WWF Monday Night Raw, New York, NY
A request! This is a good match from my memory of watching ’93 Raw again some years back, and by “some years back” I’m pretty sure I now mean nine or 10 years and that time is really starting to escape me, and I really would advise all of you to make the most of your life unlike me.
In fact, to go back to the less terrible part, I remember thinking this was better than the overrated Perfect vs Flair match from January ’93 Raw.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
Taylor had, after his Red Rooster stint, been in WCW from 1990-92, and he returned to the WWF in the late summer of ’92, and also did a few ECW dates. He worked house shows with the WWF as “Terrific” Terry Taylor, really giving Jim Powers the what’s-for on a few dates before losing to Max Moon around the horn and then getting a little TV time. Taylor could clearly still work, but he was just never going to get a legitimate WWF push no matter what, I think.
This is also a meeting of Mr. Perfect and the guy who was almost Mr. Perfect. I remember a “Legends of Wrestling” roundtable on the old WWE 24/7 deal where they talked about that and while there was a belief that Taylor could have pulled it off to a degree, Michael Hayes very reasonably asked, “Well, do you want to hit a double or a home run?”
Taylor still has his old Red Rooster music, though. Perfect’s a babyface a this point, which never really lasted or worked all that great after he’d become Mr. Perfect in the WWF.
At the top of the show, after Rob Bartlett does a great and very funny Sinead O’Connor joke, Repo Man blindsided Randy Savage. During Perfect’s entrance, with Savage having disappeared because his prized toy cowboy hat had been repossessed and he was ashamed of his stupid ass hair, Bartlett makes a crack about wanting Savage to check on his car, because he couldn’t find a parking space so he just left it out front. Vince McMahon replies, as Mr. Perfect enters the Manhattan Center, “Whoa! Here’s a man who doesn’t NEED a parking place, HERE HE COMES!” and I have no fucking idea what that’s supposed to mean.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame bad comedy from and inspired by Vince McMahon:
Despite wearing his Rooster-era red ring jacket, Taylor’s going with all black gear here, with gold initials on the boots. Taylor posturing like he wants to show everyone he is every bit Perfect’s equal. Randy Savage sadly returns to the commentary position without his toy hat.
Taylor lands a sharp right hand and a few chops, but a whip to the corner is reversed and Perfect throws a nice hiptoss, a dropkick, and they head out to the floor, a lot of action while Savage rambles about Repo Man.
Savage is deeply upset about his stupid hat as Perfect has Taylor a bit rattled, then grabs a side headlock. McMahon starts talking about Bobby Heenan so they can, in a sudden surprise, get Heenan on the phone. He’s mad about Bartlett’s stunt at the top of the show. The Heenan-Bartlett feud continues to electrify audiences.
As far as the wrestling, Perfect and Taylor are keeping it simple, 80s style, and rock solid. After a break, Taylor gets his first advantage, smacking Perfect’s face into the guard rail outside. Taylor with a nice backbreaker in the ring, grabs a chinlock, he’s got the control now.
Spinebuster from Taylor gets two. Not a great spinebuster but, again, I am a spinebuster purist. Bartlett makes a “can’t we all just get along?” joke, the guy was truly a card. Taylor hits a gutwrench power bomb, Hennig is giving Terry some room to work here and letting him impress if possible.
But the problem is it’s the WWF, and it’s often not possible to impress. They decide your place and usually you stay right about there, maybe with a small bump up or down but nothing more, and that’s then, now, forever. There are exceptions, of course, but that’s why they’re exceptions.
Perfect has to turn it into a bit of a fistfight, or slap-fight, and that’s where he takes the advantage back, only for Ric Flair to appear in the aisle. Bartlett, the comedy genius, says, “That’s Mary Jo Buttafuoco.” Get it? He said the name of someone else. That’s it. That’s the entire gag.
Taylor distracts the referee, so Flair disrobes and attacks Perfect at ringside with chops and punches before sending Hennig back into the ring for a Taylor suplay attempt, only for Perfect to do a “reversal,” in Vince’s words, into a “superplex.” It’s the Perfect Plex and it wins the match.
The match isn’t quite as good as I remembered, and that comes from, like, situational viewing. When I watched this back some years ago, it stood out well among the stuff I was watching at the time, simply by being two good technicians having a squooshed down version of the type of match that could be really, really good with more time and focus and even reason to happen.
More realistically, it’s a WWF TV match that wouldn’t embarrass itself among the better offerings of WCW TV of the era, which is still saying a fair bit about it.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 