Raw Retrospective: Monday Night Raw 09.13.93

WWF RAW Episode Thirty-One
September 13, 1993
LIVE from New York
Hosts: Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Bobby Heenan

Monday Night RAW returns after a four week break, and a couple of weeks after Summerslam. Pretty unfortunate timing it would seem. The results for the big PPV are below;

Razor Ramon over Ted Dibiase at 7:32
WWE Tag Team Championships The Steiner Brothers over The Heavenly Bodies at 9:28
Shawn Michaels(c) over Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Championship via countout at 11:20
IRS over the 1-2-3 Kid at 5:44
Bret Hart over Doink the clown by DQ at 9:05
Jerry Lawler over Bret Hart by DQ at 6:32
Ludvig Borga over Marty Jannetty at 5:15
Undertaker over Giant Gonzalez in a Rest in Peace match at 8:04
Tatanka and The Smoking Guns over Bam Bam Bigelow and the Headshrinkers at 11:15
Lex Luger over Yokozuna for the WWF Championship via countout at 17:58

The announcers introduce us ringside. Vince guarantees us that history will be made during the WWF Tag Team Championships, which will be held under Quebec Province Rules, meaning the Steiners can lose by countout or DQ. Piledrivers, top rope maneuvers and throwing opponents over the top ropes are all illegal. They debate who will win the match until the Quebecers’ awesome music hits.

WWF Tag Team Championships: The Steiner Brothers(c) Vs The Quebecers
Rick starts the match off with a big powerslam on Jacques and nearly clotheslines him over the top rope, but cooler heads prevail. Why would the Steiners accept this match, exactly? I’m pretty sure this is the Quebecers’ RAW debut as well. Another powerslam gets two and Scott gets the tag. An impressive double underhook suplex gets two and Scott goes to work on the arm. Pierre fights up but gets taken down with a dropkick. Scott misses a blind charge and a second rope clothesline gets two. Diving fist gets two for Pierre but a back body drop stops his momentum. Jacques charges in the ring but gets punched in the gut. Rick goes for a piledriver on Jacques but Scott stops him as we go to break. Back in, Jacques and Rick trade reversals until Rick sends Jacques to the outside through the middle ropes. Pierre and Scott tag in with Scott working a headlock. Pierre goes for a hiptoss that Scott blocks twice, so he says “fuck it” and clotheslines him. HUGE belly to belly gets two for Scott, who immediately locks in the Boston Crab. Jacques attacks Scott from behind while the ref is distracted, but it doesn’t seem to do a whole lot as he tags in Rick right away, who continues the leg work. Once again, Jacques breaks the hold up, this time right in front of the referee. And, once again, it seems to have zero effect as Rick easily tags Scott in. Johnny Polo comes out during the match as Pierre eats a belly to belly. Rick nearly dives off the top rope, but decides a horrible splash to the leg from the second rope would be better. It wasn’t, as Pierre knees him in the corner. They battle on the second rope and Rick hits a front face suplex off the second rope. Jacques breaks up the pinfall at two but lands on Pierre. The Quebecers and Johnny Polo take a breather as we go to break. Back in, Pierre attacks Rick from behind, which leads to the Quebecers taking turns slamming each other on Scott. Pierre tags in and they drop him on the top rope with Scott’s hand getting stuck between the ropes in a nasty spot. Jacques gets the tag and distracts the ref while Pierre chokes him with the tag rope. Quebecers tag again with another double team move for two. Pierre hits a Vader Bomb for two and tags in Jacques, who hits a huge flying elbow. Scott reverses a back body drop and both men are down! Pierre gets the tag and prevents Scott from making the tag. What a dick. Jacques back body drops Pierre on Scott, but there’s some confusion as to who the legal man is, costing them the pinfall. Scott fights back in the corner with kicks and hits a gross looking DDT. Scott nearly makes it but Pierre attacks Rick, who proceeds to kick his ass. Jacques tosses Scott to the outside, where they tease Polo hitting him with a hockey stick that doesn’t happen. Jacques hits an Alabama Slam and Pierre hits the middle rope leg drop. More miscommunication as Rick comes in, but eventually Rick takes out both Quebecers. Scott ducks a double clotheslines and hits one of his own. He FINALLY gets the tag and Rick clotheslines and bodyslams everybody! Scott comes in with dropkicks and hits a Frankensteiner for two! Polo gets up on the apron but gets taken out by Rick. Jacques tries to hit Scott with the hockey stick but gets caught, and the ref turns around to see Scott hitting Jacques with it to draw the DQ and the title change at 17:40! *** Decent match with a LONG heat segment, but there was a lot of miscommunication that really hurt the flow of things. Still, for 1993 RAW, this can be considered a classic. As a side note, the Quebecers have more double team moves than any tag team in history it would seem.
Winners and NEW Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers

Mr. Perfect Vs Tony Devito
Devito gets a couple of punches on Perfect, prompting him to go outside and gloat to nobody. Perfect chases him on the floor and to the back, where he catches him and brings him back to the ring. Chop, clothesline, atomic drop, shitty dropkick, and a Perfectplex gets three at 2:44. * Tony Devito is the most annoying looking guy in the world. Perfect is pissed about not winning the IC title at Summerslam and is scowling appropriately.
Winner: Mr. Perfect

Vince talks about the “most bittersweet victory of all time;” Lex Luger’s count out victory. Vince shows some “historic” footage – Ludvig Borga challenging Lex Luger. Everyone touches Luger to calm him down, which seems to work.

Razor Ramon Vs The Executioner
Executioner rakes the eye in the corner, sending Ramon to the outside. Ramon eats the steel steps and takes a beating until he decides to chokeslam. They hype IRS-Ramon, which I’m not looking forward to. Ramon hits the fallaway slam, an abdominal stretch, and a backdrop off the top rope for three at 2:30. Weird squash match, as Ramon took a beating then took over without any transition whatsoever. He just turned out and started winning. Oh well, crowd was into it. DUD. Post match, Executioner takes a Razor’s Edge while the music still plays.
Winner: Razor Ramon

Vince interviews the Quebecers and Johnny Polo out in the ring. Vince is shocked that Polo is the manager of the tag team champions, to which Polo finds nothing shocking. Jacques puts over Canadians in general, as well as being the first team comprised of French-Canadians to be tag team champions. Vince feels that the Steiners deserve another title shot, but after a team huddle it’s decided if Scott can defeat Pierre next week, they’ll get another shot. The Steiners come out to get held back by the refs. There was absolutely no heat to this segment.

Doink the Clown Vs Rich Myers
Doink comes out with two buckets of…confetti? I guess this is the start of his face turn, killing off one of the coolest characters on RAW during this time. Myers attacks from behind but gets punched out and taken down with a belly to belly. Pumphandle slam and a HUGE German kills Myers dead. Crush is on the phone claiming to be bigger and stronger than ever before. Vince really misses Crush as he reminds the fans of Yokozuna squashing his chest. Savage talks to Crush, who just ignores him. Whoopie Cushion gets the three at 2:04. Doink is still fun to watch at this point, but I can’t see that lasting much longer. * Post match, Doink teases dumping water on Vince and Savage thanks to Heenan’s suggestions, but it’s actually Heenan who gets drenched. Oh, that wacky clown.
Winner: Doink the Clown

The 411: Definitely a one match show, but it’s a forgotten match that is worth checking out if you get the chance. No real angle development outside of the Doink turn and the tag title stuff, but it’s a fast forty minutes. Mild recommendation.
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]