[1993-07-12-WWF-Raw] Yokozuna vs Crush

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I've always loved this match, not necessarily because it's a great match, but more because it's a really great Yokozuna performance as a menacing monster heel. Crush can't do much of anything, and everything he does looks awkward. But Yokozuna carries him and the match is decent as a result. Knowing what we know about emphasis on bump timing in the WWF style, it's easy to see why Yoko was as pushed as he was, as he timed his bumps exceptionally well. The post-match sees Yoko drop four Bonsai drops on Crush. Various wrestlers run in and try to stop it and get slaughtered. Finally, Savage, who has a contract that states he is not allowed to get involved, comes in and drags Crush out of the ring. That will be important later in the year.

[Kevin Ridge]

Luger is the big talk by the announcers. Crowd was into Crush which makes me wonder if they turned him too early. Maybe they had to offset the Luger turn or something. Great way to make Yokozuna look strong going towards Summerslam. A couple Banzai's for Crush before Savage finally makes the save. I really like these angles for WWF in 93.

[PeteF3]

Crush just doesn't have enough to make this particularly good, but it is a strong dominating performance from Yokozuna, who squashes Crush in somewhat clean fashion (with a minor assist from Fuji). They did a great job of getting Yokozuna over as an angry monster as a result of the Stars & Stripes Challenge, and he levels Crush with three more Banzai Splashes after the match and wipes out Tatanka and the jobber brigade as well. Randy Savage is contractually prevented from getting physically involved, and doesn't pull Crush away until he already is out and requires a stretcher.

 

Vince is already verbally fellatting the New All-American Lex Luger, and I'm stunned they made a bunch of references to Crush's home state without invoking Pearl Harbor. Heenan was terrific in laying all of this at the feet of Lex, however. Some of his very best work since Flair's departure. ISTR he even went into a quasi-shoot rant later in the show accusing McMahon of treating his wrestlers like meat.

[soup23]

Didn't like the match too much but the post match beatdown with Yoko and Vince telling Savage he wasn't supposed to get involved was really well done. Effective way to build up Yoko and the strongest he has looked since he became champion. *1/2

[garretta]

This wasn't about the match as much as its aftermath. I'm honestly surprised that Vince allowed Yoko to look quite this strong. Most heel champions who seem to be on the verge of losing a title are portrayed as desperate people who are so nervous they can barely see straight, but outside of a few moments early on Yoko looked more physically dominant than he has in quite a while.

 

Crush got in just enough offense that he wasn't totally squashed, but at no time did he seem at all close to winning the title. That's not surprising with the way Vince was pushing Luger, but with the way he's been booked to take beatings, not just from Yoko but from Doink earlier in the year, his aura as a monster is gone, if it ever existed in the first place. He's still pushed as a powerful man, but he can be had just like everyone else. Vince has seldom booked anyone weighing over three hundred pounds that way, and his father didn't either.

 

The beatdown was impressive with the four splashes, and Savage risking his career to save Crush from permanent injury was nice to see. (Personally, I wish he would have waffled Yoko with the chair so I wouldn't have to hear him anymore.) But Heenan was the highlight; his promo on Luger may have been his best since he quit managing, and that includes his work with Flair. It's almost like he had a piece of Yoko in secret the way he ran Luger down so passionately, and there's part of me that wishes that he'd been able to take what became Corny's role as Yoko's American spokesman. I realize that Vince probably wanted a new face (at least to the WWF) for the role, but even without hearing Corny I can't imagine that he did it better than Heenan could have.

 

Fuji's shot with the flagpole looked pretty weak. I wonder if he had trouble getting his balance without his cane, which I'm assuming started out as just a prop but which he seems to need for real by now.

 

Line of the Night goes to Heenan's very last sentence that we hear: "(Yoko's) dangerous with a capital C!" A nonsensical line by itself, but so much of the rest of Heenan's work in this match was so well done that you get what he means anyway.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Crush - WWF RAW 7/5/93

One thing that really surprised me about Sid when I was watching his stuff is I don’t think I had watched a Sid match from before 1996 in my life. I think starting to watch wrestling in 1997 and focusing on the classics in my reviews I am missing a lot of stuff. Yokozuna is someone outside of two Bret matches I have never really seen either. So I am interesting in getting acquainted with him.

The booking from WWF is really strong after the disaster that was WrestleMania IX get the belt off Hogan and immediately run an angle with Yoko. The Bodyslam challenge is something I think I have seen but I should go back and watch it. Now immediately a week after that we have a title match against a credible upper mid card baby face challenger. This is first time since Superstar Graham in 1977 that WWF is pushing a heel champion.

In the smattering of Crush, I have seen I am not a huge fan and he is definitely the lesser wrestler here. That being said I didn’t think Yokozuna was all that great either. It is impressive how fast he can run and that he can take some big bumps but the match was pretty damn boring until the finish. I thought he over-bumped early on the Crush shine falling out of the ring for what amounted to a love tap. Crush misses a charge. We get some throat thrusts and some nerve pinches. Crush fires up and knocks him down with a lariat. Again I would have had Yoko absorb two and bump on the third. One crazy thing about the crowd was that they sang the Star Spangled Banner a capella unprompted and busted out into USA chant. This shit was over in 1993 Manhattan, brutha. Back to the match, so Crush gets a flying clothesline goes up for a second but Fuji hits him with the Japanese flag. Yoko slams him on the floor, belly to belly and BANZAI~! For the win!

Post-match angle is better, Yoko hits three additional Banzai with eventually Savage seeing enough and saving Crush which I believe sets up the Crush heel turn and Mania match with Savage. Pretty boring match just really need to watch the finish.