Monday Night Raw - May 3rd, 1993

• The show opens with Shawn Michaels defending his Intercontinental Championship against Hacksaw Jim Duggan. The commentators welcome us to the show and while discussing who they think will win, Vince and Bobby confuse each other talking about the rules. Jim Duggan was famous for many things but one of the lesser known facts is how rarely he ever, ever lost. He’s a Hulkamania era star and close friends with the Hulkster behind the scenes which meant almost all of his losses no matter the status of his opponent came via disqualification or count out. Hilariously that was true as well into his 50s and wrestling guys in their 20s in WWE in the 2010s he STILL only ever lost by disqualification or count out. Let’s see if Shawn has any more luck against him. The fans are rabid for Duggan chanting USA and HOOOO relentlessly even as Shawn grinds him down with a long sleeper hold. Hacksaw mounts his comeback, clobbers the champion with his classic three-point stand clothesline and Michaels bounces out of the ring to avoid being pinned, losing by count out to retain his Intercontinental title. (told you so). Michaels grabs his title belt and takes off but Hacksaw is unhappy and grabs a microphone. He says it’s a disgrace that he won and Michaels is still champion so he says he refuses to leave until he gets the match restarted. He throws a bunch of chairs into the ring (solid wooden ones, not metal folding ones) and sits in the ring, staying there through a commercial break. Shawn Michaels - who they’ve finally started calling The Heartbreak Kid, a nickname that was coined by Mr. Perfect for him in real life - doesn’t come back so the show has to continue through commercial breaks while Jim Duggan remains in the ring. Hacksaw does finally leave the ring during the King of the Ring report, which Mean Gene receives via his ear piece, which is quite funny as the show does what it can to appear like it’s live. This plot continued through the show and Vince confirms later that President Jack Tunney has given Hacksaw a rematch with HBK next week on Raw and this time it’ll be a lumberjack match so that neither man can run away. I bet that somehow, someway Duggan still won’t actually lose and it’ll end by count out or disqualification again.

• There’s important news coming out of the first King of the Ring report - Hulk Hogan will defend the WWF Championship against Yokozuna at the event. In other news, Bret Hart and Lex Lugar have both qualified for the King of the Ring tournament. Mr. Perfect and Doink the Clown wrestled to a draw on Superstars over the weekend but rather than them both being eliminated, there is talk of a rematch. 

• Doink the Clown is in action on Raw, facing the Kamikaze Kid. That’s Sean Waltman aka the 123 Kid, X-Pac, Syxx Pac and a bunch of other names over the years. We’ll see a lot of him in future but Doink has no problem out wrestling and beating the hell out of him here. I don’t know who this referee was but he’s terrible and after the Kid submits it takes him about a fortnight to finally ring the bell and end the match. 
• Bob Backlund takes on Duane Gill, probably the most famous “jobber” in wrestling history due to his stint as Gillberg in 1998 and 1999. Backlund continues to show off his mat skills and pure wrestling, winning this with another inventive roll up. 
• I don’t mention it every week but the commercials for ICOPRO, Slim Jims and WWF Mania are shown every week. There’s new ICOPRO ads featuring The Steiners, Tatanka and Crush but given that they’re all about 10 seconds long it doesn’t feel worthwhile capturing them. 
• Hacksaw Jim Duggan returns to ringside to discuss his match next week and let the live fans know that he has his Lumberjack rematch next week for the Intercontinental title. These fans should be excited because Raw was filmed multiple shows at a time so in reality that means they’re getting that match later in the evening. Hacksaw runs down Shawn a bit and says he runs away from fights - he’s a good wrestler, but he can’t fight. The fans are solidly behind Duggan here.

• After promoting a “special surprise”, returning from a commercial break it’s the return of Captain Lou Albano. He was a manager in the 70s and 80s and is most famous for playing Cindy Lauper’s father in the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun music video. He joins commentary and spends the match speaking very quickly. The match in question is The Headshrinkers vs. two jobbers who’s names I didn’t catch. Captain Lou used to manage the Headshrinker’s manager Afa back when he was a wrestler himself. The Headshrinkers win this with a top rope splash from Fatu. 

• The main event of the show is Kamala vs….a guy. Kamala wins but with no Reverend Slick at ringside he needs the fans to tell him how to pin properly. Thankfully the show doesn’t end that way and Bobby Heenan runs backstage to interview the Intercontinental Champion. Shawn is outraged that Duggan has whined his way to a rematch but will overcome the odds once again. I was distracted by Shawn’s really prominent monobrow here, but I did like the end with Shawn whispering his strategy to fellow heel Bobby Heenan and The Brain telling Duggan to stay at home next week.

Monday Night Raw - May 10th, 1993

• Raw starts in chaos as earlier today while Shawn was outside talking to some fans and running down Jim Duggan, Mr. Perfect attacked the Intercontinental Champion and they had a furious brawl with Perfect throwing Shawn up onto his own car! They were finally separated by officials and referees but it was a cool scene, them fighting on the streets of New York with skyscrapers behind them and a big circle of fans cheering them on.

• In the arena, Bobby Heenan claims that the attack Perfect launched on Michaels was a setup. He was PAID to attack him and soften him up for tonight’s Intercontinental title match. I love Bobby. 
• The opening match is a King of the Ring qualifying match. Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Typhoon. This was promoted on WWF TV as the first ever King of the Ring and it was certainly the first televised one but the King of the Ring tournament existed as a house show event for years. Macho Man’s former Macho King gimmick in addition to Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Harley Race having Royal gimmicks on WWF TV all came from the King of the Ring tournament, which happened off TV. Confused? Don’t worry too much about it. This is two big beefy lads who manage to slam each other but its Bam Bam who gets the victory to advance with a diving headbutt off the ropes. The commentators compare Bam Bam to Tatanka, who he’s feuding with at the moment. 
• For the third week in a row there’s a video promoting the Smoking Gunns, who make their in ring debut this coming weekend

• I haven’t mentioned the Raw girls for a while - honestly they’re mostly played for laughs with heavy set, middle-aged looking women with thick glasses holding up the cards - but this week’s is a beautiful woman in a tiny bikini who gets a BIG reaction from the crowd and from Heenan and Macho Man.

• Yokozuna faces PJ Walker - that’s the future Justin Credible. Big discussion points during this match are Yoko’s upcoming WWF title match at the King of the Ring against Hulk Hogan who hasn’t appeared on any WWF TV shows once since Wrestlemania, and his match next week with Kamala. He wins this with no difficulty and a Banzai drop, obviously. 

• The King of the Ring report is next and after a hard plug for the WWF title match at the PPV, we get updates on the King of the Ring tournament. Razor Ramon and Jim Duggan have both qualified now too, and Mr. Perfect and Doink the Clown’s rematch as well as the undefeated Tatanka vs. Giant Gonzales booked for Superstars. 
• Mr. Perfect takes on the vaunted Iron Mike Sharpe. Before the match, Perfect has a little moment with the Raw girl - this time a heavyset, “not conventionally attractive” girl and puts his chewing gum in her mouth. She smiles! Guess she’s into that kind of thing. Gross. Perfect beats the jobber senseless and finishes him off with the Perfect-plex. 
• Mr. Hughes, now accompanied by Harvey Whippleman who also still manages Giant Gonzales takes on The Canonball Kid. That’s Sean Waltman aka the Lightning Kid from last week. Hughes looks absolutely dreadful in the ring but wins this match with a sidewalk slam. Even his mannerisms aren’t good - he holds up one finger and nods frantically like a panto villain. 
• There’s a fun commercial for All American Wrestling, the weekend show hosted by Bobby Heenan and Mean Gene Okerlund. I loved this. 

For the main event Intercontinental Championship match, the Lumberjacks are all wearing red and black plaid shirts (like lumberjacks, see?) except Yokozuna who they probably couldn’t find a shirt for. The challenger for the WWF title shouldn’t be out there with the other people but I guess Mr. Perfect isn’t too good for this so neither is he. Hacksaw attacks Yokozuna as soon as he gets to the ring - Yoko broke Jim’s ribs with the Banzai drop before the Royal Rumble so they have history. Shawn comes out on crutches which surprises everyone. I was more surprised by his very out of date t-shirt featuring the Ultimate Warrior, Jake Roberts and the LOD - all of whom have left the company by this point. Shawn is too hurt to compete so I guess this match isn’t happening. Mr. Perfect goes on the attack and proves that Shawn is facing, throwing him into the ring so now the match can proceed! HBK has to wrestle in jeans and cowboy boots but the title is on the line. Duggan beats Michaels from pillar to post and he spends most of this match selling. He’s thrown out of the ring and tries to run away but Bob Backlund and Mr. Perfect are there to carry him back to the ring.

• Some of the heel lumberjacks finally get involved and beat up Hacksaw a bit so that Shawn can have a turn of being in control. I actually think someone else noticed Shawn’s out of date t-shirt as after a commercial break, his t-shirt has been replaced by a black vest instead. The lumberjacks get involved when Yokozuna drops a giant crushing leg drop on Jim on the floor and rolls him back inside for Shawn to cover. Mr. Perfect has had enough and runs into the ring, ending this match via disqualification (I called this last week). Shawn wins and keeps the Intercontinental title thanks to some poorly planned interference by Mr. Perfect. It’s chaos as all of the lumberjacks rush the ring and brawl, pairing off with their various rivals. Hacksaw grabs his 2x4 and chases everyone out of the ring to end Raw. 

Monday Night Raw - May 17th, 1993

• After a replay of Mr. Perfect’s attack on Shawn Michaels outside the arena last week, Lord Afred Hayes lets us know that he saw someone earlier that he couldn’t believe was here and we’ll all be just as surprised as him later tonight! 

• The Smoking Gunns make their first in-ring appearance on Raw. They fire some smokey cap guns before the match. Billy and Bart’s opponents are a couple of guys with no names. Big burly cowboys who wrestle in jeans would be a lot of men and women’s fantasy to be fair, but the mullets and moustaches date them terribly. An easy debut victory for the future Brawl for All winner and Mr. Ass. 
• Vince McMahon interviews Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels who talks about how he is the greatest champion of all time. He says he’s better than Mr. Perfect and when Vince suggests that he’s not a fighting champion, Shawn says that he has defended the title all over the world and will face anyone for the championship any time, any place. Lord Alfred’s mystery surprise climbs into the ring and asks if Shawn is a man of his word - it’s Marty Jannetty, back with the company after being fired the night after the Royal Rumble. Vince dares Shawn to defend the title tonight against Marty and with Michaels backed into a corner by his own comments he has no choice but to accept - for the third week in a row, Michaels defends his title on Raw and this time it’s against Marty Jannetty, someone he’s been feuding with on and off since early 1992! 

• Sean Waltman is back with his third name change, this week he’s just The Kid. His opponent is the massive Razor Ramon, one of the favourites in the King of the Ring tournament. This is one of the more famous matches in Raw history as The Kid flies off the top rope, crashing onto Razor and getting a shock three count! The fans explode and The Kid runs away leaving Razor Ramon furious, yelling at the commentators and demanding the match be restarted. After months of star vs. jobber matches, the unknown actually pulling off a victory over a big star was a genuine thrill! The commentators dub him the 123 Kid while discussing him throughout the rest of the show.

• Tatanka takes on Scott Taylor. Being in the King of the Ring is a nice draw for Tatanka as either his undefeated streak finally ends, or he’s the King. Or maybe there’s a third option. He spends this match giving warnings to his current rival Bam Bam Bigelow before winning with the Papoose to go. 
• Yokozuna takes on Kamala in a big man foreign battle. They are actually both American citizens, gimmicks aside. The commentators discuss Yokozuna having gotten even BIGGER - he’s bulking up for the King of the Ring, while Hogan is losing weight and getting lean. I’ll talk a lot about Hogan at the King of the Ring obviously but it’s kind of absurd that the WWF Champion hasn’t made a single appearance since winning the title. I like Yoko and his whole gimmick, including the pretty flower girls who assist his pre-match ritual. A superkick (kind of) and a crush in the corner followed by a Banzai drop gives the former WWF Champion the victory - the shortest title reign in history at the time, he was champion for less than three minutes at Wrestlemania. 

In the main event, Shawn Michaels defends the Intercontinental Championship against Marty Jannetty. The story behind this is that Shawn actually got Marty fired after the Rumble. He was angry at the issues with selling during their match and reported Marty to management for passing out drunk backstage (not impossible given his history of substance abuse issues). Marty was brought back as he and Shawn mended fences and party Marty was well liked in the wild partying drug and drunk fueled early 90s locker room. The action is fast between these two and Shawn is overwhelmed so tries to take a walk. He’s stopped in the aisle by Mr. Perfect who makes the champion go back to the ring and continue.

• This is a really good match but when Shawn gets distracted arguing with Mr. Perfect, Marty capitalises with a small package. It’s enough to get the three count and Marty Jannetty wins the Intercontinental Championship! The first title change in Raw history. Marty does an excited lap of the ring with his title belt and embraces Mr. Perfect. With that 123 Kid upset and the Intercontinental title change, this is probably the best ever episode of Raw so far. That Shawn and Marty match joins the Mr. Perfect/Ric Flair match from January 25th as the second genuinely great match in Raw history. 

Monday Night Raw - May 24th, 1993

• The opening match is Mr. Perfect vs. Doink the Clown in a King of the Ring qualifying match. There’s immediate confusion as Doink enters the arena and crawls under the ring, but Lord Alfred is standing by outside the building WITH Doink. Double trouble once again? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I love Doink. Doink gets the early advantage by jumping Perfect as soon as he enters the ring and then choking him with his own towel. Perfect focuses on Doink’s knee and its back and forth with the clown showing off some real wrestling skill as the commentators react like it’s the most amazing thing they’ve ever seen. This is their 3rd time having this match as Doink’s shenanigans have now caused non-finishes twice. The final slot in the KOTR tournament is up for grabs. Doink focuses his own attack on Perfect’s arm and shoulder. A second Doink runs down and hides under the ring when he gets in trouble and they appear to switch places, the old “twin magic” trick and Mr. Perfect is unaware he’s now seemingly wrestling a fresh man. It doesn’t work and Perfect quickly hits the Perfect-plex on the second, less good Doink to win the match and advance to the KOTR quarter finals. Doink original rushes the ring and the two clowns hammer on him until Crush makes the rescue. This was quite good fun. Perfect is great, I love Doink and all his illusion, creative cheating nonsense. Good stuff. 

• During the King of the Ring report, Hulk Hogan makes his first appearance since Wrestlemania and it's deeply disingenuous as he talks about being in New York and on Raw while clearly having filmed this from on-set or Japan or wherever he was. He spends most of this promo talking about Jimmy Hart being a Hulkamaniac now but does promise to show that Wrestlemania wasn’t a fluke and bodyslam Yokozuna through the mat at the King of the Ring. 

• The WWF Tag Team Champions Money Inc take on a pair of no-names in a non-title match. Before the match, Ted Dibiase dusts off his original gimmick and offers $100 to any fan in the crowd who’ll get in the ring and shine IRS’s shoes. A young man does exactly that and earns $100 but IRS says that he has to pay tax on it and so only gives him $30, which outrages Vince McMahon who calls it disgusting. It made me laugh. The opponents names are Mike Bell and Tony DeVito, in case you’re curious. This match also serves as advertisement for an eight man tag team match at the King of the Ring for the WWF’s tag division - The Smoking Gunns and the Steiner Brothers vs. Money Inc and The Headshrinkers. The Tag Champions win this, obviously.

• Crush takes on Bobby Who, which feels like a joke name. Crush had a KOTR tournament match with Shawn Michaels at the weekend but a double count out eliminated them both from contention, so add Crush to the list of people Michaels is feuding with at the moment but also add Michaels to the list of people Crush is feuding with. It’s a busy mid-card. Crush wins with his Kona Crush head-squeeze.
• Vince McMahon interviews Razor Ramon in the ring who is still furious about his loss last week. The fans chant “1-2-3” at him. Ramon calls The Kid “stick man” and a cockroach, and says everyone knows he is the man around here. He offers $2500 in prize money to the 123 Kid for a rematch so he can prove it was a fluke. Of course Ramon - Scott Hall - and the Kid - Sean Waltman - were best of friends in real life so I’m sure he came up with this story himself to help out his buddy. With that matter dealt with, Bret Hart comes down to the ring. The Hitman is his first opponent in the King of the Ring tournament. Bret taunts him about his loss and says that if he couldn’t beat “one of the bottom guys” he has no chance against him at the KOTR. Bret then…just leaves and the fans chant “1-2-3” at Ramon.

• The last few weeks, Bobby Heenan has gone a gimmick where he flicks through channels at ringside while Vince berates him. I think the point is that there’s nothing else on as good as Raw. This week it’s clever as Johnny Polo (the future Raven) appears on the screen and tells Heenan that his new superstar - Adam Bomb - is up next! Adam Bomb is one of the great gimmick names in wrestling history in my opinion. The massive Bryan Clark looks like a million bucks but was never much of a performer. He smashes Phil Apollo without too much difficulty as Johnny Polo laughs like a maniac and cheers him on from ringside. 

• At the conclusion of Raw, Bam Bam Bigelow has some words for his next opponent, new Intercontinental Champion Marty Jannetty. Bam Bam will have Luna Vachon in his corner, and Marty will have the Sensational Sherri in his. So it’s more about the women’s feud than theirs, but Vince says the Intercontinental title will be on the line next week on Raw. 

Monday Night Raw - May 31st, 1993

• Raw opens with Hacksaw Jim Duggan dedicating this episode of Raw to the United States military on memorial day. In the arena, the commentators welcome us to the show and hype up tonight’s matches with Heenen saying that Luna Vachon has promised him that she is going to cut Sherri’s hair tonight. The Intercontinental title match is first and I wanted to get a nice shot of Marty with his IC title belt but the camera is far more focused on Sensational Sherri. Luna Vachon and Bam Bam are now very much an item on TV now and it’s a good pairing. Sherri attacks Luna immediately and the fans go wild for the girl on girl violence, but it causes a distraction for Bigelow to jump Marty and start the match on top. Bigelow dominates this match but after a diving crossbody from Marty to the floor, Bam Bam is unable to get back in the ring and loses by count out. He’s a sore loser and attacks Jannetty after the match, slamming him in the ring and dropping his weight onto his chest. Luna wants to attack Sherri but is held back by referees. 

• After a commercial break, Sherri is back in the ring and screams that she wants Luna to come out and fight her one on one for the whole world to see. Luna does exactly that but a referee does his best to hold her back. She circles the ring and keeps Sherri distracted which turns out be a trap and Bam Bam sneaks in from behind and holds Sherri’s arms back so that Luna can hammer her with punches unprotected. Tatanka runs down and fights off Bigelow and rescues Sherri but the damage is done. 
• This is sadly the last we'll see of Sherri as she left the company in July 1993. It was either because she failed a drug test or because she wanted to go back to school but considering she was in WCW as a manager less than a year later, it was probably the drug test.

• There’s a commercial for the King of the Ring focusing on Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna. Shout out to President Jack Tunney making his first on screen appearance on my journey through 1993 so far.

• The Steiner Brothers take on a pair of no-names, one of whom is Duane Gill under a mask. This is a showcase for the Steiners and Vince has some interesting news - I mentioned the eight man tag at the King of the Ring with four Tag Teams represented so next week, one half of the Steiners and one half of the Smoking Gunns take on one half of the Headshrinkers and one half of Money Inc. I am intrigued. Scott murders the lad with long hair with a suplex into a piledriver and then their tandem top rope bulldog gives Scott and Rick the victory.

• Next up, Mr. Hughes takes on Burt Centeno. Never seen him before. Hughes doesn’t have theme music, and doesn’t have Harvey Whippleman with him this week. He hits a messy looking powerbomb but pulls Burt up, breaking his own pin to keep the beating going. He finally ends the match with his sidewalk slam.
• Straight into the next match and another dominant performance for a King of the Ring quarter finalist - Hacksaw Jim Duggan has no problem squashing Mark Thomas. He was previously Art Thomas and I mocked Vince for getting his name wrong and calling him Mark, so this week he just is Mark. Jim Duggan calls for the American flag to be held up so that he can lead everyone in the pledge of allegiance. Shout out to Bobby Heenan for refusing to do it until Vince yelled at him, and Vince putting his hand inside his jacket so he looks a bit like Napoleon. 

• Vince and Macho recap the events of two weeks ago when the unknown 123 Kid defeated Razor Ramon. Last week on Raw Razor offered him $2500 for a rematch and on Superstars he offered him $5000. The 123 Kid speaks to us and his character appears to be a child as he was watching the WWF with his grandparents. He says he can’t accept the match even for $5000 because he’s worried what Razor will do to him for embarrassing him. That leads directly into Razor’s match tonight against Tony Roy. Macho leaves the crowd in a 1 - 2 -3 chant directed at Ramon. Razor slaps around Roy and finishes him with the Razor’s Edge. 

• Before the show ends, Vince plugs ticket sales for next week’s Raw. it’s not great that they’re struggling to sell out such a small venue in such a hot market but I guess it’s not a secret how much WWF’s business struggled during the early to mid-90s New Generation era.
• The show closes with Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji. Vince tells them off for waving a Japanese flag on America’s Memorial day and calls them disrespectful. Vince hypes that next week, Yoko will be on The King’s Court, which is Jerry Lawler’s interview segment, and says that he thinks Hulk Hogan himself will be live on Raw in person (He won’t be). Fuji promises that Yoko will crush Hogan with a Banzai at the King of the Ring and then Jim Duggan appears in the crowd with a big flag to lead the crowd in a USA chant. Banzai!