WWF at Madison Square Garden (March 21, 1993)

 

Original Airdate: March 21, 1993

From New York, New York

Randy Savage v Doink the Clown: Doink attacks Randy on the outside during the entrances, and delivers a savage (ahem) beating, so the match is postponed until later in the show instead.

Tito Santana v Jerry Lawler: This is Lawler's debut in the Garden, and he runs his mouth before the bell. Tito responds by hiptossing him, so Lawler immediately complains to the referee of illegal leverage via the tights, but Tito responds by just hiptossing him again. Jerry tries a side-headlock, but Tito powers free, so Lawler stalls. Back to the headlock, but it goes nowhere, so Lawler tries more stalling, but Tito rolls him up for two. Lawler responds by walking out, but the referee forces him back, and Santana backdrops him. Lawler responds with (you guessed it): more stalling. Tito tries another backdrop, but gets clobbered this time, and the King delivers a piledriver. But instead of covering, he grabs a microphone to talk trash. Lawler with a turnbuckle smash, but he gets reversed into the post on the outside, and Tito makes a comeback. Tito lands the jumping forearm, but Jerry falls out of the ring, so no cover. Tito rolls him back in for a slingshot sunset flip, but the King reverses the cradle, and uses the ropes for leverage to score the pin at 13:02. Gosh, working with Lawler must have been like a night off for whomever was lucky enough to get booked. ¼*

Irwin R Schyster v Rick Steiner: They feel each other out to start, with IRS trying for cheap shots, but Rick outsmarting him. Rick lands a jumping clothesline, so Schyster bails, but Rick is on his tail. Schyster tries running, but Scott Steiner cuts him off, and they end up back inside. IRS stalls until the referee ejects Scott, but then Rick still suplexes him anyway. Irwin tries to bail, so Rick snaps his throat across the top rope, and drops an elbow for two. Rick grabs a side-headlock, so Schyster whips him into the ropes. Rick reverses, but a dropkick misses, and IRS dumps him to the outside. Back in for an abdominal stretch, and a backelbow leads to an elbowdrop for two. Irwin goes to a chinlock from there, but Rick fights up, so Schyster bodyslams him. He looks to add a splash, but Rick lifts his knees to block, and Steiner makes a comeback. Rick misses a bodypress, however, and takes a bump to the outside, allowing IRS to gain control. He bashes Rick’s head into the apron, and brings a chair into the ring, but Scott runs back out to take it away before he can swing it. That allows Rick a schoolboy on the distracted Schyster at 10:16. Solid match. * ¼ 

Randy Savage v Doink the Clown: Savage charges in, dragging Doink to the outside, and sending him into the steps right away. Inside, Savage unloads in the corner, so Doink bails, but Macho is hot on his tail with a high knee to send the clown into the guardrail. The referee protests, allowing Doink to grab a wristlock as they head back in, but Savage is enraged, and keeps punching him in the head. Doink responds by dumping him over the top, and he follows to send Randy into the post. Inside for a turnbuckle smash, and Doink works him over, focusing on the shoulder he bashed into the post. Doink uses a bodyslam to set up the Whoopie Cushion, but Savage gets his boot up to block. Doink tries recovering with a charge, but misses, and hits the turnbuckles. Macho capitalizes by heading up with a flying axehandle, and he puts the boots to Doink in the corner. Doink responds by spraying something in his eyes, however, and that triggers a DQ at 7:54. Savage’s usual intensity was very welcome here, that dude didn’t phone it in on house shows. Some decent psychology from Doink as well, but overall not much doing here. ¾*

Main Event: Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect v Razor Ramon and Lex Luger: This is Luger's MSG debut as well. The heels distract Perfect to jump, but Razor gets reversed into the ropes, and Perfect hiptosses him. Razor stalls, but ends up in a standing headlock, so he tries criss crossing, but gets the worst of it. Razor bails to regroup, and manages a backelbow on the way back in, allowing the tag. Lex with a turnbuckle smash, and he hammers Perfect with rights, but gets reversed into the ropes, and Perfect lands a kneelift. He adds a dropkick to put Luger on the outside, and Bret tags in. He trades wristlocks with a recovering Luger, so Lex tries grabbing a bearhug, but Hart bites him to prevent it. Hart gets an armbar locked, so Lex corner whips him, but misses a charge. That allows Bret to go back to the hold, until Lex bodyslams him, and passes to Ramon. Ramon comes in with an elbowdrop, but Hart dodges, and tags - wishboning the Bad Guy with Perfect. The babyfaces take turns working the leg, and Hart gets a figure four on, but Luger saves. Lex tags in and turnbuckle smashes the Hitman, but Bret pulls off a rollup for two, and tags. Perfect comes in with a pair of inverted atomic drops, and lands a clothesline from there. A corner whip leads to a catapult into the turnbuckles, and Perfect cracks him with a chop. Perfect with a ten-punch count, so Luger tries an inverted atomic drop out of the corner, but Perfect blocks, and clotheslines him. Perfect adds a swinging neckbreaker for two, but a criss cross goes south when Razor pulls the top rope down, and Perfect goes flying over the top. Ramon whips him into the steps out there for good measure, and the heels take control, going to work on Perfect. Perfect dodges a double team to allow the hot tag to Hart, and he runs wild. Hart clears Ramon out so he can hit Luger with a Russian legsweep, setting up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop. The Sharpshooter looks to finish, but Ramon saves. Razor tags in and hammers on Hart, but Bret musters a side suplex. He grabs a headlock to try and buy recovery time, but he can’t hold it, and Ramon shoves him into the referee, bumping the official. There’s no one there to count when Bret hooks a small package, so Luger rolls it over into a reversal - only for Perfect to reverse it back at 18:45. This was pretty fun, and if Perfect and Luger were showing this kind of energy at WrestleMania IX, that match would have probably been a lot more memorable. ** ½ 

BUExperience: This version omits Terry Taylor/Jim Brunzell, Virgil/Repo Man, and Tatanka/Reno Riggins. No big losses there. The rest isn’t an especially memorable house show, but the main event is fun.

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