WWF RAW December 27 1993 Review (Marty Jannetty Vs Johnny Polo)

Date: December 27, 1993 Taped show (on December 13, 1993)

Location: Poughkeepsie, New York, USA (Mid-Hudson Civic Center)

Announced attendance: unknown

TV rating: 2.9 (USA Network) [down 3.3% from the previous week's 3.0 rating]

Welcome to my review of the final RAW of 1993. This week, Marty Jannetty faces Johnny Polo in the featured match. Plus, Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, Lex Luger, Doink the Clown and Crush are all in action on the last episode of RAW of the year.

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

• WWF Champion: Yokozuna [197th day of his 2nd reign] - previous champion: Hulk Hogan

• WWF Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon [91st day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Shawn Michaels, before it was vacated

• WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) [105th day of their 1st reign as a tag team; Jacques' 1st individual reign & Pierre's 1st individual reign]

• WWF Women's Champion: Alundra Blayze [14th day of her 1st reign] - previous champion: Rockin' Robin, before it was deactivated

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 & The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre)

Recap: Last week, Tatanka was about to beat Ludvig Borga in a rematch when WWF Champion Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji appeared and got Borga disqualified. Then, Lex Luger made the save and slammed Yoko.

RAW's intro plays.

The commentators, McMahon and The Quebecers, hype up tonight's events. Jacques Rougeau says Johnny Polo is unquestionably the greatest manager and wrestler in WWF history!

Lex Luger vs. Barry Horowitz

They lockup to start and Horowitz goes to the ropes a few times to stop Luger's momentum. Horowitz takes over with a few knees and kicks, but Luger rolls him up for two. Horowitz throws a few uppercuts in the corner and actually dominates Luger for way too long. Luger finally explodes out of the corner with a clothesline and superplexes Horowitz for the win at 4:26.

Winner: Lex Luger

• Rating: This should've been short and sweet. Instead of having Lex Luger look dominant one week after slamming Yokozuna, he's selling for Barry Horowitz of all people for MINUTES. Atrocious booking. 1/4*

WWF Opinion Poll: Let Jack Tunney know Lex Luger should be in the Royal Rumble Match for just 99 cents per call!

Recap: We take a look back at Marty Jannetty vs The 1-2-3 Kid from the October 25, 1993 episode of Monday Night RAW. Johnny Polo got involved and the match ended in a double count-out.

Johnny Polo says he already proved he can take out Jannetty and Kid at the same time. Tonight he's beating Marty 'Confetti'!

Marty Jannetty vs. Johnny Polo

They fight over a wristlock to start. Hiptoss by Johnny Polo, who's really proud of himself. Polo scores with an armdrag and he's getting all cocky. Jannetty rams Polo's head into the buckle. Marty whips him into the corner, but Polo jumps over the top rope and lands on the apron. Polo turns his back to celebrate that feat of athleticism, so Marty brings him back inside the ring the hard way. Back in, Jannetty hits an atomic drop and a backdrop suplex for two. Jannetty sunset flips Polo for two and starts working the arm. Jannetty goes for a running crossbody near the ropes, but Polo moves out of the way and Jannetty takes himself out on the floor. Johnny Polo meets him outside the ring with a dive, and The Quebecers are having a great time on commentary.

Marty hits a slingshot high crossbody for two, and they collide as they were both going for a bodypress. Jannetty starts running wild. He faceplants Polo and goes up top, but Polo meets him there. Marty shoves him off the top rope and hits a high crossbody for two. Polo misses a blind charge in the corner and Marty nearly steals it with a roll-up. Pierre leaves the commentary table to help Polo at ringside, only for Jannetty to take both men down with a baseball slide. Marty goes for a dive, but Pierre trips him up behind the referee's back. Polo tries to capitalize while Jannetty's distracted, but Jannetty catches Polo with a superkick anyway. Marty goes up top... but Pierre pulls Polo to the outside. Marty jumps off the top rope and takes Pierre down. He turns his attention to Polo and goes for a slingshot sunset flip, but Pierre holds onto Polo's hands and Polo steals the win at 6:22.

Winner: Johnny Polo

• Rating: This was Johnny Polo's first chance to prove he could go inside the ropes, and he delivered while still being annoying the entire time. Very entertaining match with Marty Jannetty, who had one last good match on RAW before the end of the year. ***

Meanwhile, Marty Jannetty goes after Pierre, who gets thrown out of the commentary team for the rest of the episode.

The WWF Unbelievable video featuring smiling Santa Yokozuna airs again.

Doink the Clown (w/ Dink) vs. Spike Gray

Dink offers Doink some chewing gum before the match starts. He offers Spike Gray some chewing gum as well, and Gray falls for it like an idiot. Dink runs away from Gray and even kicks him before leaving the ring. Dink distracts Gray again, this time by going to the top rope. He punches Gray in the nose, and Doink follows it up with a German suplex for the win in 1:04.

Winner: Doink the Clown

• Rating: Yet another lame "comedy" match involving babyface Doink and Dink. DUD

Note: This was Matt Borne's last RAW match as "Doink the Clown", with Ray Apollo taking over the gimmick shortly afterwards.

Royal Rumble Report: Todd Pettengil is the host, as always. The Royal Rumble is just three weeks away and it airs exclusively on pay-per-view. Now that Christmas is gone, you can afford it! Pettengil explains the rules and runs the list of participants already announced: Bret Hart, Crush, Kamala, Owen Hart, Doink the Clown, Mabel, Scott Steiner, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Adam Bomb, Bam Bam Bigelow, Randy Savage, The 1-2-3 Kid, Fatu, Samu, Rick Steiner, Bob Backlund and the returning Greg Valentine. Lex Luger could still compete in the Royal Rumble Match if WWF President Jack Tunney changes his mind. The WWF Opinion Poll number appears on-screen again and Pettengil says we must keep calling to keep up the pressure! Yokozuna will defend the WWF Championship against The Undertaker in a Casket Match, Razor Ramon will put his Intercontinental Title on the line against IRS, and The Hart Brothers will challenge The Quebecers for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Bret and Owen Hart say there are no problems between them anymore, and they will walk out of the Royal Rumble as champions.

Quebecer Jacques thinks the Hart brothers will try to outdo each other, and that's how The Quebecers will keep the straps.

Next week on RAW, The Smoking Gunns will battle Bam Bam Bigelow & Bastion Booger in a tag match. Great...

Crush (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. Mike Maraldo

Crush takes over with his Hawaiian martial arts strikes right from the get go. Crush hits a delayed gorilla press slam to show off his strength. Crush hits a chokeslam of sorts and finishes Maraldo with the head squeezer vice grip of doom at 2:14.

Winner: Crush

Rating: Your regular squash. 1/4*

The Undertaker & Paul Bearer vignette: Undertaker is still working on Yokozuna's special casket. Undertaker wishes Yoko a Merry Christmas in a really creepy way.

Bret Hart doesn't want you to drink and drive during the holiday season.

WWF Women's Championship highlights: Alundra Blayze defeated Heidi Lee Morgan to become the new champion.

Kwang vignette: He's coming to the WWF soon.

Main Event

Razor Ramon vs. Derek Domino

This is Razor's first RAW appearance since Shawn Michaels took him out with the Razor's Edge on the concrete floor a few weeks ago. Derek Domino unloads on Ramon in the corner but Ramon cuts him off rather quickly. Ramon hits a massive fallaway slam off the second rope. Razor with a back elbow smash and he applies an abdominal stretch. Or an "abdomino stretch", according to Jacques Rougeau. Razor places Domino on the top rope once again, this time hitting a backdrop superplex. Razor's Edge gets the job done at 3:53.

Winner: Razor Ramon

• Rating: Strong win for Razor Ramon after getting taken out by Shawn Michaels. 1/2*

Next week: The Smoking Gunns vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Bastion Booger, Jeff Jarrett will compete in his second match on RAW, and WWF Champion Yokozuna will be in action as well.

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Nothing special, just like all the other December episodes. Lex Luger had to fight to beat Barry Horowitz, Doink's squash was ridiculous and Crush's was nothing special. Only Razor Ramon had an effective squash this week. The featured match (Marty Jannetty vs Johnny Polo) delivered. Not a good episode overall to finish 1993, but hopefully things will change now that the holiday season is finally behind us and we're getting closer to the Royal Rumble. 4/10

Point System

Click here to know more about the point system.

Wrestler	Result	Star rating	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Johnny Polo	1	3	0	0	4
Razor Ramon	1	0.5	1	0	2.5
Marty Jannetty	-1	3	0	0	2
Lex Luger	1	0.25	0	0	1.25
Crush	1	0.25	0	0	1.25
Doink the Clown	1	0	0	0	1

That's all from me today. Don't miss the upcoming WCW Starrcade 1993 review here on the blog, which will be the final wrestling show of 1993 that I'll review. Thanks for reading. See you next time, everyone!