Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 3/13/1993
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas defeated Chic Donovan & The Masked Wrecker
2.) Vinnie Vegas defeated Danny Dees
3.) NWA World Champion Barry Windham defeated Johnny Gunn
4.) 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Pat Rose & JD Wolff
5.) Davey Boy Smith defeated Tony Vincent
6.) Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce defeated Bobby Baker & Scott McKeefer
7.) Keith & Kent Cole defeated Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce
8.) Maxx Payne defeated TC Carter
9.) WCW World Champion Big Van Vader defeated Dave Hart
10.) The Bruise Brothers defeated Brad Anderson & Terry Bronson
11.) Paul Orndorff defeated WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The positive for this show is that within twenty minutes of the program three matches have already happened. There was no buffer either in between, they just went from one to the other.
2.) Windham works over Gunn early on with a few strikes but Johnny battles back with a backdrop and a couple of arm drags. Gunn clotheslines Barry in the corner and continues to work over Windham’s left arm. Windham avoids a splash in the corner and Gunn falls over the top to the floor. Barry scoop slams Gunn to maintain control of the contest. Windham drives Gunn down to the mat with a back duple but only manages to get a near fall. Barry hammers away on Gunn in the corner briefly before backing away. Johnny tries to fight back with some strikes but is cut off by Windham. Windham hits a vertical suplex but only gets a near fall. Gunn counters a second attempt and hits a suplex of his own. Gunn nearly wins after a leaping back elbow strike. Gunn hits a snap power slam but Barry still kicks out. Gunn misses a cross body and hits the top rope throat first. Windham plants Gunn with a jumping DDT and gets the win. (**. A match that had some good action and the energy was well paced. Gunn never had a shot here but his offense was nicely done and Windham continues to impress me with his heel run.)
3.) Tony Schiavone tries to talk to NWA World Champion Barry Windham, but Barry simply walks past him not wanting to talk about Ric Flair.
4.) Backstage, Larry Zbyszko is with Missy Hyatt. Hyatt says she really needs to speak with Ric Flair and tries to flirt with Larry and wants to know how he got the nickname living legend. Keep it classy, Missy.
5.) Davey Boy Smith cut a promo after his match saying that Vader is going to have to set in the ring with him to see what he is really made of since Smith is still undefeated in WCW.
6.) Tony Schiavone interviews Rick Rude, who comes out wearing a suit to address the fans. Rude is now cleared by doctors to return to action. Rude thinks it is amazing that Dustin Rhodes can hold his head up and claim to be WCW United States Champion. Rude thinks Dustin was his whipping boy. Rude says that had WCW not ripped him off neither one of them would be in the place they are currently. Rude would refuse Dusting handing the belt back to him. Instead, Rick wants to work for the gold to be back around his waist. He will make Dustin Rhodes suffer. Rude suggests we tune in next week.
7.) This is the debut of the Bruise Brothers. They are better known as Ron and Don Harris. It’s evident that there is going to be a feud between these guys and the Cole Twins over who is the better twin tag team.
8.) Jesse Ventura interviews the Bruise Brothers who simply say they are the toughest thing going in the business and are going to take out the Cole Twins.
9.) Ric Flair comes out to talk to Tony Schiavone with Arn Anderson by his side. Anderson says that the version of him from a year or so ago that is dead and now he is going back to the 1985 version of himself. Flair tells Erik Watts to make the best of this moment because his career in WCW is short lived. Ric is excited to be back standing next to the Enforcer and is teasing a Horsemen reunion.
10.) Orndorff avoids a dropkick but Rhodes gets up and backs Paul against the ropes leading to a standoff. Dustin works over Orndorff’s left arm for a few moments. Orndorff breaks the hold by yanking Rhodes down by his hair. Rhodes nearly wins after a cross body off the ropes. Rhodes keeps control with a top wrist lock but Orndorff yanks Rhodes down by the hair as we go to commercial. Rick Rude is on commentary now as Orndorff is choking Rhodes. Paul decks Rhodes with a clothesline but only gets a two count. Rhodes big boots Orndroff but can’t regain control of the bout. Rhodes gets out of a sleeper hold but Orndorff delivers a few more forearm shots. Dustin locks in a sleeper hold of his own and Paul is staggering around the ring trying to get out of the hold. Paul sends Dustin face first into the top turnbuckle and delivers a few stomps in the corner. Rhodes hits a power slam and knocks Orndorff down with a left arm clothesline. Rhodes big boots Orndroff and hits a dropkick. Paul sends Rhodes to the floor and follows him. They hammer away on each other on the floor with Rhodes sends Orndorff into the ring post and that causes a disqualification. (*1/2. For a nearly twenty minute match, this one was quite boring and uninteresting. I guess we are going to get a longer feud between these two but I’m not looking forward to any kind of rematch.) After the match, Rick Rude is pissed about the outcome and wants Dustin to come down to the ring. Dustin comes back from the backstage area but is being held back by officials as the show comes to an end.
Final Thoughts:
A rather bad show this week as there weren’t any strong matches and lack any angle development. We are several weeks away from Slamboree so the dead period of TV is going to be going on probably until mid-April.
Thanks for reading.