WCW Saturday Night 1/25/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 1/25/1997
From: Green Bay, WI

Matches:
1.) Jim Duggan defeated Disco Inferno
2.) Ultimo Dragon defeated JL
3.) High Voltage defeated Ace Darling & Devon Storm
4.) Chris Jericho defeated Super Calo
5.) Dave Taylor defeated Bobby Eaton
6.) Meng, The Barbarian & Hugh Morrus defeated Arn Anderson & Steve McMichael by disqualification
7.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Mark Starr
8.) Scotty Riggs defeated The Gambler
9.) WCW Television Champion Lord Steven Regal defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. to retain the title
10.) Public Enemy defeated Harlem Heat by disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Jim Duggan is interviewed after his quick victory. Duggan talks about the NWO bad mouthing him and saying that they would attack him. Jim tells the NWO to come on down to get some. Duggan believes that Hogan knows he can’t take him in the ring.

2.) The Steiner Brothers are interviewed. They meet the WCW World Tag Team Champions the Outsiders at Souled Out. Scott Steiner says all he has ever seen from the NWO was them attacking others from behind. They have been jumping their friends. Scott says the champs will find out they are motivated and healthy and gets censored when he says the NWO sucks. They say that the NWO will be in for a fight for their life.

3.) Lee Marshall chats with Chris Jericho after his victory. Jericho again mentions the first dent against the NWO when he beat Nick Patrick. Now, he is focused on Masahiro Chono to continue the trend. Jericho notes that the first time they wrestled he didn’t submit to the STF. There is no way he will submit to the STF. There will be a new and improved Chris Jericho in a short time.

4.) Arn Anderson and Steve McMichael were competing in a handicap match until Jeff Jarrett ran down to make the save to prove his worth to the Four Horsemen. Anderson and McMichael walk out on Jarrett who is triple teamed for being a nice guy.

5.) Lee Marshall interviews Diamond Dallas Page. Marshall says that Page shocked the world when he hit Scott Hall with the diamond cutter. Page says he didn’t shove the NWO shirt at Hall because he wanted to save it as a souvenir because he doesn’t want to be part of the group. Page tells Scott Norton that it only takes one mistake to feel the diamond cutter.

6.) Chavo gets some offense in on Regal early on while on the mat but they standup rather quickly. Chavo gets a near fall after a leaping forearm strike and continues to try and get a pin fall. Regal attempts a double under hook suplex but Chavo countered the move and takes Regal over with a backdrop and follows up with a dropkick and scoop slam. Regal avoids a spinning senton from the middle rope. Regal plants Chavo with a reverse duplex and locks in the Regal Stretch for the victory. (*1/2. An obviously quick match here, but Chavo made it kind of believable with his rapid near falls early on and I enjoyed the fast pace nature of the contest.)

7.) Grunge and Booker kick off the bout with Booker working over Grunge with several strikes and a back elbow strike to knock Grunge off his feet. Grunge drops Booker with a right hand followed by a swinging neck breaker. Rock tags in to deliver an elbow drop after a drop toe hold by Grunge. Booker stops Rock with a standing side kick and Ray tags into the contest. Rock ducks a big boot and hammers away on Ray and knocks Stevie off his feet with a chop block. Sherri grabs Rocco’s foot to allow Stevie to deliver a big boot and scoop slam. Booker enters to hit a leaping side kick. Rock botches a springboard moonsault as he didn’t fully rotate over. Grunge tags in and cleans house with strikes. Rock hits a bulldog on Booker and Ray but can’t get a three count. Grunge and Ray brawl on the floor and Sherri is on the apron cheering on Booker. Sherri grabs Rocco by the hair but gets knocked off the apron and both Sherri and Grunge go through the table at ringside! The referee calls for the bell and Public Enemy gets the win by DQ. (**. Not too awful as there was some decent wrestling going on. I’m actually surprised that they did a table spot involving Sherri on Saturday Night and not putting that on Nitro where it would surely get a proper reaction. The trend of quick main events continue.)

Final Thoughts:
A couple of decent matches on the show this week, plus some angle advancement involving Jarrett and the Horsemen. I’ll give the overall program a thumbs up.

Thanks for reading.