WCW Saturday Night 9/4/1993

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 9/4/1993
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) Dustin Rhodes defeated Rick Rude in match two of the best of three series for the vacant WCW United States Championship
2.) 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Yoshi Kwan by disqualification
3.) Ice Train defeated Joe Cruz
4.) NWA World Champion Ric Flair, Sting & Davey Boy Smith fought Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat to a double disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) We quickly start the show off with the Rhodes/Rude match with neither man getting an entrance.

2.) Dustin tries to take Rude down by the legs, but Rude is able to sidestep the attempts. Rude backs Rhodes into a corner and backs away taunting the fans. Dustin backs Rude into the corner and slowly backs away staring right at Rude. Dustin does a hip swivel to taunt Rude some more. Rude nails Dustin with a kick to the midsection and delivers a few strikes. Rude rams Dustin head first into the corner a few times before controlling Dustin on the canvas with a headlock. Dustin drives Rude down with a knee breaker and a slap to the face. Dustin kicks the left leg several times to drop Rude to the canvas. Dustin drives his knee onto Rude’s left knee and slams Rude’s leg over the apron. Dustin attempts a figure four but Rude rolls Rhodes up for a two count. Dustin quickly goes back to work kicking Rude’s leg. Dustin jumps down across the leg to control Rude on the canvas. Rude continues to work over the leg on the mat. Rude gets out of leg hold by using his free leg to kick Dustin. Rude limps and plants Dustin with a DDT for a two count! Rude tries to hold Dustin down to the canvas but can’t get a three count. Rude drives Dustin down with a back breaker. Rude drives Dustin with a front suplex and taunts the fans.

Rude hits another front suplex which looked dangerously close to the ropes and kisses towards the camera. Dustin delivers a few shots to the injured leg but Rude pokes Dustin in the eyes. Rude attempts a suplex but Dustin counters with a front suplex of his own! Dustin goes for a splash but Rude gets his knees up to block it! Dustin ducks a clothesline and takes Rude down with a backslide to get the three count! (***. It was a quicker match than the first one, which was fine. I also liked that Dustin controlled a good portion of the match working over Rude’s knee. It felt different then the heel also controlling the match. Sure, it didn’t give Dustin much in terms of heat, but made for a more interesting match.)

3.) Kwan refused to let go of the nerve hold and Harley Race got involved as well. That gave Scorpio a disqualification victory. However, nether Kwan or Race really cared about losing the match.

4.) Harley Race and Yoshi Kwan are interviewed following their match. Kwan will be wrestling Cactus Jack in a bounty match at Fall Brawl. Race even says that the loss meant nothing. We see Cactus Jack appear backstage and he says that Race has held onto his property for too long. Cactus tells Race that he doesn’t care how good Kwan is. He is going through anything to get his hands on Kwan. Cactus is determined to get revenge on Race and Kwan. Race is whispering “come and get it” acting as if the camera can’t hear him.

5.) Thunderbolt puts over his man Ice Train saying he’s only ever wanted a chance and WCW is giving Train the chance. He says that Train just needs to listen to him. Thunderbolt wants anyone to step up and fight his man. Train says he is here in the WCW. These promos are not getting better.

6.) Flair, Smith and Sting storm the ring with Flair having a 2×4 in hand to scare the heels from the ring. Sting knocks Sid off the apron with a right hand as Sid tried to get into the ring. Sting and Booker start the match with Sting taking Booker down with an arm drag. Booker controls Sting with a headlock for a few moments. Sting gets out of the hold with a back suplex but misses an elbow drop attempt. Sid gets tagged in and boots Sting in the midsection a few times. Sid works over Sting with a few right hands. Sting comes off the ropes and hits a bulldog and rubs Sid’s face into the canvas! Sting pummels Sid with right hands and rams him into the corner. Sid stops Sting with a knee lift and tags in Stevie Ray. Ray works over Sting with strikes but misses a clothesline. Sting comes off the ropes with a cross body and tags in Smith. Smith wants a piece of Sid, who gets tagged in. Sid kicks Smith in the midsection but Smith quickly comes back with a scoop slam and tags in Flair. Flair comes off the top to axe handle Sid followed by chops. Sid stops Flair with an eye rake and shoulder blocks Flair. Flair comes off the ropes but is knocked down again. Flair goes to the floor and grabs his 2×4 to scare Sid out of the ring. Sid attacks Flair from behind as the referee took the weapon away.

Sid has Flair in his corner and Sting storms the corner to help Flair but Flair continues to be triple teamed. Booker tags in and chokes Flair to keep control of the contest. Flair battles back with chops but an eye rake stops that. Booker connects with a leaping clothesline and taunts the fans. Stevie gets tagged in and strikes Flair followed by a back breaker. Stevie delivers another back breaker on Flair and Booker leaps off the top hitting a clothesline. Booker sends Flair flipping into the corner and Flair crashes to the floor. Flair is sent into the guard railing and sent back into the ring where Sid is tagged in. Sid comes off the middle rope to axe handle Flair and prevents Flair from tagging out. Flair chops Sid but Sid rams Flair face first into the canvas and rubs Flair’s face in the canvas. Stevie tags back in but Flair delivers a few strikes to fight out of the corner. Flair gets stopped by a right hand after delivering a few chops. Flair punches Stevie but an eye rake stops his momentum. Sid dumps Flair over the top to the floor from the apron. Sid his Flair with the 2×4, which the camera doesn’t show. Stevie brings Flair back into the ring with a suplex from the apron. Flair chops Booker on the apron but Stevie power slams Flair again. Stevie comes off the middle rope but misses an elbow drop. Flair staggers to his feet and tags in Smith! Smith cleans house with right hands. Rick Rude comes running out and goes after Ric Flair on the floor! Dustin Rhodes comes out as well and attacks Rude, but Sid bralws with Dustin on the floor! The referee has lost complete control and throws the match out as there is a massive brawl taking place to end the segment. (**1/2. An enjoyable six man match that saw a motivated Sid and there weren’t any dull moments. The brawl at the end was nicely done and likely sets up some more TV matches between these guys. Which, I don’t mind seeing, really.)

7.) Next week, Rick Rude battles Dustin Rhodes with the winner winning the vacant WCW United States Championship!

Final Thoughts:
These one hour editions of Saturday Night are a breeze to go through and are typically very enjoyable. I thought this was a solid show and the ending has me a little more excited about the feuds, but not the War Games match, if that makes sense. The buildup has been effective for single feuds not a multiple man match where it’s normally a blood feud ending kind of match. It just feels like last minute booking to get people in a War Games.

Thanks for reading.