Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 1/28/1995
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Stars & Stripes defeated Ricky Santana & Fidel Sierra
2.) Alex Wright defeated Rick Stockhauser
3.) Dave Sullivan defeated John Faulkner
4.) Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck defeated Mike Davis & Kenny Kendall
5.) Avalanche defeated Alex Davis & Mike Glory in a handicap match
6.) Dustin Rhodes defeated Jean Paul Levesque
7.) WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat defeated Barry Houston & Scott D’Amore
8.) Randy Savage defeated WCW Television Champion Arn Anderson
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Arn Anderson and Randy Savage cut promos regarding their match. Anderson says he is going to destroy anyone coming for his WCW Television Championship. Savage believes he will beat Anderson 1-2-3 tonight.
2. Tony, Bobby, and Gene talk about Clash of the Champions where Vader attacked Hulk Hogan after the main event by hitting a power bomb! Bobby says he saw fear in Hogan’s eyes when Vader entered the ring.
3. Stars & Stripes are in action for the fourth week in a row. They are going against the Cuban Connection, so expect a lot of USA chants during this match. Bagwell showcases some high risk moves taking Sierra out with a slingshot cross body but Santana takes Bagwell out with a cross body on the floor as well, which looked dangerous to me. Patriot helped Bagwell by hitting a clothesline on Santana and they regained control of the bout. Bagwell is worked on for a few moments by the Cuban Connection. They actually hit a double team move on Bagwell that saw Bagwell on Sierra’s shoulder and Santana hit a cross body for a near fall! Santana misses a top rope splash and Patriot gets the hot tag cleaning house with strikes. Bagwell gets the pin after a double team move. Patriot set up for a suplex while Bagwell came off the top to hit a cross that was good enough for the three count on Santana. That was actually a lot better than I was expecting. Bagwell and Patriot are a solid tag team.
4. During Alex Wright’s match, Paul Roma walked out to the ring to watch him. Roma is apparently mad that the women are giving Wright attention after his wins. Wright pins Stockhauser following a top rope cross body. Roma grabs a female fan and degrades her for being excited about Alex Wright. He puts himself over and shows off his body to the fan. She isn’t interested in him and walks into the ring to be with Alex Wright! Oh the nerve of her!
5. Mean Gene hosts the Control Center for Superbrawl V. Gene hypes up the main event that will see WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan compete against WCW United States Champion Big Van Vader. Sting teams with Randy Savage against Big Bubba and Avalanche. Dustin Rhodes meets the Blacktop Bully. WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat defends the titles against the Nasty Boys. Kevin Sullivan will face his brother Dave Sullivan. Jim Duggan meets Bunkhouse Buck and lastly Alex Wright competes against Paul Roma (that was signed fast).
6. Dave Sullivan is sporting shorter haircut because of the haircut by Butcher. Dave wins the match with a full nelson submission hold. Mean Gene interviews Dave Sullivan after the match. Dave says that what Kevin did to him was rotten. He says that Kevin did horrible things to their grandma. He is going to fight fire with fire.
7. A video hyping up the WCW United States Champion Vader is shown. I don’t think the guy needs any help getting over a monster considering the things he has done in the past. Vader says that Hulkamania is dead!
8. Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck took care of business after they hit Kendall with a double right hand and Buck got the three count.
9. The ground his shaking as Avalanche makes his way down to the ring for a handicap match. Avalanche hits a double sit down splash after putting Davis on top of Khoury. Avalanche just dominated the whole match. For some reason I can always buy into Avalanche (Earthquake) as a dominate heel when he is a singles wrestler.
10. A video looking at Brian Pillman in California is aired. Good lord, Pillman is wearing really short shorts when he meets the Baywatch creator I think. He is going to be “Baywatch Brian”. They don’t show any of his acting or anything.
11. Yeah, Jean Paul Levesque is better known as being HHH. WCW sure let a lot of top talent go, didn’t they? He is in action this week against Dustin Rhodes. Rhodes absorbs a few punches before sending Levesque to the floor after an elbow strike. Rhodes goes back into the ring to deliver an arm breaker and keeps control of the arm for several moments. Levesque counters an arm drag after an atomic drop and hits Rhodes with a dropkick. Levesque continues his offense with a spinning heel kick but only gets a near fall. Rhodes battles back with a leaping lariat and a running boot to the head for a two count. Rhodes counters being tossed over the top rope with a roll up for a two count. Rhodes hits the running bulldog and wins the match! It was an average match, really. The last sequence was done nicely, too.
12. Mean Gene is standing with Randy Savage and Sting. Gene talks about the tag match at Superbrawl where they will face Big Bubba and Avalanche. Sting can’t stand still or smile. Savage says he has a great partner in Sting and says they are going to be victorious at the pay per view.
13. WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat had very little issue against Barry Houston and Scott D’Amore. Yes, D’Amore is the same guy from Team Canada in TNA. Booker pins Houston following the Heat Seeker.
14. Randy Savage goes for gold against WCW Television Champion Arn Anderson this week. Savage goes for a few quick pin falls to start the match but Anderson is able to kick out easily. Anderson bails to the floor after another near fall to kill sometime because there is a time limit for the match. Savage hammers away on Anderson while on the floor but Anderson rams Savage chest first into the ring post! Five minutes have gone by leaving Savage only five more minutes. Savage almost wins with a sunset flip but Anderson gets out and gets back in control. Savage drags Anderson to the floor but is stopped with a knee lift and Anderson rams Savage back first into the ring apron. Savage takes Anderson down with a snap suplex but they soon collide heads. Savage ducks a clothesline to put a sleeper on Anderson but doesn’t hold on long because Anderson delivers a jaw breaker to break the hold. Later on, Savage hit s a top rope cross body which Anderson rolls through to nearly pin Savage! Sixty seconds remain in the contest. Anderson attempts the DDT but Savage hooks the ropes and Anderson drops to the mat. Savage gets distracted by Parker and Anderson connects with a suplex back into the ring. Savage cuts Anderson off on the top with a slam but the time limit has expired. Savage hits a top rope elbow drop and pins Anderson but doesn’t earn the title. Dick Slater, Bunkhouse Buck and Blacktop Bully run in until Dustin Rhodes and Sting run in to make the save for Savage! I thought it was a fine main event. It was obvious that Savage wasn’t going to win the title and I liked that instead of a draw they just extended the match so Savage would get the win over Anderson. The near falls were fine throughout the match as well, maybe a little excessive in the early moments.
15. Mean Gene conducts an interview with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan somewhere other than the studio. Hogan says everyone knows he is alive and well since being power bombed. Hogan believes he can survive anything done to him. Hogan is going to put everything on the line against the most powerful man in WCW. Hogan wants the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the line. Hogan tells Jimmy Hart to shut up when he talks! YES! Hogan says he is going squash Vader in the middle of the ring.
Final Thoughts:
I think this was the best episode of the month. It did a lot of good things with the opener making Stars & Stripes look good and the main event was a solid match. They are building Avalanche up as an unstoppable force, which they should be doing. The slow build for Hogan/Vader is fine by me as it adds anticipation and since Vader clearly has the advantage with attacking Hogan at Clash people are craving to see Hogan get his payback. I don’t have any problems with this episode.
Thanks for reading.