May 24, 1993
From the Manhattan Center in New York City, NY
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan
This week, we will hear from Razor Ramon in a special interview. Also, we will see Mr. Perfect vs. Doink the Clown in a King of the Ring qualifying match and more!
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Doink the Clown vs. Mr. Perfect
Doink crawls underneath the ring during his entrance then we cut to Lord Alfred Hayes live outside with Doink, who squirts Lord Alfred with a flower then says its all an illusion. We then go back to the arena where Doink crawls from back underneath the ring. Match starts with Doink attacking Perfect before the bell then choking him out with his own towel. Perfect fights back and wins a slugfest before going to work on the leg. Doink bails then we go to break and return with Perfect hammering away in the corner. Doink is able to toss Perfect outside then comes out with a double axe handle and hobbles on the landing. Doink sends Perfect into the post then takes him off of the apron with a forearm smash. The match heads back inside with Doink working the arm. Perfect reverses and goes back to the leg of Doink and has his shoulders on the mat then slaps him across the face when he breaks the count. Doink takes Perfect outside and beats the crap out of him before heading back into the squared circle. Doink stays in control and uses a hammerlock slam for a two count right before commercial. The action returns with a slugfest then Perfect hits an atomic drop and follows with a clothesline. Doink yanks Perfect into the corner but Perfect comes back to clothesline Doink outside. Doink then crawls underneath of the ring and the second Doink comes out to act like he was the one whose been in the match as Heenan plays this off as an illusion. Vince notes how this Doink has his full makeup unlike the other Doink where the makeup was coming off but this Doink ducks his head and Perfect uses a Perfect Plex for the win (15:00) ***1/4. After the match, the original Doink comes out and they both beat on Perfect until Crush runs out and makes the save.
Thoughts: Good match and nice to see Doink get some comeuppance for once as the two Doink trick backfired then Crush finally beat him down. Also funny to hear Heenan yell about how the wrong Doink was pinned then get called out for how he had been saying this double Doink stuff was all just an illusion. Perfect grabs the final spot in the tournament.
King of the Ring Report with Gene Okerlund. We are now shown the full bracket which is Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect vs. Mr. Hughes, Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, and Lex Luger vs. Tatanka. Once again, Brutus Beefcake is not present with Hogan for these interviews. And these Hogan interviews have been fucking awful. And, all Hogan has done for this match are on location promos that air during these reports. Its been a weak build for sure.
Money Inc. heads down to the ring. DiBiase calls out the fans in New York of always wanting to make a quick buck then offers $100 for a shoe shine. Some kid comes into the ring, as Heenan refers to him as a “little girl” because of his ponytail, and shines the shoes of Money Inc. However, IRS gives the kid $30 because the rest came out for taxes, causing Vince to go mental about how that was disgusting but in reality, the kid got $30 for about a minute of work. I guess Vince was not a fan of the government this week. And that would not change as the year continued.
Money Inc. vs. Mike Bell & Tony DeVito
Heenan gets in an inside reference by saying the only thing worse than having a name like DeVito is if your first name is “Basil.” For those unaware, DeVito is a longtime WWF employee and currently the “Senior Advisor of Business Strategy.” Money Inc. beat down Bell to start. DeVito tags in and suffers the same fate as his partner while the announcers talk about the eight-man tag at the King of the Ring PPV. Heenan wants to congratulate the “humanoid” who made $30 for minimal work then as the announcers now talk about all of the chaos happening over the past couple of weeks. Money Inc. continues to beat on DeVito then IRS uses the Write Off clothesline for the win (3:58).
Thoughts: A long squash match used to hype this eight-man tag for the PPV. Speaking of the eight-man tag, it was a disappointing announcement especially when you consider how on TV the announcers have been telling us The Steiners were getting a title shot.
An ad for WWF Mania airs. The announcers then mention how this week’s exclusive Mania match is Owen Hart vs. Mr. Hughes. And that will be recapped later on today.
Crush vs. Bobby Who
Heenan talks about everyone gunning for Shawn Michaels, including Crush, and how he feels for Shawn. Crush drops Who with a spin kick to the chest as Vince talks about the two Doinks we saw tonight. Crush stays in control as the announcers talk about his temper then he uses the head vice for the win (3:22).
Thoughts: So both Doink and Shawn are targets for Crush, who still does not have a spot on the PPV since he did not advance in his qualifying match.
Now, we get an ad for “All-American Wrestling” to hype up how the show is on the road. Heenan then plugs Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Bob Backlund as the exclusive match while the hosts are at Bill Fralic’s charity golf tournament in Pittsburgh.
Vince now welcomes Razor Ramon into the ring. Razor says that “stick man” did not beat him and that nobody beats the bad guy. Vince says it proves anyone can be defeated at anytime in the WWF as the crowd chants “1-2-3.” Razor then tells Stick Man he has a deal then pulls out $2,500 to come back for a rematch. However, Bret Hart comes out instead. Bret then tells Razor he should be focusing on more important things like the King of the Ring then calls out Razor for not being able to get past one of the underneath guys. Bret then says he will beat Razor 1-2-3 at the King of the Ring then leaves. This segment was designed not only to build up to a rematch but to get the “1-2-3” chant over for the fans to taunt Razor. Also its nice to see them hype a 1st round match.
Back from break we see Heenan flip through different channels on TV until he sees Johnny Polo, who tells us to get ready for Adam Bomb as an explosion follows on the screen.
Adam Bomb w/ Johnny Polo vs. Phil Apollo
Bomb beats down Apollo and hits a back suplex. Vince plugs the USA Wednesday Night titled “Duplicates” as Bomb tosses Apollo outside. Bomb beats down Apollo a bit before rolling him back inside where he hits a flying clothesline before using a powerbomb for the win (2:34).
Thoughts: Basic win here for Bomb, who looked more impressive on Superstars than he did here.
Next week on RAW are the Steiner Brothers, Razor Ramon, Mr. Hughes, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. And the featured match is an Intercontinental Title match between Marty Jannetty and Bam Bam Bigelow.
Bigelow now talks about having Luna Vachon by his side to keep Sensational Sherri out of his business. They are continuing the Luna/Sherri feud by having them as valets for next week’s IC Title match.
Final Thoughts: The big news here is that the King of the Ring tournament is now all set, with the final match of the Doink/Perfect trilogy being the best. And we also set up for an Intercontinental Title match for next week while continuing what happened last week after Razor Ramon was upset by The Kid. Another breezy edition of RAW.