Monday Night Raw – July 19, 1993: The Case Of The Broken Ukulele
Monday Night Raw
Date: July 19, 1993
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Attendance: 1,200
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, Bobby Heenan
We’re still a long way away from Summerslam but Lex Luger has come up with something better than being on Raw: he’s going to be on a bus! Over the weekend, Luger announced the launch of the Lex Express as he is trying to find his way to a title shot at Summerslam. Other than that, Marty Jannetty wants the Intercontinental Title back from Shawn Michaels. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We look at the launch of the Lex Express, with Lex Luger saying it’s still cool to be patriotic.
Opening sequence.
Commentary runs down the card.
Intercontinental Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
Michaels, with Diesel, is defending. Jannetty stops to look at Diesel and gets decked from behind. A backslide doesn’t work for Michaels and Jannetty counters a rollup by sending him to the floor. Back in and Michaels misses the superkick, which leaves him rather frustrated. A flying shoulder only hits the buckle so Jannetty starts in on the arm. Jannetty takes him down again and hits a DDT for the pin…but Michaels’ foot was on the rope.
We take a break and come back with the match continuing as Jannetty grabs a suplex for two. A backbreaker gives Jannetty two and the sleeper goes on. Michaels manages to send him outside for the break before they collide back inside. A poke to the eye staggers Jannetty again and we take another break.
We come back with Michaels grabbing a chinlock, which in this case means an arm laying over Jannetty’s chest (that looked horrible). Thankfully it’s switched to a front facelock, which goes on for a good while. That’s broken up and Jannetty counters a piledriver into a hurricanrana. Jannetty rolls through a high crossbody for two but misses a charge and crashes hard to the floor. Diesel throws him back in and Michaels retains at 21:21.
Rating: B. This was a good match, though the two of them have had some rather strong matches over the years so that isn’t a big surprise. The Rockers might not have been the best team ever but they worked well together in a variety of ways. Good stuff here, though pretty much the end of Jannetty as a serious contender for anything.
Vince McMahon brings out Money Inc. for a chat. They aren’t happy about losing the Tag Team Titles to the Steiner Brothers but they’ll get them back next week. DiBiase mocks Razor Ramon for losing to the 1-2-3 Kid and thinks Ramon could have a job working for them. Ramon comes out to say he works for no one and has no price before taking them out. DiBiase swears revenge and challenges….the 1-2-3 Kid to show Ramon how it’s done. That’s the official face turn and yeah that worked.
Men On A Mission vs. Rich Myers/Hank Harris
Oscar is here with MOM, who take over on Myers to start. The slow motion beating ensues and apparently Men On A Mission are the team of the future. No wonder the tag division was in such bad shape in the 90s. The double splash ends Harris at 1:43.
It’s the Summerslam Report, which focuses on Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler and Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez in a Rest In Peace match (as Mr. Hughes doesn’t seem to have the legs to get that far).
We look at the beginning of the Lex Express tour. It’s Lex Luger on a bus and greeting fans.
Bastion Booger vs. Scott Depres
Booger runs him over, drops a leg and hits a powerslam. The weird sitdown splash finishes at 58 seconds.
Next week: Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow II. I’ve heard worse ideas.
Here is Jerry Lawler for the King’s Court. He brings out his guest, ukulele player Tiny Tim, who is the definition of a gimmick performer, whom Lawler mocks for his weird appearance. Tim starts singing his song, Tiptoe Through The Tulips, and Lawler cuts him off after a few notes. He has a radio show in Iowa coming up but stops to note the BURGER KING chants. Tim thinks Lawler is more the DAIRY QUEEN so Lawler breaks his ukulele. In case this doesn’t mean anything to you, note that Tim’s big song was released in 1968.
1-2-3 Kid vs. Chris Duffy
Duffy takes him into the corner to start as Money Inc. comes out to watch. Kid gets hiptossed down but comes back with a kick of his own. The running legdrop (those always looked good) has Duffy in more trouble and a running clothesline drops him again. A top rope legdrop gives the Kid a win at 2:09.
Razor Ramon comes out to mock Money Inc.
Randy Savage has abducted a child to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. There’s one match on the show and it worked rather well, which is more than enough to carry a show like this. The rest of the show was the usual collection of short matches and little else. I’m not sure what the point of the Tiny Tim thing was, but it was probably the company’s usual obsession with any celebrity status they could get. What mattered here was Michaels vs. Jannetty though, and that made up for the rest of the show.
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