Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 4/11/1998
From: Madison, WI
Matches:
1.) Ultimo Dragon & Kaz Hayashi defeated Steve & Scott Armstrong
2.) Chris Benoit defeated Bobby Eaton
3.) WCW Television Champion Booker T defeated Fit Finlay
4.) Jim Neidhart defeated Curt Hennig by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Lee Marshall interviewed WCW Television Champion Booker T regarding his match with Chris Benoit at Spring Stampede where there will be no time limit. Booker makes it clear that he isn’t overlooking Fit Finlay tonight.
2.) Booker has early control on Finlay working on the left arm before hitting a side kick. Finlay backdrops Booker over the top to the floor. Finlay rams Booker into the apron back first. Fit gets a two count following an elbow drop. Finlay drives Booker chest first across the apron and delivers an elbow strike to Booker’s chest. Fit scoop slams Booker and taunts the fans with the champion fallen on the canvas. Booker ducks a clothesline but Fit hits a rolling fireman’s carry nearly getting a three count on the cover. Booker walks into a big boot but plants Finlay with a flapjack. Booker follows up with a leaping side kick and hits the scissors kick. Booker heads to the top rope where he hits the missile dropkick for the win. (**. A quick title defense but it’s clear to me that these guys are capable of working well together. I liked that Finlay got some offense in and was made to look somewhat like a threat to Booker.)
3.) Neidhart slingshots into the ring from the apron to drop Hennig with a shoulder block. Hennig trips Neidhart and wraps his leg around the ring post. Hennig jumps down across the knee of Neidhart followed by several stomps. Hennig continues to kick the knee of Neidhart in the corner. Neidhart tries to fight back with strikes but is knocked down following a kick to the leg by Hennig. Neidhart absorbs a chop and works over Hennig with strikes before running into a double big boot in the corner. Neidhart kicks Hennig shoulder first into the ring post to avoid a figure four. Neidhart locks in a Boston Crab but here comes Brian Adams to cause a disqualification. After the match, Davey Boy Smith runs in and makes the save clotheslining Hennig to the floor. (1/2*. I’ll never understand DQ finishes for people that are not high priority in the company.)
Final Thoughts:
At least this week there was a quick, fun match between Booker and Finlay. The Benoit/Eaton squash was interesting just because they were once a former tag team, but nothing memorable from them.
Thanks for reading.