WCW Saturday Night 1/30/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 1/30/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Tonight, Vader and Barry Windham will wrestle Sting and Dustin Rhodes. Paul Orndorff competes against the Barbarian!

Jim Ross and Larry Zbyszko hype up the tag team main event and Ross mentions that he will talk about the WCW Television Championship tournament. Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas head over and talk about defending their WCW World Tag Team Championships against Brian Pillman and Steve Austin. Douglas says they better be prepared to walk through hell to get the titles. Steamboat says they aren’t coming to wrestle, but rather they are coming to fight!

Opening Contest: Chris Benoit defeated Tom Zenk: Benoit continues his dominance in WCW and his undefeated streak by pinning Zenk with a full nelson suplex after roughly five minutes of action.

Backstage, Tony Schiavone is standing with Maxx Payne. Payne recites some lyrics by Megadeath. Payne is a three time all American wrestler and says he is both the alpha and the mega.

A video promoting Too Cold Scorpio is aired. Scorpio talks to some kids saying they should be in school, though he dunks over a little kid. It is a rather silly video.

Second Contest: Too Cold Scorpio/Brad Armstrong defeated Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker/Ron Hagen: Armstrong pins Hagen following a side Russian leg sweep in under two minutes.

A video of Sting going to the Rocky Mountains to find out what the white castle of fear is all about. Sting wonders if this could be some kind of trap. He eventually arrives to the white castle which is a cave of some kind. Several women look at Sting as he walks in and they all try to hit on him. The girls tell him that this a game he will lose. Vader shows up to where Sting is and asks who the man is, with his people responding that he is the man. Sting asks what the game is and Vader clears off a table. Vader asks if Sting knows what a strap match is and demonstrates how it works. This is quite honestly the dumbest thing ever to promote a simple strap match. They have a tug of war with the strap with Vader getting the better of Sting and the strap explodes due to a fire. This will be continued at Superbrawl III! Oh joy!

Jim Ross interviews Steve Regal. Regal tells us he is from Blackpool, England is happy to be in WCW. Regal puts over WCW as the place to be when it comes to wrestling. He will be making his debut for WCW next week.

Third Contest: Erik Watts/Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Scotty Flamingo/Rip Rogers: Watts forces Rogers to submit to the STF to win the squash match.

Michael PS Hayes is with Lynyrd Skynyrd to talk about the Slam Jam album. The Slam Jam countdown will start next week.

Jim Ross is with the Rock N’ Roll Express. They lost the SMW Tag Team Championships to the Heavenly Bodies but they will still be part of Superbrawl. They are here to focus on the Wrecking Crew. Morton likes the big boys and that’s how they made their name in this business. They are going to watch the next match and find the mistakes so that they can take advantage of them.

Fourth Contest: Wrecking Crew defeated Rex Cooper/Rick Ryder: Rage pins Cooper following the Wrecking Ball to win the squash match.

This week on Up Close, Tony Schiavone interviews Gordon Solie. Solie hypes up Vader as the most awesome champion he has ever seen. He says that Vader moves like he is 200 pounds while weighing 400 pounds. He finds Sting to be a very credible challenger but feels that Sting has the heart to beat Vader. Solie thinks the bullrope match is the most violent match with a cowbell but says that the wetter the strap gets, the more lethal it becomes. WCW will not be sanctioning the contest. Next week, Tony will interview Cactus Jack.

Backstage, Tony interviews Barry Windham and Vader. Windham says that he and Vader will put Sting and Rhodes away tonight. Vader chimes in and says that Sting will feel the pain on February 21st. Vader is going to stand over Sting and ask him who the man is!

Fifth Contest: Maxx Payne defeated Johnny Gunn: Payne forces Gunn to tap out with an arm bar in under two minutes.

A video promoting the WCW Television Championship tournament is aired. It is noted that the last champion, Scott Steiner, is no longer in the promotion. A sixteen man tournament will start in two weeks and the tournament bracket will be announced next week!

Backstage, Tony Schiavone is with Sting and WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes. Sting is thinking about the pain game that Vader keeps on talking about. He says Vader will feel the pain thanks to him! Rhodes chimes in and says they better be ready because they are ready.

Footage from the last COTC where the Barbarian was attacked by Vader and Paul Orndorff as Barbarian was kicked out of the group.

Sixth Contest: Paul Orndorff defeated the Barbarian: Orndorff tosses his robe over Barbarian’s head and gets several cheap shots in on Barbarian. Barbarian isn’t affected by several shots and tosses Orndorff into a corner. Barbarian hits Orndorff with a running clothesline in the corner and drops Orndorff with a right hand. Barbarian big boots Orndorff to the floor and quickly follows where he scoop slams Orndorff on the floor! Barbarian continues to work on Orndorff with an elbow drop on the floor a few times. Barbarian hits a staggering Orndorff with a big boot to the head from the apron. Orndorff returns to the ring and hammers away on Barbarian with right hands and drops an elbow. Barbarian gets a two count following a power slam. Barbarian nails Orndorff with a running big boot to the back of Orndorff’s head. Barbarian connects with a running power slam but only manages to get a two count. Orndorff attacks Barbarian from behind with a knee lift and gets the win with a German suplex! (*. This was a really simple match that wasn’t exciting.)

Main Event: Sting/WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes defeated WCW World Champion Vader/Barry Windham by disqualification: Sting and Windham start off the main event with Sting backing Windham into a corner but cleanly backs away. Windham doesn’t cleanly break away from Sting and delivers several right hands. Sting hip tosses Windham out of the corner followed by a dropkick and a clothesline. Windham regains control with several right hand shots and connects with a vertical suplex for a two count. Sting sends Windham into a corner and delivers a few punches before avoiding an atomic drop and hits a clothesline. Rhodes tags in to backdrop Windham and clotheslines Windham in the corner. Rhodes continues with a leaping clothesline and Vader tags in. Rhodes quickly hammers away on Vader in the corner and big boots a charging Vader in the corner. Vader stops Rhodes with a big clothesline! Vader drives Rhodes down to the mat with a big Samoan Drop and heads to the middle rope where he splashes Rhodes once he gets to his feet. Vader clubs away on Rhodes in the corner with several forearm shots. Vader drops Rhodes with a short arm clothesline. Windham comes off the top with a double axe handle and continues to work on Rhodes with right hand and plants Rhodes with a DDT! Windham tags in Vader as Rhodes sunset flips Windham. Vader attacks Rhodes from behind and scoop slams Rhodes. Vader leaps off the top but misses a clothesline! Vader stops Rhodes from making the tag with a big splash to his back! Vader follows up with a vertical suplex. Rhodes tries to fight back but Windham enters and hammers away on Rhodes. Windham slams Rhodes with a gut wrench slam for a two count. Rhodes is able to knock Windham off his feet with a forearm shot but Windham quickly recovers to stop Rhodes. Vader returns but Rhodes counters a suplex and dropkicks the champ into the ropes. Vader prevents Rhodes from tagging with an elbow drop. Vader splashes down onto Rhodes but Sting breaks up the count. Vader hits Sting on the apron before double teaming Rhodes in his corner. Windham works on Rhodes with right hands but Rhodes atomic drops Windham! Rhodes blocks a backdrop by face jamming Windham and Sting gets the hot tag! Sting cleans house with right hands and backdrops Windham! Sting splashes Windham in the corner while Rhodes punches Race. Vader clotheslines Sting to prevent Windham from suffering the Scorpion Death Lock. Vader leaps off the apron to splash Rhodes on the apron! Windham plants Sting with a jumping DDT! Vader knocks the referee down and the referee calls for the bell.
After the match, Vader whips Sting with a strap as he is held by Windham and Race across the top rope. Several enhancement guys run down causing Vader to let go of Sting to fight off the other guys. Sting escapes to the floor to end the show. (***1/2. I greatly enjoyed this tag team match. It was a fabulous way to end a rather boring show.)

Final Thoughts: The Sting/Vader feud is heating up, though the mini movie they created for the feud is dumb. The ending the show was really the only noteworthy segment as those four guys put on an excellent match. While the main event was a lot of fun, the rest of the show as just squash matches and that doesn’t make for a fun show. Thus, the whole show gets a thumbs down from me but if you stumble upon the main event I suggest watching it completely.

Thanks for reading.