WCW Saturday Night 3/2/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

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

Matches:
1.) Loch Ness defeated The Shadow & Kenny Shaw in a handicap match
2.) Marcus Alexander Bagwell & Scotty Riggs defeated Dick Slater in a handicap match
3.) Arn Anderson & Kevin Sullivan defeated Scott D’Amore & Tom Kent
4.) Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Benoit
5.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Joey Maggs
6.) WCW Tag Team Champion Lex Luger defeated Cobra
7.) Jim Duggan defeated VK Wallstreet
8.) The Giant defeated Dave Sullivan
9.) Meng & Barbarian defeated Pat Tanaka & Larry Santo
10.) WCW World Champion Ric Flair defeated WCW Tag Team Champion Sting by disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Mean Gene interviews Loch Ness and Jimmy Hart following a victory. Hart puts over Ness as being a present that Kevin Sullivan gave him. Ness says that Hart promised him a match against Hulk Hogan and he’s not a patient man. Ness wants a piece of Hulk Hogan. Hart tells Ness that it will take some time, but Ness will get his opportunity against Hogan.

2.) Bunkhouse Buck was promoted as being Dick Slater’s tag partner for the match, but Buck never arrives and thus it’s really another handicap match, which is a little weird. Col. Parker tells the camera that Buck will be there and Slater will hold off the American Males until then.

3.) Slater controls Bagwell with a hammerlock, but Bagwell gets to the ropes to break the hold. Slater keeps Bagwell on the mat with a headlock for a few moments, but Bagwell tries for a few rollups while on the mat. Slater stops Bagwell with an elbow strike and a snapmare. Slater connects with an elbow drop for a two count. Riggs tags in and hammers away on Slater, but Slater comes back with a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Bagwell breaks the count and Slater slams both Bagwell and Riggs. Slater continues to drop the American Males with right hands and falls to the floor after a few headbutts. Males hit a leaping shoulder block after pretending to respect Slater. Males hit a double dropkick and pin Slater. (1/2*. This was a weird match because the Males kind of came across as a heel team and Slater was likable in his attempt to fight off both guys. I’d be fine with a Males heel turn, but I don’t think that was the intent here at all.)

4.) Mean Gene interviews Col. Robert Parker and Dick Slater. Parker knows how Slater feels because he’s winded too. Parker tells Slater it’s all about the fire you have inside. Parker praises Slater’s effort. Slater is offended by Parker suggesting he was out of gas. Slater is sick and tired of Parker ruining him and Buck title shots. Slater tells Parker to get his life situated because he’s ruining his career. Parker promises he’s done with women and he’s focus. Well, that is until Madusa comes out and joins the segment. Madusa wants Parker to close his eyes. Madusa has a surprise for Parker and proceeds to deck Parker with a right hand. Madusa calls Parker a scum sucking boring twit. Madusa wants to wrestle Parker. Slater leaves the segment and leaves Parker laying on the floor. Gene suggests UnCensored for Madusa vs. Parker.

5.) Mean Gene interviews WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan, Woman and Elizabeth. Gene promotes a strap lumberjack match taking place on Nitro. Anderson says every rose has its thorn and says everyone is going to be around ringside. Anderson tells Hogan and Savage they have no place to run. Sullivan chimes in and says Flair has hooked up to two horses. Flair has a strap in his hand. Flair asks if Gene has ever seen the championship look any better since it’s over Woman’s shoulder. Flair’s promo is basically Savage, Hogan and Booty can’t run and they are in their backyard on Nitro.

6.) Benoit works over Guerrero with forearms in the corner, but Guerrero sends Benoit into the corner with a dropkick. Benoit gains control with a side headlock and keeps Guerrero on the canvas. Benoit shoulder blocks Guerrero followed by chops to maintain control of the match. Guerrero counters with a wrist lock and leg sweeps Benoit to the mat. Guerrero avoids a few strikes by Benoit, but Benoit decks Guerrero with a clothesline. Guerrero head scissors Benoit and delivers a tilt a whirl backbreaker. Benoit bails to the floor to regroup for a moment. Benoit drives Guerrero down with a back suplex. Benoit knee lifts Guerrero to maintain control of the contest. Benoit drops Guerrero gut first over the top rope. Benoit hooks Guerrero for a suplex, but Guerrero counters with a back elbow. Benoit drives Guerrero down with a gut buster and a powerbomb. Benoit signals for the diving headbutt. Benoit leaps off the top, but Guerrero rolls out of the way. Guerrero spikes Benoit with a brainbuster. Guerrero goes to the top and hits the frog splash for a two count. Guerrero counters a powerbomb with a hurricanrana for the win. After the match, Benoit attacks Guerrero and sends Guerrero over the top to the floor. Guerrero is holding his right knee. Benoit continues to deliver strikes on the floor and sends Guerrero into the guard railing. Benoit walks off. (***. That was a really fun undercard match. They didn’t get a bunch of time, but they held my interest the entire time and I really enjoyed the match.)

7.) Lee Marshall interviews Chris Benoit. Marshall says that Benoit isn’t a good sportsman. Benoit says he could have finished Guerrero off at any given moment but he wanted to prolong the pain for Guerrero. Benoit thinks that Guerrero got lucky and issues a challenge for next week. Benoit promises that he’ll put the hammer down next week. Marshall mentions that the Four Horsemen has gone down to three. Benoit isn’t sure why the Horsemen has aligned with the Dungeon of Doom, but he’s focused on Guerrero next week.

8.) Lee Marshall interviews Diamond Dallas Page after Page won a quick match. DDP enters the scene and insults the crowd saying they’ve had things repossessed. DDP has been in a slump, but he’s on his way back to the top. DDP needs just one more match with Johnny B. Badd and says this is about pride. DDP only has his pride left and acknowledges it’s very little. DDP says he’ll quit WCW if he loses, but if he beats Badd then he’s the WCW Television Champion again.

9.) Jimmy Hart got involved in Lex Luger’s match with Cobra by tripping Cobra off the top rope. That interference allowed Luger to easily the win the match with the Torture Rack. After the match, Sting slid into the ring and chased Hart out of the ring. Sting has an argument with Luger in the ring. Luger raises Cobra’s arm and seems to be changing his tune whenever Sting is around.

10.) Mean Gene interviews Lex Luge and Sting. Luger claims he had nothing to do with Jimmy Hart and assures that he has Sting’s back and Sting runs the show. Luger thinks he’s being framed. Luger is ready for the street fight at UnCensored. Sting chimes in and asks how Luger could be ready for a street fight when Luger doesn’t know what a Chicago street fight is. Sting explains that the match basically has no rules. Luger reminds Sting he’s from Chicago, too. Sting tells Luger he was spoiled in Chicago while the Road Warriors are from the streets. They walk off with Sting explaining the rules.

11.) Backstage, Mean Gene interviewed Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Gene talks about a double lumberjack strap match. Hogan promotes the match taking place on Nitro. Hogan can’t think of a better way to equal to the score than this kind of match. Hogan says that Elizabeth was scared to handcuff Hogan in the corner and Hogan heard her doubt herself. Hogan thinks they are on shaky ground. Savage chimes in and thinks they are trying to get rescued by anyone. Booty Man enters the scene and says he’s going to light a fire under the Mega Powers for the strap match. Hogan says that Booty is blood to them and was their spy to know everything about the Dungeon of Doom and Four Horsemen. Savage says they are going to go looney tunes on Nitro. Booty can’t wait to whip the heels with the strap.

12.) Wallstreet attacks on the floor, but Duggan comes back with a headbutt and they return to the ring where Wallstreet gains control with right hands. Duggan misses a splash in the corner and Wallstreet keeps control with strikes. Wallstreet back elbows Duggan followed by an elbow drop. Wallstreet decks Duggan to the floor and keeps control on the apron. Duggan tries for a sunset flip, but Wallstreet uses the ropes. Sgt. Craig Pittman comes out and nails Wallstreet with a right hand allowing Duggan to win the match. (DUD. Hey, at least it was super short.)

13.) The Giant easily wins his match and chokeslams a few enhancement guys. After the match, Jim Duggan comes out with a taped fist and decks Giant from the top turnbuckle. Duggan delivers a few more strikes with the taped fist and knocks Giant over the top to the floor. Giant is furious, but is controlled by Jimmy Hart on the floor.

14.) Miss Elizabeth did a sit down interview talking about Randy Savage. She was married to Savage for seven years and claims she did things she didn’t want to do. She took 50% of what Savage had and thinks she deserves more and that’s why she’s back. She wants his hopes and dreams. Elizabeth claims that Savage didn’t know when he had something good when he had his arms around it. She’s taking credit for Savage’s success and thinks he’d be cleaning dishes if it weren’t for her. Elizabeth thanks Woman for showing her what managerial success looks like. She thinks that Flair is the essence of what a man and athlete should be. Flair doesn’t take no for an answer and Flair lives a lifestyle that she could get use to. She has a message for Savage and says that she will be behind Savage. She is interested in Savage’s future and when things are both good or bad, she’ll be there.

15.) Sting controls Flair on the mat with a headlock. Flair backs Sting into a corner and backs away taunting Sting. Sting keeps Flair on the mat with a headlock. Flair counters with a top wrist lock and keeps Sting on the mat briefly. Sting kips up a few times and breaks free from a wrist lock. Flair drop toe holds Sting to the mat, but Sting counters with a hammerlock. Flair chops Sting in the corner a few times and delivers strikes. Sting charges out of the corner to clothesline Flair followed by a press slam. Sting hip tosses Flair followed by a dropkick to send Flair rolling to the floor. Flair stops Sting with a few strikes, but Sting press slams Flair. Sting hip tosses Flair and misses a dropkick, but Flair face plants anyway. Flair sends Sting through the ropes and Woman delivers a kick to the ribs before Sting rolls back into the ring. Flair chops Sting and tries for a cheap cover, but Sting powers out. Flair sends Sting into the corner and drops Sting with another chop for a two count. Flair controls Sting with a sleeper on the mat. Flair chops Sting in the corner a few times. Flair continues to control Sting with a headlock. They bridge out of a cover and Sting tries for a backslide. Sting has Flair down for a cover, but Flair kicks out at two. Flair chops Sting in the corner and Sting scares Flair. Sting fires back with right hands in the corner. Flair flips in the corner and Sting clotheslines Flair on the apron. Sting suplexs Flair from the apron into the ring for a two count. The show goes off the air without a conclusion, you have to watch WCW Pro next Saturday morning to find out what happened. (NR. The match wasn’t anything special because they hadn’t really gotten out of first gear. This is the rare example of the show going off the air without a result. I hate it and it’s a horrible way to start doing that with a huge main event such as Sting and Flair. As a viewer, I’m livid.)

Final Thoughts:
Putting the main event aside, there’s a lot going on here this week and I enjoyed it because each segment served a purpose and it made the show go by a lot quicker. Thus, the show as a whole gets a thumbs up. But, the decision to not air the whole main event is quite frustrating.

Thanks for reading.