It's November 29th, 1993. The first Raw since the Survivor Series pay per view. We're now officially on the road to the 1994 Royal Rumble in January. Not only that, but the first anniversary of Monday Night Raw. What storylines and moments are going to go down as we head to both of these historic events? Let's run through the Raws to find out.
The Westchester County Ceneter in White Plains, New York is home for our next series of tapings. It's Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan at the table, with no Macho Man as he's still being reprimanded for his issues with Crush. Heenan enjoyed Survivor Series, but feels that thanksgiving is just another day where you don't get any presents. He's also still holding a grudge on Gorilla Monsoon for putting his hands on him. Razor Ramon will be in action in a non-title match against Diesel, plus Ludvig Borga and Owen Hart in action, as well as the presentation of Superstar of the Year.
Opening action tonight is the Steiner Brothers against Reno Riggins and Mike Curry. Starting off will be Scott and Curry. Some takedowns by Scott, who tries to lock a half crab, but Curry gets the rope. He lands a nice shoulder block, and follows with a nice full nelson suplex. Tag to Rick who hits a jumping clothesline and an elbow. Tag to Riggins, who hits some hard rights, but Rick sends him into the corner crotch first.
As Scott comes in and locks up Riggins, Heenan tells us that Lorena Bobbitt is taking up golf lessons, because she has a great slice. That was 22 years ago already. Wow does the time fly. Irish whip and a dropkick to Riggins, as Vince tells us that there's a tournament currently going on to crown a new WWF Women's Champion. Scott nails a beautiful brainbuster and forces Curry to make a tag. Tilt-a-whirl slam and another messy Frankensteiner gets the three in a fun, quick squash match. Scott continues to impress with the versatility of his moveset.
It's time for this week's Jeff Jarrett vignette. This time he's back at Buddy Lee Promotions with the supposed cousin of Buddy, Mr. R.P. Lee. Jeff just barges in without an appointment. He doesn't get Buddy, but he gets thrown out for his constant annoyance. Probably one of the more enjoyable segments so far.
Up next is Diesel vs Razor Ramon. It's Kliq member vs Kliq member. Both men lock up, but the more powerful Diesel shoves down Razor with ease. Heenan mentions that Razor is still the fake Intercontinental Champion due to Shawn never being beaten for the gold. Another lock up is shoved off. Shoulder block by Diesel, but he falls for a drop toe hold and an armbar by Razor. Diesel comes back in with some forearms to the lower back followed by some knees. Big elbow drops by Diesel only gets a two count.
Rib breaker by Diesel for a two as Vince talks about the president of Panama. Another cover for two. Diesel locks in a bearhug. The crowd wakes Razor up as he breaks out, but runs into a big boot to the face. He drops Razor face first into the buckle and gets a two count for it. Back to the bearhug, which leads to the arm drop spot. Razor of course gets them up at three and breaks out once more with a thumb to the eye. He follows with a bulldog off the rope for barely a two. More rights and a big body slam. Razor sets up the Razor's Edge...
But Shawn Michaels runs in to superkick Razor for the disqualification. He grabs Razor's title and tries to piledrive him on the belt. Suddenly the 1-2-3 Kid comes for the save, as he manages the send Michaels out of the ring. The refs keep Shawn and Diesel out of the ring as the faces celebrate. As for the match, it was decent. Nash is no good wrestler, but he did fine in a match with Razor. And it continues the storyline with the Intercontinental championship situation.
Bam Bam Bigelow is up next against John Crystal. When last we saw Bam Bam he was in the abomination that was the Four Doinks Match at Survivor Series. Big toss to Crystal, but he misses the following elbow. Heenan still makes some digs to Gorilla Monsoon while Bigelow throws over Crystal and lands a massive clothesline. Bam Bam locks in a headlock and some shots while the crowd chants "We Want Doink". Be quiet crowd or you'll get Mo Doink again. Big body slam and another hard right as Bam Bam asks for Doink. He just toys around with Crystal as he says Doink is scared of him. Nice enziguiry gets the three in an okay squash.
We're taken back to Wrestling Challenge the previous Saturday as Doink is given a Christmas present early. As I had mentioned in the last few episodes of this blog, this Doink is now officially Ray Apollo as Matt Borne would be fired from the WWF for multiple drug abuses. Borne would end up in Extreme Championship Wrestling as Doink, until he would tweak it as Borne Again, a A somewhat more dismal version of the character.
He would retire for a while, yet still return to wrestling every now and then. In 2007, Borne would play Doink one last time for the WWE as part of the Raw 15th Anniversary Battle Royal.
Sadly, on June 28th, 2013 Matt Osborne would be found dead, the death determined to be an accidental overdose of morphine and hydrocodone. I'm going to definitely miss Matt Borne as the Doink character, he brought a great level of creepiness to the character, and he was a great worker in the ring. As for Apollo, I really don't know much about his in-ring career before the Doink character was given to him. But with Apollo's run as Doink, it just means the continuing decline of the Doink character.
Back to the Wrestling Challenge segment as Doink is visited by Santa Claus, who is carrying a sack filled with a present for Doink. That present...
A little clown named Dink. Remember the Macho Midget from back in the Summer? Well, this is now his permanent role in the WWF. I gotta love Jim Ross trying to sell the importance of this segment "He's Dink! He's Dink, Brain!"
It's time for the Superstar of the Year award. Vince is in the ring with a nice big trophy. The voting was close says Vince, as he introduces the runner up, Lex Luger. You'd think with how much of a mega push Luger has been getting this year, he'd be the clear winner. But maybe it's already a sign of how fast he's beginning to cool off as a star. So, who was the winner? None other than Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Much to Heenan's chagrin of course.
Luger raises the arm of Bret as Vince congratulates him. Bret says the fans have never stopped believing in him, and it's a great feeling. A lot of stumbling in this promo by Bret, but this is Bret. Something tells me that this was not as planned as you'd think, and they were obviously expecting Lex Luger to win the award. He promises that he'll do everything in his power to win back the WWF Championship for the fans who voted for him. He dedicates the trophy to the fans and his family. I love Bret in the ring, but my god is he stumbling and fumbling in this promo. He repeats himself constantly.
We recap the Family Feud match at Survivor Series as Owen accidentaly knocks Bret off the apron and gets eliminated, along with the meltdown of Owen. This leads to our next match as Owen Hart is in action against Chris Duffy. Owen comes out with a pair of Bret's glasses, and gives a pair to a fan in attendance. Duffy tries some cheap shots, but Owen gets in a couple hiptosses. Shoulder block and a spin kick follow up. Great Heenan quip on Owen "His real parents left him on the doorstep eight times."
Vince tells us that Shawn Michaels is challenging 1-2-3 Kid to a match next week on Raw as Owen hits a nice snap suplex. Crowd chants "We want Bret". You just got Bret, you greedy crowd! Nice back body drop and some headbutts as the crowd tries an "Owen" chant similar to that of the "Irwin" chants, but it doesn't feel the same. Owen gets an enziguri to the back of the head that just sends Duffy flopping out of the ring. Owen follows with a plancha over the ropes. A missile dropkick and a sharpshooter gets the win. Not a bad match as Owen's heel turn is getting better with each
appearance.
Bobby Heenan interviews Owen Hart, and as expected stirs the pot with the whole situation involving Bret winning Superstar of the Year. Owen declines to talk to the Brain as he walks off.
It's our final match of the show as Ludvig Borga takes on Scott Taylor. As is the norm with Borga matches he gets in a cheap shot to Taylor before the bell. He follows up with a body slam, but misses the elbow. Taylor gets a dropkick, but does nothing to take him down. Clothesline attempts fail, but one from Borga sends Taylor flipping. Lifting choke and a gingerly slam by Borga, who follows with a lift in the air and a punch to the gut. Torture rack on Taylor gets the win in a rather light squash match. Borga doesn't break the hold for a bit.
Vince interviews the 1-2-3 Kid and asks if he'll accept Shawn Michaels challenge. Razor just interrupts to tell Shawn Michaels that the Kid can beat anybody. The 1-2-3 Kid accepts the challenge of Shawn Michaels for next week. We end with a shill for the Survivor Series replay as Heenan brings up Gorilla Monsoon again. Next week will see Doink in action, Crush in action, and the Shawn Michaels/1-2-3 Kid match.
This was an okay Raw, but nothing amazing really went down. Just some simple matches and some decent storyline building for the Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon angle as well as the Hart Family implosion with Owen and Bret. Good to see Bret win Superstar of the Year over Luger, but the whole thing felt really awkward, and almost as if that was never the planned winner. That, and Bret just is not a good talker. This was an inoffensive Raw, so its rating is a B-.