Original Airdate: Monday, April 19th, 1993
Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Poughkeepsie, New York
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We get a quick interview of Money, Inc and the Beverly Brothers facing on an angle leading into the intro theme. Things are already looking up here.
Razor Ramon vs. Virgil
Razor keeps grabbing the ropes to break Virgil's holds to start things off. Virgil hits a sloppy hip toss and then tries to roll Razor up or something, but they are off. Virgil decides to go for a dropkick, but Razor holds on to the ropes and he misses. Virgil keeps trying to fight back, but Razor is always one step ahead. Virgil gets the boots up on Razor and then follows up with a clothesline. Virgil goes for the reverse crossbody, but Razor ducks. He hits the Razor's Edge and that is all. Virgil got a lot more offense than you would expect here. They really had no choice on turning Razor babyface. The crowds were beginning to get really behind him in an era where they didn't have much of that going on.
Match Rating: *1/2 (out of 5)
Giant Gonzalez vs. L.A. Gore
If you had to picture a wrestler that would go by the name of L.A. Gore, it certainly wouldn't be this guy. Gonzalez hits a clothesline and then a kick. He hits a chokeslam and that is all. That should be the time limit for his matches.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Luna Vachon cuts a promo in a cheesy dungeon green screen set. They show some exclusive Coliseum Home Video footage from Luna attacking Sherri at WrestleMania IX.
Tatanka vs. Art Thomas
Thomas attacks Tatanka from behind. Thomas gets in a little bit of offense and even knocks Tatanka down with a reverse elbow. They have an awkward spot where it looked like Tatanka wanted to reverse the Irish whip, but Thomas didn't get the memo, so Tatanka spins around. Tatanka then misses with an elbow drop, but moments later he is doing the war dance. He hits the Samoan drop for the victory. They get points for trying to switch up the formula, but they didn't click at all.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Money, Inc. vs. The Beverly Brothers
They all start brawling before the bell rings. DiBiase kicks Blake when he ducks too early, but misses with the elbow drop. The Beverly Brothers go to work on the arm of of DiBiase. The Beverly Brothers are outsmarting Money, Inc. at every turn here. Back from the break and IRS is in control of Beau. Beau pulls off a clothesline, but is unable to make the tag. He slams DiBiase face first to the mat and finally makes the tag. Blake hits a back body drop and a body slam. He tags Beau back in for some reason. I guess they aren't used to making hot tags? Blake holds DiBiase, but he ducks the clothesline and he hits Beau instead. DiBiase makes the cover and they get the victory. This was kind of a strange pairing, even though this crowd saw the whole story unfold during this taping.
Match Rating: *1/2
Vince McMahon is in the ring and introduces Bret Hart. Hart talks about being the underdog and that he's going to make himself a hit list and the first person on it is Lex Luger. They show footage of him knocking him out at WrestleMania IX.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Phil Apollo
Bam Bam steamrolls Apollo a few time before twisting on his neck. Bam Bam misses with a splash in the corner, but swats away Apollo's dropkick. Bam Bam follows up with a suplex. Out in the aisle, Doink is out with an umbrella. Bam Bam hits the splash on the next attempt. Bam Bam hits a body slam and then a senton splash. He goes up top and hits the headbutt for the victory. Bam Bam to me was always more impressive than what his WWF career turned out to be. After the match, Bam Bam hits another top rope headbutt. Friar Ferguson then comes to the ring and stops Bam Bam from doing a third headbutt. Ferguson knocks him out with a dropkick.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Next week it will be Crush vs. The Narcissist Lex Luger.
Raw was very much an up and down show every week here in 1993. This was definitely more of a downer. Just having to see Friar Ferguson at the end makes the show lose points. The two feature matches were just okay and the squashes were all a little off. I'm looking forward to them building towards King of the Ring, but right now they seem to be stuck in neutral with nothing to build for.
Overall Rating: 41%
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