Raw History: Episode 3

Monday Night Raw “Loser Leaves WWF” [3]

January 25th, 1993 – Manhattan Center in Manhattan, New York

Coming off the Royal Rumble, we have a direction heading into WrestleMania IX as it is time to build towards Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna. Not only that, but we have our first ever big time match in Raw history as Mr. Perfect is set to face Ric Flair in a Loser Leaves WWF match. I'm seriously looking forward to this episode more than the first two combined.

We open to see Sean Mooney outside, awaiting the arrival of Repo Man. Repo Man arrives in the tow truck he left in last week. Tonight, Repo Man takes on the Macho Man! Bobby Heenan is finally on commentary, but we still have to deal with Rob Bartlett, who sucks.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Repo Man
Macho Man and his flower filled attire comes out before he's even announced and attacks Repo Man. They spill outside and you can see Repo Man's gut clearly. I can see why he wasn't around for much longer than this. They go inside only for Macho Man to hit a running knee that knocks Repo back outside. Repo uses the steel steps to turn the tide as he throws Macho Man into them and the ring post. As we go to commercial Macho Man seems to be rallying but when we return, Repo Man is still in control. He hits a snapmare and leg drop for two. As Repo works in a rest hold, commentary takes to discussing Hilary Clinton and trying to fit in as many pop culture references as possible. Macho Man would soon hit the Elbow Drop to claim victory.

Winner: “Macho Man” Randy Savage in 9:29
Rather dull. Macho Man did his best but Repo Man was not very good. **

A WrestleMania IX promo airs.

The Brooklyn Brawler vs. Kamala w/ Reverend Slick
Our first appearance of one of the WWF's most notorious jobbers, The Brooklyn Brawler. Two matches in and we get two pre-match attacks as Brawler nails Kamala from behind. It doesn't have much effect as Kamala body slams him. The Brawler begs for mercy but eats a side kick. Kamala works over the Brawler as Bartlett calls him fat. That's how you put over the face in the match. They talk about the Giant Gonzalez being near eight feet tall, leading to Heenan saying he's twenty foot ten. Kamala continues to squash Brawler and ends it with a splash. He does roll Brawler over too many times before pinning him, which was funny.

Winner: Kamala in 3:42
Your basic squash but it lasted far too long. *

Vince McMahon gets in the ring to interview the Reverend Slick and Kamala. Slick says a bunch of stuff about this being the rebirth of Kamala and whatnot. He's another guy that I feel isn't around for much longer this year.

Royal Rumble Report time! Mean “BY GAWD” Gene recaps the event from the previous night, hyping Yokozuna vs. Bret Hart mainly.

Loser Leaves WWF
Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair
Oh man, I'm excited for this one. It starts with basic wrestling sequences until Flair sells a slap in the face like he got shot. Perfect mocks Flair's hair slick as Flair steps outside to catch a breather and get consultation from Heenan. Back inside, they trade chops leading to the Flair flop, which leaves Bartlett and his lack of knowledge utterly befuddled. Flair threatens to use a chair as we got commercial but it doesn't happen. Flair continues to fire away with chops and short punches on Perfect's cheat. It must have happened during the break but Perfect is busted open. He goes for a hip toss but Perfect counters for a backslide that is stopped. He hits a backslide so Flair begs for mercy to no avail. Perfect hits punches in the corner along with the count of the crowd until Flair hits an inverted atomic drop for two. Perfect chops Flair and hits a floatover suplex for two, bringing Flair in from the apron. Bobby Heenan is frantic on commentary and it's beautiful. Flair has been watching Roddy Piper tapes as he applies a sleeper hold. They do the arm drop spot and of course Perfect hangs on before his arm drops a third time. He rallies and sends Flair into the turnbuckle. They both a weird spot just as Vince says they could go off the air before the match ends. Gee I'd be pissed as a fan! Perfect puts on a sleeper of his own but Flair reverses with a back suplex. Both men are tired as Flair locks in the Figure Four. He uses the ropes for leverage, because he's Ric Flair. Perfect turns the move over to break the hold so Flair decides to go up top. As always, he just gets slammed from the top as we go to our second break during this bout. Returning, Flair pulls out brass knuckles from his knee pad and lays out Perfect. He covers but ring presence is something he forgets about as Perfect gets his foot on the ropes. Flair lays into Perfect's forehead gash. He puts Perfect in the corner and chops him but Perfect Hulks Up! His adrenaline is pumping as he gets fired up and chops Flair a bunch in the corner, followed by a back body drop. He gets a near fall but you can feel that the end is near. Flair sends Perfect off the ropes and ducks for a back body drop but Perfect stops and nails the Perfect Plex to win!

Winner: Mr. Perfect in 17:47
The first great match in Raw history. Both men gave it their all, Bobby Heenan was classic on commentary and this was an early candidate for Match of the Year. ****

Bobby Heenan freaks out and curses on commentary as he exits with Ric Flair. Vince McMahon tells us that next week, we will see Doink vs. Typhoon!

Overall: 8/10; Great. The first episode mainly got an eight because it was solid and historic. This was the first episode to really be great. We got a conclusion to the Savage/Repo Man mini-feud, a squash and a classic match. Mr. Perfect should be moving towards a WWF Title match later in the year because he's on fire.