Flashback Reviews The Debut of WWF Monday Night Raw

By 1993 it was clear the boom of the 80's was over. In some ways the WWF had already started to move on Bret Hart had captured the WWF title in late 1992. Former Rocker Shawn Michaels was given a big singles push. That said the previous era was still very much a part of the company. Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan remained with the company as were names like Jim Duggan and Tito Santana. But if there was one show that was key part of the 80's golden days it was Prime Time Wrestling. Most remember the version hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. However the show went a few different formats but the plug was pulled in 1993 to make way for a new show Raw.

Raw in its early days was very different. And the name Raw fit very well. Unlike other weekly tapped shows it wasn't filmed in a sound stage. Unlike other arena based shows it wasn't filmed weeks and weeks in advance with studio promos and voice overs cut it Raw saw them play out live. Essentially Raw created the modern format of a wrestling show with what we see WWE and TNA use. Now changes have been made of course the look of the set, the type of angles, the amount of time, and even the name. But Raw lasts to this day a very long run for any TV show much less a wrestling one. So of course the first episode would have to be a classic that launches Raw... But this was also the mid 90's seen by some as the worse era in wrestling. So was episode one a classic or did Raw need time to grow?

We open with Sean Mooney outside the Manhattan Center. Mooney claims it was a mob scene with fans wanting to be a part of Monday Night Raw. Bobby Heenan walks by. Mooney stops him telling Heenan he's been replaced by Rob Bartlett. Heenan is angry claiming he will buy a ticket only for Mooney to tell them they are sold out. Heenan yells at Mooney as we cut to the intro. Well poor start. Just having Mooney on the outside doesn't get you to excited to see the show to come. And even for fans in heart of Kayfab finding out Heenan has been replaced is bad news. Fans love to hate Heenan and even back than loved the jokes he would make. For those wondering Bartlett was a comic the WWF brought int as announcer. I assume it was be different and edgy but it backfired. Fans love Heenan and found him funny and hated Bartlett who the found to be annoying comic from a morning talk show.

Inside the arena Vince McMahon welcomes us to the Manhattan Center with Randy Savage and Rob Barlett. Savage and Bartlett seem like they try to do some kind of secret handshake and it just makes them look lame. Vince hypes that the Steiner Brothers will be in action as well as an interview with Razor Ramon. Rob hypes that Koko B Ware will face Yokozuna and than talks about Yoko's diaper thing. Yeah Bartlett off to a very poor start with an extremely lame joke. Macho Man hypes Damien Domento will face The Undertaker.

Koko B Ware vs. Yokozuna with Mr. Fuji- Bartlett makes a joke saying Koko is the adult Gary Coleman and makes bad fat jokes about Yoko. We aren't even three minutes in and Bartlett is making me long for Michael Cole at his worse. Yokozuna was undefeated at this point and Vince talk about how the name means grand champion. Macho points out that Yokozuna has never taken off his feet. Bartlett keeps making fat jokes at first Vince tries to play along but more and more you can tell Vince is just hoping he will shut up for five seconds. You known Heenan and Ventura loved to cut up with Gorilla and Vince they also knew when to stop. They weren't making jokes all the time. Bartlett is a comic so he's making jokes but they aren't funny they are bad. And bad jokes especially nonstop bad jokes are annoying. Yoko tosses Koko across the ring on a lock up. Yokozuna does it again. Koko tries a flying shoulder and bounces off Yoko. Again Koko tries the shoulder and it fails. Drop kicks by Koko rock the big man. Koko goes for another shoulder but Yokozuna moves and Koko hits the ropes. Running leg drop by Yokozuna. Yoko tosses Ware into the corner and than hits a running back splash. Bonzai drop for the win by Yokozuna. Ok squash match but man it made Koko look stupid. He kept repeating the same moves over and over. But than again Koko looking stupid is fine since the goal was clearly about building up Yokozuna.

Vince hypes up the fact Yokozuna will be in the Royal Rumble. He also hypes that the winner will get a title shot at the champion who ever that may be. After the replays and more lame Bartlett jokes we get a promo for the Rumble. It hypes the rumble match and Bret Hart defending the Title against Razor Ramon. We head back to see a ring card girl. We get a pre-tapped promo from Bobby Heenan. Heenan talks about how Mr. Perfect is asking about Narcisis. The Brian says Perfect is Horse Moaner to Narcisis. Heenan says Narcisis is beyond perfect and he will unveil him at the Royal Rumble Ok promo meant to set up the eventually feud with The Narcissist Lex Lugar and Mr. Perfect. You have to remember due to legal issues with WCW Lugar didn't just get to debut as a wrestler for the WWF. He had been part of the WBF so his debut was going to be a surprise.

The Steiner Brothers Rick and Scott vs. The Executioners- Barlett doesn’t even know which Steiner is which. The Executions are just your basic masked jobber team. No names are even given. Scott starts and hits a gut wrench suplex. Meanwhile Doink the Clown has made his way to the ring. Take over by Scott and he tags in Rick. Big punch by Rick. Executioner one goes to the eyes. Rick goes for whip and The Executioner trips. Hard clothesline by Rick and than he picks him up over his shoulder and rams him stomach first into the corner. The Executioners conference on the outside allowing Scott to knock there head together. Back in the ring Rick hits a power slam on one Executioner. Tag to Scott and he hits an over head belly to belly suplex. Finally a tag by the Executioners. Scott cuts the one coming in off and hits a butterfly suplex. Steiner Bulldog for the win. Ok match. The Steniers were new to the WWF at this point. The Executioners weren't that good even as jobbers one fell and nither sold very well.

Back outside Mooney find a woman that has been stopped by security. Its clear the woman is Heenan in drag. Heenan claims he's Bartlett's aunt. Eventually Sean takes the wig The Brian is wearing and scolds him. Heenan begs to be let in. Well I will take it over modern Raw comedy. It was short and we didn't have to hear bad forced laughter from the announcers.

Back form commercial Vince interviews Razor Ramon in the ring. Funny as Vince starts out asking Razor if he can have word with him. Funny because they had already plugged the interview and Razor was not in gear so it's not like this was Vince stopping him before a match. Vince says the Rumble is Razor's golden opportunity and asks if he's ready. Razor says he's born ready chico. Vince talks about how it took Bret Hart eight and a half years to become champion while Razor is a Johnny come lately. Razor says it took him eight and half months to catch Bret Hart. Vince brings up Razor attacking Owen Hart on WWF Mania. Razor says squashing Bret's littler brother was fun and tell Bret there is nothing he can do about it. Razor makes it clear it's not that Bret doesn’t' want to is that he can't and he can't do nothing about Razor Ramon taking his gold. Good promo by Razor. I like the story of it. Bret Hart the champion that took years but did it the right way trying to fend off the bad guy that is trying to short cut his way there.

Macho Man plugs a MSG card that is serving as a fun raiser to end hunger. Savage though blows some facts like forgetting Shawn Michaels is Intercontinental champion. Barlett is supposed to toss to a pre record promo by Tatanka and I get the feeling he forgot than got cued. Because he actually talks over the start of Tatanka's promo. I know someone had to interview Razor but you couldn't bring Mooney inside if you were so insistent to have Barlett instead of Heenan. Tatanka thanks the fans for supporting the headlock for hunger campaign.

Intercontinental Championship Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Max Moon- Boy do these two have history. Moon is masked spaceman gimmick that was going to go on Konnan but he left the company due various issues and it was given to Paul Diamond. Michaels and Diamond formed a tag team in a short lived San Antonio territory early on in there careers even holding tag team gold which was Shawn's first title and most and likely was Diamonds as well. Later they both wound up in the AWA Shawn as a Midnight Rocker and Paul teaming Pat Tanaka as Badd Company. The Rockers dropped the AWA tag belts to Badd Company. Than years later Diamond was brought to the WWF and put in a mask given the name Kato to reform his name with Tanaka now using the name Orient Express and one of the Express' rivals The Rockers. And it goes even further when Shawn was running his own indy company along with his Wrestling School Diamond worked for him and held that promotions title as Venom. Shawn even came out of retirement for one night and beat Diamond for the title.

They had just done the angle with Marty Janetty returning and Shawn sacrificing Sherri since Shawn comes out alone. Lock up and an arm drag by Shawn. Head lock into a hammer locks. Moon revers to a hammer of his own. Barlett ignores the match to make an Amy Fisher joke... It wasn't funny than even less now. Moon goes for a belly to back but Shawn lands on his feet. Michaels goes for an Oklahoma roll but moon escapes. Arm drag and hip toss followed by body slam by Moon. Lock and HBK hits a knee to the stomach. Moon ducks an elbow. Criss cross exchange and Moon hooks the arm and gets Michaels in another hammer lock. Cradle rolls up by Moon gets two. After a break we come back to Shawn forcing Moon into a corner to hits a forearm. Michaels goes for a splash in the corner by Moon moves. Barlett makes lame jokes about HBK using a knife. HBK drops Moon throat first onto the ropes. Dropkick by Michaels We got Doink by at ringside. We get more lame Jokes with Barlett pretending to be Mike Tyson calling from Jail. School boy by Moon gets two. HBK whips Moon into the corner. Shawn turns to the camera to claim his face breaks up homes. HBK goes for a body slam but Moon with a small package for two. Back elbow by Michales that gets two. Reverse chin lock by Michaels. HBK goes for a leap frog by Moon catches him. Moon catapults HBK out of the ring. Dive off the apron by Moon. Rolling firemen carry into a pin by Moon gets two. Rolling senton by Moon misses. Sweet Chin Music. Oh wait its just the Savant Kick at this time. Moon escapes the bell to back suplex once but not again and HBK gets the win.

This was how earlier it really was for HBK he wasn't even using the superkick as a finisher yet. Very good match as the two men were very familiar with each other and worked together easy. I even have to wonder if Michaels asked for time given how long it went. Sadly the commentary nearly ruins it. Barlett's Tyson impression wasn't just a quick joke he did it pretty much the whole match. Meaning a great match had a bunch of lame jokes all over it. Again it came off like bad morning radio show jokes.

We get a commercial for WWF Mania. Which plugs it as perfect for the whole family to watch. Than we head to Royal Rumble Report with Mean Gene Oakerland. The report is brought to us by IcoPro a line of supplements Vince was selling. Gene plugs the IC title match between Marty and Jannetty with Sherri at ringside. Michaels claims Jannetty is undeserving of a title ot but he will give him one any way. Shawn admits he hasn't talked to Sherri but like any woman she will be in the Heartbreak Kid's corner. And promoise Jannetty is done. Janetty claims the Rumble will be Marty Janetty day sine he will capture the title and end Michaels career. Janetty taunts Michaels may not know Sherri as well as he thinks. Ok promos by both men but not great than again they only got a little time to talk. Gene talks about the Rumble itself and names some of the people in it. Ric Flair, Tatanka, IRS, Bob Backlund, Jerry Lawler, and Mr. Perfect. Promo time for Perfect. He talks how it's an opportunity and how everything in his life is perfect. He reminds us that all the other great athletes aren't Perfect. Good quick promo. More names include Ted DiBiaise, Crush. Rick Martel and Yokozuna. Mr. Fuji promontories that no one can stop his Yokozuna and he will throw all other out one by one.

More names Macho Man, Papa Shongo, Earthquake, The Bizerker The Undertaker, Carlos Colon. From Japan Great Tenru, Tito Santata, Typhone, Samu, Fatu, and Jim Duggan. Usual Duggan promo and I cant' stand Duggan's promo. Gene reminds us the winner gets a title shot at WrestleMania IX. That leads to them plugging the WWF title match between Hart and Ramon. I miss segments like these. They were a good way to hype things and even break from the show a little bit to let you catch your breath.

Back outside Mooney is in front of line he claims is for tickets to next week's show. A rabbi tries to jump the line.. Again clearly it's Bobby Heenan. This time he claims he's Rob's uncle Murary. The beard falls off as Heenan begs to let in and says he will go to the roof. Good thing for Bobby's sake the Fan Man fight wasn't until November of 93 god knows what Vince might have tried. It was lame comedy but better than Barlett. We get a recap of Reverned Slick resucing KKamala from Kim Chee and Harvey Whippleman. Kim Chee hits Slick which prompts Kamala to turn on his handlers after being abused. What I find Strange here is WWF loves to talk everything even back than. But here they are dead silent. Of all the times to be quite this is the one you pick? This angle needed an emontinal scene to play out with no distractions?

Damian Demento vs. The Undertaker with Paul Bearer- Demento was a very short lived gimmick that is well most known for main eventing the first show. Form some reason there a big push online to bring him back to the WWE for a while. Taker no sells some punches right to the face. Demento goes for a back body drop. Taker stops and drives Dementon down face first. Undertaker wring the arm and walks the top rope to jump off and hits the back. Undertaker chokes Demento in the corner. Hard whip into the buckle. Undertaker runs into a boot. Flying shoulder block by Demento. Undertaker sits right up. Taker ducks a clothesline. Next spot messed up a big. Taker or Demento is off so instead of the flying clothesline it looks more like flying chest splash. Tombstone piledriver by Undertaker for the win. Ok squash match. Demneto never got much control but as usual it was about protecting Undertaker of course back than Taker was worth protecting.

Vince plugs next week's Raw. And than in a strange joke Vince claims in a steel cage it will be Woody Allen and Mia Farrow. Now it's not just a throw a line to make a joke about a major scandal at the time. They even had graphic for it. I wonder was already thinking about dressing people up like celebrities and having them wrestle like he did with Trump vs Rosie and Obama vs. Clinton? Back from the break Vince is with Doink. Vince reminds us that Crush has warned Doink to not make children cry. Doink says kids should have a sense of humor and he would make Crush cry if he came out. This of course brings Crush out. Crush points ot Doink's injured arm and says that was just a warning. Doink sprays crush with a water gun. Crush chase after Doink and it's get awkward. See Crush is clearly faster than Doink so Crush just has to give up and let him get away. Strange segment I get they are building a feud but did we really need this on the debut? Bret Hart was WWF champion and didn’t' appear once.

Heenan has made it inside but not into the actual arena. Mooney finally tell Heenan he can go up just as the show end. Kind of a funny way to end the show but did we really need four segment with Heenan as much as I love him it was the same joke. He can't get in.

So that was the very first episode of Raw does it hold up? Well sort of. Its important to keep in mind this wasn't meant to be a special or anything like that. It was the start of a new weekly show in 1993 so it follow that formula. Lots of squash matches to make the big stars look good. Save the big stuff for PPV. I do like the energy of the early Raw days when they were in smaller venues for the most part. You get a kind of energy like TNA or NXT get today. The problems are one Barlett sucks he's not funny and clearly doesn’t' know wrestling. The other issue is WWF is caught between eras. Throughout the night the repeat “It's Raw, Uncooked, Uncut, Uncensored.” It seems with Bareltt who was most known for appearing on Don Imus and some of the jokes they were going for a more adult audience while still be WWF kid friendly. It would become more prominent in the years ahead with Austin and Goldust for example. Overall it's a good weekly TV show episode and worth checking out at least once. Just don’t' expect a home run.