canned sound during this match. Bigelow and IRS come close to eliminating Savage, but ultimately can’t. The crowd reacted to that. The crowd reacts to a lot of stuff in this match, actually. It takes until the 5:44 mark for somebody else to be eliminated, and Diesel does it to Mabel. Both guys were SO green. Razor throws IRS out right after that, then Kid and Savage save him from being eliminated by the Quebecers. Interesting. Booger throws Kid out at 6:47, that wasn’t surprising. You know, it’s really hard for me to believe the idea that Diesel’s WWF tenure was saved by the Royal Rumble appearance where he threw out a bunch of guys. They made him look big and tough the whole way leading up to that and there was a lot of potential for him to learn. Perfect does backdrop Diesel over the top to eliminate him though.
After a commercial, we come back right as Bob Backlund gets eliminated. Bigelow misses a charge at Savage, but nothing comes of that. Martel then backdrops Snuka over the top, as this thing is taking quite some time. Why is MVP still in there? Bigelow takes Perfect and throws him over the top, which I find interesting. Did they have any intention of pushing Perfect? Doesn’t seem like it. That’s stupid given what they had on their roster. Jannetty gets backdropped over the top by Adam Bomb, as all these guys are trying to top each other with their bumps. Tatanka definitely doesn’t top anything when Bigelow eliminates him, then Bigelow and Booger both try to get rid of Savage and can’t. Savage tosses fat ass Booger over the top much easier though. Bigelow throws Razor out, but doesn’t eliminate him, so Razor hits him with a sick clothesline to get rid of him.
After another commercial, Owen Hart dropkicks MVP over the top to eliminate him. The Quebecers get rid of Owen, so we only have six guys left. Rick Martel makes it so we have three from Quebec, Adam Bomb, Razor Ramon, and Randy Savage. The Quebecers, Martel, and Bomb team up on Razor and Savage of course. Jacques backdrops Pierre onto Razor, then Razor gets hit with a double clothesline. Bomb accidentally slugs Martel, then Savage puts Bomb on his shoulders and dumps him out. The Quebecers and Martel all get rid of Savage, so it’s 3 on 1. This has been long. Heenan decided to point out all the Survivor Series tickets have sold. Great time to point that out. All three heels miss dropkicks, so Razor now has a chance. Or not. They keep beating him down, getting pretty good heat. Eventually the Quebecers double slam him, but Pierre accidentally clotheslines his partner over the top. Razor throws Pierre over the top, and now we have a RAZOR RAMON VS. RICK MARTEL TITLE MATCH. That was like 20 minutes.
My Thoughts: For a battle royal, that certainly wasn’t bad. Like I said, these guys were taking some serious bumps trying to make themselves look good. That made me happy. I thought the formula to this battle royal was really good and felt that they booked it properly. They had to make sure Razor had an opponent he could beat and it had to be someone that wasn’t going to be part of their future plans. Martel had name value, so it worked. **1/2.
Awesomely, Jim Cornette was there to introduce the Heavenly Bodies. The WWF brought just about everyone in for this taping. Surreal hearing Heenan talk about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. The Bodies showed some great offense against these two jabronis.
Looks like Doink completely turned babyface. They showed a video of him on Superstars, and he threw some confetti at Bam Bam, who seemed really upset. Then he put a bucket of water on Luna’s head. Good acting on her part. Doink tripped Bam Bam, then got chased around the ring until he went to hide under the ring. When Bam Bam saw a jobber trying to help Luna, he destroyed him. Doink then came out of the ring and set a trip wire, then hit Bam Bam with a broom. When Bam Bam gave chase, he tripped over the wire.
Doink had a match, which Vince introduced in extremely strange fashion. I can’t tell if Vince was having fun with these shows or not. I HATE babyface Doink. They had to edit the sound because people were booing him. To get people to cheer him, they had him throw popcorn on Heenan. After the match was over, Bam Bam and Luna showed up. Some officials kept Bam Bam out of the ring, which was weak. He destroyed Doink’s wagon after that.
Good episode this time.
– Taped to air October 11th, 1993, on Monday Night Raw, from New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut
Rick Martel vs. Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: The opening video for this episode was actually quite good. The crowd was really into Razor at this point, it was common sense to make him the champion. Crazy that they had Martel work three long matches in one night, though. They edited Razor’s reaction to make it much more positive, but people rarely pop the second and third time somebody comes out into the arena during a show.
Match Review: LOL at Vince talking about Christopher Columbus being Hispanic and this possibly being a great day for those of Hispanic descent if Razor wins. LOL. Razor and Martel shove each other for a bit, then Martel slaps Razor. Razor puts a wristlock on Martel, who reverses to a hammerlock. Razor reverses, then Martel trips and slaps him. Razor gets up and misses a charge to the corner, then misses a second as well. Razor comes back with a fallaway slam, which causes Martel to leave the ring. Martel gets in and goes to a front face-lock, until Razor puts him on the apron and brings him in the hard way. Razor goes to work on Martel’s left arm, then he smacks Martel around like Martel did to him. Martel misses a charge to the corner, and now we have a commercial.
When we come back, Martel is beating up Razor and rams his back into the apron. Okay. He picks Razor up and slams him on the floor, then they go back into the ring where Martel keeps whipping Razor hard into the buckle. Martel back suplexes Razor, and covers him with his feet on the ropes. Martel gets caught, so he’s mad. He keeps working on Razor’s back, and goes for a Boston crab. Razor eventually makes the ropes, but Martel picks him up for a sidewalk slam. He puts the Boston crab on Razor again, but Razor reverses it. Martel fires off a dropkick for 2, but Razor grabs him and puts him on the top rope for that BACK SUPERPLEX. Instead Martel elbows him in the face, then flies off the top with a cross body that Razor reverses for 2. Martel clotheslines Razor for 2, but Razor hits him with a big knee. Razor then powers Martel up into the RAZOR’S EDGE, covers, and we have a new champion after 10:42!
My Thoughts: This wasn’t a great match, but certainly it met the goals they had set out to do. Razor looked strong in going over without having to do a big comeback. I liked what they did after the commercial much better than what they did before the commercial. Wasn’t bad. **1/4, good job getting Razor over.
After that, we got to see the Headshrinkers. Seems like the crowd emptied out a little bit. I’m pretty bored by this point after watching so many of these in a row.
Next, it was Owen Hart! Seems like the WWF had absolutely no plan for him at that point. Weird seeing him do a northern lights suplex as his finisher.
Sadly, Ludvig Borga was brought out there for an interview. He talked about Lex Luger being a truck driver, then here comes Lex Luger! He confronts Borga in the ring, points his finger at him, and they do a bad back and forth. Luger wants to deport Borga, so he rips his shirt off. Borga then leaves because he doesn’t want to fight yet.
Adam Bomb got a squash match here as well, which makes three of these on the show. That really should be enough. Harvey Wippleman is now Bomb’s manager. This was really boring.
It’s surreal seeing Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson show up for a match here. Crazy is what it is. There would have been a spot for them in the WWF, I think. Their look should have been irrelevant, but in the WWF it was and is always relevant. That wasn’t a very good episode, I was bored after the title match.
I’m glad that’s done. Overall, it felt like a major dead period creatively for the WWF and I didn’t like very much of what they did. Obviously giving the IC title to Razor Ramon was right, and obviously the Quebecers were the best performers on these shows. Otherwise I could have gone without ever seeing any of that stuff. Next up I’m going back over to the WCW side. Hopefully I’ll have some dirt sheet information to post next time!
Best: Quebecers vs. Steiner Brothers. This was the best match by quite some distance.
Worst: Bringing back someone like Jimmy Snuka to win a match. GTFO.
