WCW Saturday Night 7/22/1995

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 7/22/1995
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.)Vader defeated John Taylor & Dave Walby in a handicap match
2.)Nasty Boys defeated Tony Vincent & Chris Nelson
3.)Arn Anderson defeated Todd Wilder
4.)Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat to win the titles

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.We see footage from Bash at the Beach where it appears that Vader has turned baby face and is demanding to get Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in the ring because they stuck their noses in his business inside the steel cage. Yeah, Vader lost to WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan yet again.

2.This week, Hulk Hogan will be showing up to the dungeon to see what it is all about. That should be interesting!

3.Footage from Bash at the Beach is shown where during the pregame a giant man gave Hulk Hogan a white t-shirt and it was revealed that it was Andre the Giant’s shirt.

4.Vader took his frustrations out on two jobbers in a handicap match before being interviewed by Mean Gene. Vader says he has lost his mind because he wants both Flair and Anderson on August 6th at the Clash of the Champions. Vader doesn’t care if it’s both of them because he is going to end Ric Flair wherever he finds him! Vader trusted Flair and got behind him but Flair didn’t bring them to the top. Vader tells Flair he is going to feel the intensity of Vader!

5.We got to the Dungeon of Doom which will see Hulk Hogan visiting them. The master says the bait has been set and we see Hogan fall into the dungeon and he looks around saying he has never been here before. Hogan confronts Sullivan and the master saying that they are behind the end of Hulkamania. Sullivan tells Hogan that he is the one who created him! Sullivan says that his demise is etched in stone. We then see the enormous man from BATB to choke Hogan from behind and he says that he is the greatest giant to ever walk the face of the earth and is stronger than Hogan to end the segment. That’s the debut of the Giant, folks.

6.Mean Gene interviews Arn Anderson and Ric Flair after Anderson dominated his opponent. Anderson asks if there was enough air for Vader when he was a child, but apparently there wasn’t. Anderson tells Vader that they are going to dog Vader like he owns them money. Flair chimes in and tells Vader he might just slap him in the face. Vader comes out from the backstage area and confronts them. Vader grabs Flair but Anderson steps in front of Flair. Vader is held back by several jobbers to end the segment.

7.A video promoting the debut of Kurasawa is aired. He is a Japanese wrestler who will strike his opponents and beat them at any means necessary. It looks like a fairly similar gimmick to what Meng has.

8.Booker works on Slater to open the main event and drops him with a clothesline. Ray enters and keeps the control on Buck with a hip toss. Booker nails Buck with a scissors kick for a near fall early on in the contest. Slater drops a knee across Booker’s face to get the upper hand. That offense doesn’t last too long as the champs drop Buck after Ray delivered a back elbow. Booker misses Slater in the corner and crashes to the canvas. The match eventually breaks loose and they are all brawling with the champs getting the better of the challengers with Ray scoop slamming both Slater and Buck. Slater takes his boot off but Sherri grabs it and is knocked off the apron when Booker clotheslines Slater over the top. Col. Robert Parker hits Ray over the back with the boot and Buck delivers an elbow drop to get the three count. I was not expecting the titles to change there! After the match, Col. Parker says that Sherri is going to call him her baby cake. Sherri is flipping out in the ring as the show comes to an end.

Final Thoughts:
It wasn’t a bad show, as they are setting up the feuds for the rest of the summer it looks like. While I’m not all that happy that Vader has turned face, Flair is making it easy to get behind Vader. The Dungeon of Doom angle is silly, but the debut of the Giant gives the group a much needed kick of credibility as Giant isn’t someone Hogan has dominated ever. The tag title switch actually surprised me so I liked that, I thought it came later on. Overall, I’m going to give the show a thumbs up.

Thanks for reading.