Parts Unknown #50: Raw

The time has come. This is the 50th edition of Parts Unknown. As you can see, it's a Raw review. But this isn't just any episode of Raw; it's the series premiere from 1993! Put your nostalgia caps on and sit back as I break down the very first episode of Monday Night Raw...hit the cheesy music!

PROS

~ First of all, I love the venue. A part of me wishes that they would take Raw back to the Manhattan Center. There is something to be said for intimate settings. Not to change the subject, but I don't consider the Impact Zone to be an intimate setting. The "brains" in charge of TNA try to pass it off as a spacious coliseum (or at least it seems like they do). I want to see a globe-spanning corporation entertain a modest crowd of 1,500 screaming fans for the sake of shaking things up and keeping the product fresh. Okay, back to the WWF (get the "f" in!).

~ The match between Koko B. Ware (I still don't understand his gimmick) and a then-undefeated Yokozuna. Guess who won? This is a fun squash match. I would have preferred to see Owen Hart in action (at the time, he was tagging with Koko in High Energy), but I won't nitpick.

~ Bobby Heenan building up the debut of The Narcissist (Lex Luger in front of a mirror) in an effective promo. It's too bad that the character was a flop.

~ The Steiner Brothers beating the living shit out of a jobber tag team called The Executioners. If you dig suplexes, then you'll dig this match. I laugh every time I spot Doink running around in the background.

~ Oh, mang (sic). What a Razor Ramon promo. It's cool, yet bittersweet. Cool because it's a Razor Ramon promo; bittersweet because we'll probably lose Scott Hall this year. Wait, did Tatanka just tell me to put a headlock on hunger?

~ The Intercontinental Championship match between Max Moon and a budding Shawn Michaels. Ten minutes of solid wrestling interwoven with more Doink chicanery. God, I'm in heaven. I can't believe that Max Moon didn't take off as a midcard babyface. Admit it; that's a badass costume.

~ The Royal Rumble report. Nothing to say really. It's amusing.

~ The Undertaker/Damien Demento match. I don't know if I've said this before, but whenever I watch an "old school" Undertaker match, I mutate into an annoying mark. So yeah, this match is awesome.

CONS

~ Nostalgia tends to cloud objectivity. Thus, there are no cons. I could watch this stuff 24/7.

The early episodes of Monday Night Raw are some of my favorite television shows of all time (no joke), especially the ones that were taped at the Manhattan Center. I can't get enough of the corny commentary, the ridiculous gimmicks or the melodramatic angles. If you haven't picked The Best of Raw: Seasons 1 & 2, I urge you to do so with a quickness. Hope you enjoyed the 50th edition of Parts Unknown. See ya tomorrow!