July 5, 1993 Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center) Announced attendance: N/A TV rating: 2.9 (USA Network) [same as the previous week’s rating]
Hello everyone. Welcome to my review of another episode of Monday Night RAW. The main focus of this week’s episode is the recap of last night’s Stars & Stripes Challenge, which was highly promoted ever since Yokozuna became the WWF Champion. The 1-2-3 Kid will also be wrestling this week, along with Bam Bam Bigelow, Mr. Perfect, and the returning The Undertaker!
Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into this RAW:
WWF Champion: Yokozuna [22nd day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [29th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) [16th day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
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RAW’s intro plays and we go straight to a clip from yesterday’s Stars & Stripes Challenge. Here is a list of all the athletes that tried and failed to slam Yokozuna – Lee Rouson of the New York Giants, Bob Backlund, Peter Taglianetti of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Scott Burrell of the Charlotte Hornets (who didn’t even try to do it), Scott Steiner, Tatanka, Bill Fralic of the Detroit Lions, Crush (who did pick Yoko up), and Randy Savage. Yokozuna had dethroned everyone, until one last competitor arrived on a helicopter…
IMG credit: WWE
Lex Luger made his way to the ring and even shoved Bobby Heenan to signify his face turn. Luger challenged Yokozuna on the microphone, dumped Mr. Fuji, ducked a charge by Yoko who ate the turnbuckle, nailed him with the deadly forearm of doom, and slammed Yokozuna as the crowd went absolutely wild.
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When we come back to the live broadcast, McMahon announces the new American hero Lex ‘Narcissist No More’ Luger has officially issued a challenge to Yokozuna for a future WWF Championship match.
The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Blake Beverly
This is Kid’s first showcase bout after the matches with Razor. Beverly bitchslaps Kid after being offered a handshake, but Kid comes back with a dropkick that dumps Beverly. Kid meets him outside with a baseball slide, and dropkicks him back inside for two. Enziguiri gets two and Kid goes for another aerial move, but Beverly scoop slams him for two. Beverly is thinking suplex, only to change his mind and suplex Kid onto the turnbuckle, which knocks Kid all the way to the floor. Beverly takes his time hitting Kid around ringside, before taking him back inside for a headbutt. Beverly then picks up Kid and press slams him to the floor like he was garbage. Back in, Blake with a backbreaker followed by a running powerslam, but he breaks up the count. Kid tries to come back with a springboard crossbody, but Beverly ducks and clotheslines him. Beverly follows it up with a Warrior-like running shoulderblock that knocks Kid to the floor. Beverly goes up top but eats the floor after Kid ducks, and Kid goes up himself and comes down with a flying spinkick. Beverly catches Kid going for a leapfrog and turns it into a backdrop suplex, but Kid ducks a flying splash before going up top to finish Beverly with a flying legdrop to the back of the head at 8:00.
Rating: Where did this come from!? This is the first time Blake appears on RAW since the end of The Beverly Brothers (when Beau left) and I certainly didn’t expect him to bring it to The Kid like he did here. Kid sold the beating like a champ and made his second win feel like a big deal, but Beverly looked like a million dollars as the ‘bully’ heel during the heat spot. The Kid got even more over, while Blake looked better than he ever did in the Beverly Brothers. ***
A rap video airs telling us Men on a Mission are coming to the WWF soon.
Luna Vachon says we’re about to see the Beast From The East.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Joey Maggs
Bigelow absolutely destroys this poor guy with a shoulderblock followed by two running Avalanches in the corner for the very easy win in 0:40.
Rating: Short, sweet and to the point. 1/4*
A video plays promoting All American Wrestling featuring Bobby Heenan and Mean Gene.
The Undertaker vs. Samu (w/ Afa)
This is Undertaker’s return after the attack from Giant Gonzalez and Mr. Hughes right before King of the Ring. Paul Bearer is still absent. Samu takes it to Undertaker to start, but they mess up a leapfrog start and Samu ends up headbutting UT’s balls. Taker immediately gets back up and continues the match, but that had to hurt. UT takes Samu down with a drop toehold and dropkicks him, while Samu keeps running away. Afa offers some advice in the form of a headbutt, which seems to motivate his man. UT strikes with Old School on his way back inside the ring, but Samu ducks UT’s jumping clothesline and superkicks him outside. Afa adds some shots as we take a break.
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Commercial break
We come back with Samu throwing UT into the steps. Samu catches Taker with a scoop slam for two, but UT does the zombie situp. Samu dumps him over the top to the floor, only for UT to land on his feet and get back in. UT rams Samu’s head into the ring post and drops an elbow on him, but Samu moves out of the way of a second one. Samu hits a sidewalk slam and a headbutt, and Taker fails to complete the zombie situp. Samu goes up and comes down with a diving headbutt. Samu bitchslaps him a couple of times to see if he’s still in it, and goes back up when UT doesn’t react. However, UT avoids the second diving headbutt by doing the zombie situp, and puts Samu away with the Chokeslam-Tombstone combo at 9:00.
Rating: It’s always fun to see The Undertaker wrestle on television, which is pretty rare. In fact, this was his first televised match since WrestleMania 9, outside of a 1-minute squash on Superstars. The match was pretty solid, with Undertaker having to prove himself without Paul Bearer and the urn. Nice match. **1/2
Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji come out to address the “loss” to Lex Luger last night. Fuji refuses to accept the defeat as it was a hip lock and not a slam, and thus won’t grant him a title shot. McMahon asks who he’ll be defending against, with Fuji saying he’ll take on anyone one by one. Crush interrupts them, puts Luger over and offers to be the first in line for a title shot next week. McMahon ignores Fuji and asks Yokozuna himself, who accepts and sets up a WWF Championship match for next week.
Main Event
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Mr. Perfect vs. Brian Costello
Perfect dropkicks Costello to the floor off a criss-cross sequence. He chops Costello on the outside, brings him back in for some more chops and NOW YOU’RE GONNA A PERFECTPLEX at 1:00.
Rating: Another very short squash that did its job. 1/4*
We go off the air with a shot of Lex Luger’s slam to Yokozuna.
END OF THE SHOW
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Final thoughts: Very good episode of RAW. The 1-2-3 Kid had another impressive victory, The Undertaker made a triumphant return and won a match on his own. Additionally, a World Title match was arranged for the following week. The short matches were also kept short and effective. 7/10
Welcome to my first review of WWF Home Video Classics! Today we start off with Bret Hart and we’re going to look back at some of his matches and see if they’re worth watching or if they’re worth being forgotten about. Let’s roll!
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1. Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
IMG Credit: WWE
This was a dark match from a Wrestling Challenge taping that took place on September 29th 1993 in Portland, Maine. This was in the midst of the deeply personal Jerry Lawler vs Hart Family feud. This was a very by the numbers match, with both men executing their familiar roles. Bret was on defense throughout the match while Lawler drew heat from the crowd. In the middle of the bout, Lawler pinned Bret by hitting him with his crown after a referee bump, but unfortunately for him, the match was restarted after another referee ran down to tell referee Tim White how Lawler won the match. After the restart, Bret hit his traditional comeback moves and won with an inside cradle. Nothing special to see here.
Rating: **
2. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel)
IMG Credit: WWE
Always nice to watch a Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels match. This one took place on January 11th 1994 in a Wrestling Challenge TV taping in Florence, South Carolina. In contrast to the Jerry Lawler match, this one was shorter with a much faster pace. Both men wrestled a solid back and forth bout, with Michaels’ unique selling standing out here. Towards the end of the match, Shawn threw Bret to the outside of the ring, with Diesel attacking Bret and tossing him into the ring post while Shawn had the referee distracted. Looking to capitalize on this onslaught, Shawn tried executing a Piledriver on Bret before brother Owen ran down to the ring to make amends and attack the Heartbreak Kid and cause a disqualification finish. Even with the finish and time restraints, this was a pretty decent match.
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Rating: **3/4
Next up, we have some highlights of memorable Bret Hart matches and career moments which included his Intercontinental Title win at Summerslam 1991 against Mr. Perfect, the first ever ladder match in WWF/E history between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and most importantly, his first WWF Championship win against Ric Flair in October 1992.
3. Bret Hart vs. Irwin R. Schyster
IMG Credit: WWE
Pretty uneventful encounter here. This match took place on February 1st 1994 in White Plains, New York. The match began with the crowd constantly chanting “Irwin” which severely angered I.R.S. The chants lasted minutes and not gonna lie, they were very annoying. The story of the match was all on I.R.S. targeting Bret Hart’s left leg, which is usually Bret Hart’s go-to offense. After a devastating chinlock, Bret made a pretty uninspiring comeback while selling the damaged leg. After that, Owen Hart came down to ringside to taunt Bret (keep in mind, this was right after Owen had turned on Bret at the 1994 Royal Rumble). Owen tossed Bret into the ring, which led to Bret knocking Owen off the apron after running into the ropes and scoring the win over I.R.S with a roll up.
Rating: *3/4
Next up, we get a short Bret Hart promo where he talks about his work ethic and how he got to the top of the wrestling world after 10 long years. The Excellence of Execution talks about how you need to work hard and study wrestling as a science to conquer opponents like Yokozuna, Lex Luger and Razor Ramon.
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4. Bret Hart vs. Adam Bomb (w/ Johnny Polo)
IMG Credit: WWE
This match took place on August 31st 1993 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The match started off with Bret Hart gaining control of things before Adam Bomb took over with a big powerslam. Adam Bomb worn down Bret and after a chinlock, Bret made an exciting comeback with a red hot crowd to support it and won with a Sharpshooter. A fairly decent match here, although I preferred the Shawn Michaels bout.
Rating: **3/4
5. Bret Hart vs. Kwang (w/ Harvey Wippleman)
IMG Credit: WWE
This match took place in Springfield, Massachusetts on February 2nd 1994. Bret started off the match by wearing down Kwang with armbars and hammerlocks. After the initial phase, Kwang took over with a big spinning heel kick. It was pretty interesting to see how Kwang’s moveset differed in comparison to his future gimmick of Savio Vega. Kwang worn down Bret with a LONG nerve pinch before Bret made his comeback and scored himself an easy win with the Sharpshooter. This was the most bland match so far. Nothing to see here unfortunately.
Rating: *1/2
Next up, Bret describes how it feels to win the WWF Championship for the second time in his career. Bret thanks his fans for supporting him throughout the ups and downs of his career and credits them for being his driving force.
Next up we get some highlights of Bret’s tremendous trilogy of matches at King of the Ring 1993. This was a pretty huge night for the Hitman as not only did he become the King of the Ring, but this also helped solidify him as the best wrestler in the world.
6. Steel Cage Match – Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
IMG Credit: WWE
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This match took place on December 1st 1993 in a Superstars TV taping in Utica, New York. The match started off with Shawn Michaels gaining the upperhand with a cheapshot. Bret managed to counter with a big slingshot which sent Shawn face first into the steel cage. Both men then unsuccessfully attempted to escape the cage through the door. After a short rest period, Shawn tried climbing out of the cage before Bret climbed up to punch him down and send Shawn crashing into the mat. After an Irish whip, Shawn caught Bret in a sleeper hold which the Hitman successfully countered by sending Shawn head first into the cage. Both men then attempted to climb out of the cage but Michaels got his leg entangled in the cage bars, which led to Bret climbing out and winning the match. Good match here and the best one so far.
Rating: ***
7. WWF Championship – Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (c) (w/ Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) (WrestleMania 10)
IMG Credit:
The only PPV match present in this tape and a pretty significant one in the career of Bret Hart. Bret came into this match having already wrestled his younger brother Owen Hart in the opening bout, in a classic for the ages, while Yokozuna came into this match having already retained his WWF Championship earlier in the night against Lex Luger. Roddy Piper was the referee to warn off possible outside interferences. The MSG crowd were well behind Bret in this one. Bret sold for Yoko throughout the match and both men were showing the effects of their previous matches. Bret made a good comeback and almost scored the win with a bulldog, which served for a really good near fall. Yokozuna took over with a belly to belly suplex and went for the Banzai Drop. Yoko lost balance in the middle rope which led to him crashing into the mat. Bret pinned Yoko and became the WWF Champion for a second time. I wasn’t a big fan of the finish. The match was alright for what it was but I preferred their Wrestlemania 9 encounter.
Rating: **1/2
To end the Coliseum video, Bret speaks about the greatest moments of his career. The Excellence of Execution talks about his critically acclaimed Summerslam 1992 match with The British Bulldog. Bret embraces his loss in that historic Wembley night, saying he gave it 100% and that his fans would always be proud of him knowing he did just that.
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Final thoughts: I enjoyed this Bret Hart Coliseum Video. It was fun to watch some Bret Hart matches I’ve never seen before, even if some were pretty generic, but you can’t expect much since they were mostly dark matches. I’d recommend this tape if you’re a big Bret Hart fan, like me.
And that will be all from me today. Next up, I will take a look at the Shawn Michaels: Hits from the Heartbreak Kid Coliseum video. I hope you enjoyed the review and take care!
First things first…I MUST forever thank my cousin Jack for being able to get us tickets for BOTH SmackDown AND Money in the Bank 2023. I couldn’t get tickets as soon as they went on sale because I was at work. Luckily, Jack was able to, and I also thank him over and over again for driving us all the way to London.
I’d always wanted to go to a live WWE event, and the fact that I got to see a hit-weekly TV Show AND one of WWE’s most prominent events of the year across the weekend was incredible. Of course, my cousin and I have enjoyed our trips to London (seeing live music concerts in Westminster and Hammersmith), and there was a time when we thought we wouldn’t be able to visit London again during the COVID-19 Pandemic. But with society thankfully able to see family & friends, travel and attend events again, we were so glad to return to London for an adventure. Our first WWE extravaganza, no less!
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
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Whenever you watch wrestling on television, it’s always a sight to behold. Seeing fireworks, the lights, the cameras, the broadcast team, the crew, the wrestlers…ALL the magic unfold on screen. Especially seeing thousands of people fill arenas, cheering their heroes, booing their villains, and having such an amazing time. But now having finally experienced it all live, you can’t grasp the magnitude of a wrestling event live unless you’re actually there. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Visiting the O2 Arena was something we can proudly tick off our bucket list. My Mum & Dad had been years ago when it was the Millennium Dome, and I had no idea of the wonders that awaited us inside when we entered the building. So many restaurants, a cinema, bowling alley, shops on the upper levels…we didn’t get much time to have a look around on Friday night. Only to get a bite to eat before queuing to take our seats in the arena for SmackDown.
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
I loved our seats. We had such a breathtaking birds-eye view of the action. We could see the ring, the giant screen above, the entranceway, the announce-desk…we could survey the rest of the humanity in the arena…even before SmackDown started and fans were filling the arena to take their seats, there was chanting for LA Knight (YEAH!), Charlotte Flair (WOOO!!!)…London crowds have always been amazing on television. Such an electric atmosphere they provide for WWE Events, and it’s even more electric when you’re there in person! Words can’t do it justice!
So…let’s start with Friday SmackDown from 30.06.2023. My thoughts on the show?
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Unfortunately, a graphic was displayed to announce that Darren “Droz” Drozdov had passed away. Having grown up with the Attitude Era, I remembered Droz fondly for his match with Marc Mero at Breakdown 1998, becoming a member of the Legion of Doom with Hawk & Animal, and his tag-team run with (Prince) Albert in 1999. And of course, his career ended prematurely in a match with D’Lo Brown due to an accident that left Darren a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. Even after Darren’s in-ring career ended, I heard that he maintained nothing but a positive attitude, still working for WWE as a writer & columnist. When the WWE Universe heard that Darren had passed away at 54, all of us paid our respects by applauding the memory of Droz. My deepest condolences to his family. He will be dearly missed. May he join that massive Royal Rumble in the sky.
IMG Credit: WWE/People.com
Things kicked off with a dark match to get the crowd in the right mood. The LWO (w/Zelina Vega) Vs The Club AKA Gallows & Anderson (w/Mia Yim) was a fun match. LWO picked up the win, and the faces shook hands. Nice.
The crowd REALLY became unglued when KO & Sami Zayn arrived for their tag-title defence against Pretty Deadly. GREAT MATCH to kick things off! And there were moments when I genuinely thought Pretty Deadly were gonna actually upset Kevin and Sami for the belts. Thankfully, they retained. Although I think Kevin may have injured his knee on the cannonball. He may have been selling, but the way he was limping looked like he’d actually injured himself. I really hoped Kevin was okay.
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
It was great to be updated on previous weeks’ events via the screen. As well as WWE Network shows! And of course it gave the crew time to set up for the next matches.
Austin Theory Vs Ridge Holland was a good match. Ridge did grand, Theory again showed what a great US champ and heel he is. Sheamus came out afterward to a MASSIVE ovation (and to chase Theory off)! A feud with Theory over the US Title sounds promising!
This CROWD was AMAZING! I can’t stress that enough! WHAT an experience to be part of!
Bayley/Shotzi was enjoyable. Crowd loved Bayley. We all did! Singing for Bayley, and the match was designed to give both Bayley and Io more momentum into the PPV. Backstage segment afterwards with Shotzi confronting Damage CTRL and getting beaten down was cool. Good heat for Bayley and Io…who knows where it will lead for Shotzi?
God, the heat for Logan Paul was NUCLEAR! We all had so much fun chanting “F*** you, Logan!” And “Logan Paul’s a w****r!” La Knight came out afterwards…the clear favourite to win Money in the Bank! Awesome segment with Grayson Waller, Logan Paul, LA Knight…Santos Escobar and Butch (AKA Pete Donne) also got involved!
That of course set up a spirited triple threat between Knight, Santos and Butch! With Logan again riling up the crowd perfectly from ringside. This was a fun match, and I was really surprised that Butch got the win! Quite a few Bruiserweight chants for Pete Dunne! And having watch him wrestle once before in the independent scene, I’m so glad he’s made it to the level he’s at today in WWE. Him climbing the ladder to reach the MITB case was a real-feel-good possibility for us Brits!
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IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
Crowd was really hyped for Asuka/Charlotte! Shame it was cut short, and was used to set up a triple-threat between Charlotte/Asuka/Bianca down the road, but it was still a good bout. Loved Bianca delivering KOD to both Charlotte & Asuka on the table. Just seeing all these stars on SmackDown was just thrilling.
God…Roman’s entrance was GODLIKE to experience live! You see it on telly…just imagine how more epic it is seeing it in person. All of London, England ACKNOWLEDGED HIM! Believe me. The segment with the Usos…Jimmy and Jey have not just hit their stride as one of the greatest tag teams of all time, but as singles stars. The tease of Solo’s future was well-played…the brawl afterwards was amazing…WHAT a segment! What an ending to SmackDown that made us all the more hyped for Money in the Bank the next night!
Dark matches after the show ended were genuine surprises to send fans home happy! To see AJ Styles wrestle live for the first time in my life…that was genuine wish-fulfilment! The match itself against Karrion Kross was very basic, but it was cool to see Mia Yim sort out Scarlett and AJ win with the Phenomenal Forearm.
REY MYSTERIO was there! FANTASTIC SURPRISE! AND a great non-title match against Austin Theory! Theory again proves his worth on the mic and in the ring, and Rey Mysterio wrestles the match smartly and brilliantly. Even at 48-years-old, the Hall of Famer can still go. Great match, with Rey getting the win, and then Rey rallied the audience to call Austin Theory a w*****! Hilarious stuff and then Rey Mysterio thanked us for coming.
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On the Saturday, we took advantage to do plenty of sightseeing around London before going back to the O2 again that evening. Walking across the Tower Bridge and finally going to see The Tower of London just made our weekend even more special.
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
After lunch, we’d made our way back to the O2 that afternoon. It was a wise move returning fairly early, having learned from attending SmackDown that fans would be queuing miles out of the arena to get in. And we had plenty of chance to go shopping for merchandise this time around, and visit the Money in the Bank Store! (Quite possibly one of the Top 5 shops I’ve ever been to!).
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
And after we’d had a fairly early tea, we able to queue up right near the front of the doors. Granted, we were waiting about two-and-a-half hours before the doors to the arena opened, but we didn’t mind. It was fun listening to fans chant “L-A-Knight! Yeah!” And “WOOOO!” And joining in killed the boredom!
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
Jack and I were able to take our seats much earlier this time for the PPV. And once we were settled, we just sat back and relaxed. Again, the atmosphere of the London crowd was just utterly magic. As the arena gradually started to fill up again for the night that lay ahead…all the fans entertained themselves. We sang Seth Rollins’ theme, gave a chorus of “WOOOOO!”s, chanted “YEAH!” and did a Mexican Wave about FIVE times around the arena! And then Michael Rome announced the show would be starting soon, the atmosphere kicked into overdrive. Especially when Michael Cole and Wade Barrett came out to call the show (like they’d done the previous night for SmackDown).
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WWE have always done a masterful job with their video packages for their Pay-Per-Views and matches. And what I really loved for Money in the Bank this year is that they’d themed it around James Bond/007 due to the London setting. It was a real creative twist, fuelled by the Money in the Bank tradition, the Cody Rhodes/Dominic Mysterio showdown and the Bloodline Civil War that had been THREE YEARS in the making. The opening video was just utterly sublime.
The show itself?
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match was the perfect choice for opener. All the participants received great reactions – with Logan Paul once again being universally despised – and we all laughed and cheered as everyone immediately attacked Paul as soon as the bell rang. The first ladder match I’ve seen live, and it really is something else, in comparison to watching a ladder match on television. So many great spots and gripping tension. The London crowd really added so much to the bout, particularly with the contempt for Logan Paul. As much as I (and many others can’t stand the man), Logan Paul again proved he belongs in a WWE ring.
However, there was a nasty botch towards the end where LA Knight knocked Ricochet and Paul off the ladder, but they ended up getting tangled in the ropes. Then Ricochet attempted a Spanish Fly on Logan through two tables at ringside, and the landing looked very nasty! Logan Paul did post photos of the gash on his shoulder, and even though I’m not a fan of the man, I DO respect his willingness to compete in WWE.
Like the majority, I had hoped for LA Knight to win the briefcase. So when Damien Priest won…it kind of deflated things somewhat. Damien deserves it, but LA Knight was by far the most over in the match. So I really didn’t know why they chose to pull the trigger on Priest instead of Knight. However, we would get the idea later that evening.
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Now, it was at this point where fans needed a toilet break. I was one of them. So I missed most of the Women’s Tag Title Match between Liv Morgan/Raquel Rodriguez & Ronda Rousey/Shayna Baszler. But when I came back it looked like a good match that the crowd was into…but really, it was the final moments that caught everyone off-guard! Wasn’t expecting Shayna to turn on Ronda like that! The crowd chanted “Thank you, Shayna!” And then Liv & Raquel finished Ronda off to regain the titles for a standing ovation!
I was really pleased about finally getting to watch Gunther wrestle live! For my money, he’s on his way to becoming the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, and his title defence against Matt Riddle wasn’t what we’ve come to expect. Lots of vicious slaps, quality mat-wrestling, and hard-hitting action with sublime psychology. Riddle put up a valiant fight, but Gunther was in no danger of losing his title, and after dissecting Riddle’s ankle, he forced the champion to submit.
WASN’T expecting Drew McIntyre to return! This was an amazing surprise! Gunther vs. Drew for the Intercontinental Title? YEAH. That’s a feud I’ll gladly pay to see!
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
We ALL had so much fun singing Cody Rhodes’ Kingdom Theme Song! WOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! The match with Dominik Mysterio was the spectacle you’d expect. Dominik remains one of the best heels in the business today (right up there with Roman Reigns and MJF), and he lived up to his rep with multiple cheap-shots, running away and Cody finally kicking his arse when all was said and done. Did what it needed to. It was fun.
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
OH MY GOD…JOHN CENA SHOWED UP! He wasn’t even advertised for Money in the Bank! WHAT AN EPIC SURPRISE! This made my weekend! I’ve always been a massive Cena fan, and it pleases me that at this stage in his career, the London crowd (and WWE Universe in general) are finally unanimous in giving Cena the respect and appreciation he deserves. Cena cut a great promo here putting over the UK audience, and was talking about persuading the WWE Higher-powers to bring WrestleMania to Britain! THAT WAS AN EPIC ANNOUNCEMENT!
After chants of “Thank You, Cena!” and “One More Match!”, Grayson Waller came out again. He’d already been on SmackDown the previous evening hosting the Grayson Waller Effect with Logan Paul as his guest. Waller’s a truly obnoxious heel who knows how to get heat. He’s done a great job in his time on NXT, and played off the London crowd brilliantly, as we all bombarded him with chants of “Shut the f*** up!”, “F*** him up, Cena! F*** him up!” and “W*****!”. Waller put down London, Cena and suggested Australia would be a better venue for WrestleMania. This was a great segment with Cena ultimately giving Waller the Attitude Adjustment!
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The Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match next, and I think this was the better of the two. All the ladies worked really hard here! Kudos to Trish Stratus, who at 47 years, can still go and took some hellacious bumps in her first-ever-ladder match. There were some really great spots here, like Zelina Vega’s sunset flip on Zoey Stark from the top of the ladder onto a bridged ladder below. The finish was really clever as well, with Iyo Sky using handcuffs to trap both Becky Lynch and Bayley together to grab the briefcase. Iyo Sky truly deserved to be Miss Money in the Bank after all her work with Damage CTRL and Bianca Belair, and I’m excited to see what happens next for her.
IMG Credit: D.C. Wood
The World-Title was contested for finally in a bout I was really looking forward to; Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor. I thought their match at SummerSlam 2016 was a great match that ended unfortunately when Finn had to vacate the Universal Championship the next night due to injury (even though he’d beaten Seth to become the first champion). This and how their respective careers ended up resulted in great build-up. The match itself struggled to match SummerSlam 2016, but the ever-enthusiastic crowd helped elevate things, and then a really interesting twist developed when Damien Priest came out with his MITB briefcase!
Was he gonna cash-in to make it a triple-threat? Would he cash-in on Finn Balor if he won? Things really picked up in the last few moments and it looked like Finn might actually win the title! We were all hooked at that point! But Damien’s interference ultimately distracted Balor and allowed Seth to retain! The Judgement Day saga looks to be taking a very interesting direction now!
AS FOR THE MAIN-EVENT…!
…
Unfortunately, I can’t comment. We had to leave just after the Bloodline Civil War started! Due to train cancellations/delays, Jack and I were concerned about missing our ride back to where we staying. And things got even worse when we found out that the train from London Bridge had ultimately been cancelled and we had to make a mad dash to King’s Cross station to get a train back home (which is another story in itself!).
But despite missing the main-event and the tumultuous journey back, we had an absolutely amazing adventure! First WWE event (technically TWO!) we ever attended, first-time we’d ever been to the O2 Arena, and it was an utterly fantastic experience we’ll never forget! And of course, sight-seeing in London was the icing on the cake! SmackDown was great, and Money in the Bank 2023 was even better! Would we go to another WWE event in the future? If the opportunity arose and the timing was ideal, definitely! WHAT A WEEKEND!!!
June 28 1993 Taped show (on June 21 1993) Location: Poughkeepsie, New York, USA (Mid-Hudson Civic Center) Announced attendance: N/A TV rating: 2.9 (USA Network) [down 6.7% from the previous week’s 3.1 rating]
Hi everyone, welcome to yet another RAW review here on the blog. Coming off a very hot episode last week, tonight we have an Intercontinental Title match with Kamala challenging Shawn Michaels. We will also see the RAW debut of the controversial Bastion Booger, who faces Crush in the main event.
Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into this week: considering air date (6/28)
WWF Champion: Yokozuna [15th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [22nd day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) [9th day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
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WWF Intercontinental Championship – Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) vs. Kamala
Shawn Michaels starts off with a cheapshot after luring Kamala to shake his hand. Kamala reverses a whip into the buckle, however, and catches Shawn with a clothesline. Shawn offers a handshake yet again, and this time Kamala bites his hand. Shawn bails, but Kamala catches Shawn in midair with a bearhug as we take a break.
Commercial break
We come back with Kamala pinning Shawn for two. Shawn leaves the ring and runs away to cause a pursuit, and Shawn catches Kamala on his way back inside the ring. Kamala ducks a clothesline, but misses a blind charge and hurts his knee on the turnbuckle. HBK goes after the leg as he stomps away. Kamala pulls the hair to block a figure four attempt, but Michaels remains in control. Kamala keeps trying everything to avoid submission holds, finally ramming Shawn into the post. Kamala makes the comeback with the wild chops despite the bad leg, and eventually splashes Shawn… but he still doesn’t know how to make the cover. Diesel gets up on the apron to distract Kamala, though, allowing Shawn to superkick him in the back of the head to retain in 11:00.
Kamala goes after Shawn afterwards, but Diesel gets involved and Shawn eventually joins him for the beatdown. This would turn out to be Kamala’s final WWF appearance, only competing on house shows until leaving in July.
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Rating: Pretty good given the limitations. Shawn was great as expected, but Kamala more than held his own and sold the leg great. Pretty solid match. **1/4
A video promoting Yokozuna’s Stars & Stripes Challenge this coming Sunday airs.
Vince McMahon interviews Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji
Vince asks them about the upcoming challenge, which Fuji issued as Yokozuna’s way to celebrate his WWF Title win over Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring. Fuji says they will embarrass America this Sunday on July 4. Vince thinks someone should be able to slam Yokozuna, but Fuji reminds him even Hulk Hogan couldn’t do it at King of the Ring. Vince gets angry after they keep mocking America, shows great passion and eventually leads the crowd into a loud USA chant. Fine little TV segment to build heat for Yokozuna’s bodyslam challenge a few days later. McMahon was great in this segment.
The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) vs. Iron Mike Sharpe & Barry Horowitz
Sharpe takes Billy into his corner, but hits Horowitz by accident and Billy clears the ring. Iron Mike misses a clothesline and Bart cradles him, but Horowitz breaks up the pin at two. Horowitz manages to hit a couple of knees on Bart, but Bart comes back with a crossbody for two. Horowitz ducks a second crossbody, and says now it’s time to go to school! Hard to find a better jobber. Mike Sharpe is one of the best ever too. Horowitz actually hits a northern lights suplex for two. Double-team attempt by Barry and Sharpe is blocked by Bart with a forearm before making the hot tag to Billy. The crowd doesn’t react at all, but Billy runs wild regardless and the Smoking Gunns finish Horowitz with a double-team flying move at 4:26.
Rating: The squash was a lot of fun given who did the job, but the crowd couldn’t care less. Anyway, it was a solid squash. 1/2*
We see a recap of the finish of last week’s Razor Ramon vs. The 1-2-3 Kid rematch, with Kid running away with the money.
Vince McMahon interviews Money Inc.
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Vince wants to know how it feels to be the former tag team champions. IRS tries to speak but the ‘Irwin’ chants cut him off. IRS says they’re good businessmen and only accepted the title match with The Steiners because they added an extra clause in the contract, stating they’d get a return match with The Steiners. DiBiase adds they know how to do business unlike Razor Ramon, or Razor ‘Jabron’ as IRS puts it. Vince wants to know what Razor Ramon has to do with this. DiBiase says he’s totally stupid and let a nobody beat him on television. And just like that, the crowd is chanting ‘Razor’ and there’s a babyface turn. Vince thinks Razor won’t like these comments, but DiBiase says they’re not shaking their boots and are not hard to find. The crowd chants ‘Razor’ some more.
That was a brilliant promo, particularly by DiBiase, who’d recently given his notice to Vince, wanting to retire that year after a final tour of Japan, and thus Money Inc. were quietly broken so DiBiase could create a new babyface star in Razor on the way out.
Adam Bomb (w/ Johnny Polo) vs. PJ Walker
Bomb slugs away to start. Walker tries a sunset flip, but Bomb easily blocks it and picks Walker up into a two-handed chokeslam. Adam Bomb proceeds to dump Walker outside, turning him inside out with a clothesline on the floor. Bomb takes him back inside, meeting him there with the diving lariat before finishing with the Adam Smasher (powerbomb) at 2:13.
Rating: Short and to the point, albeit skippable. 1/4*
Main Event
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Crush vs. Bastion Booger
Booger rakes the eyes to start and takes over with the SLOW CLUBBING BLOWS OF DOOM. Crush is unable to slam Booger due to his massive weight, but Booger just stands there doing nothing and allows Crush to “backdrop” him. That was bad. Real bad. Crush follows it up with a dropkick and takes Booger outside, but ends up getting rammed into post and squashed onto the post by Booger. Crush tries to fight back on the apron, but Booger rakes the eyes again and brings Crush back inside to put him in a bearhug. Crush finally escapes the hold, suplexes him and slams him three times in a row for the win at 5:37.
Rating: The final 20 seconds were fine to hype Yokozuna’s slam challenge some more, but the 5 minutes were an absolute pain in the ass. DUD
Randy Savage & Joe Morris of the New York Giants cut a promo on Yokozuna in the Meadowlands Stadium to promote the Stars & Stripes Challenge once more.
END OF THE SHOW
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Final thoughts: RAW’s streak of good-to-great episodes finally comes to an end this week. The episode had its moments and did a fine job of building up the Stars & Stripes Challenge as well as a babyface Razor Ramon, but everything else was either skippable or bad. Michaels/Kamala was decent, but nothing you should go out of your way to see, and the main event was the drizzling sh-ts. 4/10
June 21, 1993 Location: Poughkeepsie, New York, USA (Mid-Hudson Civic Center) Announced attendance: N/A TV rating: 3.1 (USA Network) [up 10.2% from the previous RAW’s 2.8 rating]
Hello everyone. Welcome to another RAW review here on the blog. With King of the Ring now firmly in the rearview mirror and SummerSlam on the horizon, we have a stacked episode this week. The 1-2-3 Kid finally accepted Razor Ramon’s offer last week, and tonight their big rematch takes place. Plus, Doink the Clown battles Marty Jannetty in a 2 out of 3 falls match after they wrestled to a draw last week.
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Here is the list of WWF champions heading into the episode:
WWF Champion: Yokozuna [8th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [15th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) [2nd day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
We see a recap of 1-2-3 Kid upsetting Razor Ramon 6 weeks ago before the RAW intro plays.
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The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Reno Riggins & Barry Hardy
The Steiners come out with the title belts, with Vince announcing they traded them back-and-forth with Money Inc. over the previous week. Scott with a gutwrench suplex on Riggins while Vince says the Steiners will be one of Yokozuna’s challengers to try to slam him on July 4. Scott overpowers Hardy and brings in Rick. Atomic drop and Rick rams him into the turnbuckle. Belly to belly suplex by Scott on Hardy followed by one to Riggins as well. The Frankensteiner puts Reno away in 3:51.
Rating: Solid squash to put over the fact that the Steiners are the new tag team champions. 1/2*
We see an ad for the King of the Ring encore airing tomorrow night on pay-per-view.
Two Out of Three Falls Match – Doink the Clown vs. Marty Jannetty
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They lock up to start and Doink actually gives him the clean break on the ropes. The original Doink gimmick was quite fascinating. Marty strikes first with a monkey flip while Doink pulls the hair and keeps playing mindgames. Jannetty brings him down with a faceplant and drops a fist for two. He goes to work on the arm and monkey flips Doink out of the corner for two. Backslide gets two. However, Marty misses a blind charge in the corner and crotches himself on the middle rope, and Doink comes off the top rope with a buttsplash for the first fall at 7:16. We take a break.
Doink 1-0 Jannetty
The second fall begins with a slugfest until Doink gets the upper hand. A hard irish whip by Doink takes Jannetty down. The clown apologizes for his actions while arrogantly slapping Jannetty, eventually dumping him to the floor. Doink rolls him back inside and gets two. Doink avoids a dropkick and gets two out of it, before putting Marty in a chinlock. Marty rolls him up for two in return, and follows it up by blocking a suplex and turning it into one of his own. Jannetty goes up top, but changes his mind and comes back down to hit a great superkick, but Doink has his leg on the ropes to break up the pin. Marty faceplants Doink and goes back up top, dropping a fist to tie it up at 11:54. And we take another commercial break.
Doink 1-1 Jannetty
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We return with Doink begging for mercy to play some mindgames, but Jannetty knows better and atomic drops him right into a clothesline for two. Doink bails and trips Jannetty up to ram his legs into the post. Heenan explains the psychology, as most of Jannetty’s offense is aerial and he can’t do any of that with an injured leg. Nice! Doink locks in a figure four back inside the ring. Jannetty reverses the hold after about a minute, but Doink immediately makes it to the ropes and Jannetty’s leg is hurt. Doink pounds away on Jannetty’s bad leg in the corner. Jannetty manages to backdrop Doink but his leg gives out immediately afterwards, and Doink applies an STF. Doink releases the hold and chooses to go up top instead, but takes too long and Jannetty slams him off. Jumping back elbow by Marty and he slugs away in the corner, as a second Doink comes out and hides under the ring. Meanwhile, Jannetty stops to go look under the ring after the fans in the front row tell him about the second clown. Doink takes advantage and knocks him down with a baseball slide. Back in, Jannetty fights back with a dropkick that dumps Doink to the floor, allowing the clowns to pull the switcheroo. Jannetty plays possum and takes the fight to Doink when he shows up, but they collide and Savage notices it’s the same one because of the face paint. Doink falls outside yet again due to the collision, however, and now the actual switcheroo happens! The fresh Doink rolls inside the ring and gets a nearfall. Marty cradles him for a nearfall of his own, but Doink cuts him off easily and finishes with a piledriver at 20:38. However, Randy Savage runs in to put the boots to the clown, and pulls the original Doink from under the ring, and the referee reverses the decision after being shown the evidence. Marty wins the third fall by DQ.
Doink 1-2 Jannetty
Rating: Talk about a hidden gem. This match was absolutely incredible, one of the very best WWF matches of 1993. The first two falls had decent action, but the third fall was where it got great. Doink going after the leg to stop Jannetty from using high-flying moves was great psychology. They traded nearfalls back-and-forth, Doink faked the switcheroo the first time around in a great bit, only to do it the second time around and get caught because of Savage. This was a great piece of business, and a great match at that! ****
Mr. Hughes (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. Bobby Who
Hughes comes out with the urn and addresses Undertaker before the match begins. Hughes takes control easily and dropkicks Who. Hughes takes his time as usual until he slams Who and follows with an elbowdrop, only to break up the count at two. Hughes with a gutwrench powerbomb but he breaks up the pin yet again. Scoop powerslam… and he breaks it up again. Okay, we get it. A sloppy Bossman slam finally does it at 3:02.
Rating: These squashes just don’t work. Nobody reacts, no one cares, and the only feeling this extended “beating” causes is lethargy. There’s a reason this whole feud with The Undertaker was scrapped. 1/4*
Main Event
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Razor Ramon vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
The Kid hesitates before entering the ring. Razor eventually goes after him on the apron only to miss a punch and get rammed into the turnbuckle, and Kid launches himself with a flying sunset flip for two. Kid gets another nearfall with a spinkick, but Razor catches him on a charge and plants him with a fallaway slam. Razor turns him inside out with a clothesline and drops an elbow on him. The Kid manages to block a hiptoss attempt, flips backwards but gets caught with a GREAT chokeslam! That was a fantastic bump by Kid, it looked like it killed him. Razor with the arrogant bitchslaps to the back of Kid’s neck while he’s trapped in a hold, and Razor picks him up to hit a running powerslam. Backdrop superplex and Razor signals for the end, but throws him to the floor instead. He exposes the floor and goes for the Razor’s Edge out there, but The Kid turns it into a backdrop on the exposed floor. The Kid goes for a flying crossbody off the top, but slips accidentally on the top rope and nearly hurts himself real bad on the concrete floor. Razor improvises by throwing him back inside and missing a blind charge in the corner, setting up the moonsault block (the move that got him the upset win) for a very close nearfall! And then, The Kid simply says f*ck it as he smartly grabs the money and takes off in a car, resulting in a 5:15 double count-out draw as Razor tried to follow him. That’s genius!
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Rating: This was brilliant. It was hyped so much over the previous month that people were very excited to see it (the higher-than-usual 3.1 number proves it), and the WWF capitalized on it with a brilliant non-finish. The Kid sold the moment like a champ, knowing he’d get the beating of a lifetime… but he also couldn’t refuse the offer and wanted the money! Razor had the chance to put him away but he wanted to hurt him more than necessarily beat him, and that’s what allowed The Kid to nearly steal yet another win. Once that didn’t work this time around, he simply took the money and got the hell out of town. It might sound disappointing because it’s a non-finish and no one likes it, but if you really think about it, it’s totally relatable! This was genius and added even more heat to their program. ***
Razor Ramon cuts a quick promo to end the episode, saying he will eventually catch The 1-2-3 Kid and get his hands on him again.
END OF THE SHOW
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Final thoughts: This episode was loaded, they hyped it a lot over the previous week (previous month in the case of Ramon/Kid) and they delivered on top of that. This was a tremendous episode of RAW, with a strong match of the year candidate and a hot angle to close it. I’m willing to say this was the best RAW up until that point. A very entertaining hour of wrestling. 9/10
Thank you all for your time. Don’t miss any of the upcoming reviews as we build towards WCW Bash at the Beach in July and WWF SummerSlam in August. See you next time!
Ever since 2005, Money in the Bank has become one of WWE’s greatest concepts. A multi-man ladder match with the winner claiming a briefcase that contains a contract that grants them a world-championship match anytime they wish within 12 months. With the wild-card factor having provided many great surprises over the years, crowned many new world champs, and wrestlers taking their rightful place in history.
Everyone has their favourite Mr. Money in the Bank (those who had a great run to prepare themselves for that inevitable cash-in), the MITB cash-in itself, and the run that follows afterwards.
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Fans have many favourite cash-ins and subsequent world-title-runs but the THREE names that consistently get thrown into the hat for the DEFINITIVE title of Mr. Money in the Bank are…
Edge.
Rob Van Dam.
Seth Rollins.
All three had amazing victories in their respective matches, fantastic runs to prepare themselves for the main-event, AMAZING Cash-Ins that were booked perfectly, and subsequent great world title-runs. But which was the BEST of these three? Who truly was Mr. Money in the Bank? We – the court of SmarkDown – examine the evidence before reaching our verdict!
EXHIBIT A: Edge
IMG Credit: WWE/Wrestling News
The Victory
Edge won what many people consider the greatest Money in the Bank ladder match of all-time. At WrestleMania 21, you had an all-star line-up featuring Chris Jericho, Kane, Christian, Shelton Benjamin and Chris Benoit in one of the best ladder matches EVER at a WrestleMania. Full of amazing spots, psychology, storytelling and a performance from six men who badly wanted to be the World Champion. No other MITB Ladder match has been able to top this one. Edge sneaked in at the last moment to snatch the briefcase after nailing Benoit’s injured arm with a steel-chair. Thus, establishing himself as the Ultimate Opportunist.
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Run With The Briefcase
It was early 2005 when it came out that Edge had been having a real-life affair with Lita (who had been Matt Hardy’s girlfriend for years). With fans in the arena and online already (legitimately) despising Adam Copeland, Edge embraced the heat and used his time as Mr. Money in The Bank to prove that he was ready for the main-event. After winning feuds over Benoit and Kane, Edge had also become an on-screen couple with Lita to fan the flames even further as he feuded with Matt Hardy. Improving all-the-more as a performer and a wrestler, Edge finally found his main-event footing as the Rated-R Superstar as he feuded with Ric Flair. After nine wild & eventful months…it was now his time.
The Cash-In Itself
The primary reason why Edge’s cash-in at New Year’s Revolution 2006 ranks in the Top Three (at least) is because it was the first. No one could’ve predicted how and when Edge was finally going to strike, but when he did, it was revolutionary genius; setting the standard for virtually all MITB cash-ins going forward. After John Cena had barely retained the title in the Elimination Chamber main-event, Vince McMahon declared that Edge was finally going to challenge for the WWE Championship. With Cena bloody and spent, Edge nailed the Champ with two-spears to finally get to the top of the mountain. It was shocking and brutal, and the fans rejoiced because of A) the booking, B) they were tired of Cena being on top for so long, and C) Edge had redeemed himself in the eyes of his haters.
IMG Credit: WWE/MWT
A Main-Event Success?
Absolutely! Although Edge’s first WWE Championship reign only lasted 21 days, it was a massive success and wildly eventful. With the Rated-R Superstar truly at home in the main-event, Edge and Lita embarked in the infamous live-sex celebration on Raw! An angle which drew huge-ratings! Edge also retained the WWE title in a great TLC match against Ric Flair. Despite losing the belt back to John Cena at Royal Rumble 2006, Edge solidified his main-event credentials with his feuds against both Cena and Mick Foley. And after finishing his business with RVD and ECW, Edge would regain the WWE Title in 2006 and the rest was history for the WWE Hall of Famer.
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EXHIBIT B: Rob Van Dam
IMG Credit: WWE/Reddit
The Victory
Although not quite as epic as the previous year’s MITB ladder match, the sequel at WrestleMania 22 was nevertheless exhilarating, featuring a great cast with the likes of Matt Hardy, Fit Finlay, Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley and Ric Flair. Rob Van Dam was right in his element here and filled many more highlight reels for his collection. Ever since the Invasion in 2001, fans had been praying for RVD to finally take his place at the top. More so after being sidelined for virtually all of 2005 with a knee injury. When Van Dam finally snatched the briefcase, the world rejoiced! The Whole F’N Show was now so close to the top!
Run With The Briefcase
RVD’s run as Mr. Money In The Bank was much shorter compared to Edge’s, but it was nonetheless VERY cool. Van Dam actually customised his briefcase with a truly inspired paint-job that reflected his persona. RVD also entered a brief rivalry with then-IC Champion Shelton Benjamin for the Briefcase and the Intercontinental Title; triumphing in an excellent Winner-Takes All match at Backlash 2006. This made RVD the only man to hold a championship and the MITB Briefcase simultaneously. Although RVD would lose the Intercontinental title back to Shelton after 15 days, it didn’t matter. Van Dam was gaining more & more momentum and soon afterwards…he told the world he was ready to cash-in.
IMG Credit: WWE/WrestlingRumors.net
The Cash-In Itself
In contrast to Edge’s cash-in at New Year’s Revolution 2006 (and most since then), Rob Van Dam’s use of the briefcase stands-out above the rest because he actually announced his cash-in ahead of time. RVD challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship at the PERFECT battleground: ECW One Night Stand. The ECW fans were religiously devoted to Rob Van Dam, threatening to riot if Cena won. The odds were firmly stacked in the challenger’s favour, resulting in an incredible atmosphere at the Hammerstein Ballroom. It remains one of the best matches of Cena and RVD’s careers, with Van Dam FINALLY taking his place as WWE Champion. It was just exemplary booking from start-to-finish!
IMG Credit: WWE/Twitter
A Main-Event Success?
Well…yes and no. After finally getting to the top, Rob Van Dam was Paul Heyman’s first draft-pick for the new ECW brand and was soon awarded the reactivated ECW World Heavyweight Championship; making Van Dam the only man in history to hold both the WWE and the ECW World Titles simultaneously. RVD retained his titles against the likes of Edge, Cena and Kurt Angle in fantastic displays. But soon afterwards, both RVD and Sabu were infamously arrested for illegal possession of drugs. They were promptly suspended and RVD never had a world title/main-event run in WWE again. RVD had a world-title run in TNA years later, and retained main-event credibility because of what an amazing performer he was. But in comparison to Edge and Seth Rollins, RVD sadly lacked the longevity of a WWE main-eventer. Nonetheless, he remains an honoured WWE Hall of Famer.
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EXHIBIT C: Seth Rollins
IMG Credit: WWE/Bleacher Report
The Victory
By 2014, the Money in the Bank Ladder Match had long been established as a match to look forward to. And Money in the Bank 2014 featured another great outing with RVD, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Kofi Kingston. But the primary-story going-in to MITB was definitely Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose. Seth had shockingly betrayed the Shield to side with the Authority, and it looked like Dean’s chance was over after injuring his shoulder in the match. The crowd rejoiced when Ambrose returned and took out his former-comrade. Alas, when it seemed victory was Dean’s, interference from Kane cost Ambrose the match, and allowed Seth to win and celebrate with the Authority. Although not quite as epic a victory as Edge or RVD’s, The Architect’s heel status was now growing.
Run With The Briefcase
Seth held the Briefcase for a tremendous 273 days (Edge still holds the record for longest time for a male wrestler at 280). As Mr. Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins used his time wisely to get himself ready for a main-event push. His feud with Dean Ambrose intensified throughout the summer, resulting in some wicked matches at SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell, with Rollins always coming out on top. Seth then treaded the waters as a world-title contender when he fought both John Cena and Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the 2015 Royal Rumble whilst still having the briefcase. It was an incredible match that proved Seth belonged in the ring with established stars like Cena and Lesnar. A great match with Randy Orton at WrestleMania 31 then followed, and having proved himself on the mic and in the ring, with the Authority truly behind him…Seth was now ready.
IMG Credit: WWE/SEScoops
The Cash-In Itself
In a word; legendary. Many fans regard Seth’s MITB cash-in as definitive. For too long, the briefcase had been used as just a means for a quick world-title win by many; lacking the surprise & wild-card factor that had made Edge and Rob Van Dam’s cash-ins so successful. That finally changed in the main-event at WrestleMania 31, when during the brutality of Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns, both champion and challenger were down, Seth cashed-in his briefcase mid-way through the match to make the bout a triple-threat! Seth Rollins’ move was so revolutionary it caught everybody off-guard, and remains not only the crowning moment of Seth Rollins’ career, but also an amazing, shocking end to WrestleMania 31!
IMG Credit: WWE/Bleacher Report
A Main-Event Success?
Absolutely! Following his epic WWE Title win, Rollins retained the title against the likes of Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Neville, Kane, Sting and John Cena, showcasing terrific work-ethic, and also being a dual-champ at one point when he captured the US Title from Cena at SummerSlam 2015. It can be argued that Seth behaved too much like a cowardly champ during this reign (being the Authority’s puppet), but the run on top was still hugely successful. Seth’s reign ended after 221 days (the longest for any world title-reign following a MITB cash-in!) when he unfortunately sustained a knee injury, thus forcing him to vacate the WWE Championship. Nonetheless, Rollins immediately reclaimed the WWE title upon his return, and has remained one of WWE’s most consistent & reliable performers/world champions over these last several years.
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SUM UP
So…all the evidence has been presented before us. But which of THESE THREE do we consider the greatest Mr. Money in the Bank? Time for us SmarKDown judges to decide!
Ben: For me the best one is Seth Rollins. Winning the briefcase off the back of the momentum of the Shield’s breakup – and a brilliant MITB match it was – with Ambrose on the cusp but then the Authority handed it to Rollins. The feud of the year with Ambrose was gripping and compelling to watch every week, the hatred fans had for Seth’s character was insane back then for ruining the best group in WWE history. Constantly in the main event scene and pairing him with Triple H gave him more credibility. And then there was Rollin’s performance in the Triple Threat match at Royal Rumble; he could’ve been the third wheel after Lesnar/Cena but he stole the show that night. The building feud with Randy Orton, the match with Orton at WrestleMania was also brilliant.
And then the cash-in which can never be replicated – all of that can never be done again – in the middle of a match, the middle of the main event of WrestleMania, maybe the only time in history where the “heel” winning and leaving WrestleMania as the World Champion has made sense. That moment will be immortalised forever, the title reign itself had its hiccups but had great matches, like the ladder match vs Ambrose at MITB, the two matches with Cena, the match on RAW vs Neville is one of my favourite RAW matches. It ended sadly with this injury forcing him to vacate the title, but he’s still a main event star 9 years later and has won everything in the book and is the most reliable big match performer WWE has to this day.
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Tomás:Personally, the first Money in the Bank-holder is still the absolute greatest to me. Not only did it establish the cocky opportunistic cash-in method, the actual MITB Ladder match itself (the WrestleMania 21 is still the best to me after all these years), but it also launched Edge into the main event scene for life. Edge first won the briefcase at WM 21 by smartly taking advantage of Chris Benoit’s injured arm, striking with an intelligent chairshot to the arm in order to steal the briefcase. The Canadian held onto that contract for nearly a year, in the process getting the briefcase over as a visual prop, as well as a “foreign object” (using it to win many matches, including against Benoit at Backlash 2005).
I couldn’t help but mention Lita, another person that was very important in the history of Money in the Bank. She joined Edge while he was the contract holder, helping the future 11-time World Champion become the most hated heel in the whole industry due to the heated personal rivalry with Matt Hardy. Obviously, that only did wonders for the MITB by association. Edge finally cashed in on John Cena at New Year’s Revolution 2006, winning his first WWE Championship after 8 years in the company, in what is one of the most memorable title runs in history. The title reign itself was short but VERY memorable (to say the least) because of the live sex celebration, starting the epic Edge/Cena feud. Edge would lose the title back to Cena only 3 weeks later at Royal Rumble 2006, but a quick feud with Mick Foley (featuring their brutal WrestleMania 22 match) made sure Edge remained a main eventer for the rest of his career.
Before finishing, I would like to mention Edge’s brief 2007 run with the MITB, which kickstarted Edge’s glorious feud with The Undertaker, which ended up main eventing WrestleMania 24. Several great wrestlers have held the contract since, but Edge is still the best Money in the Bank holder of all time in my opinion!
Matthew: I thought Edge’s cash-in on The Undertaker was better than his first to be honest. But let me have a go-around! I personally feel that Edge had the best cash-in of all time. Not only did it establish him as a main-eventer, but him holding it for 8 months was remarkable…as everyone else pretty much held it for shorter spans of time! I feel the WrestleMania 21 match was great. Although we had already seen everything conceivable with a ladder in previous years, all of those ideas were overlooked, and what we got was a great ladder match that ended up becoming a staple of every subsequent WrestleMania up until WrestleMania 26.
I can’t help mention the fact that Edge was a heel, which meant that a heel would win the first Money in the Bank match. Instead of the babyface-like Benoit or Jericho winning. Edge cashing-in at the end of the New Year’s Revolution PPV after the Elimination Chamber match was shocking and gave you how it could be used, and was a surprising take on how you could run with this idea. Can’t really go farther than that!
Prince:As much as I love Edge’s cash-in, Seth Rollins is the one who fits the moniker of Mr. MITB for me. Sometimes, it feels better when you experience certain things live/grew up in witnessing those aspects rather than hearing from people who’ve seen it in the past. Rollins was the one whom I grew up watching him from his rookie phase in NXT to the workhorse of The Shield & the one who shattered the group to pieces that can’t be fixed. His run with The Authority was a different breed of an emotional roller coaster & his initial stages were excellently annoying. When the 2014 edition happened, I rooted for Seth as the heel to win w/Ambrose as the face to win. His run as the case holder was rad enough to bring his name with two of the greats in Edge & RVD. Especially, his three-way dance with two of the best World Champions in Cena & Brock, which truly showed his utmost skill as a breakout main-eventer.
And who could forget WrestleMania 31? Probably one of the better WrestleManias in the post-PG Era/pre-New Era. His battle with Orton was the final step in his struggle to climb the mountain. Even though he lost there, he won the war in the most uncalled surprises ever in the company’s history with the historic cash-in. Lesnar & Reigns were on the top of the cliff reaching for a brass ring of mega stardom in a first-ever duel, but Rollins’ sneaky snatch of the WWE Title off Lesnar not only catapulted him to the peak, but also pulled the fans’ legs in a positive way of welcoming such a unique way of piercing in front of the world champion as the briefcase holder. His reign as the WWE Champion was superlative in terms of opponents & his improved quality in match deliverance led to legends like Cena & Sting stepping up to put him over is incredible.
Since then, Seth Rollins has been a multiple-time WWE & Universal Champion, one of the best Intercontinental Champions of the 2010s & a true leader of the locker room. His run as the World Heavyweight Champion has just begun & there are a lot of people who could scratch the surface of what’s about to blow up by sharing the ring with one of the complete packages of the current crop.
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MrDCWood:The choice is SO hard given what an elite three it is, especially given the evidence. However, after having thought about it these last several years…I must go with Seth Rollins. Both Edge and Rob Van Dam established Money in the Bank as an amazing, versatile concept that produced spectacular runs and cash-ins, but Rollins not only cashed-in at the ULTIMATE stage in the main-event at WrestleMania 31…he also became the first man to cash-in the briefcase whilst a match was already in progress.
After so many years of quick cash-ins AFTER a title-match, FINALLY something new and original had been done with the Money in the Bank concept. It was indeed the heist of the century (as Michael Cole brilliantly called it!), with Rollins hijacking the main-event of WrestleMania 31 to produce an unforgettable ending, and the subsequent title reign cementing Seth as THE Wrestler of 2015. The run before had built Seth up perfectly for his big moment, and the run that followed set-up Seth for life in WWE. For me…Seth truly is the definitive Mr. Money In The Bank.
THE VERDICT
IMG Credit: WWE/Reddit
SETH ROLLINS IS THE DEFINITIVE MR. MONEY IN THE BANK
Agree with this verdict? Who is YOUR pick for the definitive Mr. Money In The Bank? Please tell us in the comments!
Stay tuned for upcoming lists of the best Money in the Bank ladder matches and best matches in the history of the Money in the Bank event!
June 16, 1993 Location: Norfolk, Virginia, USA (Norfolk Scope) Announced attendance: ca 6 000 TV rating: 2.6 (TBS) [10.9% down from Clash #22’s 2.9 TV rating]
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Hey everyone. Welcome to my review of WCW Clash of the Champions #23. The show features Ric Flair returning to the ring for the first time since coming back from the WWF, as the Horsemen (Flair & Arn Anderson) challenge The Hollywood Blonds in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the tag titles. Plus, Barry Windham defends the NWA World Championship against 2 Cold Scorpio. That and much more!
Here is the list of champions heading into WCW Clash #22:
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Big Van Vader [91st day of his 3rd reign] – previous champion: Sting
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Barry Windham [115th day of his 1st reign] – previous champion: The Great Muta
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Vacated [for 18 days] – previous champion: Dustin Rhodes
WCW World Television Champion: Paul Orndorff [106th day of his 1st reign] – previous champion: Scott Steiner, before it was vacated
WCW/NWA Unified World Tag Team Champions: The Hollywood Bloonds (Stunning Steve Austin & Flyin’ Brian) [106th day of their 1st reign] – previous champions: Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & Ring The Damn Bell – WordPress.com
Your hosts are Jesse Ventura & Tony Schiavone
The announcers start the show with a brief introduction and we quickly go to Gary Cappetta for the first match.
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Ron Simmons vs. Dick Slater (w/ Paul Orndorff)
The crowd are quite into Ron’s new song from the WCW Slam Jam album. Orndorff is here with Slater since Ron is the number one contender for his TV Title. Slater corners Ron but referee Randy Anderson blocks the illegal cheapshot, allowing Simmons to explode out of the corner with an atomic drop. Stalemate and things restart with Slater outwrestling Ron, but Simmons overpowers him and hits a shoulderblock. Slater bails leading into the ‘Paula’ chants. Back in, Slater avoids a Simmons sunset flip attempt with a bitchslap, causing Ron to unload on him. He preps the Three Point Stance Clothesline, but Orndorff grabs Ron’s leg and Slater cheapshots him to take over, hitting a swinging neckbreaker for two. However, both heels stop to argue with Randy Anderson, giving Simmons enough time to get back up and hit the Running Powerslam for the win at 3:56.
Rating: Quick match to get Ron Simmons over ahead of the clash with Paul Orndorff for the TV Title at Beach Blast. It was extremely short but fun and explosive while it lasted. *
Eric Bischoff promotes Beach Blast coming up July 18 and proceeds to interview Larry Zbyszko, who somehow doesn’t mention Bruno. Also, Michael Buffer predicts the Horsemen will win the tag titles tonight in what was Buffer’s first WCW appearance.
Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William)
This is Regal’s first major appearance, having recently turned heel after a brief run as babyface rookie. Regal with a takedown off the opening lockup and he goes after the arm. Headlock by Regal is reversed into a hammerlock by Bagwell, which Regal escapes with a drop toehold but Bagwell reverses a headlock into a hammerlock yet again. Bagwell flips Regal by the arm and goes back to the hold, but Regal makes the ropes and cheapshots him. Regal clips the knee and starts punishing the leg. Regal already has the heel mannerisms down to perfection, putting one arm behind his back between each move! Bagwell escapes a Regal toehold with a spinkick, only for Regal to smartly cut him off with a single-leg takedown on the injured leg. Regal goes back to the toehold which Bagwell escapes yet again and this time he’s able to run wild a little bit. Armdrag gets two. Backslide gets two. Bagwell maintains control with a running clothesline as the Lord starts begging for mercy. Bagwell with an O’Connor Roll out of the corner, but Regal rolls through and grabs the tights and steals it at 6:18. The finish was slightly botched.
Rating: As mentioned in the end of the review, they botched the ending but the match was fine. Regal showed what he was capable of in this match, which was the goal. **
Meanwhile, Maxx Payne says he wants to give Johnny B. Badd the stolen Badd Blaster back. When Johnny comes back, Maxx Payne shoots off the Blaster in Johnny’s eyes.
The upcoming Maxx/Badd match is canceled because of the injury. The Z-Man comes out to confront Payne and unloads on him, but ends up getting caught in the Paynekiller submission.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship – Barry Windham vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
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Michael Buffer does the ring introductions for the first time in WCW. Windham starts deliberately and Scorpio surprises him with a dropkick. Windham goes after the arm until Scorpio turns it into a powerslam. We get a stalemate, and Windham takes over with a running clothesline in the corner. Scorpio avoids a second one and goes for the Boston Crab, but Windham makes it to the ropes and bails. Scorpio ducks a clothesline, Windham ducks a clothesline and fakes another one just to kick him in the face, followed by a flying clothesline. Windham with a slam, a kneedrop and a floatover vertical suplex for two. Windham slugs away, Scorpio fights back but Windham avoids a dropkick by holding onto the ropes. Windham DDTs Scorpio for a nearfall. Scorpio turns a powerslam attempt into a cradle for two. Gutwrench powerbomb by Windham gets two.
Scorpio fights back with a dropkick, but Windham explodes with a running lariat to take him back down. Windham hotshots Scorpio and puts him on the apron, with Scorpio hitting a slingshot crossbody of sorts for two. Windham turns things arond with a dropkick of his own, however, and a Samoan Drop gets two. Backdrop suplex gets two. Windham bitchslaps Scorpio a bunch of times leading into a slugfest. A second Samoan drop is turned into a sunset flip by Scorpio for two, and Windham immediately clotheslines him. He sets Scorpio up for the superplex, but Scorpio shoves him down and a flying splash gets two. Hurricanrana by Scorpio. Superkick and a slam set up a springboard splash for two. Missile dropkick gets two more. Windham dumps Scorpio, who tries to get back in with a springboard move only to eat an uppercut in midair. That opens the door for Windham’s leaping DDT to retain at 12:53.
Rating: Started off a bit slowly, but it turned into quite the awesome match in the end with Scorpio getting some hot nearfalls. ***1/2
Beach Blast will take place July 18.
Eric Bischoff interviews Sting, Bulldog & Dustin backstage. Great fired up promo from Stinger.
Sting, Davey Boy Smith & Dustin Rhodes vs. The Masters of the Powerbomb (Big Van Vader & Sid Vicious) & Rick Rude (w/ Harley Race & Col. Robert Parker)
The crowd is HOT for this one, literally standing up before Sting and Rude even touch. They start off with a test of strength, until Rude cheapshots Sting with an elbow in the corner. Sting backdrops Rude and gorilla press slams him onto Sid & Vader, who catch Rude in midair and try to toss him back onto Sting, but Sting ducks and slugs away on both Vader & Sid. Rude jumps Sting from behind and goes for a slam, which Sting blocks with a cradle for two. Dustin gets the tag and he unloads on Rick Rude with the Flip Flop & Fly. Vader tries to break up the pin with a big splash, but Dustin moves out of the way and Vader ends up squashing poor Rude. Sid comes in against Bulldog, but gets caught in the babyface corner and takes a beating. Sid tries to walk away, but Sting pushes the middle rope to low blow him intentionally and follows up with a clothesline. What a dick! Dustin slugs away on Vader in the corner and gets a GIGANTIC pop for it! That looked great. Dustin suplexes Vader(!) and drops a number of elbows on the champ. The crowd is going absolutely bananas for this match! Dustin goes up but misses a flying elbowdrop. Rude pushed the top rope in a fantastic little detail!
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Vader takes over with a clothesline, and takes him over to the corner for the Vader Bomb for two. Now Rude is more than happy to come in and beat up Rhodes. Inverted suplex gets two, with Rude yelling ‘YOU AIN’T S*** RHODES’ before making the pin! Rude makes the tag to Sid, who rams Dustin into the corner a few times. It looks sloppy as hell. Sid takes Dustin down with a headlock takeover(!!!), Dustin reverses with a headscissors, but Sid kips up and clotheslines Rhodes for two. Vader comes in to pick up the pieces, boxing Dustin in the corner. Vader goes up for a flying clothesline, which Dustin turns into a powerslam in midair!! However, Dustin is still too hurt, allowing Vader to tag out to Rude first. Rude’s thinking tombstone piledriver, but Rhodes turns it into his own. Dustin makes the tag to Sting but the ref misses it as Vader & Sid were distracting him, and everyone goes at it in a big DONYBROOK! Stinger Splash on Vader outside misses and Sting ends up eating the railing. Then, Vader hits Dustin with Rude’s briefcase (with the US title in it) and Rude lands on top for the cheap win at 10:59.
The heels try to destroy Bulldog 3-on-1 afterwards, but Sting comes out and clears the ring.
Rating: Such a wild fun match. The crowd were up even before the guys locked in, and they only got louder as the match progressed. Everyone brought their A-game for this one, even Sid who had some sloppy moments but also had that awesome kip-up sequence with Rhodes. Rhodes was the highlight of the match, not only playing the face-in-peril effectively but also showing great fire against Vader and getting a huge pop for it, which surprised me. The finish was cheap, but I didn’t expect a clean finish in this melee. This exceeded my expectations! ***3/4
Main Event
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WCW/NWA Unified World Tag Team Championship – The Hollywood Blonds (Stunning Steve Austin & Flyin’ Brian Pillman) vs. The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair & Arn Anderson)
Michael Buffer does the big intro here as well. Pillman mocks Flair as he starts the match with Anderson. Brian gets in AA’s face in the corner and slaps him, but AA spits him in return and slugs away. Arn pounds away on Brian and asks Austin to tag in, which he does. Austin shows off his personality by mocking the faces as well. The crowd asks for Flair and Anderson obliges, nearly causing a collective orgasm in the crowd! Flair unloads with chops on both Austin and Pillman, until Austin thumbs him in the eyes and bails. Back in, Anderson makes the tag and goes to work on Austin’s arm, stomping him before hitting a hammerlock powerslam. The Horsemen double team Austin, but Pillman distracts both Flair and ref Nick Patrick on the apron, allowing the Blonds to bring in their towel for some choking. The Blonds cut the ring in half and put the boots to Anderson. Austin suplexes Arn but misses the running guillotine on the ropes and knocks himself silly, walking into an Anderson DDT. That was a terrific bump by Austin. Flair comes in to clean house until the numbers advantage get the better of him, but Arn eventually trips Austin and Flair nails Brian with a flying forearm to win the first fall at 9:40. Buffer screws up by announcing the Horsemen are the new champs right as we take a commercial break.
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Blonds 0-1 Horsemen
We come back with Flair and Brian going at it, until Austin gets involved and suplexes Flair outside the ring. Pillman chops Flair outside and rams him into the railing. Back in, the Blonds cut the ring in half and use the towel to choke Flair some more. Superplex by Austin gets two. More cheating by Austin on the ropes, Flair fights back with chops but his legs eventually give out and Flair falls down. In comes Pillman who gets met with chops, before they collide for the double KO spot. They end up tagging in their respective partners, with Anderson hitting the Spinebuster for… a save by Brian! Brian clips Arn from behind and Austin tries to steal it but only gets two. Pillman goes after the leg like a shark smelling blood, and so does Austin. The Blonds take turns applying submission holds on Anderson’s injured leg, with Austin even pushing Pillman’s hair for extra leverage in a hilarious bit. Anderson manages to hit an enziguiri, but Austin comes in to avoid the tag. They continue to punish Arn’s leg over in their corner, until Pillman eats boot on a missed move off the top rope and Anderson makes the hot tag to Flair! Naitch runs wild on both heels, throws Pillman over the top rope intentionally (which isn’t a DQ for reasons) and sets up the Figure Four. He locks it in on Austin, but Barry Windham runs in to cause the suuuuuper lame DQ at 20:45. The Blonds retain because of the DQ finish, which is such a stupid outcome. Paul Roma comes out for the save and gets no reaction whatsoever to the surprise of absolutely no one.
Blonds 0-2 Horsemen (DQ)
Rating: Tremendous tag team match that was unfortunately rendered pointless with its stupid ending. There’s nothing wrong with using a show like this to sell a big PPV match, but if you’re going to do a whole 20 minute 2/3 falls match with a finish like that to sell it, I say do something else. It really is a shame that a fantastic match like this ended with the challengers technically winning the match 2-0… and not walking out as champions!! Anyway, this was a fantastic match from bell to bell, with some great double-teaming and limb work by the heels, leading into Flair’s hot tag. This would probably be considered a classic if it had a decent finish. ***3/4
Barry Windham cuts a quick promo on Flair afterwards. Flair jumps him leading into a huge brawl as the show fades away, building up Windham vs. Flair for the NWA World Title at Beach Blast.
END OF THE SHOW
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Final thoughts: For a 1h30 show this was a tremendous edition of Clash. The three final matches were all great stuff while the first two were inoffensive, as one was a showcase for Regal and the other was done to further the TV title feud heading into the PPV. While there’s nothing out of the ordinary on this broadcast, the show is filled with great wrestling all over it. 8/10
June 14 1993 Taped show (on June 7 1993) Location: Manhatten, New York, USA (Manhatten Center) Announced attendance: N/A TV rating: 2.8 (USA Network) [up 11.3% from the previous week’s 2.5 rating]
Welcome everyone to yet another WWF RAW review here on the blog. We have a brand new WWF Champion this week and a new King of the Ring was crowned. If you missed the review of the prior night’s PPV, make sure you catch up here. Mega heel Jerry Lawler is in action following his actions at the end of last night’s PPV, the former IC Champion Marty Jannetty faces Doink the Clown, and Owen Hart is back in action. This show was actually taped BEFORE King of the Ring, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do here.
Here is the list of champions heading into RAW: considering air date (6/14)
WWF Champion: Yokozuna [2nd day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [8th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [244th day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
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RAW kicks off this week with a recap of Yokozuna winning the WWF Title. In an interview done after the show, Mr. Fuji tells Mean Gene their celebration will be on July 4 in the USS Intrepid. I had a hard time understanding what Fuji said in this promo. It’s no surprise Vince hired Jim Cornette to do the talking for them soon afterwards.
[Show intro plays]
Mr. Perfect vs. LA Gore
Perfect with a headlock to start. Dropkick by Perfect off a criss-cross sequence and Gore bails. Back in, Perfect unloads in the corner with some chops. Perfect necksnap, kneelift and finally the Perfectplex for the easy win at 2:46.
Rating: Perfect did a handful of his moves and went over. 1/4*
Vince McMahon interviews Razor Ramon
Razor comes out with a bag in his hands. He offers The 1-2-3 Kid $10,000 just to get back in the ring with Ramon. Let’s see if Kid accepts it this time around!
Doink the Clown vs. Marty Jannetty
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Doink comes down to the ring with a Pepsi in his hands and goes under the ring. He magically comes back in with a jacket on (which he didn’t have), and squirts Vince.
They start by getting into a slugfest outside before Jannetty could even finish his entrance. Inside the ring, Jannetty hits a bulldog off the top rope for two. Marty works an armbar but Doink grabs a handful of hair and hits a cheap forearm to break. Shoulderblock dumps Jannetty to the outside. Doink rams Marty’s head into the post while he’s on the apron, but Marty slides between Doink’s legs to get back in the ring. Marty blocks a dropkick for two and goes back to work on the arm.
Commercial break
We come back with a Jannetty leapfrog followed by a dropkick, who goes back to the arm. Flying crossbody by Marty gets two. Doink catches a charging Jannetty with a scoop powerslam for two. Backdrop suplex as Doink controls things on the mat. Powerslam by Doink sets up a flying buttdrop splash off the top rope for two. Neckbreaker gets two. Doink keeps laughing in between moves. He back up top, only to slip which allows Jannetty to slam him off. Jannetty makes the comeback with a jumping back elbow, a dropkick and a suplex for two. Clothesline gets two more. Jannetty faceplants him for two and then both men slam each other to the outside. Slugfest and Jannetty hits a superkick, but they eventually get double counted-out at 8:40. Jannetty continues the beating with a hurricanrana until they get separated by officials.
Rating: Pretty good for a random RAW match. Jannetty has really been on a roll since returning last month, and Doink continues to develop his gimmick. The no-contest was cheap but the post-match left me wanting to see more. ***
Owen Hart vs. Dan Dubiel
The returning Owen is still sporting the High Energy outfit, which still looks stupid. Dubiel hides on the ropes to avoid Owen’s initial flurry. The jobber shoves Owen, who slaps him in return and goes to work on the arm. Meanwhile, we have The 1-2-3 Kid on the line from Japan. He was actually working a tour in Japan at the time of this show. Vince mentions Razor Ramon’s offer from earlier tonight, and The Kid actually accepts it. Back to the match, Owen with a missile dropkick and a bridge suplex for the win at 3:49.
Rating: The wrestling was decent in this one, but make no mistake about it, the match was purely visual background for the angle with The 1-2-3 Kid. 1/4*
We see a long recap of Mr. Hughes stealing Paul Bearer’s urn at last weekend’s WWF Superstars of Wrestling, as well as Giant Gonzalez attacking The Undertaker simultaneously.
Main Event
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Jerry Lawler vs. Mark Thomas
Lawler comes out with black and pink gear, which is pretty hilarious. He actually looks like a smaller Jim Neidhart in this attire due to the hairy chest. Lawler cuts a promo on the fans about the Burger King chants, which makes it even louder and causes Bobby Heenan to leave the announce table! Lawler pounds away on Thomas to start and plants him with a DDT. He stops to mock the fans, who are incredibly loud. Lawler misses a fistdrop, but turns things around easily with a backdrop. Lawler keeps turning his attention to the fans, allowing Mark Thomas to backdrop him. He tries a second one, Lawler ducks and kills him with the Piledriver. Lawler drops an arrogant fistdrop on the already finished Thomas before pinning him at 3:51.
Rating: Such a fun squash with loads of heat. Lawler was incredibly over, and he deserves extra credit since this was before the angle with Bret Hart (remember this was taped before the PPV), which shows how great he is. 3/4*
Meanwhile, next week’s RAW live from Poughkeepsie features the much anticipated rematch between Razor Ramon and The 1-2-3 Kid, and also Marty Jannetty vs. Doink in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
END OF THE SHOW
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Final thoughts: I thought they did a pretty good job to follow up on last night’s PPV… without actually doing it! I had very low expectations for a RAW taped before the PPV, but the squashes were mostly very fun, they finally announced the Razor/Kid rematch, and there was a good match in Jannetty vs. Doink to boot. This couldn’t have been any better given the obvious limitations. Great job by the WWF! 6/10
Thank you all for reading. Don’t miss the next review on the blog, which will be WCW Clash of the Champions #23 featuring Ric Flair’s return to the ring. See you next time!
June 13, 1993 Location: Dayton, OH, USA (Nutter Center) Announced attendance: 6 500 PPV buys: 245 000 (down 54.8% from WrestleMania 9’s 430 000 buys; up 84.1% from WCW Slamboree’s 100 000 buys)
Hey everyone. Welcome to my review of the first ever King of the Ring PPV in history. The biggest attractions of the night are the single-elimination tournament, in which eight men will battle to be crowned King of the Ring, as well as Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Championship against Yokozuna. Moreover, Crush challenges Shawn Michaels for his newly-won Intercontinental Championship, and an eight-man tag team match takes place.
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Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into KOTR 1993:
WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [70th day of his 5th reign] – previous champion: Yokozuna
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [7th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Marty Jannetty
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [243rd day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions appear underlined
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & IMDb
Your hosts are Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
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The announcers say the show is live from ‘The Heartland of America’ rather than saying Dayton, which has NOTHING to do with Vince McMahon being insecure about his new big show airing from a supposed “smaller” town!
King of the Ring First Round Match – Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon
Razor gets the ‘1-2-3’ chants from the crowd. This is a rematch from the Royal Rumble, where Bret successfully defended his WWF Championship against Ramon. Razor no-sells a shoulderblock, so Bret goes for mat-wrestling instead to take down Razor. Bret goes for a hiptoss, but again he’s unable to do it and Ramon clotheslines him. Nice story being told early on, with Razor being established as the stronger of the two and Bret as the better wrestler. Bret takes Razor down with an armdrag and goes to work on the arm. Ramon slams him to escape the hold, but Bret holds on to the arm and keeps the hold locked in. Bret pounds away on the arm to add more punishment, and Razor escapes with a thumb to the eye. Back elbow smash by Razor gets two. Rear chinlock by Razor gets easily reversed by Bret on the mat, who turns it into a hammerlock. Bret meets Razor’s knee on a blind charge, and Razor follows it up by sending Bret shoulder first into the post.
Razor pounds away on Bret in the ring while the ‘1-2-3’ chants begin. Fallaway slam by Ramon gets two. Running powerslam gets two. Razor hits a sidewalk slam and charges for an elbowdrop, but Bret moves out of the way. Bret slugs away with the crowd coming alive. Atomic drop and clothesline by Bret for two. Russian legsweep gets two. Backbreaker gets two. Middle rope elbow gets two more. Bret headbutts Razor, who tries to respond with a right hand, but Bret avoids it and rolls through for two. Bret goes for the running bulldog out of the corner, blocked by Razor as he whips Bret onto the other corner, leading to the Bret Hart Bump on the turnbuckle. Ramon sets him up for the Razor’s Edge, Bret blocks it and tries to turn it into a backslide, but Razor is too powerful so Bret kicks the turnbuckle and uses it to roll through into an inside cradle for two. That was a fantastic spot!! The crowd bought it as the finish. Razor regains control and takes Bret up top for the backdrop superplex, but Bret counters in midair and lands on top for the win at 10:25.
Rating: What a great way to kick off the tournament. This match featured great in-ring psychology, with both men establishing each other’s strengths early on and using that to tell a simple story throughout the bout. They proved they have great chemistry together, countering each other’s moves with smooth and innovative reversals back and forth. ***1/2
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A recap of last week’s WWF Superstars airs, showing Mr. Hughes stealing the urn from Paul Bearer and attacking him while The Undertaker brawled with Giant Gonzalez.
King of the Ring First Round Match – Mr. Hughes (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. Mr. Perfect
Hughes has the urn with him tonight. Winner meets Bret Hart in the semi-final. Hughes shoots Perfect into the turnbuckle off the early headlock to show off his power. Perfect picks up the pace with an armdrag and a dropkick, which rocks him but doesn’t take him down. Meanwhile, Hughes punches Perfect in the corner and sends him flying all the way to the outside. Perfect is in try hard mode in this one. Hughes takes control with his usual kicky punchy action. He goes for a headlock, Perfect grabs the tie to break, but Hughes grabs Perfect’s hair in return. Perfect takes a flip bump off an Irish whip, as Perfect once again tries to take this into the next level but Hughes can’t follow him. Meanwhile, they do a split-screen interview with Bret Hart as the commentators ask him who he’d like to face in the next round – he picks Perfect. We return to live action with Hughes botching a simple bearhug (or maybe a Perfect crossbody, one of the two) and falling backwards in a very awkward way. Yeah, just end this match. Hughes crotches himself on the ropes after missing a guillotine assdrop, allowing Mr. Perfect to make the comeback. Perfect necksnap connects, but Hughes hides in the corner and uses the urn to send Perfect into the semi final via DQ at 6:02. Really…
Rating: Mr. Perfect tried hard, he really did. That doesn’t mean the match was any good, as Hughes just couldn’t take it to the next gear. The finish was incredibly lame, which didn’t help. 1/2*
Meanwhile, Mean Gene is in the back with Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji. Fuji says what happened at WrestleMania 9 was a fluke, and there’s no way Hogan can beat a fresh and even bigger Yokozuna tonight.
King of the Ring First Round Match – ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Duggan leads the usual chants to start. Duggan no-sells a shoulderblock and a clothesline, and takes Bigelow down with a series of clotheslines. More clapping and stomping the mat by Duggan while nothing happens. They get into a slugfest eventually, culminating with Duggan hurting his ribs on a whip into the buckle. Duggan can’t slam Bigelow because of the injury, allowing Bam Bam to take control. Bigelow smartly goes for a bearhug. Duggan slugs his way out of the hold, but Bam Bam rakes the eyes to cut him off. Duggan avoids a falling headbutt and tries to slam him again, with Bigelow falling on top of Duggan for two. Back to the bearhug goes Bam Bam, but Duggan bites his way out. Bigelow misses a kick and Duggan finally delivers the powerslam on his third attempt. He preps the Three Point Stance, but Bigelow moves away and Duggan eats the turnbuckle. Bam Bam capitalizes with the Diving Headbutt to advance at 4:59.
Rating: You know, this was actually watchable. At least definitely better than I expected, although my expectactions were very low. There was some okay psychology on display in this one, and while Duggan’s selling is extremely goofy, it was at least better than his WWF matches usually were. Well structured match. *1/2
Meanwhile, Terry Taylor (him!??) interviews The Steiners & The Smoking Gunns who say they will win.
King of the Ring First Round Match – ‘The Narcissist’ Lex Luger vs. Tatanka
Winner meets Bam Bam in the semi-final. Lex is ordered to wear an elbow pad or otherwise he’ll be disqualified from the tournament. Woah. Then, Tatanka’s entrance interrupts Luger’s posing. To make it even worse, Tatanka then jumps Luger while he’s posing and actually throws the mirror at Luger. What’s up with this injustice? How is this not a DQ? Where is Jack Tunney when he’s needed!?
Tatanka takes Luger to the floor for a powerslam. Back inside the ring, Tatanka backdrops Luger and a clothesline gets two. Tatanka works an armbar. Luger tries to block it unsuccessfully and Tatanka drops a leg on the arm to add more punishment. We get a split-screen interview with Bam Bam Bigelow, who wants Tatanka to advance so he can beat him up next. We’re back to live action with them still fighting over the armbar, clearly killing time. Luger finally escapes the hold and drives a knee into Tatanka’s gut. Backbreaker and Luger drops an elbow for two. Tatanka tries to fight his way back with the chops, but Luger quickly cuts him off and continues to slowly beat him up. We hit the chinlock as they keep wasting time. Tatanka escapes, only to walk into a Luger clothesline for two. Tatanka gets a cradle for two of his own, but Luger cuts him off immediately AGAIN. Bobby Heenan claims Luger is ahead on points 138000-4! Sunset flip by Tatanka for two. Luger slowly kicks Tatanka in the corner while JR announces there’s 4 minutes left in the time limit. Tatanka IS ON THE WARPATH BY GAWD as he makes the comeback with the chops for two. Belly to belly suplex gets two. Tatanka goes up for the FLYING KARATE CHOP OF DEATH for a nearfall. Tatanka misses whatever off the top rope as we get a double KO spot. Luger gets up first and hits a clothesline for two. Powerslam by Luger gets two with a minute remaining. Lex backdrops him and hits a vertical suplex for two. Luger stops to complain with the ref, showing he’s clearly in a rush. He slowly hits a backbreaker and slowly covers for two… and the match simply ends that way at 15:00 with no reaction whatsoever. Therefore, they’re both eliminated and Bam Bam is automatically in the final.
Luger grabs the microphone and asks for 5 more minutes. That gets Tatanka all excited, allowing Luger to take the elbow pad off and knock him out.
Rating: What a waste of 15 minutes, really. The action was very boring, with them fighting over an armbar for minutes and Luger slowly walking around doing nothing. They were obviously wasting time throughout the entire match, just waiting for the time to expire. *
Mean Gene is backstage with Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect. Gene wonders why Bret said he preferred Perfect over Mr. Hughes earlier, trying to add salt to the wound. It leads into a fun back-and-forth over their Intercontinental Title match at SummerSlam 1991, as well as who’d win between their fathers. Perfect fakes a handshake and cuts a heelish promo just before Bret makes his entrance. Brilliant way to add some drama to this face v. face battle.
King of the Ring Semi Final Match – Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect
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Winner to meet Bigelow in the final, in the main event. Time limit is 30 minutes in the semi finals.
They feel each other out with a long lockup to start off. Bret with a shoulderblock as he strikes first. Armdrag is turned into a headscissors by Perfect on the mat. Perfect with some chops in the corner, Bret reverses and slams him, but Perfect kicks him off. Perfect slams him and now Bret kicks him off, before taking him down with a headlock takeover. Perfect escapes, only for Bret to surprise him with a crucifix pin for two, as he goes back to the headlock. Bret with a bodypress for one as Perfect shoots Bret to the floor on the kickout, but Bret comes back in with a sunset flip for two. Back to the headlock goes Bret, with Perfect pulling the hair a little bit as he starts to show some of his old ways. When they get to the ropes, Perfect cheapshots Bret instead of taking the clean break. Perfect jumps Bret as he officially plays heel in peril in this one. A dropkick dumps Bret to the outside as some fans start booing him. Perfect holds the ropes for Bret to come in… only to kick him in the leg as he comes back in. Now this is starting to get interesting!
Perfect pounds away in the corner and nails the kneelift for two. Perfect rams Bret’s face into the apron outside, while Heenan says he’d gladly consider handling Perfect again if he wins KOTR! Heenan is such a brilliant prick! Then, just as Bret gets on the apron, Perfect pushes the ropes and sends Bret flying into the railing as well as some boxes that are on the floor, injuring Bret’s shoulder. Perfect forces him back inside and kneelifts him for two. Missile dropkick by Perfect gets two. Perfect whips him into the buckle leading into the Bret Hart Bump for two. He goes up top yet again, but this time Bret meets him there and brings him down with a superplex for two. Bret goes after the leg, kicking him near the ropes as we get Perfect’s classic flip bump, and Bret locks in a Figure Four but Perfect reaches the ropes to break. Bret with a legscissors now, but Perfect grabs the hair to push Bret down onto the mat, and then drops his free leg on Bret’s throat. Hairtoss out of the corner follows, and Perfect goes for the sleeper. Bret reaches the ropes with Perfect only breaking the hold at four. Then, Perfect chops Bret with disdain and puts him back in the sleeper, this time using the ropes for extra leverage. This is superb!
Bret finally escapes by ramming Perfect’s head into the turnbuckle. Bret with a nasty uppercut with extra mustard on it, before returning the hairtoss… and Perfect lands with his balls on the post! Bret strategically capitalizes with an atomic drop immediately (yikes!) into a Russian legsweep for two. He runs through the pink moves of doom, as the backbreaker + middle rope elbow combo gets two. Bret is thinking Sharpshooter to finish him, but Perfect grabs Bret by his fingers and twists them backwards to wear Bret down to the mat, before stomping on them. This match is amazing. Perfect wants the Perfectplex, Bret reverses it into a suplex that knocks both men all the way to the floor. Back in, Perfect fakes an injury and tries to steal it with a cheap cradle, which Bret turns into his own cradle for the win to send him to the final at 18:56.
Perfect confronts Bret immediately afterwards, offering an aggressive handshake and walking away.
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Rating: A truly spectacular match between two of the greatest wrestlers to have ever done it. This was a masterclass in every aspect, from technical wrestling to storytelling, this match had it all. They had the crowd by the palm of their hands with Perfect’s amazing teases of a possible heel turn, and Bret took that to the next level with his amazing selling and body language. There were some brutal spots in here as well, and they all looked smooth and made sense – particularly that suplex onto the floor and Perfect sending Bret into the railing looked like a million dollars. Hands down one of the greatest matches of the year, and not just from the WWF. ****3/4
Meanwhile, Mean Gene is in the back with Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Hart (who has a giant Hulk Hogan jacket). Hogan says he will remain WWF Champion while Jimmy Hart addresses Mr. Fuji.
WWF Championship – Hulk Hogan (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji)
There are several international photographers at ringside to put this match over. This is not only Hogan’s first title defense, which Savage mentions on commentary, but actually his first WWF appearance since WrestleMania 9.
Lockup goes nowhere to start and both guys look for advice from their respective managers. Yokozuna overpowers Hogan easily on a second try and he takes over. Yoko with a bodyslam and he chokes Hogan on the ropes. The running buttdrop splash is blocked by Hogan, who starts running wild on Yokozuna. He can’t slam Yokozuna, though, allowing Yoko to take back control. Hogan with a series of clotheslines trying to get Yoko down, but he’s the one who goes down after running into a Yoko clothesline. Shoulderblock by Hogan takes HIM down while Yoko doesn’t even move. Bearhug by Yokozuna and we stay there for a couple of minutes. The crowd rallies behind Hogan with ‘USA’ chants. Hogan uses the powerful chants straight outta the Heartland of America to escape the bearhug, but he eats a back elbow on a blind charge. Belly to belly by Yokozuna gets two… AND HE’S HULKING UP BY GAWD ALMIGHTY! The Big Boot isn’t enough to put Yokozuna down, and neither is a second one. A third one finally gets the job done and the Legdrop gets… a nearfall! Hogan punches Fuji off the apron and calls for the big bodyslam, only to get distracted by an excited photographer (Harvey Wippleman) up on the apron. His camera explodes in Hogan’s face and Yokozuna legdrops Hogan for the win and the WWF title at 13:08.
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Yokozuna squashes Hogan with the Banzai Drop afterwards, symbolically killing Hulkamania. Hogan gets carried to the back by officials while kids are crying in the crowd. This would end up being Hogan’s final televised match in 9 years (he still worked the UK tour in August 1993, mostly working with Yokozuna in title rematches). He would join WCW the following year where he would stay until 2000.
Rating: Historically speaking this is a very notable match. In terms of execution, however, this was what it was. A very slow and at times boring match between a visibly unmotivated Hulk Hogan and the super massive Yokozuna. It wasn’t horrible and I liked some of the stuff they did like the bodyslam teases, but while I get they were going for it’s not something I’d ever go back and rewatch. *3/4
Mr. Perfect is not feeling like a million dollars after losing but says he’ll bounce back.
Shawn Michaels reveals the name of his new bodyguard – Diesel.
Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) & The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu) (w/ Afa) vs. The Steiners Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) & The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn)
DiBiase and Scott start. Scott with a dropkick into a Steinerline to the floor, and Rick throws DiBiase back in so Scott can dump him again with a second Steinerline. Off to Bart Gunn and Fatu. Bart dropkicks Fatu and faceplants him, but Fatu pops back up and superkicks Bart. That spot is great. The Samoans take over with a double clothesline on Bart, then a vertical suplex by DiBiase. The crowd couldn’t care less about any of this after the previous match. Headshrinkers with a double backdrop and a low headbutt gets two for Fatu. IRS legdrop gets two. Bart with a sunset flip on IRS gets two. Billy Gunn runs wild on DiBiase off the hot (actually more like warm) tag, until DiBiase cuts him off with a stungun. Million Dollar Dream seems to end it but DiBiase releases it to offer the Samoans money for some reason, and Billy simply cradles DiBiase at 6:49.
Rating: What was the point of this? There were no interactions between the heels like they teased on RAW, no exciting action by the Steiners, nothing. Just a dead crowd and a stupid finish from out of nowhere. *
Meanwhile, Mean Gene is in the dressing room with Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji. Jack Tunney is there too, for some reason. Okerlund wants to know about the party they’ll throw in Japan, but Fuji says they want to do it in America.
WWF Intercontinental Championship – Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) vs. Crush
They lockup and Crush dumps Shawn with a shoulderblock to start. Shawn bails and locks in an armbar back inside. Crush with a few leapfrogs to show off his agility, Shawn misses the Superkick and Crush dropkicks him all the way to the floor. Shawn bails yet again, of course! Back in, Crush with an impressive gorilla press slam while Savage puts Crush over big time, saying he could potentially take down Yokozuna. Meanwhile, Crush with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Diesel pushes Shawn away from the ring. Crush gets in Diesel’s face, allowing Shawn to jump Crush from behind as Shawn & Diesel both send Crush’s head into the post. Shawn drags Crush back in and gets two. Flying double axehandle by Shawn for two as Crush kicks out WITH AUTHORITY BY GAWD! Front facelock by Shawn, but Crush escapes by sending Shawn flying onto the floor. HBK misses a move off the top back inside and Crush backdrops him. Backbreaker gets two. Big boot into the legdrop for two. They’re already burying Hogan! Crush dumps Michaels with a clothesline, only to get distracted while two Doinks show up smoking a cigar. That allows Michaels to Superkick the back of Crush’s head, sending him into the turnbuckle to retain in yet another dumb finish at 11:14.
Rating: This was a decent match that didn’t need the goofy finish. I thought this feud was more than done after that stupid WrestleMania match. Anyway, this was okay as Crush looked pretty good and Michaels was on a mission to move up the card. **1/2
Bam Bam Bigelow cuts a quick promo before the final.
Main Event
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King of the Ring Final Match – Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Bret Hart
Bigelow wastes no time and goes for a running splash in the corner, but Bret avoids it and he eats the buckle. Bret slugs away on Bigelow but the fatigue gets the better of him. However, Bret blocks a gorilla press slam and lands on top for two. Bret goes to work on the arm, Bigelow rakes the eyes and shoulderblocks him. Bigelow press slams Bret over the ropes all the way to the floor. Back in, Bam Bam whips Bret into the buckle for the Bret Hart Bump and follows it up with a jumping headbutt to the back. Backdrop suplex gets two as Bigelow continues to work the back. Hart tries to fight back momentarily, only for Bam Bam to cut him off and put him in a bearhug. Bret tries to turn it into a side headlock, but Bam Bam turns THAT into a backdrop suplex for two. Bigelow takes Bret outside and goes for a whip into the railing, but ends up eating it himself instead. However, Bigelow catches Bret in midair jumping off the apron and rams Bret’s back into the post. Meanwhile, Luna Vachon runs in and hits Bret with a chairshot to the back, allowing Bigelow to finish with the Diving Headbutt at 9:27.
Actually never mind as Earl Hebner comes out to let Marella know about the interference, and the match is restarted. I wonder where the referees were in all the other interference finishes throughout wrestling history!
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Bam Bam remains in control as the match resumes. He goes back to the bearhug, Bret escapes, but Bam Bam cuts him off with a headbutt and takes Bret up for a backbreaker stretch on his back. Bret eventually rolls through and turns it into a backdrop suplex to escape. We get a double KO spot. Bigelow gets up first and goes for the backbreaker stretch again, but Bret rakes the eyes and grabs a sleeper. Bigelow escapes, but Bret dropkicks him from behind and dumps him, before meeting him outside with a dive. Bret goes up back inside and a flying clothesline gets two. Russian legsweep, and Bret goes back up top to hit a bulldog. Bigelow escapes the Sharpshooter and blocks a backdrop suplex by landing on top of Bret for two. He eats Bret’s boot on a blind charge, and Bret rolls through with a victory roll to become King of the Ring at 18:11.
Rating: Another fantastic match from Bret Hart on this show, who established himself as the absolute best wrestler in the world with this show. They delivered one heck of a David vs. Goliath type of match, with a logical slower pace due to Bret having already been in 2 matches beforehand, with Bam Bam smartly targeting Bret’s injured back. I could live without the Dusty finish earlier, but they made up for it with an awesome match and the actual finish was great. ****
Bret Hart joins Mean Gene in the platform on the stage for the coronation. Jerry Lawler interrupts him claiming Bret is just an impostor. Bret leads the crowd into a ‘Burger King’ chant, and Lawler jumps Bret from behind and beats him up with the scepter. The show goes off the air with Lawler celebrating over a fallen Bret, beginning their famous feud.
END OF THE SHOW
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Final thoughts: There’s really no other way to put it – this is the Bret Hart Show! You could skip everything else and you wouldn’t miss much at all, outside of the outcome of Hogan/Yokozuna of course. While there are a few bad matches here, the show is very fun to sit through mostly because the King of the Ring concept was fresh and quite exciting. Needless to say, Bret/Perfect is the best match on the card, but I’d recommend you to watch the entire show. 7/10
POINT SYSTEM
Read about our point system here. Since this PPV features a specific concept, the overall winner of the King of the Ring tournament will earn an extra three points.
That’s all for today’s post. Make sure you don’t miss any of the upcoming RAW reviews on the blog, as well as WCW Clash of the Champions on June 16 1993 featuring Ric Flair’s return to the ring! Till next time everyone!
June 7, 1993 Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center) Announced attendance: N/A TV rating: 2.5 (USA Network) [down 3.8% from the previous week’s 2.6]
Hey there everyone. Welcome to yet another RAW review here on the blog. With the inaugural King of the Ring PPV just six days away, a major title change from a live event the previous night is revealed. Shawn Michaels introduces his new bodyguard. Plus, with the inaugural King of the Ring PPV just six days away, a strange bedfellows “mixed” tag team match takes place in the main event.
Here is the list of champions heading into this RAW:
WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [64th day of his 5th reign – previous champion: Yokozuna]
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels [1st day of his 2nd reign – previous champion: Marty Jannetty]
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [237th day of their 2nd reign – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon]
Note: Shawn Michaels beat Marty Jannetty for the IC title at a live event the previous night
Enjoy the review!
IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com
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Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
This week kicks off with ring announcer Bill Dunn introducing the new Intercontinental Champion, Shawn Michaels, who comes out with a new bodyguard.
The RAW intro plays.
We go to the commentators at ringside, and Shawn introduces his nameless bodyguard. It’s Kevin Nash of course, who was recently working in WCW as Vinnie Vegas, and would soon be known as Diesel in the WWF.
Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel) vs. Russ Greenberg
Shawn takes down Russ and dominates him rather easily, while the commentators put over his “insurance policy” at ringside. Shawn slams Russ a couple of times, but he stops to strut and Russ rolls him up for one. It seems to anger Shawn, who pounds away viciously in the corner before hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Shawn works a headlock while the announcers continue to talk about Diesel and hype KOTR. Shawn with a swinging neckbreaker, and he goes up for a Macho Elbow. Bobby Heenan: “what a move… he’s got moves you haven’t even seen, Savage”! Shawn wins it with a piledriver at 3:53.
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Rating: This was essentially done to put Diesel over. Shawn Michaels did a great job in the ring, as always. 3/4*
King of the Ring Report w/ Mean Gene
The main event will be Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna for the WWF Championship
One final look at the KOTR tournament brackets
Finally, Mean Gene announces HBK vs. Crush will now be for the Intercontinental Championship
He’s forced to end the segment as apparently something’s going down in the arena…
Shawn Michaels is yelling at the commentators at ringside about the news. He should be in a beach in Hawaii, not defending his title against a giant Hawaiian. Everyone is jealous of him, but he’ll be fine because he has his new “Wall of China” by his side!
‘El Matador’ Tito Santana vs. Adam Bomb
Tito goes to work on the arm to start, and Bomb goes to the ropes to break. Scoop slam by Adam Bomb, but he misses an elbow and Tito goes back to the arm. He’s overpowered by Bomb, but Bomb eats buckle on a blind charge and Tito armdrags him to take control again. Sunset flip gets two for Tito, but Bomb cuts him off with a punch and chokes away on the ropes. Tito keeps trying to fight back, but Bomb is able to remain in control and gives him a sidewalk slam. They get into a slugfest, and Tito hits the Flying Jalapeno for two. Bomb no-sells a dropkick though, and shrugs Tito off on an O’Connor Roll attempt. Adam Bomb follows it up with a slingshot clothesline to Tito’s back for the win at 5:32.
Rating: Solid TV match that served as the first real test for Adam Bomb in the WWF. Tito Santana brought the best in him, in what was one of his last matches before leaving. **
An ad for Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna at King of the Ring plays.
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Tatanka vs. Peter Weeks
Tatanka chops away to start and hiptosses Weeks all the way to the outside. Tatanka slams him and drops an elbow. Peter tries to get some offense going, but Tatanka IS ON THE WARPATH and makes the comeback with chops. Tatanka goes up top, and a flying karate chop of doom does it at 3:16.
Rating: Did I mention chops already? This was a nothing squash – the jobber’s work looked awkward, and Tatanka continues to fail to impress despite getting TV time on RAW nearly every week. DUD
The King’s Court With Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji
First of all, Jerry Lawler makes sure to clarify the winner of the KOTR tournament on Sunday will be nothing but a pretender to the real King. Yoko and Fuji are greeted with Hogan chants upon arrival, which Lawler apologizes for. Lawler wants to see Hogan go up against 505 lbs… Fuji interrupts and mentions Yokozuna is now 550 lbs. He’s been having 15 to 20 meals a day in “preparation” for this match, and he will crack Hogan’s bones when he comes down on Hogan. Yokozuna actually speaks to close the promo – “Hulk Hogan, you’re going down!” Good segment to establish Yoko as an even bigger threat.
Main Event
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“Mixed Tag Team Match” – Irwin R. Schyster & Fatu (w/ Ted DiBiase, Afa & Samu) vs. Rick Steiner & Billy Gunn (w/ Scott Steiner & Bart Gunn)
DiBiase hands the Headshrinkers some money before the match, but Afa eats the bill. Fatu pounds away on Billy Gunn. Billy fights back with a drop toehold, dropkick and a swinging neckbreaker for two. Rick Steiner comes in and turns Fatu’s leapfrog attempt into a sick powerslam. However, a Rick blind charge finds nothing but Fatu’s elbow, and then Fatu explodes with a clothesline out of the corner. IRS wants to pick up the pieces, but ends up getting clotheslined to the floor by Rick. Bart sends IRS back inside quickly, allowing Rick to Steinerline him for two. IRS calls for a double-team move, only to end up hitting Fatu by mistake instead. The Samoans are pissed as we go to break.
Commercial break
We’re back with Steiner and IRS in the ring, as they show us DiBiase giving The Headshrinkers more money during the break to calm them down. Back to live action, IRS dumps Steiner out of the ring so Ted and Samu can ram Rick’s head into the stairs. The heels double-team Rick inside the ring while the ref’s busy, before Fatu hits a great clothesline for two. Fatu up top for a splash, but Steiner gets his knees up to block it. Hot tag Billy Gunn, and he runs wild on the heels. Backdrop to IRS, backdrop to Fatu, clothesline to IRS, dropkick to Fatu, even DiBiase gets knocked off the apron. However, IRS sends Billy throat-first onto the top rope with a clothesline from behind, stealing the win at 11:30.
Rating: This was a fun chaotic match that featured some nice interactions between Money Inc and The Headshrinkers. Fatu and Rick had good chemistry, which we already knew after their fun tussle at WrestleMania. The finish was very weak, but it was a decent match altogether. **1/2
Razor Ramon cuts a quick promo to end the show, addressing both The 1-2-3 Kid and Bret Hart.
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END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: I thought this was a good go-home RAW for King of the Ring. The King’s Court with Yokozuna put Yoko over massively before the title match, the main event was a fun preview of the eight-man tag coming up at the PPV, and Diesel was introduced as Michaels’ new bodyguard. While I wouldn’t call this a must-see episode, a lot of stuff happened and stories were developed here. Good RAW this week. 6/10
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