What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – August 2, 1993

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are commentating, taped from Alexandria Bay, New York. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the taping took place on July 25 and was attended by 1,000 fans. The venue is a recreation center but it looks like a vacated industrial facility.

Randy Savage is in the locker room, promising a surprise for Doink the Clown later.

Opening Non-Title Contest: The Steiner Brothers (WWF Tag Team Champions) (27-0) beat Duane Gill & Barry Horowitz when Scott pins Gill after the Frankensteiner at 2:45:

McMahon says that the Steiners have signed an open contract for SummerSlam because they just want to wrestle in front of a hometown crowd in Michigan. The action is muted compared to other Steiner squashes. Scott uses a pumphandle slam on Gill to set up the Frankensteiner.

There is a taped segment called “Who is Lex Luger?” Luger talks about his father stressing the importance of academics and being well rounded, how athletics was a way for him to be socially accepted, and how his introversion is taken for arrogance. The WWF is trying to make Luger more personable but Luger’s body language made it seem like he was being interrogated as a murder suspect.

Adam Bomb (w/Johnny Polo) (14-0) pins Tony Roy after the Atom Smasher at 2:18:

McMahon announces that the SummerSlam contract signing for the Yokozuna-Luger match will take place on next week’s program. He is also calling Luger “The American Original” now. Polo carries lacrosse gear to the ring even those he is dressed to go on safari. Like the opener, this squash is on auto pilot and fills television time. Bomb must hate jobbers named Tony as his last three victims have been Tony DeVito, Tony Webb, and now Tony Roy.

Randy Savage (1-1) defeats Doink the Clown (22-5-3) after a small package at 9:19 shown:

Savage is decked out in patriotic colors in his first match since the March to WrestleMania IX special where he lost to Yokozuna. Doink controls most of the match as Savage fails to generate offense, even after Doink misses his flying butt splash finish. When Savage ends up on the floor, he crawls underneath the ring and on the other side emerges a little person dressed as Savage (played by Tiger Jackson). Doink finds that funny until he chases Little Macho around the ring and gets ambushed by Savage. He is then small packaged in the ring and beaten. This was yet another Savage feature match where he takes punishment for ninety percent of it but still manages to win. But the use of the Little Macho Man character was fun and used Doink’s mind games against him. Rating: **½

After the match, Little Macho bites Doink the rear end and Savage knocks Doink to the floor. WWF officials prevent Doink from running back into the ring.

Gene Okerlund does the SummerSlam Report. He announces that Bret Hart’s family will be at ringside for his battle with Jerry Lawler.

Ted DiBiase calls into the broadcast, promising that Razor Ramon will pay for getting involved in his match with the 1-2-3 Kid on Wrestling Challenge. He hangs up when McMahon has footage air of DiBiase’s loss.

Former WCW manager and Smoky Mountain Wrestling owner Jim Cornette comes out unannounced. Heenan excitedly rushes into the ring from the announce table, hugging Cornette and introducing him as wrestling’s greatest manager. Cornette talks about creating the Heavenly Bodies in SMW and challenges the Steiners for SummerSlam. This was a good segment to introduce Cornette as the crowd did not care about him at first but Heenan’s endorsement transferred a ton of heat onto the new act.

Mr. Perfect (25-2-2) pins Barry Hardy after the Perfectplex at 2:40:

Perfect beat Hardy on the April 17 edition of Superstars and he does so again as Cornette joins commentary. Cornette complains about the lack of air conditioning in the venue, which would explain why wrestlers have been sweating buckets after a minute of ring time. Even Cornette was drenched in his segment. Perfect rips Hardy’s singlet off before doing his finish, with little hype paid to his SummerSlam match with Shawn Michaels.

A new video shows the Lex Express rolling into Erie, Pennsylvania and Luger posing like a madman at a shopping mall.

Tune in next week to see Tatanka battle Mr. Hughes! There will also be the SummerSlam contract signing! And the Heavenly Bodies will appear and Jim Cornette will have another surprise!

The Last Word: Although one can criticize the venues that the WWF is using outside of the Manhattan Center for RAW, they do have some charm to them since it gives the broadcast a more intimate, rugged feel. Jim Cornette’s debut was big news, as was the mention of Smoky Mountain Wrestling in an era when the WWF would prefer to ignore the existence of other wrestling promotions, and the Little Macho Man bit was something that would give younger fans something to joke about the next day at school.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for August 7!