WCW Saturday Night 10/17/1992

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 10/17/1992
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) Shane Douglas defeated Brian Pillman by disqualification
2.) Tom Zenk & Robbie Walker defeated Jim Bryant & Fred Avery
3.) WCW United States Champion Rick Rude defeated Tommy Angel
4.) Tony Atlas defeated Larry Santo
5.) Erik Watts defeated Mike Thor
6.) Vinnie Vegas defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell
7.) WCW Television Champion Scott Steiner fought Steve Austin to a draw

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Early on, neither Douglas or Pillman can get the advantage and they have a standoff. Pillman works over Douglas in the corner sending Shane face first into the corner followed by chops. Douglas drives Pillman down to the mat after they both came off the ropes. Douglas keeps a hammerlock on Pillman to keep the advantage. Pillman punches Douglas in the corner and delivers several strikes in the corner. Pillman complains that his tights were pulled and gets control on the mat with a hammerlock. Pillman misses an elbow drop and Douglas arm drags Pillman to the mat to keep the advantage. Pillman has control of Shane’s left arm for a few moments. Douglas hip tosses Pillman followed by an arm drag and keeps Pillman on the mat. Pillman eye rakes Douglas to get the advantage in the corner. Pillman boots Douglas in the corner and gets a two count. Pillman sends Douglas to the floor and delivers a double boot to Douglas face. Pillman goes to the top rope after rolling Douglas into the ring. Pillman hits a top rope axe handle for a two count despite having his legs on the ropes.

Pillman keeps Douglas on the mat with a sleeper hold to keep control of the match. Pillman nearly wins with a middle rope crossbody and nearly wins with a martial arts kick to the chest for another two count. Pillman chokes Douglas over the bottom rope. Pillman dumps Douglas to the floor and slowly follows. Pillman tosses Douglas into the ring and keeps choking Douglas. Pillman misses a twisting crossbody off the middle rope. Pillman begs off in the corner but Douglas press slams Pillman off the top rope. Douglas rams Pillman face first into the corner followed by a vertical suplex. Douglas has the cover but Pillman kicks out. Douglas knocks Pillman to the floor and Douglas dives over the top to hit a crossbody on the floor. Pillman sends Douglas face first into the ring post and that earns Pillman a disqualification. After the match, several officials come out to breakup the attack. Douglas plants Pillman on the floor with a belly to belly suplex. (*1/2. So, the majority of this match was basic wrestling and brawling. I don’t think that was the right direction to go with these guys. Towards the end, they picked up the pace and did a few high risk moves. The aftermath was the best part and I’d have to think these two are wrestling at Havoc on the undercard.)

2.) There’s a ridiculous hype video for Erik Watts.

3.) Jim Ross chats with the NWA/WCW World Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham. They have a rematch with Steve Williams and Terry Gordy at Halloween Havoc. Windham says he doesn’t have to explain where he was last week. There’s always controversy in every sport. Barry says that he and Rhodes always make the best out of every situation. Rhodes says that Gordy and Williams will have a problem with them at Havoc in eight days. Apparently, everything has been smoothed over.

4.) WCW United States Champion Rick Rude is interviewed following his victory. Jim Ross also has Bill Watts with him for the segment. Rude says that Watts is out there to find out who Rude is picking for the referee for the match. Watts says that’s correct, but Rude tells Watts he needs to wait. Watts asks if Paul E. Dangerously is his manager and Rude says that is correct. Watts has a contract that says that Rude will defend the WCW United States Championship at the pay per view. Rude thinks it will be a title vs. title match with Chono. That is the not the case. Rude will have another match against Nikita Koloff in a no disqualification match with Madusa banned from ringside. Rude can’t believe that Paul E. Dangerously signed the contract. If Rude doesn’t wrestle the match than he won’t be able to wrestle Chono. Rude is livid about this.

5.) Jim Ross interviews WCW World Champion Ron Simmons regarding his match with the Barbarian at Halloween Havoc. Simmons says that Barbarian can train a lot but Simmons has pride, which is something Barbarian doesn’t have. Simmons believes that pride will get him through Havoc and keep the belt around his waist.

6.) This is Erik Watts in-ring debut in WCW. Watts won the match with a rollup.

7.) Cactus Jack training The Barbarian from the Halloween Havoc showdown with Ron Simmons for the WCW World Championship is shown. Jack has a sledgehammer and has three cinderblocks on Barbarian’s back before breaking them with the hammer. Jack breaks a 2×4 over Barbarian’s back. Barbarian kicks a pumpkin. Jack wants Simmons to know he’s in danger and Barbarian is ready to destroy Simmons.

8.) Up Close is up next with Tony Schiavone talking with Paul E. Dangerously. Dangerously is still the CEO of the Dangerous Alliance. Schiavone asks Dangerously where he has been. Dangerously is still the boss despite not being at every show. Dangerously still owns options on all the wrestlers that are in the Dangerous Alliance. Dangerously has options on Austin, Anderson. Eaton and Rude. Schiavone explains the situation with Rude having two matches at the PPV. Dangerously says he thought of Rude as being the top wrestler and since he has a stake in Rude’s earnings, that Rude could accomplish the task of winning two matches. Dangerously thinks that Schiavone is stirring stuff up. Dangerously says that Madusa is not the reason for Rude’s success, but rather Dangerously is. Dangerously says that Rude doesn’t need him nor does he need Madusa. Dangerously has all the confidence in Rude. Rude has called for a meeting with Dangerously to discuss the contract situation. Dangerously had not heard that Rude wanted to talk with him. Dangerously is getting really defensive and says that Schiavone didn’t clear these questions with him prior to the interview.

9.) Jim Ross chats with Diamond Dallas Page and Vinnie Vegas. Page says that Marcus Alexander Bagwell is a chicken for not taking him up on his offer of five more minutes. They will be wrestling again on the Main Event. Tonight, Vegas will be wrestling Marcus Alexander Bagwell.

10.) Vegas works over Bagwell with a knee lift and several strikes followed by a scoop slam. Vegas sends Bagwell into the corner a few times before locking in a bearhug. Vegas keeps the hold on Bagwell for several moments. Bagwell tries to clap his way free and a strike to Vegas eyes gets the job done. Bagwell hammers away on Vegas, but gets tossed away. Vegas clotheslines Bagwell out of the corner. Vegas has Bagwell over his shoulder and Bagwell breaks free to nearly win with a rollup. Vegas stops Bagwell with a knee lift but a knee strike drops Vegas to the mat. Vegas drops Bagwell with a short arm clothesline. Bagwell is bleeding from the nose after the clothesline. Vegas puts a sleeper hold on Bagwell looking to get a submission. Vegas delivers a few elbow drops to keep control on Bagwell. Bagwell stops Vegas with a jawbreaker and hammers away on Vegas with strikes. Bagwell stomps away on Vegas followed by a running clothesline. Bagwell hits a springboard back elbow off the middle rope. Bagwell hits a middle rope crossbody for a two count. Bagwell dropkicks Page off the apron. Vegas hits a leaping shoulder block and has a handful of tights for the win. (*. It’s not that bad of a match, I guess. I don’t think I have much interest in this TV feud between Bagwell and Page, however.)

11.) We see footage from WCW Worldwide where Scott Steiner won the WCW Television Championship from Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat hip tossed Steiner onto the apron from the ring, and went to check on Steiner. However, Steiner wasn’t interested in that. Steiner managed to pin Steamboat with an inside cradle to take advantage of Steamboat’s apparent rib injury.

12.) Austin hammers away on Steiner to start the main event and fights out of the corner. Austin rams Steiner face first into the corner followed by more strikes. Steiner battles back with forearm strikes. Steiner takes Austin over with a double under hook powerbomb. Steiner backdrops Austin and locks in a Boston Crab. Austin slaps the mat, which looks like a submission, but Steiner switches to a modified leg lock. Austin returns to the ring and wants to shake hands. Steiner blocks a boot to leg sweep Austin to the mat and keeps a leg lock on Austin. Austin hammers away on Steiner with a few strikes. Steiner takes Austin over with a snap suplex fo a two count. Steiner keeps Austin on the mat with some amateur wrestling holds. Steiner gets taken down to the mat by Austin, but Steiner counters a leg lock to control Austin with a leg lock of his own. Austin reaches the ropes to break the hold. Austin shoulder rams Steiner in the corner a few times. Steiner takes Austin over with a belly to belly suplex. Austin avoids a charging Steiner and Steiner flies over the top to the floor.

Austin knocks Steiner to the floor with a knee lift off the apron. Steiner almost wins with an inside cradle. Austin chokes Steiner over the middle rope. Austin knee drops Steiner for a two count. The show comes to an end because time has run out so we don’t get a conclusion. (NR. I mean that’s incredibly annoying.)

Final Thoughts:
They put some good focus on Rick Rude and his dilemma of having two matches at the PPV now. The feature matches were disappointing because they didn’t work entertaining matches. The non-finish to the main event really irked me, too.

Thanks for reading.