Monday Night Raw
January 18, 1993
New York City
Manhattan Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (10/12/1992)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (10/27/1992)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

SIDENOTE: Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about the last Raw of April 1997. It’s coming.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Rob Bartlett.

Being ever the funnyman, Bartlett rips up a picture of Bobby Heenan in a Sinead O’Connor moment. Before we do anything else, Repo Man BUM RUSHES THE SHOW and attacks Randy Savage from behind in order to steal his hat. Only in New York!

• Mr. Perfect vs. Terrific Terry Taylor
  

Savage goes through the crowd to find the Repo Man. The NERVE of that guy! This one would be quite the classic encounter several years before, but now not so much. Wonder why Taylor left WCW when Bill Watts came in? Good question, I suppose. As things get going in the ring, Randy Savage returns to the announce table completely hatless. Taylor goes on the move and baits Perfect around, but winds up in headlocks and armbars. Bobby Heenan calls into the show to give his two cents on what the Repo Man just did and to respond to the actions of one Rob Bartlett. Commercials! When we return, Taylor dumps Perfect out for some guardrail action. Heenan is still talking with us on the phone. Meanwhile, Taylor begins to work him over. Backbreaker gets two. Perfect fights out of a chinlock, but runs into the AA spinebuster for 1-2-NO! GUTWRENCH POWERBOMB by Taylor gets 1-2-NO! Perfect wins a slugfest and mounts his comeback. Rolling Neck Snap hits as that cues in the NATCHA BOY Ric Flair as he struts out to distract Perfect. With Perfect’s back turned, Taylor knees him out to Flair for a VINTAGE NATCHA BOY beating. Back in, Perfect counters a suplex with the PERFECTPLEX for the 1-2-3! (8:00 shown) Good opener from these two and it built some drama for next week’s main event. **½

When we return, Vince McMahon is in the ring and introduces the WWF champion Bret Hart. He’s out here to respond to Razor Ramon’s comments about slapping his dad around. Bret figures that Razor is the lowest piece of scum in the WWF. He’s so at the bottom of the barrel, he’s UNDERNEATH the barrel. Bret doesn’t plan on this one being a technical masterpiece, but a real brawl. Come the Royal Rumble, the Hart family name will be redeemed. Alright, thanks Bret.

• Marty Jannetty vs. Glen Ruth
  

Glen Ruth tries to play all nice-nice to start, but then attacks Jannetty when his back is turned. JERK! Of course, Jannetty makes him pay. The IC Champ Shawn Michaels calls into the show to denigrate Jannetty. He assures us that Sensational Sherri is in fact madly and passionately in love with the Heartbreak Kid. ROCKER DROPPER on Ruth gets the win. (4:50) The Rockers explode this Sunday at the Royal Rumble – only on PPV! ½*

Let Us Take You Back: Superstars, 1/16/93. Doink the Clown with his arm in a sling confronts Crush and offers him a flower of apology. Crush accepts the flower and appears to have forgiven Doink. As he walks away though, Doink TAKES OFF HIS FAKE ARM and blasts Crush in the back of the head. Awesome.

After a commercial break, we see the Repo Man standing outside the Manhattan Center with Sean Mooney wearing Randy Savage’s hat. Randy never gave Repo Man any attention, but he will now! Mooney lets Repo listen to what Randy Savage has to say from inside. Their back and forth escalates to the idea of a New York street fight. Will it happen? Only time will tell.

• Ric Flair vs. El Matador
  

These two had a pretty good encounter back at the Albert Hall show in late 1991. We’ll see how this one measures up. They play off a headlock to start. That takes us right into commercials. When we return, Flair blocks a monkey flip and starts burying those closed fists. Rolling Knee Drop connects. Flair goes over and yells at Savage. One more knee drop and we go to the corner for some chops. Santana reverses a cross-corner whip and mounts a comeback. Flair goes to the eyes and heads up top, which is most always bad news. Flair Flip lands him on the floor. Back inside, Tito hits the knee lift and follows up with the FLYING FOREARM! He doesn’t cover him though and tries another, but Flair ducks and Santana goes flying out to the floor. WOO! Here comes Mr. Perfect to pull Flair out for an awesome violent exchange. Flair wins via DQ. Agents and refs fly out from backstage to separate the two. (6:10 shown) Now that’s how you build to an upcoming Raw main event. Other than that though, just another day at the office for Ric Flair. **¼

After a break, Vince wants to get a word with Ric Flair. However, Mr. Perfect’s reappearance is making that not so easy. Once Perfect is taken away, Flair declares that the WWF isn’t big enough for the two of them. He then ups the challenge to say that whoever loses their match next week must leave the WWF for good. Now that Flair is gone, Mr. Perfect comes by for a word. Short and simple, he’s up to the challenge. Savage promises next Monday night will be World War 3. Hey, I thought that was in WCW and happened in November!

Before we go, we check out what’s happening outside as the Repo Man repossesses Rob Bartlett’s Chevy Blazer while wearing Randy Savage’s hat. That guy is just asking for a mess of payback.