"Natural Guy" Austin Steele

Here's a fan-made tribute to Austin Steele, the jobber who faced Mabel on the July 18th, 1994 Raw. I hope that this is the first of many works produced by the readers and viewers of my blog and Youtube channel, especially since I myself started on Youtube as a tribute/supplement to Maffew of Botchamania.

Figure Friday: Three Men and a Body

Sometimes I don't know whether to consider Hasbro's WWF toy-makers supremely unoriginal or brilliantly creative. On the one hand, they regularly re-used existing pieces of wrestling figures, disguising their origins with a fresh coat of paint. On the other hand, the leaps of imagination required to transform a particular action figure, representing one Federation superstar, into another action figure representing an entirely dissimilar wrestler are commendable. Sure, there were some easy cases, like transforming Bushwhacker Luke into Bushwhacker Butch and vice versa, but some of the re-hashes bridge not only generations but basic body types, as well.

Raw #3 - January 25th, 1993

Right off the bat, we are told that this edition of Raw has been pre-recorded, meaning that either Ric Flair or Mr. Perfect competed at the previous night's Royal Rumble despite having already lost a retirement match. WWE could never get away with this in the internet age. Speaking of the Royal Rumble... is something that the announcers should not do tonight, given that it hasn't taken place yet (unless they knew the results beforehand somehow). Outside the arena with Sean Mooney, the Repo Man  vows to repossess Randy Savage's career. Does that mean that Repo gets the distribution rights to all of the Macho Man's matches?

With Macho Man facing Repo Man tonight, Bobby Heenan finally gets to take the headset for tonight's Raw. Unfortunately, Rob Bartlett is still there. Besides the Macho vs. Repo match, the big story of tonight's Raw will be the Bushwhackers in action against jobbers. Oh, and also Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect. Come to think of it, this Raw looks pretty stacked for an hour show.

Raw #2 - January 18th, 1993

We kick off the second episode of Raw with Rob Bartlett ripping up a picture of Bobby Heenan. Out of the blue, Randy Savage gets jumped from behind by the Repo Man, inspiring a small chant of "Repo! Repo!" Next time you see that clip of Steve Austin jumping Sandman from behind during his entrance in ECW, remember that they got the idea from Barry Darsow on the second episode of Raw. Probably.

After the opening video rolls, it's down to business: Repeating the show's slogan: "Uncut, uncensored, and uncooked." Unfortunately, Repo Man's attack has led the Macho Man to run off in search of him, leaving Vince McMahon and Rob Bartlett to man the announce table.