WCW Saturday Night 2/1/1992

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 2/1/1992
From: Kansas City, MO

Matches:
1.) WCW World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton defeated Brian Pillman & Mike Graham in a non-title match.
2.) Vinnie Vegas & Mr. Hughes defeated Joey Maggs & Brad Armstrong
3.) Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Mark Kyle
4.) Sting defeated Mike Samples
5.) Barry Windham defeated WCW Television Champion Steve Austin by disqualification
6.) WCW United States Champion Rick Rude defeated Tom Zenk in a non-title match

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. The Steiner Brothers cut a promo to open the show about challenging the Dangerous Alliance for the WCW World Tag Team Championships but Anderson and Eaton walked away from the challenge. Rick insults himself saying that he doesn’t have a brain and that Zbyszko dropping him on his head had no effect.

2. The opening bout was rather slow and uneventful. The champs are able to win the bout after Eaton hit Graham with the Alabama Jam as he had the figure four on Anderson. That allowed Anderson to recover and pin Graham. Pillman continues to be booked into meaningless tag team matches as I believe this was around the time has had a beef with Bill Watts about his contract.

3. Eric Bischoff hosted WCW Magazine segment where Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger shared their thoughts on their bout at Superbrawl II. Sting talked about Luger choosing to stay at home and watch Sting wear himself out on the road, but Sting says he isn’t going to wear out. He is going to continue to prove himself. Luger’s statements are up next and he says that he is focusing on one thing and one thing only, victory. He puts over his physique which is the best it has ever been. Luger believes that Sting will be just another chapter in his career. Also announced for Superbrawl, WCW United States Champion Rick Rude defends against Ricky Steamboat! We see footage from COTC in Kansas. Rude hit two Rude Awakenings on Steamboat and whipped him. Rude and Dangerously shared some pre-tape comments. Rude simply says he is ready to rumble with Steamboat. Steamboat shares his thoughts saying that this is his opportunity and that at every pay per view he competes on he comes out with the gold. Also, WCW Lightweight Champion Jushin Liger defends against Brian Pillman at Superbrawl II.

4. Vegas and Hughes dominate most of their match against Maggs and Armstrong. They pick up the win after Vegas hits Maggs with the Snake Eyes. I like the idea of them tagging together and having Harley Race managing them helps since they aren’t the best talkers. After the match, Harley Race is interviewed by Jim Ross. Race says that when he gets Vegas and Hughes in the right gear they will be unstoppable. Vegas speaks with his accent saying that he is honored to be working with Hughes and Race.

5. “The Handsome Rookie” Marcus Alexander Bagwell was in action next. With that type of nickname, I can’t imagine the male audience wanting to get behind him. Bagwell takes care of Mark Kyle rather easily and gets the win with a fisherman suplex. After the match, Jim Ross interviews Bagwell who says he is happy to be here and is going to give it his best shot. Once again, Terrence Taylor comes out and tells Bagwell to leave because he has something say. Taylor slaps Bagwell and tells him to leave. Bagwell decides to walk away because he doesn’t want any problems. Taylor proceeds to cut a promo saying that he is going to London because he is the best dressed man and is going to the top of WCW.

6. A video promoting both Sting and Lex Luger being former WCW United States Champions. The video starts off with Steve Austin dominating Sting during a match in Georgia. This had to have been in 1991 since Lady Blossom is at ringside. Sting ended up pinning Austin with a roll up to win the title. Now, we see footage from Starrcade 1990 where Lex Luger regained the championship by beating Stan Hansen in a bull rope match.

7. The number one contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Sting, was in action this week. The only person not happy to see him come to the ring was Mike Samples. Sting ends the squash match by forcing Samples to tap out to the Scorpion Death Lock in under two minutes.

8. WCW Television Champion Steve Austin came to the ring with a noticeable limp with his left leg taped up. As expected, Windham went to work on the injured leg early on. Austin kicked Windham to the floor and worked on Windham’s injured arm slamming it into the guard railing and ring apron. Windham rammed Austin’s injured leg into the ring post as well! Windham has the figure four on Austin until Dangerously enters the ring and soon the rest of the Dangerous Alliance enter to attack Windham, who was using the ropes for an illegal advantage. The Steiner Brothers run down to the ring to make the save for Windham. It wasn’t that bad of a match and the segment as a whole was pretty good. It felt like a fight and both men going after the others injuries was good booking.

9. Ricky Steamboat shares more pre-tape comments before the main event. Steamboat talks about COTC where he was attacked by Rick Rude. Steamboat notes being whipped like a dog has woken him up and at Superbrawl II he will win the WCW United States Championship!

10. This week’s main event saw WCW United States Champion Rick Rude square off against fan favorite Tom Zenk. Zenk tried his best to hang with Rude during the ten minute bout, but Rude was simply too strong and focused to lose to Zenk this week. Rude dropped Zenk throat first across the top rope and hit the Rude Awakening to put Zenk away. It wasn’t the best match as the outcome was pretty clear and the layout of the action was really standard and left a lot to be desired.

Final Thoughts:
Not a lot of stuff happened on this week’s show. The promos by Luger and Sting were done nicely. Even without Luger appearing in arenas or anything like that the feud is still interesting. I also really liked the Windham/Austin match and aftermath. The idea of an Austin/Windham feud is appealing to me. Hopefully they work each other without having to deal with injury angles so they can go all out in their matches.

There was some good buildup for the Superbrawl II show but the action this week just wasn’t entertaining. I never thought that a Vegas/Hughes tag team could be something that could be fun to watch but I think they can work as a powerhouse team moving forward.

Overall, a rather poor episode but Superbrawl II is shaping up to be a fun show.

Thanks for reading.