WWF Mania (May 15, 1993)

Original Airdate: May 15, 1993

Your Host is Todd Pettengill from the studio

We go right back to the awesome opening segment from Monday Night RAW, as Lord Alfred Hayes caught up with Shawn Michaels outside of the arena, and Mr. Perfect attacked him in the street. They have a wild brawl in front of the fans, with Shawn taking his famous bump onto the hood of a car. This was not only a great, memorable segment, but actually a rib on Howard Finkel, who had just bought the car Shawn bumped onto

WWF Intercontinental Title Lumberjack Match: Shawn Michaels v Jim Duggan: From RAW, May 10 1993 in New York City. Duggan makes friends right away, and gets into a fight with Yokozuna on the floor, but it doesn't matter - looks like Shawn is on crutches, and can't wrestle, so too bad. Lumberjack Mr. Perfect is wise to him though, and helps him find his smile - Bobby Heenan hilariously shouting about a 'miracle!' Inside, Duggan destroys him with slams and an elbowdrop for two, then hits a vertical suplex as the crowd turns a 'USA!' chant into 'Shawn is Gay.' Heh. Michaels with a Flair flip in the corner, and a clothesline leaves Michaels for dead. He tries to bail, but the lumberjacks don't even get a chance to stop him before Duggan drags him back in for a headvise. Bearhug next, but Shawn won't give, so Duggan slams him for two. Michaels tries an eye rake, but Duggan decks him, and grabs a front-facelock. Into the corner, Duggan unloads a ten-punch count, and Michaels ends up tied up in the ropes for some stomps. Duggan frees him for a toss over the top, and lumberjack Mr. Perfect is quick to make sure the heel lumberjacks don't help Shawn in any way. Inside, Duggan keeps hammering, but he misses a kneedrop, and Shawn pulls off his cowboy boot (he's wrestling in street clothes) to knock the challenger to the floor for some lumberjack abuse. Duggan blocks a backdrop, but a charge into the corner doesn't go his way, and Shawn hooks the leg for two. Chinlock, but Duggan clotheslines him, and backdrops him into the lights. Another blind charge doesn't go his way, but he counters a 2nd rope bodypress with a bodyslam for two, and hooks a chinlock. 3-Point Stance knocks Shawn out to the floor, but the lumberjacks bring him right back in this time, so lumberjack Bam Bam Bigelow runs interference from the apron. That allows Shawn to hit a high knee to knock Hacksaw out to the floor, and lumberjack Yokozuna helps him in - only he adds a legdrop first. That allows Shawn to make a one foot cover, but Mr. Perfect runs in, and it's a disqualification at 17:20. Afterwards, all the lumberjacks brawl, until Duggan cleans house with the 2x4. Too long for what they were going for, and way too slow with all of the restholds, but this junk was actually fairly well remembered - I remember seeing it on multiple VHS tapes back in the 90s. DUD

Todd hypes the WWF Posters magazine… by telling you it’s a waste of money. Maybe it’s like that classic VW ‘lemon’ ad?

The Smoking Gunns v Brooklyn Brawler and Damien Demento: From New York City on May 10 1993, and this marks the debut of the Gunns. They debuted on Mania? Really going for the throat there. Billy Gunn starts with Brawler, and Brawler whacks him with a pair of chops right away, but Billy fights off a whip into the ropes, and delivers a bodyslam to set up a legdrop. Over to Bart Gunn to work a hammerlock, but Brawler throws an elbow, and passes to Demento. Criss cross ends in Bart hooking a backslide for two, and he grabs an armbar, but Demento won’t stop squirming. Tag to Billy for a tandem Russian legsweep for two, and that calms Demento down enough, but Brawler pulls the top rope down on another criss cross, and Bart takes a bump over the top. The heels go to work on Bart, and they’re really weak heels, barely even cheating. That’s a bad look, since they’re both JTTS, and this is the Gunns’ debut. They’re making them look weak right out the gate here. They ended up doing alright for themselves, but damn. Billy gets the hot tag after an eternity, and Roseanne Barr the door! DDT knocks Brawler silly, and Bart dives with a flying sunset flip at 6:41. The Gunns looked fine here, but they were giving the heels way too much for a debut. ½*

Todd celebrates the debut of the Gunns by shooting a co-worker. With a SuperSoaker. I probably should have made that clear initially. Do kids still play with water guns, or have those been canceled? 

King of the Ring Tournament Qualifying Match: Razor Ramon v Tito Santana: From the May 8 Superstars (taped April 6) in Tucson Arizona. We still haven’t seen the actual brackets yet, which is either bad promotion, or they hadn’t decided who would get slotted where yet. I know that he was just JTTS at this point, but the fact that Tito is getting a shot in the tournament, but Savage - the guy who blew Santana into irrelevance when he came into the promotion in the mid-80s - is supposedly too washed up to even regularly compete any longer. Tito catches him with a jumping forearm early on, but Razor is in the ropes. Santana stays focused with a wristlock, but runs into a hotshot during a criss cross, and Razor puts the boots to him. Razor with a flurry of fists, but Santana responds in kind, and turns it into a full blown comeback! Flying bodypress looks to put it away, but Ramon rolls through at 3:17. This was pretty laid back. ¼*

Gene Okerlund is in the studio with the King of the Ring Report. And, hey, we get brackets! Or, well, only for the guys who have qualified. But, baby steps

Yokozuna v Sean Dakota: From the May 8 Superstars. Jerry calls Yokozuna’s flower girls as ‘babes,’ which somehow deeply offends Vince. Between that, and his collection plate ranting, this version of Vince is really about as far removed from Mr. McMahon as possible. Yokozuna is still looking relatively lithe at this point, though that would quickly change. Banzai Drop finishes at 2:12. Yokozuna looked like he was annoyed with the jobber this week, smacking him around like he’s the lost Steiner brother. ¼*

Todd calls bullshit on Yokozuna’s ‘505 pound’ weight billing. Man had a point. I’m sure his weight was exaggerated right from the beginning, but he was billed at 505 at his debut, and he’s clearly much bigger now, so they should have upped the gimmicked number accordingly. Can’t they even carny right?!

Todd hypes some Coliseum Video to close us out. That particular tape (Smack ‘Em, Whack ‘Em) was actually a really good one

BUExperience: Kind of a middle of the road episode, but it does contain the TV debut of the Smoking Gunns, so it has some significance.