10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 1993

Back in 1993, the WWF looked like this, and I looked like this. We've both changed a bit since

1993 birthed Raw, made history at every turn, and even saw The Undertaker drum up one of the

most ridiculous excuses ever ahead of Survivor Series. With that in mind, I'm Adam Wilborn

from WhatCulture, and these are 10 things you didn't know about WWE in 1993

Number 10, 60% of Rumble entrants left by 1994. Back in 93, it was still the WWF, of course, and the F presumably stood for fired

30 workers jogged down the aisle in Sacramento, but many wouldn't be long for WWF rings

In fact, by the time calendars turned to 1994, no less than 60% of the Rumble entrants had left the company completely

Think about that for a second. 18 wrestlers under contract in January of 1993 were scrapped 12 months later

Check this out for a list. Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair, Mr. Perfect, Papa Shango, The Nasty Boys, The Natural Disasters

Max Moon, Tenryu, Skinner, Coco Beware, The Berserker, Terry Taylor, Damien Demento

Carlos Cologne, El Matador and Repo Man, sorry Simon Miller, were all gone

It just shows the turnover Vince McMahon's roster was going through as it struggled to reclaim old peak Hulkamania era magic at the box office

Number 9. The Curious Royal Rumble Poster Speaking of turnover, January's rumble had plenty of that before the pay-per-view even aired

A quick glance at the original poster shows just how much things changed between November and bell time

Take a gander at some of the mugs here. Do you see anything strange? The Ultimate Warrior, British Bulldog and Nails were all featured

but all three had been fired by McMahon long before the rumble happened

Warrior and Davey Boy Smith were sent packing over human growth hormone packages

and Nails was canned for attacking Vince over his SummerSlam payoff. Other absentees included Crush, who was selling kayfabe injuries following an attack from Doink the Clown

and Kamala, who was mysteriously absent, but likely selling... well, death after his casket match loss to The Undertaker at Survivor Series 1992

Gorilla Monsoon did mention Kamala when Giant Gonzalez ambled to the ring mid-rumble

but that was about it for the originally scheduled poster boy lot. Card subject to change and all that

Number 8. Yokozuna cut Mania 9 headliner short It always amazed me that the massive Yokozuna could shift for such a big lad I mean at times Yoko moved with the grace of somebody half his size but it does make sense that carrying all that weight was tough to do the longer a match went on

So sometimes, Yoko just decided to go home early. That happened during the main event at WrestleMania 9, and yeah, Bret Hart wasn't too chuffed

The Hitman was doubly annoyed at Yokozuna for sprinting towards the finish because it meant some of his best spots were left on the cutting room floor

Hart had a point to prove to Vinnie Mac, but his plan was left in tatters

It's unclear just how much time was actually shaved, but it was certainly enough to annoy Hart

He wanted to show the boss that sticking the WWF title back on Hulk Hogan was a major mistake

Yoko, meanwhile, was knackered and fancied hitting the showers. 7. WrestleMania's Next Japanese Crossover

Originally, WrestleMania 9 was supposed to feature some Japanese crossover with the war promotion

headed by Genichiro Tenryu. He was meant to wrestle on the show himself, and Vince McMahon even told the media during a presser shortly after the Royal Rumble that WWF stars would also wrestle in war soon too

That didn't happen until May of 94, and Tenryu didn't appear at WrestleMania after all

It's unclear what match the Federation would have had in mind for him. He'd worked approximately a 13-minute spot in the Royal Rumble before being eliminated by The Undertaker

so maybe he was in the frame for a bout against the Deadman if Giant Gonzalez fell through

wasn't ring-ready, or didn't have such a spectacular outfit come April. There's also a chance Tenryu might have worked against someone like Razor Ramon

if the Bob Backlund effort didn't occur. Or perhaps McMahon had some kind of wall showcase in mind for the undercard

It will forever remain a mystery. But who would you have booked him against? Let me know in the comments section below

Number 6. Summerslam made WWF history. August SummerSlam 93 marked the first time a WWF pay-per-view aired without either Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan on the lineup

Both Mega Powers had dominated company pay-per-views ever since the mid-80s, but McMahon and Lieutenants were keen to finally move on as time crept closer to the mid-90s

SummerSlam also made history for other reasons, namely it was the first one in the series to happen without even one title change on the card

More specifically, it ended a run of IC title switches, the belt that changed hands on every SummerSlam between 88 and 92

Lex Luger's big night was more memorable in the long run for the lack of macho madness or Hulkamania and this trend would continue until Hulk wrestled on the 2005 show against Shawn Michaels And what a match that was We mentioned it a fair bit on this channel which by the way if you haven done so already you should subscribe to

and make sure you ring the bell to be notified when new stuff comes out

Number 5. Hulk Hogan's last match was in August. Most fans think Hogan finished up after putting

Yokozuna over for the WWF title at King of the Ring in June, but that is not strictly true. Post

King of the Ring, Hogan went on a tour of dark matches and house show bouts before finally

wrapping up his commitments in August. He was still hanging around the place mere weeks before

SummerSlam 93 took place, but he wasn't showcased on TV. His last hurrah ended up coming with a

disqualification victory over Yokozuna on the 6th of August in Sheffield, England. Things could

have been even bigger too, because Bruce Prichard has long maintained that the tour was initially

booked with Hogan as champ in mind. The iconic legacy star was taken off TV and pay-per-view

once he dropped the belt, but the WWF was only too happy to use Hulk's name value as a dangling

carrot for fans in Europe. After that, he left wrestling for a while before showing up in WCW

the next year. Number 4. Hogan Went Hollywood in 1993 The 22nd of February 1993 edition of Raw was another low-key episode until this mad bollocks

happened. Hulk Hogan appeared in a backstage sit-down interview with Vince McMahon, but he

wasn't clad in traditional red and yellow attire. Instead, Hogan donned some soon-to-be-familiar

black and white colours. Although it was an Ico Pro shirt he was wearing, Hulk's look had a

distinctly NWO vibe to it before that was even a thing. Fans definitely weren't used to seeing

their hero rocking this look on WWF TV. It felt alien, and it's somewhat of a surprise that Vince

didn't insist on his poster boy wearing something, anything, red or yellow, to sell his return to

screens. Hogan went Hollywood long before WCW had that thought. Number three, Shawn Michaels genuinely quit. Ex-rocker and breakout single star Shawn Michaels

had always been a bit of a wild child behind the scenes. By 1993 though, things were on another

level. Shawn failed a drug test in September, seriously narked about it, and ultimately decided

to tell the WWF to beat it shortly afterwards. Yep, HBK quit the company. He'd be back by

survive his series time of course but things did look bleak for a spell Imagine how radically different WWE history would be without anything Shawn Michaels post That is an impossible thought In the short term it would have meant no iconic ladder match versus

Razor Ramon at WrestleMania 10, the boyhood dream wouldn't have come true, and the butterfly effects

of Shawn telling Vince where to go would have been felt for generations. Obviously, both men

could have patched things up further down the line, but it's good for McMahon that Michaels returned to work when he did. Number two, my dog ate it, Vince. Bruce Prichard told his

fans on his Something to Wrestle with pod, which is genuinely one of the best out there that's not

ours, that The Undertaker wasn't exactly pleased about wearing some American flag motif on the

inner lining of his trench coat at Survivor Series 1993. Taker actually tried to get out of the gig

in the lead up to the November pay-per-view. Incredibly, the Deadman told members of management

that his dog had munched the jacket so he couldn't wear it. The WWF, though, called Taker's bluff and

had another one ready for him in Boston, meaning the legend had to begrudgingly do as he was told

and wear the coat. Apparently, The Undertaker was concerned that he'd be tampering with his

carefully constructed gimmick by bowing to peer pressure and showing off a patriotic side when

teaming with Lex Luger and the Steiner brothers. The All-Americans was one concept Taker didn't

jive with, but he went along with a plan eventually. No, dog ate my homework excuses, worked here

Number one, Raw was almost called down and dirty. Raw has been WWE's tentpole weekly show since January of 1993

After a lukewarm start, the show became regularly must-see and has survived countless ups and downs, shout out Miller again, since

Even the name is iconic. So, about that. The WWF didn't have a clue what to call their new product at first

Bruce Prichard once revealed that the earliest premise for his new primetime show

was that it'd be uncut, uncooked and uncensored. At one stage, someone suggested it'd be down and dirty

but everyone agreed that would be tough to market and wasn't all that punchy

Down and Dirty was Raw's first working title though, and things could have been so different

had Vince McMahon welcomed everyone to the premiere of WWF Down and Dirty in the Manhattan Center

That doesn't sound like the kind of name that would have lasted over 30 years

And if you like this video about the WWE in 1993, why not check this one out about one of WWE's most controversial years ever, 1991

It's on your screen right now. Cheers for watching. See you soon