*** Scott & JT’s Vintage Vault Refresh reviews are a chronological look back at WWE PPV and TV history that began with a review of WrestleMania I. The PICs have revisited these events and refreshed all of their fun facts that provide insight into the match, competitors and state of the company as well as their overviews of the match action and opinions and thoughts on the outcomes. In addition, Jeff Jarvis assists in compiling historical information and the Fun Facts in each of the reviews. Also, be sure to leave feedback on the reviews at our Facebook page. Enjoy! ***
Monday Night Raw #36
October 18, 1993
Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Poughkeepsie, NY
Announcers: Vince McMahon, Randy Savage & Bobby Heenan
1) Steiner Brothers defeat PJ Walker & Tony DeVito when Scott pins DeVito after the top rope bulldog at 3:08
Scott: We haven’t seen Scott & Rick in a few weeks after gaining a big singles win over one half of the Quebecers but they haven’t seemed to get a Tag Team Championship match on TV since losing it almost a month ago. Vince got his jobbers wrong, as he called PJ Walker “Corey Student”, who is another jobber that we saw lose to Doink a few weeks ago. They are still clinically stiff, which means they pummel guys with precision and not sloppiness. The Screwdriver Scott hit on Walker was pretty devastating as always. They finish the mauling with the top rope bulldog and the former champs move on. Grade: *1/2
JT: And we are back live and back in our home away from home, the Mid-Huston Civic Center. SummerSlam is comfortably in our review view mirror and we are about half way to Survivor Series, so things are percolating but overall it is a bit of an in between time with most issues still being fleshed out. I really enjoyed the opening video package as Vince McMahon narrated us through the concept of summits, both throughout history and within the WWF, all to set up tonight’s massive Savage/Crush summit, which hopefully solve an issue that has been simmering for weeks now. Savage is all fired up to start the show, putting McMahon and Bobby Heenan on blast for stirring the pot week after week and vows everything will be settled tonight. And with that, we head to the ring where the Steiner Brothers are on the scene. It has now been about a month since they dropped the straps to the Quebecers and have been unable to recapture them in the weeks since. Here, they look to deliver a Raw tradition: a stiff Steiner squash destruction. Their opponents are one time winner PJ Walker and the iconic Tony DeVito. And there is no jobber magic here tonight as the Steiners destroy both men with aggressive glee. At one point, Scott just wrecked DeVito with a full nelson German suplex that was just gross. And for some reason McMahon keeps calling Walker “Corey Student”, mixing up his jobbers. Get it together, Vinnie! Although I am sure Walker wishes it was Student in there as Scott just murdered him with the iconic Steiner Screwdriver! And a moment later, DeVito got buried by a Rick top rope bulldog to wrap things up. Gotta love Steiner squashes, especially when Scotty busts out the screwdriver. Grade: 1/2*
*** Vince McMahon promotes a hotline which fans can call and vote whether or not Shawn Michaels should be reinstated by Jack Tunney. We then get face-to-face platforms from Mr. Perfect and Diesel, who angrily argue the issue. ***
2) IRS defeats Scott Taylor with the Write Off at 3:30
Scott: I’m wondering at this point if IRS has become the #1 contender to Razor Ramon’s Intercontinental Championship since they were feuding before the belt changed hands. The Shawn Michaels situation comes to the fore for the first time since being stripped of the IC Title. I’m curious how that is going to play out when (or if) he does return. This is a typical squash. Grade: DUD
JT: Back to the ring as IRS slowly marches out, and you have to assume he will be weary out here in these showcase matches after what happened with our buddy PJ Walker. Of course, Irwin’s feud with Razor Ramon is still raging on and suddenly he is in line for potential IC title matches. IRS wasted no time, making a beeline for Taylor and smashing him into the corner. From there, he smothered Taylor with sharp, grinding strikes. Taylor would get a sunset flip to allow Vince to remind us of the Walker upset, but IRS cleaned house from that point on, picking up the win with the Write Off. Grade: DUD
*** We check out a vignette for Jeff Jarrett, a wrestler headed to the WWF that is looking to use the promotion as a stepping stone for a career in Nashville as a country music star. Jarrett is outside the Country Music Hall of Fame and talks about his love for country music and the abundance of talent he possesses. He then states he will use the WWF and its stars to advance his Nashville career. ***
3) Tatanka defeats Iron Mike Sharpe with the Papoose to Go at 3:00
Scott: They should just have Tatanka lose and get this undefeated thing over with. It makes no sense that the guy hasn’t lost a match in over a year and hasn’t gotten a title match since early-April. Not even one throwaway WWF Title match against Yokozuna? Wow out of nowhere Randy Savage just started bashing the crap out of Hulk Hogan during this match while being kayfabe with the Crush summit later in the show. That was definitely shoot comments coming from Savage about Hogan, since Hogan wasn’t on contract and we wouldn’t see him for years. Vince even seemed taken aback by the comments. Oh and Tatanka won again. Grade: *
JT: It is the night of Raw stalwarts here tonight as we have seen the Steiners, IRS and now Tatanka! Even Mike Sharpe is in the house. Although, for the third straight match of the evening, we don’t have much of angle or storyline to progress as this just a straight showcase bout with the commentary still focused on the summit. We do see a quick clips from Superstars where Tatanka and Ludvig Borga had a shouting match in a backstage hallway. And of course, we need to mention that Tatanka is still undefeated, amazingly enough. Heenan takes a moment to put over Jeff Jarrett and then needles Savage a bit. Savage gets really feisty and veers off into harshly burying Hulk Hogan (!), calling back to his recent Radio WWF visit where he discussed his relationship with the Hulkster. Savage says he is worried that Crush spoke to Hogan and had his mind poisoned but is confident he can talk some sense into him. This is wild. Sharpe gets a show in here and there but Tatanka quickly mops him up and grabs the win. The question now is whether or not Tatanka and Borga will square off in the near future following their shouting match. Grade: DUD
*** Joe Fowler has our first Survivor Series Report. The big show comes at us on Thanksgiving Eve and the Boston Garden is already sold out, long before any matches were revealed! And here are the matches discussed tonight
Lex Luger, Tatanka & Steiner Brothers vs. Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga & Quebecers
Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart & Keith Hart (w/ Stu Hart) vs. Jerry Lawler & His Knights – Ray Combs will be the special guest ring announcer
More matches to be announced this weekend, so stay tuned and call your cable company to order RIGHT NOW! ***
4) Bam Bam Bigelow defeats Dennis Diamond with a slingshot splash at 3:01
Scott: Crush has arrived at the arena during the Survivor Series report and is ready for the big Summit with Randy Savage, while the man who I thought should be the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship pummels some stiff with awful plaid tights. This has been a very storyline-heavy show this week, with really the matches as background noise for the commentators. Mr. Asbury Park wins easily, another mindless squash. Grade: DUD
JT: Crush has arrived in the building but we have one more match to get through before it is time for the Summit. Bam Bam Bigelow is out with Luna Vachon to battle Dennis Fucking Diamond and his intense mullet, stache and floral pattern tights. What a jobber. As Bigelow wiped the mat with Diamond, Heenan fired up again and just laid into Savage yet again. This Summit stuff has dominated this show but it has been fantastic the whole way through, from top to bottom. Vince sneaks in the update that 65% of voters don’t want Shawn Michaels back. Bigelow lands the slingshot splash and nabs another victory. Grade: DUD
*** Diesel rejoins us to voice his disappointment with the poll results thus far and begs people to call in and vote for the reinstatement of “The Champ”. ***
*** Bobby Heenan hops into the ring to kick off the Summit. He opens things up by bringing out Crush and again tweaking Savage while doing so. And in an interesting twist, Crush is accompanied by Mr. Fuji and is also sporting a goatee. Heenan continued to prod Savage and stir up the drama as Crush hit the ring. Crush took it from there, saying Savage used to be his best friend and that Macho’s words were like gold to him. Crush always listened to his advice word for word but when he became his teacher’s superior, Savage couldn’t handle it. Heenan helped push Crush along as Crush said he was helped by both Heenan and Fuji to see the light. He claims that Savage told him to wrestle Yokozuna despite a bad back and promised to have his buddy’s back. But, Savage proceeded to sit at the announce table on his ass while Yoko squashed Crush with four Banzai Drops. Heenan asks why Savage didn’t save him sooner and Crush says that Macho just wanted him out of the WWF. He adds that Savage only called him to see if he was too hurt to come back but Mr. Fuji constantly checked in on him throughout his whole recovery. Crush gives Savage one last warning to stay out of his life and business but Macho leaves the table and heads into the ring to speak his piece. Macho tells Crush he is making a big mistake and that he should dump Fuji and just sit and talk things out. He is willing to admit he is wrong if it comes to it but they need a man-to-man talk and a handshake to just put everything behind them and sort it all out. Crush says it is too late but Savage disagrees and says that everyone makes mistakes. Crush contemplates his move and then bumps Heenan away as the Brain tries to talk him out of fixing the relationship. Crush eventually shakes Savage’s hand to a nice pop and Heenan and Fuji bail to the floor.
However, as the two make their way down the aisle, Crush snapped and wiped Savage out with a hard clothesline. He then nailed Savage with a headbutt before hoisting him high in the air and dropping him across the guard rail with a hot shot. As Savage writhed in pain, Jim Cornette waved Yokozuna out to the ring. Crush would shove the bloodied Savage into the ring steps and post and then pitch him into the ring, where Yoko squashed him with a Banzai Drop. As officials carried off Savage, Crush celebrated the ring with his new crew. ***
*** Vince McMahon wraps things up by informing us that Savage has suffered a lacerated tongue and that also 64% of voters said “NO” to Shawn Michaels’ reinstatement. ***
Final Analysis
Scott:T his was a 50/50 episode, with boring garbage squashes but big time storyline advancement, starting with Crush’s heel turn (which balances out Razor Ramon’s face turn over the summer) and the reinstatement issue with Shawn Michaels. We know he will return eventually and want that IC Title back. Mean Gene is gone, as Joe Fowler did the Survivor Series report and gave us our first two matches. For the first time we’ve gone to back-to-back legit arenas and not gone back to the Manhattan Center, which means maybe they’re starting to realize they can pull this off without the small place and make some money. I’ll grade this down the middle: Crap matches but great storyline advancement. Final Grade: C+
JT: Well, on paper, based on in ring action, this show sucked. However, the Savage/Crush Summit was epic and it dominated the whole hour. All of the hype was tremendous, the commentary bickering and prodding throughout was so well done and the Summit itself was awesome. Savage burying Hogan on commentary and tying it into the storyline was masterful as well. They did a hell of a job of building this angle over the past month or so and really paid it off beautifully. It felt like a real old school style TV show with the squashes and heavy focus on one big time angle that closed out the show with a bang. They also did a magnificent job of elevating Crush by having him wax Savage and be aligned with Yokozuna and his crew. And it is hard to hate on a show that nailed its one goal and kept viewers engrossed throughout it. Toss in maybe one competitive match and we raise this quite a bit, but as is, this was really damn good wrestling television. Final Grade: B+
