WCW Saturday Night 2/3/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 2/3/1996
From: Atlanta, GA

Matches:
1.) Public Enemy defeated Scott & Steve Armstrong
2.) Sting defeated Danny Brown
3.) Nasty Boys defeated Barrio Brothers
4.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Joey Maggs
5.) WCW United States Champion One Man Gang defeated Mike Davis
6.) The Giant defeated Todd Morton & Chris Nelson in a handicap match
7.) Harlem Heat defeated Men At Work
8.) Eddie Guerrero defeated Lex Luger by disqualification
9.) Ric Flair defeated Dean Malenko

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Rock and Scott kickoff the opening tag match. Rock knee lifts Scott followed by a few right hands in the corner. Rock misses a splash and Scott nearly gets a pin out of the corner. Scott avoids Rock in the corner leading to another near fall with a rollup. Rock hits a springboard moonsault for a two count. Grunge tags in hitting a top rope elbow drop and Rock delivered a side slam to Scott. Public Enemy hit a vertical suplex/top rope crossbody combo for a near fall. Scott continues to be worked over in the corner by Public Enemy. Grunge nails Scott with a short arm clothesline. Scott dropkicks both Rock and Grunge. Steve gets tagged in and cleans house with dropkicks of his own. Steve sends them into each other. Scott is thrown over the top to the floor by Grunge, but the referee didn’t see that. Grunge hits a reverse DDT on Steve and Rock hits a top rope Swanton for the win. (*1/4. For a non-hardcore match, this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. Public Enemy had some decent tag moves to hold interest and this didn’t overstay it’s welcome.)

2.) Mean Gene interviews Public Enemy regarding the Nasty Boys. Rocco Rock has heard that the Nasty Boys have never lost a street fight and they are the masters of a street fight. Grunge chimes in and says they are looking for the Nasty Boys and a visit to Nastyville.

3.) How Diamond Dallas Page won 13-million dollars is explained. Page would buy anything that he wanted with the large sum of money. Page claimed he won at the craps table. Eventually, Page lost favor with Kimberly. Page ended up losing the WCW TV Championship at World War III in November to Johnny B. Badd. Badd and Kimberly developed a managerial partnership. Footage of how DDP won the money was by stealing Kimberly’s bingo card.

4.) Backstage, Mean Gene interviews Randy Savage. Savage promotes a cage match with Flair at Superbrawl VI. Savage says he’s not going to let Flair out of the corner and it’s eye for an eye between them.

5.) Mean Gene talked with Kimberly and WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd. Kimberly isn’t interested in the money and wants nothing to do with the match. Badd will defend the title against Page so that Kimberly can get her money and do what she wants with the millions of dollars.

6.) Footage from the December 4th, 1995 edition of Main Event is shown where Diamond Dallas Page lost to Joey Maggs by count-out after Maxx Muscle pulled the rope down on accident causing Page to hit the floor.

7.) Maggs backs Page against the ropes and is shoved away. Page rams Maggs into the corner face first and continues with strikes. Maggs boots Page in the corner and controls Page with a headlock on the mat. Page counters with a head scissors on the mat. Page locks in a stump puller, but Maggs reaches the ropes. Page plants Maggs with the diamond cutter for the easy win. (DUD. It’s hilarious that Teddy Long manages jobbers.)

8.) Mean Gene interviews Diamond Dallas Page and says that the video of him stealing the money is phony and would never be playing bingo. Page says it’s close to 13-million dollars. Gene wants to know how much money it is for real. Page ends up saying it’s 6.6 million dollars.

9.) Mean Gene interviewed Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and the Giant backstage. Sullivan is holding his eye to taunt Hogan being blinded by a high heel shoe. Sullivan believes it all ends inside the cage. Jimmy Hart wants Elizabeth to be at ringside and knows he can beat her up. Giant says that Hogan doesn’t compare to him and he’s confident that he’ll be next WCW World Champion. Giant tells us that Hogan will have no help in the cage. Giant promises we will know who the one true giant is at Superbrawl.

10.) Starr and Stevie kickoff the tag match with Starr delivering a few jabs only for Ray to stop Starr with a botched elbow in the corner. Starr avoids an elbow drop with a kick to the face. Men at Work backdrop Ray for a two count. Ray gains control with a knee in the corner and Booker tags in to deliver several strikes in the corner. Kanyon boots Booker in the corner and hits a middle rope spinning heel kick for a near fall. Booker nails Kanyon with a leaping side kick after Ray delivered a knee lift from the apron. Ray connects with a big boot and an elbow drop for a two count. Booker returns to the match with knee lifts and a spinning kick to the face for a two count. Booker rams Kanyon hard into the corner back first and is driven down with a double front suplex. Booker side slams Kanyon for a two count. Booker misses a middle rope knee drop. Starr gets the tag and cleans house with dropkicks. Starr slams Booker and all four men are in the ring. Starr pummels Booker in the corner with right hands. Starr is caught by Booker and dropped over the top rope throat first leading to the three count. (**. I’m a fan of Men at Work and this was a solid undercard tag match.)

11.) Mean Gene interviews Harlem Heat. They were robbed of the tag titles and they are coming back for the titles to bring them back home. Stevie Ray mocks Sting and Luger for their muscles and Booker calls them little boys.

12.) Luger taunts Guerrero by dropping to his knees and Guerrero lays on his side. Luger gets the advantage with strikes, but Guerrero comes back with an arm drag and nearly wins with a rollup. Luger backs off into a corner to regroup. Luger boots Guerrero followed by a kick to the gut. Guerrero ducks a clothesline and hits a spinning back elbow for a two count. Luger press slams Guerrero over the top rope throat first. Luger rams Guerrero into the corner a few times and drives Guerrero down to the mat with a vertical suplex for a two count. Luger decks Guerrero from behind followed by stomps in the corner. Luger chokes Guerrero on the top turnbuckle, but Guerrero fights off and tries to hit an axe handle and is instead caught by Luger. Guerrero tries to clap out of the hold, but Luger keeps a bearhug on. Guerrero does break free and Luger delivers a few forearm strikes. Luger kicks Guerrero in the ribs to maintain control of the contest. Luger nails Guerrero with a kick to the face and delivers an elbow drop for a two count. Luger keeps control with stomps in the corner. Luger rubs Guerrero’s face on the mat and taunts the fans. Luger clotheslines Guerrero for another near fall. Luger tries for a press slam and Guerrero almost wins with a sunset flip. Guerrero hammers away on Luger and hits a dropkick. Guerrero goes to the top rope and accidentally dropkicks the referee because Luger pulled the referee into the way. Guerrero counters the Torture Rack and hits a hurricanrana, but there’s no referee. Luger locks in the Torture Rack, but the referee awards the match to Guerrero by disqualification. After the match, Luger attacks Guerrero knocking him to the floor. (**1/2. Luger gave quite a bit to Guerrero here and I thought it was an entertaining match.)

13.) Flair takes Malenko down to the mat to keep arm control in the opening moments of the match. Flair switches to a leg hold, but Malenko counters with an inside cradle for a two count. Flair eye rakes Malenko and rubs Malenko’s eyes over the top rope. They trade chops in the corner. Flair does a flip in the corner and falls to the floor. Malenko misses a slingshot crossbody and crashes to the floor. Flair sends Malenko into the railing and delivers a few kicks. Flair drops Malenko throat first over the top rope. Flair punches Malenko in the midsection followed by a forearm strike. Malenko counters a back suplex with a rollup for a two count. Flair puts a crucifix submission on Malenko, but doesn’t get a submission. Malenko avoids a punch on a sunset flip attempt. Malenko backdrops Flair followed by a dropkick. Flair holds onto the ropes and avoids a dropkick. Malenko takes Flair down with a drop toe hold and locks in a Cloverleaf. Arn Anderson comes out and Malenko knocks Anderson off the apron. Flair chop blocks Malenko from behind and Anderson wraps Malenko’s leg around the ring post. Flair locks in the figure four and uses the ropes for leverage forcing Malenko to submit. (**. It’s a rare submission for Malenko, which I was not expecting to see. The match was decent and I’m glad that Flair won even with a little bit of help.)

14.) Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair to end the program. Flair says that Randy Savage has made a mistake and notes that he’s beaten Hogan twice on national television. Flair believes that Elizabeth will take another ride on Space Mountain. Flair promotes that a cage match is his speciality because he can bleed and sweat. Flair promises that Savage will bleed all night long.

Final Thoughts:
I thought this weeks episode of Saturday Night was really strong with a lot of interesting matches and enjoyable ones at that.

Thanks for reading.