WCW Saturday Night 2/20/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 2/20/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.)2 Cold Scorpio, Marcus Alexander Bagwell & Steve Regal defeated Scotty Flamingo, Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce
2.)Vinnie Vegas defeated Brad Anderson
3.)Cactus Jack defeated Mustafa Saied
4.)Chris Sullivan defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader by reverse decision
5.)Maxx Payne defeated Keith Cole
6.)The Wrecking Crew defeated Johnny Gunn & Tom Zenk
7.)WCW World Tag Team Champion Ricky Steamboat defeated Brian Pillman in a lumberjack match

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. As you may have guessed, this was before Steve Regal developed a heel persona. He is just your ordinary English babyface at this point. The faces had control early on working on Flamingo’s arm. Bagwell manages to hit a springboard back elbow as well for a highlight of his offense. Neither team is really able to get a consistent amount of offense and we are several minutes into the match. Scorpio takes Shanghai out with a dive over the top rope on the floor. Flamingo pulls down the top rope and that sends Bagwell crashing to the floor. All six men begin to brawl in the ring with the heels getting the worse of the exchange. Scorpio nails Flamingo with a kick, a quick splash and a top rope twisting body splash for the win. That was a solid opening bout as it was a hard fought, evenly contested match. I was pleasantly surprised by the action.

2. Jim Ross conducts an interview with Sting, who is wearing a fur coat. Sting says he is dressed for the White Castle of Fear. Sting talks about how Vader broke a young mans back and how Sting had his ribs broken. Sting is going to enjoy beating Vader at Superbrawl III. He gets the crowd to chant “Yes Pain.” That was one of Sting’s better promos.

3. Maxx Payne cuts a promo saying he is going to introduce everyone to Norma Jean at Superbrawl. That is suppose to be a selling point for Superbrawl?

4. Paul Orndorff talked to Jim Ross regarding his match with Cactus Jack at Superbrawl tomorrow night. Orndorff is going to dissect Jack like he is a frog. He has beaten Jack every time they wrestled and he is going to continue that trend tomorrow night. Orndorff is going to prove that he is the better man.

5. WCW World Champion Vader and Harley Race cut a promo regarding the match tomorrow night with Sting. Race says tomorrow night will be the ending of Sting’s career. Vader says that the holiday is over and Sting is going to attend Vader’s pain game. Vader screams out “No Pain” but the fans don’t chant with him.

6. Steve Austin and Brian Pillman cut a promo backstage with Tony Schiavone. Austin wants to know why the match tonight isn’t a tag match. Austin believes that Shane Douglas is the weak link because they took out his knee at the Omni. Pillman says the lumberjack match is just one more step towards immortality.

7. Gordon Solie is outside to have an interview with Barry Windham, who shows up on a motorcycle. Windham didn’t come over for the interview to chat about Ric Flair, he wants to talk about the Great Muta, instead. Windham says that Muta never pinned him but rather kicked him over the top rope. He has been training for the NWA World Championship his entire life and it’s something he wants. He has waited a long time for a championship and he is going to have the NWA World Championship.

8. Early on, Austin grabs at Steamboat’s leg but is kicked away. Both Austin and Douglas enter the ring as the match is off to a slow start. Pillman gets the early advantage with a few chops but Steamboat quickly returned the offense with several of his own. Pillman gets a two count with a leaping cross body and has just continued to put a headlock on. Pillman bails to the floor after a couple of dropkicks but is sent back into the ring. Pillman dumps Steamboat to the floor where the lumberjacks swarm Ricky. Austin punches Steamboat in the back as Ricky tried for a suplex off the apron. Pillman hits a dropkick in midair as Steamboat jumped off the top rope. Pillman continues to control Steamboat with a side slam as well. Steamboat’s back is bothering as he is unable to keep Pillman up to deliver a power slam. Austin continues to get some cheap shots in on Steamboat. Steamboat leaps out of the ring to attack Austin but is sent back into the ring by the lumberjacks. Well, now all the lumberjacks are brawling on the floor but they stop after a little while. Steamboat is able to drive Pillman down to the mat with an electric chair slam. Wow, the finish actually happened during the commercial break. I can’t recall when I have seen that happen. The finish saw Pillman accidentally hit Austin and he was rolled up as a result. I was expecting something better than this. It was a decent match, but the interactions between the lumberjacks took away from the match, I thought. I was hoping for a show saver, but it didn’t deliver in that regard.

Final Thoughts:
With Superbrawl just twenty four hours away, there wasn’t much angle development going on here. I was interested in this show because of the main event, and it didn’t deliver what I was hoping for. The opener was a solid bout, but there isn’t anything here to make it a standout show or anything. Thus, I’m giving the lead in to Superbrawl III a thumbs down.

Thanks for reading.