WWF Mania (July 3, 1993)

Original Airdate: July 3, 1993

Your Hosts are Todd Pettengill and Randy Savage from the USS Intrepid in New York City

Marty Jannetty v Bastion Booger: From Huntington West Virginia on June 15 1993. Marty tries a side-headlock to start, but Booger is just too big, and shrugs him off. Again, but Booger shakes it off, so Marty starts sticking and moving instead. Leg-feed enzuigiri finds the mark for two, and he goes to a chinlock to keep him grounded. Booger fights free, but a legdrop misses, and Jannetty delivers a superkick to put Booger on the outside. Booger clobbers him as they head back into the ring, and he goes to work on the leg. Back to the outside for Booger to avalanche him against the post, but Marty beats the count, so Booger tries another avalanche, but this one misses. That allows Jannetty a flying bodypress, and Booger is beat at 4:34. A really weak match, with their execution looking really bad, and just no finesse. DUD

1993 Merchandise Catalog ad

A sleepy looking Jerry Lawler reminds us that he was perfectly justified in attacking Bret Hart at King of the Ring. This was far too quiet for a WWF promo in this era, did Lawler lose his voice before the taping, or something?

Crush v Scott Taylor: From Wrestling Challenge on June 27 1993 (taped May 25) in Sydney Nova Scotia Canada. Taylor actually gets some fire, but fails to bodyslam the big man, and gets press-slammed, as the announcers hype up Crush as the favorite to slam WWF Champion Yokozuna. I don’t think Crush would have been any more successful than Lex Luger in the role, but he wouldn’t have been any worse, either. I get why they went with Luger, though. Crush with the headvice at 1:54. Energetic squash. ½*

Stars and Stripes Challenge ad

Various professional athletes cut promos on Yokozuna

On deck of the Intrepid, Todd and Randy play wargames with a helicopter. Not the same without Ric Flair bleeding all over the place

Video package on the Razor Ramon/1-2-3 Kid saga

This past Monday on RAW, Vince McMahon brought Money Inc out for an in-ring interview. They discuss the title loss to the Steiner Brothers, but DiBiase quickly segues into making fun of Razor Ramon for getting embarrassed by the 1-2-3 Kid the week prior - both officially turning Ramon face, and setting up DiBiase's last program as an in-ring competitor for the WWF

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Kamala: From Monday Night RAW on June 28 1993 (taped June 21) in Poughkeepsie New York. Diesel still hasn't mastered the black leather look yet, but has at least advanced past dressing like a jogger, and moved on to dressing like DDP. Shawn doesn't quite know what to make of Kamala, and stalls. He tries to talk Kamala into a handshake (with the crowd warning him not to trust the champ), and of course, Michaels decks him when he goes for it. Kamala reverses him on a cross corner whip though, so Shawn offers a handshake again, but this time Kamala bites him. Shawn bails to the outside to strategize with Diesel, but inside, Kamala bodyslams him, and slaps on a bearhug. He carries him to the mat in the hold for a few two counts, so Shawn bails, and suckers him into a chase - stomping the challenger on the way back in. Shawn goes after the knee with really basic stuff (mostly stomps, actually), but can't get a toehold on (despite, like, five tries - give it up, guy!), and Kamala finally shoves him off, and chops him. Splash, but Kamala tries pinning him on his belly again, and without Slick he can't get it. Diesel hops up on the apron to help, but it turns out to be another trick, and Shawn superkicks him for the pin at 11:00. Shawn's selling carried things, but it was pretty much house show level stuff, otherwise. ¼*

Horse jockey Julio Pezua promises to slam Yokozuna, despite being 5’1” tall

Yokozuna is not in the mood to get slammed

On RAW, Vince McMahon brought Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji out for an in-ring interview, to discuss that whole bodyslam challenge set for July 4th aboard the USS Intrepid in New York. Nothing major said here, but they were going somewhere, and we got a damn good payoff to this whole deal, at least

BUExperience: This was a one hour hype show… for an event that wasn’t going to be televised. They did a great job of getting the Challenge over as a major event, though