A few lines on every episode of WWF/WWE Raw (1993-?)

[Keith]

In my free time have decided to casually start watching Raw from the beguining. Because its a big undertaking to review the show match by match or beat by, thought I'd sum up each shows in a few lines. This might include every match or segement just in a more piffy way. Also thought it'd be fun to keep a ranking of episodes, matches and also seasons/years?

As a nice detour I might cover the odd episode of WCW Nitro too!

My first Raw review should be up over the weekend.

 

[Keith]

Monday Night Raw 11 January, 1993
Setting: The Manhattan Center (roughly, 1'500 fans?)
Rating: 2.5
The debut of the longest running weekly episodic show comes two weeks before the Royal Rumble.

Chilly New York outside shots makes downtown Manhattan look more like Gotham City. Bobby Heenan gives the fans some much welcome antics with his on-going attempts to scam his way into the building, proving why he should be in Barlett's seat. Heenan and Mooney have solid chemistry.



Classic early Raw intro is still one of the shows best even if that bloody Siren can grate!



Vince's coke-up intro is still gold. Most random broadcast team ever. Macho is actually solid next to fish out of water Bartlett. No chemistry all night.



Koko B. Ware VS. Yokozuna (W/Mr. Fiji)
To be fair Bartlett's Gary Coleman reference about Koko B. Ware is spot on and probably his highlight of the night. "Whoop There it is"! is so early 90s!. The Zuna monster push is well and truly under way and Koko is a decent meal. Job done. "BANZAI"!! *




The Brain does a stand up job hyping up The Narcissist's debut at the Rumble saying he's from another Galaxy.



The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (Duane Gill & Barry Hardy)
Never liked The Steiners cheesy WWF entrance theme. Vince gets his first "WHAT A Manoeuvre!" of the night in as Scott has his way with one of the masked mystery men. Vinnie Mac also calls Doink, Dork by the mistake A nice top rope Rick bulldog gets the easy win in 3 minutes. 1/2




The Hitman is a little too hyped for the Ico Pro!

Vince interviews a supremely confident Bad Guy Razor Ramon ahead of his WWF title shot against Bret Hart at the Rumble. Ramon takes exception to Vince's "Johnny Come Lately" comment. He says he squashed Owen like a Cockroach to send a message to big brother Bret. Hall is looking and sounding like a great heel.




WWF Intercontinental Title: Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (c)
Konnan's wacky and short lived Moon gimmick was at least futuristic and ahead of its time (inspired by an Anime character in his native country). The challenger keeps pace early on, staying one step ahead of HBK with some smooth flying Japanese arm drags. The champ finds his feet and slows the pace down. Moon's sling sending Shawn outside looks good. This is an enjoyable fast pace match with some solid mat wrestling too. Michaels retains with his jumping back suprlex at the second time of asking (I doubt Moon was ever going to take HBK's place against Marty at the Rumble...). The commentary reaches an all time low as Bartlett does a Mike Tyson impression (right around the time the Boxer had been convincted of raping his wife). **1/2



Gene's classic Royal Rumble Report. I miss the early 90s! Has any day been Marty Jannetty Day?....



The Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer) VS. Damien Demento
The most interesting thing about this "air quotes" main event, was Demento being announced as from the Outer Reaches of Your Mind. This gimmick was dated and cartoony even in 93. Nothing match. 1/2



The announcers hype up next week's show and in another round of lets try and be edgy and current they claim they will have a special steel cage match between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow. Crush is sick of Doink Brah!.

Rating: 4/10
MVP: Bobby Heenan (either him or either of the guys in the IC title match?)

Dickhead of the Week: Vinnie Mac!
Its tempting to give it to Bartlett for one of the most clueless broadcasting debuts ever, but the buck stops with Vince, plus his own performance was a bit of a sham.

 

[Keith]

18 January 1993 No. 2 Volume 1

TV Rating: 2.8 (up on last week and for the era pretty solid).


Barlett rips up a picture of Heenan and Repo Pearl Habours Macho and steals his hat Thus kicking off the most random feud ever (I'm not if this or Edge and Booker T fighting over a hair commercial is the lamest excuse for a match?!). There's actually a few "Repo" chants!





Terrific Terry Taylor VS. Mr. Perfect

The most famous match between these two was back when Taylor was still the Red Rooster and he lost in a matter of minutes to Perfect at Summerslam 89. Adding "Terrific" to his name is a bit like putting lipstick on a pig, ha! Taylor always felt more at home in the NWA/WCW and Perfect always made a better heel. Some jaw jacking, blows/chops back and fourth, Perfect a bit quicker as Macho complains about Repo and asks about his hat? Love Taylor slinging Perfect outside by his tights! The heel scores a two after a front jawbreaker and backbreaker. Almost steals the win with a smooth spinbuster. A tidy opener almost has a surprise ending when Flair comes out, destracts Perfect and runs him into the ring post on the outside. Despite an open goal, Taylor is still beaten a minute later with the Perfect Plex!. If they didn't want Perfect to job by pinfall why not just have him counted out?!! **1/2








Vince interviews WWF Champ Bret Hart. Typical face promo, he bigs up his pop who's about to turn 78 and calls Razor the lowest scum in the WWF.






Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth
Most interesting thing about this one are the two wrestlers multi-coloured liquorice allsorts shorts. HBK talks on the phone hyping up the IC title match at the PPV and Sherri's involvement. Match drags on too long. Marty wins with the Rockerdroper and lax heel covers. The fans are in different. *

Recap of Doink attacking Crush with his cast from Superstars. Young Keith was almost in tears!!





Repo does his best Joker impression during a segment with Macho and I love it!!!






El Matador VS. Ric Flair

Flair bumps like a boss for Tito. Rolling headlock off the ropes a choice spot for Matador. Macho a bit sensitive about New York fans cheering heels...
These two have nice chemistry, fuck that break! Flair and Perfect fight to the back in a hot brawl. Patterson and his scary looking cardigan goes flying
***





A fired up Flair challenges Perfect to a loser leaves town match the following week. Perfect accepts and its going to be the biggest match of the early shows. BTW both men are in the Rumble match Sunday.


Rating: 5/10

MVP: Flair (or Repo?!)

Dickhead: Macho for having no sense of humour

Raw Rankings
1. 18th January 93
2. 11th January 93

Match Rankings
1. Flair VS. El Matador (18th Jan)
2. Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (13th Jan)
3. Perfect VS. Terry Taylor (18th Jan)
4. The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (13th Jan)
5. Yokozuna VS. Koko B. Ware (13th Jan)
6. Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth (18th Jan)
7. The Undertaker VS. Damien Demento (13th Jan)

 

[Keith]

January 25th 1993 No. 3 Vol. 1

No TV viewing figure is available for this show online from what I can see. Think this typical of the time.

Repo Man VS. Macho Man
The Lone Ranger himself Repo Man gallops into Raw cackling away wearing Macho's hat . Macho doesn't even wait for the bell, hell he doesn't even want an entrance! Going straight for Repo, attacking him on the outside, vicious knee drop to the throat. The former WWF champ lands on his feet on the outside and knees Repo back outside. After getting rammed into the rail and then ring post by the heel, this because a typical Repo kick, punch, wear down match. The finish comes when Savage doges a Repo top rope elbow and hits his own classic version. Most importantly Macho gets his hat back. Waste of Macho's time! 1/2





Kamala (w/Slick) VS. The Brooklyn Brawler
The Ugandan Giant is now a face and Slick has seen the Light! This is easy money for the every green Fed jobber Steve "Brooklyn Brawler" Lombardi who even The Red Rooster holds a victory over. Slick gives Kamala advice from ringside such important things as if he should shake Lombardi's hand?.... We get the pantomine spots of the fans telling Kamala to turn Brawler over when he's pinning him the wrong way. He finally does. Another dud, but job done I guess... 1/2





Loser Leaves Town match: Ric Flair VS. Mr. Perfect
They make the only sensible choice giving Bobby his rightful place on commentary (even more so considering the outcome of the match), and luckily Flair and Perfect get a good amount of time to steal the show. This is a good blow off to their feud even if it probably deserved to be on PPV. Perfect gets the first upper hand with a smooth drop toe hold and slaps the back of Flair's head adding insalt to injury with some styling and profiling! Some solid mat work, as Perfect reverses a Flair front facelock into a hammerlock. Ric briefly traps Henning in the corner with elbows and chops, we get a round of anything you can do I can do better as Perfect responds with reverse chops of his own. Flair gets a nice rolling headlock and stiff blows in the corner, but Perfect wins a short round of boxing. A thumb to the eye by the heel stops this, he dumps Perfect to the floor and grabs a chair which Hebner timely snatches out of his hands. Earl takes no shit from the Natural Boy. Perfect has a sunset flip countered and takes a tumble to the floor. We even get a bit of juice from the former IC Champion. Flair whips him in hard to the corner and almost gets the pin with a foot on the rope. Both men back up and they exchange chops again. Flair's on dream street and runs into a Perfect fist/clothesline for a hot near fall. Classic Rocket Launcher spot before the break. Post break Flair brings out brass nuts handled to him by Heenan. He nails Perfect, and goes for repeated pins (legs on rope again), but Perfect refuses to be pinned. Henning does his Hogan impression fighting through the pain in the corner, back drop to Flair out the corner, aeroplane spin out of corner. Flair runs up other side, but is caught off the top with a clothesline for another dramatic near fall. Flair takes down Perfect and again uses the ropes to try and get the pin, finally Earl catches him. Perfect reverses him into a cradle, but just two, and finally Perfect scores the match with Perfect plex for a big pop! And Heenan goes nuts!!!. Flair is set packing in easily the best Raw match to date. He couldn't have done much more since debuting in 91, and to be honest deserved better than he got at times. For some reason he never quite felt at home in the WWF. Flair would return to WCW the following month at Superbrawl 3. ***1/2











Rating: 5.5/10

MVP: Ric Flair

Dickhead: Bartlett (only by default, can't be too mad at anyone on the show).

Raw Rankings
1. 25th January 93
2. 18th January 93
3. 11th January 93

Match Rankings
1. Flair VS. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town, 25th Jan)
2. Flair VS. El Matador (18th Jan)
3. Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (13th Jan)
4. Perfect VS. Terry Taylor (18th Jan)
5. The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (13th Jan)
6. Macho VS. Repo Man (25th Jan)
7. Yokozuna VS. Koko B. Ware (13th Jan)
7. Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth (18th Jan)
8. The Undertaker VS. Damien Demento (13th Jan)
9. Kamala VS. Brooklyn Brawler (25th Jan)

 

[Keith]

Feburary 1st 1993 No.4 Vol.1

Tatanka VS. Damian Demento
Vince, Macho and Bartlet still doing that crappy Raw catch phrase . Vinnie Mac screams "It's gonna be over quickly"! after a Tatanka small package (on planet Vince that means the opposite). This is a typical punch, kick, chop affair, with a decent enough pace. Demento is once again there to make up the numbers. Despite not being the most dynamic personality ever, the Native American is still pretty over with the fans. The Unbeaten streak goes on following the Samoan drop. *




With ratings still flagging the WWF look to relieve its 80s peak with the return of Brutus "The Fucking" Barber Beefcake!. Beefer talks to Vince and runs through the cliches. He intends to return to the WWF, he wants to do some "Strutting' and Cuttin'. Vince says a return after his parasailing accident is a "risky manoeuvre". Beefer agrees before diving into a melodramatic backstory that no one asked for. He buried his frail 85 year old mother and his Dad (before the parasailing accident). His wife "slapped him upside the head" with divorce papers after he reached out for support and took off with some barfly with everything Beefcake had! Not content with running down the name of one woman, Beefer also makes its clear it was a woman who injured him in the parasail inccident. Sounds like Beefcake's next gig should be as a recurring cast member on "Days of Our Lives". At this point this dreay segement drags on so long, it feels like the main event. No surprise the fans boo a religious reference. Of course there was one man who was there for Beefcake and that's his "Friend till the end" the Hulkster. At this point Hogan too had signed on for a comeback, but in the meantime he was happy just to inspire his bagman to step back in the ring. Beefcake issues an open challenge to anyone. This segment was a dud, but so funny!!.





High Energy VS. Mike Sharp and Vito
Sharp is a mountain of a man, and one of my fave jobbers. The Birdman and Owen get a decent pop from the crowd. They do some neat tandom offence including a nice double backdrop and missle drop kick from the Koko as Hart cradles Vito for the pin. *







Typhoon VS. Doink
The match we've all been waiting for?!..... Another short useless match which gets across that the evil clown can wrestle and outsmart big men. Guess Typhoon's push is over if it ever really started?.... Doink wins with a handful tights after the Natrual Disaster misses a splash in the corner. 1/2






Todd Pettengill talks to Vince about this Saturday's Mania show (you know a proper wrestling show?...). Todd says there's an appearance by The Giant Gonzales a man he would very much like to meet...




We get a nice tribute to Andre the Giant who passed away over the weekend.



Yokozuna (W/Mr. Fiji) VS. Bobby Devito (no relation to Danny!)
The ring girl is quite nice. I've got nothing else!. Hacksaw calls in and makes some dated racist remarks. It takes so long to connect the call, the match is nearly over anyway. *.





Money Inc come out for an interview. Dibiase makes a crack about Beefcake's face being like Humpydumpy, ha! The heels flip a coin to decide which one will face Beefcake. The Million Dollar man wins the toss. Jimmy Hart comes out and warns the tag champs about wasting their time risking an injury against. Ted dismisses it as a workout. This is the start of a slow burn face turn for Jimmy, muppet

" The Narcissist" Lex Luger VS. Jason Knight
Lex takes exception to the large ring girl appearing in his mirror . Vince plugs Quantum Leap following Raw. Yeah a proper show at last!!
Luger pins Knight with a pinky finger. *.





Raw is replaced by the Dog show next week!.

Rating: 3/10

MVP: Andre the Giant

Dickhead: Brutus "The Fucking" Barber Beefcake





Raw Rankings
1. 25th January 93
2. 18th January 93
3. 11th January 93
4. 1st February 93

Match Rankings
1. Flair VS. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town, 25th Jan)
2. Flair VS. El Matador (18th Jan)
3. Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (13th Jan)
4. Perfect VS. Terry Taylor (18th Jan)
5. The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (13th Jan)
6. Macho VS. Repo Man (25th Jan)
7. High Energy VS. Mike Shape and Vito (1st Feb)
7. Yokozuna VS. Koko B. Ware (13th Jan)
8. Tatanka VS. Damien Demento (1st Feb)
7. Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth (18th Jan)
8. The Undertaker VS. Damien Demento (13th Jan)
9. Doink VS. Typhoon (1st Feb)
10. Lex Luger VS. Jason Knight (1st Feb)
11. Yokozuna VS. Bobby Devito (1st Feb)
12. Kamala VS. Brooklyn Brawler (25th Jan)

 

[Keith]

My bad should have given Andre the MVP last show since the great man died that weekend. Have edited the post. Probably the only time I'll give a wrestler who wasn't on the show MVP, but he deserves it.

February 15th 1993 No. 5 Vol. 1

1980s style intro promos from the Barber and Ted hyping up their match later.

Macho's already got a Raw t-shirt what a mark, ha!

The Steiner Brothers VS. Glen Ruth and Bobby Who????
Macho's having mic problems. Scott's Full nelson surplex is dope. Who takes a Rick belly to belly. Savage won't stop talking even with a faulty mic!
Top rope bulldog gets the win again. No rating.


We get a Mean Gene Wrestlemania report! So far the 3 matches booked are Bret VS. Yoko (WWF Title), Doink VS. Crush and Taker VS. Giant Gonzales. Bet those matches will fill that huge 16k venue!

Yokozuna (W/Mr Fiji) VS. Ross Greenberg
Bartlet's dated Godzilla gags is really starting to grate on me, ha! Don't know if Zuna not really being Japanese makes it worse or better?.... Nothing to see here. Its getting a low score because of how annoying the annoucers are. Can we get to the real matches now?! 1/2

Lord Alfred Hayes hosts a special report recaping the Hacksaw Duggan VS. Yokozuna challenge match from Superstars. Duggan gets the moral victory be being the first to knock Yoko off his feet on TV. The devious Japanese heel gets the last word with salt to the eyes and a bonzai drop. Lord Al should take Batlett's place.




No body wants anything to do with Giant Gonzales in the 16-man battle Royal (its the worst outfit ever that scares them). To show this we get a recap of Gonzales having his way with 3 men in a handicap match on Superstars. One of these job guys is a young Louie Spicolli (RIP). Somewhere off camera
Taker is shooting dirty looks at those 16 men





16 Man Battle Royal
No messing all 16 in from the start. The 93 Roster really sucks. Shawn, Razor and maybe Ron Howard's long lost brother (Backlund) are the only real names. Hell even Kimchee gets in on the act! . Yep that's our old buddy Steve Lombardi getting another payday. Kimchee plays head games with Kamala what a feud! Wait Iron Mike Sharp's in this thing!!.... Koko almost dumps Shawn, Razor makes the save and the Birdman hits the bricks from HBK. Macho's skinner sandwich line is pretty funny. HBK does some epic selling as he tilts on the ropes by Owen. Demento goes. Owen jumps on Berzerker's back and is swiftly powered over the top. Tito tries to eliminate the Viking but no doing. Vince cheekly claims Terry Taylor could win the Battle Royal
Weak Kamala pressing kick knocks Berzerker out. Kimchee does the chicken shit heel thing of pushing Kamala out after Typhoon had done most of the work, nice! Kamala takes a leaf out of his buddy Hogan's playbook and returns to the match in a bitter rage throwing his former handler to the floor. If Jesse or Bobby were announcing, even Lord Al they would be calling this bullshit out. The camera follows them through the crowd and we get a shot of a middle aged ginger haired dude in a Beverly Hills 90210 t-shirt. In a fun spot we see Kamala chasing Kimchee into the concession stand with Macho's peach of a line: "THROW SOME MUSTARD ON IT!!". Highlight of the show so far. Vince tells us they end up in the parking lot.

No one cares about this match. Kimchee gets chased across the balcony by Kamala. Michaels eliminating 400 plus pound Typhoon can never live up to that shit! Damn I'm hooked now, I don't want this stuff to end.... We're down to the final four. It nicely works out as a tag match. The heels Razor and HBK VS. the faces of Tito and Tatanka. The heels talk over strategy. Vince updates us on Kamala VS. Kimchee (which has now gone across the street, into the parking lot...). They pair off. Tatanka waffles away on HBK with some heavy chops (BTW Tatanka beat Michaels in a non-title match on Superstars). Matador hits a flying forearm on Razor. Tito takes a thumb to the eye from Shawn, before the IC champ drop kicks Tatanka. Matador outsmarts Michaels seeing his corner fake out coming. The faces double team HBK and elminate him with a double punt to the floor. Razor recovers but is double teamed by Tito and Tatanka. The Native American screws up his spot with a chop to Razor right as Tito is about to whip the Bad Guy off the ropes. With Razor in trouble Gonzales picks this moment to interject. Tossing Tatanka to the floor (shouldn't count he's not in the match). He does the same to Tito. Razor returns to the ring after things have died down and is announced as the winner! mark:. Well it has to be one of the more entertaining Raw matches to date right?! **












The Million Dollar Man (W/Jimmy Hart) VS. Brutus "the Fucking" Barber Beefcake
Brutus gets a pretty shitty reaction, well it is New York. These two had a so-so match at a Mania in the 80s, but that seems a long time ago now. The announcers do a good job of getting across Beefer's face injury and how it could be a target. The Mouth of South tells Dibiase to "watch him Teddy, watch him". The Barber ducks a shot off the ropes and knocks Ted to the floor with 1980s comedy blows. We get a Brutus headlock spot and another swinging blow, as the heel rolls outside again. A turnbuckle spot is blocked and Ted takes one of his own. IRS comes to ringside. A match going no where ends when the Taxman nails Beefcake with the briefcase for the DQ. The heels keep their heat with the famous briefcase to the face shot post-match (its later revealed that it was loaded with a brick, love it!. Hart completes his face turn by trying to stand up to the heels who sholve their now ex-manager to the canvas. *








Rating: 5/10

MVP: Kimchee (hey Shawn will have plenty of other Monday nights)

Dickhead: Rob Bartlet

Raw Rankings
1. 25th January 93
2. 18th January 93
3. 15th February 93
4. 11th January 93
5. 1st February 93

Match Rankings
1. Ric Flair VS. Mr. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town, 25th Jan)
2. Flair VS. El Matador (18th Jan)
3. Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (13th Jan)
4. 16 Man Battle Royal (15th Feb)
5. Perfect VS. Terry Taylor (18th Jan)
6. The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (13th Jan)
7. Macho VS. Repo Man (25th Jan)
8. High Energy VS. Mike Shape and Vito (1st Feb)
9. Brutus Beefcake VS. Ted Dibiase (15th Feb)
10. Yokozuna VS. Koko B. Ware (13th Jan)
11. Tatanka VS. Damien Demento (1st Feb)
12. The Steiner Brothers VS. Glen Ruth and Bobby Who?!
13. Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth (18th Jan)
15. The Undertaker VS. Damien Demento (13th Jan)
16. Doink VS. Typhoon (1st Feb)
17. Lex Luger VS. Jason Knight (1st Feb)
18. Yokozuna VS. Bobby Devito (1st Feb)
19. Yokozuna VS. Ross Greenberg
20. Kamala VS. Brooklyn Brawler (25th Jan)

 

[Keith]

February 22nd No. 6 Vol. 1

Bam Bam Bigelow VS. Scott Taylor
The future Scotty Too Hotty does get some blows in on the Red hot Monster heel who is over with the New York crowd. A flying clothesline rocks the Beast from the East before Bigelow hits an electric chair, followed by two head butts off the top for the win. *






Of course this is the Hulk Hogan show. He's here not only to save Beefer but also the WWF and probably the world while he's at it . To prove this we get build-up for his in-ring interview later in the night with a replay of his super cheesy sitdown interview with Vince before Mania 8 the year before and a new cheesy sitdown with Vince just to tease what he might announce on Raw that night.... Oh and they also use the new interview to take a pop shot at the negative media coverage over the ongoing steroid trial...






The Beverly Brothers and Shawn Michaels VS. Tatanka and The Nasty Boys
The in-ring main event of the hour is pretty forgettable, but does the job of making the undefeated Native American again look a credible threat to HBK's IC Title. All six start, the faces double team the heels including the Nastys running Michaels into a Tatanka back body drop as the champ takes a nice bump to the floor. Blake takes a cartoonish twisting bump of a Sags fist. Knobs hits a face plant off the ropes and both Beverly’s take the pit stop. HBK strikes with a reverse elbow of the ropes after Knobs misses an elbow in the corner. The IC champ does a fun job of taughting the faces. Shawn telegraphs a head drop and takes a face plant, followed by a running clothesline. We get the hot tag to Tatanka. Shawn tags out straight away. We get a bunch of rest spots, followed by a Sags solder breaker, but the pin is broken up by the other Beverly. Tatanka chops his way out of the heel corner, all six in again, but Knobs is back dropped over the top with one of the Beverly's holding down the top rope to help his mate?... We build to another ad break. The pace is really sapping. Knobs takes a ride into the steps. We get the Beverly's double team leap over the back into the back. A delayed pin from Shawn, the ref out is position, just two. The Nasty Boy also kicks out of an axe handle off the top. We then get a weird looking bear hug spot where they look like their dancing. The heels are really dumb here. We get a serious of mistakes including Michaels posting himself.

The fresh Tatanka tags back in and finally he gets some HBK action. Running Shawn hard into the buckle, he straddles him on the top rope, hits a power slam off the ropes, but the pin attempt is saved by Beau. The finish is really sloppy. Michaels kicks out of a Tatanka chop off the top, but there's delay which says to me we were supposed to get another Beverly save. The Samoan drop comes next, the pin is saved by Blake with a sloppy leg drop. The Nasty's clear the ring of the Beverly's. Michaels goes for his leaping back surplex, but Tatanka counters with a smooth sunset flip for the win. **









Terrific Terry Taylor VS. Crush
Nothing to the match itself. The most notable thing is the antics of the announcers. Bartlet's latest celebrity impression is Arnie (sucks again). Vince takes pot shots at the Clinton adminstration. Macho says Hogan's not a Republican, He's not a Democrat, he's just a Hulkamanic. Taylor now more a jobber than ever goes down to the skull crushing finale. *.






Hogan and Beefcake are interviewed in ring. Bartlet no sells Beefer's nose injury from the week before. Hogan thanks Jimmy Hart for trying to save his pal last week. The Red and Yellow call out the brand new Hulkamanic. Like a fucking mark he comes out clad in the red and yellow, and reveals that after all these years of sending men after Hogan, he has realised his dream and is now a Hulkamanic and Hogan's new manager!!. To no one's surprise Hogan announces his ring return (you wonder if this would be the case if his movie career had gone better?). Him and Beefcake challenge Money Inc. to a WWF tag title match at Mania 9.





The Undertaker VS. Skinner
The match starts two minutes before Raw is set to finish. They some how sneak in a quick ad. When we return Skinner is using his Alligator claw on the Deadman, but they run out of bloody time. Vince promises to show the rest of the match next week. DO THEY BLOODY HECK!!
Screw this company!. 1/2






Rating: 4/10

MVP: HBK

Dickhead: Vince




Raw Rankings
1. 25th January 93
2. 18th January 93
3. 15th February 93
4. 11th January 93
5. 22nd February 93
6. 1st February 93

Match Rankings
1. Ric Flair VS. Mr. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town, 25th Jan)
2. Flair VS. El Matador (18th Jan)
3. Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (13th Jan)
4. 16 Man Battle Royal (15th Feb)
5. Tatanka/The Nasty Boys VS. HBK/Beverly Brothers (22nd Feb)
6. Perfect VS. Terry Taylor (18th Jan)
7. The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (13th Jan)
8. Macho Man VS. Repo Man (25th Jan)
9. Bam Bam Bigelow VS. Scott Taylor (22nd Feb)
10. High Energy VS. Mike Shape and Vito (1st Feb)
11. Brutus Beefcake VS. Ted Dibiase (15th Feb)
12. Yokozuna VS. Koko B. Ware (13th Jan)
13. Tatanka VS. Damien Demento (1st Feb)
14. Terry Taylor VS. Crush (22nd Feb)
15. The Steiner Brothers VS. Glen Ruth and Bobby Who?!
16. Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth (18th Jan)
17. The Undertaker VS. Damien Demento (13th Jan)
18. Doink VS. Typhoon (1st Feb)
19. Lex Luger VS. Jason Knight (1st Feb)
20. Yokozuna VS. Bobby Devito (1st Feb)
21. Yokozuna VS. Ross Greenberg
22. Skinner VS. The Undertaker (22nd Feb)
23. Kamala VS. Brooklyn Brawler (25th Jan)

 

[Keith]

March 1st 1993 No. 7 Vol. 1

WWF Title match: Bret Hart (c) VS. Fatu (W/Afa)
Barlet is the King this week as in Elvis . Afa has a shrunken head
A tidy opener. Bret works over the arm on the canvas. Bret trips over Fatu (Vince claims he was tripped by Afa, news to me...), a smart schoolboy almost gets the champ the win. Fatu pops up from a face slam (you can't hurt that head) and hits a nice super kick for two, he also scores a two off a stiff clothesline. Topaz spot sucks life out of crowd. Bret is shot outside after getting two from a flying crossbody, with Afa distracting the ref, Fatu's tag partner Samu gets some shots in on the Hitman. Its not enough to put Bret away despite taking a lot of punishment. Fatu gets two from a snug looking piledriver. Another sloppy cover follows Bret's front first turnbuckle shot. A top rope headbutt, but Fatu doesn't hook the leg. The Headshrinker is caught up top and takes a nice superplex for a near fall. Bret gets into his groove with a running bulldog, side russian legsweep and hooks on the Sharpshooter. With the ref tied up by Afa, Samu breaks up the hold and does a switch with his tag partner, the wrong Headshrinker almost steals the pin, they switch back again
Thinking on his feet, Bret runs the Headshrinkers together, hits another Russian legsweep and knocks Afa off the apron with a drop kick before the match winning Sharpshooter. Probably the best singles match Fatu had. **





Koko B. Ware VS. Doink
Before the match Crush with his phoney Hawaiian accent and tiny swimming trucks crushes a cokeanut on a beach, telling the announcers that's what he's going to do to Doink at Wrestlemania




The evil Clown teases fans with his gift wrapped present. Before Koko does the "Bird, Bird, Bird!". Doink attacks the face before he can even get his jacket off. Working over the leg, Doink locks on a solid STF. The heel gets the easy win with a stomp puller. *
Post match Bartlet/Elvis wants to interview the Clown. Predictably Bartlet gets peach pie in his face! Vince says its "Unbelievable"





Vince interviews Money Inc. in the ring. Ted bemoans his buddy not getting enough money (despite getting millions) when leaving American Express, he says Irwin and himself will leave home without American Express. Ted slates Hogan's failed Hollywood stint and says Beefer and Hulk only did them a favour taking Jimmy Hart off their hands, calling Jimmy a overpaid gofer. They promise to do even worse to Hogan than they did to Beefcake. The Champions agree to put the belts on the line at Mania.




"The Narcissist" Lex Luger VS. PJ Walker (the future Justin Credible)
Heenan calls in again, and they do a bit when a mystery woman claims to be Prescilla tells them that's not Elvis sitting next to Vince, Heenan says its George Steinbrenner. Luger knocks out another young punk with the form arm and does the delightful one finger pin. Before we go to break with get another classic Vince goof as he says the Steiner Brothers are coming up next, "Rob and Scott"

The Steiner Brothers VS. Duane Gill and Barry Hardy
Scott's pumphandle slam is sweet! Macho confuses Scott for Rick, as the younger Steiner hits a rough looking Frankensteiner for the pin. 1/2

The annoucers tease next week's lineup which includes Money Inc VS. El Matador and Vigil, and Mr. Perfect VS. The Rick Martel.






Rating: 5.5/10

MVP: Bret Hart

Dickhead: Vince

Raw Rankings
1. 25th January 93
2. 18th January 93
3. 15th February 93
4. 1st March 93
4. 11th January 93
5. 22nd February 93
6. 1st February 93

Match Rankings
1. Ric Flair VS. Mr. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town, 25th Jan)
2. Flair VS. El Matador (18th Jan)
3. Max Moon VS. Shawn Michaels (13th Jan)
4. 16 Man Battle Royal (15th Feb)
5. Tatanka/The Nasty Boys VS. HBK/Beverly Brothers (22nd Feb)
6. Bret Hart VS. Fatu (WWF Title) (1st March)
7. Perfect VS. Terry Taylor (18th Jan)
8. The Steiner Brothers VS. The Exceutioners (13th Jan)
9. Macho Man VS. Repo Man (25th Jan)
10. Bam Bam Bigelow VS. Scott Taylor (22nd Feb)
11. High Energy VS. Mike Shape and Vito (1st Feb)
12. Brutus Beefcake VS. Ted Dibiase (15th Feb)
13. Yokozuna VS. Koko B. Ware (13th Jan)
14. Tatanka VS. Damien Demento (1st Feb)
15. Terry Taylor VS. Crush (22nd Feb)
16. Koko. B. Ware VS. Doink (1st March)
15. The Steiner Brothers VS. Glen Ruth and Bobby Who?! (15th Feb)
16. Marty Jannetty VS. Glen Ruth (18th Jan)
17. The Undertaker VS. Damien Demento (13th Jan)
18. The Steiner Brothers VS. Daune Gill and Barry Hardy (1st March)
18. Lex Luger VS. PJ Walker (1st March)
19. Doink VS. Typhoon (1st Feb)
20. Lex Luger VS. Jason Knight (1st Feb)
21. Yokozuna VS. Bobby Devito (1st Feb)
22. Yokozuna VS. Ross Greenberg (15th Feb)
23. Skinner VS. The Undertaker (22nd Feb)
24. Kamala VS. Brooklyn Brawler (25th Jan)