Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 8/21/1993
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat defeated Ron Simmons, 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell
2.) The Equalizer defeated Ron Preston
3.) Charlie Norris defeated Fury
4.) Johnny B. Badd defeated Mike Thor
5.) Ice Train defeated Rage
6.) WCW World Champion Vader defeated JD Stryker
7.) NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeated Sting by count-out to retain the title
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Scorpio and Booker kick off the six man tag match. Scorpio uses his speed to avoid Booker at the start. Booker elbows Scorpio and comes off the ropes to hit a clothesline. Scorpio rolls Booker up for a two count and dropkicks Booker. Scorpio controls Booker on the canvas with a drop toe hold. Bagwell tags in and comes off the top to hit an axe handle. Booker stops Bagwell with a few forearm strikes. Stevie Ray tags in but gets taken down to the canvas by Bagwell with a headlock. Bagwell tries to shoulder block Ray but that doesn’t work. Bagwell takes Ray over with a snap suplex for a two count. Ray misses a clothesline but catches Bagwell in midair for a slam. Simmons gets tagged in after Bagwell avoided an elbow drop. Simmons works over Ray in the corner with a series of strikes but runs into a big boot. Ray comes out of the corner with a clothesline. Ray works over Simmons with a few overhand strikes but misses a clothesline and Simmons drives Ray down with a spine buster. Simmons knocks Booker off the apron and decks Sid off the apron to the floor! Sid returns to the ring and works over Simmons with strikes. Simmons power slams Sid for a one count. Scorpio tags back in and comes off the middle rope to strike Sid over the shoulder.
Sid stops Scorpio with a kick to the midsection and drops Scorpio throat first across the top rope. Scorpio gets clotheslined on the floor while the referee was distracted. Sid casually choke slams Scorpio with one hand and tags in Booker. Booker delivers a leaping forearm smash and taunts the fans. Scorpio gets sent into Sid’s boot in the corner. Stevie tags back in and works over Scorpio while Scorpio gets attacked on the floor. The referee is distracted as Scorpio gets dropped throat first across the guard railing. Scorpio goes for a sunset flip but Booker gets tagged in and decks Scorpio to break the pin. Scorpio comes off the middle rope with a cross body for a two count. Booker misses an elbow drop. Bagwell tags in and works over Booker with strikes and a backdrop! Bagwell dropkicks Booker and Sid gets tagged in. Simmons gets dumped to the floor as Sid kicks Bagwell from behind. Sid plans Bagwell with a power bomb and gets the victory. (**. It’s a rather dull six man tag match, but at least the face team got some moments to shine and it wasn’t a complete squash match. Simmons has become virtually nothing in WCW since his title run last year. That amazes me.)
2.) Footage of Cactus Jack at the Clash of the Champions is aired. Cactus says he is back. He is back for one simple and that’s for WCW World Champion Vader. Vader did something that everyone said couldn’t be done and that was put Cactus out of wrestling for a period of time. Cactus says that Vader will look up to him and beg for no more pain!
3.) Johnny B. Badd is interviewed by Jesse Ventura. Ventura credits a plastic surgeon for doing a great job on Johnny’s face. Johnny claims he is still the prettiest man in WCW. Johnny has the best song on the Slam Jam album. He also has the best left hand in professional wrestling.
4.) This is the in-ring debut of Ice Train in WCW. His finishing move is a power slam. Train is interviewed and says he wants to learn and work his way to the top of WCW. As you might have guessed, his catchphrase is “choo choo”.
5.) WCW World Champion Vader and Harley Race are interviewed after Vader’s victory. Race says he doesn’t care what happens to Flair or Sting tonight. He’ll never forget what happened regarding Flair. Race is focused on War Games and says that Vader rules the valley. Race puts over the team Vader has that consists of Sid and Harlem Heat. Vader says he is the king of the world and the heavyweight champion. Vader says that Sting’s team will not have a chance.
6.) There’s about an hour left in the program and we are at the main event, so it’s gonna be a long one, folks.
7.) They slap hands prior to the action getting started showing respect for each other. Flair takes Sting down to the canvas but Sting controls Flair with a hammerlock. Sting keeps control of Flair’s arm on the mat for a few moments. Flair is getting a little frustrated with Sting getting control of him in the early stages of the match. Sting avoids a figure four and kicks Flair away. Flair comes off the ropes to shoulder block Sting and they actually botch a gorilla press slam, something they’ve done thousands of times. Sting decides to settle for a sleeper hold. They do the gorilla press slam and it works out very well. Sting brings Flair back into the ring from the apron with a suplex. Sting shoulder blocks Flair and puts a Boston Crab on Flair! Flair is refusing to give in and hangs on to avoid tapping out. Flair reaches the bottom rope to break the hold. Flair rolls to the floor trying to regroup. Flair returns to the ring and kicks Sting in the midsection. Flair works over Sting with chops to get the first momentum of the match in his favor. Flair comes off the ropes and misses a knee drop. Sting focuses his attack on the left knee putting a half Boston Crab. Flair refuses to give in managing to reach the ropes. Sting gorilla press slams Flair for a two count. Sting comes off the ropes but misses an elbow drop. Sting counters a hip toss with an abdominal stretch. Flair gets to the ropes again to break the hold.
Sting sends Flair into the corner but misses the Stinger Splash! Flair pulls Sting to the floor and goes for a piledriver on the floor but Sting counters with a backdrop. Sting hip tosses Flair followed by a running clothesline for a two count. Flair backs off in the corner and Sting takes his time. Flair delivers a forearm to the midsection a couple of times to get control of the match. Flair tosses Sting to the floor, but Sting quickly rolls back in. Flair and Sting trade shots in the corner with Sting getting the better of the exchange. Flair literally runs himself into a corner as Sting didn’t properly toss him across the ring. Sting knocks Flair down with a few shoulder blocks and just stares at Flair. Flair decides to roll to the floor. Sting misses a splash hitting the ropes chest first. Flair comes off the ropes with a knee drop. Flair keeps Sting on the canvas with kicks to the midsection. Flair works over Sting in the corner with shoulder rams. Flair has a rollup but can’t keep Sting down for a three count. Flair chops Sting in the corner which actually harm Sting. Flair drives Sting down with a vertical suplex for a two count. Sting kicks out of covers as we go to commercial.
Flair hit a cross body off the top and was nearly pinned during the commercial break. Sting hip tosses Flair across the ring and they are both down as we get back to live action. Flair continues with a back suplex for a two count. Flair goes to the top and actually hits an axe handle! Flair works over Sting with a chop and Sting rolls to the floor. Flair elbows Sting while on the apron. Sting has a sunset flip but Flair goes to reach the ropes only for the referee to kick his hand off and Sting gets a two count. Sting backslides Flair for a two count. Sting hammers away on Flair and Flair flips upside down in the corner and drops to the floor. Flair goes to the top after poking Sting in the eyes. Sting stops Flair with a press slam off the top rope! Sting comes out of the corner with a leaping clothesline for a two count. Sting tosses Flair out of the corner and delivers a few clotheslines. Sting clotheslines Flair over the top to the floor. Flair brings Sting to the floor sending him into the railing but Sting doesn’t sell it. Sting stalks towards Flair on the floor and Flair back peddles. Flair goes for a back suplex but Sting counters with a rollup for a near fall. Flair pokes Sting in the eyes again. Flair continues to work over Sting with chops in the corner. Flair delivers a knee breaker and locks in the figure four! Sting refuses to give in and doesn’t. Sting is able to rollover but Flair breaks the hold to avoid giving up to his own hold.
Sid Vicious has made is way out to broadcast table. Sting nearly wins with an inside cradle. Flair hits Sting on the left knee to keep momentum of the match. Flair chops Sting several times but Sting doesn’t sell it. Sting press slams Flair again and drives Flair face first to the canvas with a bulldog for a near fall. Sting comes out of the corner with another inside cradle but Flair gets out at two. Sting works over Flair with a series of strikes in the corner. Flair misses an atomic drop and Sting clotheslines Flair for a near fall. Sting connects with another press slam but Flair blocks a big splash by getting his knees up. Flair plants Sting with a vertical suplex but Sting pops up and clotheslines Flair. Sting puts the figure four on Flair! Flair gets to the ropes again to break the hold. Flair trips Sting and puts his feet on the ropes but Sting is still too strong and counters with an inside cradle for a near fall. Flair punches Sting in the midsection. Flair goes back to chops but Sting isn’t impacted by them. Sting atomic drops Flair and sets Flair on the top turnbuckle. Sting hooks Flair hitting a superplex for a two count. Sting hits another press slam and Flair fights back with chops. Flair and Sting crash to the floor on a cross body by Flair sending both of them over the top. Sid comes to ringside and yanks Sting off the apron sending Sting hard into the guard railing. That causes Sting to be counted out! Flair is livid with that kind of outcome! After the match, Harlem Heat try to attack Flair but fail. Sid gets in the ring and Sting enters as well hammering away on Sid! Sid gets dropped with a clothesline and bails to the floor! The heel retreat to the backstage area. (***. A fine match that went for nearly forty minutes, but it’s the same formula nonsense and is probably worse in that regard than the matches they’d have later in the decade. It felt like they did the same spots over and over again and that kind of takes you out of the match. Regardless, it’s a big match to have on free TV.)
8.) NWA World Champion Ric Flair and Sting are interviewed to close the program. Sting puts over Flair for being all night long. Flair took him to the limit one more time. Sting blames Sid for the loss and wants Sid to bring Harlem Heat with him. Sid is one of the biggest punks around. Flair notes that you don’t want punk fans on the field during football games. Next week, Flair wants Sid and Harlem Heat!
Final Thoughts:
A decent episode for WCW Saturday Night since we got essentially two feature matches. They are trying to make War Games important but this episode just established a singles feud between Sting and Sid moving forward. Fall Brawl doesn’t seem to have anything behind it and War Games build has seriously lacked. I prefer War Games to be a conclusion of a feud that has been going on for months, not three weeks.
Thanks for reading.