We open Raw with a recap of the Stars and Stripes challenge from the U.S.S Intrepid held just one day prior on July 4th, 1993. We see the Yokozuna body slam challenge underway as neither athelete nor superstar is able to body slam the WWF champion on America's birthday. From Lee Rousson of the Giants to Bob Backlund. From the Steiners to friggin' Tatanka (who of course has the method of just chopping him a bunch of times). Nobody could budge Yokozuna. Not even the favorite in Crush could get it done. In fact it seems all is lost of the mighty united states. Until a helicopter descends from the heavens, and inside it is...
Lex Luger?
Wearing an American flag shirt, and not a mirror in sight, Luger, who appears to have given up his narcissistic ways, heads into the ring with the intent of defending his country's honor. And wouldn't you know it?
He slams Yokozuna!
Luger immediately goes from arrogant heel to the pride of America. And the intent of this entire event makes perfect sense. With Hogan gone, the WWF needed a new American hero. And clearly the man Vince thought could be that hero is Lex Luger. I mean, he's tanned, blonde and most importantly was born and raised in America. Sure he can't wrestle a damn, and this is just taking away any chance for Bret to get that rematch he's due, but whatever, MURRICA!
And I gotta admit, they handled this extremely well. Luger gets a big hero moment, looks like the man who can beat Yokozuna, and become the WWF champion, bringing it back to the land of the red, white and blue. Luger's the new Hogan, and the country's embracing it. But how long will it be until the fans start to focus more on the man behind the curtain than the spectacle they see before them? I mean, how are they gonna up this? Shove Luger in a bus and send him across the country? I'd like to see that!
Opening up Raw is the now singles competitor Blake Beverly against the 1-2-3 Kid. Now with theme music and a new number-centric attire, the Kid gets a great reaction from the crowd, and goes to slap the hands of the fans. On commentary, the focus remains on both the fact that Razor is still far from finished with his issues involving Kid, as well as the comments from Ted Dibiase the week prior about Razor's failures in the last few weeks.
The crowd chants "123" at Blake to rile him up in the start of the match. He nonchalantly slaps the Kid, but the kid gets a dropkick sending Blake out of the ring, and follows with a baseball slide. Blake gets back in and tries a back drop, but Kid turns it into a dropkick in midair. A spinning heel kick by Kid only gets a two. However, Blake takes advantage of the Kid's speed to get a powerslam. After some stalling, Blake Beverly hits a suplex, sending the Kid back first into the top turnbuckle, and tumbling to the outside. A rather neat spot I don't think I've ever seen done before.
He slaps the Kid around on the outside while loudly mocking him. He throws the Kid back in and lands a nice splash to the back. He then tosses the Kid over the top rope to the outside. Back in the ring, he hits a backbreaker before slamming him in the corner and into the mat. He goes for a cover, but quickly breaks it. He whips Kid into the corner, but Kid jumps on the buckle, and tries a cross body, but misses. Heenan is even concerned about the tenacity of the Kid, who is just getting his head clotheslined into the mat. A shoulder block sends Kid right back out of the ring.
However Blake's hubris finally gets the better of him as he goes for a dive to the outside, and Kid dodges it, sending him crashing and burning. The Kid goes up, and gets a spin kick off the top to the outside, but mostly gets more ass then leg. He takes a while to try to continue offense on Blake, and then goes for a leapfrog, but Blake turns his jump into a back suplex. He goes up top again, and misses a splash. The Kid uses this to hit a leg drop off the top rope for the three.
A really entertaining match. Blake offered a lot of offense you wouldn't expect from him, and played a great cocky heel who would clearly underestimate the Kid's ability. And the Kid is such a fresh character on the show, giving offense and high flying athleticism you really wouldn't be accustomed to at this point in the company's history. I think I'm going to love the matches he's involved in for a while.
We get the first vignette for another new tag team coming to the WWE. A duo of heavyset rappers named Mabel, Mo, and their manager Oscar. It's the Men on a Mission. To what I've seen of M.O.M before going gung ho into watching this era of the product, I'm well aware that we're about to enter the real dregs of the product with these three.
We get a quick moment backstage with Luna, sounding more like she's been gargling with sandpaper, as she hypes up Bam Bam Bigelow's upcoming appearance. This leads us to our next match of the evening as Bigelow steps in the ring with Joey Maggs. Bam Bam gets a shoulder block and follows up with a big splash in the corner and hits a headbutt for a quick three. That has to be the quickest squash on Raw yet.
Up next is Headshrinker Samu taking on the Undertaker. Still no sign of Paul Bearer since he's been injured thanks to Mr. Hughes in the beat down a few weeks ago. Taker comes out to the best reaction of the night easily. The last time we saw Taker compete on Raw was in a match that never even finished on the broadcast against Skinner. So in terms of top superstar drought on Raw, I think Taker's the front runner right now.
Samu tries offense, but Taker gets some chops and an attempted whip. Samu tries to knock down Taker, but fails. Taker goes for leapfrog, but almost takes Samu's head off with his crotch in the process. Drop toe hold by Taker forces Samu to take a breather outside. Back in the ring, he tries offense again, but Taker whips him and hits a dropkick. A lot of unique offense from the dead man in this match that you normally wouldn't be accustomed in seeing, that's for certain.
Taker grabs Samu by the arm and goes up top for the move that is nowadays referred to as the "Old School" (though is it more the present school at this point?) followed by a clothesline. Taker tries another, but Samu ducks it. Taker rolls out and focuses on Afa, giving Samu enough time for a sneak attack. Taker sits up as we go to break. However after break, Samu continues to throw Taker into the post and into the steel steps. Taker ducks a clothesline, but gets caught into a powerslam. After a body slam by Samu, Taker stands up. Samu clotheslines him out of the ring, but he stands up, seemingly revitalized. He grabs Samu by the throat and whips him to the turnbuckle.
He tosses Samu head first into the steel post, and even with the big Samoan head, that still has to hurt. Elbow drop attempt by Taker is avoided by Samu, who follows up with a back breaker and a headbutt. Taker tries to sit up, but falls back down. Samu ascends the rope and hits a flying headbutt off the top rope, and checks for signs of life. He goes right back up, but Taker gets up this time. He chokeslams Samu, and follows up with the Tombstone for the three.
Overall a solid match. Good to see Taker after a while, and with a fresh arsenal of moves that we normally wouldn't see from him. And again, the Headshrinkers are a great team, even in singles matches. Samu worked great as an opponent for the returning Taker. Giving just enough offense to look like a threat, but still not looking like another scrub being squashed.
An irate Yokozuna heads down to ringside as the crowd chatns "USA". Mr. Fuji accuses Lex Luger of cheating, and that there was no body slam. It was a hip toss. I dunno, it was more of a pick up and slam. Fuji doesn't think that Luger should get a title shot since Luger has the metal plate and took advantage of Yokozuna. Vince asks if there's anyone else that Fuji will allow for a shot at Yokozuna, so Fuji opens the door to anyone but Luger.
Overall, a decent episode of Raw with two standout matches, and two squashes that were extremely cut for time. However, the most important story coming out of this episode is the body slam heard across the united states. I also like that this doesn't immediately make Luger top contender, and he has to still earn a shot despite his feat at the Stars and Stripes Challenge. Overall a decent show that pushed major storylines forward, so it deserves a B+.