What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – September 20, 1993

Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage are in the booth, taped from the Manhattan Center in New York City. This would be the last Manhattan Center RAW until February 24, 1997.

McMahon recaps how the Quebecers won the WWF Tag Team Championship on last week’s program.

Opening Contest for a WWF Tag Team Title Shot: Scott Steiner (1-0) beats Pierre (w/Johnny Polo) after the Frankensteiner at 12:41 shown:

These two had some good exchanges in last week’s Tag Team title match. Scott dominates all the action before the commercial break, nearly winning with a piledriver. Pierre heads to the locker room and after the break, Jacques comes out. Rick is on his heels and the chaos allows Pierre to attack Scott from behind. He slows down the action with several chinlocks, excusable when one considers that this is the second match these two have wrestled at the taping. Scott kicks out of a corner slingshot splash and flying leg drop off the second rope. He avoids a corner slingshot splash to start a comeback, with McMahon still calling a Steinerline a “Steinerliner.” After a double underhook suplex, Scott delivers the Frankensteiner and Jacques and Polo do not bother intervening, allowing Pierre to take a clean loss. Scott’s part of this match was great but Pierre started to run out of things to do at the end. No date is given for when the Steiner Brothers were going to get their return title match and due to their upcoming house show suspension the answer would be never. Rating: **½

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (32-3-1) pins Laverne McGill after a back splash at 5:17:

McGill, who also went by Sledgehammer McGill, made four appearances for the WWF in 1992. He dropped matches to the Nasty Boys, Repo Man, Tatanka, and Money Incorporated.

McGill outsmarts Bigelow early, grabbing the ropes to avoid a dropkick and avoiding a blind charge. However, he fails to dropkick Bigelow off the apron. Crush calls into the show, repeating that he is in good shape for a return. When Savage tries to talk to him, Crush says he has no interest in talking to Savage and hangs up. Due to the call, the squash drags out. McGill gets more spots like doing a sunset flip into the ring and avoiding another blind charge but Bigelow blocks or recovers sufficiently, getting a reaction for a back splash where he throws his weight across McGill’s chest.

After showing footage of Doink the Clown throwing water on Heenan on last week’s episode, Heenan feigns having a cold, saying he has a temperature of 113 degrees and is suffering from a collapsed lung. McMahon pulls the thermometer out of Heenan’s mouth and announces that it reads 97 degrees.

McMahon conducts an in-ring interview with Bret Hart. McMahon recaps the events of SummerSlam. Bret says his only regret from the pay-per-view is he did not keep Jerry Lawler in the Sharpshooter longer. He looks forward to another match with Lawler where he will make it impossible for the King to wear a crown.

Mr. Perfect (31-3-2) pins Mike Bell after the Perfectplex at 3:54:

Perfect is sent back out to wrestle in front of a hostile crowd that did not care for him last week. He wrestles snug, blasting Bell with some hard chops and a knee lift. That does not win all the crowd over but he does get a pop for the finish.

A new Ludvig Borga vignette shows him in the woods complaining about American pollution. He does not understand why Lex Luger wants to defend a country that ruins its natural resources.

Heenan talks with fans in the front row. There is another marriage proposal and Heenan is not as funny as he was months earlier, giving the woman his Kleenex and making fun the man’s name.

P.J. Walker (0-7) beats Irwin R. Schyster (3-1) with a schoolboy roll up at 1:21:

Before the bell, IRS says that Razor Ramon does not have the guts to wrestle him so he is going to make an example out of Walker. Less than a minute into the match Ramon walks to the ring and taunts the tax man. Ramon gets a big reaction for that and Walker uses distraction to roll IRS up and steal a win. That makes the Bad Guy laugh and IRS tries to get at him but is stopped by WWF officials. The crowd works up a “1, 2, 3” chant to end the segment.

Heenan goes to the locker room to talk to WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers and Johnny Polo. Polo says that the Quebecers are not afraid of the Steiner Brothers but they will not be giving them a title shot next week. However, they will defend the belts against someone that deserves it. All of this negates the opening match, though, which made people wonder why it was booked.

Tune in next week to see a WWF Tag Team title match! Also, Tatanka and Ludvig Borga will be in action! And Jimmy Snuka returns to the WWF for one night only!

The Last Word: The beginning and end of the show was good, which is a nice way for the WWF to wrap up its shows at the Manhattan Center. The venue provided a unique environment but was starting to get too snarky. The WWF also wanted more flexibility in where to hold the show rather than returning everyone to New York City every week, which was an expensive place for talent to stay. Not to mention it helped the company cut costs.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for September 25!

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!