What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – August 16, 1993

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are in the booth, live from Poughkeepsie, New York. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sellout crowd of 3,000.

Opening Contest: The 1-2-3 Kid (7-2-1) beats Ted DiBiase (1-2) via disqualification when Irwin R. Schyster interferes at 4:44:

This is the return match from the Kid’s upset of DiBiase on Wrestling Challenge and McMahon tells fans that Razor Ramon and IRS are barred from ringside. Ramon calls into the show, saying that the Kid has unique moves and he met with the Kid before tonight’s match, making the Kid promise to leave some of DiBiase for him at SummerSlam. DiBiase dominates the contest, with the Kid keeping the crowd invested with a couple of near-falls from dropkicks and a missile dropkick. When the Kid goes back to the top, IRS rushes out and pushes him off in view of the referee and DiBiase gets disqualified. This was not as good as their Wrestling Challenge match because the first few minutes dragged. It is DiBiase’s fourth-straight defeat in singles and tag matches. Rating: *½

Money Incorporated briefly work over the Kid until the Steiner Brothers make the save. That puts some heat on the team’s planned match at SummerSlam Spectacular this Sunday.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (20-2-1) defeat Mike Khoury & Dave Moraldo when Fatu pins Moraldo after the splash off the top rope at 3:06:

Samu knocks out Khoury with a thrust kick and Moraldo cannot fight one Headshrinker, much less two. Afa yells at ringside about how the Headshrinkers want a shot at the Tag Team titles.

Bastion Booger is shown eating WWF ice cream bars backstage.

Marty Jannetty (13-3-1) beats Bastion Booger (8-4) after a roll up at 4:58 shown:

This feature match replaces the scheduled El Matador-Irwin R. Schyster bout that could no longer happen because Tito Santana left. These two faced off a month ago on WWF Mania and Jannetty pinned Booger with a flying body press. Jannetty tries to make something of the match by flying all over the place, diving onto Booger twice on the floor and doing a 360 sell after being whipped into the ring post. Booger blocks a Jannetty sunset flip with his finisher but, like Mr. Perfect two weeks ago, Jannetty completes the move after the count of two and pins his opponent. Rating: *½

McMahon does an in-ring interview with Money Incorporated. They tell WWF Tag Team Champions the Steiner Brothers that they may not make it to SummerSlam and laugh when McMahon implies that they do not know how to work a steel cage match. Ted DiBiase carried the interview as Irwin R. Schyster was out of sorts, stumbling over everything he tried to say.

Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (6-0) beat Barry Horowitz & Mike Sharpe when Mabel pins Sharpe after the assisted splash at 2:09:

MOM destroy their opponents in turn and get lots of the kids and young adults in the crowd in on their act of waving their hands for Oscar’s pre- and post-match raps.

On this week’s “Who is Lex Luger?” segment Luger chalks up drug use in sports to how young people are getting lots of money before they are mature enough to handle it. He emphatically denies that he is taking steroids now but admits to taking them before they were illegal.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (29-3-1) pins Rich Myers after the flying headbutt at 3:10:

Bigelow breaks Myers in half with a backdrop suplex and then toys with him for a few more minutes than needed to win a tune up for SummerSlam.

The Macho Midget comes out with some of the RAW ring card girls. This is the surprise Savage promised to deliver on the show. That is underwhelming to say the least.

McMahon goes over the SummerSlam Spectacular card. Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels faces Bob Backlund, WWF Tag Team Champions the Steiner Brothers defend against Money Incorporated in a cage match, WWF Champion Yokozuna faces Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and the Undertaker will appear for a special interview!

The Last Word: Even though this was live it lacked the unpredictable elements that have made RAW a good television show in 1993. The singles matches were okay but each suffered from problems and the continued use of the Macho Midget is something that was probably only entertaining for Vince McMahon. This would be the last RAW for three weeks as the WWF would air a one-hour version of SummerSlam Spectacular the next week and then SummerSlam and the U.S. Open for tennis pre-empted RAW two weeks after that.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for August 21!