WWF RAW December 13 1993 Review (Randy Savage Vs Fatu)

Date: December 13, 1993 Location: Poughkeepsie, New York, USA (Mid-Hudson Civic Center) Announced attendance: unknown TV rating: 3.3 (USA Network) [up 13.8% from the previous week's 2.9 rating]

Hello everyone. Welcome to another RAW review here on the blog. This week's episode is stacked, 'Macho Man' Randy Savage will return to the ring to battle Fatu. Furthermore, former WWF Champions The Undertaker and Bret Hart will be in action as well.

Here is the list of WWF's champions heading into this episode of RAW:

• WWF Champion: Yokozuna [183rd day of his 2nd reign] - previous champion: Hulk Hogan

• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon [77th day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Shawn Michaels, before it was vacated

• WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) [91st day of their 1st reign as a tag team; Jacques' 1st individual reign & Pierre's 1st individual reign)

Title reign lengths are calculated as of the episode’s air date

Note: in title matches, the names of the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jim Cornette

RAW's intro plays.

Vince McMahon welcomes us to the show and takes us back to Bobby Heenan getting kicked out of the arena by Gorilla Monsoon last week. After the recap, McMahon introduces his new co-host, Jim Cornette. After they hype up tonight's events, we go straight to this week's featured matchup.

Randy Savage vs. Fatu (w/ Afa)

Savage takes Fatu down to start, only to walk right into an elbow smash from Fatu. They get into a slugfest and Fatu headbutts Savage. Fatu hits a clothesline to stay in control, Savage tries to fight back with a faceplant but Fatu no-sells it and superkicks him. I love that spot. Then they go outside and take that same spot to the next level, with Fatu no-selling the steel steps before hitting yet another thrust kick. Now Fatu rams Savage into the ring post, and Savage does sell it. Back in the ring, Fatu remains in control and gets two. Macho Man finally fires up with a backdrop, but ends up getting dumped to the outside. Afa adds a few shots of his own on the floor, allowing Fatu to hit a backbreaker in the ring. Fatu goes up for his flying splash, but Savage knocks him down to the outside and meets him there with a flying double axehandle. Back in, Savage hits a huge clothesline to Fatu and nails Afa before putting Fatu away with the Macho Elbow at 5:52.

Winner: Randy Savage

• Rating: I enjoyed this match. Not that it was a barn burner or anything like that, but Fatu got a lot of offense (which made sense as he was a full-time worker, while Savage wasn't at the time) and looked great against a legend before suffering the predictable loss. **1/2

Lex Luger encourages kids to "Just Say No" to drugs.

The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) vs. Jim Massenger & Steve Smyth

Billy Gunn delivers a swinging neckbreaker on Steve Smyth to start, and The Smoking Gunns follow up with a double-team Russian legsweep. While that happens, McMahon and Cornette are going back-and-forth on commentary on whether Lex Luger should be in the Royal Rumble Match or not. Meanwhile, Captain Lou Albano shows up at ringside to get a closer look at the action. Then, Bart takes Massenger down with a DDT before tagging in Billy, who follows it up with a flying bulldog off the top rope for the easy win at 2:50.

Winners: The Smoking Gunns

• Rating: Just a squash. 1/4*

Then, we see a recap from last week's match between Shawn Michaels and The 1-2-3 Kid, as well as the post-match angle that saw Michaels hitting Ramon with the Razor's Edge on the concrete floor twice.

Irwin R. Schyster vs. Todd Mata

IRS cuts his typical promo during his entrance. Then, the cameraman gets closer to IRS and we see Razor Ramon's gold chain inside the briefcase. IRS doesn't like it and shoves the cameraman to the floor. IRS takes over once the bell rings, hitting Mata with a legdrop and an elbowdrop. Mata nearly steals it with a sunset flip, but gets thrown to the floor immediately. Back in, IRS finishes Mata with a backdrop suplex at 1:48.

Winner: Irwin R. Schyster

• Rating: Better than the previous squash match. IRS was both entertaining and intense here. 1/2*

We see a 'WWF Unbelievable' video with Yokozuna (dressed as Santa Claus!) giving away gifts to children. Thankfully, Yoko then wakes up and Mr. Fuji tells him it was just a dream! This was funny, I have to admit.

The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. JS Storm

We don't see the beginning of this match thanks to an ICOPRO ad. When we come back, Undertaker is already in control. He throws Storm to the outside and rams the poor guy's head into the steel steps. Back in, UT hits the Chokeslam followed by the Tombstone Piledriver, and that's all she wrote after 2:14.

Undertaker puts Storm in a bodybag afterwards to continue the build for his Casket Match against Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble. Jim Cornette is losing his mind on commentary as he sees this.

Winner: The Undertaker

• Rating: Easy win for Undertaker to make him look good ahead of his WWF Title shot at the Royal Rumble. 1/2*

Jeff Jarrett's vignettes air. Just debut him already.

Next week, we'll see the rematch between Tatanka and Ludvig Borga.

Rick Martel vs. Tim McNeany

Martel unloads on his opponent right from the get-go. However, McNeany hiptosses Martel and actually bodypresses him for two. That doesn't last long, though, and Martel takes over. Martel drives a knee to McNeany's face in the corner and applies a headlock. Clothesline by Martel, but McNeany kicks him off. He misses a dropkick, though, and Martel gets the job done with the Boston Crab in 3:00.

Winner: Rick Martel

• Rating: Just a squash to kill time, as Rick Martel isn't involved in any program. 1/4*

We see Vince McMahon's interview with Owen Hart that aired on the last episode of Superstars. Owen says he's lived in Bret's shadow his entire life, so he challenges his brother to a one-on-one fight.

Main Event

Bret Hart vs. The Brooklyn Brawler

The match begins with a lockup. Bret gets the better of that exchange and goes to work on the arm. Brawler escapes, but Bret comes back with a bodypress for two. Then, Bret goes after the arm again. Brooklyn Brawler rakes the eyes to escape, and bites him in the corner. Brawler goes up top, but Bret shoves him down, slams him and hits a legdrop. Bret hits the Russian legsweep followed by the middle rope elbow for two. The backbreaker sets up the Sharpshooter for the submission win at 4:20.

Winner: Bret Hart

• Rating: Yet another watchable squash. 1/2*

Next week: Men on a Mission will be in action, Owen Hart will wrestle too, Jeff Jarrett will (finally) make his RAW debut and Tatanka vs Ludvig Borga will be our featured match.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: This was a weird RAW. Randy Savage vs Fatu was a nice match, nothing was bad and some storylines were advanced... but I just wasn't feeling this one. I think that's because we're in that weird time when it's already Royal Rumble season, but still too soon to start building it up properly. 4/10

POINT SYSTEM

Click here to know more about the point system.

Wrestler	Result	Star rating	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Randy Savage	1	2.5	0	0	3.5
Bret Hart	1	0.5	1	0	2.5
Billy Gunn	1	0.25	0	0.5	1.75
Fatu	-1	2.5	0	0	1.5
IRS	1	0.5	0	0	1.5
The Undertaker	1	0.5	0	0	1.5
Bart Gunn	1	0.25	0	0	1.25
Rick Martel	1	0.25	0	0	1.25

Thanks for reading. Don't miss the next WWF and WCW reviews here on the blog as I close the book on 1993. Take care, everyone!