WCW Saturday Night 4/24/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 4/24/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Tony Vincent & Paul Lee
2.) Ricky Steamboat defeated Fury
3.) Rick Rude defeated Ben Jordan
4.) Erik Watts defeated Bobby Eaton by disqualification
5.) Ron Simmons defeated WCW Television Champion Paul Orndorff in a non-title match
6.) Scott Norton defeated Johnny Gunn
7.) WCW World Tag Team Champions Hollywood Blonds defeated Joey Maggs & Larry Santo
8.) WCW World Champion Big Van Vader defeated Cactus Jack by count-out to retain the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Cactus Jack comes over and talks with Schiavone and Ventura. Jack has his face bandaged up. He has a broken nose and concussion, apparently. Jack says it has been a busy week for him after the worst beating of his life. Jack talks about his kids who think he is the greatest thing in the world. His kids told him to not get back in the ring but Cactus has to get back in the ring with Vader. This is the last time no matter what happens tonight. If Vader can take him out then Jack will give him respect.

2.) Jesse Ventura says that Shane Douglas was supposed to be here but has had plane ticket issues and won’t be at the show leaving Ricky Steamboat by himself.

3.) Rick Rude chats with Tony Schiavone after his easy victory. Rude is pointing at something and doesn’t tell Schiavone what he was doing. Rude says that WCW is trying to prevent him from winning the WCW United States Championship. He is challenging Dustin Rhodes to prove he is man enough to be champion. He isn’t going to die and he will be here next week.

4.) Watts goes for the STF on Eaton but Chris Benoit comes out and hits a top rope diving head butt to cause a disqualification. Arn Anderson runs down and makes the save on Watts sending Eaton and Benoit to the floor.

5.) Tony Schiavone talks with Arn Anderson who says that he wouldn’t have thought this was going to happen three months ago. Arn credits Watts with having more guts than he thought he had. Arn has forgotten about his date with Barry Windham at Slamboree and he is coming for the strap.

6.) Orndorff works over Simmons with a few elbow strikes in the corner after both men stalled for several moments. Ron nearly wins after a leaping cross body and continues with several more pin attempts until Paul bails to the floor. Simmons comes out of the corner with a running clothesline and hammers away on the champ. Orndorff tries for a cross body but Simmons hits a back breaker instead. Orndorff avoids a head butt from the top and Simmons hits the canvas. The championship is on the line for the next five minutes before it’s a non-title match. Orndorff keeps control with several strikes and has a sleeper hold locked in. Orndorff hits the top turnbuckle face first but recovers to hit a back suplex for a near fall. Simmons has a two minute warning to win the belt as Orndorff hits a DDT for a two count. Orndorff gets another two count after a snap suplex. Simmons counters a piledriver with a backdrop! Simmons hits a power slam and nearly wins the title. Orndorff bails to the floor but Simmons follows and sends the champ back to the ring. Ron delivers an elbow shot in the corner. Ron can’t get a pin during the ten minute time limit but the match continues. Orndorff falls to the floor and Dustin Rhodes rolls Orndroff in so Simmons can roll Paul up and win the match. (**. A fine match between these two though the finish was rather lame. It’s an important win for Simmons to stay relevant. Orndorff is an excellent heel who can recover from the loss.)

7.) Hollywood Blonds come over to be interviewed by the announcers. Pillman says they are splashed all over the tabloids. Austin says they are the biggest stars in Hollywood. Schiavone mentions the top challengers Steamboat and Douglas. Pillman pokes fun at them when Ricky Steamboat comes over and defends Douglas for not being on the show. Steamboat notes his partners throughout the years and being tag champ on eight occasions. Ricky has forgotten more about tag team then they’ll know combined. The champs try to attack Steamboat but he fights them off with strikes but the numbers get the best of him. Shane Douglas has arrived to the building and hits Austin with his suitcase!

8.) Cactus Jack scoop slams Harley Race while Vader was taunting people on the floor. Jack hammers away on Vader but the champ clubs away on Jack and delivers head butts. Vader drops Jack with a short arm clothesline. Jack has a chair and whacks Vader over the head as they were by the entrance area. Jack drops Vader gut first across the guard railing and slams Race on the floor! Jack leaps off the apron to elbow drop Race! They get into the ring where Jack is hammering away on Vader with forearm shots in the corner. We go to commercial.

Jack takes a few punches but takes Vader down with a back suplex and comes off the middle rope only to be caught with a slam from Vader. Vader drops an elbow across Jack’s knee. Jack fights out of the corner with a series of right hands and bites the champs head. Vader big boots Jack in the corner and comes off the middle rope to hit Jack with a flying body strike. Vader drives Cactus down with a Samoan Drop and hits a middle rope splash. Vader heads to the middle rope again and hits a second splash. Vader misses a third splash from the middle rope. Jack leg drops Vader on the apron and they both go over the top on a clothesline from Cactus.

Vader is slammed on the floor and Cactus is on the apron. Jack misses a somersault splash and hits the floor hard. Race pulls the protective mat off the floor and Vader sets Jack up for a power bomb on the concrete and hits it! Jack is out cold and is counted out. (**1/2. The story continues between these two as they will meet again later on in the year. The match is okay, but last weeks match had more energy and more brutality, thought the power bomb on the concrete was a sick spot.)

9.) The remainder of the show, the last several minutes, is silence as EMTs work over Cactus Jack with several fans being shown concern for Jack and his well being.

Final Thoughts:
A good show this week as we had two strong featured matches for seemingly the first time in six months. They played up the Cactus Jack situation perfectly as if they had commentators on the footage at the end it would have devalued the seriousness of it all. When Jack gets back expect a huge pop.

Thanks for reading.