WWF RAW December 20 1993 Review (Tatanka Vs Ludvig Borga - The Rematch)
- Tomás Cunha
- Sep 4
- 7 min read
Date: December 20, 1993 Taped show (on November 29, 1993)
Location: White Plains, New York, USA (Westchester County Center)
Announced attendance: ca 3,000
TV rating: 3.0 (USA Network) [down 9.1% from the previous week's 3.3 rating]
Welcome to another RAW review here on the blog. In tonight's featured match, Tatanka is back to challenge the man who ended his undefeated streak and wrote him off TV, Ludvig Borga. Jeff Jarrett finally makes his RAW debut after months of vignettes. Plus, Owen Hart is in action one week after challenging his brother Bret for a fight.
Here is the full list of WWF's champions heading into this episode of RAW:
WWF Champion: Yokozuna [190th day of his 2nd reign] - previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon [84th day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Shawn Michaels, before it was vacated
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) [98th 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 & Shawn Michaels
Recap: two months ago on WWF Superstars, Ludvig Borga ended Tatanka's undefeated streak by pinning him with one finger and then wrote him off TV with the help of Yokozuna. Tonight, Tatanka is back for his revenge.
RAW's intro plays.
Vince McMahon is alone on commentary when the show starts. He wishes everyone a Merry Christmas before introducing Shawn Michaels, who gets his own entrance.
Jeff Jarrett vs. PJ Walker
Jarrett spells his name on the microphone and struts before the match starts. Vince and Shawn remind us of PJ Walker's upset win over IRS a few months ago. Jarrett with a headlock... and he stops wrestling to strut a little bit more. Walker scores with a hiptoss and an armdrag, but Jarrett blocks a second armdrag and... struts. Jarrett jumps Walker from behind and hits a dropkick. Clothesline by Double J, who's taking his time here. Jarrett hits a suplex and a slam, only to miss a flying fistdrop off the second rope. Walker tries to go for a comeback, but gets kicked in the face and DDT'd at 4:09. Jarrett grabs the mic again after the match and spells his name once more.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett
Rating: Not exactly a memorable RAW debut for Jarrett. Just an ordinary squash. 1/4*
WWF Opinion Poll: Should WWF President Jack Tunney allow Lex Luger to be in the Royal Rumble Match? It's only 99 cents per call and your opinion might influence Tunney's decision!!
Men on a Mission (Mabel & Mo) (w/ Oscar) vs. Barry Hardy & Dwayne Gill
Men on a Mission come down to the ring wearing Santa hats. Mo goes to work on Gill's arm and Mabel follows up on it with a legdrop to the arm. Gill and Hardy go for a double-team Irish whip on Mabel, which backfires rather quickly and Mabel takes them down with a double bulldog. Mabel slams Gill on top of Hardy, as Shawn Michaels wonders how anyone could eliminate Mabel from the Royal Rumble. Mo comes in off the tag and Men on a Mission hit a double-team elbowdrop. Mo slams Hardy and goes for the cover, but Gill comes in to break it up. Gill gets taken out by Mo, who then makes the tag to Mabel. An inverted DDT by Mo sets up Mabel's huge splash off second rope, and that's it at 2:47.
Winners: Men on a Mission
Rating: This was here to make Mabel look like a huge threat heading into the Royal Rumble. Mission accomplished. 1/2*
Royal Rumble Report: Todd Pettengill is our host. Royal Rumble will take place on January 22, 1994. The only way to watch it live on TV is exclusively on pay-per-view, so make that call right now! Yokozuna will be defending the WWF Championship in a Casket Match against The Undertaker. But that's not the only title match that will take place at the Royal Rumble - the Intercontinental Championship will be up for grabs as Razor Ramon defends against Irwin R. Schyster. The 30-man Royal Rumble Match is Todd Pettengill's favorite WWF match each and every year, and he explains the rules. As of right now, Lex Luger is not allowed to participate due to the pre-match stipulation of his match against Yokozuna at SummerSlam. But there are nine wrestlers already announced to compete: Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Mabel, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Crush, Kamala (wait what???), Doink the Clown and Scott Steiner. Of course, the Royal Rumble winner will go on to challenge the WWF Champion at WrestleMania 10.
Ludvig Borga says he's already put Tatanka in the hospital before. After tonight, Tatanka is going to stay there.
Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka
Tatanka gets a big reaction. He's not wasting any time and doesn't make his regular entrance, which I always appreciate. Tatanka goes to work on Borga as soon as the bell rings and nearly gets disqualified as he unloads in the corner. Tatanka chops Borga. Borga leaves the ring, so Tatanka follows him and keeps beating him up outside the ring, even ramming him into the post. Holy shit, this is actually pretty good so far! Tatanka throws him back inside the ring, hitting Borga with the WARPATH CHOP! Big slam by Tatanka followed by an elbowdrop. McMahon wants him to cover Borga, but Tatanka hasn't done enough damage yet. He goes up top and comes down with a high crossbody for two. Tatanka slugs away before Borga finally slows him down with a clothesline. The crowd is really loud for this one. They get into a slugfest in the corner, won by Borga after a big right hand. Borga throws Tatanka into the other corner, where he connects with a running splash... but Tatanka doesn't sell it! Tatanka tries to make the comeback, only to walk right into a slam by Borga. It gets two. Borga slams him again and goes for an elbowdrop, but it misses. Tatanka takes down Borga with a series of clotheslines... but Yokozuna shows up. Tatanka hits a slam on Borga anyway, and he goes up top. However, Mr. Fuji knocks Tatanka off the top rope after hitting him with the Japanese flag. Yoko then enters the ring, so the referee calls for the bell after 4:44.
Tatanka actually gets to run wild on Yokozuna after the match ends, but Borga eventually gets back up and he attacks Tatanka from behind. Before the heels can put Tatanka on the shelf again, Lex Luger arrives and makes the save. Luger knocks out Yokozuna with the loaded forearm and actually slams Yoko yet again.
Winner by DQ: Tatanka
Rating: I had low expectations heading into this one, but it actually turned out to be quite fun and intense. Tatanka wasn't playing around after being taken out by Borga two months ago, taking it to Borga right from the start. The DQ finish was the right result, or at least the result I expected, and it should keep Tatanka hungry. The match was quite good up until the abrupt DQ ending, and the post-match angle was effective too. **
Captain Lou Albano comes down to the ring, shakes Howard Finkel's hand and we move on with the show. That was something.
Adam Bomb (w/ Harvey Wippleman) vs. Mark Thomas
Bomb intimidates Lou Albano before the match starts. Bomb overpowers Thomas and hits a clothesline. Backdrop suplex by Adam Bomb and the Atom Smasher powerbomb puts Thomas down in just 1:42.
Winner: Adam Bomb
Rating: Just a squash. 1/4*
The first Thurman 'Sparky' Plugg vignette plays.
Recap: Owen Hart challenged his brother Bret to a fight two weeks ago on Superstars. Last weekend on Superstars, Bret answered the challenge: he loves challenges and is ready to wrestle anybody, but "under no circumstances" will he ever step into the ring to fight his own brother.
Owen Hart vs. Mike Bell
Owen and Bell fight over a wristlock to start. Bell takes Owen down after yanking the hair, but Owen bridges his way out of the hold and counters with a headscissors. Mike Bell shoulderblocks Owen and avoids a hiptoss, but Owen uses his agility to hiptoss Bell on a second try. Owen with a suplex, a Bret Hart-like middle rope elbow and a gutwrench suplex. Mike Bell manages to hit a corner clothesline and a knee to the gut, but Owen eventually cuts him off. Dropkick by Owen, another suplex and the Sharpshooter forces Mike Bell to submit at 3:01.
Winner: Owen Hart
Rating: Strong win for Owen, who got to showcase a lot of his moves heading into the rivalry with Bret. 3/4*
Paul Bearer vignette: Bearer and The Undertaker are building a special casket for Yokozuna.
Main Event
The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu) (w/ Afa) vs. Phil Apollo & Jerry Seavey
Samu jumps both Apollo and Seavey before the match even begins. He gutwrench suplexes Seavey before tagging in Fatu, as The Headshrinkers hit him with a double-team clothesline. Fatu slams poor Seavey a number of times and they continue to beat him up. Samu spinkicks Seavey, The Headshrinkers faceplant him and Fatu's flying splash finishes him in 3:06. Phil Apollo didn't even get a chance to wrestle.
Winners: The Headshrinkers
Rating: The Headshrinkers looked dominant. Effective squash. 1/2*
Next week: we'll see highlights of the WWF Women's Championship tournament finals between Alundra Blayze and Heidi Lee Morgan, Razor Ramon will be in action, Lex Luger will be in action too, and Marty Jannetty vs Johnny Polo will be the featured match of the final RAW of 1993.
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: Much like the previous episode, this wasn't necessarily bad but lacked something more. The featured match (Borga/Tatanka) ended by DQ, but the match had a lot of energy and it exceeded my expectations, honestly. Jeff Jarrett's RAW debut didn't really connect, as it was just your typical squash match after months of vignettes. Not a good episode, but still fine enough for a low 4/10.
POINT SYSTEM
Wrestler | Result | Star rating | Main eventing | Extras | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fatu | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 3 |
Tatanka | 0.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 |
Samu | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 2.5 |
Mabel | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 2 |
Owen Hart | 1 | 0.75 | 0 | 0 | 1.75 |
Mo | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
Ludvig Borga | -0.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
Jeff Jarrett | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
Adam Bomb | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
That's all from me today. Don't miss any of the upcoming reviews here on the website. The final episode of RAW of 1993 is coming up next, followed by WCW's Starrcade before we finally close the book on 1993. Thanks for reading. See you next time, everyone!