WWF Monday Night RAW (May 3, 1993)

Original Airdate: May 3, 1993 (Taped April 26)

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage.

Opening WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Jim Duggan: Shawn bails to the floor right away to avoid Duggan, but Jim realizes he can't win the title that way (the Manhattan Center may look like a trashcan, but it isn't actually one), but then forgets, and scares Shawn back to the floor with a 'USA!' chant. Commie! He's even wearing red tights! Get him! Inside, Duggan unloads a series of clotheslines (sold with Michaels' usual brilliance), and the champ ends up back on the floor. He goes for Duggan's 2x4, but the referee stops him short, and forces him back in. Shawn cowers in the corner, but Duggan shows no mercy as he unloads a series of closed fists (Shawn spiraling out of the ring), and this time he decides to take a walk. Duggan drags him back, but Shawn snaps his neck across the top rope on the way in, and immediately capitalizes - punching and kicking his challenger. Ten-punch count and a flying axehandle set up a chinlock, but Duggan powers up, so Michaels drops a series of elbows for  two. Criss cross goes Shawn's way with a kneelift, and he dumps Duggan out to the floor for an axehandle off of the apron. Inside, Shawn hits a snapmare to set up another chinlock, but a slugfest goes Duggan's way, and he unloads a ten-punch of his own. Helicopter slam sets up the 3-Point Stance, but it knocks Michaels to the floor. He decides to take a walk again, but this time when Duggan gives chase he can't get there fast enough, and Michaels loses the match (but not the title) at 11:17. Afterwards, Duggan demands a rematch, and refuses to leave the ring until he gets one, while the fans chant 'take the belt' - one of the more famous bits from the early days of RAW. Very little actual contact, but Shawn's selling was brilliant whenever there was, and anyway this was more about setting up a Lumberjack Match for the next week than anything else - and it did that well. ½*

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Doink v Kamikaze Kid: Doink attacks Kid in the corner at the bell, and tosses him around, then hits a nice belly-to-belly suplex. Doink with an STF, and a hiptoss, before casually finishing him with the Stump Puller at 2:05. Just a complete and total squash (Kid didn't get so much as a lick of offense in), but this was all going somewhere. 1/4*

Cute RAW Girl Sign of the Week: Have A RAW Day

Bob Backlund v Duane Gill: Wow, maybe if Gill had bothered to shave his head earlier, maybe he wouldn't have ended up a career jobber. I mean, fuck! Backlund offers a handshake, but Gill blows him off, and gets tossed through a series of takedowns. Backlund with a mat-based side-headlock, so Duane counters into a headscissors, but Bob wrestles free, and goes back to the headlock. Gill tries a hiptoss into an armscissors, but Backlund actually powers to his feet out of it (dead lifting him in the process), and sets him on the turnbuckle. Gill charges, but gets backdropped, and Backlund cradles him to finish at 3:39. Some nice (if basic) counter stuff on the mat, but didn't have enough time to really go anywhere. Not that it should have been any longer, though. Basically as good as it was going to be. ¼*

Vince McMahon brings Jim Duggan back to ringside, as WWF President Jack Tunney has signed a rematch with Michaels next week - Lumberjack rules!

Smoking Gunns vignette. They have guns! Do the Headshrinkers have guns? Do Money Inc? Nope!

The Headshrinkers v Jay Sledge and Jim Bell: Captain Lou Albano does guest commentary, making his first WWF appearance since 1987. Kind of weird, as this was supposed to set up him managing the Headshrinkers, but they didn't get around to that until 1994. The 'Shrinkers attack at the bell, and give poor Sledge a double-team flapjack. Dust settles on Samu and Sledge, and Samu clotheslines him, then hits a lazy gutwrench suplex. Sledge ends up on the floor for some abuse from Fatu, and inside, he takes a savate kick. They get sick of him, and force the tag to Bell, but he charges right into a savate kick of his own. Hey, sharing is caring. Headshrinkers with a spike piledriver, as Albano jokes that Afa is on the floor, and 'there's Sika around his neck.' Nice. The 'Shrinkers take their time working Bell over a bit more, and finally put him out of his misery when Fatu hits the flying splash at 5:43. Went on a bit too long, but at least it wasn't all nerveholds, or anything. Still, DUD

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Kamala v Rich Myers: Myers tries a dropkick, but Kamala shrugs him off. Shoulderblock ends the same way, and Kamala grabs him for a chokeslam. Toehold goes nowhere, so Kamala tries a choke instead, and adds a superkick before finishing with a splash at 2:29. So dull, even Slick didn't bother showing. DUD

Bobby Heenan closes the show in the showers with Shawn Michaels, hyping the Lumberjack Match for next week!

BUExperience: Nothing in the way of good wrestling, but it’s got Sean Waltman’s WWE debut, as well as the start of the fairly well remembered Michaels/Duggan angle, and at an hour long, the show continues to come off as light and fresh.