Monday, December 13th, 1993
Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Poughkeepsie, New York
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Vince is here solo and shows highlights of Gorilla Monsoon kicking Bobby Heenan out last week. He brings in Jim Cornette as his co-announcer.
Randy Savage vs. Fatu
Fatu starts off hot and he throws Savage into the ring steps early on. He goes back to the well, but Savage slams Fatu's face, but it has no effect. Fatu responds with a superkick and back in the ring we go. Savage is able to hit a back body drop, but when he charges at Fatu, he is flipped over to the floor. Fatu heads up top, but Savage crotches him and hits him with a double ax handle to the floor. Savage goes up to the top rope this time and hits the flying elbow for the victory. Both men looked good here and the packed a lot of action in a fairly short amount of time.
Match Rating: **3/4
We go to Todd Pettengill in the studio which just leads to WWF trying to get people to call to vote on whether or not Randy Savage should be allowed to co-host WWF Mania.
Jim Massenger & Steve Smyth vs. Smoking Gunns
I feel like we haven't seen the Gunns in awhile. It was pretty clear that Vince could not have cared less about tag team wrestling in 1993 because they had enough to have a decent division and they were just an afterthought. I always liked their suplex/crossbody combo that they use here. Captain Lou Albano is out and what a great fit he would be with the Smoking Gunns *crickets*. Anyway, Bart hits a DDT and Billy hits a top rope bulldog for the victory. The Gunns looked like guys who wanted more TV time here.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We get a recap of what transpired last week on Raw between Shawn Michaels/1-2-3 Kid/Razor Ramon.
IRS vs. Todd Mata
The cameraman tries to take a look into IRS's briefcase and IRS shoves him down. Vince, being the Sherlock Holmes that he is, sees that Razor Ramon's gold is in there. We then pan to a man in overalls chanting "Irwin". A whole generation of kids grew up thinking that "technical wrestling" is the same as "boring wrestling" because Vince always had to remind us that IRS was so great at it. IRS hits a back suplex and that's all. This was shorter than a normal IRS squat.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We see Yokozuna dressed as Santa Claus and he has children sitting on his lap. Phew, it was all just a dream. Money well spent.
Undertaker vs. JS Storm
The Undertaker never wrestles on Raw, so lets miss the first bit of the match for an ICOPRO commercial. Undertaker puts Storm in the tree of woe and they say Undertaker is taking on Yokozuna in a Casket Match at Royal Rumble. Taker hits a chokeslam and then the Tombstone for the victory. After the match, Taker and Paul Bearer put Storm into a body bag and Taker stomps on him. Classic babyface move.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Make them stop. Another Jeff Jarrett vignette. Actually, this is a "highlight" clip of the vignettes we have seen.
Oh man, Tatanka looks for revenge against Ludvig Borga next week on Raw.
Rick Martel vs. Tim McNeany
Martel always lets the squash guy get some moves in and I love him for it. After a little bit from McNeany, Martel gets both knees up on a charging McNeany. Martel is in a jumping jack mood tonight and then slaps on the Boston Crab for the victory.
Match Rating: 1/2*
We now get an interview that Vince conducts with Owen Hart from Superstars. Owen challenges Bret to a fight.
Bret Hart vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Have we ever talked about how much better the original Hart Foundation music was over the current version? Bret, Taker and Savage are three of the rarest performers on Raw and we get all of them here tonight. Bret, much like Martel, knows the art of a squash match and allows the enhancement talent to get in some moves to make the match be something a little extra. Brawler goes up to the top rope, but Bret slams him off the top. Bret hits all of his five moves of doom and puts on the Sharpshooter for the victory.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Remember, kids. Only 99 cents to vote for Randy Savage to be back on the extremely important Mania. Next week it's Men On A Mission, Owen Hart and the debut of Jeff Jarrett.
It's amazing what a little bit of star power will do for you. There was nothing special on this show, but we got three of the top stars here and the squashes were a little bit more spirited. It always helps when the show is live as well. This was a nice transition episode, as they will start moving into Royal Rumble mode here soon.
Overall Rating: 60%
No comments:
Post a Comment