WWF Monday Night RAW (August 2, 1993)

Original Airdate: August 2, 1993 (Taped July 25)

From Alexandria Bay, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan. Man, this building would be fine for a house show, but it comes off really weird on TV – looking like they’re wrestling inside of a factory.

Opening WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers v Barry Horowitz and Duane Gill: Scott Steiner starts with Horowitz, and launches him across the ring with a hiptoss. Horowitz manages to dodges a cross corner charge, but that just pisses Scotty off, and he overhead suplexes the king of jobbers. Boston crab, and a tag to Rick Steiner, as Bobby Heenan runs Detroit down on commentary. Luckily, things would get better for them. Rick allows a tag to Gill, and immediately destroys him - Scott finishing with the Frankensteiner at 2:45. DUD

Who is Lex Luger? No, that's not a question, that's the name of the segment, as we get Lex sitting in front of a black background, and talking about himself. Today's subject? Academics, as Lex talks about his father stressing education, and how he's a well rounded individual because of it! Oh, and he's not arrogant! That was just an ugly rumor. I get what they were going for here (Luger is the humble, All-American challenger to the evil, evil Asian champion), but this came off as really awkward and uncomfortable.

Cute RAW Girl Sign of the Week: Replaced, with an American flag

Adam Bomb v Tony Roy: I liked Adam Bomb, but Johnny Polo was just such a weird choice as a manager for the character. He fit the Quebecers perfectly, but he looked way too goofy for anyone to take Bomb seriously with him in the corner. Roy begs to differ, however, as Bomb destroys him with power stuff, and finished with the Atom Smasher at 2:18. DUD

Randy Savage v Doink: It should be noted, the crowd is a sea of Macho Man foam fingers, but Lex Luger merchandise is a bit harder to spot. I guess they just really appreciate his commentary skills! Savage wisely checks under the ring before the bell, and outsmarts Doink when the clown tries a punch out of the initial lockup. Savage works the arm, but Doink bites him, so Randy goes berserk, and grabs a chair. The referee manages to block him, and Doink pounces with a cheap shot, then chokes the Macho Man. Clothesline sets up a Boston crab, as Barbara Bush watches with a look of concern from the front row. Okay, not really, but this bitch does look a lot like her. Doink openly cheats by using the ropes, but the referee breaks it up, so he settles for kicking at the leg - taunting Savage as he goes. Backdrop, but Savage sees it coming, and knocks Doink out of the ring with a high knee. He follows for a shot into the post, but Doink reverses, and takes him in for a hangman’s neckbreaker. Standing dropkick, and Doink slaps on a modified head vise - wrenching the neck. Well, so much for the knee, I guess. Doink with a belly-to-belly suplex for two, and he slaps on an abdominal stretch - making sure to wrap the arms around to apply pressure to the neck. Savage hiptosses out, but Doink stays on him, and hammers in the corner. Snapmare sets up a chinlock, and a bodyslam after Savage elbows free. Whoopee Cushion, but Savage rolls out of the way - only to have his eyes raked before he can capitalize, and get dumped out by the clown. Taking a page out of Doink's book, Savage decides to go under the ring, but wait, what? On the opposite end, a midget version of Savage pops out (in perfect costume, giving the impression that he shrunk) - known as the Macho Midget! He distracts Doink, and full-sized Savage slams him on the floor as he chases the midget. Inside, Savage cradles him, and gets the pin at 11:22. Interestingly, the Macho Midget was played by the same guy who would eventually play Dink. Fun match, with Doink's usual sadistic tricks, and Savage prepared to fight fire with fire. * ½

SummerSlam Report! It's in Detroit! They made American cars! Lex Luger is American! Yokozuna is not! FUCK TOYOTA, BUY SUMMERSLAM!

We take a look at Superstars over the weekend, as 1-2-3 Kid scores an upset victory over Ted DiBiase, when Ted gets distracted by Razor Ramon

Jim Cornette comes down (in his WWF debut), and before he can even get a word out, Bobby Heenan starts freaking out with excitement, and abandons the broadcast table to go personally welcome him to the WWF. He gets Cornette heat right away by establishing that he's someone Heenan admires, and as he represents Smoky Mountain Wrestling, he's here on behalf of The Heavenly Bodies to accept The Steiner Brothers' open challenge for a tag title match at SummerSlam. He also sweats profusely. Not a bad segment, but this might have worked a bit better had they done it in SMW territory - upstate New York is a long way from Tennessee

Mr. Perfect v Barry Hardy: Cornette joins McMahon and Heenan on commentary for this one. Hardy manages a hiptoss right away, but gets cocky, and Perfect headlocks him, then hits a shoulderblock. Dropkick and a side suplex hit, and Perfect tears his tights to expose the chest for some chops. Somersault necksnap, and the Perfect-Plex finishes things at a brisk 2:40. Here's what bugs me: we're only weeks from SummerSlam, and they couldn't find something better for Perfect to do ahead of his title match with Shawn Michaels? Forget how that feud disappointed in the ring at SummerSlam, the big problem with it was how hot it started in the spring, but then Shawn got busy feuding with Crush and Marty Jannetty, and by the time he got around to defending against Perfect, the angle had cooled significantly - with little/no support from the WWF. DUD

The Lex Express continues to cross America! Today's stop: Erie, Pennsylvania! God, Luger looks miserable here. No wonder the fans latched onto Bret Hart by the time they were ready to pull the trigger on him

BUExperience: Savage/Doink is fun, and Jim Cornette’s WWF debut is notable, but this episode just fell really flat for me. The fact that it was taped before last weeks show even aired probably didn’t help matters any.