Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 2/12/1994
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) WCW World Tag Team Champions Nasty Boys defeated Matt Shepard & Scott D’Amore
2.) Jim Steele defeated Fred Avery
3.) WCW Television Champion Lord Steven Regal fought The Patriot to a draw
4.) Terra Ryzing defeated Keith Cole
5.) Pretty Wonderful defeated Arn Anderson & Erik Watts by disqualification
6.) Vader defeated Sonny Rogers
7.) Ricky Steamboat defeated Fidel Sierra
8.) The Boss defeated Rip Rogers
9.) WCW International Champion Rick Rude defeated Johnny B. Badd to retain the title
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Nick Bockwinkel announces that the cage match between Ric Flair and Vader for the WCW World Championship next Sunday has been reinstated. The Boss will be the special referee for the match. Bockwinkel thinks he is the man for the job while Bobby Heenan wonders if Boss would be able to call the match right down the middle.
2. Johnny B. Badd chats about his title match with Rick Rude. When he wins the belt, it’s going to look so pretty around his waist. Badd promises that 1994 will be a good year to be a bad man!
3. Mean Gene talks with WCW World Champion Ric Flair. They are making it clear that the title match with Vader is back on, so you better buy it! Flair talks about having to fight for everything he fought for at Starrcade and walking out the winner. He knows that Vader wants to end Flair more than win the championship back. Flair admits to being scared to wrestle Vader in the cage. Flair doesn’t care if they have to carry him out. He says that he will hit Vader twice as hard in the cage. He doesn’t think he can be hurt any worse than the plane crash he suffered years ago. So, bring it on Vader.
4. This is the Patriot’s first appearance on Saturday Night and is getting a title shot. We are three and a half minutes into the match and they have virtually done nothing. It’s just Patriot having a head lock on Regal. Regal works over Patriot with a few uppercuts to get control of the contest. Regal gets a near win after a rolling senton. Once it is announced that there is sixty seconds left, the pace quickens with Patriot trying to get a bunch of pin falls. Patriot hits a back suplex but no luck on the pin fall. Time has expired. After the match, Regal hits Patriot from behind with a forearm and bails to the floor. (DUD. There was no reason to care about the last minute of action thanks to the poor action for the first nine. Uninspiring match with zero entertainment behind it.)
5. Mean Gene interviews WCW United States Champion Steve Austin and Col. Robert Parker. Parker talks about being embarrassed and saying he was never going to be on TV again, but thanks to Austin he is back on television. Parker thinks he got screwed at the Clash thanks to the Boss. Next week, Parker has signed a match for Brian Pillman against the Mongolian Mauler. Mauler comes over and lays down. Austin breaks a cinderblock over Mauler’s midsection. What an awful looking wrestler.
6. This is Terror Ryzing debut in WCW. For those unaware, Ryzing is better known nowadays as Triple H. Ryzing’s finishing move is an Indian death lock and wins by submission.
7. Watts and Roma start the bout with Watts fighting out of the corner by ramming Roma into Orndorff head first. Orndorff tags in to get his hands on Watts. Anderson tags in and wraps Orndorff’s arm around the ring post. Watts is tagged back in but is hammered by Orndorff and Roma. Roma decks Anderson off the apron to prevent a tag from being made. Arn punches Roma, who backs into Watts and they collide. Arn gets the tag but the referee didn’t see it due to Orndorff getting involved. Arn sends the Paul’s into each other and tosses Orndorff over the top to the floor causing the disqualification. (1/2*. I mean, Watts worked the majority of the match. That should be enough to explain how this match went.)
8. Mean Gene interviewed Vader and Harley Race. Race hypes Vader up as the greatest athlete on the Earth. Vader thinks he has Flair trapped in the cage and talks about Flair’s family and how he hurt Ricky Steamboat. It’s going to be the revenge of Vader at Superbrawl IV. Vader destroys a jobber and tosses the referee to the floor. Ricky Steamboat comes out and punches Harley Race. Steamboat chops Vader and the Boss runs out to make the save, too.
9. Mean Gene talks to the Boss about Superbrawl IV. Boss says he can handle a job and says that Vader has been bothering him. No person is bigger than the law. He is there to make sure there is a winner and a loser. Boss tells us that the cage is his domain. He warns both men that the law pushes back if they decide to push him.
10. We also hear from Brian Pillman and Dustin Rhodes to hype up the six man cage match at Superbrawl IV. Pillman hypes it up as a match that isn’t going to be a pleasure to watch. Dustin notes that his feuds with Rude, Austin and Orndorff will all come to an end in the cage. Their partner, Sting, wasn’t there for the promo.
11. Rude wants to do a test of strength early on but Badd stalls at the idea of it. So, Rude instead decide to hammer away on Badd’s lower back. Badd battles back with a head scissors and a clothesline for a two count. Johnny almost wins after a leaping cross body. Badd plants Rude with a DDT but can’t get a three count. Badd jumps down on Rude’s back while having a chin lock on the champ and taunts Rude to add insult to injury. Badd misses on another splash attempt and Rude works over Johnny. Rude can’t slam Badd due to his back and Johnny takes advantage with a scoop slam but Rude gets his knees up on a splash attempt. Rude leaps off the top to drop Badd with an axe handle. Rude follows up with a back breaker. Badd gets a sleeper hold on Rude but Rude gets out with a jaw breaker. Badd does the same move to Rude. Badd blocks a top rope splash by getting his boots up. Badd hits an atomic drop and back drop. Badd with a flurry of clotheslines and another DDT. Remember when the DDT was a certain win? Me neither. Badd signals for the punch and knocks Rude out! Badd with the cover but Rude gets his leg on the bottom rope. Badd goes to the top rope but Rude avoids a sunset flip and Badd crashes to the canvas. Rude finishes Badd off with the Rude Awakening to win the match after more than fifteen minutes of action. (**. The best match on the show, but there were several dull moments and the repeated spots didn’t help the match either. Badd was competitive, which was good for him, but they struggled to fill the time for the match and the slow action wasn’t all that entertaining.)
12. Harley Race warns the Boss to keep his butt out of the way of Vader as he is coming for revenge on Flair at Superbrawl IV. Vader tells Boss that he will not rule the cage. He does call him Bossman, just proving to everyone that the Boss will forever be the Big Bossman.
Final Thoughts:
The featured matches on the show were not all that fun to watch. I had higher expectations for Badd/Rude but I should have known better. Badd didn’t really get going in-ring wise until the summer of ’94. It was kind of funny how often they reminded us that the Vader/Flair match was on for the PPV. Gotta get those buy-rates. Anyway, this show gets a thumbs down from me.
Thanks for reading.