RAW Retrospective: Monday Night Raw 05.17.93

WWF RAW Episode Seventeen
May 17, 1993
Live from the Manhattan Center
Hosts: Randy Savage, Vince McMahon, and Bobby Heenan
Approx. Run Time: 41 minutes

Ah, yes, I remember this episode. Back at the time I didn’t really follow WWF all that much, nor WCW for that matter. I was watching nothing but old tapes that I (or my parents, to be precise) could rent from the store. I happened to catch this and thought it was pretty insane, especially since I was used to late 80’s wrestling. And, you know, it’s kind of historical.

Either a chubby kid or chubby midget is lifting a bunch of weights while Randy Savage is rooting him on from behind. Since I write most of these reviews in my office, I didn’t get to hear the context of that whole thing. Probably for the best.

They show clips from the Perfect-Michaels brawl from last week. And by clip I mean the entire damn thing. Lord Alfred Hayes is standing in “the exact same spot” and he claims that he saw somebody entering the arena under disguise. The announcers speculate over what he could have possibly seen and who it could have been.

The Smoking Gunns Vs Glenn Ruth and Tony Vajda
The Gunns shoot their guns right behind Fink, who nearly craps his pants before leaving the ring. Bart starts things off with a roll up and some arm drags before Billy gets the tag. Ruth gets tagged in but taken down with a clothesline. Bart is tagged in and a double Russian leg sweep follows. Frequent tags abound. Billy hits two knee drops on Ruth. Bart gets the tag but doesn’t actually do anything before tagging in Billy. Billy hits a suplex and once again tags in Bart. I think they’re averaging out at about 1.5 moves in between tags. The Gunns work on Ruth’s arm until they hit a nasty looking back body drop into a piledriver double team for three at 3:42. Vajda did next to nothing in this match, which was probably for the best. *
Winners: The Smoking Gunns

Shawn Michaels comes out accompanied by two men in suits. A huge “Shawn is Gay” chant starts out – stay classy, New York. Shawn is a man of his word and has kept his promises thus far – he has won the IC title, defended it all over the world, and defend it in a lumberjack match. As for Mr. Perfect, Shawn is better and even after taking his best shot, Michaels is the IC champion. Vince calls Shawn a “reluctant” champion, which Shawn obviously disagrees with. In fact, he promises to defend his championship against anybody, anywhere at any time. This brings out a man in a sweater and a hood, but it turns out to be Marty Jannetty. Jannetty asks Shawn to be a man of his word and defend his championship against him and Vince eggs it on. Shawn says he can’t wrestle someone not in wrestling gear, but thankfully Jannetty has it. Vince makes it official and we have a match for the IC title later tonight. Shawn doesn’t seem happy about these recent developments.

Razor Ramon Vs The Kid
Can someone explain to me the logic behind having three or four “attractive” ring girls and one overweight lady with terrible hair and glasses? I’m assuming this was some kind of joke, but I don’t get it. The Kid still has his Lightening Kid tights on, for those wondering. Ramon throws his toothpick in the eye of the Kid before he throws the him across the ring. Ramon gets two vicious chops in the corner and throws the Kid across the ring again. A fallaway slam sends the Kid, get this, across the ring. Ramon charges in the corner but misses, the Kid climbs the top rope…MOONSAULT…one, two, THREE! The crowd goes absolutely CRAZY and Ramon is livid! Match time was 2:12. Nothing match, but the story and crowd reaction makes it a classic moment in Monday Night Raw history. Definitely go out of your way to see this, which was the loudest pop from the crowd I’ve heard so far. *
Winner: The Kid

Tatanka Vs Scott Taylor
Taylor taunts Tatanka which gets his clotheslined and back body dropped. Not rethinking his strategy, Taylor ducks a clothesline and taunts again…which leads to him getting thrown over the top rope and chopped on the outside. Back in the ring, Taylor tries fending Tatanka off but instead gets whipped into the corners. Tatanka hits a running elbow drop and a powerslam. Tatanka spends a minute or two hitting body slams and arm drags then calls out Bam Bam on camera. This gives Taylor a chance to smash Tatanka’s face in the turnbuckle, which obviously ends poorly for Taylor. Chops, Papoose 2 Go, three count. DUD. Out of all the squash matches I have to watch while reviewing these, I find Tatanka’s to be among the most boring.
Winner: Tatanka

Kamala Vs Yokozuna
Well, this should be…interesting. The two behemoths collide mid-ring, though Yoko seems worse for wear. A second attempt really sends Yoko reeling and Kamala starts hitting Yoko with overhand chops, but Yoko says, “to hell with this,” and hits him in the throat. Kamala goes down after a headbutt and stays down after a leg drop. Kamala fights back with a series of running chops but a distraction from the outside allows Yoko to splash Kamala in the corner. Banzai drop leads to the three count at 3:40. * for the crowd seemingly believing in Kamala, and they kept it simple.
Winner: Yokozuna

Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels(c) Vs Marty Jannetty (8:59)
Grapple and Michaels takes a cheap shot in the corner to take control. Jannetty outsmarts Michaels though and gets a roll up for two. Michaels runs the ropes and gets caught in a modified sunset flip for two as well. Another grapple has Jannetty winning with a headlock, though Michaels manages to fight out. After a series of reversal, Michaels gets clotheslined and taken out of the ring. Michaels stands up but Jannetty dives over the top rope. Michaels decides to take a breather while the fans chant “Marty!” Michaels blocks a back body drop, misses a super kick and gets taken down with the headscissors for two. Jannetty keeps the hold applied but Michaels escapes. Jannetty keeps control and whips Michaels into the turnbuckle, sending him to the floor once more. Michaels, fed up with the current events, grabs his belt and leaves to the back. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Perfect is waiting and begins taking his shirt off as we cut to break. Back to the action, Michaels is brought in the ring the hard way and Jannetty goes for another headscissors takedown but gets dropped on the rope. Michaels chokes Jannetty as we cut to Perfect watching on. Michaels continues to choke Jannetty is various locations of the ring, including the corner and on the ropes. Jannetty fights out of a headlock but is stopped once again with a dropkick. Jannetty catches Michaels in another dropkick and sends him in the corner flying as both men are down! The ref starts the count as literally everyone in the arena stands at the same time. Jannetty smashes Michaels’ head into the ground, pounds away then hits a flying elbow. A huge powerslam gets two and the crowd is really eating this up. Jannetty fakes a body splash on the second rope then decides to hit a real one on the top rope. Michaels reverses a backdrop but gets caught in a roll up, which he reverses and holds the tights for two. They both stand up quickly but Michaels hits the superkick. Perfect distracts Michaels on the outside and throws his towel at him and Jannetty capitalizes with a roll up for the three and the title at 8:59! Outside of Perfect-Flair, I’d say this is the best match on RAW up to this point, though I’m not sure if I would give it Match of the Year like some places did. Still, as good of a match as a 10 minute match from 1993 is going to be. ***
Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Marty Jannetty

The 411: This show is most notable for the shocking victories of The Kid and Marty Jannetty and really laid the foundation for the “anything can happen” attitude that RAW would later become known for. Despite this, everything else on the show was pretty terrible, even by 1993 RAW standards. Still, one really good match and one shocking result is more than enough to give a recommendation, especially from a historical perspective.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]