BONUS CONTENT
There are plenty of extras on offer, including the making of RAW on the Roof (a feature which was previously released on the RAW video game tape a few volumes back), a couple of bonus awards not worth mentioning, and a recap of the show from SmackDown! two days later. There are also a bunch of condensed “retro moments” that didn’t crack the top ten, such as 1-2-3 Kid beating Razor Ramon, Steve Austin concreting Vince’s Corvette, and Mick Foley’s emotional first WWF Championship win. All of these would have been in the running on my list.
The Undertaker vs. Damien Demento
[WWF RAW – 01.11.93]
This was the main event of the first ever episode of the show, which was a momentous occasion but a lousy match. Demento is awful, and ‘Taker rightly teaches him like the jobber he is and quickly finishes him with a Tombstone. A botched Tombstone, no less. This was a horrible way to start RAW.
Final Rating: DUD
TLC IV
Kane vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & Spike Dudley vs. Christian & Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam
[WWE RAW – 10.07.02]
James Dixon: The teams are an absolute hotchpotch. To highlight what a farce this is, Kane doesn’t even have his tag title-holding partner The Hurricane with him, he is flying solo. The match is almost 2002 WWE in a nutshell; a mixture of “fresh” ideas, none of which worked, and all of which felt thrown together and short term. Even the little things are wrong. The RAW logo, for example, looks cheap and tacky, the arena lighting is odd, and half of the building is obscured by smoke caused by the pyro. None of that matters if the match quality is good of course, and according to WWE, this is the best match in the first decade of the show’s history. I disagree strongly with that, but credit where it is due; the match is certainly not without considerable effort and it is a fun watch. There are some nasty bumps from the off, including a unique one from Spike, who takes a Bret Hart front turnbuckle bump into a horizontal ladder balanced in the post. They break out all of the classic spots which have become staples of these TLC matches over the years, and in truth it is hard to remember where they first originated, as WWE run these bouts a couple of times a year these days. That’s the problem with retroactive viewing sometimes. I know for sure the seesaw has been done before, and every time I see it I get horror flashbacks to Joey Mercury’s nose exploding from that spot -which came many years after this- but thankfully Jericho and Christian escape unscathed. There is plenty of the usual climbing followed by late saves, and big bumps off the ladder from all. Typically it is Jeff who takes the biggest, including a legdrop from the super ladder through Kane on a table outside the ring. If one was being nitpicky, the criticism would be that the match feels far more like a Money in the Bank style every man for himself affair than a tag team encounter, thanks to the relatively irregular tandems and Kane’s solo presence. It doesn’t come close to the all-time classics contested between the Dudleys, the Hardy Boys, and Edge & Christian, even though half of that match is in the ring here. It might help if they actually tried to do duo stuff, but they don’t at all. At one point, JR even has to remind everyone who is teaming with who. The stunt show continues when RVD hits Van Terminator on Kane, Jeff takes a superplex off the ladder from Bubba, and Jericho takes an insane tumble from the ladder to the outside which looks like it kills him. JR calls it the damnedest thing he has ever seen in a TLC match, which it isn’t, but it sure is up there. Not to be outdone, Spike lets Christian block his Dudley Dogg by hurling him over the ropes and through a table. Jeff isn’t haven’t that of course, so gets put through a table with a backdrop from the ring to the outside. Jericho busts out his Walls of Jericho on the ladder, but RVD seems unsure how to take it properly so it is a little fumbled. Kane then takes out Jericho with a chokeslam from the ladder, and retains the tag belts single-handedly. Real good, especially for a free TV match, but is has some high standards to live up to. It doesn’t come close to the SummerSlam 2000 and WrestleMania X-Seven versions of the bout, (nor the WrestleMania 2000 three team ladder match), and in fact it is not even the best TLC match on TV, thanks to a blinder on SmackDown! in mid-2001. Amusingly, considering this is the “best RAW match ever”, that makes it the worst TLC match to date, which is a harsh tag considering the quality of the work, but it is also the truth. Worth seeing though, for sure.
Final Rating: ****
Summary: An absolute wash out. No wrestlers not already under contract appeared on the show, which was considered a major disappointment at the time. Originally this was supposed to be a gala affair, more akin to RAW Homecoming or RAW 2000 in future years. Bret Hart was invited but declined, feeling he wasn’t ready to return, and still unsure of himself in front of large crowds post-stroke. The Rock only appeared via satellite. Mick Foley snubbed them after having left on bad terms, and wanting his inevitable eventual return to feel special. The great Bobby Heenan was too ill. Steve Austin was saved for a show that would draw money. Hulk Hogan was in Japan and would only agree to come back early if it was to set up a program at WrestleMania. That happened in the end, but there was no deal in place yet, so he declined. Undertaker was saved for a surprise return at Royal Rumble. With no major names coming back, WWE decided not to invite anyone from the midcard either, feeling it would make the company look low-rent if they could only attract middling stars. Given the format, they would have only been lost in the background anyway. Absolutely not worth shelling out money to see. TLC bonus match aside, there isn’t even anything with curiosity value. Avoid.
Feature: 22
Extras: 45
Verdict: 34
History of Wrestling 