March to Wrestlemania IX

Date: Aired 03/28/1993 (taped 03/07/1993)

Location: Fayetteville, NC 

Announcers: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan

The Setup

This show was a special that aired on USA on the Sunday night before Wrestlemania. The top two matches were Yokozuna (who was challenging Bret for the title at Mania) vs. Randy Savage and Undertaker vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. 

The Business

The show did a 3.3 cable rating, slightly down from the previous Monday’s Raw, whose 3.4 was the highest rated episode of 1993. That show featured a Yokozuna/Bret Hart contract signing for Mania, so there was an impetus for the events surrounding Mania drawing a monster rating. An interesting note is that Hulk Hogan’s return to the WWF on Raw for the first time in almost a year didn’t score as well as either of those shows. 

The crowd in Fayetteville was small, only drawing 4,500 fans. That’s less than the 6,500 WCW did for Superbrawl III, a couple of hundred miles away in Asheville, NC, about two weeks before this taping. 

Results/Ratings

-Yokozuna def. Randy Savage in 6:36 *1/2

-Mr. Perfect def. Skinner in 5:27 **

-Kamala def. Kimchee in 2:10

-Money Inc. def. Jerry Sabin & Reno Riggins in 2:55

-Tatanka def. George South in 3:16

-Bushwhackers & Tiger Jackson def. Little Louie & Beverly Brothers in 9:57 *

-Undertaker def. Bam Bam Bigelow by CO in 7:39 *1/4 

-They opened with a big match and closed with a big match, but the rest was mostly filler. 

-Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake, and Jimmy Hart did a platform promo for the live crowd on Money Inc. for Wrestlemania. It was pretty fucking bad, and included Hogan snarling. I feel awful for what happened to Beefcake on the beach, but he wasn’t right for this spot. Honestly, neither was Money Inc. since DiBiase was brought down to the IRS’s level rather than the other way around.

-Yoko didn’t even bump for Savage, who, despite being the final person Yoko eliminated in the Royal Rumble. It was as if they were totally phasing Savage down as a wrestler. 

-Bam Bam and Taker were having a better-than-normal match for Taker at the time until he just walked out after a brief Taker comeback. Giant Gonzalez came out in the aisleway, but officials kept him and Taker away from each other. 

-They showed many of the central angles leading into each Mania match. 

-Shawn did commentary for the Tatanka squash, and they teased a match on the mic afterward, but Shawn walked away. 

-The mixed six-man tag added two shitty comedy-style matches: Midget matches and Bushwhackers matches. The Beverlys worked hard, but didn’t make it a good match with all the anchors. Why this was the longest match on the show was inexcusable. 

-This was Skinner’s last televised appearance. He beat Koko at a house show on 03/28 in Los Angeles, but doesn’t work until he’s another Doink, debuting at Mania IX. 

-Did they build up Kamala and Kimchee for that?

-Vince kept pushing Mania IX as “the world’s biggest toga party.” What year did he think we were in? Knowing Vince, he may have tried to get John Belushi from Animal House, but didn’t know he was dead. 

-Jerry Sabin was the Italian Stallion, and George South also jobbed to Tatanka. It was nice to see two WCW enhancement guys and two indy workers who worked that area forever on a big show. 

The Verdict: Thumbs Down 

This show blew. Nothing substantial happened. They were thoughtful enough to tease a few things and not deliver, but with the wrestling being as meaningless as it was, this felt like a two-hour pre-show for the PPV. There is no reason to watch this show whatsoever. What a waste as a good spot in front of a big audience to promote Mania hard a week before the show.