The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - May 10 1993
- Oh so close now.
- Live from New York. This show has one of the most erratic taping schedules I've seen.
- Earlier tonight in the parking lot: In a moment that made the recent RAW DVD, Shawn Michael is cutting a promo and Mr. Perfect attacks him and beats him up on hood of Howard Finkel's car. Poor Fink, even his car gets no respect.
- Your hosts are Vince, Macho & Brain.
King of the Ring Qualifier: Typhoon v. Bam Bam Bigelow
They do the big collision with no result, so Typhoon slugs away and slams him. He starts working on the arm, but Bam Bam slams him right back and drops an elbow. Typhoon basically no-sells and headbutts him down. Vince notes that "if you've never seen a lumberjack match, you're in for a treat!" I don't know who among wrestling fans has never seen a lumberjack match, but I assure you it's not a treat, in case you're among them. Bigelow runs Typhoon into the post, putting him on the floor, then stomps away as he heads back in. We hit the chinlock, but Typhoon runs him into the corner to break, and we take a break. Back with this piece of shit match still going nowhere, as they slug it out and Typhoon misses a blind charge. Bam Bam hits him with a samoan drop and kills him dead with the headbutt at 5:15. This ended up as a total squash, which I believe would have signaled the end of Fred Ottman's WWF career because Shockmaster made his debut in WCW about one no-compete clause later. *
Yokozuna v. PJ Walker
Yoko pounds Walker down and flattens him with the belly to belly suplex, and the HULKBUSTER LEGDROP follows. Avalanche and Banzai Drop, and it's a jellyfish pancake at 2:11. I kind of enjoyed Justin Credible getting completely destroyed, in my small little petty way.
Mr. Perfect v. IRON MIKE SHARPE
Good to see Iron Mike in the RAW era. Perfect tries a headlock to start, then dropkicks Sharpe out of the ring. Back in, Perfect throws chops, but Sharpe rakes the eyes, so Perfect rams him into the corner for the 10 count and chops away. Necksnap, but Sharpe goes back to the eyes and throws his own chops, as they're letting it all hang out for what should have been a meaningless squash. Sharpe goes down first as Perfect rakes the eyes in retribution, but Sharpe pounds him with the GAUNTLET OF DOOM, but misses a blind charge. Perfect rolls him up for two and they slug it out in the corner, but NOW YOU'RE GONNA SEE A PERFECTPLEX at 4:34. This made me interested to see an actual match between them because you could tell they were having fun with it.
Mr. Hughes v. The Cannonball Kid
Another crack at it for Sean Waltman, and this time he's got a new name, so he can't lose! Hughes pounds away and gets a powerslam for two, then puts the Kid down with a tree slam. He whips the Kid into the corner, puts him down with a big boot, and finishes with the Bossman Slam at 2:15.
Intercontinental title, Lumberjack match: Shawn Michaels v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Shawn, sadly, has suffered a crippling knee injury and thus can't defend the title. And this is news? Luckily, he's just faking, which is revealed thanks to Mr. Perfect. Which, again, I guess isn't really notable. Duggan quickly attacks and hits him with an Oklahoma Stampede and an elbow for two, then slugs him down. Clothesline follows and he pounds away in the corner, then goes to a rear chinlock on the mat. Shawn fights out of that, but walks into a bearhug, and Duggan slams him for two. They slug it out and Shawn loses that fight, allowing Duggan to go to a front facelock and hammer him down with an elbow. Shawn gets tied up in the ropes and Duggan tosses him over the top, but Perfect again is there to make Shawn's life miserable. And we take a break. Back with Duggan slamming him into a kneedrop, but it misses and Shawn takes his boot off and nails Duggan out of the ring with it. Back in, Shawn chokes him out and allows the heel lumberjacks to inflict more damage, but Duggan fights up and rams Shawn's head into the mat. He charges and hits Shawn's boot, however, and Shawn gets two. He goes to the chinlock, which thankfully this match has avoided until now, but Duggan quickly fights up and clotheslines him. Backdrop follows as Shawn bumps his ass off, and Duggan chokes him out in the corner. Another charge misses again and Shawn goes up, but Duggan catches him with a slam for two. And we're back to the chinlock. Given the way they're telegraphing Yoko's involvement, the finish seems obvious here. Duggan looks to finish with the three-point clothesline, but Shawn bumps to the floor as we take another break. Back with Shawn in control again, but now he misses the charge. Duggan goes after Bigelow, however, and Shawn tosses him into the arms of Yokozuna for the quality beatdown on the floor. Back in, Shawn pins him with one foot, but Perfect breaks it up for the DQ at 13:04. 20 minutes with commercials for THAT finish? Better pace and bumps than last week, for sure. **3/4 The big lumberjack brawl erupts and we're out.
Next week: Kamala v. Yokozuna! Blake Beverly v. Crush! Oh, and some other stuff happens that you may have heard about before. I won't spoil it for those who are complete newbies to this era, but next week is a pretty awesome show.
I remember the HBK/Duggan rematch being boring like their previous week’s one.
And good to see that you’re not being petty with Waltman like you were with Walker because Waltman was awesome back then, but sadly will always be remembered as that annoying little jerk.
I never understood why the internet turned on Waltman the way they did.
Sure, as X-Pac he was an annoying little twerp but he was ALWAYS an annoying little twerp. I don’t see why he was cut slack for that in his early career but absolutely loathed later on. Besides the beard I never really saw a difference between ‘93 Waltman and ‘99 Waltman.
On a side note he bears an uncanny resemblance to a crackhead cousin of mine. It’s absolutely eerie.
Wrestling fans didn’t turn on Waltman (in the negative, X-Pac heat way) until 2000, 2001 when he kept getting pushed for no reason and then dominated all the WCW cruiserweights during the Invasion.
He was very, very over in 1999 with the Shane feud, then teaming with Kane and then the Kane feud…it was after the Kane feud that his heat petered out, his work went down and then the X-Pac heat thing came into play.
In watching the Monday Night Wars on 24/7, I think he deserves more credit for the nWo’s heel attitude as he was the only guy who wasn’t going for cheers, he was just being a dick. And he wrestled far more than the Outsiders or Hogan did.
Is that what it was? I had extremely limited access to internet and television during most of the invasion period, I didn’t really see that.
Yeah I don’t think anyone had a problem with X-Pac in the 1990s. He was an excellent worker and decent on the mic. People just got sick of him afterwards because he wasn’t doing anything different and most people started to enjoy fresh acts like Jericho, Angle, E&C, Hardys etc. Edge said it best in a 2001 promo,
“By the way, 1998 called and they’re sick and tired of you, so feel free to join us in the year 2001 any time! Now you look confused, so let me explain. You see, at one point I was into this whole goth thing, but then I developed my very own persona – it’s called character development. You should look into it sometime.”
Still, as stale and annoying as he got, no-one deserved that X-Factor music.
He also got the backlash that comes with any wrestler who the fans perceive as getting pushed because of their friends. Whether it was true or not, the IWC rumor was X-Pac bitched to Triple H about being left off the WrestleMania 17 card so he got a Heat match. That combined with him beating Tajiri a few times in the summer when Tajiri was the IWC’s favorite wrestler was the end.
Although ProWrestling.net makes it seem like Waltman has figured shit out and doing good in Mexico with AAA>
Doing good in Mexico? Didn’t he overdose/try to kill himself down there about a year ago?
I remember listening to a shoot with him, and they asked him about X-Pac heat. He seemed kinda offended, and explained it like he was just an OVER HEEL. You know, because they’re supposed to hate you if your a heel.
I don’t deny the IWC hated him, but what about all the rednecks or mexicans I see at shows that obviously have never used a computer in their life, except to look up porn. And even if they did use a computer, surely never read anything by The Rick or The Netcop or CRZ.
X-Pac Heat is a myth.
That Edge promo was AWESOME! I totally remember it now that you brought it up.
He was very, very over in 1999 with the Shane feud, then teaming with Kane and then the Kane feud…it was after the Kane feud that his heat petered out, his work went down and then the X-Pac heat thing came into play.
I completely agree. I was a HUGE fan of X-Pac during all of ‘99 (which is when I started watching). The stuff with Shane and Kane were awesome. The reformation of D-X/X-Pac’s heel turn is what completely killed his momentum. And he never had a satisfying end to his Kane feud (the big blow-off should have been at WM 2000, instead of the cage tag match we got).
Then he got in the shuffle of feuding with Road Dogg when RD turned face again, and by that point it was too late. His stuff during the InVasion, nWWFo, and X-Factor was nothing.
I’ve always said it, and I’ll continue to say it: a healthy, focused X-Pac would be a tremendous asset to any wrestling organization. Wasn’t he pretty over and doing well during his time in TNA?
He did work hard in TNA and had some good matches, but the general feeling in his matches have always been apathy. It’s probably to do with Waltman’s stale gimmick rather than himself. Or maybe it’s the fact that fans are so use to chanting X-Pac sucks as a knee-jerk reaction, he’ll never be able to recover from it.
Yeah, you’re right, I think he started getting hated when he teamed with Road Dogg. RD himself was also a vacuum of heat during this time.
And the DX reformation also helped kill his heat, because DX were no longer an equal partnership stable like in 1998, in 1999 it was simply HHH and his cronies.
It doesn’t hurt that the world got to see him fellate Chyna.
I for one did not. but I can only imagine the horror.
Chyna’s 15 minutes of fame and the short lived belief that she was anywhere near hot is a real testement to the marketing power the WWF had at that point.
Short X-Pac story: My friend and I went to King of the Ring 2001. My friend, for whatever reason, wanted to get on TV, but we had seats up in the nosebleed sections. His solution: make an “X-Pac’s Biggest Fan” sign. He figured he’d be the only person in the arena who would admit to liking X-Pac and thus get shown on TV.
I think X-Pac wrestled Jeff Hardy or Tajiri that night for either the WCW Cruiserweight title or the WWF Light Heavyweight title, whichever title he was holding at the time.
My friend was never shown on TV.
If X-Pac had been a face, they’d probably would of shown it…
This reminds me of a Smackdown I went to in 2004. I believe Hardcore Holly was tagging with Charlie Haas at the time, though it may have been someone else. In any event, he was a face and the crowd could have cared less about him (Much like X-Pac.) My friend and I started jumping up and down, going crazy for Hardcore Holly and sure enough, when we watched the broadcast, the camera zoomed right in on us when Holly came out.
I believe Blake vs. Crush ended up airing on All-American, since more important stuff happened on that episode.
This is another show I’ve watched a good dozen times. I have a soft spot for Raws of this era.
I understand the X-Pac heat, but why do people hate Justin Credible so much? Sure, he wasn’t accepted as ECW World Champion when he beat Tommy, but is he a dick in real life or something?
I heard nice things about Justin. I think he just gets a lot of hate because he was a bland jobber that got pushed to the top. Not just as world champion, but Justin rarely got pinned in his ECW stay. But he was a good worker, just not THAT good to justify his monster push.
I think he’s hated because his title reign was the end of ECW…when Justin Credible is the champ…its over. Its like in the WCCW DVD I just watched…when Black Bart became champ, it was over. It’s not Credible’s fault…it’s just the way it is.
And the name is sooooo stupid and bush league.
Scott, did you ever get around to watching the Savage DVD?
I never liked Sean Waltman — not as the 1-2-3 Kid, not as Syxx, and not as X-Pac. He was annoying as hell on the mic and his ring work was spotty at best, especially by 1996 when you had all the WCW cruiserweights for comparison. He was just flat out not entertaining for me and I have never got the praise for him. I think I feel about him the way a lot of people feel about Paul Roma.
I liked Paul Roma though — good dropkick, he always put some mustard on that bodyslam, and pulled off cocky, pissed-off heel role very well. I guess I am only referring to his Power and Glory days, but that was more entertaining then anything X-Pac ever did.
Just for the record, Typhoon actually made a brief WWF comeback after the Shockmaster debacle, around Mid-1994 or so. He appeared on TV a couple times and worked a program with Yokozuna to get revenge for him putting Earthquake out of action. Typhoon actually got the upper hand on Yokozuna the few times they met, but it never really went anywhere and the story was dropped along with Typhoon.
That sounds right (it showed up in CRZ’s Raw report I linked to in the last one of these recaps). They had no idea what to do with Yoko after he lost the title, and sending the fat guy of the month after him didn’t work.
(Personally, I thought they should’ve turned Bigelow *then*, but I guess they always knew Yoko was going to have to put over Taker when he came back)
Yeah, in his shoot, Typhoon says that Bruce Pritchard (I believe) called him up to do that and he was actually supposed to get a decent sized push. But he was starting up a bar in Florida and couldn’t be on the road all the time.
Hogan hasn’t been on RAW since WM IX and has hardly been mentioned. Was he even wrestling house shows at this point?
He wrestled Muta May 3 in Japan and a bunch of stateside tag matches with Beefcake v. Money Inc. from May 21 on leading up to King of the Ring.
After King of the Ring, he wrestled a few more of the same matches and wrestled Yoko pretty often on a European tour over the summer.
I’ve seen the Muta match and the press conference after. He calls the WWF title “bullshit” and says that he’s looking for bigger and better challenges in New Japan. It’s on YouTube I believe.
Hogan and Beefcake also had several matches with the Beverly Brothers, one of which made it to Coliseum Home Video.
Grudges, Gripes, & Grunts was the CHV, by the way. The match was on March 9, 1993, according to Graham Cawthon’s site.
I think its crazy that Hogan was still wrestling for the WWF in Europe over the summer…I always assumed he was done with them at King of the Ring, heck he wrestled the next night.
The History of WWE site seems to indicate that they kept Hogan alive through taped interviews on the weekend shows. Still curious to not have him mention on Raw or even Beefcake show up to further things.
I don’t remember Hogan doing any interviews at all post-KOTR; maybe there was one or two taped ones that may not have snuck through into the Niagara Falls / Buffalo Superstars feed we got in Toronto, but I remember Hogan basically vanishing and the Luger push starting shortly thereafter (pissing me off something fierce, as I wanted Bret to get the shot he’d logically earned by winning KOTR).
He (Hogan) wasn’t “totally done” with the WWF until about Jan 1994. He was still doing spots on WWF Radio, but Hogan was basically done with wrestling for Vince at that point. Hell, if Turner hadn’t come with the money and Bischoff with the “part-time” deal and “World Title Run” – Hogan would have never gone to WCW in the first place and just stayed with the acting. Hogan was completly out for Hogan at that point. I mean when the money was coming from Vince, he’d show up in 2005-06, but Hogan is always thinking more about Hogan than anybody else and it burns people and so now he’s about broke, divorced, and doesn’t even have his pseudo reality-TV special anymore to act like he’s still a living legend.
Don’t get me wrong, he is a legend – but some people still think watching a show with Danny Bonaduche and Tonya Harding is revelant.