WCW Saturday Night 5/17/1997

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 5/17/1997
From: N/A

Matches:
1.) WCW Television Champion Ultimo Dragon defeated Villano IV to retain the title
2.) Jeff Jarrett defeated Jim Powers
3.) Wrath defeated Dave Moore
4.) Yuji Yasuraoka defeated Julio Sanchez
5.) Meng defeated Pat Tanaka
6.) The Giant defeated Dave & Dean Power in a handicap match

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Dragon starts off with a few chops after a knee strikes. Villano avoids a kick to the head but misses an elbow drop. Villano clotheslines Dragon to get the advantage. Dragon hits a standing hurricanrana followed by several kicks to drop Villano. Villano tries to deliver a few strikes, but Dragon stops that with a standing spin kick. Villano almost wins with a middle rope sunset flip. Villano drops Dragon over his knee for a two count. Villano hits a fisherman suplex for a two count. Villano almost wins with another rollup. Dragon hits a handspring back elbow to send Villano to the floor. Sonny Ono kicks Villano a few times until Dragon rolls the challenger into the ring. Dragon hits a handspring elbow in the corner. Dragon hits a top rope hurricanrana before locking in the dragon sleeper for the victory. (*1/2. I mean, Villano probably shouldn’t be getting a title match anyway. Dragon came across like a dominate champion and had very little issue retaining here. Though, Dragon didn’t want Ono to interfere, which should be noted.)

2.) Jim Powers almost had a victory on Jarrett with an inside cradle, but the referee was distracted. Jarrett ended up winning with a figure four.

3.) Lee Marshall interviews Sonny Ono regarding a new wrestler named Yuji Yasuraoka, who is from WAR. Ono dismisses the idea that he’s stretching himself thin. Ono promises that all of his wrestlers will be champions.

4.) The fans greet Yuji Yasuraoka with a USA chant. Yuji works over Sanchez with a dropkick and several strikes. Yuji dropkicks Sanchez off the apron to the floor and comes off the top to hit a dive. Yuji comes off the middle rope to hit a dropkick and wins the match with a double arm DDT. After the match, Yuji plants Sanchez with two DDTs. Rey Mysterio Jr. slides into the ring and makes the save. They will be wrestling tomorrow night at Slamboree.

5.) Lee Marshal sat down with Chris Benoit and Woman earlier in the day. Marshall talks about Meng being sent to Japan and became an assassin at the age of 14. Benoit will be wrestling Meng in a death match tomorrow night. Benoit says he fights for everything in this business. Benoit says this fight is about who he is and not facing the Dungeon of Doom. Woman tells Benot that he doesn’t need to do this. Benoit asks Nancy to not throw in the towel no matter what happens. Nancy looks worried after hearing that request.

Final Thoughts:
A debut for Yuji here before his PPV match with Mysterio was kinda cool. The promotion for Benoit/Meng seems to have gotten strong and the whole angle is feeling quite personal, which I can appreciate. On paper, Slamboree appears to be one of the weaker ones that WCW has put on recently.

Thanks for reading.