Davey reviews RAW: Prime Cuts
I figured I needed to do another one of these to save whatever face I have left. This tapes highlights the best of RAW suring 1993. Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
Before we get going Todd Pettingill asks us if we got our free gift with rental. Damnit, and I could have got a Tatanka Temporary Tattoo.
Vinny Mac is all decked out in a tuxedo complete with red bowtie.
Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannety for the WWF Intercontinental Title
Fast as hell action to start. Both guys are totally on tonight. A amazing
over the top sunset flip which is hard as hell to describe. Marty flips
out of a hiptoss and knocks Michaels head off with a clothesline sending
him out. Marty with a baseball slide then skinning the cat up and following
it up with a pescado. Fozie is your ref by the way. More quick revrsals
ending in a headscissors takedown. Michaels with a FANTASMIK turnbuckle
flip which ends him up on the outside. Michae;s tries to run away with the
belt but Mr. Perfect stops him in the 5 foot Manhatten Center aisleway.
Marty slingshots Shawn back in. Marty goes for another headscissors but
Shawn reverses with a Hot Shot. Shawn beats Marty like a bottle of bourbon.
Shawn tones down the speed with a reverse chinlock allowing the fans to
chant. I will take this time to say nearly every match on this tape is held
in the Manhatten Center which is a legendary RAW arena. It holds maybe 1000
people and throughout 1993 RAWs were frequent here. But they would tape
something like 6 RAWs in one Manhatten Center show. There is one black guy
in a "BOB BACKLUND FOR US PRESIDENT" or something. I'll get back
to his T-Shirt later. This place looks like some kind of comedy center or
something. It's got carpeting for pete's sake. Anyway Shawn with a dropkick
and he goes for another one but Jannety catches him for a slingshot which
only Shawn can make good. Marty with a HUGE powerslam. Marty with a corner
fake and followed it up with a twisting bodyblock. A series of nearfalls
ends with a Jannety ass shot and a (not yet) Sweet Chin Music. Michaels
goes over to Mrr. Perfect to talk trash who tosses his towel and Michaels
which allows Marty to small package Shawn for the UPSET VICTORY!! NEW IC
CHAMP!! The crowd is nutso and Jannety is running around thanking god that
he's even working. Great match too, action packed.
Match Rating: ***3/4
123 Kid vs. Razor Ramon
Yes this is the match. Mags is the ring girl with a giant sign of "WE
BE RAW!!". Nice grammar. From all standpoints this looks like a squash.
The announcers are saying anything different. Razor with a SICK chop in
the corner turning Kid's chest beet red. Razor flings Kid halfway across
the ring. Razor locks Kid in a Abdominal Stretch being super cocky and arrogant
the entire time. Razor catches Kid in a fallaway slam and it looks time
to end it right? Razor sends Kid into the turnbuckle but Kid ducks a running
elbow, leaps to the top and as Razor turns around he hits a MOONSAULT~!
FOR THE VICTORY!! THE CROWD IS SHOCKED!! RAZOR IS SHOCKED!! 123 KID IS JUMPING
AROUND EVRYWHERE!! The last Moonsault I had seen in the WWF at this time
was The Genius do one in 1989. I of course had seen Muta do it in the NWA
a billion times. A total markout moment and the match was good for what
it was htought to
be. A squash.
Match Rating: ** (but Markout value is way up near 5 stars)
Now it's time for a RAW moment. Oh no the ending of a era. Heenan tries to get Doink to pour water all over McMahon and Savage BUT instead pours the bucket of water all over Heenan (and most of the ringside fans). Ugh Doink face turn.
Mr. Perfect vs. Doink
Doink was a bad clown at this point. I LOVE Doink's heel music. Doink climbs
under the ring. Lord Alfred Hayes is dispatched outside interviewing Doink?
But didn't Doink just come to the ring and go under it? Doink being interviewed
by Hayes says "It's all a illusion", steals Hayes floer on his
suit and sprays him with water. Now when Doink comes out from under the
ring he has Hayes flower. Le sigh, I miss heel Doink. Doink uses Perfect's
towel to which Vince exclaims, "DISQUALIFY HIM REF HE IS USING THE
TOWEL!!!". Oh how times have changed. The Clown takes it to the mat
and Perfect and Doink go through a series of holds before Perfect gets a
headscissors on him. Doink is selling the leg that Perfect worked on real
well which is kind of funny. Perfect with a sweet modified Figure Four.
Doink and Perfect are working pretty well on the mat with each other. HAHA
Vince is SCREAMING for a disqualification after Doink bites Perfect. "THIS
IS WAY OUT OF HAND DISQUALIFY HIM NOW!!!". Doink works over the arm.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that Doink is Matt Borne who is quite the
accomplished wrestler. After a nice armlock, Borne slams Perfect out a hammerlock
which is the coolest move when working over the arm. Perfect ducks a clothes
line and sends Doink to the outside. ANOTHER Doink runs under the ring.
The original Doink goes under the ring and a Doink with fresh new makeup
comes out from under the ring. Doink is a house of fire and Perfect is in
super oversell mode. Perfect with a Perfect-Plex out of nowhere and he gets
the pinfall victory. The original Doink runs in and they double team Perfect
(Heenan is hilarious here) until Crush ruins our fun. Actually a damn good
match, we aren't talking Misawa vs. Kawada but this match was a whole lot
of fun.
Match Rating: ***1/4
I.R.S vs. PJ Walker
PJ Walker is Aldo Montoya or Justin Credible. Walker is getting beat down
for about a minute until Razor Ramon comes to ringside (face Razor, who
was fueding with IRS) and PJ with a schoolboy roll up for the pinfall victory.
The crowd goes wild but this is nothing compared to the earlier suprise
victory.
Match Rating: DUD (plus it sucks compared to the Kid suprise victory)
A video showing behind the scenes exclusives to how RAW is broadcasted. They show a Ludvig Borga match. Lord Alfred Hayes narrates. Promotional consideration paid for by the following.
The Crush-Macho Man summit. Crush has a evil goatee and says BRADDA and BRAH a lot. He has Mister excuse me MASTER Fuji with him. Savage did not help Crush when Yokozuna was Banzai dropping him in there title match. Heenan is in ultra ass kissing mose interviewing Crush. Savage comes in and convinces him to be friends again. Crush of course beats Savage down and press slams him across the rail. Yokozuna waddles to ringside to give a Bonzai Drop to Savage who is bleeding from the mouth. This started the pretty cool fued between Savage and Crush.
Another segment with Shawn being attacked by Perfect in the parking lot and getting thrown into a Lincoln twice. Very cool even though it only lasted 30 seconds.
Crush vs. Yokozuna
This is what set up the Savage/Crush summit before hand. Crush is in happy
lovable neon. The customary "USA" chant starts up since this is
a Yokozuna match. I will gladly say I have never participated ina USA chant
at a live wrestling event. Crush is lost here since most of his offense
is power moves and there is a ton of miscommunication. Yokozuna gets whipped
into the buckle but it's more like fast walking into the buckle. Repeated
lariats finally knock Yoko off his feet. Crush goes up top and hits a flying
shoulderblock. Vince orgasms at a near fall. Probably because he was just
aquitted of steroid charges. Yokozuna is much more agile here then he was
post WM X. Yokozuna with a massive Belly to Belly suplex. Yokozuna drops
the giant dumstick legdrop right on Crush's face. He NEVER connects with
that across the throat. Crush gets dragged to the corner. Yoko with a Banzai
drop and let's call it a match. Yokozuna with more Banzai Drops as Savage
comes in and helps Crush out. Crush never watched the videotape, Savage
is acquitted of all charges.
Match Rating: ** (better then I thought it would be at least)
Lex Luger-Yokozuna contact signing. Has a contract signing EVER ended with jsut a signed contract. Well this one suprisingly did. Yoko, Fuji, and Cornette say bad things about Luger. Luger says good things about the USA.
A Raw Moment with Doink vs. Savage. Savage crawls under the ring and crawls out the other side AS A MIDGET!!! Doink is cracking up and the crowd is laughign there asses off.
Steiners vs. Quebecers in a Quebec Province match for the Tag Team Titles
Rules are:
1. Title can be lost by DQ
2. Title can be lost by Countout
3. Piledrivers are illegal
4. Jumping off top rope is illegal
5. Throwing opponent over top rope is illegal
This is match is SOOOO cool. I love it. Rick and Scott were coming to the
end of their god like work and starting to get quite sloppy. Rick and Jacques
start out with Jacques getting powerslammed out of a leap. Jacques almost
goes over the top after a clothesline which would have changed the titles.
Pierre comes in and the same fate happens with a giant powerslam. Scott
comes in and hits a double underhook suplex immediately. Scott goes to work
on the arm of Pierre. Scott with a beautiful dropkick. Pierre raises a boot
and comes off the SECOND rope with a lunging tubby clothesline. Pierre goes
to work until Scott somes back with a back body drop. Rick comes in and
almost goes for a piledriver but Scott reminds him not to be a moron or
they lose the titles. Heenan says Lou Holtz coached the University of Quebec.
Scott takes Pierre to the mat with a headlock takedown. He goes for a hiptoss
but Scott gets his head knocked off with a HUGE lariat. Scott comes back
with a beautiful Belly to Belly. But he just got killed with a lariat and
know he'‘s fine. Bleh. The Steiners go to work on Pierre's leg until
Jacques breaks it up causing Vince to randomly shout drunken references
to Earl Hebner's job. Johnny Polo makes his way to ringside to support the
Quebecers for the first time. This starts the "We're Not The Mounties"
era. Jacques elbowdrop interference backfires. Jacques comes back with two
big clotheslines. The Quebecers are carrying this entire thing. Quebecers
unleash there cool double team moves including the Chubby Cannonball Slam
and the Mountie Touches The Sky Drop. A modified version of the Total Elimination
by the Quebecers (I never liked the Eliminators that much by the way). Pierre
with a Vaderbomb off the SECOND rope for two. Steiner is playing Ricky Morton
here. Jacques backdrops Pierre on too Scott which just rules. Scott with
a desperation DDT on Jacques. Scott gets thrown at Johnny's feet but Johnny
is too afraid to his him with the hockey stick. Jacques catches him in a
sweet spinebuster and Pierre comes off the SECOND rope with a massive legdrop.
Rick has had enough and comes in to break up the double teams. Rick gets
back to his corner and Scott gets the tag to rick. Rick is on a slamfest
and Scott comes back after being beaten for 10 minutes to hit a Frankensteiner
on Pierre which was just BRUTAL. Jacques makes the save at two. Polo takes
a manager bump and the hockey flies into the ring. Scott gets it and hits
Jacques with the hockey stick causing the DISQUALIFICATION!! THE STEINER
LOSE THE TITLES!! G1701P's favorite theme music starts up and no that is
not his screen name. Quebecers carried this entire thing by the way.
Match Rating: ***3/4
20Man Over The Top Battle Royal
Participants are Razor Ramon, Rick Martel, Giant Gonzales, Bam Bam Bigelow,
Diesel ((totally skinny), Adam Bomb, Bastion Booger, High Energy Owen Hart,
High Energy Koko B Ware, 123 Kid, MVP, Randy Savage, Quebecer Jacques, Quebecer
Pierre, Mabel, Tatanka, IRS, Mr Perfect, Bob Backlund, Jimmy Snuka, and
Marty Jannety. The last two participants in this Battle Royal face off in
a match for the Intercontinental Title (which was vacant). Giant Gonzales
gets ganged up on and tossed out first. McMahon is totally plugging Bob
backlund. Heenan makes reference to the Giants winning 103 games and not
getting to the playoffs which just breaks my heart. This one is jsut dragging,
there has only been one elimination in the last 4 or 5 minutes. IRS does
a very nice over the top tease. Diesel tosses Mabel out. Diesel looks downright
muscular at this point. You seem to forget that. Razor tosses IRS over the
top and out. Now people are just walking around waiting for something to
happen. 123 Kid gets tossed and gets his 37th concussion. Perfect oversells
a chop by Tatanka. McMahon makes reference to Bobby Heenan using sneaky
tactics to win a battle royal back in Chicago. Diesel gets tossed by Perfect.
Snuka gets tossed by Martel. Snuka. Naked. Hotel Room. Perfect takes a beautiful
over the top rope bump. It was Kidman quality. Jannety goes for a cross
body which of course backfires and he gets sent out. Bam Bam pulls the top
rope down and Tatanka goes flying out. Savage throws Bastion Booger out.
Razor knocks Bam Bam's tattoos off with a clothesline that sends him out
of the ring. Owen Hart, Adam Bomb, Quebecers, Rick Martel, and Savage are
left. Owen gets thrown out by Jacques. Now it starts getting good. Adam
Bomb, Quebecers, and Martel plan a gang up on Savage and Razor. The gang
up is successful as they use double team tactics on the faces. Pierre gets
backdropped on too Ramon. The heels are using some nice double team moves
until Savage uses a fireman's carry to toss Adam Bomb. As Savage celebrates,
Adam Bomb grabs the leg and the three other heels help toss Savage. The
three heels gang up on Ramon for a few minutes. After each move the heels
hug and Martel shows off his abs. Ramon with a superman comeback coming
back on all three. The Quebecers try for a double team move but Razor ducks
and Jacques goes flying out. Razor grabs Pierre and hurls him out. Martel
and Razor are left and the match ends there. They now have to face each
other next week for the Intecontinental Title.
Match Rating: *1/2 (pretty weak Battle Royal till the end)
I'll do the Razor Ramon-Rick Martel match a bit later tonight, I'm a bit tired.