WWF Monday Night RAW – October 4th, 1993

October 4, 1993

From the New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, CT

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan as Randy Savage is part of tonight’s battle royal.

20 Man Battle Royal, with Last Two Remaining Facing Off Next Week for the Intercontinental Championship: Diesel, Mabel, MVP, Bam Bam Bigelow, Mr. Perfect, Bastion Booger, Marty Jannetty, 1-2-3 Kid, IRS, Tatanka, Adam Bomb, Razor Ramon, Pierre, Jacques, Giant Gonzalez, Rick Martel, Jimmy Snuka, Owen Hart, Bob Backlund, and Randy Savage

Savage immediately hits Gonzalez with a flying double axe handle to start off the match then is joined by several others to eliminate Gonzalez. This would be Gonzalez’s last appearance in the company. Heenan switches his pick of Bastion Booger to The Quebecers because they can work together. The announcers talk about MVP, who is Steve Lombardi wearing face paint resembling a baseball with a baseball uniform. We see Mabel gauging Tatanka’s face while screaming “every man for himself” then we see Savage choke out Bigelow. Pierre saves Jacques from elimination courtesy of Razor Ramon then soon after that we see Diesel eliminate Mabel. Razor then tosses IRS over the top rope as IRS is held back by several referees. Jacques nearly eliminates Razor but Savage makes the save. Booger gets rid of the 1-2-3 Kid as Vince brings up Heenan hiding underneath the ring to win a battle royal years ago in Chicago. Perfect then eliminates Diesel right before the break and we return with Backlund on the outside as he was eliminated but we do not know by who. Snuka gets dumped while charging at Martel as Marty fights off Martel in the corner. Bigelow eliminates Perfect then we see some near eliminations. Marty saves Savage but gets eliminated by Bomb after whiffing on a crossbody. Bigelow gets rid of Tatanka with a low bridge then the Quebecers go after Bomb. Savage gets rid of Booger just after Razor was tossed through the middle rope by Bigelow. Razor then runs in and clotheslines Bigelow for an elimination as we go to another commercial. The match returns then Owen gets rid of MVP with a dropkick but ends up getting tossed by Jacques himself. We now see Razor & Savage in one corner with The Quebecers & Bomb & Martel in the other. The Quebecers go after Razor with Martel & Bomb beating on Savage. Savage avoids a clothesline from Bomb that ends up nailing Martel. Savage then floats over Bomb and tosses him for the elimination but after that The Quebecers & Martel get rid of Savage as the final four are Razor, Martel, and The Quebecers. Razor gets cornered by the other three as Heenan plugs the Survivor Series tickets selling out at the Boston Garden in less than one hour and how it will air on Thanksgiving Eve. Razor pulls up on the ropes to avoid a triple dropkick then fires away and fights off all three men. Martel then holds up Razor as The Quebecers hammer away. Its still 3 against 1 as Razor boots Martel away but is hit with a double slam by The Quebecers. Jacques then holds up Razor but is accidentally hit with a clothesline by Pierre and eliminated then Razor dumps Pierre as Razor will face Martel next week to crown the new Intercontinental Champion (19:49 shown) **1/2.

Thoughts: Good as far as battle royals are concerned with a strong ending. Once it broke down to the final six they did a great job at having Razor overcome the odds and survive. You can say that The Quebecers & Martel were not over enough but it still got over with the live crowd, the same crowd which was completely dead for last week’s show.

We get the “WWF Unbelievable” ad with some dork who is blowing off his hot girlfriend/wife to watch RAW.

Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette vs. Scott Taylor & Mark Thomas

For some reason the enhancement talent are referred to by Vince as “Scott Thomas & Mark Taylor” as I guess some road agent confused their names. Since Tony Garea was known to work with the enhancement guys I’ll blame him for this one. Thomas now sports a goatee then and starts off the match getting outsmarted by Prichard. The Bodies work over Thomas as Heenan plugs the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express making their debut on “All-American Wrestling” this weekend with Heenan referring to them as one of the best teams of the 80’s and how they have a problem with Cornette. Taylor is in and Del Ray catches him with a back elbow smash before Prichard hits a super spinebuster. Prichard then hits a vertical suplex as the Bodies continue to beat down Taylor until they use a clothesline/DDT combo for the win (3:39).

Thoughts: The big news here (well, not that big really) is that the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express were mentioned on WWF TV for the first time as they will be shown this coming Sunday on “All-American Wrestling,” a show that I will be recapping. The Bodies once again looked great in the ring and Taylor’s work as an enhancement talent remains impressive.

We are shown a clip from this weekend’s “Superstars”when Doink the Clown messed with Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon.

Doink the Clown vs. Cory Student

Doink wheels himself out on a red wagon and has a trash bag filled with treats he tosses into the crowd. Doink also threatens to toss another bucket of water at Heenan, who is begging, then it turns out to be popcorn as Doink laughs but not as hard as Vince. Doink works over Student then takes him over with a hip toss. Doink then hits a standing dropkick as the announcers talk about what happened between Doink and Bigelow. Doink now grounds Student as Vince puts over his technical ability as Doink stays in control then hits a flying sit-down splash for the win (1:57). After the match, Bigelow & Luna come down to the ring. However, Rene Goulet & Tony Garea and the rest of the goofs order Bigelow to leave the ring. Bigelow obliges then beats on Doink’s wagon before tossing it into the ring.

Thoughts: Doink is now a full-fledged babyface as he tosses treats to the fans and does wacky pranks on the dastardly heels in the promotion. Bigelow got some revenge here over what happened this past weekend and he needed to after looking like a complete goof.

The announcers talk about next week’s Intercontinental Title match as Heenan says Martel will win due to not being around for a while. We then see the end of the battle royal.

Final Thoughts: The battle royal was fun and they did a strong job at hyping up the Intercontinental Title match for next week, although I don’t think anyone believed Martel had a shot at winning. They also seem intent on pushing Doink/Bigelow as a key TV feud and so far its been alright I guess but we will see how that plays out going forward. Overall, RAW is a focused show and clearly the new top show for WWF programming, replacing “Superstars.”

Saturday: WWF Superstars 10/9/93, WWF Wrestling Challenge 10/10/93

Sunday: WWF All-American Wrestling 10/10/93

Monday: WWF Monday Night RAW 10/11/93

Tuesday: WWF Superstars 10/16/93, WWF Wrestling Challenge 10/17/93

Wednesday: WWF All-American Wrestling 10/17/93, WWF Monday Night RAW 10/18/93

Thursday: WWF Superstars 10/23/93, WWF Wrestling Challenge 10/24/93

Friday: WWF Monday Night RAW 10/25/93