While the general ‘feel’ and pace of the debut episode of Monday Night Raw was certainly a welcome change to that which had come before, it is fair to say that WWE encountered a number of teething problems with it also. There was a lack of quality running throughout- both in terms of significant happenings and from an in-ring perspective. 3 squashes, a 2nd rate Intercontinental Title defence and a new feud between one of the company’s biggest heel managers and its most recent addition (and easily most irritating member) to the commentary team was not the most auspicious way to launch a new wrestling TV program- even in 1993. It was imperative therefore, that the 2nd instalment of this new concept, retained the parts of the show that were good and built upon it by improving on some of the areas where there was cause for concern. While it is fair to say that the episode that aired on 18th January 1993 was still not a great show (or one that suggested WWE was on course to usher in a brave new era), some of the problems had been addressed which makes this an improvement on the previous week.
Read the review of Monday Night Raw Episode 1 here.
Firstly, match quality was up considerably, with only 3 matches booked which allowed two of them to be given more time to develop into something worth watching. Don’t get me wrong, these were hardly what you would call marquee attractions, but they were at least competitive. Secondly, where on the previous show the hour long story they told was simply one long joke at the expense of Bobby Heenan, this week they used the same time to build up to a pair of matches on the following show. There is also a sense that somebody had spoken to Rob Bartlett about his role at the commentary desk and advised him to tone down his patter (especially when it came at the expense of those in the ring) and therefore the ‘comedy’ that blighted so much of episode 1 is reduced.
The show began in chaotic enough fashion with Rob Bartlett tearing up a picture of Bobby Heenan (continuing the story from the previous week of Heenan not being invited to Raw due to Bartlett’s inclusion) before Repo Man appeared from nowhere and knocked Savage to the floor, stealing the ‘Macho Man’s hat in the process. With Savage temporarily out of action, McMahon and Bartlett deliver the “Uncut, uncooked and uncensored” slogan for the first, and only time of the night (apparently the words can be said in any order) and we move swiftly on to the opening contest of the night between old rivals Mr Perfect and Terry Taylor (though their previous feud, from back in 1989, is not mentioned here). As you might imagine, given the pair’s familiarity with one another, this is a pretty smooth contest, though the result is never in any doubt (despite Taylor’a programme with Perfect way back when, he’d always been a glorified jobber in WWE) and this meant that the crowd were barely paying attention- some of those fans took the opportunity to get a “we want Flair” started during the contest. In the meantime, Randy Savage returns to the commentary desk and Bobby Heenan makes a phone call into the announcers resulting in an on-air disagreement with Bartlett for ripping the picture up of him.
After an ad break, Heenan hangs up the phone after informing McMahon that the call was collect and the conclusion of the match sees Ric Flair come to ringside and distract Mr Perfect. The two men have a scuffle on the outside which Flair comes out of on top of while the referee is distracted by Taylor in the ring. Despite Flair then rolling Perfect back in for Taylor to take advantage of, Perfect easily reverses an Irish Whip and finishes his opponent off with a Perfect Plex. Rating 6/10. Following the match, the quick fire presentation continues with two very brief adverts, the latter of these is one of Savage’s famous Slim Jim commercials but it is the former that is perhaps more interesting- it features Bret Hart extolling the virtues of the Integrated Conditioning Program, or ICOPRO as it was better known, a bodybuilding supplement that was a hangover of the already defunct World Bodybuilding Federation that Vince McMahon had launched in 1991, and which had been a massive flop. One of the leftovers of the venture was a large amount of ICOPRO which WWF would attempt to sell via its television programs and magazines for the next three years. Needless to say, this was yet another of McMahon’s non-wrestling schemes that failed entirely.
Speaking of Bret Hart, he was the feature of the next segment of the show when he emerges for an in-ring interview with Vince McMahon. Here ‘The Hitman’ talks about his anger at not only Razor’s attack on little brother Owen, but also Razor saying he would slap Stu Hart, the 78-year old patriarch of the Hart family. What’s odd about this is that the interview in which Razor actually makes those Stu Hart comments has yet to be aired- it isn’t until the following episode of Superstars that the promo where Razor mentions this is broadcast, and is therefore fairly confusing for the viewer when Hart mentions it here. This was perhaps a new problem for WWE- having to keep track of what they had done on the recorded episodes of their other shows, while also putting out regular live television, and ensuring that continuity was maintained throughout (this week was going to be particularly tough given that the Royal Rumble was set to take place on the Sunday which would be followed by an episode of Raw that had been taped on the same night, immediately after this one. Whatever the case, the point of the interview was to continue the build for Hart’s match with ‘The Bad Guy’ at the Rumble for the World Title.
After a brief pre-recorded message from Paul Bearer and Undertaker about WWF’s Headlock on Hunger efforts, we got to match number 2 featuring Marty Jannetty against the man who would later find fame as one half of The Headbangers, Thrasher, Glen Ruth. This is a by-the numbers enhancement match that holds little interest, although isn’t bad for what it is. The programme continues its habit of throwing everything at the viewer in effort to keep the pace high, as during this contest, Shawn Michaels calls in to the Raw commentary team (why there is a phone at ringside with McMahon, Savage and Bartlett is anybody’s guess) and assures the three men that Sensational Sherri is in love with him, and will be in his corner on Sunday at the Rumble during the Intercontinental Title match between him and his former tag partner. While that conversation is happening, Jannetty is busy defeating Ruth with the Rocker Dropper. Rating: 4/10 We are then treated to a recap of the Crush/Doink angle from the previous Saturday’s episode of Superstars.
Sean Mooney is, just as he was last week, stood outside of the Manhattan Center, this week when the cameras go to him, he catches Repo Man with Randy Savage’s hat. Mooney speaks to the former Demolition Smash and in the process Savage, still at the commentary table, challenges him to a match. While no formal acceptance is forthcoming, Repo Man says he can’t wait to get Savage in the ring, prompting Savage to leave the commentary position for the second time in the night to go in pursuit of his tormentor. There is a brief respite in the Savage/Repo saga as a ‘Royal Rumble Report’ is aired with ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund, reminding us that the winner of this year’s Rumble will face the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania 9, and a generic Razor Ramon studio promo is run, before we go back to Sean Mooney. Randy Savage has now joined Mooney outside the venue and he is found flagging down cars, and maniacally asking people on the street if they have seen Repo Man.
The main event of the 2nd episode of Monday Night Raw features Ric Flair against ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana and is, as you might expect from two veteran performers, a perfectly acceptable piece of in-ring entertainment, albeit with no real reason to happen. There are more than a smattering of “Let’s Go Flair” chants during this one with at least certain sections of the crowd very pleased to see the ‘Nature Boy’. One man who isn’t pleased to see him is Mr Perfect who, after roughly 8 minutes of action, runs to the ring and attacks Flair to earn Santana a disqualification. Rating: 6/10. Perfect and Flair then start to fight and are swamped by officials and referees who attempt to break them up. Eventually, it seems that things have died down and we go to an break, however, as soon as we come back from said break, the fight is back on. The camera pans to the announce team only for Ric Flair to suddenly appear, having apparently broken away from his melee with Mr Perfect (and without explanation), to speak with Vince McMahon.
Flair is seething and rants that WWF is not big enough for both himself and Mr Perfect, saying one of them has to go, therefore he challenges his former corner man to a match on next week’s episode of Raw where the loser will have to leave the WWF. McMahon asks Flair if such a stipulation is wise, but Flair responds that Perfect will never see the day he beats Flair. The ‘Nature Boy’ then returns to the chaos with Mr Perfect while the camera stays with the announcers, only for Mr Perfect, next, to come across and speak with them. McMahon relays the challenge made by Flair back to him and Perfect accepts in an instant, making the match official for next week’s program- this is added to the confirmation by Vince McMahon during the previous match that Randy Savage and Repo Man will also face one another next week on the show. The final segment of this episode returns us to Sean Mooney (who appears to have missed the entire show for a 2nd time in a row, stood outside in the freezing cold, on the off chance something might happen) where we see that Repo Man is driving a tow truck repossessing Rob Bartlett’s car.
This episode of Monday Night Raw maintained the fast-paced nature of the debut episode, but also improved one or two small elements that ensured it was a slight step up on what we’d seen last time out. Firstly, Rob Bartlett was a lot quieter this time and Vince McMahon didn’t seem in such enthusiastic mood about encouraging him when he did speak. The match quality was up a step, though it’s hard to suggest that either Mr Perfect’s battle with Terry Taylor or Ric Flair’s DQ win over Santana were significant in any way, they certainly weren’t straight squashes. But perhaps most importantly, WWE had actually built up and promoted two matches ahead of next week’s show- one as a consequence of the mini-story involving Savage and the Repo Man, and the other the culmination of a multi-month feud between Flair and Perfect that would see one of the two men gone from the company- a match that could easily have taken place at a pay-per-view, and in the process, giving us the first sense of what Monday Night Raw would one day become.
Epilogue- Superstars Episode 330
Nothing of very much importance took place on the go-home episode of Superstars before the Royal Rumble, other than the promo in which Razor Ramon suggested he’d like to slap Stu Hart in the face (Stu and Helen Hart were both due to be in the front row at the Royal Rumble). In results from the show, which had been recorded in a block with 2 other episodes (and about a dozen dark matches) on 5th January in San Antonio-
Undertaker defeated Dave Silguero (Rating: 2/10), Marty Jannetty easily overcame Ken Johnson (Rating: 1/10), Papa Shango pinned Rudy González after his shouldbreaker finisher (Rating: 1/10), Bam Bam Bigelow bested Gary Jackson (Rating: 2/10) and Kamala beat Dale Wolfe (Rating: 1/10).
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