The Random Wrestling Review- Podcast!

What else could the world need more in 2021, than yet another podcast featuring 3 white guys in their 30’s talking about wrestling?! Actually a lot more, but we’re hoping you’ll settle for this. Ben, Tom and Sam are 3 long-time friends who have each been watching wrestling for the last 30 years and here, each week, they will select a wrestling show from the past at random and then talk about it. It’s a heady mix of in-depth analysis, juvenile humour and everything in between.

WWE Royal Rumble 1993

When you look at the WWE at the beginning of 1993 you are seeing a promotion in the midst of an enormous period of change. The most obvious example of this was the debut of Monday Night Raw (a review for which you can read here) a new prime time television show on USA Network that was conceived to be grittier and more dramatic than what had come before which required not only a change to the overall presentation and booking of the show, but also came with a relatively hefty logistical price, as (at least at first) WWE committed to providing a live broadcast once a fortnight (something they had never done before). While they were getting to grips with this new format and schedule, the company were also attempting to overhaul their main event picture as a number of their top stars had either left, or were about to leave, the company. Toward the end of 1992, Ultimate Warrior and Davey Boy Smith had been released for being found to be in receipt of shipments of Human Growth Hormone then, Ric Flair decided that after 18 months in the company, he was ready to return to WCW, so the wheels were set in motion to write ‘The Nature Boy’ out of WWE’s storyline (which would culminate the following night where he would face Mr Perfect in a loser-leaves-WWE match).

WWE Monday Night Raw Episode 2 (18/01/1993)

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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 18^th 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.