REVIEW: Monday Night Raw – January 25, 1993: The First Classic

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over twelve years now and have reviewed over 6,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net. It could be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 25, 1993
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Attendance: 1,000
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Rob Bartlett

We are done with the Royal Rumble and I wouldn’t expect to hear much about that, as this show was taped last week. As for what we will be seeing this week, we have the Repo Man vs. Randy Savage in a battle over a hat, plus Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair in a Loser Leaves the WWF match. One of these things is not like the other so let’s get to it.

Repo Man is outside and REALLY excited about getting to fight Randy Savage so he can repossess Savage’s career.

Opening sequence.

Commentary runs down the card.

Randy Savage vs. Repo Man

Hat’s off to them for starting with a big one. Makes sense as they are in Man-Hat-Tan. Savage charges in and the beating is on, with Savage knocking him outside to keep up the pain. Back in and Repo Man gets choked down as we hear about how close Savage got to winning the Royal Rumble (in commentary that was probably recorded later). The running knee sends Repo Man outside as Bartlett mocks Repo Man’s bald spot.

Repo Man tries to leave but gets pulled back in for some choking in the corner as the total squash continues. They head back to the floor, with Savage being sent face first into the steps to give Repo Man a breather. A posting keeps Savage down as Bartlett talks about Repo Man’s…feet. Heenan: “Where did you get this guy?” The chinlock with a bodyscissors goes on but Savage fights up and blocks a kick to the ribs as we take a break.

Back with Repo Man dropping a leg for two as Bartlett talks about Savage writing a letter to Jodie Foster. The bodyscissors keeps Savage in trouble and it’s time to choke away on the ropes. Commentary talks to politics as the chinlock goes on to keep Savage in trouble. A backbreaker lets Repo Man walk around and talk trash, only to get clotheslined out of the air. He takes so long that Savage clotheslines him out of the air and drops the elbow for the pin at 12:31.

Rating: C-. What were you expecting from Randy Savage vs. the Repo Man in a fight over a stolen hat? This felt like a way to set something up for a short form story early on in the show’s history. Savage added some star power, but you’re only going to get so far with a story that is this silly. The match was fairly slow too, but an intense Savage is always worth seeing.

Bob Backlund thinks you need to help him put a Headlock On Hunger.

Wrestlemania is coming in April.

Kamala vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Slick is here with Kamala. Brawler actually gets in some shots to start but makes the mistake of trying a slam. A chop into a kick to the face into another chop puts Brawler in the corner so Kamala can hit a reverse Banzai drop. Another knockdown sets up the reverse cover as Vince thinks Kamala and Suzanne Somers would make an interesting couple. Kamala kicks him in the face and slides into the corner for another reverse cover. The chop sets up the splash but Kamala rolls him over four times before finally getting the pin at 3:36.

Rating: D. It takes something special to get repetitive in a three and a half minute match but Kamala made it work here. Kamala’s face turn is so goofy that it is hard to not draw at least a smile, but egads it was not easy to watch him in the ring. It was a total squash and somehow hard to watch, which isn’t something you see very often.

Post match Slick thanks the fans for Kamala being converted. Kim Chee and Harvey Wippleman need to stay out of Kamala’s way though because they may not like what happens if he sees them.

We get the Royal Rumble Report, with recaps of Bret Hart and Yokozuna winning their respective matches to set up the main event of Wrestlemania. Gene Okerlund talks about the debuts of Lex Luger and Giant Gonzalez, the latter of whom destroys the Undertaker. It still feels so weird to hear Okerlund talking about the Undertaker. Such a clash of generations.

Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect

Loser leaves WWF and Heenan gets up and watches at ringside. They stare each other down to start with Perfect slapping him in the face a few times. Flair drop toeholds him down but gets slapped in the face, allowing Perfect to bust out a quick shuffle. That’s enough to send Flair outside for a breather, plus a meeting with Heenan. Back in and they go technical, with Perfect taking him down for a hammerlock.

With that broken up, Perfect wins a chop off as Heenan goes back to commentary to suggest Perfect is going to be in trouble. Back up and Flair backs into the corner, leaving Perfect to take down one of the straps. Flair finally gets it together and tosses Perfect outside, setting up a chair shot to the back.

We take a break and come back with Perfect being tossed over the corner for a messy crash out to the floor. Perfect is busted open (that’s not something you saw very often at this point) and Flair starts hammering away, setting up a chinlock with feet on the ropes. Back up and they strike it out again with Perfect hitting him in the face for two. Perfect finally gets him down for a backslide before pulling Flair out of the corner. The right hands in the corner have Flair in more trouble until he atomic drops his way out of trouble.

Perfect suplexes him off the apron for two more, only to have Flair come back with a sleeper. That’s good for two armdrags until Perfect manages to send him into the corner. Perfect tries….a jumping sleeper to take it to the mat (they mistimed something there but it worked out well enough) and now it’s Flair in trouble. Flair powers up again and sends him into the corner, setting up a Figure Four, complete with a grab of the rope. The referee finally catches him so Flair kicks away at the knee in the corner. Flair goes up and comes crashing back down as we take another break.

We come back with Flair getting in a right hand with a foreign object but Perfect gets his foot on the rope. A chop in the corner wakes Flair up and the comeback is on. Clotheslines abound, including one to knock Flair out of the air for two. Flair sweeps the legs in the corner and puts his foot on the rope for a bunch of near falls, only to duck his head and get PerfectPlexed for the pin at 24:58.

Rating: A-. You were expecting something less? This was a heck of a match as the two of them had time to do something great and were allowed to do whatever they wanted. Perfect really can have a great match when he is given the chance and the first half of 1993 might be the best run of his career. This was it for Flair in the company (mostly) for about eight and a half years and he went out on an absolute classic. Great match and the best one that the show would have for a LONG time.

Post match Heenan goes into a long bleep as Flair walks out.

Vince tells us that Ric Flair will honor all of his commitments for the weekend before leaving.

Overall Rating: B. You can tell that the company is trying to figure out what to do with the show so they’re throwing everything they can at the wall so far. That’s a good thing as we get something like this, which is one of the best Raw matches ever. I’m not sure what is coming next, but we can start the long form build towards Wrestlemania, which should be a good way to go. Check out Flair vs. Perfect though as it absolutely holds up.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 60,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 6,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books.

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