What the World Was Watching: Monday Night RAW – March 8, 1993

The Mega-Maniacs and Jimmy Hart repeat their acceptance of WWF Tag Team Champions Money Incorporated’s challenge for WrestleMania. Hulk Hogan talks about how he is getting “bionic” Brutus Beefcake ready for the match by banging him in the head a lot with a briefcase. They also hype a surprise they will give to Money Incorporated soon and Hogan sings “Getting to Know You.” These early promos are showing that Hogan is losing some of his fastball in this program.

Vince McMahon, Rob Bartlett, and Randy Savage provide commentary, taped from the Manhattan Center in New York City.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Money Incorporated (WWF Tag Team Champions) (1-1) beat El Matador & Virgil (1-1) when Irwin R. Schyster pins Virgil after a back suplex at 7:30 shown:

Before the match, IRS says that newly elected President Bill Clinton will make sure that people pay more taxes. The crowd loves to chant “Irwin!” at IRS as well, showing that they were paying attention to Roddy Piper’s commentary in 1991. El Matador and Virgil dominate the cutting of the match. There is an awkward hot tag segment with Virgil as he does not get swarmed by the heels. Instead, DiBiase tries to trip him when he runs the ropes and when Virgil argues with him, IRS sneaks behind DiBiase’s former bodyguard and drops him with a back suplex for the pin. Rating: **

A video package recaps Tatanka’s recent victories over Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels.

Rick Martel comes to the ring to accost one of the ring girls, saying that she needs to watch him model the ring card “with class.” That gets some heat as the crowd preferred to see women in skimpy attire model cards.

Tatanka (5-0) pins Phil Apollo after the Papoose to Go at 2:44:

Apollo was trained by WWF Hall of Famer Killer Kowalski, making his debut in 1986 for the Boston-based International Championship Wrestling (ICW) promotion. He had success there, winning the ICW Heavyweight Championship a year later. In 1987 he went to World Class, becoming part of Gary Hart’s New Age Management stable. He did enhancement matches for WCW in 1989 and started doing them for the WWF in 1991. In 1992 he appeared seven times, losing to the Beverly Brothers, Money Incorporated, the Headshrinkers, Shawn Michaels, Rick Martel, Papa Shango, and Nailz.

Tatanka pleases the crowd by chopping Apollo. Michaels calls into the show, making a gambling analogy about how Tatanka will not be lucky enough to beat him again at WrestleMania. With this win, Tatanka pushes his unbeaten streak to 50 singles matches.

Gene Okerlund does the WrestleMania IX Report. The Undertaker and Paul Bearer tell Giant Gonzalez that other people have tried to take them down in the past and they have been laid to rest.

Rick Martel comes to the ring to dismiss another ring girl. Bartlett uses this as an excuse to make fun of Martel’s yacht-like dress and sing his version of the Gilligan’s Island theme.

Papa Shango (2-1) defeats Mike Edwards after the reverse shoulderbreaker at 2:31:

Edwards was a Canadian talent that had been wrestling since 1982. He worked as a jobber for Vancouver All-Star Wrestling from 1986-1989.

Shango wins easily but nothing is said about a future program for him so this just fills television time.

Bob Backlund (4-0) pins Tony Demoro with a half nelson cradle at 3:52:

True to arena reports, Backlund is over in the Northeast and gets his best reaction in front of a televised crowd this year outside of The Royal Rumble. They try to do some amateur sequences but Demoro is lost. The crowd’s enthusiasm wanes, waking up when Backlund hits a double underhook suplex to set up the winning pinning combination.

Bartlett interviews Rick Martel backstage, who says that the ring girls, the fans, and the building has no class. Martel promises to show Mr. Perfect in the main event what perfection is all about.

Mr. Perfect (6-0) pins Rick Martel after the Perfectplex at 7:31 shown:

Martel spent a lot of time in 1992 feuding with Tatanka after stealing the Native American wrestler’s eagle feathers. He was also pivoted into a brief, yet entertaining program with Shawn Michaels over Sensational Sherri’s affections for SummerSlam. Although he remained a great technical worker, Martel did not get as strong of a push as he did from 1990-1991, losing cleanly to Tatanka at WrestleMania and Survivor Series. His biggest moment in 1992 was ending the Big Bossman’s long winning streak on television, beating the Cobb County babyface on an April episode of Prime Time Wrestling.

There is a nice cartwheel exchange when each man outmaneuvers the other, a great way to emphasize Perfect’s character of doing things better than everyone else. Before a commercial break, Bartlett starts to act like Elvis again, arguing that his body is being possessed. Two commercial breaks splice across this clash of former AWA World champions and Perfect wins before the show comes back from a commercial break with the Perfectplex. The WWF must have been trying to put over the “live” element of the show even though this one was taped by doing that. Considering each man’s abilities, this was disappointing as it never found the extra gear that many longtime watches would have expected. Rating: **

At the end of the show, Perfect returns with the ring girls that Martel evicted.

Tune in next week to see Typhoon face Bam Bam Bigelow! Also, Kamala and Razor Ramon will be in action!

The Last Word: There were a few okay matches on this program but it lacked energy. Rick Martel has only appeared once this year – at The Royal Rumble – and has sunk into low midcard status. As a result, there was not a lot of heat on the main event. Next week’s show seems like it will be flat as well since Bam Bam Bigelow and Typhoon already fought this year in a lousy match and the outcome is not in doubt.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for March 13!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1992 WWF, 1993 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!