WCW Saturday Night 7/23/1994

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night:
Date: 7/23/1994
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) Johnny B. Badd defeated Steve Keirn
2.) WCW Television Champion Lord Steven Regal defeated Davey Rich
3.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Kenny Kendall
4.) Ricky Steamboat defeated Tony Vincent
5.) Jean Paul Levesque defeated Larry Santo
6.) Brian Pillman defeated Fred Avery
7.) Harlem Heat defeated Todd Morton & Chris Michaels
8.) Brady Boone defeated Rip Rogers
9.) WCW World Tag Team Champions Paul Roma & Paul Orndorff defeated Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan to retain the titles

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) You’re never going to believe this! Hulk Hogan won the WCW World Championship by pinning Ric Flair at the Bash at the Beach pay per view last Sunday! Flair will surely get his revenge soon enough!

2.) Footage from Bash at the Beach where Lord Steven Regal confronted Antonio Inoki regarding an award he received at the event. Meanwhile, Regal didn’t get any kind of award and is upset he hasn’t been credited for beating everyone in WCW. Regal says Inoki is lucky he is retired otherwise he’d teach him a lesson. That fires Inoki up but Regal bails to the floor quickly.

3.) Mean Gene talked with Dustin Rhodes regarding Arn Anderson, who turned on Dustin at the pay per view. Dustin has his right arm in a cast and he is quite emotional. Rhodes doesn’t really have words for the interview and tells Gene that he can’t do this right now.

4.) WCW United States Champion Steve Austin is interviewed regarding Ricky Steamboat. Austin has proven that nobody can beat him and he’ll be champion for as long as he wants to be. He use to respect Steamboat but Ricky is stupid and will never learn. Austin doesn’t think anyone cares about Ricky and his ability to spit fire. Ricky Steamboat comes over to the interview area and confronts Austin. Steamboat recalls putting over Austin and his ability in the sport but now hears Austin putting him down. Steamboat thinks Austin is a young punk and his opinion has changed. They bleep out Austin’s response of not wanting to touch anyone’s jock and Austin got slapped. Steamboat went to the ring and wanted Austin but that doesn’t happen.

5.) Col. Robert Parker, Bunkhouse Buck and Arn Anderson are interviewed. Anderson calls Dustin Rhodes a crybaby and that’s why Dustin Rhodes is in this mess. Arn says he would take the match but never said he’d be Dustin’s partner, which is two different things. Anderson is giving everyone the old Anderson that they wanted. Parker wonders where Dustin is going to turn to now. Buck tells Dustin Rhodes to get out of the kitchen if you can’t handle the heat.

6.) Harlem Heat are interviewed following they victory with Mean Gene. They claim they found a man who will bring them the championships and main events. They aren’t going to reveal the name of the person but WCW will find out soon enough.

7.) Cactus Jack, Kevin Sullivan and Dave Sullivan are interviewed regarding the main event tonight. Kevin says that everyone thought they’d breakup. Kevin isn’t mad because Cactus lost the belts for them because he gave them the belts. Kevin slaps Dave for suggesting that Cactus is nicer than Kevin sometimes. Cactus chimes in saying that they aren’t going to explode. Cactus admits he might not like Kevin all that much but they are one of the best tag teams and they’ll prove it tonight.

8.) Cactus and Roma start off the tag team title main event. Roma avoids Cactus in the corner and taunts the fans because he’s just so great. Orndorff tags in and takes Cactus over with an arm drag and decides to pose for the fans who don’t appreciate it. Kevin Sullivan tags in and gets arm dragged as well by Orndorff. Cactus tags back in to try his luck again with Orndorff. Sullivan kicks Orndorff from the apron and that allows Jack to get control with strikes and takes Orndorff down to the canvas. Sullivan rams Orndorff into the corner shoulder first and works over his shoulder with strikes. Cactus gets tagged in and continues to work over Orndorff with a headlock. Orndorff breaks free with an eye rake and Roma gets tagged in only to be hip tossed by Cactus and worked over in the wrong corner. Sullivan tags in and drops Roma with a double clothesline. Sullivan wraps Roma’s arm around the ring post. Sullivan stomps on Roma’s hand a few times. Cactus jumps onto Roma’s back across the middle rope. Sullivan nails Roma with a head butt and Cactus hit an elbow drop for a two count. Sullivan decks Orndorff off the apron and tags Cactus back in to work over Roma’s arm. Orndorff works over Cactus with forearms in the corner and argues with the referee. Orndorff rams Cactus face first into the corner a few times.

Cactus works over Orndorff with right hands of his own and rams Orndorff into the corner face first several times. Sullivan tags in and rams Orndorff and Roma into the top turnbuckle several times. Sullivan double stomps Orndorff! Roma gets dragged into the ring and dropped with a right hand. Cactus tags back in and forearms Orndorff several times in the corner but misses a spear hitting the ring post shoulder first. Roma gets tagged in and kicks Cactus to the floor. Roma power slams Cactus and delivers an elbow drop for a two count. Cactus tries to fight back with forearms but is worked over in the corner by the champions. Sullivan tried to save Cactus but the referee prevented much involvement. Orndorff has a hammerlock on Cactus for a few moments but isn’t able to get a submission. Roma decks Sullivan on the apron and runs away. Orndorff goes to the floor with Cactus to deliver a few more shots with the referee distracted. Cactus nails Orndorff with a discus clothesline but can’t make the tag out. Roma gets tagged back in and pummels Cactus in the corner with strikes but Cactus rakes Roma’s eyes to break free for a moment until Roma takes Cactus down to the canvas with a drop toe hold.

Orndorff continues to work over the arm of Cactus as the show comes back from commercial. Sullivan gets involved yanking on Orndorff’s hair but the referee escorts Kevin out of the ring. Orndorff knee lifts Cactus and yanks Jack down by his hair to prevent a tag. Roma tags in and Cactus nearly wins with an inside cradle. Sullivan is in again hammering away on Roma. Cactus plants Orndorff with a double arm DDT! Roma leaps off the top to axe handle Cactus and Roma pins Cactus to retain the titles. (*1/2. Well, this went for almost fifteen minutes or so and it was largely a boring contest. I appreciate that the match got plenty of time, but the heels here just kept the offense very simple and it made for a boring match.)

9.) Ric Flair comes out for an interview to close the program with Sherri Martel by his side. Flair says that for the moment Hulk Hogan rules the world of wrestling. Flair says that Hogan really surprised him. Somehow, Hogan was able to walk out of Orlando with the WCW World Championship. Flair wonders if Hogan can do it again to beat Flair. Flair promises to get a rematch and will get the championship back. Sherri Martel chimes in and says Hogan will regret the day he messed with Ric Flair.

Final Thoughts:
A decent episode for WCW following a big pay per view. Looks like Austin/Steamboat will continue to be a thing moving forward as will Flair/Hogan, as expected. WCW certainly has lost a step from earlier in the year, but the programming hasn’t become awful just yet.

Thanks for reading.