WWF Monday Night RAW (February 15, 1993)

Original Airdate: February 15, 1993 (Taped February 1)

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Rob Bartlett, and Randy Savage.

Opening Match: The Steiner Brothers v Glen Ruth and Bobby Who: No, not Jim Neidhart. Scott Steiner starts with Ruth, and overpowers him with ease. Ruth stupidly tries blocking a hiptoss, and takes a brutal dragon suplex for his troubles, and both men tag. Rick Steiner gives Bobby a quick overhead suplex, and drops an elbow before tagging Scott - who blasts Who with a dropkick. Tag back to Rick, and they hit a powerbomb/flying elbowdrop combo. Who tries to comeback, but Rick is having none of it, and murders him with a lariat. Tag back to Scott for a double-underhook powerbomb, and the Steiners finish Bobby with an elevated flying bulldog at 3:32. ¼*

WrestleMania IX Report! Gene Okerlund runs down the announced lineup, at this point limited to Bret Hart/Yokozuna for the WWF Title, Undertaker/Giant Gonzalez, and Crush/Doink. Not exactly a blockbuster, there.

RAW Girl Sign of the Week: Outside it’s Cold, but Inside it's RAW!

Yokozuna v Ross Greenberg: Greenberg is dressed just like Natalya Neidhart does today. Greenberg tries charging him during Yoko's stretches, but runs right into a clothesline, and Yoko adds a belly-to-belly suplex. Legdrop draws a 'USA!' chant, but Yoko ignores it, and blasts Ross with an avalanche. Banzi Drop finishes at 2:01. If you've seen one Yokozuna squash, you've seen 'em all. ¼*

Special Report! Lord Alfred Hayes lets us know about the exciting new WWF Poster book available on newsstands everywhere! Plus, we take a look at Superstars, where Yokozuna threw salt in Jim Duggan's eyes, and gave him a series of Banzi Drops - Duggan doing a stretcher job off of it.

Vince McMahon lets us know that all sixteen men advertised for the battle royal tonight may not appear, in fear of having to face Giant Gonzalez. We then take a look at Superstars, as Giant Gonzalez squashes three guys in a Handicap Match. Guy looked physically terrifying, but dear lord, even in this basic squash he was terrible.

16-Man Battle Royal: Featuring: Owen Hart, Koko B. Ware, Kamala, Kim Chee, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Mike Sharpe, Bob Backlund, Typhoon, Damien Demento, Berzerker, Terry Taylor, and Skinner; Usual battle royal fare until we get down to Ramon, Tatanka, Michaels, and Santana. Shawn bounces around like a pinball for Tito and Tatanka ahead of getting tossed, but before they can get rid of Razor, Giant Gonzalez marches down the aisle. He tosses Tatanka and Santana quickly to be the last man standing, but forgets about Ramon (who slid out to the floor before Giant could grab him), and exits over the top - the resourceful Ramon getting the win at 15:00. Cute ending, and a perfect use of Gonzalez, because no one (NO ONE!) wants to see him actually work a match. ¼*

Ted DiBiase v Brutus Beefcake: This is Beefcake's first match since 1990, and hopefully frequent opponent DiBiase can get something out of him. Brutus (who is noticeably pudgy, and muffin-topping out of his tights) is keen to strut instead of lockup, but that jerk DiBiase insists. Beefcake overpowers him, but takes a kneelift, and Ted unloads forearms. Whip into the ropes, but Brutus ducks a punch, and knocks DiBiase out to the floor with a pair of his own. Back inside, Beefcake hooks a standing side-headlock, and knocks Ted back out to the floor with more right hands when he tries to escape. In again, DiBiase goes for the face with a turnbuckle smash, but Beefcake reverses, and goes back to the headlock. That draws IRS out, and he whacks Brutus with his briefcase when Ted whips him into the ropes - drawing a disqualification at 4:26. He rolls in and quickly double-teams Beefcake with DiBiase - as manager Jimmy Hart pleads for them to stop. Instead, they send a message: DiBiase holding Beefcake for IRS to bash in the face with the metal briefcase. Brutus goes down like a ton of bricks (and does a bladejob off of it – the mat stained in his blood), but Money Inc think it's fucking hilarious. Jimmy Hart doesn’t, and berates Money Inc as he tries to help Beefcake – WWF Officials carrying him out. Match was all angle, but it was a good angle, and everyone played their parts well to get it over. DUD

BUExperience:  The main event angle was well done, but everything else is a definite pass. Certainly one of the least entertaining of the early episodes so far, but they’re doing a nice job of building angles and guys ahead of the ill-fated WrestleMania IX, so it wasn’t a total waste of time, or anything.