WWF Monday Night RAW – March 8th, 1993

March 8, 1993

From the Manhattan Center in New York City, NY

Your hosts are Vince McMahon, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Jerry “The King” Lawler

We hear from the Mega Maniacs. Hogan talks about ramming a metal briefcase into Beefcake’s face to prepare him for WrestleMania against Money Inc. then they rip off the “Live from New York” SNL intro to open the show. Another odd promo for this extremely contrived feud.

Virgil & El Matador vs. Money Inc.

We get a shoving match to start between Matador and DiBiase. Matador reverses an Irish whip and catches DiBise with a back elbow smash for two then grounds him on the mat with a side headlock. The announcers talk about the Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania as Bartlett jokes how Virgil and Montell Williams are the same person. Virgil and IRS tag in as Virgil works him over. Matador tags in and works the arm. Vince says that the Nasty Boys stepped aside to allow the Mega Maniacs this one title shot as Matador & Virgil keep tagging out and working the arm of IRS. We head to break and return as IRS catches Matador with a knee smash to the gut. DiBiase works over Matador briefly then they collide and tag out as Virgil goes after IRS but Dibiase trips him up then provides a distraction as IRS puts Virgil away with a back suplex (8:00) **.

Thoughts: I thought this match was good until the commercial break as that interrupted the flow of the matc. The Virgil hot tag was bad too but it was decent enough for a TV match.

Clips of Tatanka pinning Shawn Michaels in consecutive weeks.

Rick Martel heads to the ring. He is wearing a captain’s hat then asks the ring girl to leave the ring and holds up the card saying no one can do it better than him. So, Martel is now taking over the “modeling” gigs on this show. Vince also laughed like an idiot over Bartlett’s “Gilligan’s Island” references.

Tatanka vs. Phil Apollo

Tatanka takes Apollo over the top rope with a hip toss after a reversal sequence. Tatanka heads out to deliver a few chops then rolls Apollo back inside as we hear from Shawn over the phone. Apollo pokes Tatanka in the eye as Shawn says that Tatanka got lucky twice but the third time he rolls the dice it will come up snake eyes as Shawn says he is leaving WrestleMania as the champion. Tatanka chops down Apollo then uses a Samoan drop for the win (2:41).

Thoughts: More hype for Shawn vs. Tatanka at WrestleMania with the story of Tatanka having Shawn’s number.

WrestleMania Report airs.

Martel once again comes out to take the sign from the ring girl and carries it around himself as Bartlett does more jokes about “Gilligan’s Island.”

Papa Shango vs. Mike Edwards

Shango beats down Edwards as Vince says he is on the eccentric side. Shango drops Edwards with an avalanche then hits a back suplex for a two count before the reverse shoulderbreaker gets the win (2:31).

Thoughts: Just a match to fill time since Shango is no longer getting pushed or even part of the WrestleMania card.

Bob Backlund vs. Tony Demoro

Demoro has a good physique. He also blows off a handshake from Backlund then is taken down after a struggle. The announcers talk about Backlund’s dream is to wrestle at WrestleMania as Bartlett heads off backstage for an interview with Martel. Backlund stays in control and hits a butterfly suplex before using a rollup for the win (3:51). Vince thinks we might see Backlund at WrestleMania.

Thoughts: We are now getting a storyline of Backlund fulfilling a dream by getting to wrestle on WrestleMania. And he still is on a quest to become champion once again. He is still not getting over in this role.

Bartlett is backstage with Martel and asks why he is bothering the RAW girls. Martel says no one here has any class. Not much of an interview.

“The Model” Rick Martel vs. Mr. Perfect

Vince believes that Perfect vs. Luger has a chance to be one of the best WrestleMania matches of all-time. The match starts off with some back-and-forth action that ends in a stalemate. Perfect runs into a knee smash in the corner then Martel works the arm. Perfect is able to dump Martel outside then we return from commercial as Martel targets the back. Martel uses a reverse chinlock as the crowd rallies behind Perfect. Martel cuts off Perfect with a knee smash then hits a backbreaker but Perfect blocks a slingshot splash by getting his knees up. Martel is up first and rams Perfect into the corner but gets decked in midair as Perfect rights back. Perfect hits a pair of atomic drops then lowers his straps before hitting an atomic drop. We take another break and return with Perfect’s music playing as he won with the Perfect Plex (8:00) **1/4. Perfect then comes out with the RAW girls Martel bothered and invites them into the ring as Savage says he was Perfect’s partner and would like one of the girls.

Thoughts: The match was decent but why have it end during the break, especially since Martel was part of a show-long storyline?

Next week in action are Kamala, Razor Ramon, and Typhoon vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. Well, only Razor ended up appearing because a blizzard ended up cancelling travel plans.

Final Thoughts: Not much of a show this week. The Martel bit was not memorable and more than anything highlighted that the model gimmick was on its last legs. We had two competitive matches but they were not great and the rest featured squash matches featuring talent that was not over.