Monday Night RAW #4 – February 1st, 1993
Tatanka vs. Damien Demento
Show opens with Tatanka’s music and one fan in the audience is raging that he has to watch a Tatanka match.
Not much of a match. One of the most interesting things is a brief “We want Flair” chant that the crowd start mid-match. Demento gets the heat briefly before Tatanka makes a quick comeback and gets the win. I remember as a kid liking Tatanka’s inital WWF face run but watching it back now the guy was brutal. His offence is 90% chops.
Awkward segment showing Bret Hart in Madison Square Garden giving a $100,000 cheque to some lad.
Next up Vince in the ring calls out “Unquestionably one of the all-time greats in the World Wrestling Federation”. What?! Feb 1st, 1993; the date Vince lost any shred of credibility he had left. Brutus announces his comeback, showing about as much charisma as a toothbrush. He says his mother died, followed shortly thereafter by his dad. When he thought things couldn’t get any worse his wife walked out. But it’s all good, Hulk Hogan picked up the pieces and has filled all the voids in Beefcakes life.
Back from the break and the RAW girls bikini’s are still getting smaller by the week. This latest girl is sporting a rather risqué thong. It’s interesting that Vince teased a more raunchy product in this era. The ring girls, the girls in thongs for Luger’s entrance at Mania IX and there is even a catfight coming up on RAW in a few months.
High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware) vs. Two Jobbers
Quick two minute squash. Owen is so crisp but this was never a tag team that was going to last. Thankfully we are just under a year of Owen getting the push he deserves.
Doink the Clown vs. Typhoon
Probably the most competitive match of the night. The aim here is to get Doink over and while a win against a larger opponent in Typhoon does that, it isn’t much to watch. Unfortunately the big man was always the weaker Natural Disaster and he is not going to stick around for long. He will be in WCW tripping over wooden beams in no time. Doink wins by holding the tights.
A bit of a weird cut as we see Howard Finkle ushering a RAW girl, a jobber, two geisha girls and a jobber out of the ring. He then does a ten bell salute for Andre the Giant who recently died. Another add and the girls are back and we are ready for our next bout.
Yokozuna vs. A Jobber
Fast and effective squash match. During the match they get Jim Duggan on the phone but we spouts a load of nonsense calling the big man Yakazuma much like Virgil did back at SurvivorSeries 92. When Vince tries to correct him, he says “Whatever. The Jap”. 1993 everyone 🙄
Money Inc Interview with Vince
Ted DiBiase and IRS come out and take Beefcake up on his open challenge issued earlier. They flip a coin and DiBiase claims he won. Next their manager Jimmy Hart appears and tries to publically talk them out of it. They are having none of it and say they’ll see him next week.
Lex Luger vs. A Jobber
Luger walks out to a middle finger in the face.
Some Vince comedy ensues next as a RAW girl interupts Luger’s posing and it’s a large woman. If I remember correctly the lady in question was one of three sisters that were super fans and did odd jobs for the wrestlers when they were in the New York area. Luger wins quickly as I am sure you guessed. Very similar to the Yoko match.
No great match even like last week or really anything of note in-ring wise. The return of Brutus Beefcake was supposed to be a big deal but it came off flat. After the highs of week three this was the weakest episode yet.
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Monday Night RAW #5 – February 15th, 1993
The show starts with pre-recorded promos from Brutus Beefcake and Ted DiBiase with Jimmy Hart. Brutus is confident, DiBiase is cocky and Jimmy is worried.
Steiner Brothers vs. Jobbers
Typical Steiner squash match. You wouldn’t want to be the jobbers. They get tossed around for a few minutes landing on their head half the time until they are put out of their misery. Honestly back in the day people facing the Steiners should have gotten bonus danger pay. During the match Savage starts having mic issues (legitimately) and basically has a small meltdown over it.
WrestleMania report with Gene next selling us on Saesar’s Car Park… I mean Palace. So far the card is Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna for the title, Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales and Crush vs. Doink.
Yokozuna vs. Jobber
I forgot how much Yoko was all over these early episodes of RAW. It’s smart booking though. He is on his way to WrestleMania to fight for the title, so you want him given as much exposure as possible. Jobber Ross Greenberg has apparently stolen a pair of Brutus Beefcakes tights as well.
It’s great watching Yoko at this point in his career. He was so agile for a big man. The height he got on those leg drops was insane. As the match ends Savage in the biggest face move of his career whips Barlett’s headset off him and takes over.
Next up is a special magazine report where they show the new WWF Poster book that was coming out. I remember getting this as a child and decorating my room with it. I had every one of them up there. Nice bit of nostalgia as this segment is hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes. Lastly they show highlights of the Yokozuna vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan match from Superstars that weekend where the big American goof was the first one to knock Yoko off his feet. For his efforts he got a face full of salt and a bonzai drop for his troubles. As if that wasn’t enough Fuji then drapes the American flag over Duggan while another bonzai drop is delivered. Good effective booking that we rarely still get these days.
Back at ringside Vince explains to us that Giant Gonzales wanted to enter the upcoming 16-man battle royal but all the other competitors refused to enter if he was involved. We then see a clip of delivering a shite chockslam to Louie Spicolli on Superstars.
Back to back to back ads for IcoPro, Hasbro WWF figures and SlimJims next. Those Hasbro figures are some of the best merchandise in the companies history. It’s great to see Mattel bring back the design for their retro series.
16-Man Battle Royal
Tatanka, Bezerker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Koko B. Ware, Owen Hart, Skinner, Typhoon, Damien Demento, Terry Taylor, El Matador, Bob Backlund, Kamala, Kimchee, and Iron Mike Sharpe. Math fans at this point may notice that only makes 15 guys in a 16-man battle royal… well I bet you can guess what happens.
Savage screaming advice during the match is hilarious given a few weeks back in the Royal Rumble he was eliminated while trying to PIN Yokozuna 🙄
Eliminations ensue and minor storylines progress such as Kimchee sneakily eliminating Kamala so we re-enters and throws his former handler over the top. Kamala then proceeds to chase him all over the arena.
Finally it comes down to Razor, Tatanka and El Matador when Giant Gonzales appears. He eliminates Tito and Tonto while Razor slips under the bottom rope. Gonzales then exits over the top rope, Razor slides in and picks up the win. Decent finish, it gets Ramon and Giant Gonzales over.
Ted DiBiase vs. Brutus Beefcake
Brutus is clearly out of shape, which is understandable given his recent past. Savage keeps mentioning that Beefcake has the tag team of “the big man upstairs” and Hulk Hogan in his corner. DiBiase bumps like a boss during the match doing his best to make The Barber look good.
It doesn’t take long for IRS to appear with the halliburton briefcase. He nails Beefcake in the back with it for the intentional DQ. Money Inc then proceed with a further beatdown ending with Irwin shoving a protesting Jimmy Hart down and smashing Brutus across the face with the briefcase.
It was really well done and looked great. Money Inc then leave while Jimmy Hart and the ref try to get medical help. Brutus is then loaded on to a stretcher and at Savage’s request the camera pans the blood stained canvas.
Back from break quickly and Vince alerts everyone that it’s ok, Brutus is up and walking about backstage. He may have a broken nose but he’s okay according to Vince. Way to sell your big angle Vinnie Mac.
A pretty good episode this week after a bit of a downer in the previous show. The Steiners and Yokozuna both had effective squash matches while the 16-man battle royal told a good story and furthered storylines while putting over Razor and Gonzales. Then the main event wasn’t much of a match but it was a backdrop for a huge angle that’s going to become WrestleMania IX’s semi main event.
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Monday Night RAW #5 – February 22nd, 1993
We kick off the show with Bartlett in the audience announcing his surprise that wrestling fans can spell. Someone should be beaten the shit out of him on this night and done us all a favour. From memory he doesn’t last too much longer… his departure cannot come soon enough.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Taylor
The reason I have named the jobber here is because it is none other than master of the worm himself Scotty 2 Hotty. It’s fun watching these old RAW episodes back and seeing enhancement talent that in later years became big stars.
Let me get this out of the way now so I don’t need to go on about it. Every two minutes, Savage on commentary brings up that Hulk Hogan is here and will be live later in the show. Savage and Hogan did NOT have a great relationship at this time and it really must have really bugged Randy to put him over so big, but man that guy is a pro. He came across more excited than anyone to see the Hulkster.
Bam Bam picks up the win with two diving headbutts off the top rope.
Pre-recorded interview with Hulk Hogan
This is some segment. Vince McMahon is the one doing the interviewing and he comes across as the biggest Hulkamark in the entire world. He is almost giddy with excitement while Hogan spouts a lot of shite about how the media is out to get him and the whole steroid scandal (where he lied about using steroids on national TV) was all just a media agenda. Sure Hulk, I’m sure you were just trying to grab a nap and those pesky journo’s were jabbing you with needles all the time 🙄 He refuses to give any answers about his future until he is in the ring on RAW.
Shawn Michaels & The Beverly Brothers vs. Tatanka & The Nasty Boys
Somehwere Tatanka’s number one fan from two weeks ago is having a meltdown. This match was actually somewhat of a treat at the time, which is not something that can be said about many Nasty Boys matches. Back in 1993 you didn’t get many six man tag matches on TV.
They give the match plenty of time, it ends up coming in around 13 minutes. The logic behind the match is to further the lackluster feud between Tatanka and Michaels which is leading to their WrestleMania bout for the IC title. The human chopping machine holds a non-title victory over the champ from a recent Superstars taping and so he picks up another pin on Michaels here to lead nicely into the big showdown.
Meanwhile the Nasty Boys and the Beverly Brothers are very much forgotten men. They won’t be appearing at WrestleMania and both teams will be out the door before too long.
Crush vs. Terry Taylor
Quick match. Taylor is one rung above a jobber at this point so the whole idea of the match is just to feature Crush. WWF had gotten a bit of heat for the injury angle they had done with Doink and the big Hawaiian as the type of possible injury Vince was trying to peddle on commentary was the same that had occured with an NFL player only a month or two beforehand.
Crush was initially supposed to be off TV longer to sell the injury but given the heat they got over this NFL player they changed their tune, played down the injury and had him return to the ring early. I present to you; early.
Hulk Hogan interview #2
This time it’s live in the ring. Vince of course still shuffles in as well so he can hold the mic and get closer to Hogan. “I just want to feel you close to me, I fear we don’t have much time” said a muttering Vince under his breath (may not have happened).
The interview clocks in at around 11 minutes. Basically Hogan announces that he’s back. Beefcake comes out with a plaster over his nose showing the type of intestinal fortitude that allows you to carry the Hulkster’s weed bag through airports and finally Jimmy Hart comes out and is announced as the new manager of the duo. He proclaims it the greatest day of his life. I hope he isn’t married.
Undertaker vs. Skinner
The final match of the night is a chance to take a look at one of my favourite shit gimmicks of this era; Skinner. It was never going to be more than a mid-card gimmick, but I really enjoyed it. Plus he had a great Hasbro figure. I actually just stopped writing this article to nip on eBay and pick one up. One of these days I will do a post on my small but strange wrestling figure collection.
No sooner does the match start than they jump to a SlimJim add. Then, just as we get back to the action Vince tells us we are completely out of time and they go off the air without a finish to the match. As the story goes this was a Bruce Pritchard idea. He thought that going off the air with a cliffhanger would encourage more people to tune in next week.
It seems like sound logic to me, but Vince upon seeing it play out apparently hated it and nixed the idea going forward.
So that was the sixth episode of Monday Night RAW. No real great wrestling on the show, but that’s almost a given for the era outside of the odd week (Flair v Perfect). Hogan being on live TV and announcing his return was a massive deal at the time. It’s funny to be writing about this the day after he has just returned to WWE from an apparent three year suspension that no-one knew he was on after the racism controversy.
Story advancement was good. A huge return, the allignment of Hulk, Beefer and Jimmy Hart. Tatanka getting the better of Michaels again and showcases for Bam Bam and Crush. Overall this led to a solid show.
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That brings an end to the RAW Diaries #2. I love going back and watching these old shows so having a platform to being you my thoughts on what went down is a lot of fun for me. I had a great response to the first article so hopefully you enjoy this too. As you can see I have experimented with more graphics this week to give a better visual representation of what’s going on. If you prefer that approach let me know. This series will be shaped by you, the reader. I am always open to adjusting my style for what you all want.
Until next time make sure when you load up the WWE Network and go to Shows > In-Ring > RAW Replays you click that ‘Most Recent’ bar and get as far the fuck away from 2018 WWE as you can. Before Roman Reigns and Constable Corbin we had Damien Demento and Skinner. That’s the area of Vince’s sick mind that I want to live in.
VdZe.