The SmarK Retro RAW Rant – July 19 1993
– I figured that I might as well FINALLY review the actual MOTY between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty to clear it up once and for all. God bless 24/7 Online.
– Live from Manhattan Centre in New York.
– Your hosts are Vince, Bobby & Macho.
Intercontinental title: Shawn Michaels v. Marty Jannetty
Shawn had regained the belt at a house show thanks to a debuting Kevin “Diesel” Nash. The jeans and cowboy boots look on Big Kev were not conducing towards his badass image. Shawn slugs on Marty to start, but Marty counters a backdrop and puts him down with a clothesline for two. Rollup gets two. Shawn tries his own and gets dumped. Back in, he grabs a headlock and grinds on it, and they do a nice reversal sequence to show how well they know each other. Shawn gets a cheapshot and chokes Marty out, but he misses a blind charge and Marty comes back with a slam for two. He starts working on the arm, but Shawn elbows him down. Shawn charges, but hits elbow and Marty goes up with a flying clothesline and then up again, but Shawn is up to dodge him. Marty lands on his feet, however, and DDTs Shawn for the pin and the title at 5:09? Nope, as it turns out, Shawn’s foot is on the ropes, and THE MATCH MUST CONTINUE.
Back from a break with Marty getting a suplex for two and slugging away, and a backbreaker gets two. Shawn tries to go over the top in the corner, but Marty counters with a sleeper, forcing Shawn to escape with a backdrop suplex. Marty charges and hits elbow, allowing Shawn to toss him. Back in, they criss-cross and collide, and Shawn kips up and falls right out of the ring. Cute. And we take another break. Back with Shawn going up for a flying axehandle that gets two, and we hit the chinlock. I can tell you right now that it’s not a ***** match because this chinlock goes on way too long and the match has been generally slow and awkward at times. Shawn slugs him down and switches to a front facelock on the mat, using the ropes. Marty fights up and drops Shawn on the top rope to escape, and follows with a back elbow for two. Shawn comes back with a powerbomb, but Marty reverses to a rana for two. Marty charges and misses and Shawn goes up with a high cross, but Marty rolls through for two. Rocker Dropper sets up Marty’s superkick attempt, but Shawn collapses into the ropes and gets tied up. Marty punches him out of it, but then charges and takes a good bump to the floor. Diesel is nice enough to roll him back in and Shawn pins him to retain at 14:20. 93 was a really weak year if that’s supposed to be the best match that it produced. Bret v. Perfect from King of the Ring and even Perfect v. Flair from RAW in January blew this one away. Maybe it was a matter of being good for the time, but I don’t see where Meltzer would get ****3/4 from. ***1/2
Money Inc. joins us to complain about getting robbed of the tag belts by the Steiners, and they go on to mock Razor Ramon for losing $10,000 to the 1-2-3 Kid and offer him a job as a pool cleaner to reclaim it. Razor comes out and claims not to have a price, and then clears the ring to officially turn babyface. Never seen that face turn, actually. Dibiase is pissed and wants the Kid in the ring to show Ramon how easy it is to beat him.
Men on a Mission v. Unintroduced Jobbers
MOM was supposed to be the “tag team of the future” according to the hype by the announce team all show long. How dumb that sounds in hindsight. They double-team the long-haired jobber and Mo brings the bald jobber in for Mabel to pound on. Slam and splash finish at 1:45. The lame rapping gimmick was dated even for 1993, especially with the Gangstas about to take Smoky Mountain Wrestling by storm. DUD Lemme tell ya, if they had debuted today looking as sloppy and distracted as they did here, they’d get nitpicked to death by the locker room and sent back to Memphis.
Bastion Booger v. Scott Despres
This is apparently Booger’s debut after a failed stint as the Mad Monk or Friar Ferguson or whichever one made it to TV. Booger clotheslines him down and drops the leg, and a powerslam and butt splash finish at 1:00. 1/4*
Jerry Lawler interviews Tiny Tim in a bit I never understood the point of. Lawler berates him and Tim gets offended, so Lawler smashes the ukulele and Tim does some horrible acting to sell it. Really stupid.
The 1-2-3 Kid v. Chris Duffy
Kid throws the kicks in the corner for two and grabs a headlock, but Duffy comes back with a hiptoss as Razor comes out of the audience to watch. Kid comes back with the Lightning Legdrops , but runs into a boot in the corner. He fires back with the leg lariat and dropkicks him in the corner, then goes up and finishes with a flying legdrop at 2:10. Duffy got a lot of offense for a jobber, which fit with the Kid’s character.
– Bah, I’m disappointed. That match has been built up for so long that I was expecting something mind-blowing when I finally saw it. Oh well, still a fun show back in the days when it was fast-paced and felt truly different from any other wrestling show.
