00:00Back in 1993, the WWF looked like this, and I looked like this, we've both changed a
00:06bit since.
00:071993 birthed Raw, made history at every turn and even saw The Undertaker drum up one of
00:12the most ridiculous excuses ever ahead of Survivor Series.
00:16With that in mind, I'm Adam Wilborn from WhatCulture, and these are 10 things you didn't
00:20know about WWE in 1993.
00:2310.
00:2460% of Rumble entrants left by 1994
00:29Back in 1993, it was still the WWF of course, and the F presumably stood for Fired.
00:3430 workers jogged down the aisle in Sacramento, but many wouldn't be long for WWF rings.
00:39In fact, by the time calendars turned to 1994, no less than 60% of the Rumble entrants had
00:45left the company completely.
00:47Think about that for a second, 18 wrestlers under contract in January of 1993 were scrapped
00:5212 months later.
00:54Check this out for a list.
00:57Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair, Mr Perfect, Papa Shango, The Nasty Boys, The Natural Disasters,
01:02Max Moon, Tenryu, Skinner, Coco Beware, The Berserker, Terry Taylor, Damien Dementor,
01:07Carlos Colon, El Matador and Repo Man were all gone.
01:11It just shows the turnover Vince McMahon's roster was going through as it struggled to
01:15reclaim old peak Hulkamania-era magic at the box office.
01:199.
01:20The curious Royal Rumble poster
01:22Speaking of turnover, January's Rumble had plenty of that before the pay-per-view
01:26even aired.
01:27A quick glance at the original poster shows just how much things changed between November
01:32and bell time.
01:33Take a gander at some of the mugs here.
01:35Do you see anything strange?
01:36The Ultimate Warrior, British Bulldog and Nails were all featured, but all three had
01:40been fired by McMahon long before the Rumble happened.
01:44Warrior and Davey Boy Smith were sent packing over human growth hormone packages, and Nails
01:48was canned for attacking Vince over his Summerslam payoff.
01:52Other absentees included Crush, who was selling kayfabe injuries following an attack from
01:55Doink the Clown, and Kamala, who was mysteriously absent but likely selling, well, death after
02:01his casket match loss to The Undertaker at Survivor Series 1992.
02:06Gorilla Monsoon did mention Kamala when Giant Gonzalez ambled to the ring mid-Rumble, but
02:10that was about it for the originally scheduled poster boy lot.
02:13Card subject to change and all that.
02:158.
02:16Yokozuna cut Mania 9's headliner short
02:18It's always amazed me that the massive Yokozuna could shift for such a big lad.
02:23At times Yoko moved with the grace of somebody half his size, but it does make sense that
02:28carrying all that weight was tough to do the longer a match went on, so sometimes Yoko
02:33just decided to go home early.
02:35That happened during the main event at WrestleMania 9, and Bret Hart wasn't too chuffed.
02:40The Hitman was doubly annoyed at Yokozuna for sprinting towards the finish because it
02:43meant some of his best spots were left on the cutting room floor.
02:46Hart had a point to prove to Vinny Mac, but his plan was left in tatters.
02:50It's unclear just how much time was shaved, but it was certainly enough to annoy Hart.
02:55He wanted to show the Boss that sticking the WWF title back on Hulk Hogan was a major mistake.
03:01Yoko, meanwhile, was knackered and fancied hitting the showers.
03:047.
03:05WrestleMania's next Japanese crossover
03:08Originally WrestleMania 9 was supposed to feature some Japanese crossover with the War
03:12promotion headed by Genichiro Tenryu.
03:15He was meant to wrestle on the show himself, and Vince McMahon even told the media during
03:19a presser shortly after the Royal Rumble that WWF stars would also wrestle in war soon too.
03:25That didn't happen until May of 1994, and Tenryu didn't appear at WrestleMania after
03:29all.
03:30It's unclear what match the Federation would have had in mind for him.
03:33He'd worked approximately a 13 minute spot in the Royal Rumble before being eliminated
03:37by The Undertaker, so maybe he was in the frame for a bout against The Deadman if Giant
03:41Gonzalez fell through, wasn't ring ready or didn't have such a spectacular outfit
03:45come April.
03:46There's also a chance Tenryu might have worked against someone like Razor Ramon if
03:49the Bob Backlund effort didn't occur, or perhaps McMahon had some kind of war showcase
03:54in mind for The Undercard.
03:55It will forever remain a mystery.
03:58But who would you have booked him against?
03:59Let me know in the comments section below.
04:016.
04:02Summerslam made WWF history
04:05August's Summerslam 93 marked the first time a WWF pay-per-view aired without either
04:10Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan on the line-up.
04:13Both mega powers had dominated company pay-per-views ever since the mid-80s, but McMahon and lieutenants
04:19were keen to finally move on as time crept closer to the mid-90s.
04:23Summerslam also made history for other reasons, namely it was the first one in the series
04:27to happen without even one title change on the card.
04:31More specifically, it ended a run of IC title switches, the belt that changed hands on every
04:35Summerslam between 88 and 92.
04:386.
04:39Luger's Big Night was more memorable in the long run for the lack of Macho Madness
04:42or Hulkamania, and this trend would continue until Hulk wrestled on the 2005 show against
04:48Shawn Michaels.
04:49And what a match that was.
04:50We've mentioned it a fair bit on this channel, which by the way if you haven't done so already
04:53you should subscribe to and make sure you ring the bell to be notified when new stuff
04:57comes out.
04:585.
04:59Hulk Hogan's last match was in August
05:02Most fans think Hogan finished up after putting Yokozuna over for the WWF title at King of
05:07the Ring in June, but that is not strictly true.
05:10Post-King of the Ring, Hogan went on a tour of dark matches and house show bouts before
05:14finally wrapping up his commitments in August.
05:17He was still hanging around the place mere weeks before Summerslam 93 took place, but
05:21he wasn't showcased on TV.
05:23His last hurrah ended up coming with a disqualification victory over Yokozuna on the 6th of August
05:28in Sheffield, England.
05:30Things could have been even bigger too, as Bruce Prichard has long maintained that the
05:33tour was initially booked with Hogan as champ in mind.
05:36The iconic legacy star was taken off TV and PPV once he dropped the belt, but the WWF
05:41was only too happy to use Hulk's name value as a dangling carrot for fans in Europe.
05:46After that he left wrestling for a while before showing up in WCW the next year.
05:514.
05:52Hogan went Hollywood in 1993
05:56The 22nd February 1993 edition of Raw was another low-key episode until this mad bollocks
06:02happened.
06:03Hogan appeared in a backstage sit-down interview with Vince McMahon, but he wasn't clad in
06:07traditional red and yellow attire.
06:09Instead, Hogan donned some soon-to-be-familiar black and white colours.
06:14Although it was an IKO Pro shirt he was wearing, Hulk's look had a distinctly NWO vibe to it
06:19before that was even a thing.
06:21Fans definitely weren't used to seeing their hero rocking this look on WWF TV.
06:26It felt alien, and it's somewhat of a surprise that Vince didn't insist on his poster boy
06:30wearing something, anything red or yellow, to sell his return to screens.
06:35Hogan went Hollywood long before WCW had that thought.
06:393.
06:40Shawn Michaels Genuinely Quit
06:42Ex-Rocker and Breakout single star Shawn Michaels had always been a bit of a wild child behind
06:47the scenes.
06:48By 1993 though, things were on another level.
06:51Shawn failed a drug test in September, seriously narked about it, and ultimately decided to
06:55tell the WWF to beat it shortly afterwards.
06:58Yep, HBK quit the company.
07:01He'd be back by Survivor Series time of course, but things did look bleak for a spell.
07:05Imagine how radically different WWE history would be without anything Shawn Michaels post-93.
07:12That is an impossible thought.
07:14In the short term it would have meant no iconic ladder match vs Razor Ramon at WrestleMania
07:1810, the boyhood dream wouldn't have come true, and the butterfly effects of Shawn telling
07:22Vince where to go would have been felt for generations.
07:26Obviously both men could have patched things up further down the line, but it's good for
07:29McMahon that Michaels returned to work when he did.
07:322.
07:33My Dog Ate It Vince
07:34Bruce Prichard told his fans on his Something to Wrestle With pod that The Undertaker wasn't
07:41exactly pleased about wearing some American flag motif on the inner lining of his trench
07:45coat at Survivor Series 1993.
07:48Taker actually tried to get out of the gig in the lead-up to the November pay-per-view.
07:53Incredibly the deadman told members of management that his dog had munched the jacket so he
07:58couldn't wear it.
07:59The WWF called Taker's bluff and had another one ready for him in Boston, meaning the legend
08:04had to begrudgingly do as he was told and wear the coat.
08:07Apparently the Undertaker was concerned that he'd be tampering with his carefully constructed
08:11gimmick by bowing to peer pressure and showing off a patriotic side when teamed with Lex
08:16Luger and the Steiner Brothers.
08:17The All-Americans was one concept Taker didn't jive with, but he went along with the plan
08:22eventually.
08:23No dog ate my homework excuses worked here.
08:261.
08:27Raw Was Almost Called Down And Dirty
08:31Raw has been WWE's tentpole weekly show since January of 1993.
08:36After a lukewarm start, the show became regularly must-see and has survived countless ups and
08:41downs since.
08:44Even the name is iconic.
08:46So about that.
08:48The WWF didn't have a clue what to call their new product at first.
08:52Bruce Prichard once revealed that the earliest premise for his new primetime show was that
08:55it'd be uncut, uncooked and uncensored.
08:58At one stage, someone suggested it'd be Down and Dirty, but everyone agreed that would
09:03be tough to market and wasn't all that punchy.
09:06Down and Dirty was Raw's first working title, though, and things could have been so different
09:10had Vince McMahon welcomed everyone to the premiere of WWF Down and Dirty in the Manhattan
09:17Center.
09:18It doesn't sound like the kind of name that would have lasted over 30 years.
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