TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,631
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jan 2, 2023 19:49:07 GMT -5
Next week marks the 30th anniversary of Monday Night Raw which made its debut on January 11, 1993 at the Manhattan Center in NYC.
I did not start watching wrestling until later that year and was still young enough where I'd have to sneak viewings of Raw until about 1996 since it was on so late.
Does anybody here have memories of watching that first episode? It had to be such a surreal experience because of how different it was from the venue to the overall presentation as well as the announce team.
Any insight would be appreciated. Feel free to share any memories or thoughts regarding this monumental episode.
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Post by LA Times on Jan 2, 2023 19:52:07 GMT -5
Yokozuna vs Koko B Ware
Max Moon vs Shawn Michaels
Damien Demento vs Undertaker
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,631
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jan 2, 2023 19:55:05 GMT -5
I also believe this was the television debut for the Steiner Brothers who had just signed at the very end of 1992.
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Post by LA Times on Jan 2, 2023 19:57:13 GMT -5
I also believe this was the television debut for the Steiner Brothers who had just signed at the very end of 1992. I forgot who they wrestled that night. Was it Barry Hardy & Duane Gill? |
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Post by The Brain on Jan 2, 2023 19:58:18 GMT -5
Rob Barlett is God awful.That is all
Oh yeah we're watching this on the 11th on RWN at 7pm eastern!
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,631
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jan 2, 2023 20:01:44 GMT -5
I also believe this was the television debut for the Steiner Brothers who had just signed at the very end of 1992. I forgot who they wrestled that night. Was it Barry Hardy & Duane Gill? Yeah, under masks as The Executioners. Bartlett was pretty awful. I know Vince wanted the show to initially be more topical with real-world events and a talk radio guy seemed like a good fit, but it did not work. Thankfully, he was only around until March. |
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Post by The Brain on Jan 2, 2023 20:04:28 GMT -5
I think he was around till April but it felt like years.
The Heenan stuff was entertaining
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Post by The Brain on Jan 2, 2023 20:07:17 GMT -5
Only Max Moon auto in my collection...  |
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,631
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jan 2, 2023 22:49:11 GMT -5
Only Max Moon auto in my collection... "Mr. Diamond, can you please sign this picture of you in a rear chin lock?" 🤣 |
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ClassicFan2
Main Eventer
Joined on: Oct 22, 2010 15:25:00 GMT -5
Posts: 3,252
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Post by ClassicFan2 on Jan 2, 2023 23:39:07 GMT -5
i saw it when it aired. was really pumped for it too.
loved the smaller building and new look of everything.
didnt miss a raw til like 1998. taped both raw & nitro in different rooms.
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Post by MKSavage on Jan 3, 2023 2:58:31 GMT -5
Only Max Moon auto in my collection... Is that Konan or Paul Diamond under the mask? It looks like Konan. |
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Post by The Brain on Jan 3, 2023 7:08:43 GMT -5
Only Max Moon auto in my collection... Is that Konan or Paul Diamond under the mask? It looks like Konan. Diamond.Konan never made it to TV |
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Post by LA Times on Jan 3, 2023 11:25:47 GMT -5
Is that Konan or Paul Diamond under the mask? It looks like Konan. Diamond.Konan never made it to TV Konnan wrestled a few jobbers on TV when the character was called Komet Kid. |
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jan 3, 2023 11:59:47 GMT -5
I lived in Canada, so that was strike 1 for me not seeing any early Raw episodes.
I also didn't have cable TV so when Raw did come to Canada on TSN, that was strike 2 for me not seeing any early Raw episodes.
My earliest Raw memory is June 1996 when we got a satellite dish.
But I did go through and watch all the Raw episodes on the WWE Network back in 2015, and I did enjoy those early Raw shows. The fans were almost like ECW fans with some of the chants they had for wrestlers.
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Post by jason88cubs on Jan 3, 2023 12:11:50 GMT -5
My earliest remembrance is the original ECW invasion which just blew my mind
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Post by hbkjason on Jan 3, 2023 13:15:05 GMT -5
I remember the hype before RAW started being pretty exciting and then I lost all excitment when I realized it was not going to be airing here in the UK! We got all our Monday Night RAW stuff from WWF Mania on a Saturday morning or from whatever highlights may be shown on SuperStars! It would take until 1995 for us in the UK to get RAW.
this was a huge reason why I was so excited when the Best of Monday Night RAW VHS tape was released that had matches on it from mostly that first year.
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Post by The Brain on Jan 3, 2023 14:06:21 GMT -5
Diamond.Konan never made it to TV Konnan wrestled a few jobbers on TV when the character was called Komet Kid. I thought he no showed before he was gonna debut? As here this is def Diamond Edit- Did a lil more digging and this is a quote from Diamond... I made my debut at Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the next time I showed up at TV tapings, they had—I think it was Arnold Skaaland—and he would hand out all the airplane tickets. And [he goes] ‘Max Moon.’ ‘Who the heck is that?’ Nobody even told me they were changing the name, and that’s kind of how I found out that I was Max Moon.” Here is the match from Hershey To me this looks like Diamond but hey its been 30 years lol |
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Post by The Brain on Jan 3, 2023 15:52:40 GMT -5
I said this in the past here but I gotta think if Nailz stayed with the company, we wouldve seen him face Taker here instead of Demento
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Post by LA Times on Jan 4, 2023 19:19:25 GMT -5
The Brain That does look like Paul Diamond under the costume, but I can swear I saw a Komet Kid match where he was doing all these lucha libre moves nobody was doing in the US at the time which is why I thought Konnan mustve had a TV match or 2.
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Post by The Brain on Jan 4, 2023 19:28:14 GMT -5
The Brain That does look like Paul Diamond under the costume, but I can swear I saw a Komet Kid match where he was doing all these lucha libre moves nobody was doing in the US at the time which is why I thought Konnan mustve had a TV match or 2. Yeah I believe these were the only 2 televised Comet Kid matches. They gotta have something filmed though as take a look at this pic  Now thats def Konnan |
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