WWF Monday Night RAW (September 27, 1993)

Original Airdate: September 27, 1993

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

We start with a bit of history, as WWF President Jack Tunney strips Shawn Michaels of the Intercontinental Title for failure to defend the title in over thirty days, and declares the title vacant. In reality, Shawn had failed a drug test.

Cute RAW Girl Sign of the Week: I Want My RAW

Opening Match: Tatanka v Rick Martel: Funny how we haven't seen Martel on TV in months, yet he goes right back to wrestling Tatanka for the thousandth time upon his return. Feeling out process to start, and Rick manages to get him down for a leglock. Tatanka escapes and tries a monkeyflip, but Martel cartwheels to dodge, and hooks an overhead wristlock. Tatanka counters into a standing-hammerlock, and hits an atomic drop before clotheslining Martel out of the ring. Rick stalls him out there, and lures him into a chase to launch an attack, but ends up getting rammed into the turnbuckles. Tatanka badly botches a bodypress off the middle rope (he slipped, which could happen to anyone, but they handled it badly, as Martel had to stand there like an idiot while Tatanka tried it again - which was meant to miss anyway), and Martel side suplexes him. Abdominal stretch, but Tatanka reverses, so Rick rakes the eyes, and side suplexes him again for two. Backbreaker sets up a slingshot splash, but Tatanka lifts his knees to block, though he can't capitalize, and Martel slams him. Reverse chinlock, but Tatanka powers out, and bodypresses him for two. Martel tries to retain the momentum with some turnbuckle smashes, but it's too late, Tatanka's JIGGING UP! Chops! Bodyslam! Flying Tomahawk Chop! - oh, but Martel dodges the End of the Trail, and tosses him over the top. He follows, and we have a double-countout at 12:30. Decent match before the non-committal ending, but that was to be expected given that Tatanka was still being pushed, and they had plans for Martel, and needed him strong for the rest of these tapings, at least. *

Joe Fowler is in the studio to discuss the Intercontinental Title situation, and announces that next week we will see a 20-man battle royal - the last two men in the ring set to face off the week after for the vacant title. Works for me!

Ludvig Borga v Phil Apollo: Borga attacks him at the bell, and whips him around the ring for a bit before hitting a sidewalk slam. Spinebuster, and he dumps Phil out to the floor for a clothesline. Back in, Borga hits an extreme hanging vertical suplex (he held him for a good thirty seconds), and a well executed bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop. Borga with a pair of punches to the ribs, and the torture rack finishes Apollo at 3:14. Decent squash, actually. I mean, nothing groundbreaking, but it made its point. ¼*

Jimmy Snuka v Paul VanDale: What, was ECW off that week? Seriously, I don't even remember Snuka during this period, so this must have been one of only a small handful of appearances. Snuka wins a big criss cross with a hiptoss, and bodyslams the jobber. Headbutt, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets elbowed as Crush calls in again. Bobby Heenan wastes no time in stirring shit up by asking him why he's not in the battle royal next week, but Savage is. I'm loving the build on that angle thus far, even if the eventual payoff at WrestleMania was a bit disappointing. In the ring, Snuka continues his dull squash with a piledriver, and more stomps than on Broadway. Slingshot suplex, a backbreaker, and Jimmy finishes with the Superfly Splash at 4:33. Snuka looked terrible here. He fit in fine in gritty ECW, but he just looked like a has-been here. DUD

We take a look back at last week, when Razor Ramon's distraction allowed PJ Walker to score an extreme upset victory over IRS. According to Vince, Razor got a 'birds-eye view' of the pinfall, although considering Ramon was on the floor, I'm not sure how that works. Vince then interviews IRS (calling him 'Mr. Rotundo' by accident) in his office/mob hangout (it looks just like the pork store office set from The Sopranos), and IRS swears revenge

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Quebecers v 1-2-3 Kid and Barry Horowitz: This was scheduled as Horowitz and Reno Riggins, but Reno 'has the flu,' and Barry introduces Kid as his replacement, to the amusement of Johnny Polo and the tag champions - complete with evil laugh. The Quebecers are still laughing as the bell sounds, and Jacques starts off with Kid. Kid uses his speed advantage to catch him with some kicks, so Pierre comes in - and right into a dropkick from Horowitz! The challengers clean house, but Kid takes a cheap shot from Pierre, and Jacques pounds him. Pierre tags in to just level poor Kid with a clothesline, and he adds a hard bodyslam - Kid bouncing off the mat. Jacques slams Pierre onto Kid, then adds a press slam onto him for two. Double-team stungun hits twice, but Kid dodges a 2^nd rope bodypress from Jacques, and spinkicks him right out of the ring. Polo smells trouble and calls for a medic, so they wheel a stretcher out, but the referee rules that the match will continue two-on-one. Pierre holds his own, and bodyslams Horowitz as Jacques is wheeled out, and a legdrop off the middle rope gets two. Vertical suplex sets up a 2^nd rope headbutt, and he hits another bodyslam. Tag to Kid, but Pierre smacks him around, and flapjacks him. Kid comes back with lightning kicks and an enzuigiri, but a spinheel kick is ducked, and Kid flies out over the top rope. Polo rolls him back in, and Pierre gets the pin to retain at 11:30. Hmm, weird, I thought for sure Jacques was going to pop off that stretcher the moment they announced that the match must continue (‘IT’S A MIRACLE, IT’S A MIRACLE!’), but we didn’t see him again for the rest of the match. I don’t think he was actually injured here (and he wrestled later in the taping, so likely he wasn’t) – that was just weird booking then. Whatever, I'm a sucker for these underdog matches, and this was no exception. Love, love, love The Quebecers and their endless array of double-teams! * ¾

Vince McMahon brings Razor Ramon out for an interview regarding both IRS and the battle royal, but Randy Savage takes offense to Ramon thinking he has it in the bag, and reminds him that he's going to be in there too!

BUExperience: A couple of decent matches, plus a fairly significant moment as Shawn is stripped of the title and they start elevating Razor Ramon up to the next level make this interesting. Not a must-see, but good.