WCW Saturday Night 9/25/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 9/25/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) Ricky Steamboat defeated WCW Television Champion Lord Steven Regal in a non-title match
2.) WCW Tag Team Champions Nasty Boys defeated TA McCoy & Chris Herd
3.) WCW World Champion Vader defeated Jason Johnson
4.) Sting & WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes defeated Harlem Heat

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Steamboat rushes to the ring and attacks Regal from behind with a series of strikes in the corner. Regal is sent into the corner and comes out only to be met with another chop. Steamboat hammers away on Regal some more in the corner before tossing the champ to the floor. Ricky comes off the apron to axe handle Regal and slams Regal face first onto the apron. Steamboat comes off the apron again to deliver a second axe handle. Steamboat continues to chop Regal as they return to the ring. Steamboat drops Regal with a spin kick to the chest. Steamboat rams Regal face first into the corner. Steamboat continues to chop Regal in the corner a few times. Steamboat plants Regal with a vertical suplex. Steamboat bites Regal’s forehead causing Regal to retreat to the corner. Ricky drops Regal throat first across the top rope and plays to the crowd. Ricky blocks a kick from Regal and soon drops the champ with a clothesline. Steamboat connects with more strikes and has completely controlled the match so far. Ricky atomic drops Regal a couple of times and a forearm to the lower back. Regal finally get control by dropping Steamboat face first on the canvas. Regal works over Steamboat with forearm shots backing Ricky against the ropes. Regal clubs away on Steamboat on the canvas for a few moments. Regal gets knocked back into a corner but rams Ricky face first into the turnbuckles to keep momentum in his favor.

Regal has his foot right on Steamboat’s face while twisting Ricky’s leg looking for a submission but isn’t able to get one. Regal keeps Ricky on the canvas but can’t get a submission or pin fall. Regal stops Steamboat’s momentum with an elbow shot to the head. Regal keeps control of Steamboat with a face lock on the canvas. Steamboat plants Regal with a back suplex to break out of a headlock. Steamboat drops Regal with a right hand and comes off the ropes to deck Regal with a right hand. Steamboat works over Regal with some more strikes in the corner. Steamboat hits a springboard cross body out of the corner. Steamboat tosses Sir William off the top onto Regal and rolls Regal up for the victory! (***. A solid start the show and I really liked the amount fire Steamboat showed to get revenge on Regal. Yeah, Regal getting dominated on TV may not be a great look, but Regal is more than capable of getting heat in the future. Plus, the finish effectively protects Regal from a clean finish anyway. The crowd was red hot for this.)

2.) Arn Anderson and Paul Roma share some pre-tape comments saying they are going to show the Nasty Boy what nasty is all about. They’ll have a rematch for the tag titles next week.

3.) WCW World Champion Vader will be defending the championship against hated rival Cactus Jack in the Spin The Wheel Make The Deal match. Cactus seeks revenge for Vader power bombing him on the concrete floor back in April.

4.) Booker and Sting start the main event with Booker working over Sting with strikes. Sting ducks a clothesline to drop Booker with one of his own followed by a scoop slam. Sting scoop slams Booker and Dustin punches Booker from the apron. Rhodes tags in as does Stevie Ray to continue the match. Rhodes fights out of the corner with a right hand. Ray kicks Rhodes in the midsection to get control of the match. Dustin comes off the ropes to hit a dropkick and a scoop slam. Dustin arm drags Ray and tags in Sting who comes off the ropes to leg drop Ray’s left arm. Sting takes Ray down with a rollup for a two count. Ray stops Sting with a right hand and backs Sting into his corner to double team him with Booker for a moment. Booker tags in and pummels Sting with right hands. Booker misses a splash in the corner and Sting strikes Booker a few times. Dustin gets tagged in and comes off the middle rope with an elbow strike. Dustin follows up with a leaping clothesline for a two count. Sting gets tagged back in and controls the left arm of Booker. Booker works over Sting with a few more elbow strike and tags in Ray, but is taken down by Sting with an arm drag. Dustin gets tagged in and gets backed into the corner. Ray runs into a back elbow and Dustin gets a two count. Ray elbows Dustin in the corner but misses a clothesline. Ray doesn’t miss with a big boot to drop Dustin. Ray scoop slams Dustin and delivers a forearm drop. Booker gets tagged back in and comes off the top to deliver an axe handle. Booker knee lifts Dustin several times followed by a clothesline for a near fall.

Dustin gets double teamed by Harlem Heat as Ray controls Dustin with a bear hug. Dustin manages to break the hold and sunset flips Ray but Booker made the tag and splashes Rhodes for a two count. Booker sends Dustin hard into the corner to keep control of the match. Booker side slams Rhodes and tags in Ray. Ray hammers away on Dustin but misses a clothesline. Dustin comes off the ropes and they both go down. Booker gets the tag as does Sting and Sting hammers away on Booker a few times. Sting avoids a splash in the corner and Booker lands on the top turnbuckle. Sting kicks Booker a few times and plants Booker with a Samoan Drop for a two count as Ray made the save. All four men are in the ring brawling at this point. Sting hits a cross body on Booker and gets the three count as Dustin held Ray down on the mat. They cut away so I’m assuming Booker kicked out. After the match, Sting is getting double teamed but Dustin slides in to make the save as the show goes off the air. (**. An average match between these two teams. I’m really liking what I’ve been seeing from Dustin Rhodes lately. Harlem Heat aren’t at the level that they’d eventually reach too, but you can see there is promise for them.)

Final Thoughts:
Mostly just concluding some feuds from Fall Brawl and not much focus put on Halloween Havoc except for the announcement of Vader vs. Cactus Jack at the show. Next week has another big feature match, which I like to see on WCW programming.

Thanks for reading.