RAW Retrospective: Monday Night Raw 04.12.93

Posted by Trace Aber on 09.08.2009

We got Scott Steiner taking on IRS, the debut of Friar Ferguson, and the first cat fight in Monday Night RAW history!

WWF RAW Episode Twelve
April 12, 1993
Live from Poughkeepsie, NY at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Hosts: Randy Savage, Vince McMahon, and Rob Bartlett
Approx. Run Time: 42 minutes

Backstage, Money Inc hands the Beverly Brothers money. The Brothers put over the Steiners, saying they're strong, have painful suplexes, and to take out their legs. Interesting way of getting the Steiners over, I suppose.

Rob Bartlett looks to have lost some weight or something, can't quite put my finger on it. Doesn't matter, because he'll be interviewing Luna Vachon. Tatanka, Papa Shango, and a "newcomer" are all scheduled for tonight's Monday Night Raw!

IRS Vs Scott Steiner
IRS reminds us all that we have until Thursday to file our taxes and that getting caught cheating would be a bad idea. See, we need more people like IRS to give people economic advice. Scott's Steiner hair at this point is majestic to say the least. Scott starts with a hammerlock, which IRS escapes by means of ropes. IRS goes for a kick but gets caught, so he does the next best thing and hits the enzuigiri. Steiner recovers from an uppercut and gives IRS a big powerslam, sending him to the outside. Money Inc meets and discusses strategy out of the ring as Vince and company discuss filing their taxes. Riveting television, ladies and gentleman. Back to the action, Steiner keeps the headlock in until he gets pushed off, which leads to a couple of shoulder tackles and back to the hammerlock. IRS gets smashed into the turnbuckle and clotheslined but kicks out at two. Steiner continues work on the arm until IRS manages to work his way out of it with some elbows to the head. They both fight for a suplex with Steiner eventually winning after a sloppy start, which also gets two. IRS rolls back to the outside to meet with Dibiase. Back in, IRS rakes Steiner's eye and tosses him to the outside. With the ref distracted, Dibiase clotheslines Scott on the outside. We cut to a commercial break as Rick and Ted face one another, stripping the entire time. When we come back IRS hits a piledriver for two. IRS goes to the headlock for a long while, taking time to occasionally kick and punch Scott. Steiner fights out and they exchange blows but that ends once IRS hits a rib breaker. IRS goes up to the top but gets nothing but foot and eventually hit with a stiff elbow. Steiner pounds away in the corner and, grabbing him by the tie, and then necksnaps him with it. Kind of cool. IRS takes a body drop and the dreaded Butterfly Powerbomb, but Dibiase and Rick Steiner run it and it's a brawl at 12:05. Steiners work over Dibiase until the Beverly Brothers come out and help Money Inc. Those plans go awry, however, when Scott Steiner ducks a double clothesline and lets Dibiase get hit instead. As you can imagine, Money Inc isn't happy about this, which leads to a shoving contest. IRS shrugs them off, which causes Beau (or Blake) to attack him from behind. Dibiase begs them off and no further contact is made. **1/4 Kind of slow paced but a good opener. Not sure what they plan on doing with the Beverly Brothers, though.
Winner: Scott Steiner by DQ

Reorder the greatest Wrestlemania of all time, tonight, after Monday Night RAW!

Tatanka Vs Von Krus
Von Krus mocks Tatanka and adds salt to the wounds by, uhm…getting his ass handed to him with a series of monkey flips and hip tosses. Tatanka sends Krus into the corner and hits a chop as we cut to Doink the Clown at ringside. Tatanka hits a flying chop on Krus who is now outside somehow, and Doink leaves. That was…interesting. Krus takes control back in the ring and continues the mocking with tomahawk chops, and the results are about the same as last time - he gets his ass handed to him. Krus survives a big elbow drop, which lands him a stalling suplex. Krus hits a flying elbow and some forearms on Tatanka, which leads to both men entering a slugfest. Tatanka wins with a back body drop and finishes it with the normal chops and Papoose to Go at 4:00. * The only good part was Von Krus mocking Tatanka and then getting his ass handed to him…which works out because that was the entire match.
Winner: Tatanka

It's time for a special Wrestlemania Report. Sean Mooney is our host, and he continues to put over the fact that Wrestlemania IX is being called the best ever. God damnit that is such a lie. They show stills of Bret losing the belt and Hogan winning just a few seconds afterwards. They announce that Hogan's win is official and that he is, indeed, the new champion. Heenan said that the appearance of two Doinks at Wrestlemania was simply an illusion. Stills of Undertaker coming back from the dead because, well, he's already dead. Been there, done that. So, they put over two clowns, an eight foot guy with muscles spray-painted on his ass, and Hogan doing nothing to win a title. Awesome.

Rob Bartlett introduces Luna Vachon, who cuts a promo I can barely understand. Luna is the true woman of the 90s, between genius and insanity, and is not here to debate. She is, here, however, to state the facts. As it turns out, Sensational Sherri is a witch. I guess they didn't' test for witches back then. The crowd begins a Sherri chant, and Luna takes a low blow and says that the only thing strong about Sherri is her breath. Rob Bartlett challenges Luna to say these terribly nasty things to Sherri's face, which prompts her to come out to the ring. Sherri expected Bartlett to have more class than to bring a half-bred woman, proving she knows nothing about Bartlett. Sherri laughs at Vachon calling herself the ultimate woman and whatnot, saying she has stood up against bigger men than she will ever be woman. Err, yeah. With that, Sherri kicks Luna and the two brawl around the ring, including a suplex to the outside! Luna takes her belt off though and whips Sherri with it, prompting Bartlett to break it up, which works about as well as Von Krus' taunting against Tatanka. Luna and Sherri take turns ripping off articles of clothing, with Luna losing her pants and Sherri's cleavage being visible for all those interested. The brawl eventually goes into the crowd until Luna gets carried about by Sergeant Slaughter in a hilarious visual.

We come back with Savage interviewing Sherri, who's covering her breast with Savage's hat. Luna comes back out and they continue to brawl, ripping more and more clothes off one another. Luna gets hauled off to the back once more, with Sherri eventually challenging Luna to a match - anytime, anywhere. In retrospect this whole segment comes off as really over the top and ridiculous, but at the same time it was really different for WWF at the time. It was the first cat fight on RAW and it went over pretty well, though I don't' recall if they ever did anything with it.

Papa Shango Vs Scott Taylor
Shango's staff is smoking like a motherfucker, by the way. Taylor starts off with a couple of dropkicks that do little to damage Shango, but it does motivate him enough to throw him halfway across the ring by the throat. Shango hits a nasty looking backdrop (which would have got him fired nowadays) and uses the claw for a bit. Taylor gets tossed by a body slam and then a headbutt to the midsection. Rob Bartlett comes running from the back, clothes torn up and he eventually passes out. You know, I don't hate Bartlett in this episode as much as I normally do. Back to the action, Shango hits the shoulder breaker for three at 2:24. DUD Squash, no more, no less.
Winner: Papa Shango

Friar Ferguson Vs Chris Duffy
We join with the match in progress with Ferguson hitting a back drop and a leg drop. For those of you who don't remember, Ferguson is a happy-go-lucky monk, who they've been building all show long. Duffy tries to bring Ferguson in the ring the hard way but instead gets tossed to the outside. Duffy gets whipped into the ropes and hit with a hip toss and clothesline, followed by Happy Monk Dancing! This is what the people want to see, damnit. Ferguson hits a headbutt, leg drop, and splash but doesn't go for the three. Duffy takes a huge splash from Ferguson and a few stomps. Ferguson sticks Duffy's head under his robe, and considering the crowd didn't react at all was just really, really awkward. Ferguson applies the nerve hold for a while before getting bored…or hungry. Duffy goes for a sunset flip but Ferguson dances and sits down on him for the three count at 4:22. DUD Terrible match and Ferguson wasn't over in the slightest, so they decided to repackage him with a much better gimmick - the Bastion Booger.
Winner: Friar Ferguson

Money Inc are backstage, next to the hospitality dressing rooms, and they'll be taking on the Beverly Brothers next week. Money Inc accepts the challenge, which leads to them getting attacked from behind as we end the show!

The 411: Pretty decent show this week, with the only terrible part being the main event. The opener got the crowd into things and the cat fight was interesting to watch if just from a historical perspective. And, to top it off, Rob Bartlett wasn't all that terrible. So, naturally, after showing signs of improvement he was kicked off 2 weeks later.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]