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Recapping WWE Monday Night Raw in the ’90s: November 1993

With a couple of big developments heading into Survivor Series, what kind of exciting storylines will November 1993 bring us on Monday Night Raw?

October 1993 gave us a couple big moments on Monday Night Raw. Razor Ramon won the vacant Intercontinental Title and Crush turned heel after destroying his best friend, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Other than that, it was a lot of squash matches with nothing else super exciting.

This month, we head into the Survivor Series, which looks to have a full card already. They started building up some feuds and storylines last month, so we’ll see where this takes us.

Episode 38 – November 1, 1993

Venue – Mid-Hudson Civic Center (Poughkeepsie, NY)

Raw starts off with a half-clothed Bastion Booger disgustingly eating an insane amount of food. Bobby Heenan questions why he would be eating all of this food right before his match with Razor Ramon, and Booger responds by saying that he’ll eat him too. He also says that his food is “RAW”, and we transition into the Monday Night Raw opening. Why anyone thought that this was a good idea is beyond me.

Disgusting Eating

Razor Ramon def. Bastion Booger

After that weird intro, Bastion Booger gets a non title match against the new Intercontinental Champion, Razor Ramon.  the match takes a while to start, because Ramon goofs around with Booger, and Booger mostly acts weird and stupid. The crowd is really into Ramon, but the match itself isn’t very good. It’s slow-moving, and mostly what you would figure this match would be.

Survivor Series Report

Todd Pettengill is now doing the Survivor Series reports, so hopefully they got rid of Joe Fowler already. Pettengill isn’t great, but he’s a master compared to Fowler.

They show a clip from WWF Superstars when Ludvig Borga took on Tatanka. Mr. Fuji comes out to distract the ref, and Borga hits Tatanka from behind with a chair. Borga sadly ends Tatanka’s undefeated streak by pinning him with one finger. Yokozuna comes out after the match to give Tatanka a Banzai Drop. Lex Luger runs out to try to make the save, but he’s attacked by the Quebecers. Tatanka is now a question mark for the Survivor Series match after the injuries that he sustained.

Vince McMahon Interviews the Foreign Fanatics

In ring interview with the heel team for the Survivor Series main event. Jim Cornette cuts a great promo, and the rest is just ok.

Foreign Fanatics

Mr. Perfect def. The Executioner

This is pretty long and slow for a squash match, as Mr. Perfect tries a lot of submission moves before easily beating this jobber.

Jeff Jarrett Promo

I’m excited for Jeff Jarrett’s debut, because I can’t wait until these awful promos are finished.

The Smoking Gunns def. Well Dunn (with Harvey Wippleman)

It’s the Raw debut of Timothy Well and Steven Dunn. Nothing special here, but not a bad tag team match. After some back and forth action, the Smoking Gunns win by DQ after Harvey Wippleman trips Billy Gunn.

Interview with “Macho Man” Randy Savage

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan have a phone interview with the injured Randy Savage. He says that he’ll be back next week.

Adam Bomb (with Harvey Wippleman) def. Virgil

Virgil is apparently still employed by the WWF, and he takes on the massive Adam Bomb. Virgil looks really fast, and shockingly takes it to Adam Bomb for a good part of the beginning of the match. Adam Bomb eventually takes control, but Virgil actually makes a comeback. There are a couple weird botches in this match, which Vince McMahon covers up nicely.

Adam Bomb

Adam Bomb gets the win, but I’m still not sure what to think of him. He’s a big man with a lot of athleticism, and hits some impressive moves for such a big guy. At the same time, I’ve noticed that his wrestling is very sloppy, and he still doesn’t get much of a reaction from the crowd.

Episode 39 – November 8, 1993

Venue – Fernwood Resort (Bushkill, PA)

Raw takes a rare journey outside of New York, with the first episode to take place in Pennsylvania. They’re still sticking with the Northeastern area, but it’s nice to see them branching out.

Fernwood Resort

There’s an amazing opening video package previewing Ludvig Borga vs. Scott Steiner with a classic voiceover from Vince McMahon.  Randy Savage is back on commentary, so the massive beating that he took from Crush and Yokozuna surprisingly didn’t keep him out too long.

Ludvig Borga vs. Scott Steiner

As usual, Raw starts out with a big match, as the Foreign Fanatics are trying to take out each member of the All Americans before the Survivor Series. Borga quickly attacks Steiner as the match begins, and takes it to him right away. Borga is extremely impressive. He’s a massively powerful wrestler, who also has a great deal of athleticism.

Scott Steiner

This venue is very small, but the crowd is really hot for this match. It’s nice to see a non New York crowd actually get actively involved. Randy Savage is super angry during this entire match, and mostly just talks about getting revenge on Crush. Vince McMahon reminds him about the clause in his announcing contract that says that he’s subject to disciplinary action if he gets involved in anything in the ring. Savage doesn’t care.

The Quebecers come out during the middle of the match. Rick Steiner eventually comes out as well to even things out. This is a really good and very physical back and forth match, but it ends kind of lamely, with everyone getting involved to cause a DQ.  It does help continue to build up for Survivor Series though.

Who Will Fight Pierre?  

There’s a phone number where fans could call in to vote on who they would like to see fight Pierre. The choices are Marty Jannetty, the 1-2-3 Kid, Doink, and Lex Luger.

Jeff Jarrett Promo

Another bad Jeff Jarrett promo. When will these end?

Men on a Mission (with Oscar) def. Steve Smith and Cory Student

I think that Men on a Mission might be the most popular tag team in the WWF. They’re so lame, but they just have a way of getting the fans involved, which everyone loves.  They easily win this match.

Survivor Series Report

Another Survivor Series report with Todd Pettengill. He goes over the Survivor Series rules, and goes through matches that we’ve already seen. We get a promo from Bret Hart that’s pretty intense. He also announces The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. The Heavenly Bodies for the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Titles.

Rick Martel def. John Paul

Easy squash match for Rick Martel.

Crush (with Mr. Fuji) vs. Dan Dubiel

Randy Savage gets up from the announce table when Crush comes to the ring, and Vince McMahon tries to hold him back from doing anything. Savage throws Vince to the floor, and runs to attack Crush. Refs try to keep them separated, but Savage continues to go after him as they go to a break.

Angry Randy Savage

Barry Horowitz  vs. Bob Backlund

We haven’t seen much of Bob Backlund since his big return earlier this year, but he gets a nice cheer from the crowd when he’s announced.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are mostly just talking about what happened between Crush and Randy Savage, and an extremely angry Savage comes back to announce. There’s a camera showing Crush breaking out of his dressing room, and Savage immediately runs to go after him.  I don’t think that we ever find out what happens in this match.

Vote Results

Lex Luger will fight Pierre next week after getting 62% of the votes.

Episode 40 – November 15, 1993

Venue – Fernwood Resort (Bushkill, PA)

This episode opens with a video recap of Randy Savage attacking Crush last week, with another great voiceover from Vince McMahon.

Vince McMahon announces at the beginning that Randy Savage is too “volatile” right now, so he’s currently banned from broadcasting.

Razor Ramon def. The Brooklyn Brawler

Easy win for Razor Ramon against one of the most classic jobbers ever.

More importantly, Vince McMahon mentions that Shawn Michaels has been reinstated to the WWF, and he’s also replaced Jerry Lawler in his match at Survivor Series against the Hart Family.

Razor Ramon with the Title

Crush Promo

Quick prerecorded promo from Crush threatening Randy Savage.

The Headshrinkers (with Afa) def. Mike Bucci and Mike Maraldo

The usual destruction of jobbers by the Headshrinkers.

The Undertaker Joins The All Americans

They show a clip from WWF Superstars where Lex Luger introduces the Undertaker as the newest member of the All Americans.  He’s taking the place of the injured Tatanka at Survivor Series.

Undertaker Joins The All Americans

Lex Luger def. Pierre (with Johnny Polo)

This is the match that was voted on by fans last week. Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan debate a lot whether this is just a trap by the Foreign Fanatics to injure Lex Luger.

The crowd is really into this match, and Luger controls the beginning until Johnny Polo’s interference causes Pierre to take over.  This match is very long, and moves really slow for a while when Pierre is in control. It’s not a bad match though. There are some pretty exciting moments with some close falls.

Luger wins after knocking Pierre out with his steel forearm. Pierre has to get taken out on a stretcher after the match.

Lex Luger Knocks Out Pierre With A Forearm

Diesel def. Sid Garrison

With Shawn Michaels yet to fight since being reinstated, Diesel gets another squash match.

Survivor Series Report

Thankfully Todd Pettengill is still doing these Survivor Series reports instead of Joe Fowler. He just goes over the matches that we already know.

Jeff Jarrett Promo

We get a look at a private recording session with Jeff Jarrett. It’s terrible.

Episode 41 – November 29, 1993

Venue – Westchester County Center (White Plains, NY)

They’re back to New York this week, although they’re in another new venue, which looks like it’s a decent size for back then.

Westchester County Center

Raw was also off for a week, so we’ve now passed Survivor Series.

The Steiner Brothers def. Mike Khoury and Reno Riggins

The Steiner Brothers easily win this opening tag team match.

The most interesting note is that Vince McMahon mentions a three-week women’s tournament that will be held to determine the new Women’s Champion. This is the first mention of any type of women’s wrestling that we’ve had since Raw started.

Jeff Jarrett Promo

When will these end?

Razor Ramon def. Diesel

Big match here for the future Outsiders, but it’s non title. It has a pretty fast pace to begin with, considering that these are two bigger men. The fans loudly chant “Razor”, as usual. Diesel slows things down, but it’s a pretty solid back and forth match.

Razor Ramon vs. Diesel

Shawn Michaels runs out to attack Razor Ramon, causing a DQ. He’s about to give Ramon a piledriver onto the belt, but the 1-2-3 Kid comes out to make the save. The storyline that they’re trying to setup here is that Michaels never actually lost the belt.

Bam Bam Bigelow (with Luna Vachon) def. John Crystal

Vince McMahon mentions that the four Doinks at Survivor Series were Mabel, Mo, Luke, and Butch.

Bam Bam Bigelow destroys this guy.

Doink Interview

They show a clip from Wrestling Challenge where Ray Rougeau interviews Doink in the ring. The former evil clown, now turned full goofball brings out Santa Claus, who gives him a mini clown as a present.  He names him Dink.  This is sad.

Superstar of the Year

Vince McMahon has a presentation for “Superstar of the Year”, which was apparently fan voted. He says that this was an extremely close contest, so he wants to bring out both the winner and the runner-up.  He first calls out the runner-up, which was Lex Luger.  He gives a quick promo mostly thanking the fans, and then introduces the winner, which was Bret Hart. He gets a pretty awesome looking trophy, and cuts an emotional promo.

Bret Hart Wins Superstar of the Year

Survivor Series Clip

They show a clip from the Hart Family match at Survivor Series.  It was down to only Shawn Michaels against all four Hart brothers, when Owen Hart got pinned after accidentally knocking Bret Hart off of the apron. Owen gets mad at Bret for being in his way, and then comes down during the post match celebration to push Bret.  He then walks out on all of them.

Owen Hart def. Chris Duffy

Owen Hart comes out with new Bret Hart themed attire, and wearing Bret Hart’s sunglasses. There are “We want Bret” chants during the match, and Owen Hart finishes this guy off with the sharpshooter.

Bobby Heenan tries to interview Owen Hart after the match, but he walks away without saying anything.

Ludvig Borga def. Scott Taylor

Ludvig Borga easily takes out future Scotty 2 Hotty.

Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid Interview

Quick interview with Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid, because Shawn Michaels had challenged the Kid for next week. Ramon says that the Kid could beat anyone, and the Kid says that he’ll give it 100%.

Overall Thoughts

This was kind of an average month of Raw, with nothing super exciting happening.  Most of the build for Survivor Series took place in October, so they didn’t really do much other than continue with those same storylines.  I would have also liked them to talk more about what happened at the Survivor Series event, but they hardly mentioned anything other than what happened in the Hart Family match.

It’s great to see Shawn Michaels back, and it’s nice to see that they’re finally doing something with Owen Hart.  So, those are at least two big positives.  I miss the Manhattan Center, but it’s cool to watch Raw continue to grow and expand.

This was probably one of the more boring months, but it will be interesting to see what they do as they start their build towards the Royal Rumble next month.

November Raw Highlights

  • Todd Pettengill takes over Survivor Series reports from awful Joe Fowler.
  • Well Dunn makes their Raw debut.
  • Raw takes place in Pennsylvania for the first time.
  • Randy Savage returns to commentary, and attacks Crush before his match.
  • Randy Savage gets banned from broadcasting.
  • Lex Luger knocks out Pierre.
  • Vince McMahon announces a three-week women’s tournament to determine a new Women’s Champion.
  • Shawn Michaels returns to attack Razor Ramon.
  • Bret Hart wins “Superstar of the Year”.
  • Shawn Michaels challenges the 1-2-3 Kid.

November WWF Highlights

  • Ludvig Borga ends Tatanka’s undefeated streak, and knocks him out of the Survivor Series match.
  • The Undertaker replaces Tatanka as a member of the All Americans at Survivor Series.
  • Dink makes his debut.
  • Owen Hart starts to become noticeably jealous of his brother, and has a confrontation with his family at Survivor Series.

Best November Raw Match

  • Ludvig Borga vs. Scott Steiner

Worst Non-Squash November Raw Match

  • Razor Ramon vs. Bastion Booger

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