Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 1/27/1996
From: Atlanta, GA
Matches:
1.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Steve Armstrong
2.) Lord Steven Regal fought Dusty Wolf to a no contest
3.) WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd defeated Meng to retain the title
4.) WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger defeated the Barrio Brothers
5.) Joey Maggs defeated VK Wallstreet by disqualification
6.) The Giant defeated Butch Long & Buck Quartermaine in a handicap match
7.) Ric Flair defeated Alex Wright
8.) Harlem Heat defeated American Males
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Page hip tosses Armstrong out of the corner and taunts the fans. Armstrong almost wins with an inside cradle. Armstrong arm drags Page to the mat and keeps arm control. Page elbows Armstrong and again taunts the crowd. Page sends Armstrong chest first into the corner and delivers a back suplex. Armstrong ducks a right hand to plant Page with a back suplex. Armstrong heads to the top rope and hits a crossbody for a near fall. Page comes off the ropes to hit a sloppy jumping DDT. Page finishes Armstrong off with the diamond cutter for the win. (*. Armstrong had a few moments to shine, but there was never any doubt. It’s a fine extended squash, but Page is a little sloppy.)
2.) Mean Gene interviews Diamond Dallas Page. Page talks about issuing a challenge to Johnny B. Badd and how he compared their feud with Frazier vs. Ali and Hogan vs. Flair. Page believes that Badd is ducking him and suggests that Badd needs an incentive. Page is putting up his money, $13 million dollars.
3.) During Regal’s match, a man with a Northern Ireland jacket comes out and pulls Regal to the floor. The man attacks Regal on the floor causing the match to end. Regal is decked with a short arm clothesline. The man reveals he is Fit Finlay, the Belfast Bruiser. Finlay says that Regal is paying for what he’s done to his country for 400 years. Finlay slams Regal on the floor followed by an elbow drop. This is the debut of Fit Finlay.
4.) Badd dropkicks Meng into the ropes and delivers a running clothesline to knock Meng off his feet. Meng sends Badd into the ring post to gain the advantage. Meng works over Badd in the ring with overhand strikes. Meng blocks a backdrop with a clothesline. Meng drives Badd down with a shoulder breaker. Meng delivers a strike to Badd’s shoulders a few times. Badd stops Meng with a jawbreaker. Badd punches Meng and heads to the top rope hitting an axe handle. Badd knee lifts Meng followed by a left hook for a two count. Diamond Dallas Page has come down to ringside to watch the match. Page gets on the apron and Meng flips Page into the ring after being sent into the ropes and Badd pins Page to win the match. (DUD. I hate these finishes. It makes zero sense and to have Page lose again to Badd adds nothing to their story.)
5.) Mean Gene interviews WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd. Badd says that Page is obsessed with him, Kimberly and the championship. Gene tells Badd that Page has offered the money for another shot. Badd declines the money saying that Page will get a shot by earning one. Badd says this isn’t about money. Badd wants Page to earn the opportunity.
6.) Mean Gene interviewed WCW Tag Team Champions Sting and Lex Luger regarding their recent title win against Harlem Heat on WCW Nitro. Luger broke the rules, but dismisses that because Harlem Heat does it too. Sting doesn’t want Gene to get the wrong idea saying that Luger has a fuse is short. Sting says they are going to fight fire with fire against the Harlem Heat. Sting tells Luger that he wants to be known as true champions and win the matches the right way.
7.) Disco Inferno was in the ring dancing before the Wallstreet vs. Maggs match before being kicked out by Wallstreet. Wallstreet ended up getting disqualified after attacking Maggs while he was tied in the ropes. Wallstreet shoved Teddy Long leading to Sgt. Craig Pittman coming out. Pittman tries to cool things down and gets attacked by Wallstreet from behind. Wallstreet plants Pittman with the Stock Market Crash two times. Wallstreet continues to attack Maggs. Teddy Long jumps onto Wallstreet’s back but gets rammed back first into the corner before walking off.
8.) Backstage, Sgt. Craig Pittman says he’s been looking for a manager and asks Teddy Long to be his manager. Long asks Pittman if he can trust him. They agree to work together.
9.) Mean Gene interviews The Giant, Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. Hart hypes up a cage match between Giant and Hogan at Superbrawl saying they can’t wait for the match. Sullivan says that Hogan’s career will be coming to an end at Superbrawl. Giant says he leaves a path of destruction everywhere he goes. Giant is going to end Hogan in his own backyard. There’s nobody that can help Hogan. Giant says that everyone will see that he’s the one true giant. Sullivan asks Gene if would admit that this will be the demise of hogan. Gene doesn’t agree to that.
10.) Wright takes Flair down with a headlock, but Flair quickly gets up and they have a standoff. Flair takes Wright down to the mat and keeps a hammerlock on Wright. Flair maintains arm control, but Wright counters with a wrist lock. Flair elbows Wright in the corner followed by a few chops in the corner. Flair works over Wright with strikes and stomps in the corner. Flair drops Wright with a chop and keeps wrist control. Wright fights back until an eye rake stops him. Wright tries for a sunset flip and is met with a punch. Flair tries for a pin on Wright several times, but Wright continually kicks out. Flair tries to use the ropes for leverage, but Wright kicks out. Wright elbows Flair and blocks a right hand to fight back with strikes. Wright backdrops Flair coming out of the corner followed by a dropkick and uppercuts. Wright is stopped by an atomic drop by Flair out of the corner. Flair tries for a back suplex, but Wright counters with a rollup for a two count. Wright puts a sleeper hold on Flair, but Flair breaks free with a back suplex.
Flair maintains control with a strike in the corner and chops. Flair takes Wright down to the mat, but Wright countered with a head scissors quickly. They bridge out leading to a backslide by Wright for a two count. Flair chops Wright to the mat and goes to the top rope. Wright slams Flair off the top to the mat. Wright heads to the top rope missing a missile dropkick. Flair tries for a figure four, but Wright counters with an inside cradle for a two count. Wright misses a crossbody hitting the ropes chest first. Flair locks in the figure four and wins the match by submission. (**. It was alright, but nothing memorable. It’s interesting to me that Flair has beaten Wright cleanly a few times on TV at this point. Wright’s steam from 1995 seems to be fading rather quickly.)
11.) Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair. Flair will get another shot at WCW World Champion Randy Savage inside a steel cage at Superbrawl VI. Flair isn’t down on life following the loss. Flair made a calculated mistake on Nitro. Flair says that Savage has made a mistake by having a cage match with him at Superbrawl in a match where they can bleed and sweat. Flair believes they will find out who the better man truly is. Flair recalls getting eight stitches at Starrcade because of Savage. Flair suggests people be at Superbrawl to see the very best and to see him win the WCW World Championship.
12.) Eric Bischoff interviewed Steve “Mongo” McMichael. Mongo respects wrestling fans more than he does football fans. He never missed a football game, which would be 207 straight games making him 5th on the list. He’d love to have Mike Ditka as his manager. He thinks that the Steelers will win the Super Bowl over the Cowboys. Mongo is itching to get in the ring.
13.) Booker and Bagwell kickoff the main event tag team match. Bagwell backs Booker into the corner, but backs off cleanly. Booker slaps Bagwell and Bagwell responds with several right hands. Booker misses a heel kick and gets crotched on the top rope. Bagwell dropkicks Booker to the floor. Riggs hits a crossbody on Ray and the Males dropkick Ray to the floor. Riggs continues to brawl with Ray while Bagwell backdropped Booker. Ray trips Bagwell allowing for Booker to hit a scissors kick. Ray catches Bagwell with a slam for a near fall. Booker tags back into the match and kicks Bagwell in the ribs followed by a side slam. Booker comes off the middle rope missing a forearm drop. Riggs gets tagged in as Ray enters as well. Riggs cleans house with right hands and dropkicks to both men. Riggs forearm smashes Ray for a two count. Bagwell forearms Booker into the corner. Riggs is nailed by a heel kick from Booker. Ray has the cover and wins the match. (*1/2. That was a quicker match than I was expecting. I can appreciate that there wasn’t stalling and they kept a solid pace. These two teams have wrestled enough times to develop a decent enough chemistry.)
14.) Mean Gene interviews Harlem Heat. They will be wrestling WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger at Superbrawl VI. Ray says they never lost the belts and they will be regaining the titles at the pay per view. Ray promises that somebody is going to get hurt. Booker says that Sting and Luger got lucky. Booker references Sherri as being someone that’s no longer with them and thus there’s no more distractions.
15.) Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan. Hogan says there’s a lot of controversy around Randy Savage being the WCW World Champion. Hogan has given Savage permission to hold the title for a little while. Hogan says they are best friends, but they are after the same things. Hogan will be wrestling Giant inside a steel cage at Superbrawl VI. Hogan says the cage is about violence and getting nasty. Hogan promises that Giant’s blood will be flowing at the PPV. Hogan is going to eat Giant alive at Superbrawl VI. Hogan promises to destroy Giant at the PPV.
16.) Mean Gene interviews WCW World Champion Randy Savage. Savage agrees that the cage match with Flair will be the most violent night in wrestling history. Savage says that February 11th will live in infamy. Savage says that Hogan hasn’t been around to give him props for winning the title. Savage says that karma is a wonderful thing. Savage says his momentum is a steel cage.
Final Thoughts:
An average episode this week for Saturday Night as we got a couple of angle advancements and a few feature matches. They are focusing quite a bit on Superbrawl VI hype promising blood in the cage matches, but I’m doubting that will happen.
Thanks for reading.