WWF Monday Night RAW (May 17, 1993)

Original Airdate: May 17, 1993

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage. We go right to highlights of Savage at the Special Olympics earlier in the day, apparently prepping for his jump to WCW.

Opening Match: The Smoking Gunns v Glenn Ruth and Tony Vadja: And finally, after weeks of vignettes, here they are - cap guns and all. Bart Gunn starts with Vadja, and dominates with a pair of armdrags before tagging out to Billy Gunn. Vadja manages to stop short to avoid a shot, and tags, but Ruth gets nailed with a clothesline, and the Gunns hit a double-team forward-falling Russian legsweep. Billy with a crisp elbowdrop, and he adds a suplex. The Gunns work Ruth's arm with tandem stuff, and finish him with a Billy backdrop into a Bart piledriver combo at 3:42. Nice, energetic introductory squash. ½*

Vince McMahon brings WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels down for an in-ring interview. He gloats about beating Jim Duggan in the lumberjack match the week previous, but makes the mistake of using the words 'fighting champion,' and a hooded man in dark sunglasses jump the guardrail to take him up on his open challenge. It turns out to be Marty Jannetty (making his first appearance since the Royal Rumble), and he wants a freaked out Shawn right here, TONIGHT. Michaels uses the fact that Marty is in street clothes as an excuse, but Marty says not to worry: he's got his gear backstage. Awesome, awesome segment, and the perfect way to bring Jannetty back, as opposed to him just coming out and wrestling a meaningless squash.

Razor Ramon v The Kid: So, after getting killed twice, now he's just 'The Kid.' Razor is less than impressed, and shoves Kid around with ease in the early going. Abdominal stretch by the Bad Guy, and a blockbuster sends Kid spiraling through the air. Cross corner charge misses, however, and Kid catches him with a fluke moonsault for the pin at 2:12 - the crowd erupting in shock! Razor loses his mind afterwards too, really selling it. Just awesome, as the match is nothing, but the angle is among the most memorable in the shows long run. ¼*

Hot RAW Girl Sign of the Week: Honk If You're RAW!

Tatanka v Scott Taylor: Tatanka is ready to go, and takes Taylor's head off with a clothesline, then backdrops him. Another backdrop sends Taylor over the top, and Tatanka follows with a tomahawk chop off of the apron. Back in, Tatanka whips him into the corner a couple of times, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop. Powerslam and a backelbow hit, followed by another bodyslam. Hiptoss, so Scotty tries a comeback, but the T-man finishes with the End of the Trail at 3:44. Energetic. ¼*

King of the Ring Report. Man, they were really giving away that Bret Hart was winning this thing, as Gene Okerlund calls him the 'number one seed' about ten times in as many seconds.

Yokozuna v Kamala: Kamala, not used to being the smaller man, doesn't know what to make of Yokozuna. He tries a charge, but that doesn't go too well, so he plants a savate kick on him, and hammers with tomahawk chops. He can't take the big man down though, and Yoko cracks him with a headbutt, followed by a legdrop. Kamala tries more tomahawks, but Mr. Fuji distracts him from the floor, and Yoko superkicks him into the corner for an avalanche. Another one, and the Banzi Drop finishes at 3:41. Served its purpose, and was thankfully short. DUD

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Marty Jannetty: And, indeed, Marty does have his gear, and it's not the same tights PJ Walker had on the week before, so that one remains a mystery, sorry. Shawn may not have been eager to agree to this bout, but he pounds him into the corner to start. Jannetty dodges him and cradles for two, and a nice criss cross ends in Marty hitting a sunset flip for two. Another criss cross sees Marty counter a hiptoss, and clothesline Shawn to the floor. He follows with a baseball slide, and adds a plancha, so Michaels decides to bail. Marty drags him back in, but telegraphs a backdrop, so Shawn tries the Superkick, but Marty counters with a Japanese armdrag, and follows with a headscissors takedown into a mat-based version. Shawn wrestles free, but gets backdropped, and Flair flipped right back out to the floor. He grabs the belt and hightails it again, but this time runs into Mr. Perfect in the aisle, and forced back. Marty helps him in with a slingshot, but another headscissors is countered by Michaels with a stungun, and he chokes his challenger on the mat. Shawn with jabs in the corner, and a snapmare leaves Marty in a chinlock. Marty powers out, so Shawn dropkicks him, but a second try ends with him flying into the corner off of a slingshot. Marty crawls to cover for two, and mounts the champ with fists. Jumping backelbow and a wicked powerslam get two, followed by a flying bodypress for two. Roll-up, but Shawn reverses (nearly pantsing Jannetty in the process) for two, then blasts him with the Superkick. He stops to shout at Mr. Perfect though, and ends up getting popped in the jaw, and cradled by Jannetty at 10:57. Shawn's heat segment was a little dull, but this was a great match backed by a great angle, and another fantastic early RAW moment. ***

BUExperience: Awesome episode this week! On top of two legendary RAW moments, we get a very good title switch to close the show, and excellent booking from top to bottom – with the right squashes where needed, and excitement from start to finish.