WWF 1993: Monday Night Raw; Hogan Returns and Leaves; Yokozuna On Top; Lex Luger Debuts and Becomes All American; The Berth of the Kliq; Shawn Michaels Briefly Leaves and Returns; Razor Ramon Main Event Push; Caesar's Palace; King of the Ring Newest PPV; Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler; Doink The Clown and other Lousy Gimmicks; WWF Hall of Fame

1992 was a year full of scandals and wrestlers leaving the company. It also brought upon us a new generation of superstars such as Bret "The Hitman" Hart, "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, and newcomers Razor Ramon, Lex Luger, and Yokozuna. Also, The Steiner Brothers were brought in from WCW to jumpstart a rather lifeless tag team division.

The WWF did something unprecedented in professional wrestling as it changed the course of professional wrestling history as we know it today as they did a live, primetime wrestling show on Monday nights called "Monday Night Raw."

During this time, pro wrestling shows were run mostly on weekends with the occasional weeknight time slot and were taped during a series of shows and played later. WWF had a Monday Night show called "Prime Time Wrestling" that had been run on the USA Network. There was also a Tuesday Night Titans for a few years.

Prime Time was a clip show that shown matches from prior TV tapings specifically made for the Prime Time show. Monday Night Raw was set to change the face of professional wrestling. The first Monday Night Raw aired on January 11, 1993 for one hour live from the Manhattan Center from New York City on USA.

The original Raws were live for one hour from the Manhattan Center before they started to tape several weeks worth of Raws after the live one at different arenas after they left the Manhattan Center due to high costs of producing a weekly live show. From the spring of 1993 until the spring of 1997, Raw would have one live Raw and followed it with a few weeks worth of taped Raws played over the next few weeks.

The original hosts of Raw were Vince McMahon, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who was now becoming more of an announcer and less of a wrestler, and comedian Rob Bartlett. Bartlett would soon be replaced by Bobby Heenan. Heenan remained on Raw until he left the WWF in December 1993, leaving just McMahon and Savage to handle the commentating duties.

Raw would feature main event caliber matches in addition to matches featuring a superstar squashing a jobber. Raw had a little bit of everything. On one of the first Raws that was aired on January 25, one night after the Royal Rumble PPV, Mr. Perfect defeated Ric Flair in a "Loser Leaves Town" match and Flair was forced to leave the WWF as a result. This was used to explain why Flair left the WWF and went back to WCW a month later.

Bobby Heenan was upset at Perfect for beating his protege Flair and forcing him out of the WWF. He responded by "bringing" in Lex Luger to take out Perfect. Luger initially debuted at the Royal Rumble as Heenan's surprise.

Luger basically just stood there and posed for the crowd. Luger was named "The Narcissist" Lex Luger as he would basically be enamored with himself and his muscular body. Luger's no-compete clause was up and his recovery from a motorcycle accident the previous year was done and he could physically wrestle for the WWF.

Luger would "knock" his opponents mysteriously out with a forearm shot and would pin his opponents by putting his middle finger on his unconscious opponent in mocking fashion. It was later announced that he suffered a forearm injury and a "metal plate" was inserted in it from the motorcycle accident. The WWF forced him to wear an elbow pad on his arm, but he would take it off and hit his opponent anyway.

Luger feuded with Perfect as the two took on each other at WrestleMania IX. WrestleMania IX was held outdoors at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, the first ever WrestleMania held outdoors, on April 4, 1993. It was considered one of the worst WrestleManias ever. As an 11-year-old kid I enjoyed the festivities but watching it back later, yeah it was pretty crappy.

The event started where Randy Savage was carried to the ring on a couch by muscular men with beautiful women accompanying him. Bobby Heenan entered the event backwards on a camel. They did everything to ham up the Roman Empire times at Caesar's Palace with people dressed like how the did during Caesar's time.

Also at WrestleMania, legendary and Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross made his WWF/E debut after leaving WCW. Fellow announcers "Mean" Gene Okerlund and Heenan left at the end of the year to go to WCW.

There were a couple of major storylines leading up to WrestleMania. First was the return of Hulk Hogan after his nearly year-long hiatus from the WWF. The other was WWF Champion Bret Hart defending his title against the 500-lb. Yokozuna.

In February 1993, Hogan's best friend Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake returned to the WWF after being gone for a year and opened up about the parasailing accident from 1990 that destroyed his face and ended his wrestling career at the time.

"Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and his Money Inc. tag team partner IRS came out to mock Beefcake and challenged him to a match. Beefcake faced DiBiase in his first match in nearly three years. IRS ran in and attacked Beefcake as Money Inc. double-teamed him.

DiBiase held Beefcake as IRS was going to hit Beefcake's surgically reconstructed face with his big metal briefcase. Their manager Jimmy Hart pleaded with them not to do it as he had a change of Hart (pun intended). IRS shoved him down and proceeded to nail Beefcake in the face with the briefcase, injuring him. Hart looked on as he was concerned for Beefcake's health and well being.

The next week on Raw, Hulk Hogan returned to the WWF for the first time in nearly a year and talked about Money Inc.'s despicable act of his best friend. Beefcake came out wearing a yellow-and-red protective mask and along with Hogan dubbed themselves the "Mega Maniacs" and challenged Money Inc. for their WWF Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania. They also announced a new manager as Jimmy Hart left Money Inc. to become their new manager.

The other big story at WrestleMania was the WWF Championship main event between Bret Hart and Yokozuna. Yokozuna has dominated and destroyed everyone in his path since entering the WWF late in 1992, including taking out "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan with four Banzai drops as the 500-lb. behemoth "crushed" the ribs of Duggan.

Yokozuna became the number one contender by winning January's 30-man over the top rope Royal Rumble battle royal with the winner to get a WWF Championship match at WrestleMania, starting a tradition that remains to this very day. Bret Hart defeated Razor Ramon in a thrilling WWF Championship match at the same event as Ramon started to become a main eventer.

The Mega Maniacs took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship as Hogan wrestled for the first time in a WWF ring since the previous year's WrestleMania. Hogan entered the event sporting a nice shiner that rumors were that Randy Savage beat him up following him blaming Hogan for his divorce with Miss Elizabeth. Savage wouldn't confirm nor deny it on the telecast.

Another rumor was that he dropped a set of weights on his face which caused the black eye. The storyline was that Ted DiBiase hired a bunch of "thugs" to beat up Hogan before the event but could not stop the Hulkster from wrestling. Hogan said it was from a jet ski accident.

Hogan and Beefcake looked to have won the titles when they hit both men with Beefcake's metal mask. However, the referee disqualified them for using the mask, letting Money Inc. retain the titles. Hogan and Beefcake took IRS' briefcase and opened it up to find a stack of money in there and they celebrated by throwing the money in the crowd.

Bret Hart closed the show (sort of) by taking on the largest and toughest challenge of his career in Yokozuna. Hart lost the title to Yokozuna after Yokozuna's manager Mr. Fuji threw salt in Hart's eyes, blinding him and allowing Yokozuna to pin him and win his first WWF Championship.

Unfortunately, his reign as WWF Champion was over before it even started. Hulk Hogan came out to check on Hart and Mr. Fuji and Yokozuna began insulting and challenging Hogan to a WWF Title match right there and right now. Hogan wasn't going to and Hart told him to go in there.

Hogan came into the ring as he was attacked by Yokozuna as he held Hogan for Fuji to throw salt in his eyes. But Hogan ducked and he threw the salt in Yokozuna's eyes instead. Hogan hit Fuji and gave Yokozuna a clothesline and hit him with the leg drop for the 1-2-3 and became the WWF Champion for the fifth time in his career in a surprise ending that many criticized as many though Hogan once again got his way.

Vince McMahon wanted Hogan to drop the title back to Bret Hart at SummerSlam '93, a ceremonial passing of the torch if you will. However, Hogan had other ideas and believed that Hart would not be a good draw as WWF Champion and dropped the title back to Yokozuna at the inaugural King of the Ring PPV in June.

Hogan would leave the WWF shortly after the PPV after a tour of Europe in the summer and would not appear in the WWF until 2002. Hart took exception to Hogan refusing to do a job to him and would basically be the reason why Hart does not like Hogan to this very day. Hart would eventually prove Hogan and everyone else who doubted him wrong.

With Hogan out of the picture, another big muscular babyface needed to take his place and challenge the monster known as Yokozuna for his WWF Championship. With Yokozuna beating the All-American Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring, he decided to celebrate the victory.

He would do so by holding a "Bodyslam Challenge" aboard the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier on July 4, 1993, Independence Day. The competition was open to any wrestler or professional athlete to try and bodyslam the now 550-lb. Yokozuna as no one was able to slam him in his career. No one was able to do so and it looked like Yokozuna would once again come away the victor.

However, a helicopter flew in and out came a surprising Lex Luger, who was known as "The Narcissist" and was a heel. Luger was wearing an American flag looking shirt. He took the shirt off and attempted and successfully bodyslammed Yokozuna, becoming the first person to do so.

Luger now became a babyface and was dubbed "The All American" Lex Luger instead of The Narcissist. Luger would now wear red, white, and blue ring attire and his entrance music would be "Stars and Stripes Forever." Luger promised he was a changed man and wanted to be the one who stands up for America.

Luger was named number one contender to Yokozuna's WWF Championship and faced him in the main event at SummerSlam. The WWF built up Luger by having him tour the country on the "Lex Express" tourbus up until coming to The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan where SummerSlam was held.

Luger faced Yokozuna at SummerSlam with the stipulation that Luger would have to wear padding over his metal forearm and if he didn't win the WWF Title, he would never get a title shot again so this was a one-time deal for Luger. Yokozuna's new manager Jim Cornette put together these stipulations.

Luger again bodyslammed Yokozuna at SummerSlam and then removed the protective padding on his forearm and Luger hit Yokozuna with the steel plated forearm, knocking Yokozuna out of the ring. Yokozuna was counted out and Luger won the match, but did not win the title since a title could only change hands on a pinfall or submission.

Despite this, Luger celebrated with a bunch of face wrestlers in the middle of the ring with red, white, and blue balloons fell from the ceiling. Even though Luger won the match, he did not win the title and would not get a title shot again in 1993 as the stipulations stated he would not get a title rematch.

How come Luger did not win the WWF Championship at SummerSlam despite him getting a big push over the summer? There is really no one answer but I think that Vince McMahon wanted to further push Luger into 1994 by waiting it out and building him up even bigger.

He would get a title shot at WrestleMania X in March 1994, but again came up short. He apparently did appear at a Raw TV taping with the WWF Championship belt, but would not be the champion. Many believe because he wasn't getting over with the fans as much as Bret Hart or The Undertaker or other babyfaces.

The beginnings of "The Kliq" were formed in 1993 when Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid) and Kevin Nash (Diesel) joined Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) in the WWF. Nash was portrayed as Diesel, Michaels' bodyguard. Hall and Waltman were working as opponents and as teammates.

The four became best friends and began traveling together. This was still two years before Triple H (Paul Levesque) joined the WWF to form The Kliq (or even the "Wolfpac") as we know them today as the five wrestlers still remain best of friends even today.

Scott Hall was becoming very popular with his Razor Ramon character in early 1993 so Vince McMahon decided to make him a babyface. In May 1993 on an episode of Monday Night Raw, Ramon took on newcomer Sean Waltman, who was basically a jobber who lost on his previous couple of appearances on Raw, known as simply "The Kid."

Razor dominated the match until the very end when he went to run into Waltman in the corner, but missed as The Kid got out of the way. The Kid then climbed up the top rope and hit Razor with a moonsault for the 1-2-3 and a major upset win.

Razor was embarrassed of losing to what was considered a jobber who was now named "The 1-2-3 Kid." He would be mocked and ridiculed by fans and other wrestlers. Razor tried to get The Kid in a rematch and The Kid refused until he offered him $10,000 to fight him. Again, The Kid embarrassed Razor by stealing the money and running off.

Money Inc.'s Ted DiBiase and IRS were mocking Razor for losing to The Kid and even called him to the ring to embarrass him and even offer him a job as a servant. Razor took exception and attacked both men to turn into a babyface and formed an unlikely alliance with The 1-2-3 Kid. He even helped The Kid defeat DiBiase and mocked him for losing.

Shawn Michaels started the year how he ended 1992 as Intercontinental Champion. He retained the title against his former tag team partner Marty Jannetty at the Royal Rumble and the then-undefeated Tatanka at WrestleMania IX with former valet Sensational Sherri against him and in his opponent's corners until she left the WWF.

Michaels took on all comers and began a feud with former I-C champion Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig after he attacked Perfect backstage after Perfect's match with Lex Luger at WrestleMania. Perfect would attack Michaels anytime he could and tried to challenge Michaels for the title.

In May 1993 on an episode of Monday Night Raw, Marty Jannetty again returned and confronted and challenged Michaels to a match that night for the title. Perfect interfered and cost Michaels the title to Jannetty, who defeated Michaels.

About a month later, Michaels defeated Jannetty to win back the Intercontinental Championship at a house show. That match was notable for one reason: the debut of Kevin Nash in the WWF. He appeared at the event simply as Michaels' bodyguard and helped Michaels win the title.

Nash got his release from WCW and joined the WWF with his best friend Scott Hall on the request from Michaels. Michaels was a huge fan of Nash's Vinnie Vegas in WCW and urged Vince McMahon to get him to come to the WWF to work with him. McMahon agreed and eventually, Nash got his release and was paired with Michaels and the two had instant chemistry.

Nash was simply known as "Diesel" as he just stood there wearing all black and black sunglasses and didn't say word and was just intimidating. Diesel did not wrestle initially as he was just in Michaels' corner and would often help Michaels in his matches by punching his opponent with a strong right-hand punch and knocking them out.

Michaels fought Mr. Perfect for the title at SummerSlam in a thrilling match. Perfect looked to have Michaels beat for the title but Diesel interfered and attacked Perfect, causing him to lose to Michaels. The Michaels-Perfect feud came to an abrupt end.

Michaels briefly left the WWF in the fall of 1993 because he originally tested positive for steroids and was suspended. Michaels insistent on not taking steroids left the WWF instead of taking the suspension.

Michaels was offered a contract by WCW, but turned down the offer and returned to the WWF in November at the Survivor Series. Michaels bodyguard Diesel began wrestling while Michaels was gone. When Michaels returned, Diesel still wrestled but less because he once again was in Michaels' corner.

While Michaels was away, he was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship. The storyline was he was stripped of the title because he did not defend it enough and failed to defend the title in 30 days even though he was suspended and briefly left the WWF.

To determine a new Intercontinental Champion, a battle royal was held on the September 27, 1993 TV taping of Monday Night Raw with the final two contestants to compete on Raw that was aired the following week with the winner to become the new Intercontinental Champion.

Razor Ramon and Rick "The Model" Martel were the final two contestants in the battle royal and faced off for the vacant title the next week shown on October 11. Razor defeated Martel to become the new Intercontinental Champion as his push was continuing.

When Michaels came back to the WWF, he claimed he was the one true Intercontinental Champion since he never lost the title in the ring. He would carry his old I-C title belt while Razor held the current one. Michaels would begin feuding with his fellow Kliq member over the Intercontinental Title.

King of the Ring became the fifth PPV in the WWF series of PPVs. The King of the Ring had been done before in the WWF, last time 1991, but it was mostly held at house shows and rarely acknowledged on TV. Harley Race won the 1986 crown and dubbed himself "King" Harley Race. Several others wore the crown, most notably Randy Savage, who called himself the "Macho King."

The inaugural King of the Ring PPV was held from the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio on June 13, 1993. This PPV was held annually until 2002. There would be an eight-man tournament to determine the King of the Ring in addition to other matches, including the Hulk Hogan-Yokozuna WWF Championship match mentioned earlier.

Seven of the eight wrestlers to compete in the tournament would compete in qualifying matches on WWF television to enter the tournament while Bret Hart was automatically entered into the tournament since he was the WWF Champion.

Hart defeated Razor Ramon in a hard-fought match in round one and then defeated Mr. Perfect in a classic rematch from their epic encounter at SummerSlam '91 two years prior to advance to the finals. He would take on 400+ pound Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals.

Hart initially lost the match by count out when Bigelow's valet, Luna Vachon, hit Hart with a steel chair. However, a second referee came and explained what happened and the match restarted. Hart would climb on Bigelow's shoulders rolled him into a victory roll for the 1-2-3 and become the King of the Ring.

As a worn out Hart was enjoying the coronation ceremony and being crowned the new King of the Ring, the WWF's own King and pest, Jerry "The King" Lawler, confronted Hart saying he was the only King in the WWF.

Hart insulted Lawler saying he nothing but a "Burger King" as Burger King chants filled the Nutter Center. Lawler viciously attacked Hart with the scepter and throne, leaving Hart lying on the floor and in pain.

This started a big feud between the two that was on-again, off-again for the next two years. Lawler would constantly mock Hart and the Hart family, even mocking Hart's parents Stu and Helen sitting in the stands on Monday Night Raw.

Lawler was a star wrestler down in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee and had been known as "The King" since the 1970s. Lawler joined the WWF mostly as an obnoxious heel commentator that mocked the babyfaces, just like Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan did, in late 1992.

Lawler co-owned Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) with Jerry Jarrett and created the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) following the merger with the Dallas-based World Class Wrestling Association. Lawler dominated the USWA winning the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship a whopping 28 times.

The USWA began a talent exchange with Vince McMahon and the WWF which brought Lawler to the WWF. McMahon sent a bunch of his wrestlers down to Memphis and even had an angle where McMahon was an evil heel down there and his wrestlers were hated as they were looking to take over the promotion. Lawler was a heel in the WWF but the biggest babyface in the USWA.

Bret Hart fought Lawler at SummerSlam. They even fought down in the USWA where Hart was the heel and Lawler was the babyface. Lawler came to the event looking to get out of his match with Hart as he limped to the ring on crutches claiming he was in a car accident.

Lawler had his court appointed jester Doink The Clown take on Hart in his place. Hart looked to defeat Doink only for Lawler to attack Hart with his crutches. Lawler was then forced to take on Hart or else be banned from the WWF for life.

Hart beat Lawler with the Sharpshooter, only for Hart to not let go of the hold. After several minutes of refusing to let go, the decision was reversed and Lawler was declared the winner. Therefore, Lawler was awarded the title of "Undisputed King of the WWF."

Hart continued his feud with Lawler following SummerSlam and Hart was scheduled team with his brothers Owen, Bruce, and Keith Hart to take on Lawler and his three "Knights" in an elimination match at Survivor Series.

The match took place without Lawler, however. Just before Survivor Series, Lawler had legal problems and Lawler was forced to leave the WWF. He was replaced by the returning Shawn Michaels. The Harts won but trouble was brewing between Bret and Owen after Bret accidentally caused Owen to be eliminated, the only Hart brother to be eliminated. This would carry into 1994.

Doink The Clown began to appear at WWF TV events in the stands and in the aisle in late 1992. Doink was an evil clown who played tricks on fans and babyface wrestlers much to his sick amusement. He would laugh hysterically and then stop and frown rather quickly.

Some of Doink's evil pranks include tripping the Big Boss Man with a wire, dumping a bucket of water on Marty Jannetty, and then attacking Crush from behind with a prosthetic arm where he viciously beat Crush the arm, sending Crush to the hospital and out of commission for a while.

The original Doink was played by wrestler Matt Borne. Despite being a clown, Doink showed he was a very savy in-ring technician that could match moves with the best of them. Doink unveiled a second Doink during his match with Crush at WrestleMania.

A second Doink, played by Steve Keirn, would come from the ring and help the original Doink attack Crush with the prosthetic arm and win the match. During matches, the Borne Doink would go under the ring and switch places with the Keirn Doink as he would cheat to win matches.

Doink was cruel, evil heel of a clown but after SummerSlam, where Jerry Lawler blamed him for losing to Bret Hart, Doink turned face. Doink was tired of Lawler's insults and responded by dumping a bucket of water over him.

Doink would be friendly with the fans and even do magic tricks for them. He would still play tricks on wrestlers, but on heel wrestlers like dumping water on Lawler and Bobby Heenan and starting a feud with Bam Bam Bigelow and his valet Luna Vachon over Doink's pranks.

Matt Borne was eventually let go due to drug use so the role of Doink was now on wrestler Ray Apollo. Doink even got a new sidekick in "Dink", who was a midget version of Doink The Clown much to the fans amusement.

Vince McMahon decided to bring back the Women's Division of wrestling by reintroducing the WWF Women's Championship. He made Madusa Miceli, who signed from WCW to the WWF, the champion by winning the title tournament. He changed Madusa's name to "Alundra Blayze."

Vince McMahon also had an affiliation with another independent promotion as Jim Cornette and his Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) brought in his talent to showcase them on the big stage. Cornette originally had a deal with WCW earlier in the year but that was done after Eric Bischoff replaced Bill Watts as the man in charge so Cornette moved over to WWF.

His tag team The Heavenly Bodies took on WWF Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers at SummerSlam and lost. They also defeated SMW Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express to win the titles at Survivor Series. Cornette also got a job working as a manager, commentator, and even on the booking committee with the WWF.

Speaking of The Steiner Brothers, they quickly ascended to the ranks of the top tag team in the WWF. They beat Money Inc. in June 1993 to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Steiners have the distinction of being the only team to win the NWA, WCW, and WWF Tag Team Titles.

The Steiners lost the titles to The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau and "Pierre" Carl Ouellet) who portrayed two villainous Canadian Mounties on the September 13, 1993 edition of Monday Night Raw. The match was a "Province of Quebec" Rules match where the titles could change hands on a disqualification.

The Steiners were disqualified when the referee saw Scott using a hockey stick and The Quebecers won the titles. The Quebecers also debuted a new manager in Johnny Polo, who is Scott Levy formerly Scotty Flamingo in WCW and eventually known as Raven. Polo was a snobby rich kid who would also be a commentator for WWF TV.

There were a bunch of really weird gimmicks such as Doink, the fat slob known as Bastien Booger who ate his own boogers I kid you not, Damien Demento whatever the fuck that is supposed to be, Max Moon, which is just the lamest and stupidest gimmick ever, and my all-time favorite the Giant Gonzalez.

The Giant Gonzalez was El Gigante from WCW who wore this ridiculous bodysuit with airbrushed muscles and had bushy hair over certain parts of the body that makes it look like he's sort of naked. Gonzalez was nearly 8 feet tall (7 ft 9 to be exact) as it made Andre the Giant look like Dink.

Giant Gonzalez appeared for the first time at the 1993 Royal Rumble where he attacked The Undertaker like the Undertaker had never been attacked before and eliminated him from the Royal Rumble match.

Gonzalez took on The Undertaker at WrestleMania IX and Gonzalez knocked Undertaker out with a rag full of chloroform. The Undertaker was taken to the back, but emerged from the back to go after Gonzalez as nothing can kill him.

The Undertaker ended the feud by defeating Gonzalez at SummerSlam. Gonzalez left the WWF shortly after SummerSlam and would eventually retire from wrestling due to the effects of his gigantism.

The WWF created the WWF Hall of Fame this year and inducted its first and only member into the Hall of Fame in 1993. That wrestler was none other than Andre the Giant, who entered the Hall of Fame posthumously as he was announced on the March 22, 1993 edition of Monday Night Raw. No ceremony took place but a highlight video package of him was shown in his honor.

Sadly, Andre passed away shortly before being the first person to be inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame. He died in his sleep on January 27, 1993 while back in his hometown of Paris, France.