WWF Mania (May 22, 1993)

Original Airdate: May 22, 1993

Your Host is Todd Pettengill, from the WWF merchandising warehouse

This past Monday on RAW, Marty Jannetty made a surprise return to accept Shawn Michaels’ open challenge for the WWF Intercontinental title

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Marty Jannetty: From Monday Night RAW, May 17 1993 in New York City. Shawn may not have been eager to agree to this bout, but he pounds him into the corner to start. Jannetty dodges him and cradles for two, and a nice criss cross ends in Marty hitting a sunset flip for two. Another criss cross sees Marty counter a hiptoss, and clothesline Shawn to the floor. He follows with a baseball slide, and adds a plancha, so Michaels decides to bail. Marty drags him back in, but telegraphs a backdrop, so Shawn tries the Superkick, but Marty counters with a Japanese armdrag, and follows with a headscissors takedown into a mat-based version. Shawn wrestles free, but gets backdropped, and Flair flipped right back out to the floor. He grabs the belt and hightails it again, but this time runs into Mr. Perfect in the aisle, and is forced back. Marty helps him in with a slingshot, but another headscissors is countered by Michaels with a stungun, and he chokes his challenger on the mat. Shawn with jabs in the corner, and a snapmare leaves Marty in a chinlock. Marty powers out, so Shawn dropkicks him, but a second try ends with him flying into the corner off of a slingshot. Marty crawls to cover for two, and mounts the champ with fists. Jumping backelbow and a wicked powerslam get two, followed by a flying bodypress for two. Roll-up, but Shawn reverses (nearly pantsing Jannetty in the process) for two, then blasts him with the Superkick. He stops to shout at Mr. Perfect though, and ends up getting popped in the jaw, and cradled by Jannetty at 10:57. Shawn's heat segment was a little dull, but this was a great match backed by a great angle, and another fantastic early RAW moment. ***

Todd literally steals material from Jerry Seinfeld, noting that Shawn will now have to walk around with nowhere to put his thumbs because he doesn’t have a belt

Todd explores the merchandise stored in the warehouse, when he comes across the Bushwhackers. This facility looks like something I dreamed as a kid, and not even the Bushwhackers are going to bring me down, sorry

King of the Ring Tournament Qualifying Match: Mr. Perfect v Doink the Clown: From Wrestling Challenge on May 16 1993 (taped April 5) in Phoenix Arizona. Interestingly, this one was taped the day before they taped the first match they had, of which this one is supposed to be a rematch of. Keeping all these things straight must have been a full time job on its own. Perfect attacks during the entrances after Doink terrorizes some toddler on his way to the ring, and he keeps unloading on the way into the ring. Perfect goes to work on the leg, but Doink escapes a hold, and grabs a sleeper. Perfect fades, but manages to escape in time, and he goes back to the leg. Figure four looks to finish, but Doink gets the ropes, and tosses Perfect over them after escaping. Perfect eats some steps out there, but he beats the count, so Doink blasts him with a forearm across the chest. Turnbuckle smash follows, and Doink is doing a good job of selling the leg throughout here. Clothesline sends Perfect back to the outside, but he beats the count again, so Doink takes him to the mat in an armbar. Perfect fights free, and wants a slugfest, but Doink dominates that. Perfect keeps coming, and starts getting some traction, but time expires at 7:07. ¾*

Todd continues to explore, and it’s t-shirts galore, as the Bushwhackers mess around with a forklift. That seems like a host of OSHA violations

Gene Okerlund is in the studio with the King of the Ring Report. They’re writing both Perfect and Doink out of the tournament at this point, with Shawn Michaels/Crush and Kamala/Mr. Hughes advertised as the final two qualifiers

Todd steals Sean Mooney’s bits next, getting locked out of offices since no one likes him

Razor Ramon v Kid: From RAW. Razor is less than impressed, and shoves Kid around with ease in the early going. Abdominal stretch by the Bad Guy, and a blockbuster sends Kid spiraling through the air. Cross corner charge misses, however, and Kid catches him with a fluke moonsault for the pin at 2:12 - the crowd erupting in shock! Razor loses his mind afterwards too, really selling it. Just awesome, as the match is nothing, but the angle is among the most memorable in the show's long run. ¼*

Todd laughs it up over Razor’s misfortune 

Yokozuna v Kamala: Also from RAW. Kamala, not used to being the smaller man, doesn't know what to make of Yokozuna. He tries a charge, but that doesn't go too well, so he plants a savate kick on him, and hammers with tomahawk chops. He can't take the big man down though, and Yoko cracks him with a headbutt, followed by a legdrop. Kamala tries more tomahawks, but Mr. Fuji distracts him from the floor, and Yoko superkicks him into the corner for an avalanche. Another one, and the Banzi Drop finishes at 3:41. Served its purpose, and was thankfully short. DUD

Todd has made his way into the shipping office to annoy some poor office worker with stupid questions, like a six year old might

Tatanka v Terry Taylor: From NYC, May 10 1993. Joined in progress, with Taylor in control, and Tatanka in trouble on the outside. Terry drags him back in for a chincrusher, as the crowd gets behind Tatanka. Terry with a side suplex for two, but Tatanka comes back with a sunset flip for two, so Taylor tries a vertical suplex, but Tatanka counters with an inside cradle for two. Taylor tries cutting him off again by grounding him in a chinlock, but a bodyslam gets him toppled for two. Terry goes back to the chinlock to keep control, but Tatanka escapes, and makes a comeback this time. Knife-edge chop gets him two, so Taylor tries bailing, but Tatanka keeps him in. Backdrop, but Terry blocks with a neckbreaker for two. Bodyslam, but Tatanka counters with the Samoan drop at 6:00 shown. I won’t rate it since I have no idea how much was cut out here, but they were doing some good in-ring storytelling with this one.

Todd signs off while messing up people’s orders

BUExperience: A lot of interesting stuff going on in the promotion at the moment.