WCW Saturday Night 1/7/1995

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 1/7/1995
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) The Guardian Angel defeated Carl Fergie
2.) The Blacktop Bully defeated Barry Houston
3.) Harlem Heat defeated Brad Armstrong & Scott Armstrong
4.) WCW World Tag Team Champions Stars & Stripes defeated Lt. James Earl Wright & Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker
5.) The Nasty Boys defeated Ricky Santana & Bob Starr
6.) Alex Wright defeated David Young
7.) WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd defeated Paul Roma to retain the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Tony, Bobby and Gene opened the show talking about what WCW United States Champion Vader did to WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan at Starrcade in December. We see footage of the interview with Hogan where Vader entered the scene and got in Hogan’s face saying that Hogan is afraid of him.

2. Guardian Angel didn’t have an easy time against Carl Fergie to open up 1995. Fergie worked on Angel with several blows and was able to avoid a splash in the corner. However, Guardian Angel hit a side slam to pick up the win. After the match, Mene Gene conducted an interview with Guardian Angel. He says that the past and future go hand in hand. He has answered every challenge that has come his way. He puts over WCW brining in the best wrestlers from all over. He is the toughest man to answer the challenges in WCW. He believes that he will be making big waves this year!

3. Nick Bockwinkel has an announcement regarding a rematch between Sting and Avalanche. At the January 25th Clash of the Champions event Sting will wrestle against Avalanche with the Guardian Angel being the special referee!

4. Blacktop Bully roughed up Barry Houston until he put the Breaker 19 on him to earn the submission win.

5. Tony Schiavone considers the next match to be one of the main events on tonight’s program. Booker and Brad Armstrong opened the bout working on each other’s arm. Neither man was able to get a clear cut advantage until Scott tagged in and kept Booker on the mat with an arm lock and tagged out to Brad to keep the quick pace. Ray tagged in but didn’t do any better until he tossed Scott across the ring and used his size advantage to give his team the upper hand. This is a really competitive match as neither team has had a long lasting advantage. Brad got a hot tag after Scott avoided top rope leg drop by Booker. Brad’s offense didn’t last as Stevie hit a big power slam and Booker followed up with a leaping side kick. Later on, Brad avoided a middle rope forearm shot by Booker and Scott got the hot tag. The Armstrong’s dropkicked Stevie and back dropped Booker! Brad distracted the referee on accident and allowed Stevie to leap off the middle rope to club Scott over the head while he had a pin and Booker got the pin. It was a good match with neither team getting a lasting offense which can sometimes hurt matches. Plus, it was paced well.

6. Mean Gene interviews Harlem Heat. Sister Sherri talks about their tag title match against Stars & Stripes at Clash of the Champions. Sherri isn’t impressed by Bagwell and Patriot. Stevie Ray says they are coming hard. Booker chimes in saying it will be all over.

7. Bagwell controlled Wright early on in the contest with a series of arm drags and a dropkick. Wright is able to poke Patriot in the eyes but when Parker enters Patriot regains control by controlling his arm. It seems like whenever someone tags out, their partner can’t keep the offense. Bagwell misses a springboard cross body attempt out of the corner and is met with a clothesline by Wright. Bagwell continues to be worked on with a face buster and a leaping elbow drop by the State Patrol. Bagwell makes his comeback with a double dropkick and tags in Patriot. Parker avoided a splash by Patriot in the corner to get the upper hand for his team. Seconds later, Bagwell gets the tag and cleans house with forearms. Parker gets sent to the floor and Bagwell pins Wright with a fisherman suplex for the win. Surprisingly a fun contest with Bagwell taking a few good looking bumps.

8. Mean Gene conducts an interview with Bagwell and Patriot. Bagwell doesn’t think they can lose with the United States behind them. Sister Sherri comes out to the interview area while Patriot muffles his promo because of his mask. Sherri rips on Bagwell saying that he is not a man! She says the same to Patriot. Sherri slaps Bagwell! Bagwell is held back by Patriot but they enter the ring and hear come Harlem Heat! The Nasty Boys come down to the ring as well! Harlem Heat end up leaving the ringside area.

9. Well, the Nasty Boys are in action this week anyway. They actually get an entrance instead of just staying in the ring. I didn’t understand that. Saggs ends up pinning Bob Starr following a top rope elbow drop.

10. Footage from Starrcade is shown where Dave Sullivan screwed Kevin Sullivan out of his match against Mr. T. So, Kevin attacked Dave after the contest on the floor. Kevin plants Dave with a pile driver and whipped Dave several times. Also, Hulk Hogan fought off the Dungeon of Doom until Randy Savage rand down to the ring and seemingly sided with the Dungeon until he swerved them and joined Hogan.

11. Everybody’s favorite dancing German guy, Alex Wright was in action against David Young. Yes, that is the same David Young from TNA but he is sporting a mullet. Wright wins the match following a springboard top rope cross body.

12. This week’s main event sees Paul Roma challenge WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd. Badd works on Roma’s left arm to kick off the contest. It’s a rather dull start to the match with each guy doing arm locks and hardly doing anything of note. Roma gets the first series of offense moves against the champ by hitting an atomic drop and goes back to work with several forearm shots. Badd nearly counters a suplex attempt with a rollup but Roma kicks out just in time. Roma power slams Badd but misses a fist drop off the ropes. Badd gets some quick offense in but is stopped with a shoulder ram by Roma. Badd avoids a leaping elbow drop and rolls Roma up for the win! Not that good of a match. I thought it was really slow and they didn’t offer much throughout.

13. To close the show we get an interview with the Monster Maniacs. Hogan talks about being reunited with Randy Savage at Starrcade. He felt the power of the Monster Maniacs when he looked into Savage’s eyes. Savage chimes in saying that the Clash of the Champions is their task to prove that the Dungeon of Doom don’t deserve to be in the ring with them. Hogan believes that the Dungeon of Doom will be shaking in their boots on January 25th! Oh yeah!

Final Thoughts:
A lot of focus was put on the tag team division this week. I’m not 100% on board with the choice of champions but I have to think that it’s just a matter of time until the Nasty Boys and Harlem Heat begin to feud over the championships. The main event of the show was overshadowed by the Heat vs. Armstrong’s tag match. I’d actually say that the Stars & Stripes tag match was better than the main event as well.

I should note that I am very interested to see how Hogan/Vader plays out of the next several weeks. This is Hogan’s first real competitor since his series of matches against Flair. Who really considered the Butcher to be a threat? Vader has the resume to go against Hogan and part of me wants to see Hogan be power bombed!

Overall, two solid tag team bouts on the show, but as a complete episode it was just boring to me. It seems rare that first episodes of the year are ever good anyway.

Thanks for reading.