WCW Saturday Night 2/27/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 2/27/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.)Keith & Kent Cole defeated the Wrecking Crew
2.)2 Cold Scorpio defeated Shanghai Pierce
3.)Johnny B. Badd defeated Mustafa Saied
4.)Brian Pillman & Steve Austin defeated Johnny Gunn & Tom Zenk
5.)Davey Boy Smith defeated Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker
6.)Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Mike Thor
7.)Maxx Payne defeated TC Carter
8.)WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes defeated Bill Irwin
9.)Van Hammer defeated Bobby Baker
10.)Vinnie Vegas & Big Sky defeated Terry Travis & TC McCoy
11.)The Barbarian defeated Rip Rogers
12.)Steve Regal & Erik Watts defeated Chris Sullivan & Bob Cook
13.)NWA World Champion Barry Windham defeated Brad Armstrong to retain the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are on commentary, marking the end of Jim Ross as the host of Saturday night. The show quickly opened up with Ric Flair appearing in the crowd and circling the ring while the guys involved in the first match at just standing there.

2. I’ve never gotten the impression that the Wrecking Crew were a dominate tag team, but apparently they are for WCW standards. They consider it to be a major upset when Keith and Kent pickup the win over them in the opening contest. Fury is pinned by Kent with a backslide. Considering neither one of these teams would be of importance in six months, why even bother with the match? After the match, Jesse Ventura interviews the winners. They are just really happy about the victory.

3. Zenk controls Pillman with an arm drag early on but once he tags in Gunn, Austin and Pillman get the advantage. Gunn absorbs a few punches before getting a two count on a roll up. Gunn drives Austin done to the mat with a front suplex. Pillman fakes a knee injury and comes off the top only to be met by Zenk with a big boot. Gunn has been worked on by Austin and Pillman for several moments now and Zenk hasn’t helped in any way. Gunn avoids a cross body attempt by Pillman and that gives Zenk the hot tag. Zenk has Austin rolled up but Pillman springboards off the top rope to clothesline Zenk and Austin gets the pin.

4. After winning his Saturday Night debut match, Davey Boy Smith has a chat with Tony Schiavone. Smith is honored to be in WCW and says he doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone. Smith has made it clear that he is coming for Big Van Vader. He is the new top dog in town and Vader is the next bone in line for him to chew!

5. Ric Flair comes out to have an interview with Tony Schiavone. Flair has three women with him and few security guys. Missy Hyatt is trying to talk to him but security prevents her from doing so. Flair is back in WCW and he is back to stay. Flair puts over WCW as the premiere federation, which he happened to leave to go to a rival federation. That kind of destroys the creditability of that. Flair talks about the top champions and tells them to remember a few things. They have to beat the man in order to beat the man. Flair says we are going to call this “A Flair For The Gold.” That must be the introduction of his talk show, I guess.

6. Maxx Payne cut a promo about how inspirational that speech by Ric Flair was. However, he says that Flair forgot one name. Payne wants Flair to be afraid of him and says he is an equal to just anyone and wants Flair to ask Johnny B. Badd himself.

7. After Dustin Rhodes wins his match, Paul Orndorff grabs a microphone and wants to know why Rhodes isn’t man enough to put the WCW United States Championship on the line against him. Rhodes tells Orndorff wants him to sign his name on a contract whenever he is ready for a shot.

8. Arn Anderson comes out to talk to Tony Schiavone. Anderson says that a little bit of him died the day Erik Watts injured him. The part of him that was apathetic side of him. We will never see the same Arn Anderson. Anderson notes that the big Watts left and left the little one to fend for himself. The issues between him and Erik are not over with. Anderson has been having a strange cramp in his hand and holds up four fingers before leaving!

9. Armstrong controls Windham with a dropkick and an arm drag. Windham tried to get out of a arm lock with a scoop slam but couldn’t break free. He breaks free following a back suplex, though. Windham continues his dominance with a gut wrench slam. They are on the floor when Windham delivers a back suplex just because he can. Armstrong tries his comeback with a series of blows and goes for a side Russian leg sweep but Windham holds onto the ropes. That allows Windham to plant Armstrong with a jumping DDT to win the bout.

10. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader and Harley Race come out for an interview. Vader proclaims that he is the King of the World. He has no fear and he rules the WCW valley. Vader talks about Davey Boy Smith and Sting telling us he took care of Sting and tells Smith that he isn’t hard to find. Harley Race tells Ric Flair that he was the top rock but now it’s Vader. Vader is bragging about beating Sting and tells him to come get more if he wants. That’s it!

Final Thoughts:
This episode is only memorable because it’s the return of Ric Flair on WCW television. Aside from that, this show had a lot of jobber matches, the debut of Davey Boy and a weak main event. With the next pay per view not happening until May, it’s safe to say that the next month worth of television could be rather sub par. We shall see I guess.

Thanks for reading.