WWF RAW May 31 1993 Review (Luna Meets Bam Bam)
- Tomás Cunha
- Apr 16, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
May 31, 1993 Location: Manhattan, New York, USA (Manhattan Center) Announced attendance: 750 TV rating: 2.6 (USA Network) [down 3.7% from the previous week’s 2.7]
Hey everyone. Welcome to yet another RAW review here on the blog. With the inaugural King of the Ring PPV just 2 weeks away, and with all the qualifying matches out of the way, Marty Jannetty defends his newly-won Intercontinental Championship against Bam Bam Bigelow. Razor Ramon competes in his first match on RAW since the major upset at the hands of The 1-2-3 Kid two weeks earlier, and more. Let’s get into it!
Here is the list of champions in WWF heading into this RAW:
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WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [57th day of his 5th reign] – previous champion: Yokozuna
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Marty Jannetty [14th day of his 1st reign] – previous champion: Shawn Michaels
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [230th day of their 2nd reign] – previous champions: The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)
Enjoy the review!
Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage
Hacksaw Jim Duggan opens the show celebrating Memorial Day alongside fans outside the arena. The show’s intro plays and the commentators hype up this week’s episode.
WWF Intercontinental Championship – Marty Jannetty (w/ Sensational Sherri) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon)
We start off hot with Sherri attacking Luna during the entrances. The bell sounds and Bigelow takes over early on with some power moves. Bam Bam with a series of headbutts and shoulderblocks. Clothesline by Bigelow, but Jannetty blocks a second one and comes off the top rope with a double axehandle for two. Both men exchange blows, with Bigelow getting the better of that. Backdrop by Bigelow, but Marty lands on his feet, only for Bigelow to put him in a bearhug. Bam Bam rams Marty into the corner and places him on the top rope, but Marty kicks Bigelow in the arm and comes off the top with a reverse flying headscissors. He attempts it a second time, but Bam Bam turns it into an electric chair drop!
Commercial break
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We come back with Bam Bam working a chinlock. The new champion continues to be overpowered by Bigelow, who even busts out a dropkick. Running avalanche in the corner gets two, with Jannetty getting his feet on the ropes to break the count. Blind charge by Bigelow only finds Marty’s boots, and a flying clothesline by Jannetty gets two. Bigelow telegraphs a backdrop, which Marty reverses with a faceplant for two. Marty runs wild with a superkick, running clothesline and dropkick for two. Bigelow rakes the eyes to cut him off though, and slams him. A double underhook backbreaker sets up the Diving Headbutt, but Sherri grabs Bam Bam’s ankle and distracts him long enough for Jannetty to dump him. Marty follows it up with a baseball slide before meeting him outside with a dive. Bigelow rams Jannetty into the post and puts him back inside, but gets distracted with Sherri and ends up getting counted out at 9:00. Bam Bam takes out his frustrations on Jannetty afterwards, leaving him laying while Sherri checks on Marty.
Rating: Very exciting title match to kick off RAW, as the Intercontinental Title scene continues to be a highlight of 1993 in the absence of the World Championship. There were some exciting sequences, as both men displayed some great chemistry throughout the match. The finish wasn’t great, but it was somewhat expected and I can live with something like this on a random RAW. Nice hidden gem. ***
Sherri calls out Luna when RAW returns from break. Luna comes out and both women go at it once again. Bigelow eventually returns and helps Luna take her down, until Tatanka runs in and stops the attack.
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Promotional video for Hogan vs. Yoko at KOTR.
The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Rich Myers & The Executioner
Rick starts with the masked Executioner, scoring with a takedown and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to start. Steinerline by Rick, and he whips the poor guy into his corner so his partner can get some. Rick picks him up in Dominator position and rams him into the corner. Off to Scott for a release belly to belly suplex, while Vince hypes up the eight-man tag match coming up at KOTR. Rick comes in briefly with a chinlock, but it’s quickly back to Scott for a pumphandle slam. Scott kills the poor guy with the Steiner Screwdriver, and the Steiners add the exclamation point with the Doomsday Bulldog, with Rick getting the win at 4:14.
Rating: Effective squash by The Steiners as usual, although it did go a bit longer than necessary. 3/4*
UP NEXT: Mr. Hughes.
The usual WWF Mania ad featuring Todd Pettengill airs – Vince adds this week’s featured match is El Matador Tito Santana vs. Fatu.
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Mr. Hughes vs. Bert Centeno
Hughes calmly powerslams Bert to start. Hiptoss and a powerbomb, but Hughes breaks his own count at two. Heenan explains Harvey Wippleman is home with the flu, which is why he’s not managing Hughes tonight. Big boot by Hughes, who again refuses to get the victory. Clothesline and a bunch of choking, as apparently this MUST CONTINUE. Vince is literally hyping everything from the upcoming KOTR PPV to USA Network shows, as Hughes walks around slowly beating up the jobber. Then Hughes suddenly ends it with a Bossman Slam at 3:02.
Rating: One of the least effective squashes I’ve ever seen. Not even Vince McMahon gave two sh-ts about Hughes during this match, so that should tell you all you need to know. DUD
King Of The Ring Report w/ Mean Gene
The Report is STILL brought to you by IcoPro. I thought that horse had left the barn by this point already.
The main event is Ghost Hogan’s first WWF Championship defense against Yokozuna.
Gene addresses the KOTR tournament brackets.
Shawn Michaels and Crush will face each other in a bonus match at the PPV, after both men were counted out in a tournament qualifying match.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Mark Thomas
Thomas tries to go after Duggan in the beginning, but of course it ends up going nowhere. Duggan takes him down and drops a knee on Thomas. He calls out Yokozuna while punching Thomas in the corner. Kind of weird considering Yokozuna is firmly in the main event scene now, and about to face HULK HOGAN at the next show. Know your role, Jim! Duggan suplexes Thomas and runs him over with the Three Point Stance at 2:24.
Afterwards, Duggan grabs the mic and recites the Pledge of Allegiance along with the crowd and the announcers.
Rating: Fine win for Duggan on Memorial Day. The match was quick and Duggan was basically there for the post-match moment. It was fine. 1/4*
We hear from The 1-2-3 Kid, who addresses Razor’s 5,000$ offer to get back in the ring with him. Knowing what could potentially happen to him, The Kid refuses.
Main Event
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Razor Ramon vs. Tony Roy
Macho Man leads the crowd in a 1-2-3 chant. Razor gets all worked up, allowing Tony Roy to roll him up from behind for two. Razor takes Tony down with a clothesline immediately, taking control easily. Razor with a fallaway slam, and he follows it up with the arrogant bitchslaps. Savage gets the crowd chanting once more, allowing Tony to roll him up for two yet again. Razor gets back in control with a back elbow smash, and he goes for an abdominal stretch, but releases the hold due to the crowd’s ‘We Want Kid’ chants. Ramon gets Tony up on the top rope for a backdrop superplex. Razor’s Edge at 3:29 guarantees there’s no fluke tonight.
Rating: Very fun squash that the crowd was very much into. They actually wanted to see The Kid, which was nice to see. The story allowed Tony Roy to get a couple of nearfalls, which fans obviously bought due to what happened in Razor’s previous match! *
Meanwhile, Yokozuna & Mr. Fuji show up with the Japanese flag to “ruin” Memorial Day. Yokozuna promises Hulkamania will die at King of the Ring. Despite Vince McMahon’s best attempts to hard sell Hulk Hogan, the crowd boos Hogan’s name and chants ‘Hogan sucks’. OOF. Thankfully, Jim Duggan shows up in the crowd with the American flag which gets them to chant ‘USA’ while Fuji speaks, somewhat saving this segment as RAW goes off the air.
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: Although some of the previous episodes were better, this was a decent RAW. The Intercontinental Championship match was a great way to kick off the show, Razor Ramon’s squash was super fun, and it was nice to see Yokozuna at the end. The worst thing this week was Mr. Hughes’ squash, which was incredibly boring. RAW continues to be a fairly enjoyable and easy watch. 6/10
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POINT SYSTEM
Thank you all for your time, people. Make sure you don’t miss any of my reviews here on the blog, as well as everything else we post. There’s only RAW left to cover before we get to King of the Ring 1993. See you all next time!
Written by:
Tomás Cunha
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