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

Tatanka warns Ludvig Borga that he is coming to achieve his revenge.

Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels commentate, taped from White Plains, New York. This show was taped at the same time as the November 29 and December 6 episodes instead of being taped in Poughkeepsie, the location of last week’s live episode.

Opening Contest: Jeff Jarrett (1-0) defeats P.J. Walker (1-10) after a DDT off the ropes at 4:08:

McMahon acknowledges that Jarrett’s gear does not match his gimmick but sells it as Jarrett trying to stand out. Jarrett’s tights are bright white tonight instead of the neon colors he used on Superstars. Before the match, Jarrett gets on the microphone and puts over his greatness. Jarrett struts around a lot, using basic offense to win. After the DDT off the ropes, Jarrett holds the tights to guarantee victory. And he gets back on the microphone to tell fans not to forget his name.

Call 1-900-454-4WWF to vote about whether Lex Luger should be allowed to compete in the Royal Rumble! Calls cost 99 cents each! Dave Meltzer and others were critical of the WWF running these polls because the WWF already knew how it was going to book Luger. That made these polls a scam.

Men on a Mission (w/Oscar) (19-0) defeat Duane Gill & Barry Hardy when Mabel pins Hardy after a splash off the second rope at 4:27:

MOM and Oscar are wearing Santa hats. McMahon is insistent on fans listening to Oscar’s Christmas rap but most of it is unintelligible because of the audio system. McMahon also makes the funny claim that Gill and Hardy have had success in the WWF even though they have never won a televised match. To put over Mabel’s size McMahon and Michaels discuss a weird story from Argentina at the time of a man eating an entire pig and dying shortly thereafter. Gill prevents Hardy from getting pinned by a Mo powerslam but that just makes the situation for his partner worse because Gill is knocked out of the ring and Hardy eats a Mabel splash off the second rope.

Ludvig Borga promises to end Tatanka’s career for good in the next match.

Tatanka (39-1-3) beats Ludvig Borga (22-0-1) via disqualification when Yokozuna interferes at 4:43:

Tatanka does better against Borga than their encounter on October 30, staggering the Finnish star to open the match and forcing Borga to use his old flying clothesline finish to take control. Tatanka is also the one to shrug off some of Borga’s offense. Four minutes in, WWF Champion Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji come to ringside and Fuji hits Tatanka with the Japanese flag behind the referee’s back when Tatanka goes to the top rope. Yokozuna then enters the ring, causing a disqualification. So Borga ended Tatanka’s long unbeaten streak and Tatanka returns the favor. It is unfortunate that the match had such a cop out finish because this was turning into a good physical contest. Rating: **¼

After the bell rings, Tatanka chops Yokozuna until Borga recovers. Before the heels can inflict a lot of damage, Lex Luger runs in and body slams Yokozuna. Luger got one of his best reactions in months from this segment.

Captain Lou Albano is introduced to the crowd before the next match.

Adam Bomb (w/Harvey Wippleman) (32-0) defeats Mark Thomas after the Atom Smasher at 1:41:

Bomb and Wippleman are not pleased with Albano’s presence, telling Albano to get lost. As McMahon and Michaels talk about Barney the Dinosaur, Bomb gets another quick win.

Owen Hart (14-6) beats Mike Bell via submission to the Sharpshooter at 3:10:

Owen is still mimicking Bret’s sunglasses routine before the match begins. He also borrows Bret’s elbow drop off the second rope. Bell gets a run of offense in the middle, throwing a nice clothesline against the buckles, but Owen gets back on track and wins with the Sharpshooter. A nice touch to Owen’s recent squashes is that he is still wrestling as a babyface, showing that his dispute with Bret has not made him embrace the rule breaking side of the roster.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (30-2-1) beat Phil Apollo & Jerry Seavey when Fatu pins Seavey after the splash off the top rope at 2:57:

The Headshrinkers keep Apollo from being a force in the match, knocking him over the top rope early and knocking him off the apron when he tries to tag in later. The match allows McMahon to hype the Yokozuna-Undertaker casket match at The Royal Rumble. It is also announced that the Quebecers will be guest commentators on the next RAW.

Tune in next week to see Marty Jannetty face Johnny Polo! Also, Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon and Lex Luger will be in action!

The Last Word: The crowd’s reaction to Lex Luger body slamming Yokozuna should have clued in the WWF’s booking team that the way to get Luger over was to match him against sizeable opponents and have him do power moves. That is the opposite of what he was stuck doing after SummerSlam. Shawn Michaels was decent at color commentary but had little to say after the first match. Vince McMahon is also paranoid about the show being perceived as taped so in recent weeks he has kept throwing in random current event tidbits. There is a small story to the Marty Jannetty-Johnny Polo match next week because of Polo’s interference in a match Jannetty had with the 1-2-3 Kid before Survivor Series but the WWF has taken forever to callback to that incident so most fans may wonder why Jannetty is wrestling a manager on next week’s program.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for December 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!