WCW Saturday Night 2/13/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 2/13/1999
From: LaCrosse, WI

Matches:
1.) Jerry Flynn defeated Bobby Blaze
2.) Vincent defeated Johnny Swinger
3.) Chavo Guerrero Jr. defeated Dave Burkhead
4.) Scotty Riggs defeated Kaz Hayashi
5.) WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman defeated Lodi to retain the title
6.) Booker T defeated Ernest Miller by disqualification
7.) Chris Benoit defeated Horace by disqualification
8.) Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Juventud Guerrera
9.) Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit defeated Brian Adams & Vincent by disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) It’s incredible just how awful Vincent is in the ring and yet he manages to get wins in a popular company in the year 1999.

2.) Mean Gene chats with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in the backstage area. Benoit talks about Bischoff and Hogan trying to bury the tag team title tournament but they are dealing with the best wrestlers in the world. Benoit puts up his four fingers to say that this is what champions is made of. Malenko says there must be trust within a unit. He mentions the recent turns in the tournament and how that will not happen between them. They will rise to the occasion in the finals at Superbrawl in Oakland.

3.) Mean Gene interviews Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. backstage about their upcoming match at Superbrawl with the New World Order. Konnan thinks when they shave Elizabeth bald she will look better. He is confident that Rey will not lose his mask as it’s important in Mexico.

4.) Mean Gene also talked to Brian Adams and Horace, who will both be wrestling tonight. Adams tells Malenko to lace up his boots tight because he is coming at him. Adams believes they are the uncrowned champions. Horace thinks they are the team to beat in the tournament. Adams doesn’t care how they win as long as they have the championships around their waist.

5.) The fans get a really strong “pussy cat” chant directed towards Miller early on in the contest. Booker drops Miller with a spinning wheel kick after a few counters and continues his offense with an elbow strike. Booker clotheslines Miller and nearly wins the match. Booker follows up with a scoop slam and strikes in the corner. Miller manages to send Booker to the floor and goes out to follow where he sends Booker into the guard railing. Back in the ring, Miller gets a near fall after choking Booker for a few moments. Miller blocks a kick but Booker uses his free leg to deliver a kick regardless. Booker ducks a clothesline and delivers a forearm shot. Booker plants Miller with a spine buster and plays to the crowd. Sonny Ono gets on the apron and kicks Booker to cause the disqualification. After the match, Booker hits a flapjack and a sidekick to send Miller to the floor. (1/2*. Miller was very sloppy in this match and it hurt the match quite a bit. When he was taking some of the bumps he just looked horrible in taking them by poorly landing. Booker looks like such a star it’s surprising that he didn’t rise up the ranks sooner than he did a year and a half later.)

6.) Benoit starts the match with strikes and a snap suplex but Horace stops Benoit with a double leg slam. Horace takes Benoit out with a suicide dive to the floor! Benoit tries to go for a German suplex but Horace avoids it with an elbow. Benoit stops Horace on the top with superplex! Benoit heads to the top rope himself and hits a diving head butt! Benoit locks in the Crippler Crossface but Vincent runs in to cause a DQ. Here comes Mongo to make the save for Benoit. Brian Adams and Dean Malenko enter to cause a six person brawl with the Horsemen standing tall. (*. Well, just like they had on the 1/4 Nitro, it was getting to a respectable match before the finish. I think if they were given proper amount of time we’d be surprise with how well they could work. I know, Horace Hogan of all people.)

7.) Early on, Juventud and Rey trade a series of rollup attempts with both men getting near falls. Rey drops a leg across Guerrera to counter a catapult attempt. Guerrera drops Rey gut first across the top rope and Rey rolls to the floor. Juventud follows up by dropping Mysterio throat first across the top rope from the apron. Rey hits a bronco buster in the corner to get some momentum. Mysterio hits a springboard thez press for a two count. Rey dropkicks Juventud on the knee and goes for a split legged moonsault but Guerrera got his knees up. Guerrera hits a springboard spinning heel kick for a two count. Rey head scissors Juventud to battle back into the match. Juventud runs into a spinning heel kick in the corner but kicks out at two. Guerrera hits the Juvi Driver but gets off of the cover because he wants the 450 splash and gets crotched instead and Mysterio hits a top rope hurricanrana for the win. (**. These two have seemingly wrestled each other a million times in WCW with Rey probably winning 999,999 times. They work well together but I’ve watched them wrestle way too many times for me to really be interested in a showdown at this point.)

8.) Malenko wanted to make it a tag match, and after refusing it at first, Adams agreed to team with Vincent to take on the Horsemen. Malenko and Vincent kickoff the main event. Vincent is acting as if he can wrestle on the mat with the Iceman and everyone knows he simply can’t. Malenko hits a spinning leg lariat and a snap suplex for a near fall. Adams gets tagged in to go after Malenko but is tripped down and Benoit enters the bout. Adams works over Benoit with a series of standing kicks until Benoit blocks one to hit a dragon screw leg whip. Benoit hits a snap suplex. Adams is double teamed by the Horsemen briefly until Adams stops Malenko with a tilt a whirl back breaker. Vincent comes off the top with a double axe handle to maintain control over Malenko. Malenko fights out of the corner until an eye poke by Vincent stops that momentum shift. Adams leaps off the top to elbow Malenko on the back and follows up with another back breaker. Malenko counters a suplex attempt by Adams with a DDT. Benoit and Vincent are tagged in with Benoit working over Vincent. Adams is dropkicked to the floor. Vincent hits a back duplex on Vincent and locks in the Texas Cloverleaf in the middle of the ring. Here comes Horace Hogan to cause a disqualification. Mongo runs in and makes the save, again just like earlier. (*. Really, why on earth can they not allow Vincent to tap out to superior talent? The DQ finish is used way too much in WCW as three matches on this show finished with a DQ when a clean finish would have not hurt anyone. Again, why protect Vincent of all people from tapping out?)

Final Thoughts:
A better program this week than the previous week, but three of the four feature matches ended in DQ when there was no reason for that to happen. I’m not counting the Kidman/Lodi match as Lodi isn’t a featured wrestler and is a jobber for the most part. Not a great show, but it is good to have featured matches, they just need clean finishes. It’s your C level show, give us some clean victories on at least one show!

Thanks for reading.