Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 10/9/1993
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Charlie Norris defeated Rip Rogers
2.) Harlem Heat defeated Mark Starr & Sam Houston
3.) Sid Vicious defeated Dave Hart
4.) WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes & The Shockmaster defeated Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce
5.) Bobby Eaton defeated Joe Edmonds
6.) Ric Flair defeated Yoshi Kwan
7.) Arn Anderson fought WCW Television Champion Lord Steven Regal to a draw
8.) Ricky Steamboat defeated WCW World Champion Vader by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) The show is joined in progress, according to the History of WWE. As a result, a tag team match between the Nasty Boys and the team of Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio was not shown on the program. Scorpio and Bagwell won the match.
2.) Tony Schiavone interviewed Ricky Steamboat backstage regarding his match with WCW World Champion Vader later on. Steamboat says that throughout his career he’s had to wrestle bigger guys and survived. He mentions that David did beat Goliath.
3.) Steve Austin was interviewed by Tony Schiavone in the arena. Austin will be wrestling Dustin Rhodes for the WCW United States Championship at Halloween Havoc. He says it is about time he gets what he wants. Austin says that the WCW US Championship means a lot to him now that he is a singles wrestler. Col. Robert Parker comes out and talks to Austin. Parker wants to know who put the smile on Austin’s face. Parker tells Austin that he was getting the job done for him behind the scenes. Austin tells Schiavone that some of the things that Parker has been saying is interesting, but he’s confident he’ll be the next WCW United States Champion.
4.) Sid Vicious and Col. Robert Parker are interviewed following Sid’s easy victory. Vicious tells Schiavone to shut his mouth and says that he is sick and tired of hearing Sting saying he won’t win the title. Sid declares he is the only man who should get a WCW World Championship match. Sid is going to show everyone why he rules the world at Halloween Havoc. Sid tells Col. Robert Parker that he can get Steve Austin a title shot and he can’t do anything for him. So, if anything like that happens again then he’ll fire Parker.
5.) Kwan backs Flair into a corner at the start of the match but cleanly breaks away. Flair takes Kwan down to the mat with a side headlock but Kwan quickly gets out of that and they pop up to their feet. Flair takes Kwan down with another headlock and again Kwan gets out quickly. Flair gets tripped to the mat but kicks Kwan away and plays to the crowd. Kwan chops Flair in the corner but Flair turns it around quickly with a series of his own chops. Flair backdrops Kwan and rams him head first into the corner. Flair snap mares Kwan and comes off the ropes but misses a knee drop. Kwan decides to work over the left knee delivering some basic offense. Kwan spin kicks Flair to keep control of the match. Kwan chops Flair over the top to the floor. Harley Race is there and cheap shots Flair while the referee was distracted. Kwan delivers another kick and they begin to trade chops on the floor. Kwan pummels Flair with chops on the floor before returning to the ring to hit Flair with a double axe handle for a two count. Kwan drops Flair with a super kick. Kwan continues with a leg drop and chops. Flair chops Kwan in the corner dropping him to the canvas. Kwan sends Flair into the ropes and goes for a sleeper hold but Flair breaks the hold with a back suplex. Flair atomic drops Kwan and sends him over the top with a clothesline. Flair goes flipping into the corner but runs the apron and actually hits a double axe handle. Kwan takes advantage knocking Flair down. Flair counters a kick attempt with a backslide to win the match. (*1/4. This went rather quickly, which was fine. I didn’t have any doubt that Flair would go over and he didn’t break a sweat. It was just an extended squash match, especially if Flair can hit a top rope double axe handle.)
6.) Tony Schiavone recently went to WCW International Champion Rick Rude’s house for an interview. Rude tells Schiavone that he is welcomed to his him as long as he gets a phone call in advanced. Tony talks about how WCW only acknowledges one world champion and that’s Vader. Rude says this is typical and talks about how he was stripped of the WCW United States Championship when he had a neck injury, but when Vader had a rib injury and was out longer than him, Vader was able to keep his championship. Rude asks Schiavone what the championship says and it says he is the world champion. Rude declares that he defeated the man in Ric Flair. He’ll be wrestling Ric Flair in a rematch at Halloween Havoc. Rude says that Halloween Havoc is his chance to prove he’ll be champion forever.
7.) Anderson backs Regal into the corner but cleanly breaks away. Regal controls Anderson with a wrist lock for a few moments. Anderson counters into a wrist lock of his own. Regal tried to get out of the hold but failed and Arn delivered a few knee drops to the left arm. Regal have a standoff until Regal puts a full nelson on Arn. Anderson counters the hold with a full nelson and keeps the hold on for a few moments. Regal manages to get out of the hold and did a cartwheel but Anderson doesn’t care taking Regal down to the canvas working on his left arm. Arn continues to work over Regal with a knee drop and stomps the left arm. Anderson takes Regal down to the canvas with a hammerlock to keep control of the champion. Regal rolls onto his back and nearly pins himself while trying to get free of the hold. Regal breaks free out of the corner and leg trips Anderson, but Arn goes back to a hammerlock quickly. Regal tries to arm drag Anderson across the ring but Arn won’t let go of the hammerlock. Anderson comes off the ropes with a shoulder block but Regal sends Anderson to the floor. Sir William delivers a cheap shot Anderson on the outside. Regal takes Arn down with a snap mare before hitting a somersault splash for a two count. Regal digs his elbow into the ribs of Anderson. Regal works over the midsection of Anderson with a knee drop. Regal keeps an arm lock on Anderson briefly. Regal continues to work over Arn in the corner and takes Anderson over with a butterfly suplex for a two count. Sir William jabs Arn in the ribs with his umbrella and Regal continues to work per Anderson as the referee was distracted.
Sir William decks Anderson over the head with a umbrella. Regal works over Arn with a few forearm shots and Arn gets a two count. Regal has a headlock on Anderson but can’t get a submission. Anderson attempts a sunset flip as there is three minutes left i the match. Regal avoids the sunset flip and stomps on Anderson. Arn gets out of a headlock ands stomps on Regal as there is now two minutes left in the match. Anderson runs into a knee in the corner and forearm strikes Regal in the midsection a few times. Arn trips Regal before delivering a stomp to the gut. Anderson knee lifts Regal for a near fall. There is only sixty-seconds remaining as Anderson nearly wins with a gut buster. Anderson hammers away on Regal dropping the champion to the canvas. Anderson attempts a spine butter but Regal counters. Anderson shoves Regal off and hits the spine buster but has to delay the cover because this is a draw. (*1/4. They did basically nothing for fourteen and a half minutes. These time limit draws with Regal are annoying and they keep to the same formula over and over again. This was a disappointing match.)
8.) Steamboat takes Harley Race down with a vertical suplex and puts him in a figure four when we come back from commercial. Vader splashes Steamboat and takes control of the match. Vader works over Steamboat with several forearm strikes in the corner. Vader splashes Steamboat in the corner. Vader plants Ricky with a choke slam. Vader nails Steamboat with a short arm clothesline. Vader sends Steamboat to the floor where Harley Race sends Ricky into the ring post shoulder first. Steamboat yells at Race for his attack. Vader comes to the floor and drops Steamboat across the guard railing throat first. Vader strikes Steamboat on the apron to knock him down and Race gets another cheap shot. Vader clubs Ricky over the chest on the apron. Vader slams Steamboat and goes to the middle rope. Vader leaps off hitting a splash! Vader is trying to shake off apparently jamming his right wrist on the move. Vader pummels Steamboat in the corner with more strikes. Vader gets tossed over the top to the floor and Steamboat tries to regroup in the ring. Vader leaps off the middle rope but is met with a clothesline in midair! Steamboat gets a second wind chopping Vader and delivers a spin kick. Steamboat continues to strike Vader knocking him down with a chop. Steamboat takes Vader down with a snap suplex! Steamboat is fired up. Steamboat drives Vader down with a back suplex but Vader kicks out at two! Steamboat kicks Vader through the middle rope to the floor. Steamboat comes off the top and axe handles both Race and Vader on the floor! Steamboat gets the guard railing and rams it into Vader! Vader gets back into the ring but Ricky comes off the top hitting a cross body for a two count. Steamboat is shoved to the floor on the kick out. Steamboat goes towards Race but returns to the ring. Steamboat hammers away on Vader with strikes but the referee is knocked down and he rolls all the way to the floor. Steamboat chops away on Vader. Harley Race enters and he’s taken care of as Steamboat sends Race into Vader hitting a back suplex. Yoshi Kwan enters the ring and attacks Steamboat missing a kick. Steamboat gets attacked by Vader. Kwan scoop slams Steamboat and holds Ricky with Race. Vader is on the middle rope but Cactus Jack runs out with a shovel to make the save! Cactus whacked Vader off the middle rope with a shovel shot to the back! (**1/2. A solid match but it seems like they have some bigger plans for these two as this was a setup to that. Steamboat works pretty well with Vader. I enjoyed this.)
Final Thoughts:
There was a few feature match caliber matches, but the main event was the only one that delivered any kind of entertainment value. They appear to be teasing a face turn for Sid. The angle progression was done pretty well this week and finished with a good main event. I’d say it was a solid episode overall.
Thanks for reading.