WCW Saturday Night 9/18/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 9/18/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) Sting defeated Stevie Ray by disqualification
2.) WCW Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Paul Roma defeated Mike Thor & Todd Zane
3.) Paul Orndorff defeated Dave Hart
4.) NWA World Champion Ric Flair & WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes fought Rick Rude & Sid Vicious to a double disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Ray shoves Sting down at the start of the match to show his power advantage. Sting attempts a hip toss but Ray is able to block it. Ray attempts a hip toss but Sting counters with a backslide for a two count. Sting has a rollup but Ray kicks out at two. Ray stops Sting with a few right hands and overhand strikes. Sting has an inside cradle for another two count. Sting goes behind Ray but Ray is able to break free rather easily. Ray works over Sting with a few strikes. Ray delivers an overhand strike and avoids a dropkick causing Sting to crash to the canvas. Ray works over Sting with strikes in the corner and a scoop slam. Ray leaps off the middle rope but misses an elbow drop. Sting goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Booker T slides into the ring and attacks Sting! Dustin Rhodes slides into the ring and all four men brawl. Sting is sent to the floor and Rhodes gets double teamed. Ray big boots Dustin and Sting has gotten a chair but Booker cuts him off. Booker tosses the chair onto Sting. Ray delivers a back breaker to Dustin and Booker hits a knee drop! (*. It’s a basic contest without much excitement and they didn’t seem to work well with each other. The aftermath is effective to continue build for War Games. Still, these feuds don’t feel like they warrant a War Games stipulation.)

2.) WCW Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson and Paul Roma are interviewed following their victory. Roma hopes that the Nasty Boys got a good look of what they just did. He hopes they bring everything they got for Fall Brawl. Anderson says there is a small difference between pain and pleasure. Anderson has been in many War Games and says he looks forward to War Games. I’m not sure why Anderson would hype up War Games, which he isn’t involved in, and not really promote the tag match with Nasty Boys.

3.) Lord Steven Regal and Sir William are interviewed regarding Regal’s match tomorrow night against WCW TV Champion Ricky Steamboat at Fall Brawl. Regal was looking forward to wrestling Paul Orndorff but he will settle for Steamboat. I think Regal kept on saying “Paula fella”, which is hilarious.

4.) Orndorff wins his match rather easily and hit another piledriver after the bell sounded on Dave Hart. Orndorff goes for a third piledriver but Ricky Steamboat leaps off the top rope and strikes Orndorff. Ricky hammers away on Orndorff but Lord Steven Regal runs down and attacks Steamboat. Regal uses his umbrella to clothesline Steamboat with Orndorff. Regal whacks Steamboat over the back with the umbrella a few times as Orndorff held Steamboat to allow the beating.

5.) Dustin Rhodes is hurting thanks to the attack from earlier in the night thanks to Harlem Heat. We see Harlem Heat trying to get to ringside but they are held back by security. Shockmaster is watching in the crowd.

6.) Sid attacks Dustin at the start of the match stomping on the lower back of Rhodes to get the cheap advantage. Rude gets tagged in and works on the lower back with strikes to drop Dustin to his knees. Rude controls Dustin with a chin lock on the canvas. Rude jumps down across the back of Rhodes and does a hip swivel to taunt the fans. Rude is facing towards Flair with the chin lock and is taunting Flair while hurting Rhodes. Rhodes struggles to his knees but Rude jumps down across his back again. Rude tosses Rhodes hard back first into the corner. Rude controls Rhodes on the canvas with a chin lock again. Rhodes gets up and drops down due to his back hurting. Sid gets tagged in and prevents Dustin from tagging out. Sid works over Dustin along with Rude and Flair enters to help out Dustin but this distracts the referee and allows more damage to be done to Rhodes. Sid keeps Dustin on the canvas with a chin lock but Dustin gets out of the hold with an eye rake. Rhodes hammers away on Sid and ducks a clothesline to hit a cross body off the ropes. Dustin crashes to the floor but Flair saves Dustin from a further attack from Rude. However, before the break Dustin gets rammed into the apron back first.

Back from commercial, Rude is working over the lower back of Rhodes, which he has been doing for the entire month of matches they’ve been having on TV. Rude has a bear hug on Dustin but Rhodes is able to deliver a few elbows until Rude hit a belly to belly suplex. Flair is freaking out on the apron as Rude scoop slams Dustin and yells at Flair before tagging in Sid. Sid tosses Rhodes to the floor and we see Flair grabbing a chair to try and get at Sid, but is stopped by the referee. Sid drops Dustin gut first across the guard railing! Dustin struggles but gets to the ring before the count of ten. Rhodes has a sunset flip on Sid but Sid tags in Rude with Rude hitting Dustin from behind. Rude controls Rhodes with an abdominal stretch. Rude drops Dustin to the canvas with a few overhand strikes and attempts a tombstone, but Dustin counters and drops Rude with a tombstone! Rhodes goes for the cover but Rude kicks out at two! Sid tags in and works over Dustin with more strikes in the corner but misses a splash. Dustin tries for a slam but Sid lands on top for a near fall. Sid controls Dustin with a nerve hold. Dustin gets out of the hold and clotheslines Sid and tries to tag to Flair but is stopped by Sid again!

Rude tags back in and stops Dustin with a right hand and taunts Flair some more. Rude rams Dustin head first into the corner and sends Dustin chest first into the corner. Dustin fights out of the corner with chops and tries to crawl to Flair but is stopped again by Rude. Dustin inches closer to Flair but Sid distracts the referee causing the referee not to see Flair get the tag. Dustin is worked over some more by the heels in the corner. Sid runs into big boot and Dustin runs out of the corner to hit a bulldog! Dustin struggles and tags in Flair as Rude is tagged in. Flair atomic drops Rude and chops Rude and Sid on the apron. Flair punches Rude several times followed by another atomic drop. Flair rakes Sid on the apron and goes back to chopping Rude. Flair has the sleeper hold on Rude, but here comes Harlem Heat to attack Flair and Rhodes. Sting runs into the ring from the backstage area and Shockmaster tries to make the save but falls over the guard railing. Everyone is brawling causing the match to be thrown out yet again. (***. I was entertained by this largely due to Dustin’s ability to take so much punishment and keep people interested. Flair did basically nothing and Dustin carried the match for his team. Even with an injury from earlier in the show, Dustin showed a lot of heart and the action was nicely done.)

Final Thoughts:
Fall Brawl would likely be a strong show if they didn’t depend on the War Games match. If you get rid of that match, there are enough feuds here to make that a strong match full of singles matches. This years War Games is probably the worst in history for the fact that there isn’t a proper build up to it, which I’ve mentioned in just about every review since after the Clash. However, as it will be obvious heading to Halloween Havoc, the feuds have been hyped up properly and effectively. A good main event to close the program and another brawl with everyone made for an explosive ending.

Thanks for reading.