The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - May 31 1993
- Live from New York
- Your hosts are Vince, Macho and Brain.
Intercontinental title: Marty Jannetty v. Bam Bam Bigelow
Marty is managed by Sherri at this point, a storyline that went nowhere as both disappeared again a few weeks later. A catfight between Luna and Sherri allows Bam Bam to sneak in and lay out Marty, then put him down with a shoulderblock. I guess this was the official start of the Bigelow-Luna relationship. Marty comes back and chops away, then goes up with a flying chop for two. Bigelow goes to the eyes and backdrops him, but Marty lands on his feet. Bigelow keeps coming with a bearhug and puts Marty on top, but he fights back with a victory roll and a flying headscissors. Another go at it results in Bigelow hitting him with the electric chair, and we take a break. Back with Bigelow and the chinlock, and he releases and hits a standing dropkick. Avalanche puts Jannetty down for two. Another avalanche hits boot and Marty gets two from that. Faceplant gets two. Superkick and two clotheslines get two. Bam Bam recovers and hits a butterfly bomb into a backbreaker, but he stops to go after Sherri and falls out of the ring. Marty baseball slides him into the railing and follows with a flying bodypress to the floor, but Bam Bam tosses him back in and then fails to beat the count at 9:08. That's a pretty weak win, but then it's not like Marty was going to mean anything either way. ***
Sherri returns and she wants Luna RIGHT NOW, but instead she gets Bam Bam and a beating. Tatanka makes the save.
The Steiner Brothers v. Rich Myers & The Executioner
Rick throws the Executioner around and gets a backbreaker, then follows with a Steinerline. Over to Myers, and Rick runs him into the corner in short order. Scott comes in and ragdolls him with an overhead suplex. More mutilation from Scott with a pumphandle slam and the STEINER SCREWDRIVER!!!!! Holy shit, I've never seen Scott just bust it out on a jobber like that. And he SPIKED the poor guy, too. The Steiners finish with the double-team bulldog at 4:03.
Mr. Hughes v. Bert Centeno
Hughes slams Bert across the ring to start, then follows with a powerbomb for two. Stomp stomp choke choke and he finishes with a Bossman slam at 3:00. Nothing to see here.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan v. Mark Thomas
Thomas attacks to start, but gets run into the turnbuckles and slammed. Duggan follows with a kneedrop and pounds away in the corner, then puts him down with a clubbing forearm. Three-point stance finishes at 2:18.
Meanwhile, 1-2-3 Kid just can't accept Razor Ramon's newest offer of $5000 to get back into the ring with him. Good for you, Kid, he's got way more money than that.
Razor Ramon v. Tony Roy
Roy tries for the upset, but Razor puts him down with a clothesline and hammers him in the corner. Well now he's just pissed Ramon off. Fallaway slam and he works the jobber over on the mat while Macho Man leads a "1-2-3" chant, and again that allows Roy to try for the rollup and get two. Ramon hammers him down again and wraps him up in an abdominal stretch, but he gets distracted by the crowd again. Backdrop suplex and Razor's Edge finish even with the distractions, at 3:23.
Yokozuna joins us to announce that Hulkamania will DIE. Good call.
Next week: A Steiner and a Smoking Gunn v. A Headshrinker and a Money Inc. member! Sounds about as exciting as this week was.
Related Posts:
- The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW – August 16 1993
- The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW – June 21 1993
- The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW – April 19 1993
- The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW – January 10 1994
- The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW – December 27 1993
Tags: Edge, Intercontinental title, Jim Duggan, Macho Man, Monday Night RAW, RAW, Steiner Brothers
I always thought Jannetty was WAY underused. But I think that was to try and make Michaels look like a bigger star.
And how many RAWs was it by this point since Hogan rassled?
Yeah, I agree, Marty could pretty much have a good match with anyone during this period and it’s a shame he wasted it all away.
Outside of jobbing to Yokozuna at King of the Ring – I don’t think Hogan showed up on WWF-Tv ever again. He did show up on Japanese Tv and wrestled Muta and trashed the WWF title actually. There was a lot of sh-t going on in the WWF back then that we still don’t know about. Hogan’s own attitude in Japan shows his own disillusion with the business at that point. Hell, he might have actually retired if Bischoff hadn’t promised him a “part-time job” and millions of dollars to boot.
Why Vince ever agreed for him to come back in 1993 at all surprises me in hindsight.
(I am a fan, love the man’s work even as a crippled old man – but from a business point . . . I never got why Vince kept him on and then allowed him to win the title and just vanish . . . That’s not how Vince usually did business.
What is funnier – Hogan was still semi-loyal to the WWF even after they buried him at KOR. He finished off his contract – taking on Yoko and (winning by countouts) on the european house show tours – and even did spots on WWF Radio up to early Jan 1994.
Hogan did do some Japan dates in November 1993 teaming with Muta and then facing Muta’s alter ego Mutoh and Hogan does a no-no and bashes Mutoh by saying “I’m sick of wrestling the Great Muta.”
Hogan’s last match before wrestling Flair on July 17, 1994 was against Fujanimi in Jan 1994 for Battlearts.
You know way too much about Hulk Hogan.
fg76 is our resident Hogan fanboy/lover/expert…not that there’s anything wrong with that.
With the benefit of hindsight, I agree that Hogan never should have been brought back in 1993. But at the time, I think business was as bad as it had ever been under McMahon Jr and as good as Bret was, he wasn’t a big enough draw in the US (Europe was a different story). It’s a pity they didn’t utilize Savage as much in the ring because, from what I understand, he wanted to wrestle.
Bret v. Savage should have main evented WM 9, with Bret going over clean.
I agree they could have utilized Savage more (he still had some great matches and A LOT of rub still left in him), but I still maintain that Bret-Perfect should have main evented WM9. I would have saved Bret/Savage for WMX and built it up so WMX would finally signal the change of the new generation going over the old guard.
I don’t think the problem was Hogan coming back…it was how he came back. The stupid angle with Beefcake that no one cared about. Winning the title at WrestleMania IX, which no one liked. And then not wrestling for 2 months. The only good that came out of it was making Yoko legit by putting out Hogan.
I like Bret/Savage at WM 9 because Savage still had more of a rub to give than Perfect did since Bret already beat Perfect.
It still boggles my mind they didn’t do anything with Savage in 1993…he got an insane pop being #30 at the Royal Rumble, he was over, he could still go and he never seemed like the type who would mind putting over guys like Bret, Shawn or Razor. As an 11-year old…I just assumed Razor & Macho were going to have a full-blown feud in ‘93 after the mini-feud leading up to Survivor Series.
“Mr. Ramon, you seemed to have dropped your toothpick…let me get that for you.” POW.
I’m not saying Bret/Savage at WM9 was a bad idea, just that you need to look into the future. For WMX you needed a big money match that’s never been done before, since it was the tenth anniversary and all and I think Bret/Savage would have been the perfect fit for that.
Bret/Perfect would have been a suitable WM main event since both guys were super over at the time, plus it would be the first WM to signal change and WWF could have hyped it up saying it would be the first WM main event to be ****+ or something.
On a side note on Hogan in japan, have you seen the Hogan/Fujinami match from 6/11/85, its floating around the net and its a crazy match for hogan in terms of move set and def worth checking out.
Wow… so Raw is still sucking at this point? When are we rid of the meaningless jobber matches?
1996ish
Going from memory (which sucks), I believe it was 1997 when Raw switched to the 2 hour format.
Yeah the two-hour was 1997; it was around 1996-97 that you started to see less jobber matches, although there was the occasional squash even into early-1998.
Say it with me people: there’s NOTHING WRONG WITH A JOBBER MATCH. Introduces a character, gets their moves over, and fills time.
AKA: Say, what’s (insert current WWE Midcarder)’s finisher? And no running to Smackdown vs Raw or Wikipedia to check.
I agree, jobber matches are good. It’s just when it’s a local guy, who can’t bump very well, and has a name you can’t remember and no music is when I start to switch channels.
I agree, never said I didn’t
jobber matches are effective and all, they certainly have their purpose. The problem is that, with the introduction of RAW, the elimination of Prime Time, and the paucity of SNME’s at the time, the only real showcase for “meaningful” matches was PPV’s. The system was never better than the period of 1987-1994 or so, with squashes and promos on Challenge and Superstars (with the occasional “main event”), 50/50 squash/house show matches on Prime Time, and angle-advancing/establishing/blowoffs once a month or so on Saturday Night’s Main Event, and of course the “Big 4″ PPV’s. It was very much a ladder for wrestlers to climb, and it worked well for many (The Rockers come to mind instantly). Putting a one hour RAW in the place of the 2 hour Prime Time really effed up the whole system, and it took a couple of years to re-establish the formula, and then another couple more to screw it all up again.
Also, jobber matches can be very effective if done right. Goldberg/Jerry Flynn from Nitro 1/12/98, (currently on 24-7) is a prime example. A two-four minute match can be done well enough to warrant a *** rating, and that ain’t half bad for what it is.
I miss the Saturday morning shows. I know those shows were aimed more at kids but I wake up on a weekend, around 10 or 11am…there is nothing on television. I usually end up watching WWE 24/7 anyway.
If the WWE really wants to gear their product back towards kids…why wouldn’t they bring back the Saturday morning squash show? Or bring back the Saturday morning studio show, but I doubt they could do that with the insane travel schedule.
The problem is more that they can’t justify adding another taping, and they can’t squeeze in another show (as it is, Superstars is screwing them up something fierce in spite of being an enjoyable show most weeks as kind of a modern version of WCWSN).
The biggest issue is a corporate culture one, like most with the company these days. Since they get feedback via ratings faster than feedback via PPV buys, they are too afraid to go back to fewer non-star-v-star matches on TV since it’ll effect ratings.
Sorry for the thread hijack, but somehow I was really curious…what does Scott think of the Angry Video Game Nerd?