The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW – May 17 1993
– Live from New York
– Your hosts are Vince, Macho and Brain.
– This is of course an episode that you may have heard about before.
– Last week, Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect get into a brawl on Finkel’s car, as they continue to build this feud up to levels that were impossible for it to actually attain in the ring. Lord Alfred informs us that someone has snuck into the building in disguise.
The Smoking Gunns v. Glenn Ruth & Tony Vajda
Bart gets a quick rollup on Vajda to start, and Billy comes in with a clothesline on Ruth and then a hooking one to follow. The Gunns get a double legsweep on him and Billy drops a series of elbows as they work on his arm. It’s kind of funny seeing Glenn (Headbanger Thrasher) Ruth just kind of dressed as a normal wrestler. Billy with a suplex and they double-team Ruth’s arm, then Billy follows with a powerslam and backdrops Ruth into a super-sloppy piledriver from Bart at 3:42. Not sure if that was supposed to be a powerbomb or what, but it was a neat idea aside from nearly breaking the guy’s neck and all. Gunns weren’t that exciting here, but they got over enough to win themselves a job for a while.
Shawn Michaels joins us for an interview. He’s pretty much done everything he promised and fought everyone, and hey, he’ll defend the belt at any time against anyone, and no sooner does he say that than someone comes out of the stands…and reveals himself to be Marty Jannetty. Vince is all for a title match tonight, even with Marty in his street clothes, but luckily Marty has his tights ready in the back and he’s good to go. See, now why can’t they do this sort of thing today, with people making their own matches organically instead of the evil authority figure having to hold everyone’s hand? Nitro always did a good job of that sort of thing, as well.
Razor Ramon v. The Kid
No fancy name for Waltman this week. Razor is just crazy over with the fans here. Razor powers him down and throws chops in the corner, then gives him a crazy hiptoss across the ring. Abdominal stretch and he stomps Kid down, then follows with the fallaway slam. Blind charge misses, and Kid finishes with a moonsault press at 2:08, as the place goes BALLISTIC. As did the internet, who had been waiting for the promised Waltman push to start for two weeks.
Tatanka v. Scott Taylor
Tatanka clotheslines him down to start and follows with a backdrop, then whips Taylor around and chops him down. Powerslam and elbow follows, as it’s really kind of a slow and dull squash for Tatanka. Apparently this is Angry Tatanka, as he’s cutting promos on Bam Bam Bigelow in between moves. Taylor gets a couple of shots in, but that’s enough to provoke the Pissed Off Racial Stereotype comeback, and the Papoose to Go finishes.
Kamala v. Yokozuna
This is gonna be a bigger trainwreck than Jon and Kate Plus Eight, I’m betting. So we’ve got a samoan guy playing a Japanese wrestler facing an American guy playing a Ugandan savage. You know you’re watching pro wrestling now. They slug it out and Kamala goes down to a headbutt, and Yoko drops the HULKBUSTER legdrop. Kamala fires back with chops, but gets tripped up by Fuji, allowing Yoko to superkick him into the corner and squash him with a pair of avalanches, setting up the Banzai buttdrop to finish at 3:40. Total massacre, actually, instead of the disaster I was expecting. Kamala must have been finishing up. *
Intercontinental title: Shawn Michaels v. Marty Jannetty
Marty gets a rollup for two and they criss-cross into a sunset flip for two, and Shawn is reeling. Marty slugs him out to the floor and follows with a baseball slide, then hits him with a pescado. Back in, Shawn misses the superkick and Marty takes him down with a flying headscissors for two. Backdrop out of the corner and Shawn flips out of the ring on a corner whip, and he’s had enough! Sadly for him, Mr Perfect sends him back into the ring again and we take a break. Back with Marty catapulting Shawn back into the ring, but Shawn blocks a headscissors with a stungun and chokes him out on the ropes. And we hit the chinlock. Marty escapes with a catapult into the post and slugs away to come back. Powerslam gets two. High cross gets two. They trade rollups for two and Shawn superkicks him, but he gets all distracted by Mr Perfect at ringside and Marty rolls him up for the pin and the title at 8:59. Nothing special, really, but it set the tone of craziness and unexpected happenings that set the stage for their weekly booking for months to come, and was a big inspiration for what Nitro started out as. **1/2
Awesome show this week, the best one yet.
Next week: Mr. Perfect v. Doink in a King of the Ring Qualifier!
