Monday Night Raw – January 18, 1993: They’re Fighting Over A Hat
Monday Night Raw
Date: January 18, 1993
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Attendance: 1,000
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, Rob Bartlett
This is the less famous show, as it’s kind of hard to follow a famous debut. Now we get to see where Raw can go from there, as have another live show, which is also the go home show for the Royal Rumble. This is getting into some mostly forgotten territory and that can make for some fun moments. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Rob Bartlett rips up a picture of Bobby Heenan and says “fight the real enemy” in a reference to Sinead O’Connor on Saturday Night Live about three months earlier. This isn’t funny.
Repo Man jumps Randy Savage and steals his hat. That feels like your big angle for the show.
Opening sequence.
Mr. Perfect vs. Terry Taylor
Taylor is replacing Papa Shango for no apparent reason. Bartlett talks about his car, so Vince says Perfect is “a man who doesn’t need a parking space”. Perfect takes Taylor down and unfortunately doesn’t laugh at him about getting the Red Rooster instead of Mr. Perfect back in 1988. Taylor tells him to “show me something big daddy” so Perfect slaps him in the face. A dropkick puts Taylor on the floor as Savage rants about how he has been hit harder than that and wants Repo Man.
Back in and Perfect snaps off a headlock takeover as Bobby Heenan calls in to complain about Bartlett’s photo ripping. An armdrag into an armbar has Taylor in more trouble as Savage thinks Heenan sent Repo Man after his hat. We take a break and come back with Taylor using the single to send Perfect outside as Heenan sings the praises of Ric Flair. Vince cuts the call, but only after Heenan reveals that it is a collect call so Vince is getting the bill.
Taylor snapmares him down into a chinlock before catching Perfect in a spinebuster. Bartlett: “Can’t we all just get along?” Savage: “I don’t think so.” A slugout goes to Perfect as commentary switches over to the Royal Rumble. Perfect hits an atomic drop into the necksnap…but here’s Ric Flair for a distraction. The referee argues with Taylor so Flair can hammer away on the floor. Back in and Taylor tries a suplex but gets reversed into the PerfectPlex (not a superplex Vince) for the pin at 9:24.
Rating: C+. Perfect had an awesome 1993 as the face run worked very well. This was a good example of what he could do, and it helped that he was in there against a good hand like Taylor. The Flair interference will set up more with Perfect, though him shrugging off everything Flair did and easily pinning Taylor was a nice ending.
Here is WWF Champion Bret Hart for a chat. He can handle Razor Ramon talking about him but he doesn’t like Razor jumping Owen Hart or talking about slapping his father. Bret thinks any wrestler would respect Stu Hart, who is 78 years old. Razor is the lowest scum of the World Wrestling Federation and you have to tilt the barrel over to see him. This title says he is the best wrestler, but the rule book is going out the window at the Royal Rumble. The Hart Family name will redeem himself and Razor will find out why he is the champion. Very to the point promo here and it sold the idea of the match just fine.
Paul Bearer and Undertaker want you to help put a Headlock on Hunger in Somalia. That’s a weird thing to hear from them but charity is always good.
Marty Jannetty vs. Glen Ruth
That would be the future Headbanger Thrasher, who is unrecognizable with hair and no face paint. Ruth sends him into the corner to start but charges into an elbow, setting up a middle rope bulldog. The armdrag sets up an armbar as Bartlett thinks Shawn Michaels is in Yokozuna’s corner for reasons of Bartlett not being great at this job. Shawn actually calls in to talk about his upcoming Intercontinental Title defense against Jannetty.
Michaels takes credit for the Rockers’ success as the armbarring is on again. Since he isn’t in much danger, Marty stops to yell at the camera about how he’s going to win the title. The third armbar goes on as commentary goes over their list of un-adjectives about the show, with Bartlett screwing it up again. A hammerlock takes Ruth down as Shawn wraps up the call, with Vince sounding pleased. Ruth tries a comeback but gets caught in the Rocker Dropper for the pin at 5:16.
Rating: D. This was very dull as it was Marty working the arm for four minutes before finishing Ruth, seemingly out of boredom. It was all there for the sake of the Shawn call, which wasn’t exactly top level stuff anyway. I was rather bored here and it didn’t exactly make me want to keep going with the show.
We look at Doink the Clown attacking Crush with a fake arm on Superstars in an angle that took them all the way to Wrestlemania.
WWF Mania is caffeine free! Yeah they’re stretching for ideas with that show.
Sean Mooney is outside and finds Repo Man, who puts on Savage’s hat. Savage is late on his payments (Who buys a hat on credit?) and Repo Man doesn’t like Savage ignoring him. That’s cool with Savage, who is ready to go right now but Repo Man says he has his hat. Repo Man: “You want to wrestle?” This was rather low on the talking pole for both guys.
It’s time for the Royal Rumble Report, with Razor Ramon mocking Bret Hart being so upset. We get a quick rundown of the rest of the card to wrap this up in a hurry.
Randy Savage runs outside to find Repo Man but winds up with traffic around him instead.
El Matador vs. Ric Flair
This should be good as Tito Santana can still go with anyone and an annoyed Savage is back for the bell. Santana drives him into the corner to start as Vince talks about Bret Hart being on Live With Regis And Kathy Lee. A slam sets up a headlock to have Flair in trouble as the New York crowd is WAY behind Ric. The trouble continues for Flair and we take an early break.
Back with Flair blocking a monkey flip out of the corner as things settle down a bit. There’s the big running knee as Flair stops to shout down at Savage on commentary. The right hands in the corner fire Santana up enough to score with a backdrop, allowing Bartlett to say Flair has fallen and can’t get up. Flair pokes him in the eye and goes up, only to get slammed right back down. The Flair Flip in the corner lets Flair fall out to the floor, setting up a running knee back inside. Santana scores with the flying forearm to put them both on the floor….and here is Mr. Perfect to jump Flair for the DQ at 9:47.
Rating: C+. This is what happens when you can put talented wrestlers in the ring together and let them have some time. Santana was past the peak of his career but he was still more than capable of working at a high level. The ending was fine too, as Santana was just an opponent to keep Flair busy before the important stuff, but at least he was a good opponent.
Post match the brawl is on and they head to the back as we take a break. Post break they fight back into the arena until security breaks it up. Flair goes on a rant about how this place isn’t big enough for the both of them. Next week, he wants a match with Perfect where the loser leaves the WWF. Flair going over to kiss some girl in the audience mid-rant is as Flair as it gets.
With Flair gone, Perfect comes out to say he’s in.
Repo Man, still with Savage’s hat, tows Bartlett’s car away. Bartlett had been asking about his car all show, but I had been ignoring it because it was, you know, stupid.
Overall Rating: C. They took things in a bit of a different direction this week and it worked out fairly well. The opening and closing matches were both good, though the Jannetty match was so dull. We also got a focus on the Royal Rumble and some angles this week, though Perfect vs. Flair was balanced out by Repo Man stealing a hat. We’ll call it in the middle, but WOW this was different than anything else going at the moment and that is a good thing.
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