Raw Retrospective: Monday Night Raw 08.16.93

WWF RAW Episode Thirty
August 16, 1993
LIVE from Poughkeepsie, New York
Hosts: Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Bobby Heenan

Ted Dibiase Vs The 1-2-3 Kid
They show the finish from their Wrestling Challenge match two weeks prior, in which the Kid won via rollup after Ramon distracted Dibiase. I believe this is the debut of the neon entranceway. The productions look way better overall, actually. Dibiase rushes Kid as he approaches the ring and pounds away in the corner. Knee to the midsection and the Kid rolls to the outside. Ramon is on the phone and he puts over the Kid’s high flying style. They’ve talked things over and they have some surprises for Dibiase, who suplexes the Kid. Dibiase whips him in the ringpost, sending the Kid outside. He runs back in the ring and hits a sloppy crossbody for two. A pair of dropkicks scores a two but his offense gets stopped after a Dibiase elbow. Dibiase throws some punches in the corner but misses a charge. Kid goes up and hits a crossbody splash for two. Goes up top once more and out comes I.R.S. to push him off for the disqualification at around 5:30. Money Inc. stomp him down until the Steiner Brothers come out and save him. ** Entertaining match that continued to make the Kid look good without showing much offense, although this would be Dibiase’s last match on RAW.
Winner: The 1-2-3- Kid

They hype Bastion Booger Vs Marty Jannetty. Can’t wait. Savage has a surprise for later on in the show.

The Headshrinkers (Samu, Fatu) Vs Mike Khoury and Dave Moraldo
McMahon and Heenan discuss whether or not Elvis is dead and Vince has facts to back up his case. Samu kicks one of the jobber then forces the other one to tag in. Side suplexes abound. They nail a double team flapjack and step on them for good measure. Double face crusher, assisted stungun, and Fatu hits the top rope splash for the finish at 3:03. * The Headshrinkers looked like world beaters and thus, the squash worked.
Winners: The Headshrinkers

Bastion Booger is in the back eating a WWF Ice Cream bar in preparation for his match with Marty Jannetty.

Bastion Booger Vs Marty Jannetty
The ring girl seems oddly attracted to Booger. Must be the eyebrows. Jannetty blends in well with the entranceway, for those wondering. They tease a test of strength, which Vince feels would be an excellent test for Jannetty. Booger wins, but the desire to avoid the stench overcomes Jannetty and he and counters out. Jannetty hits a springboard crossbody and a trio of hip tosses. Two dropkicks send Booger to the outside, albeit very sloppily. Jannetty hits an axe handle from the top turnbuckle to the outside. Booger makes his way up but Jannetty dives once more to keep him down. Jannetty slams Booger’s arm into the ringpost as we cut to break. This match is getting the break? We come back with Booger fighting his way out of an armbar and tossing Jannetty out. He loses the exchange but manages to slam Marty into the ringpost. Jannetty eats a splash against the ringpost, so Booger celebrates in the ring. Jannetty works his way back in but gets slammed and hammered. Probably not the last time he would do that. Jannetty goes for a sunset flip but Booger sits on him. Gets two but Jannetty reverses into a pin for the three at 5:01. ** Surprisingly entertaining match from these two, though Jannetty has been impressive in just about all of his RAW matches this year. Jannetty looks good going into his epic encounter with Ludvig Borga at Summerslam.
Winner: Marty Jannetty

Vince McMahon is in the ring and does an interview with Money Incorporated. IRS puts over his match with the Kid at the 123 Kid, saying he only got a taste of what’s coming to him. Dibiase, who’s taking on Ramon at Summerslam, says the Bad Guy will pay the ultimate price. Vince wonders if they can even make it to Summerslam, as they have a steel cage match with the Steiner Brothers for the tag titles next Sunday. IRS says Steiners are going to go to “Summerles…Summerslam” as a couple of losers. Dibiase calls them stupid and says any victory they’ve had has been either through luck or nefarious means. Vince doesn’t buy it, and puts over the grueling nature of the steel cage. Escape rules, it seems. Irwin continues to drive home the put that the Steiners are stupid, and as everyone knows, cage matches are only won by the most intellectual of wrestlers.

Men on a Mission Vs Iron Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz
They splice random clips of urban settings, along with crazy camera cuts during MOM’s entrance. Looks corny now, but for the time was kind of cool I guess. Not so much the urban scenes, but the camera tricks. Actually, it was probably corny back then too. Mo hits a back body drop on Horowitz and tags in Mabel, who drops a big leg drop on Horowitz. Throwing body slam causes Horowitz to tag in Sharpe, who eats a double elbow drop from MOM and then Mo dances. Not that I’m one to be talking or anything, but the man has no rhythm. Mabel hits the falling slam then Mo kind of falls on Mabel as he splashes Sharpe for the three at 2:08. DUD. MOM never really interested me, and seem content with continuing that pattern. They rap afterwards.
Winners: Men on a Mission

Bam Bam Bigelow Vs Rich Myers 305
Luna comes out with Bigelow as Vince and Bobby debate whether or not Luna is lovely. You know, I could totally see these two dating. Myers goes for a headlock but gets dropped with a HUGE backdrop. Myers eats a shoulderblock and a huge corner splash. Bigelow stomps and headbutts Myers down as this somehow gets him some decent heat. Long stalling suplex ends with him just dropped Myers leads to the diving headbutt for the three at 3:10. *, just because Bigelow looked vicious out there.
Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow

Savage’s BIG surprise is the Macho Midget. Oh the God damn irony. There’s some random scantily clad women behind him and they walk around the ring. And that’s it.

They hype the Summerslam Spectacular featuring Michaels Vs Backlund, an Undertaker interview, Yokozuna Vs Jim Duggan, and a steel cage match between Money Inc. and the Steiner Brothers.

The 411: Surprisingly entertaining show this week despite the matches looking bad on paper. Jannetty seems to bring his A-game on RAW and once again stole the show this week, with Bastion Booger of all people. The Dibiase-Kid match had some good action and helped move the storyline along, though it kind of spoils the result of the tag team cage match, if there was any doubt to begin with. Still, solid show this week.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]