Pro Wrestling Love #73: Best of WWF Monday Night RAW (July-December 1993)

 Hey Yo,

Raw on Netflix has been a stinker so far besides that killer John Cena promo. I still have Punk vs Rollins to go to see if they can salvage the show. Lets hit the wayback  machine and go back to the very first year of Monday Night RAW, 1993. 

This all came out of watching a bunch of Sid matches after he died on my lunch walks. I just got really intrigued with mid-90s pro wrestling. I started watching pro wrestling in 1997 so all these wrestlers are nostalgic to me from my childhood, but I have never really done a deep dive in this era, I just seen the greatest hits. One thing stood out to me is RAW's format around this time. You would have one featured attraction match that usually opened the show and that was usually a main eventer vs upper midcarder. Then there were the squashes and one promo segment usually the King's Court. I just love the punchy 1 hour format. It is funny because everyone always says Nitro forced RAW to go to star vs star matches, but it is clear from jump they are always provided one star vs star match. Nitro just forced them to abandon squash matches. 

I really loved the booking of July, you can see in the table below how you go from the Undertaker to a great Yokozuna angle to a hot workrate match over the IC Title between Shawn and Marty to a Bret Match. It really showed the variety of RAW and how they could showcase one main eventer a week. In doing so, they avoid anyone getting stale by always rotating. 

Another reason, I focus on July 1993 as my starting point is because of the major Luger bodyslamming Yoko angle on July 4th. Before King of the Ring 1993 (June 1993), WWF was caught between past and future. Until Hulk Hogan left, they couldnt commit to a direction. Once Hogan was gone, WWF became a promotion with a clear vision. The pre-July 1993 just did not inspire me to watch it. I LOVED the Hogan vs Yoko match from King of the Ring, but it was only once Yoko won there was a cohesive vision. 

The second half of 1993 is some of the best week-to-week booking WWF ever did. Vince McMahon was never one for week to week booking because his business model was shoot an angle and usually it would take a month or two for that angle to go around his loop thus he did not need book week to week like a Southern Promotion such as Memphis. However, in 1993 with inception of RAW he tried his hand at it, with the help of Jerry Jarret from Memphis. This the year of the famous McMemphis angle where Vince tried out a prototype of the Mr. McMahon character in Memphis. I have only read about it, but it sounds fascinating. Part of this exchange was also talent as Jerry Lawler made his debut and became a permanent fixture and also Jeff Jarrett would make his debut. While not part of Memphis at the time, Smoky Mountain promoter and lead heel manager Jim Cornette would pull double duty as the manager for both WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna and the Heavenly Bodies in WWF. These additions added some real Southern flair to the WWF and I think really speak how this stretch of WWF Booking feels really different than other time periods. Major angle include: Luger slamming Yoko on the Intrepid, Yoko breaking Crush's ribs, finalizing Razor Ramon's babyface turn, the debut of Cornette (which has to be seen, Heenan/Cornette crush it), Quebecers week to week work, Shawn vacating the IC Title Crush's heel turn on Savage, planting the seeds of Owen Hart's turn on Bret.

The last point I want to make is I think you could make assertion that Quebecers & Johnny Polo were the MVPs of Monday Night RAW from their Tag Title Victory in September until they lost the titles to the Headshrinkers in May of 94. They were the ones holding down the fort week in, week out with great matches and interesting stories. They had the simultaneous story of being a part of the Survivor Series main event as members of the Foreign Fanatics against Lex Luger's All-Americans while also working an overarching storyline with 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty that was blown off at the first anniversary of Monday Night RAW in epic fashion. I will continue extolling their virtues in the next blog post. 

Table summarizes all the matches I feel warrant the distinction of being considered featured attraction. DNW = Did Not Watch. As my father in-law always says, "He only drink great, greater and greatest wines", I am in that phase of my life when it comes to wrestling matches. The highlighted in yellow are ones I am interested in coming back and watching. 

Date	Match	Rating
July 5, 1993	1-2-3 Kid vs Blake Beverly	DNW
July 5, 1993	Undertaker vs Samu	3
July 12, 1993	Yokozuna vs Crush	DUD
July 19, 1993	Marty Jannetty vs Shawn Michaels	3.25
July 26, 1993	Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow	DUD
August 2, 1993	Randy Savage vs Doink The Clown	2.5
August 9, 1993	Tatanka vs Mr. Hughes	DNW
August 16, 1993	1-2-3 Kid vs Ted DiBiase	DNW
September 13, 1993	Steiners vs Quebecers	3.5
September 20, 1993	Scott Steiner vs Pierre	DNW
September 27, 1993	Tatanka vs Rick Martel	DNW
September 27, 1993	Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid & Barry Horowitz	3
October 4, 1993	IC Title Battle Royale	DNW
October 11, 1993	Razor Ramon vs Rick Martel	3.75
October 18, 1993	Randy Savage-Crush Summit	N/A
October 25, 1993	1-2-3 Kid vs Marty Jannetty	3
November 1, 1993	Razor Ramon vs Bastion Booger	DNW
November 1, 1993	Smoking Gunns vs Well Dunn	DNW
November 8, 1993	Scott Steiner vs Ludvig Borga	DNW
November 15, 1993	Lex Luger vs Pierre	3
November 29, 1993	Razor Ramon vs Diesel	2.5
December 6, 1993	Shawn Michaels vs 1-2-3 Kid	3.75
December 13, 1993	Randy Savage vs Fatu	DNW
December 20, 1993	Tatanka vs Ludvig Borga	DNW
December 27. 1993	Marty Jannetty vs Johnny Polo	DNW

Most of these matches I watched in the last 6 months, but few were many years ago. The reason I bring this up is thought I gave Steiners vs Quebecers 4 stars and that was going to be my selection for the best match of RAW July 1993-December 1993, but I only gave it 3.5 stars. I still recommend that one and methinks I shafted Shawn vs Marty, which PWI 1993 match of the year. I should go back and watch those two. Based on my ratings it comes down to two matches: Razor Ramon vs Rick Martel for the Vacant IC Title or Shawn Michaels vs 1-2-3 Kid both tied at 3.75. I will give the slight nod to Ramon vs Martel as it is a bit better structured. I would say those four matches are the must-watches from this time period. 

Undertaker vs Samu - WWF RAW 7/5/93

I was so impressed with Taker against Yoko; I wanted to watch some of his work from 1993 but unfortunately in 1993 he was squandered by being married to Giant Gonzalez. Taker deserved a lot better than that. This was his highest ranked match on Cagematch for 1993 no real story between these two in particular, but it is a good match. The angle is Mr. Hughes in alliance with Harvey Whippleman (the manager of Giant Gonzalez) stole the Urn and beat up Paul Bearer. Now I don’t know if Taker/Hughes was the original plan for Summerslam and Gonzalez replaced Hughes or if Hughes was a henchman. The story of the match is how would Undertaker fare without the Urn and Bearer.

Turns out, Taker is actually a cruiser weight and the Urn just put a lid on his athletic abilities. He does a drop-down, blows a leapfrog. He does a drop toehold to the amazement of the Macho Man but Vince no-sells it. Then he does a drop kick and even Vince has to agree this is a different Undertaker. Samu takes advantage of a missed clothesline and some Afa distraction but Taker comes roaring back with a choke and whips Samu pillar to post. A bit disappointed with the random side slam that sets up The Samu diving headbutts. On the third, Undertaker sits up. Chokeslam. Tombstone.

Fatu seems like the better Headshrinker but Samu is ok. I enjoyed the elegance of the match. An unexpected shine. Samu gets his near fall. Zombie Sit-up, Two Big Bombs that’s all she wrote. Effective. ***

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Crush - WWF RAW 7/12/93

One thing that really surprised me about Sid when I was watching his stuff is I don’t think I had watched a Sid match from before 1996 in my life. I think starting to watch wrestling in 1997 and focusing on the classics in my reviews I am missing a lot of stuff. Yokozuna is someone outside of two Bret matches I have never really seen either. So I am interesting in getting acquainted with him.

The booking from WWF is really strong after the disaster that was WrestleMania IX get the belt off Hogan and immediately run an angle with Yoko. The Bodyslam challenge is something I think I have seen but I should go back and watch it. Now immediately a week after that we have a title match against a credible upper mid card baby face challenger. This is first time since Superstar Graham in 1977 that WWF is pushing a heel champion.

In the smattering of Crush, I have seen I am not a huge fan and he is definitely the lesser wrestler here. That being said I didn’t think Yokozuna was all that great either. It is impressive how fast he can run and that he can take some big bumps but the match was pretty damn boring until the finish. I thought he over-bumped early on the Crush shine falling out of the ring for what amounted to a love tap. Crush misses a charge. We get some throat thrusts and some nerve pinches. Crush fires up and knocks him down with a lariat. Again I would have had Yoko absorb two and bump on the third. One crazy thing about the crowd was that they sang the Star Spangled Banner a capella unprompted and busted out into USA chant. This shit was over in 1993 Manhattan, brutha. Back to the match, so Crush gets a flying clothesline goes up for a second but Fuji hits him with the Japanese flag. Yoko slams him on the floor, belly to belly and BANZAI~! For the win!

Post-match angle is better, Yoko hits three additional Banzai with eventually Savage seeing enough and saving Crush which I believe sets up the Crush heel turn and Mania match with Savage. Pretty boring match just really need to watch the finish. 

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty - WWF RAW 7/19/93

These two definitely know how to whip a match into a fever pitch. Shawn has since added Diesel to his act which paid immediate dividends as he won the IC belt back. Marty turns his back to Shawn to look at Diesel and Shawn attacks. Great way to get over the presence of the big man. Marty impressively lands on his feet on a back drop. Another great shine with Marty looking crisp and Michaels bumping like a madman. Nothing out of this world. Everything is upbeat and well-done. Marty hits a DDT. 1-2-3! Lightning strikes twice! Wait! Michael's foot was on the ropes, Diesel points it out and the match is restarted. I like this use of Diesel. Not can he intimidate and interfere, but he can watch Michaels' back if injustice is to occur. Jannetty continues with the shine suplex and backbreaker. Jannetty should have been a solid mechanic in the midcard and tag scene if not for personal demons. Definite anchor on this match is Michaels' heat segment. Nothing memorable transition and chinlock city otherwise. Michaels would get better on top, never his strong suit, but very weak here. Jannetty crotching him to get out of a front facelock almost makes the front facelock worth it. Again they work a ton of great nearfalls for Jannetty that get awesome heat. Jannetty takes an insane bump flying over the top rope on a missed crossbody down on the floor. Diesel helps him back in 1-2-3! I actually dug the finish a lot. The bump was insane and really puts over the move as high risk.

 PWI Match of the Year for 1993 and I don't even think it is the best match in WWF in 1993. Fun shine, lame heat segment and red hit finish, a great way to spend 15 minutes of your life, but nothing that will change your life. ***1/4

Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow - WWF RAW 7/26/1993

What a disappointment this match was. It was hovering between average and sucking but when Lawler came out bombed about as hard as any stand up comedian has ever bombed, this was an atrocity. It didnt help that this was half the episode of RAW. Stu & Helen Hart were in attendance at the Manhattan Center. Lawler comes out as Bret is about to put on the Sharpshooter. It shouldve been three jokes top. The first time he said he couldnt understand Stu it was funny and the couple produced more tragedies than Shakespeare is a legitimately good line, BUT they needed to go home after that. Lawler's stand up routine dragged and Bam Bam's beatdown dragged. It was brutal. You could hear a pin drop in the arena. Bret made his comeback to crickets. He hit a DDT and got counted out, but he was too late Lawler had already fled.

As for the body of the match, I was shocked at how heatless and plodding the match was. I remember really liking the KOTR finals match and I read my review after watching the match and writing this review and it sounded great. This match was anything but. A large part of that is Bam Bam Bigelow just isnt really all that good. I am just underwhelmed over and over by him. He has the great Lawler match when he was green. He has unexpectedly great match with RVD and the super fun squash with Spike. I have not seen the Spain 1993 match against Bret in forever and I know that is liked even more than KOTR finals so I should check that out. His offense is the definition of plodding clubbering. People like Hogan and Taker get accused of being slow, and it is such bullshit, Bigelow is brutally dry, BUT he can do a cartwheel. Gimme a break. Massive eye roll. Bret does his best. This pales in comparison to the Taker/Samu match I just watched and the Bret/Fatu match from earlier in the year. Bret gets beat down early, makes a mini-comeback. He does a senton sort of move which hurts his knee. Bigelow does a couple slams and headbutts. I like that it is missed moves by Bam Bam like a missed headbutt or a missed dropkick that gives Bret his opportunity to go on offense. Bret does not really respect the size difference or the knee selling with a belly to back suplex and back body drop. The sleeper was a nice touch by Bret. It was the usual moveset otherwise. Oh the Bulldog came out really good. 

Stick with KOTR '93. This match is not good to begin with and it craters once Lawler comes out. One thing I will say is Luna with Bam Bam made Bam Bam feel like a main event act. Not the best Bret match. 

Randy Savage vs Doink The Clown - WWF RAW 8/2/93

I knew I should temper my expectations with a baby face Randy Savage match but Doink has such a killer 1993 I thought maybe just maybe this would be great but no it is just fine. The Randy Savage baby face formula is take a ton of heat and come back with 2-3 big moves for the win. We didn’t even get the Elbow Drop. 
 

It does start promising with Savage revved up bringing a chair in the ring but in the chaos Doink takes over. He works a great Boston Crab using the ropes and working the leg. He works some more holds. He misses the Whoopie Cushion and Savage rolls to the floor and goes under the ring and the Macho Midget appears. Savage gets a body slam outside the ring and an inside cradle to win. Predictably the Macho Midget bites Doink’s ass and he sells it well.

There are two things that could’ve easily made this match better. If Dink or another Doink (Doink promised three Doinks the week prior on RAW) interfered then the Macho Midget makes sense to even the odds. Without that, I don’t understand the point of the Macho Midget. The heel needs to cheat first to necessitate the baby face throwing it back in his face. I think a more climatic finish would be the other thing that would help. It was a solid match but not as great as it could’ve been. 

WWF World Tag Team Champions Steiners vs Quebcers - WWF RAW 9/13/93 Quebec Province Rules 

Reading some other reviews of this match, it seems the Quebecers were very new and that there was not much of build. It seems likely that Steiners were having a contract dispute this was a way to get the titles off them without hurting them in case they did re-commit or if they suddenly left they wouldn't be champs. The key clause in Quebec rules is of course the title can change on DQ which pretty much telegraphs the finish. There was apparently no build to this or why the hell the Steiners would agree to this. The Steiners shine is a bit clunky. The moves are good. I liked Rick's powerslams and Scotty's Tiger Driver which The Brain tries to sell as a piledriver as piledrivers are illegal in this match. They did a great job teasing DQs like Rick almost doing a piledriver, jumping off the top or clotheslining someone over the top and each time Scotty has to stop him. There was a lot of awakwardness in the beginning. Rick hit this weird splash and sold like he was on the hurt. Weird transitions and then Scotty would just hit a massive suplex. Once Johnny Polo came out and they went to the heat segment I thought this picked up. Basic transition Pierre clobbers Scotty from behind running the ropes and then Jacques slugs him. The heat segment was terrific just big bomb after big bomb. In terms of offense this match was great. It was juts four big dudes chucking each other. I loved the double team snake eyes on ropes. Tons of great double teams involving slamming the partner onto Scott. Jacques and Pierre looked vicious. Loved the cheating nonstop. Great climax with Boston Crab/legdrop combo only for Rick to save. Finish was pretty lame Rick cleans house, Scotty hits the Frankensteiner, but then gets the hockey stick after clobbering Johnny and cant resist the temptation of using it and that triggers the DQ and the loss of the titles. 

It is a Steiners match so it is big, dumb fun. Quebecers felt like heel Steiners with all their BIG offense and tons of great double teams. Some awkwardness early on, not much in terms of flow, but the heat segment ruled. I love some big offense so this was a good fireworks match. ***1/2

WWF World Tag Team Champions Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid & Barry Horowitz - WWF RAW 9/27/93

The Quebecers had just defeated The Steiners two weeks back in an awesome match under the convoluted Province of Quebec Rules match. Highly recommend that match. This kicks off the Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid feud which climaxes with Kid & Marty winning the Tag Team Titles at the 1 year anniversary of RAW in an awesome match which I have called one of two best non-Bret, non-Shawn matches of WWF 93-97.

Quebecers claim they will have a high profile title defense. Raven as Johnny Polo is just so weird to me. It doesn’t feel right. They are in New Haven so he is wearing Harvard gear. That popped me. Instead it is against Miracle Jobber Connection of Barry Horowitz & Reno Riggins. Vince feels robbed and cheated. Wait! What’s that?!? Reno has the flu! Barry wants to choose a new partner and he chooses the 1-2-3 Kid. The Quebecers laugh it off and say you’re on. Bobby is worried about this.

The Quebecers were the 90s WWF answer to the Midnight Express. Good stooges, great bumpers and killer offense. The whole match is 1-2-3 Kid, Horowitz does two maybe three moves. Kid starts off red hot with his karate and speed. The Quebecers are betwixt and between. It is dropkicks for everybody as even Horowitz gets in on the action. A cheap shot from behind sets up the heat segment on the Kid. Lots of MX style offense. Total Elimination looked killer. They take turns body slamming each other on the Kid. Lots of double teams. Jacques misses a reverse crossbody. Kid BLASTS him with a kick. Jacques collapses to the floor and he is out cold! This sold more for comedy than it would be today and that fits the Quebecers style. That crooked ref Earl Hebner says the match must continue as a virtual handicap match! Johnny Polo do something!

Pierre is kicking Horowitz ass with a middle rope leg drop and a middle rope headbutt. Pierre slams Horowitz at the Kid’s feet to prove a point. He sends the Kid flying. He wants revenge for Jacques! Pierre plays with his food. KID BLASTS PIERRE WITH A KICK! Pierre out of instinct pulls the top rope down and Kid careens to the floor! I think we have a double KO situation. Polo tosses Kid back in and Pierre drapes the arm over for a cover.  

This is a nice piece of business. You get the Kid’s feet over as lethal. Jacques had to be carted out and Pierre was essentially knocked out. Kid has gone from plucky underdog now to a lethal weapon. The campy Quebecers are the perfect people to put him over. They still treat Horowitz as a total jobber so Kid looks like a superstar in this Herculean effort taking on and taking out both World Tag Team Champions. Now if only he had a better partner… ***

Razor Ramon vs Rick Martel - WWF RAW 10/11/93 Vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship

Vince McMahon brings history teachers to tears across the country when he declares that Christopher Columbus was Hispanic and sailed for the Queen of England (Columbus was Italian and sailed for the King & Queen of Spain). Usually when someone says "they dont teach you this in history class", it is either wrong or it was taught and they just werent paying attention. 

Fantastic match. I could have sworn I seen this match, well if I did, I dont remember it being this good. I thought Martel was fabulous in this match, his last best match until his brief resurgence in WCW in 1998. Martel really pushed the pace. I loved during the shine, he would pepper in offense thus making Razor EARN the shine. It was a slight wrinkle and it forced Razor to overcome and walk through Martel's offense making Razor's offense more compelling. Razor worked his usual specialties like the Sack O' Shit (Fallaway Slam) and his solid base of arm work. Martel even took his slingshot splash into the ring. The match really picked up after the ad break where Martel had a very strong heat segment. This was different from your run of the mill WWF heat segment. Martel really threw out the bombs. This felt more like All Japan than WWF. Bodyslam on the outside kicks off. Great Saito Suplex and general back work. TWO Boston Crabs! Razor gets the ropes on the first, Martel peppers in a sidewalk slam and then a second Boston Crab. Razor muscles out of the Boston Crab, great series of nearfalls. Razor comes back a little too neatly for my tastes. Something more creative OR Martel missing a move would be better. I did like Martel fighting through the apparent, customary Super Back Suplex from Razor to hit a crossbody to get one last nearfall. Then Razor polished it off with a Razor Edge. I think one missed Martel move, a consolidation move by Razor followed by the Razor's Edge would have elevated match slightly more. This was awesome! 

Cagematch has this as Scott Hall's 8th best match. I dont disagree with their rating. I have this at *** 3/4 which on their scale is 7.5 and the aggregate rating is 7.24 so pretty close. I just cant believe this is Scott Hall's 8th best. I feel like he has to have more top ranked matches. I will definitely have to make a list. Regardless, this match is a ton of fun, highly recommended. *** 3/4 

Marty Jannetty vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 10/25/93

There’s a world where Marty & Kid are the Rockers of the 90s and they rule the WWF New Gen tag team scene in glorious fashion. Their title victory over the Quebecers is 1 of 2 matches I think is the best non-Bret, non-Shawn WWF Matches of 1993-1997. After the DiBiase addendum to the Ramon program, the Kid has struck out on his own. Last month, he single-handledly showed up both Quebecers, WWF World Tag Team Champions. He knocked out Jacques to the point where he got farted to the back and he knocked out Pierre and it was only due to instinct and Johnny Polo that the Quebecers retained. Now here he is pitted against fellow baby face and recent IC Champion. 
 

Pretty basic baby face vs baby face wrestling here. Basic chain wrestling, lots of symmetry. I thought Kid was more aggressive than Marty. I don’t know if that is by design or if that is just a difference in their personalities. Kid gets some nice kicks and a Victory Roll. Marty gets a nice counter powerbomb. The aggrieved Johnny Polo is out to watch. He trips Marty and Kid has no problem immediately pouncing on Marty for a near fall. Kid misses a somersault splash from the top. Now it is Polo’s turn to trip Kid. Marty at least shows some frustration but Marty takes the cover. Kid nails a beautiful German after a series of suplexes from Marty. I agree with Brain Marty is wrestling this match lethargically. Marty wakes up with a stiff elbow. Kid nails the same Karate Kick that KO’d Jacques. Marty collapses to the outside. Polo pushes Marty out of the way of a diving Kid! SPLAT! Double Countout! Polo is very amused by his antics. 
 

Marty & Kid team up and kick Polo’s ass. Great double super kick that feels very 21st century. Marty & Kid feel perfect as a tag team. I want to rewatch the title change with Quebecers now. This match is alright. I thought Kid brought it but Marty dragged ass. *** 

Lex Luger vs Pierre - WWF RAW 11/15/93

A couple of interesting notes: this is the highest rated match of Luger’s derided WWF tenure according to Cagematch. It is non-obvious what the answer to the question is and if this ends up being the case then it was truly a pathetic run. Also interesting is this would be the peak of Luger’s push which would roughly date from July 4, 1993 to WrestleMania X. It seems this was his longest, most high profile RAW singles match of that stretch. He is likes but he is NOT over. He is nowhere near Hogan or Savage. The fans seem to be more into the USA vs World storyline but you could probably stick any American wrestler in Luger’s spot and expect the same reaction. As a Luger fan, that’s a bummer.

The match is good but that’s more thanks to Pierre than Luger. Pierre really brought the energy. He took some hard bumps and did some big high spots. I love Luger but he just not wrestling like he did in that 88-91 stretch. Way too many punches which is not his style. He jumpstarts the match with punches. He whips Pierre from pillar to post with Pierre taking great buckle bumps BUT the shine just doesn’t have any oomph. Raven as Johnny Polo is just so weird. Pierre has a couple false starts into heat but when Luger is In the ropes he charges and knocks Luger out of the ring. He slams Luger into hard metal objects. Polo teases hitting Luger with the mallet but never does. We get some cool highspots from Pierre like Vaderbomb, Piledriver, a crazy top rope leg drop and a missed Cannonball. Luger puts the brakes on as Pierre takes a hard Bret Bump into the buckles. Couple clotheslines, powerslam, decks Johnny Polo and Bionic Forearm finishes it for our American Hero.

I get some clarity around Survivor Series. So apparently Tatanka was originally slated to be on the All-Americans but was injured by Foreign Fanatics which is why Undertaker is on the team aaaahhhhh that makes so much more sense. Luger blasting Pierre with his Bionic Forearm is why Crush joins the Foreigners. I will say based on the highlight package to open RAW that Crush heel turn had some juice! So a good idea to get him in a main event slot. Pierre’s offense & bumping pushes this above average but Luger is just not clicking in the WWF. ***

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Diesel - WWF RAW 11/29/93

A non-title bout. Shawn Michaels is back in WWF and he is disputing Ramon's Intercontinental Championship as Michaels has never lost it. This leads to of course the very famous Ladder Match. It is a great angle and a perfect use of the Ladder Match. It makes sense that Ramon takes on HBK's heater prior to the match to put some stank on the feud. 

Short match, but we do see, is pretty good. It is a Kliq Match so Razor is very giving and really lets Diesel shine. You can see the Diesel push is starting. He got his own program coming out of Summerslam with Mr. Perfect. While IRS was the leader of his team at Survivor Series, he was definitely the star of the team (also included Adam Bomb & Rick Martel). They establish Diesel's size advantage (although Razor is a big boy). Diesel works the back really well. It is laser-focused. It is varied and he keeps it moving. The use of the straddle on the back, the sidewalk slam. The bearhug. The Big Boot & Snake Eyes coming out of the first bearhug into the second bearhug. Good stuff. Razor makes his comeback out of his second bearhug with the second rope bulldog (love that move) and punches. He is going to do the Razor's Edge, but Shawn Michaels comes in and attacks Razor. He wants to piledrive Razor on the IC Title, but Razor reverses and 1-2-3 Kid makes the save. All nothing like a Kliq love-in. This sets up Shawn Michaels vs 1-2-3 Kid the next week. Looking forward to that. This could have been great, but more of a set up for next week and thats fine. I like their Superstars Sprint the next year thats the IC Title switch.  

Shawn Michaels vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 12/6/93

This looks fan-fucking-tastic when you’ve been watching a metric shit ton of New Generation WWF. This is during HBK’s fake IC title reign. I am surprised this isn’t talked up more because this completely different than anything else on WWF TV. This is downright Japanese workrate shit a precursor to WCW cruiserweight stuff. It is very avant-garde for WWF and really foreshadows what is to come. 

Kid comes out red hot. The one thing is Kid’s punching sucks. It will be interesting to see if he ever gets better at that. I can’t remember Syxx or X-PAC’s punch. They cut a great pace. Here are some of the high spot highlights: Strong dive to the floor by Kid. Shawn takes a weird bump into the post. He hooked it and spun out that I thought maybe he blocked it but I think he was supposed to hit. Kid eats a beautiful power slam off the apron to the floor. That was wicked. Beautiful German Suplex! Lots of movement, a dive and a suplex. Very different than most WWF.

Also this is an interesting combination because Kid can actually slam/suplex Shawn which he normally can’t do that in WWF. Also Shawn can play the bigger bully heel a role he usually couldn’t play in WWF.

Kid works a great side headlock but runs up the ropes one too many times and Michael’s suplexes him. Michaels works the backbreaker and in a rarity can really be that bully heel here. Kid gets a   heel kick. Kid misses a somersault splash from the top rope. Crashes and burns. Back from commercial and Superkick (not quite sweet or musical yet). Shawn who was feuding with Razor over who was the real IC Champion hits TWO Razor Edges and they looked GREAT! Again that’s Shawn getting to play bully heel which he never gets a chance. Razor saves on the third attempt. The match gets thrown out. Diesel slugs Razor from behind the curtain. Shawn HITS TWO RAZOR EDGES ON SCOTT HALL! Damn I mean that is a big boy for Shawn to get up! He must have ate his Wheaties that morning. It didn’t look super good because it had to be done on concrete/floor so Shawn safely put Razor down but just hoisting him up and down was impressive.

It was a spot fest but with character. Shawn was the bully heel and Kid was the plucky underdog. It was not overtly cooperative. It was not a weird a motion smoothing match. They took their time and made the high spots stand out. A really good 90s workfare match. *** 3/4