WWF Monday Night RAW (November 29, 1993)

Original Airdate: November 29, 1993

From White Plains, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan.

Opening Match: The Steiner Brothers v Mike Khoury and Reno Riggins: Scott Steiner starts with Riggins, and has an easy time controlling him on the mat. Dragon suplex hits, and he passes to brother Rick Steiner to hit the clothesline before Reno bails to tag. Khoury (who is one energetic jobber tonight) tries punching, but quickly takes an inverted powerslam into the corner, and Scott comes back in to torture him with a half-crab. Dropkick and the Steiner Screwdriver hit, but he forces Khoury to tag rather than just pin him. Tilt-a-whirl slam for Riggins, and the Frankensteiner finishes at 3:48. Brutal little squash - as most Steiner squashes tended to be. ½*

Survivor Series Encore promo

Jeff Jarrett vignette. Did they really think this act warranted this many damn vignettes. I mean, goofy vignettes were a common (and awesome) way to introduce characters in those days, but we've seen enough Jarrett ones to piece together into a movie at this point. Just debut him already!

Razor Ramon v Diesel: Another non-title outing for Intercontinental Champion Ramon here on RAW. Diesel overpowers him through the initial lockup, so Ramon tries an overhead wristlock, but the big man shoves him across the ring. Diesel with a standing side-headlock, but a charge is blocked by Ramon with a drop-toehold, and he hooks a hammerlock. Diesel throws an elbow to break, and hammers the lower back with forearms and knees, then drops a pair of elbows to the back for two. Backbreaker gets two, and a sidewalk slam gets another two. Bearhug, but Razor slugs free, so Diesel big boots him, then adds the snake-eyes for two. Back to the bearhug, but Razor escapes again, and hits a 2^nd rope bulldog for two. Bodyslam sets up the Razor's Edge, but Shawn Michaels runs in to blast him with the Superkick for the disqualification at 5:04. He sets up a piledriver onto the title belt, but 1-2-3 Kid runs in to save! These two would have significantly better matches later on, but this was a fun little preview - psychologically sound, and well worked. *

Bam Bam Bigelow v John Crystal: Crystal has the same tights as Reno Riggins did earlier. BOGO? Bigelow tosses him around with his usual power stuff (hiptoss, backdrop), and holds him in a headvise on the mat. Bunch of headbutts, as the crowd taunts Bigelow by chanting for Doink. Bam Bam tosses him out to the floor, then back in with a well executed bodyslam, and finishing with an enzuigiri at 3:12. Nothing, but Crystal was game to sell like crazy, like a good jobber should. ¼*

We take a look at Wrestling Challenge, where over the weekend, Santa Claus came out during a Doink promo to present him with his very own clone: Dink! Doink's Dr. Evil-like reaction is pretty awesome, but this did not go anywhere good, unfortunately. If Austin Powers had been around in 1993, maybe, but no

Vince McMahon brings out Bret Hart and Lex Luger to award the Superstar of the Year trophy. Bret is the winner (duh), and Luger the runner-up. Great, great moment as Luger starts thanking people, and Bobby Heenan sits at ringside beaming, expecting his name to be called - which, of course, it wasn't. Bret promises to forego any 'flowery' speeches, and speaks from the heart. Another great Bobby moment as Bret goes 'when I see this trophy...' and Heenan finishes 'he sees a ticket to the pawn shop!' on commentary during the pause. Speaking of pawn shops, after so many damn episodes, how has no one - ever - managed to bring in anything wrestling related on Pawn Stars? You'd think it would have to happen eventually, but it's pretty much always: gun, gun, gun, guitar, gun, gun, classic car, gun, gun

We take a look back at Survivor Series, where Owen Hart gets eliminated during the Family Feud match when Bret gets hurt, and then throws a tantrum

Another Survivor Series Encore promo

Cute RAW Girl Sign of the Week: RAW is Best

Owen Hart v Chris Duffy: Owen comes out like a babyface, and even gives the sunglasses away like Bret does. Duffy is unimpressed and attacks, but Owen quickly shrugs him off and hits a spinheel kick. European uppercut and a standing dropkick hit, followed by a snap suplex and a legdrop. Backdrop, but Duffy catches him with a diving backelbow for two - only to walk into an enzuigiri. Chris ends up on the floor for a plancha, and Owen hits a missile dropkick on the way back in, before finishing with the Sharpshooter at 2:42. Afterwards, Bobby Heenan tries to talk to Owen regarding Survivor Series, as well as Bret winning Superstar of the Year, but Owen brushes him off. Hart's facial expressions, with the jealousy building up inside of him, were just wonderful here, and the squash was energetic. ½*

Ludvig Borga v Scott Taylor: Borga again does his awesome bit, where he just marches into the ring and punches the jobber before the intros are even finished. Taylor sells it like death, and Borga follows with a bodyslam, but misses an elbowdrop, and takes a dropkick. Scott with a pair of clotheslines, but a third try gets reversed - Taylor doing a somersault sell. Borga with a delayed chokeslam, and a flapjack before finishing with the Torture Rack at 2:21. YES! I totally picked Borga to win this one! Go me! You know, I never really appreciated Borga from what little I saw of him growing up, but watching these old RAWs, he was actually quite a good heel, and I wish they'd have done more with him. ½*

McMahon and Heenan interview Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid (via split screen), but Razor dances around accepting Shawn Michaels' challenge, and instead offers up Kid to face Shawn next week

BUExperience: Fun episode this week, as two of my all time favorite angles (the Hart brothers family feud and the Ramon/Michaels title dispute) get off the ground, and there’s a decent Ramon/Diesel match as well. Easy waste of an hour.