Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 7/18/1992
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Van Hammer defeated Bob Cook
2.) Ron Simmons defeated Joe Cruz
3.) Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas defeated Joey Maggs & Johnny Rich
4.) WCW Lightweight Champion Brad Armstrong fought Jushin Liger to a draw
5.) Dan Spivey defeated Ian Wenton
6.) WCW World Champion Vader defeated Scott Allen & Terry Bronson in a handicap match
7.) Steiner Brothers defeated Terry Taylor & Bobby Eaton
8.) WCW Television Champion Steve Austin defeated Larry Zbyszko to retain the title
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Vader won the WCW World Championship from Sting at the Great American Bash. Jim Ross and Bill Watts chat about that and what we will see later on tonight.
2.) Junkyard Dog is interviewed by Jim Ross. Junkyard Dog wants a piece at Vader for the WCW World Championship. He says the bone isn’t too big for him to grab. Dog talks about head butting Mr. Hughes and his glasses broke into his eyes, apparently. Dog felt bad and got medical attention. Dog is looking for Vader and will settle his issues with Hughes, too.
3.) Diamond Dallas Page and Vinnie Vegas are interviewed by Jim Ross. Page says he can do anything and puts over his commentary and managing. Vegas says they look too good and notes that Junkyard Dog has issues with them. Page says they are going to dominate the tag division. “Tails we win, heads you lose.”
4.) Liger and Armstrong trade offense on the mat with neither man getting an extended amount of time in control. Liger runs the ropes to arm drag Armstrong several times. Liger takes Armstrong over with a head scissors. Armstrong dropkicks Liger and takes Jushin down with a headlock. Liger fights back putting Armstrong in a surfboard but lets go of the hold. There is five minutes remaining in the match as it has a ten minute time limit, apparently. Armstrong works over the left leg of Liger with a spinning leg hold. Liger drops Armstrong with a leg kick to the side of his head. Liger kicks Armstrong several times and knocks Brad through the middle rope to the floor. Liger hits a baseball slide to knock Armstrong down on the floor. Liger brings Armstrong into the ring with a suplex but only gets a near fall. Armstrong gets control working on the left knee of Liger. There are only two minutes left in the match. Liger takes Brad over with a back suplex. Armstrong hits a side Russian leg sweep but Liger kicks out at two. Liger nearly pins Armstrong with a rollup. Liger takes Brad over with a German suplex but manages a two count. Armstrong almost wins with a backslide and Liger nearly wins with an inside cradle. Neither man is able to get a victory with time running out. Armstrong retains. (*1/4. That was boring as they clearly kept it simple to run out the clock. I’m glad that’s over with.)
5.) Johnny B. Badd comes out for an interview. Badd says that if he ever hit Vader with the Tooty Fruity he would kick his booty. Badd is going for the WCW Lightweight Championship. Badd says that Jushin Liger and Brad Armstrong are good wrestlers but he is a bad man.
6.) WCW World Champion Vader and Harley Race are interviewed regarding Sting. Race puts over Vader saying he doesn’t care when Sting gets his rematch and he has no fear on this earth. Race is confident in Vader to do anything. Vader gets on the microphone and thanks WCW and Bill Watts for the opportunity to showcase his skills. Vader wants Sting to bring his pride and he will take that, too.
7.) Bobby Eaton and Scott Steiner kick off the match with Scott taking Eaton over with an arm drag. Scott hip tosses Eaton out of the corner and takes Eaton down to the canvas. Eaton cheap shots Scott with a right hand and chokes Scott over the middle rope. Scott elbows Eaton down but is met with an axe handle from Taylor on the apron. Scott plants Eaton with a tilt a whirl slam. Rick gets the tag and Eaton tags out to Taylor. Rick shoves Taylor across the ring. Rick catches Taylor in midair to hit a back breaker. Taylor goes to his corner and traps Rick in there but Rick fights out with right hands anyway. Eaton runs into a right hand from Rick but shoulder rams Rick to stop him in the corner. Eaton leaps off the top but is caught by Rick managing to hit an overhead belly to belly suplex.
Taylor gets tagged in but doesn’t go after Rick who is on all fours. Scott gets tagged but Taylor stops him with an eye rake. Eaton holds the ropes down and Scott goes flying over the top to the floor. Taylor knee drops Scott several times and keeps control with a rolling neck snap. Eaton clotheslines Scott for a two count. Scott takes Taylor over with a double under hook power bomb. Rick gets the hot tag and cleans house with right hands and power slams Eaton. Rick power slams Taylor but Eaton breaks up the cover. Rick clotheslines Taylor and hits a middle rope bulldog to get the pin fall. (**. A decent match but it didn’t seem like Taylor and Eaton got much offense in. Steiner Brothers are very enjoyable at this point, to me.)
8.) Jim Ross interviews the Steiner Brothers who are gunning for Terry Gordy and Steve Williams who have the WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championships. Scott says this is personal because they tried to injure his knee. Rick says this is far from being over with. Rick suggests they watch their backs.
9.) Austin takes Zbyszko down to the canvas but Zbyszko breaks free and scares Paul E. Dangerously on the floor. Zbyszko takes Austin down with an arm drag and controls of the left arm. Austin gets free and bails to the floor to regroup with Dangerously. Zbyszko takes Austin down the canvas to work over the left arm. Austin fights back with right hands and a shoulder block but Zbyszko takes Austin down with a drop toe hold and works over Austin with an abdominal stretch. Austin hip tosses out of the abdominal stretch and works over Zbyszko with strikes but is met with a knee lift. Zbyszko nearly pins Austin with an inside cradle. Austin has control of the left leg of Zbyszko as we are back from commercial. Dangerously is helping Austin cheat but the referee isn’t aware of it. Austin kicks the leg of Zbyszko and wrenches on the left leg some more.
Austin continues to focus his attack on the left leg of Zbyszko. Zbyszko fights back with an eye rake and a spin kick to the midsection of Austin. Larry sends Austin into the corner and hammers away on the champ hitting a backdrop for a two count. Larry gets another near fall following a swinging neck breaker. Larry gets a two count following a gut wrench power bomb. Dangerously gets on the apron and the distraction allows Austin to hit the Stun Gun for the victory. (*1/2. The leg work was boring but the final minute or two was enjoyable to finish off a rather dull match.)
10.) WCW Television Champion Steve Austin says that tonight was Ricky Steamboat’s last chance at the gold since Steamboat would rather sit at home and fake a rib injury.
Final Thoughts:
There were three feature match quality matches and only one of them had minor entertainment value to them. Seems like there is a rough patch for WCW at this point in their Saturday Night programming.
Thanks for reading.