It's September 13th, 1993. Two weeks since Summerslam. Two weeks since American hero Lex Luger defeated Yokozuna, yet was unable to capture the championship. With two months until November's Survivor Series pay per view, a lot of interesting things are going down. Let's get closer to that event by starting the Raw road to the event. Raw is back in the Manhattan Center after no new episode for almost an entire month. It's unclear as to what caused no episode the prior week, but considering it's the USA Network, I will assume it was a dog show. Our opening match is a "Quebec Province Rules" match for the WWF Tag Team Championships. It's the Steiner Brothers defending against the Quebecers.
Who are the Quebecers? Well, they're not the mounties. Actually, one of them was. Jacques Rougeau has had a long run with the WWF, starting with his brother Raymond as the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, a pair of French Canadian wrestlers who moved to the United States only to mock it. After Ray would retire for a few years, Jacques was repackaged as The Mountie, an evil Canadian mounted policeman. In this gimmick, Rougeau would have a very brief run as intercontinental champion.
Jacques would leave the WWF in late '92, and in his travels would meet and befriend Carl Ouelett (Pierre) in Puerto Rico. Rougeau would bring Carl to the WWF and the duo would become the Quebecers, and would be managed by Johnny Polo. Despite being dressed like mounties, the theme song of theirs clearly states that they are not the mounties. They're handsome, brave strong, but they're not the mounties.
So what is a "Quebec Province Rules" match? According to VInce, it's a match where top rope moves are illegal, piledrivers are illegal, tossing people over the top rope is illegal, and disqualifications and count outs will result in a title change. Boy, could Lex Luger have used that "count outs equal title change" rule.
Jacques and Rick Steiner start off. Leapfrogs by Jacques is turned into a powerslam by Rick. Rick nearly clotheslines Jacques over the top rope which would have turned into a loss. Pierre runs in, and gets a powerslam of his own for a two. Tag to Scott who gets his underhook powerbomb for a two. Thankfully it didn't land like a driver, or that would have been a loss. Scott locks in a long armbar, and follows it with a dropkick. Scott rams Pierre into the turnbuckle, but his momentum gets a boot to the face. Pierre lands a flying clothesline from the second rope, not the top, but only gets a two.
Stomps by Pierre and a ram face first into the buckle. He gets a diving forearm for another two count. Scott reverses an irish whip and gets a back body drop. Tag to Rick, who sets up a piledriver, but Scott reminds Rick of the rules as we go to break. Back from the commercials, Jacques tries a back drop, but Rick throws him through the middle rope. Tags to Pierre and Scott. Headlock takeover by Scott and a shoulder block. Pierre counters a hipt oss attempt into a clothesline.
Scott catches Pierre into an overhead belly to belly suplex for a two. Half crab applied by Scott until Pierre gets an axe handle to the back ot Scott's head. Tag to Rick who lands an elbow and locks in a half crab of his own. Jacques gets an axe handle right in front of Earl Hebner. Quick tags from both Steiners. Johnny Polo is at ringside as Rick almost goes to the top rope before being reminded by Scott again about the rules. He lands a splash off the second rope instead.
Pierre tries a superplex off the second rope, but Rick lands a slam off the turnbuckle for a two thanks to a miscue from Jacques.Polo bedecked in a Canadiens jersey and carrying a hockey stick conferences with the Quebecers as we go to break. When we return Pierre gets a cheap shot on Scott. Tag to Pierre as both men double team Scott, as they slam each other on him for a close two. Both men toss Scott into the ropes, but he doesn't fall over the top. His hand gets caught, so the Quebecers stomp on him until order is brought back.
While Jacques distracts the referee, Pierre uses the tag rope to choke out Scott Steiner. Tag to Pierre as both Quebecers hit a nice clothesline/leg sweep combo for a two. Side headlock applied by Pierre for a little bit before landing a body slam and a slingshot splash off the second rope. Tag to Jacques who gets a nice jumping elbow for a two count. He tries a back drop, but Scott kicks him in the face. Tag to Pierre, who stops Scott from making a tag. tag back to Jacues. Hard whip by Jaques, but Scott Steiner manages to turn it into a DDT. Pierre stops the tag again, and Scott gets thrown out of the ring.
Johnny Polo teases hitting Scott with the hockey stick but opts not to. Tag to Pierre as he tries to lock a boston crab, but Pierre still lands a leg drop. He gets the crab in, but Rick gets rid of both Jacques and Pierre. Scott still can't make the tag, but manages to double clothesline both Quebecers. After about 15 minutes of being beaten down, he finally manages a tag to Rick. Slams to both Quebecers by Rick and some dropkicks by Scott. Scott hits a frankensteiner, but gets saved. Johnny Polo is on the apron, but gets knocked down by Rick. Jacques has the hockey stick in hand, and almost hits Scott with it. Scott grabs it, and in the heat of the moment smacks Pierre with it, causing a disqualification. and due to the Quebec Province Rules, that means that the Quebecers are the new tag team champions.
An alright title match, although I do have some issues with it. For one, I think there was way too much "face in peril" time for Scott, and the match, while decent, could have stood to be at least five minutes less. As for the DQ finish, why am I not angry over this as I usually am? Since the "DQ = title loss" plays into the whole point of the match, it's not as big an issue. It's less annoying to me than Lex Luger celebrating not winning the belt on a count out.
Mr. Perfect is in action next for a squash match against Tony DeVito. Vince and Macho Man are still upset over the ending of the tag title match, while Heenan gleefully gloats over the Steiners losing their titles. DeVito gets in a couple punches, and clebrates outside. This angers Mr. Perfect, who chases DeVito around the ring, and back up through the entrance. He grabs DeVito and throws him back into the ring. Chops by Perfect in the corner and a clothesline connect. Atomic drop follows up with that. DeVito gets a dropkick, but Mr. Perfect follows with one of his own, sending DeVito out of the ring. Knees to the face as the crowd appears to be chanting "We Want Shawn". Perfect follows up with a perfect plex for the three. Not a bad squash match, but like most, nothing of substance.
Vince recaps the Ludvig Borga/Lex Luger confrontation, while referring to Borga as "Ludvig Booger". I've always thought Vince had the humor of a 4th grader, and that pretty much confirms it.
Razor Ramon is up next against The Executioner (played here by Duane Gill by the look of it). As if you needed to be reminded that this is 1993, McMahon and Heenan bring up that The Fugitive is the #1 movie in the box office right now, and the recent passing of Perry Mason himself Mr. Raymond Burr.
Razor shoves the Executioner to start the match. The executioner gets a thumb to the eye that sends Razor tumbling out of the ring while Vince mentions that the Executioner will be a guest on Conan O'Brien. Because you know, that Conan kid's never gonna last. Weak stomps by the Executioner and an irish whip which is countered by Razor. He follows with a chokeslam and his patented fallaway slam. Razor locks in the fallaway slam for about 20 seconds, and follows with a back drop off the top rope. Cover by razor for the three in a basic squash match. Post-match, Razor hits the Razor's Edge. As if he forgot to hit the move in the match or something.
Vince is in the ring as Johnny Polo and the Quebecers return, still celebrating their championship victory. They mention how the Blue Jays and the Canadiens have made history, and now two French Canadians are tag team champs. Vince mentions that they won't be tag champs for long since the Steiners deserve a rematch. They huddle for a while, and Johnny Polo mentions that if one of the Steiners can beat a member of the Quebecers, then maybe they'll get a rematch. Vince suggests to have it on Raw. Rick and Scott arrive to ringside and are held back by the refs. Johnny Polo allows it, as Scott Steiner cusses his head off.
So you may be wondering what this means with Johnny Polo and Adam Bomb. Well, like how the WWF has given Adam Bomb something new every week, now they've given him a new manager in Harvey Whippleman. We'll see that team up later on down the line here on TOTNG.
The main event features Doink the Clown against Rich Meyers. Doink is on hand with the buckets. He throws confetti at the crowd. Despite still having sinister music, this is a changed clown. On the September 4th edition of Wrestling Challenge, Doink turned on Jerry Lawler, calling him Burger King and dumping water on him. While the face turn hasn't been fully cemented yet, sadly gone are the days of the evil clown, which I'm honestly going to miss.
Meyets gets in some cheap shots on Doink, but the clown follows with a belly to belly and an elbow. The crowd chants "Lets go Doink" as he hits a pumphandle slam. Very crisp German suplex while Vince bungles a Silk Stalkings promo. Big back body drop by Doink as Crush is on the phone line. Crush promises to be back stronger than ever, brudda. Doink hts a body slam and the whoopee cushion drop for the three. Post-match, Doink grabs another bucket from under the ring. Bobby Heenan tries to coax the clown into splashing Vince and Savage, but the clown turns on Heenan...
Giving him a right soaking with the water bucket! And thus his face turn is officially made. The crowd cheers as Heenan stumbles and slips about while the crowd chants "Weasel". Overall a decent squash match and a fun way to end things. Doink returns after Heenan leaves, and grabs another bucket of confetti and throws it at the fans.
Overall this was a decent Raw. The strengths of it were the tag team title match and the Doink face turn. And the squash matches were definitely better than they usually are. Overal for hte first Raw in almost a month, things are definitely getting back on track, and interesting things are going down. This Raw gets a fair B rating.