The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - June 7 1993
- Live from New York
- Your hosts are Vince, Brain and Macho.
Shawn Michaels v. Ross Greenberg
Shawn is once again the IC champion, having defeated Marty the night before with the help of his new "insurance policy", some goof who I think used to be Vinnie Vegas in WCW or something. Shawn pounds Greenberg down and gets a delayed suplex, then a backbreaker, as the announcers wonder what the bodyguard's name is. I don't think we ever found out, did we? Shawn goes to a chinlock, but Greenberg elbows out, so Shawn puts him down with a neckbreaker and drops an elbow from the middle rope. Piledriver gets the pin at 3:45.
Adam Bomb v. El Matador
Tito works the arm to start, but Bomb pounds him on the ropes and follows with a powerslam. He misses a blind charge and Tito is back on the arm and gets a quick rollup for two, but Bomb slugs him down and chokes away on the ropes. Tito fights back, but Bomb sends him into the turnbuckles. Tito slugs back and hits the flying forearm out of nowhere for two. Standing dropkick, but Bomb just no-sells everything and blocks a rollup, then finishes with the springboard clothesline at 5:28. Big yawner. *1/2
Tatanka v. Peter Weeks
Weeks is like Peter Jackson come to life as a TV jobber. Tatanka hiptosses Weeks to the floor and tosses him back in for chops in the corner. Elbow and backdrop, then he chops Weeks down and finishes with a flying chop at 3:10. Weeks was AWFUL, even by jobber standards. Kind of funny here to hear Savage talking about how the winner of the King of the Ring tournament will be an "iron man" because they won 3 matches, when he himself won 4 matches in the same night just 5 years earlier at Wrestlemania IV.
Jerry Lawler returns with the first King's Court on RAW. The guest is Yokozuna, and he's apparently up to 550 pounds because fatter is better. And they wondered why he ate himself to death.
Billy Gunn & Rick Steiner v. Fatu & IRS
Wow, that's the shittest possible combination of guys, good job. Billy escapes a Fatu suplex to start and hits a spinning neckbreaker for two. Rick comes in with a powerslam for two. IRS slugs away on Rick, but misses a charge and lands on the floor, where Scott sends him back in and Rick slugs him down for two. IRS comes back, but hits Fatu by mistake and tensions are rising as we take a break. Back with Rick working a headlock on IRS, but he gets tossed and abused by the heels. Back in, Fatu with a clothesline for two. The heels pound away in the corner, but Fatu hits knee on a pump splash attempt and it's hot tag Billy Gunn. IRS quickly clotheslines him from behind and gets the pin at 8:23, however.
Razor Ramon joins us and ups his offer to $7500 for the Kid to face him in a rematch, and Vince informs him that only 7% of hotline fans think he can win King of the Ring. Ouch.
Next week: Marty Jannetty v. Doink!
You know, these older shows are giving me an appreciation for how good Macho was at a color commentator. Made the angles get over instead of himself.
Given how good Matt Striker has worked out, the WWE should really go back to pinching jobbers and washups for the color jobs.
Shawn Michaels is actually good at this, in the few times he’s done it. I hope he ends up taking a color job when he retires.
I still think Mr. Perfect was the best at it. I think if he had been clean from drugs… and not dead of course… he would be doing that to this day.
Mr. Perfect and Macho were good, but my favorite will always be Owen Hart. His commentary at the 1996 KotR single-handedly makes the PPV watchable (ok, besides that whole Austin 3:16 thing). Anybody who gets away with calling Sable homely and a hose-bag, while claiming that Cloudy has ‘potential,’ and Jake the Snake is 80 or 90 years old is an eternal winner.
I actually think Bulldog/Michaels is a really good match.
Best commentary on there.
“Shawn Michaels has that dirty Mexican Jose Estrada with him.”
Seriously lol worthy. They don’t make them like Owen anymore. Everytime I hear a new Owen Hart rib I crack up. The guy’s imagination for jokery was wild.
Scotty gave that match **** and I gave it ****1/4.
Time has been very good to it with the exception of a horribly blown top rope spot.
And Owen was so wonderful on the commentary. My favorite line was subtle but it defined the sort of insecure character Owen was playing.
Vince goes into a spiel about DBS being led to the ring by Cornette and his wife Diana and on cue Owen goes.
“MY SISTER!”
The timing was just perfect and it made me crack up. Still does.
Hey look what I found on the youtube thingy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAr-Imkegao
The best of Owen Hart at the 1996 King of the Ring~!
Awesome video.
Wow great find, and props to the person that made it.
“I went to congratulate him and I slipped” was my favorite.
“And they wondered why he ate himself to death.”
Who in the world wondered that?
WWE did. They constantly sent him to fat camps and were somehow amazed when he gained all the weight back due to the pressure they put on him because of the fat = push equation.
You know though, at some point personal accountability has to come into play. I don’t know if they put pressure on him to be fatter. I actually don’t see it. My thought is actually that they wanted him to drop the weight, but when he didn’t there was no point in not using it.
I think it’s kind of a cop out to say he was pressured into eating. He was a big boy… no pun intended… and at a certain point you’re accountable for yourself. If he gets a free pass for eating because the WWE put pressure on him, then where does it stop? The WWE puts pressures all their performers in one way or another. So you can blame every death on the WWE. And that’s just wrong.
Now, Scott, in all fairness Samu would have been shittier than Fatu in that tag match. Haha.
That’s what I was thinking and Billy > Bart I’d say so it’s not as bad as it COULD have been.
Actuality Bart was somewhat the more talented of the two, but Billy had the better look, which is why he got pushed in the end.
Also, I think at this point in time IRS > Dibiase. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dibiase, but the guy was seriously dogging his matches, probably due to his declining health at this point.
Any plans to repost/rewatch the 93 King of the Ring like you did with WM9??
I’ve really been loving these recaps.