Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 9/11/1993
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Nasty Boys defeated Frankie Lancaster & Brad Armstrong
2.) Charlie Norris defeated Maxx Payne in a lumberjack match
3.) Yoshi Kwan defeated Buddy Ryan
4.) WCW Television Champion Ricky Steamboat defeated The Equalizer in a non-title match
5.) Keith & Kent Cole defeated Harlem Heat by reverse decision
6.) Dustin Rhodes defeated Rick Rude in match three of the best of three series to win the vacant WCW United States Championship
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The Nasty Boys are interviewed following their victory to start the show. They will be meeting Arn Anderson and Paul Roma for the WCW Tag Team Championships. Knobbs says that they are going down and they are going to be the next WCW Tag Team Champions! Sags tells the fans to shut up. Sags says the ride for the Horsemen is over with and it’s going to be nasty! It’s time to get ready for Nastyville!
2.) As you’d expect in a lumberjack match, all the lumberjacks start to brawl. Ricky Steamboat brawls with Paul Orndorf on the floor. Shanghai Pierce accidentally nailed Payne with a cowbell and that allowed Norris to get a victory.
3.) Rick Rude is interviewed backstage saying that there are only hours left in Ric Flair’s reign as champion remaining. Rude says he is going to clean out Flair. He says that Dustin Rhodes destiny is upon us and is confident that Rhodes is finish tonight!
4.) Paul Orndorff is at ringside for the Steamboat/Equalizer match. Late in the match, Steamboat goes to the top but Orndorff pulls Ricky down and attempts a piledriver on the floor but Steamboat countered with a backdrop before returning to the ring. Orndorff gets on teh apron getting brass knuckles out of his tights. Equalizer accidentally knocks Orndorff off the apron and Steamboat rolls Equalizer up for the victory.
5.) Tony Schiavone recently sat down with the Shockmaster at a restaurant. Shockmaster is eating and has a construction hat on. Shockmaster has a different look to him compared to Clash of the Champions. Shockmaster describes the moment and he got so nervous and fell flat on his face. He will be competing in War Games on Sting’s team. He may not be the most graceful man but when he gets in the ring he means business. Schiavone notes that Shockmaster is friendly and he says he loves children. He enjoys cartoon just like children. Shockmaster goes to shake hands with Schiavone but spills the drink on Tony.
6.) Harlem Heat won the tag match against the Cole Twins, but since they continued to attack the Cole Twins, the referee reversed the decision giving the match to the Cole Twins. Mind you, Harlem Heat is scheduled to be in the main event at the next pay per view and they had to cheat to defeat the Cole Twins in the first place.
7.) NWA World Champion Ric Flair is interviewed by Tony Schiavone. Flair knows what it is like to go after any championship. Flair wants Rude to never forget that he is watching him. Flair is watching and waiting for Rude.
8.) Rude backs Rhodes into a corner but backs away and taunts Dustin. Dustin backs away from Rude as well and offers a handshake but Rude sing interested in that. Rude kicks Dustin in the midsection and follows up with several right hands to the lower back. Rude knocks Dustin to the canvas with more shots to the back and clubbing blows to the neck. Rude locks in a bear hug but Dustin isn’t going to give in. Dustin hammers away on Rude with a few right hands and a backdrop! Dustin works over Rude with an elbow strike to the lower back. Dustin controls Rude with a chin lock. Dustin jumps down onto the back of Rude to keep control of the contest. Dustin locks in a sleeper hold but Rude isn’t going to give in. Dustin jumps down onto Rude’s back and does another hip swivel to taunt Rude. Rude rolls over onto his back and uses his knees to low blow Dustin. Rude atomic drops Dustin to the floor. Rude pulls Dustin to the apron and drops Rhodes throat first across the top rope. Rude works over the lower back with a right hand and scoop slam. Rude yells at Dustin to get up as we go to commercial.
Back from commercial with Rude ramming Dustin face first into the canvas. During the break, Rude nearly won with a DDT after kicking Dustin on the knee. Rude controls Dustin with a headlock. Dustin elbows out of a headlock and plants Rude with a back suplex. Rhodes goes for a splash but Rude gets his knees up again. Rude goes to the top rope and nails Dustin with an axe handle. Rude takes the time to do a hip swivel but holds his back in pain. Rude gets backed into a corner and Dustin delivers several strikes in the corner. Dustin runs into a high knee and rolls to the opposite corner. Rude climbs to the top rope and nails Rhodes with another axe handle. Rude ducks a wild right hand but ducks too soon and Rhodes delivers a flurry of rights. Dustin nearly wins with a backslide. Rhodes ducks a clothesline and nearly wins with another rollup. Rude avoids the bulldog by tossing Dustin into the referee! Rude goes to the floor and grabs a steel chair. Ric Flair leaves the commentary table and grabs the chair from Rude. Dustin rolls Rude up from behind and gets the three count! Rhodes is the US Champ! (***. I’ve enjoyed the series of matches as they are all on the same level with all being quality wrestling. The finish clearly protects Rude since it’s not clean with Flair’s involvement and Dustin had a handful of tights. Regardless, Dustin is ready to be the US Champ and Rude is ready to move on to bigger aspirations. These matches helped Dustin come across like a bigger deal, too.)
Final Thoughts:
It kind of baffles me that WCW is open to pushing Typhoon of the WWF in a major way. Shockmaster has already been turned into a comedy act, which is probably the best way to handle the situation. Dustin Rhodes is US Champ and is likely going to provide some good matches as champion. This felt like a productive episode with several feuds getting attention.
Thanks for reading.