WWF Monday Night RAW (May 31, 1993)

Original Airdate: May 31, 1993

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

It’s Memorial Day, so Jim Duggan opens the show by leading the fans outside of the building in a ‘USA’ chant

Opening WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Marty Jannetty v Bam Bam Bigelow: Marty has Sherri with him, and Bigelow has Luna Vachon, and they rekindle their catfight from a couple of weeks back before the bell. Bigelow uses the distraction to attack Jannetty, and Marty does a 360 sell off of a shoulderblock. Criss cross allows Marty to chop him, and a flying tomahawk version gets two, but Bigelow bops him with a headbutt. Backdrop, but Marty impressively lands on his feet - only to get caught in a bearhug as he tries to capitalize. Bigelow dumps him into the corner, but it backfires when Jannetty comes off the top with a knee, and follows with a headscissors takedown. Victory roll, but Bigelow drops back in an electric chair to counter, and he grounds the champ with a chinlock. Bigelow with a standing dropkick and an avalanche for two, but Marty catches him with a 2^nd rope clothesline for two. Jumping backelbow and a facebuster for two, followed by a superkick and a dropkick for two. Bigelow rakes the eyes and bodyslams the champion, and a butterfly backbreaker gets up a splash, but Sherri distracts him, allowing Marty to dive with a backelbow to knock Bigelow through the ropes. He follows with a baseball slide and a flying bodypress, but ends up getting rammed into the post as he tries to climb back in. Bigelow follows, but Sherri distracts him again, and Jannetty retains via countout at 11:05. Afterwards, Bigelow squashes him with a senton splash, but Sherri is not done, and wants Luna. Luna is game (when is she not?), but Bam Bam would rather smack Sherri around himself - and does, until Tatanka saves. Not exactly a vote of confidence there for Marty, but they were pushing Bigelow a bit at this point, and didn't really have long-term plans for Jannetty. Good, well paced, David-and-Goliath match, though. ** ¾

King of the Ring Promo

The Steiner Brothers v The Executioner and Rick Myers: What a random jobber team. Rick Steiner starts with Executioner, and quickly takes him down with a fireman’s carry into an armbar. Executioner tries to fight back, but walks into a tilt-a-whirl, and Steiner grounds him with the armbar again, then blasts him with a lariat. Tag to Myers, and Rick dumps him into the corner before tagging Scott Steiner in to unload an overhead suplex. Oh shit, I'm getting Rumble '03 flashbacks. Scott takes him apart with a cross corner whip, and unloads a pump-handle slam, followed by a bodyslam. Steiner Screwdriver, and they finally put the poor jobber out of his misery with an elevated flying bulldog at 4:14. Myers was selling like Curt Hennig on speed balls here, and the Steiners were game to squash the shit out of him. ½*

Not Hot RAW Girl Sign of the Week: RAW Rules Fools

Mr. Hughes v Bert Centeno: A main event anywhere in the country! Hughes slaps him around to start, and launches him halfway across the damn ring with a bodyslam. Hiptoss and a powerbomb get two, as the crowd amuses themselves with something not related to the in-ring action. Meanwhile, Hughes continues the squash with a big boot, and finishes with a scrapbuster at 3:02. Just slow, methodical, and boring. DUD

King of the Ring Report. Hulk Hogan will be there! Remember him? I know you haven't seen or heard from him since WrestleMania two month ago, but don't worry, he's still the champ!

Jim Duggan v Bill Thomas: Thomas tries a sneak attack, but gets slammed, and Duggan adds a kneedrop. Turnbuckle smash (with the stupid jobber missing the buckle by a good four inches), so Duggan backdrops and suplexes his useless ass, then finishes him with a 3-Point Stance at 2:23. Afterwards, Duggan leads the crowd through the Pledge of Allegiance, like they're in third grade. Wow, that wasn't corny at all. DUD

The 1-2-3 Kid joins us via satellite ('I was just watching with my grandma and grandpa') to respond to Razor Ramon's current offer of $5,000 to step back into the ring. He just can't accept it, sorry Bad Guy.

Razor Ramon v Tony Roy: The crowd chants '1-2-3' at Ramon, and Roy sneaks up with a schoolboy for two, but now Razor is good and pissed, and destroys him in the corner. Blockbuster sets up an STF, as Randy Savage stands on his chair to lead the crowd into another '1-2-3' chant. Roy uses the distraction to schoolboy him again, but Razor is in no mood, and slaps on an abdominal stretch. Side superplex, and he finishes with the Razors Edge at 3:29. A squash, but it worked from an entertainment standpoint, as the built up the 1-2-3 Kid angle. DUD

Vince McMahon brings Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji out for a ringside interview. They promise to end Hulkamania at King of the Ring, and offer to celebrate Memorial Day on that day instead. Hogan can't be bothered to show up and respond (though McMahon teases the fans by saying he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if Hulk was there next week – which he wasn’t), so here's Jim Duggan to start another 'USA' chant in his place!

BUExperience: The opener is really fun, the continuing saga of the 1-2-3 Kid is good, and you can never see enough Steiner Brother squashes, but overall, the episode fell pretty flat. What astounds me is how much time is spent building angles like Sherri/Luna, Bigelow/Tatanka, Ramon/Kid, or Yokozuna/Duggan that had nothing to do with King of the Ring, while the guys involved in the pay per view continue to have little/no interaction. How times have changed…