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WWF Monday Night RAW - October 11, 1993

by Scrooge McSuck

- Last week on Monday Night Raw, a 20-Man Battle Royale was to decide who will compete for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. We got our answer, with Razor Ramon and "The Model" Rick Martel being the last two-men standing. That means tonight, on Monday Night Raw, a NEW Intercontinental Champion will be crowned.

- We're from the same taping from New Haven, CT (taped September 27th), with Vince McMahon, "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan calling the action. It still sucks knowing that Savage could out-work the majority of the roster, but was often stuck holding a stupid microphone.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Match:
Razor Ramon vs. "The Model" Rick Martel:

To the surprise of no one, Heenan picks Martel to win, and Savage picks Ramon. Heenan actually brings up Martel being a former Tag Team Champion, but damn if anyone remembers he held it way back in the early 80's, before the days of Strike Force. Vince actually tries to make a comparison between Christopher Columbus and Razor Ramon, just because it's Columbus Day. Oy vey... Shoving match leads to a bitch slap from Martel. Lockup, and Martel quickly grabs a wristlock. Ramon counters, and turns it into a hammerlock. They fight over a few more counters until Martel takes Ramon down with a drop toe hold, and bitch slaps him a few times. Lockup, and Ramon shoves Martel to the corner. Whip across the ring, and Martel continues to pound away. Ramon catches Martel coming off the ropes with a fallaway slam, sending Martel to the floor. Back inside, Martel with knees to the midsection, and a front facelock applied. Ramon uses his strength advantage to put Martel over the ropes, on the apron, then brings him back in with a slingshot. Ramon with a series of shoulder tackles, then continues working the arm. Vince is going into Mr. McMahon mode, screaming at Martel "how does it feel to be humiliated?!" Calm the fuck down, guy. Martel escapes by sending Ramon to the corner, as we take a commercial break.

We return to action, with Martel in control on the arena floor. He plants Ramon with a slam, then heads back inside to taunt the crowd. Back inside, Martel sends Ramon to the corner three times, then takes him down with a back suplex. Martel rolls him up, with feet on the ropes, but Earl Hebner sees it and refuses to count the fall. In the mean time, Ramon gets back to his feet, but Martel quickly goes back to clubbing the back with axehandles. Ramon offers a desperate comeback, but Martel quickly fends it off, and sends Ramon to the corner with a high knee. Martel quickly slaps on the Boston Crab, but Ramon WON'T GIVE UP!, and is close enough to the ropes to force a break. Whip to the ropes, and Martel catches Ramon with a side suplex. Martel goes back to the legs, and slaps the Boston Crab on in the center of the ring. This time Ramon has to power his way free, and manages to break the hold. Martel counters the escape with a sunset flip for two. Martel with a dropkick for another two count. Whip to the ropes, Ramon blocks a boot, ducks a clothesline, and sets Martel up on the top turnbuckle. Martel counters with an elbow, climbs up, and a cross body press is rolled through by Ramon for two. Martel is up first, and connects with a clothesline for two. Whip to the ropes, Ramon counters a back drop with a boot to the chest, and the Razor's Edge comes out of nowhere for the three count and his first reign as Intercontinental Champion at 10:45 (excluding a commercial break). Pretty good match, and probably the first good Martel match in forever. Did it's job of making the Intercontinental Title seem as important as the WWF Title, too.

- Don't Fall For Cheap Impersonations Commercial... Do I honestly have to point out the obvious here?

The Headshrinkers (w/ Afa) vs. Tommy Morrison & Sid Curtis:

Please don't ask which jobber is which, I have no clue... interesting name for one: TOMMY MORRISON? Not to be confused by former Heavyweight boxer, co-star of Rocky V, and miraculously healed HIV/AIDS victim. I don't think the Headshrinkers were doing anything of note at this point, except being a decent mid-level team to fill roster spots. Tons of pre-match stalling... after the bell rings. Zuh?! Samu starts, working over Scrub #1 (call it Morrison). We're informed we'll see the Rock N' Roll Express from SMW later in the night "in a non-sanctioned match." Fatu tags in, and he's pounding on Scrub #2 (Curtis). Fatu creams him with a reverse crescent kick, then drops a headbutt. We get a Roseanne and Tom Arnold reference, because Pop Culture = Awesome. Curtis gets knocked to the floor, and slammed on the bright blue pads by Samu. Back inside, Fatu claws away at Curtis. Whip to the ropes, and the 'Shrinkers with a double clothesline. They toss his lifeless body into the corner, forcing Morrison to tag in. Heenan: Is that the Boxer Tommy Morrison?!" Thank you! Double face-plant from the Headshrinkers, and Fatu comes off the top with a splash for the three count at 3:49. The Headshrinkers did have some entertaining squashes, having enough high impact stuff peppered in between the usual nothing.

"The Rocket" Owen Hart vs. Scott King:

We're informed that the Boston Garden, host of the Survivor Series, sold out in less than an hour! Owen is teaming along with brothers Bret, Keith, and Bruce to take on Jerry Lawler and his "Knights". Owen quickly goes to work on the left arm of King. Owen does his roll through the wristlock counter, and takes the scrub down. Owen slaps on a chinlock as we talk about Radio WWF. That sure went... I don't know. Did it ever actually exist? Whip to the ropes, and Owen takes King over with a monkey flip. Owen with a standing dropkick, followed by a snap suplex. Owen with another suplex as we discuss how many children the Hart's had (12... one of each). Owen with a european uppercut, followed by a delayed suplex, almost brain buster style. Owen comes off the second rope with an elbow drop, then goes back to the chinlock. Vince McMahon hypes the USA Movie "Havana", and yes, Heenan references Razor Ramon being part of it. This drags on for a while. We somehow reference Killer Kowalski. Owen with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex, and a missile dropkick connects from the top rope. Northern Lights Suplex, and the three count is made at 3:40. Overly long, but you got to plant the seeds of Owen being able to work before pushing him.

- Bring home all the action with WWF Figures (with REAL Wrestling Action!) Featuring the likenesses of Hulk Hogan, Virgil, I.R.S., and the Macho Man. Rick Martel and Skinner figures are shown too, but go unnamed.

- Vince McMahon brings out Ludvig Borga for a very special interview. Borga doesn't care much for the United states, because of polution, I guess. Give a hoot, read a book. Whoops, wrong reference. USA stands for "U Stink a Lot" in his country. WOW... That was bad. This constant bashing of the USA brings out Lex Luger, in american flag zubaz pants. Zubaz = Badass, I guess. The seeds are planted for the epic Luger vs. Borga match no one wants to see. Whatever happened to Luger's issues with Yokozuna?

Adam Bomb (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. Ross Greenberg:

This is the debut of Wippleman as Bomb's manager, taking over the reigns from Johnny Polo. Nice tidbit: For whatever reason, the WWF was doing house shows with the Quebecers (managed by Johnny Polo) against Bam Bam and... Adam Bomb (also managed by Johnny Polo). Considering the problems and lack of desire to turn him face, he gets randomly switched to Wippleman, for no rhyme or reason. Other than a bit of a silly gimmick, I actually thought Bomb was a believable foil for uppercard faces. Lockup into the corner, and Bomb puts the boots to the poor scrub. Bomb with choking, and a throw across the ring, where he continues to dish out the punishment. Bomb with a dropkick, sending Greenberg to the floor. Bomb tosses him back into the ring, then slingshots in with a clothesline. We hype a "Summit" next week between Randy Savage and the coming-back-from-injury Crush. Bomb finishes it off with the Atom Smasher at 2:31. Not much of a squash, but it's the last 10-minutes of filler, so you can't complain too much.

The Rock N' Roll Express vs. Barry Hardy & Duane Gill:

Too bad they didn't come out with their Executioner masks.... how weird is it to see the RNR Express on an episode of Monday Night Raw... before they were a complete shell of their total selves (1998). They're the reigning Smokey Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Champions. There's a mouthful for you. They'll face the Heavenly Bodies at the 1993 Survivor Series. Gibson starts with Hardy, and we get a phantom hair-pull. Hardy grabs a headlock, then comes off the ropes with a shoulder. Gibson responds with an enziguri, and Morton comes in with a running knee lift. Gill runs in and gets taken over with a back drop. Whip to the ropes, and they do the Hart Attack on him for two. Hardy gets a few cheap shots in, but misses a charge to the corner. Gibson slingshots in with a knee drop, then slaps on a toe hold. RnR Wishbone, followed by a double clothesline. They hit Gill with a double dropkick, and the three count is made at 2:19. Entertaining squash match to close out the show.

- WWF Royal Rumble from Acclaim, is now available on the Sega Genesis, as well as the Super NES. We're NOT told that the Genesis version has a considerably different roster, subbing out Mr. Perfect, Ric Flair, Tatanka, Yokozuna, and Ted Dibiase for Hulk Hogan, I.R.S., Papa Shango, Jim Duggan, and Rick Martel... I love both copies, but I think the SNES roster has a much better "true to the product" accuracy.

- We recap the finish of the Intercontinental Title Match, and advertise what we'll be seeing next week: Tatanka, I.R.S., the Steiner Brothers, and of course, the Randy Savage/Crush Summit! Considering how hard they are pushing it, you know Crush is turning heel. 5 Years later, it would be the exact opposite, but it's 1993, so we know Crush is going to beat the crap out of Savage.

Final Thoughts: Solid feature match to restore the Intercontinental Title from what would become a typical Shawn Michaels title reign in the 90's, and the squash matches, for the most part, were all used to introduce someones new direction: Owen Hart was being geared up for a major program, so giving him more singles exposure was necessary, Adam Bomb had a new manager (OK, that's not TOO important), and we need to be introduced to the Rock n' Roll Express for their random match taking place at Survivor Series. Lets not forget the non-stop hype for Crush/Savage next week.

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