Raw: The Beginning (Best of Seasons 1-2)
Released: August 10, 2010
Season One (1993) – Disc One

I have to say that I LOVE this seasons idea and I hope it continues. Wait a minute, what is the deal with the menu music?

So long Prime Time Wrestling, it’s time to get RAW!

With every new chapter, they give us random Raw factoids that most wrestling nerds will probably know.

RAW FACTS (January 11) – The first eight episodes of Monday Night Raw were taped at the Manhattan Center in New York City.

On the last episode of PTW, it was announced that Bobby Heenan would not be a part of the Raw debut because he’s been replaced! Good thing Sean Mooney is there to stop him from going in.

Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Rob Bartlett (“comedic” radio personality) take care of the commentary for the first few months of shows with Bobby Heenan still working sporadically.

• Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. Koko B. Ware – (Monday Night Raw, 1/11/93)
  

Koko is part of the High Energy tag team with Owen Hart at the time, while Yokozuna was squashing everybody in his path. Literally. WHOA! Rob Bartlett is the first to drop an “A” bomb on Raw. Koko tries his hardest just to knock Yoko off his feet, but it just isn’t going to happen. Yoko avoids a charge and sends Koko throat-first to the top-rope. Like a one-handed hotshot. Yoko follows up with the Leg Drop, the Avalanche, and the BANZAI DROP to pick up the win. (3:45) B. Ware of Yoko. Seriously, this guy will CRUSH you. ½*

RAW FACTS (January 11) – Damien Demento’s record on Raw was 1-4. His only win came against Jim Brunzell.

• The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Damien Demento – (Monday Night Raw, 1/11/93)
  

The Undertaker is the ONLY on-screen talent that’s still involved with the WWF at the time of this DVD release. I’m sure you noticed if you’ve read my recap of that show, but I figured it was some worthy trivia. Most recently, Damian Demento tried to garner some attention on YouTube with his ridiculous rants against wrestling. Onto the match, Demento talks to himself just before a big stare down with Taker. Demento strikes first, but Taker slows Demento down with a face slam. Taker delivers the Rope Walk, but runs into a boot in the corner. Demento delivers a double-ax handle and a jumping shoulderblock. Taker ducks a clothesline and hits the jumping lariat to set up the TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER. (2:26) Taker sure did have to deal with some freaks back then. ¼*

RAW FACTS (January 25) – Mr. Perfect had the longest Intercontinental championship reign of any WWE superstar in the 1990s. Yeah, suck it Rocky.

• Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect – Loser Leaves the WWF (Monday Night Raw, 1/25/93)
  

Perfect paintbrushes Flair down on the mat to send him out to the floor. Heenan calls Flair over to feed him a foreign object in his knee pad. Back in, Perfect works a hammerlock, but Flair elbows him in the corner and chops away. Perfect spins Flair around for some chops of his own. Flair Flop! They trade chops again in the corner. Perfect starts throwing punches, so Flair throws him out and grabs a chair. He looks to nail Perfect, but Hebner dives on the chair to save Perfect. Now we JIP back in with Flair sending Perfect in the corner, only Perfect oversells the bump and flies out to the floor. Perfect hits his head on the ringpost, which explains the blading. Back in again, Flair pounds away and whips Perfect hard into the corner for several nearfalls while Flair has his foot on the rope. Flair cheats just a tad more by placing his shin over Perfect’s throat while he argues with the ref. Out of nowhere, Perfect reverses a whip and nails Flair in the face. Jackknife rollup gets two. Then Perfect blocks a hiptoss and counters to a backslide for 1-2-NO! Flair begs off into the corner as Perfect follows him in for a ten-count corner punch, so Flair brings him out with an atomic drop. Rollup gets two. Flair rolls to the apron, allowing Perfect to bring him back in with a suplex for 1-2-NO! Flair goes low to slow down Perfect, setting up a sleeper. Perfect’s arm drops twice, but not three times! Perfect fights up and runs Flair into the corner, and then applies a sleeper of his own! Flair escapes with a back suplex and grabs the FIGURE-FOUR! That’s right, Ric. You grab those ropes. This gets several nearfalls when Flair has hold of the ropes, but Hebner finally catches him and makes Flair release the hold. Flair kicks at the knee and heads up top, but Perfect is there to slam him down. We JIP one more time to Flair rolling towards the ropes to slip the foreign object on his hand. WHAM! Perfect never saw it coming. Flair gets rid of the evidence and covers Perfect after an elbow drop for 1-2-NO! Perfect got his foot on the bottom rope. Flair pounds away on the cut some more and chops Perfect, but he NO-SELLS and scares Perfect off into the corner. He chops on Flair and sends him in for the ride followed by a backdrop. He whips Flair in again, but he flips out onto the apron and runs up to the top turnbuckle. Flair comes down on Perfect, but he gets caught on the way down. Cover, 1-2-NO! Flair begs off into the corner again and trips Perfect up for the corner pin while using the ropes, but Hebner catches Flair cheating again and kicks his feet off the ropes. Perfect counters to a cradle for two. Flair sends Perfect off into the ropes, but he ducks low and receives the PERFECTPLEX for 1-2-3. (17:34 shown) That does it for Flair in the WWF until WCW gets eaten up by Vince in 2001. I think they tried too hard to make this match great, and while it is good, I really don’t feel that it was one of those epic matches. I guess overrated is the word I’m looking for here. I don’t know, maybe I’ve just seen too many Flair matches from the ’80s. ***½

RAW FACTS (February 1) – Andre the Giant was the first WWE superstar to ever be featured in Sports Illustrated.

And with that, they air the ten-bell salute in honor of Andre a few days after he passed away.

RAW FACTS (February 1) – Lex Luger signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers. However, he never played a game for them and thus was not listed on their roster. Didn’t he have a groin problem or something? Apparently it got better because he SLAMMED Yokozuna!

• “The Narcissist” Lex Luger vs. Jason Knight – (Monday Night Raw, 2/1/93)
  

After debuting at the Royal Rumble to delight of especially Bobby Heenan, Lex Luger makes his in-ring debut in the WWF. It’s good to see them giving Sexy Lexy some DVD time. Today, he’s squashing Jason Knight better known as just Jason over in ECW. Before the match begins, they air the Perfect Passer vignette where Mr. Perfect shows off in front of the Vikings tight end Steve Jordan. It’s a pretty famous clip where Perfect throws a Hail Mary pass to himself. Alright onto the match. When Luger’s not running Jason over, he’s posing for the crowd and loving himself. A huge STEEL-PLATED BIONIC FOREARM SMASH (but we don’t know that yet) and his pinky finger gets the 1-2-3. (3:40) Oh but Luger’s not done. Afterwards, he realizes that Jason is knocked out and gives him the big swing for some reason. ½*

RAW FACTS (February 15) – Fans used to chant “fruitcake” to incite Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake.

• Ted DiBiase (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Brutus Beefcake – (Monday Night Raw, 2/15/93)
  

This is Beefcake’s in-ring return match to the WWF since his parasailing accident on July 4 1990. According to Vince, Jimmy Hart says he didn’t want to split up his tag team champs to have this match. From ringside, Jimmy continually reminds DiBiase that Beefcake is NO push over. Savage is worried about Beefcake’s facial type situation. His words. Beefcake struts around to avoid tying up early on here. DiBiase finally hits him with a knee to the gut, but Beefcake fires back and punches him out to the floor. They go through that song and dance once again, but this time Beefcake tells DiBiase that he can kiss his rear end. Here comes Irwin R. Schyster complete with briefcase! Jimmy walks over and asks him what he’s doing out here while Beefcake grinds on a headlock. As DiBiase shoves Beefcake off into the ropes, IRS blasts him from behind with the briefcase in plain sight of the ref for the DQ. (4:26) Now here’s where Money Inc REALLY shines. After they put the boots to Beefcake, DiBiase holds him up for IRS to BASH the briefcase into Beefcake’s reconstructed facial situation! Jimmy Hart PLEADS for IRS not to do it, but he gets shoved away. BAM! Briefcase to the face! Jimmy Hart jumps on Beefcake and shows him some mercy. Now DiBiase wants a turn, but Jimmy Hart begs him to stop. As Money Inc walks to the back laughing, Jimmy Hart stays in the ring with Beefcake until he’s carted out on a gurney. It’s like he’s holding his face together! Once he’s carted out, Savage points out that there’s a big bunch of blood on the mat. Big angle-driven TV match, but nothing much else. *

RAW FACTS (February 22) – Hulk Hogan never competed in a match on Raw, until he returned to the WWE in 2002.

And now we get Hulk Hogan’s return to the WWF for his first appearance since WrestleMania 8. He’s back to defend his best pal Brutus Beefcake who got the crush of all time in his face, dude. But don’t worry, Brutus is okay. First of all, he thanks the Big Man Upstairs for being with Brutus and he thanks Jimmy Hart for showing some mercy and human decency. Most importantly, Hulk Hogan is BACK. He calls out Brutus Beefcake who is wearing the red and yellow. His nose is a little banged up, but that’s about it. This goes on for a while so I will keep this short. They want revenge on Money Inc and the MEGA MANIACS are back together with Jimmy Hart at their side, brother. That guy’s already had a Mega Maniacs suit made!

RAW FACTS (March 1) – The scar on Fatu’s stomach was the result of a drive-by shooting in 1987. Somebody REALLY didn’t like that “Body Slam” movie.

• WWF World Champion Bret Hart vs. Fatu (w/Afa) – (Monday Night Raw, 3/1/93)
  

Bartlett is being unfunny doing an Elvis impersonation and adding nothing to the match. I miss Bobby Heenan. Bret is on his way to WrestleMania 9 to battle the much LARGER Yokozuna. It only makes sense that he would be wrestling some big men to get him ready for that big title defense. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears this is for the WWF title? Bret keeps his eye on Afa who is talking to a shrunken head at ringside. Bret stays adamant with an armbar to start. He feigns a knee injury and school boys Fatu when he turns away. AWESOME. Back to the armbar. When Fatu telegraphs a backdrop, Bret slams his head down to the mat. That fails because he’s a foreigner and Bret eats a superkick for two. Fatu’s next weapon of choice is a nerve hold. Eventually, out comes Samu to make matters worse for the Hitman. When Bret gets tossed to the floor, Samu gives him a good slam and smashes his face off the corner of the steps. OUCH. We step away for a commercial break. When we come back, Fatu whips Bret into the corner a couple times. After some Harley Race style falling headbutts, Fatu delivers a great piledriver for 1-2-NO! Bret takes his chest-first corner bump and then a Flying Headbutt gets 1-2-NO! Fatu tries another, but Bret stops him up top and brings Fatu down with a superplex! That gets two. Bret delivers the running bulldog, the backbreaker, and the flying vertical elbow to set up the SHARPSHOOTER! Afa is on the apron, allowing Samu to sneak in and break that up. The Headshrinkers do a switch as Samu covers Bret for 1-2-NO! Back to Fatu, Bret grabs a sleeper and throws him off into Samu when he tries to interfere again. That puts Samu in such a bad way as his head gets caught in the ropes! Russian legsweep to Fatu! Afa eats a dropkick off the apron and the SHARPSHOOTER on Fatu ends this whole thing. (12:55 shown) Great TV match with Bret being the wrestling hero that he is and overcoming the odds. ***

RAW FACTS (March 1) – There are several types of circus clowns: Whiteface, Auguste Character, and Hobo. Obviously they are alluding to Doink the Clown and not just giving us general clown information.

After awesome evil Doink the Clown defeats Koko B. Ware, Rob Bartlett as Elvis tries to interview him. Some shenanigans take place and Bartlett gets a pie in the face because Elvis was hungry. GET IT? BECAUSE HE WAS FAT WHEN HE DIED? FAT PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS HUNGRY! HAR HAR HAR!

RAW FACTS (March 1) – Crush was born in Kona, Hawaii where he regularly engaged in free-diving. His leaps from 60 foot ledges, sometimes took him 100 feet below the water’s surface.

They interview Crush on a beach in his native land of Hawaii. What’s he going to do to Doink at WrestleMania 9? Crush proceeds to crush a coconut with his bare hands. OH SNAP!

RAW FACTS (March 8) – Rick Martel was a two-time Tag Team Champion with Tony Garea. What about Tito?

• Mr. Perfect vs. Rick Martel – (Monday Night Raw, 3/8/93)
  

Tonight, Rick Martel comes out looking like Mr. Howell from Gilligan’s Island. Just not at all intimidating. Vince hypes Luger-Perfect at WM 9 as a possible best match ever. Savage has his money on his former ally: Mr. Perfect. Standard Perfect start leads to a stalemate. Perfect lowers his head off a whip, but Martel cartwheels away to avoid any sort of backdrop. Perfect returns the favor to stick it to Martel. Cheapshot by Martel helps him to take over as he clamps on an overhead wristlock. Perfect counters to a hammerlock and when Martel flips out of that and tries an O’Connor roll, Perfect hits the mat to cause Martel to use his own momentum to fall out to the floor. Commercials! When we return, Martel starts working over the back. He gets fancy with a slingshot splash from the apron, which hits knees. Perfect mounts a comeback with both atomic drop variations. Just as he hits the big knee lift, we take another commercial break. AHH! And now we find that the match ended during the break, so we see the PERFECTPLEX score the pinfall on Martel. It’s of course very rare that they let that type of thing happen. (8:00 shown) Pretty energetic match. Martel’s run in 1993 definitely had some good moments. **½

RAW FACTS (March 22) – Kamala lost the Undertaker in the WWE’s first ever Coffin Match.

• Doink the Clown vs. Kamala (w/Reverend Slick) – (Monday Night Raw, 3/22/93)
  

Doink brings a gift wrapped present with him to the ring. Of course its to distract Kamala to gain an unfair advantage over the much weaker and simple-minded black man. Doink outwrestles the big guy at the beginning and works the arm, but Kamala keeps chopping him away with his other arm. After some commercials, we come back to see that Doink is back in control of the arm. Kamala chops Doink out to the floor where he’s offered the pretty present again. Slick is yelling at Kamala to NOT take the present. Can Kamala be able to resist colorful wrapping paper? Nope. He opens the gift to find that there’s nothing in it. Oh, what a MEAN clown. In the time it took Kamala to open the gift, he ends up being counted out of the ring to give Doink the victory. (3:40) That just proves to anger Kamala who chases Doink in, out, and UNDER the ring. Once Doink climbs out from under the other side of the ring, he BLASTS what appears to be Kamala sneaking out behind him with a chair! Actually he just hits one of the steel support beams of the ring to make a loud noise, which sounds quite scary! Enough of the mind games. Kamala crawls out from under a different side of the ring and sneaks up behind Doink with a big chop. Now Kamala grabs the chair and chases Doink all the way backstage. Sounds fun I know, but keep in mind that this was the MAIN EVENT of the program. ¾*

RAW FACTS (April 26) – Prior to joining the WWE, Crush was trained by WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki. At the time, Crush was serving with the US Army in Japan.

• “The Narcissist” Lex Luger vs. Crush – (Monday Night Raw, 4/26/93)
  

Yay! Bobby Heenan is back! All is right with the world. Hah, Vince and Bobby make a lawyer joke. They show X-rays of Lex Luger’s steel-plated forearm, but there’s nothing really that the WWF can do about it. It wasn’t long before the WWF told him to start wearing a protective forearm pad to soften some of the blow as if that could make a difference when we’re talking about a STEEL PLATE attached to your forearm. Luger flexes his physique around a bunch early on, but Crush is overpowering the crap out of him. Crush wins a test of strength where Luger has to kick on Crush to bring the man to his knees, but then Crush press slams Luger and Lex has to take five after that. Back in, Crush nails Lex with a dropkick and as things start to get good, we take a commercial break. When we come back, Crush refuses a hiptoss and gives Luger a belly to belly suplex for two. Now Luger avoids a corner charge and knees Crush out to the floor. He has some fun backing Crush into the apron and then slamming him into the ringpost. See, that’s when you should take a commercial break – when the face is in trouble. NOT when the babyface is getting fired up. Back inside the ring, Luger grabs a bearhug. Crush fights out into a powerslam for two. Lex tries a suplex, but Crush counters with one of his own. Back suplex and a legdrop scores a nearfall. Oh wait, here comes the KONA CLUTCH! Just when things look bad for Luger, Doink appears up in the balcony and *that* demands Crush’s attention. While Crush is challenging Doink to come down and meet him in the ring, we look over to see that there’s ANOTHER Doink on the other side of the balcony. WHAT. It’s like WrestleMania all over again for Crush. Anyways, this distracting allows Luger to nail Crush with his STEEL PLATED FOREARM SMASH to knock him to the floor for a countout victory. (10:46 shown) Hey, Luger made Crush look like a million bucks here. Good match considering the talent involved. **¾

RAW FACTS (May 10) – Howard Finkel’s 1993 Oldsmobile Achieva was damaged in this brawl. The retail price in 1993 for an Achieva was $14,000.

While Shawn Michaels (complete with a VINTAGE WWF t-shirt) is running his mouth off about Hacksaw Jim Duggan outside the Manhattan Center hours before the show, Mr. Perfect stops by for a FIGHT that ends up with Shawn getting tossed onto Finkel’s car and doing some damage to the windshield. The WWF road agents pounce on the scene and attempt to separate the two. Good way to start the show off with a BOOM there.

RAW FACTS (May 10) – Jim Duggan won the first ever Royal Rumble match in 1988. The event was broadcast live on the USA Network.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan – Lumberjack Match (Monday Night Raw, 5/10/93)
  

Last week on Raw, Duggan felt he was cheated in his previous IC title match since Shawn escaped through the crowd rather than finish the match. Hence, a lumberjack match. Here are the flannelled lumberjacks: Terry Taylor, Mr. Hughes, Bob Backlund, Mr. Perfect, Tatanka, Typhoon, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Yokozuna (not enough flannel in the world to cover that guy). Apparently, Mr. Fuji is also a lumberjack. Duggan tries to start a fight with Yokozuna since the sumo guy broke his ribs a few months back. Come on Duggan. Is that a REALLY justifiable reason to pick a fight. I mean, big deal. Anyways, this crowd is REALLY pro-Duggan here. What does that say about them? Shawn comes out walking on crutches because of what Perfect did to him at the beginning of the show. Perfect knows he’s not that hurt and throws Shawn into the ring to prove that he’s a liar. When HBK pops up to his feet to strike back at Perfect, Heenan claims that we’ve just seen a miracle. Awesome. Duggan is all over Shawn to start with RASSLIN moves like the atomic drop and a sloppy looking Oklahoma Stampede. Duggan rips off HBK’s 1990 (Warrior holds the strap on the shirt – that’s how I know!) WWF t-shirt and hits a suplex! What has gotten into Duggan here? Aaaaand we’re back as Duggan starts up with the clotheslines and the typical Duggan offense. He throws Michaels out to the lumberjacks. The heels leave Shawn alone, but Perfect and Backlund carry him back to the ring. Commercials! When we return, Duggan is STILL in total control of this match. OLD GLORY knee drop misses and that looks to be the tide turner. Shawn takes his boot off and blasts Duggan in the face so hard, Duggan falls backwards into ref Bill Alfonso, so he didn’t see a thing. While the heel lumberjacks keep Duggan in the ring, Shawn hits the Bossman straddle. Duggan starts no-selling stuff, but HBK cuts him off as he runs into Shawn’s boot in the corner. Cover, 1-2-NO! Michaels slaps on a chinlock, which proves to be a big mistake as Duggan elbows out and mounts his comeback. Shawn flies off the middle rope into a slam for two. Duggan connects with the THREE-POINT STANCE and knocks Shawn clear out of the ring right in front of Taylor and Hughes, who just stand there. More commercials! After the break, Shawn misses a corner splash. Lucky for him, Bam Bam Bigelow distracts Duggan so HBK can nail him from behind. Shawn tosses Duggan out to Yokozuna, which is good for Shawn and BAD for Duggan. He gets a taste of the HUUUGE LEGDROP. So much for your face, Duggan. Yoko rolls him back in the ring. Just because he can, Shawn simply puts his foot on Duggan’s chest for 1-2-NO! Perfect is not down with such disrespect and runs in to knock Shawn away for the DQ. (13:07 shown) Afterwards, the lumberjacks begin brawling in the ring until Duggan cleans house by swinging his 2×4 all around. HOOOOOOOO! What is Iron Mike Sharpe doing out there? You weren’t a lumberjack in this match? Certainly a standout match in Duggan’s career since he doesn’t have that many of them outside of Mid-South. ***¼

RAW FACTS (May 17) – Razor Ramon was largely based on Al Pacino’s Scarface character – Tony Montana. The original Scarface movie was done in 1932. Okay.

• Razor Ramon vs. The Kid – (Monday Night Raw, 5/17/93)
  

He’s gone from the Kamikaze Kid to the Cannonball Kid. Now, he’s just The Kid. After being squashed on Raw the last two weeks by Doink the Clown and Mr. Hughes in two minutes each, the Kid now finds himself against Razor Ramon. He’s still Da Bad Guy here. I’m not being a funny mark here, I really mean that he’s still at this point a heel. Ramon throws Kid around to start. He works the ab stretch and catches Kid with the Fallaway Slam. Razor misses a corner charge, allowing Kid to break free and land a Moonsault Press for 1! 2! 3! (2:12) And the 1-2-3 Kid was born. In the following weeks, Ramon would offer more and more money to the Kid to get a rematch. As it turned out, Razor wouldn’t get his win back until 1996! ½*

RAW FACTS (May 17) – Marty Jannetty received ten stitches when Shawn Michaels threw him through the Barber Shop window in 1991.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty – (Monday Night Raw, 5/17/93)
  

From arguably the best episode of Raw of the year. After getting cleaned up (again), Marty made a surprise comeback earlier in the show when Shawn made a “I’ll defend against anybody, anytime, anywhere” comment, which almost guarantees a title switch. Lucky for Marty that HBK said all that! Otherwise, his return might have just been awkweird. Early on, Shawn starts up the turnbuckle smashes. Marty has enough of that and tries for a quick pin. Nothing doing. Next up, Marty flips out of a hiptoss and clotheslines Shawn to the floor. He follows up with a baseball slide and skins-the-cat for a pescado! As Shawn starts to leave, Jannetty brings him back into the ring as Shawn begs away. Marty telegraphs a backdrop, but then Shawn misses with SWEET CHIN MUSIC and takes a Japanese armdrag. Old school headscissors takedown gets two. Marty whips Shawn into the corner for the Ray Stevens bump that takes him back out to the floor. Once again, Shawn tries to leave this time with his IC belt in hand. Just as he reaches the curtain, Mr. Perfect backs Shawn to the ring. Commercials! After the break, Marty flips Shawn from the apron into the ring. He tries another old school headscissors, but Shawn falls back and drops Marty on the top rope. Mr. Perfect is still watching on from ringside to make sure everything stays real legitimate like. Bossman straddle to Jannetty. Shawn grabs a chinlock. As Marty starts to punch out, Shawn catches him with a dropkick. He tries another, but Marty catches him and delivers a catapult all the way to the post. HERE COMES JANNETTY! Big jumping back elbow followed by a powerslam gets 1-2-NO! Off a corner whip, Marty fakes a crossbody block out of the corner and then nails HBK with one anyway once he stands up for 1-2-NO! Shawn rolls through an O’Connor roll with a handful of tights to show off some extra flesh for 1-2-NO! Superkick to Jannetty! Instead of covering him, Shawn looks over and points at Perfect. Once Michaels gets up on the ropes yelling at him, Perfect throws his towel in Shawn’s face to make him lose his balance and slip back into a small package by Jannetty for 1-2-3! (8:56 shown) With the way things were headed as far as HBK-Perfect, this really threw a monkey wrench in those plans. ***½

RAW FACTS (May 24) – Doink assembled a crew of mini-clowns named Wink, Pink, and Dink.

• Mr. Perfect vs. Doink the Clown – KOTR Qualifying Match (Monday Night Raw, 5/24/93)
  

During his entrance, Doink crawls under the ring apron. We go LIVE outside the Manhattan Center to Lord Alfred Hayes who is standing beside…Doink? Everyone is confused except Doink of course, who sprays Lord Alfred with water from his magical flower hanging there on his clown suit. Heenan has a good laugh about it. When we cut back to the ring, Doink crawls back out from under the ring – now with a flower in hand. This is their THIRD try to find a winner as the first two matches (one on Superstars and the other on Wrestling Challenge) ended in time-limit draws. Will tonight be the night? Doink attacks Perfect right as he jumps into the ring and then chokes him with his own towel. After Doink uses the towel to wipe himself down with it, Perfect gives him a towel-assisted clothesline. Now we have Perfect going after the knee. He posts the knee as we go to commercial break. When we come back, Perfect stalks Doink in the corner and puts the boots to him. Once the ref pushes Perfect back, Doink kicks Perfect away and throws him out to the floor to run Perfect into the ringpost. Back in, Perfect keeps Doink on the mat with a headscissors. They both end up in the ropes. Doink uses the ropes to get a good jumping stomp on Perfect, which jars the knee that Perfect worked on earlier. Doink wants a Fujiwara armbar, but Perfect does all he can to escape and then jerks on the bad knee. Good stuff. Holy crap, an Indian deathlock. Too bad it makes Perfect and easy target for an eye rake. They head back to the floor where Doink runs Perfect’s shoulder into the ringpost. Perfect takes out Doink’s legs to stop all that. He looks like he wants to fight, but he doesn’t want the match to end without a winner – AGAIN. Perfect rolls back in, but Doink grabs the weakened arm and wraps it around the post. Back inside the ring, Doink applies an overhead wristlock to do further damage and then he stomps a bent elbow on the mat. Ouch? Hammerlock slam on Perfect. Doink takes a moment to laugh about it and covers for two. More commercials! We return to see both men trading blows. Perfect ducks a big swing and delivers an atomic drop followed by a clothesline with his good arm. Doink yanks Perfect into the corner, but misses a clothesline of his own and takes a ride out to the floor. Wait a sec, here comes Doink the Clone. While no one except everybody on that side of the arena, our esteemed commentators, and all of us watching at home sees what is happening, they switch places while the original Doink hides under the ring. Oh, that Doink. Just as things look bleak, Doink the Clone telegraphs a backdrop to set himself up for the PERFECTPLEX! That scores the win. (11:41 shown) Immediately, the REAL Doink jumps in the ring and kicks Perfect in the face. A Double Doink beatdown ensues until Crush makes the save. What an epic TV match with fantastic storytelling. ***¾

Special Features:

Raw 4/26/93 – The Smoking Gunns Ride Into WWE: Quite the lame introduction to the cowboy tag team – complete with western movie references!

Go Get Him Champ!: It’s that WWF: The New Generation commercial where a kid and his father meet Bret Hart before one of his title defenses. When the kid says the line, Bret gives him his signature shades. You know what I’m talking about. Every Bret fan has seen it.

Raw 4/11/94 – It’s Only 9 O’Clock: A sloppy looking dude turns down sex with his incredibly attractive woman to watch Raw. The WWF: Unbelievable! What a tagline.

Final Thoughts: A Seinfeld quote comes to mind here. George Costanza once said that if you take everything he’s ever done in his entire life and condense it down into one day, it looks decent. If you condense the best parts of Raw 1993 into one DVD package, it looks decent.