Looking Back at the First Episode of Monday Night Raw
It’s been a couple of days since the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw. It was a fun episode with some cool nostalgia and some good storyline development. But what I wanted to do was look back at the very first episode of Monday Night Raw. I’ll be writing this as I watch the episode so it might be a little all over the place but it should be a lot of fun.
So join me as we go back to Monday Night January 11th 1993!
Monday Night Raw opens with Sean Mooney outside of the Manhattan Center in New York City. Bobby the Brain Heenan is trying to get in. Apparently Bobby has been replaces in the broadcast booth and Mooney tells him he can’t get in and he’s been replaced.
Cue the Classic Intro to Monday Night Raw!
Welcome everyone to Monday NIGHT RAW. Our announcers are Vince McMahon with the Macho Man and Rob Bartlett? I guess Bartlett is a local New York DJ they were trying to use to get some extra hype on the show. Not sure if it worked. All this guy does is bring bad jokes throughout the broadcast.
The small crowd inside the Manhattan Center is looking pretty rowdy. Looking back I can’t believe they held Monday Night Raw in such a small arena. I mean look how small this place is. There are less than 1,000 people there!
Macho Man is looking classy with a neon green bow tie.
First match up is KoKo B Ware vs. Yokozuna. Koko is wearing pretty awesome bright neon pants complete with checkered suspenders.
Yoko is massive and Vince McMahon is putting over how Yoko hasn’t been knocked off his feet yet. Bartlett says the word “ass” and Vince makes a big deal out of it. You can really tell all 3 announcers are excited for the start of Monday Night Raw. I have to imagine they had no idea it would make it to 1,000 episodes.
Pretty much a squash match as Yokozuna dominates. In retrospect it makes sense to start the show with Yokozuna. He actually wins the Royal Rumble in a few weeks and goes on to win the WWE title. Vince loves his monsters and Yokozuna was just that.
Speaking of the Royal Rumble, an ad for the Royal Rumble airs right after that match. Ha!
We come back to Raw and get a pretty good pre taped promo from Bobby Heenan talking about The Narcissist Lex Luger and how Mr. Perfect is afraid of him. This was a nice little promo that set up an eventual match between the two at Wrestlemania 9. I’ll say this, it’s only the 2nd segment in and the WWE is already laying the groundwork for angles in the coming months. The audience didn’t know it at the time but they were being given hints at what was to come. The WWE had a vision back then of what they wanted to do and they stuck with it. I wish they would do more of that today.
Anyway back to Monday Night Raw!
Up next is the Steiner Brothers vs. umm.. welll two guys in all black body suits and black masks… I’m 100% serious. They’re called The Executioners.
In the background in the crowd we see Doink the clown running back and forth teasing people. This was back when Doink was an evil clown. It sounds ridiculious when I type it but he was actually a pretty decent character. His evil character was a good one and he was actually pretty creepy.
Doink is in the background the whole match and which is another squash match. Crowd loves the Steiner’s when they get the win.
After the match we go back to the outside and see Sean Mooney with some “Breaking News.” In a ridiculous segment we see Bobby the Heenan dressed as a woman trying to sneak into the arena for Monday Night Raw.
After a commercial break we’re back for an in ring interview. Vince McMahon is interviewing Razor Ramon who will be facing WWE Champion Bret the Hitman Hart for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble in 2 weeks.
Razor is basically doing a Scarface impression during his interview. Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) once said he presented Vince McMahon with the Razor Ramon character and Vince thought he was being completely original… He didn’t know that Scott hall just was doing his best Scarface impression.
This interview he’s giving is actually pretty bad… Razor Ramon gave better interviews as his character grew over the years. Next another pre tape interview as
Tatanka tells us put a Headlock on Hunger. Seems like a good idea.
Now we have an intercontinental title match as its Shawn Michaels vs. Max Moon.
Max Moon is wearing one of the most ridiculous costumes I’ve ever seen….
Still this is a fun little match. Both guys can work and are pretty quick in the ring. So far it’s the best match of the night.
Doink the Clown is back… this time he’s in the entrance way. Being extra creepy towards the crowd. Lot’s of evil laughs and creepy stares.
Michaels gets the win in a solid match. Something I wasn’t expecting.
Now back outside Sean Mooney is interviewing Bobby Heenan dressed as a Jewish Rabbi… This time it’s funny as a handful of politically incorrect lines are tossed out by the Brain including “I have to bring my nephew bagles.” Oh how times have changed…
It’s time for another match as it’s The Undertaker vs. Damien Demento. Even back then The Undertaker is just awesome.
The match was nothing to write home about but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Heck I even liked watching it even though it wasn’t a great wrestling match.
Vince is now interviewing Doink the Clown. Vince tells Doink that he shouldn’t make children cry and if he does Crush will beat him up… Well he doesn’t say those exact words but that’s the point he was trying to get across.
Crush comes out and threatens Doink. Says he’ll break his arms and legs… Really that’s what he says. Doink then runs around the ring and mocks Crush.
Seems kind of odd that’s what they decided to end the show on but these two did eventually have a match at Wresltemania 9 so maybe they were onto something?
The show ends back outside again right where it began and Bobby Heenan gets into the Manhattan center finally! Too bad the show is over.
So there you are, my look back at the first episode of Monday Night Raw. If you have an extra half hour or so check it out below. I had fun watching it and hopefully you will too. If you don’t have fun watching it.. Well, at least you’ll have nightmares of Doink the Clown and Damien Demento.
Until next time….
-Steve Fountas
Follow me on Twitter so we can argue @mustache_champ
Or if you prefer the old fashioned way of communication send me an e-mail: stevefount@yahoo.com
