Monday, February 15th, 1993
Manhattan Center
New York City, New York
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They do a quick pre-taped spot with Brutus Beefcake saying he's going to show us he's 100% and Ted DiBiase saying he's going to destroy him. Jimmy Hart is teasing a face turn.
Steiner Brothers vs. Glen Ruth & Bobby Who
Scott Steiner quickly destroys Ruth with a suplex. In comes Rick, who forces a tag to Who. What? Who then takes a suplex. Randy Savage's microphone is all messed up and sounds like he's on a telephone. Rick hits an elbow drop off the top rope. Who tries to fight back, but Rick clocks him with a clothesline. Rick hits the flying bulldog for the victory. Steiner squashes are always fun.
Match Rating: 1/2*
We go over to a WrestleMania Report. Mean Gene runs down the matches so far, which are Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez and Doink vs. Crush. Can you imagine if those were the first three matches announced for a current WrestleMania?
Yokozuna vs. Ross Greenberg
Savage is still having issues. Vince says that he wouldn't want to be the producer right now. Good times. I do love the under the leg shots they get of Yoko as he's getting ready for his match. He nearly takes Greenberg's head off with a clothesline. Yoko only does like five moves for the most part, but they all get a big reaction from the live crowds. No one was questioning him as a monster heel. Banzai Splash and that's all.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We now get a Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes. This show turned into Superstars pretty quickly. He shows highlights of a showdown between Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Yokozuna from Superstars. The crowd absolutely loses it when Duggan knocked Yoko down. Yoko hits a second Banzai Splash with the American flag draped over Duggan, who then did a stretcher job. Mr. Fuji cuts a promo with Yoko about squashing Duggan.
Vince then shows a clip of Giant Gonzalez from Superstars in a 3-on-1 match. It's as horrible as you would think.
16 Man Battle Royal
They all start outside the ring and then run in, which is not the usual for WWF/E. There is quite the mix in here including people like Kimchee and Iron Mike Sharpe. The highlight is that Savage took Bartlett's microphone, so we don't have to hear him at least. If you like punching and kicking, this is the match for you. Skinner, who was seemingly get right hand after right hand from Tatanka, just randomly walks away as if nothing happened, starts dancing and then is eliminated from behind by Typhoon. Kimchee helps Typhoon eliminate Kamala. Kamala goes back in the ring and eliminates Kimchee, which isn't legal of course. They then brawl through the crowd in a fun spot. They then show Kamala chasing Kimchee up in the balcony. Typhoon charged at Shawn Michaels in the corner, who then ducked and dumped Typhoon out. The final four are Razor Ramon, Tatanka, Shawn Michaels and Tito Santana. Apparently Tatanka defeated Michaels in a non-title match and they are going at it. This obviously sets up the eventual WrestleMania match. I would have much rather seen Razor take on Santana than Backlund at WrestleMania. Tatanka and Santana team up to eliminate Michaels. The faces team up on Razor, but out comes Giant Gonzalez and he dumps out Tatanka and then Santana. Razor sneaks back into the ring and is declared the winner. I mean this wasn't anything great, but by battle royal standards it was enjoyable and the ending made sense.
Match Rating: *3/4
Ted DiBiase vs. Brutus Beefcake
DiBiase's "suit" looks cheaper than normal to me here. Beefcake does his strut shtick to start things off. Savage is working about the "facial type situation" for Brutus. Beefcake ducks a big right hand by DiBiase and gets in a series of right hands of his own. Beefcake continues to control the match and out comes IRS. IRS gives Jimmy Hart a little shove. This whole face turn for Hart seems to make no sense to me. DiBiase sends Beefcake off the ropes and IRS hits Beefcake in the back with a briefcase and that's a disqualification. IRS joins DiBiase in the ring and attack Beefcake. They are setting him up to hit Beefcake with the briefcase, but Hart tries to shop him. IRS shoves him out of the ring and then nails him with it in the face. Hart comes in and checks on Beefcake and then stops DiBiase from doing it again. Beefcake then does a stretcher job and they show a blood spot in the ring. The match was nothing, but the angle was pretty effective.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Back from commercial break and Vince tells us that Beefcake is going to be okay. He says that he wouldn't be surprised if Hulk Hogan shows up next week. Why wouldn't you be surprised? He hasn't been on the roster for months.
Well, this was a much better episode this week. We got a big angle started for WrestleMania, had a fun battle royal and a Steiner squash. In 1993, that's an effective show. With the hour run time, the show rarely drags and that is a blessing in 2020. This wasn't the worst way to kill 45 minutes.
Overall Rating: 56%
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