WCW Saturday Night 3/23/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 3/23/1996
From: Augusta, GA

Matches:
1.) WCW Tag Team/TV Champion Lex Luger defeated Brad Armstrong
2.) Lord Steven Regal defeated the Gambler
3.) Arn Anderson & Kevin Sullivan defeated Julio Sanchez & Unknown
4.) WCW World Champion Ric Flair defeated Sgt. Craig Pittman
5.) Col. Robert Parker defeated Tommy Bonds
6.) Eddie Guerrero defeated Steve Doll
7.) The Steiner Brothers defeated Chris Kanyon & Mike Winner
8.) WCW Tag Team Champion Sting defeated Bobby Eaton
9.) Public Enemy defeated Road Warriors by disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Luger shoves Armstrong into the corner and taunts the crowd by flexing his pecks. Luger doesn’t budge on a shoulder block attempt and poses for the crowd. Luger doesn’t budge again on a shoulder block attempt. Armstrong knocks Luger down on a shoulder block and Luger is angry in the corner. Luger knee lifts Armstrong and delivers a few elbow strikes. Armstrong dropkicks Luger, but Luger quickly recovers with a boot to the gut. Armstrong dropkicks Luger followed by a hip toss and an arm drag. Luger elbows Armstrong, but is taken down by a drop toe hold. Armstrong is met with an eye rake, but Armstrong backdrops Luger. Luger catches Armstrong in the corner and drops Armstrong face first over the top turnbuckle. Luger knee lifts Armstrong from behind to send Armstrong to the floor. Luger rams Armstrong into the apron back first. Luger hooks Armstrong for a suplex and drives Armstrong to the mat from the apron. Luger powerslams Armstrong and plays to the crowd. Luger tries for the Torture Rack, but Armstrong breaks free. Armstrong knee lifts Luger followed by a forearm smash for a two count. Armstrong avoids a slam and tries for a side Russian leg sweep, but Luger held the ropes. Luger locks in the Torture Rack and wins the match. (*1/4. Again, that was far more competitive than I ever thought it would be. Luger giving his opponents quite a bit of offense is a good thing for his matches and make them more enjoyable.)

2.) Loch Ness appeared on the aisle following Sullivan and Anderson winning their enhancement match. Ness is telling them that he’s still here and proceeds to just walk away.

3.) Tony Schiavone interviewed Kevin Sullivan, Arn Anderson and Jimmy Hart. Sullivan is confident that the end of Hulk Hogan will be happening tomorrow night at UnCensored. Sullivan says the last man to be in the cage match will be a huge surprise. Sullivan also says that Brian Pillman will be part of the cage match. Anderson notes that Hogan brought Savage along to get a butt kicking. Anderson says that Hogan and Savage are going to slow bleed at the PPV.

4.) Pittman gains control on Flair with a test of strength and keeps Flair on the mat, but Flair reaches the ropes. Flair comes off the ropes and is met with a hip toss by Pittman. Pittman is stopped by an eye rake by Flair and a few right hands. Flair tosses Pittman to the floor where Woman eye rakes Pittman to help Flair. Flair rams Pittman face first onto the guard railing. Pittman headbutts Flair in the midsection to drop Flair to the mat. Pittman shoulder rams Flair a few times in the corner and sends Flair flipping into the corner and crashes to the floor. Flair is sent face first into the railing and Pittman continues with strikes. They return to the ring where Flair elbow strikes Pittman. Pittman tries for a sunset flip and nearly wins with a rollup. Pittman slams Flair to the mat on his shoulder and pummels Flair with right hands. Pittman chokes Flair on the mat. Pittman runs into a boot in the corner and Flair hits a back suplex. Pittman pops up no selling the move as Flair taunted the crowd. Pittman tosses Flair with an overhead suplex. Flair eye rakes Pittman to avoid Pittman in the corner. The referee is distracted as Teddy Long takes Woman’s shoe away on the floor. Pittman misses a splash in the corner and Flair gets the win with a rollup. (*1/2. There was some actual drama here even though there was no chance that Pittman was actually going to win here. Flair gave a lot and Pittman can do well in short bursts. I enjoyed this for what it was.)

5.) Tony Schiavone interviewed WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Woman and Elizabeth. Flair cuts a promo after telling Schiavone to leave the scene. Flair says he has the whole world in his hands. Flair promotes the Doomsday cage match where there is eight men taking on Hogan and Savage. Flair says what was once Savage’s is now all his. Flair hears a rumor that the Giant wants a piece of him. Flair lives in a world where the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

6.) Dick Slater hit Tommy Bonds before the bell and that allowed Parker to lock in a leg lock and won the match within seconds by submission. Parker seemed to have a difficult time putting the hold on.

7.) Lee Marshall interviews Col. Robert Parker and Dick Slater. Slater tells Marshall that Madusa doesn’t have a chance against Parker especially if he gets the leg lock on. Parker chimes in and says he isn’t out of breath at all and continues to ramble until Madusa runs out and chases Parker backstage. Slater doesn’t follow and slowly walks off to go get him.

8.) A video package promoting the WCW Cruiserweight Championship tournament is shown. A new champion will be crowned in the coming months. The tournament takes place in the USA and Asia. Dean Malenko, Mr. JL, Disco Inferno, Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, Akira Nogami, Jushin Liger, Rey Mysterio Jr., Psychosis, Alex Wright, Devon Storm, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and many more. The first match will be on WCW Main Event this weekend.

9.) Sting hip tosses Eaton out of the corner to start the match. Sting keeps wrist control on Eaton until Eaton beats on Sting in the corner with right hands. Sting backdrops Eaton coming out of the corner. Eaton has a top wrist lock on Sting, but that doesn’t last long as Sting counters and takes Eaton down to the mat. Eaton comes off the ropes to hit a swinging neckbreaker. Eaton misses a top rope leg drop, but clotheslines Sting. Sting counters a backdrop attempt with a snap suplex. Eaton eye rakes Sting as Dave Taylor comes out. Lex Luger shoves Taylor off the top and Taylor collides with Eaton allowing Sting to win the match. (1/2*. Clearly used as a way to continue the Sting/Luger angle. Eaton is super underrated and still a lot of fun to watch.)

10.) Tony Schiavone interviews Sting and Lex Luger. Schiavone asks if Sting can trust Booker T tomorrow night. Sting notes you can’t trust anyone, but Luger redeemed himself tonight. Sting thinks he can trust Booker because Booker has the same mindset in terms of getting his hands on the Road Warriors. Luger continues to mention that he’s tried to appeal the contract that Jimmy Hart has on him, but he’ll be there in spirit. Luger thinks they will be stronger as a unit after the PPV.

11.) Animal and Grunge start the main event with Animal tossing Grunge to the mat. Grunge has a front face lock on Animal, but is tossed down to the mat. Grunge knee lifts Animal a few times and a couple of strikes. Animal dropkicks Grunge coming off the ropes, but Rock hits a top rope moonsault onto Animal. Hawk enters and clotheslines Rock to the floor. Hawk backs Rock into the corner and hammers away on Rock. Rock kicks Hawk after avoiding him in the corner, but Hawk comes back with a big boot. Hawk slams Rock and hits a standing fist drop for a two count. Hawk hits the ring post shoulder first missing a spear in the corner. Grunge sends Hawk shoulder first into the ring post. Rock tags in Grunge and Grunge pulls down on Hawk’s arm from the apron. Hawk is double teamed in the corner and choked by Public Enemy. Hawk decks both men with a clothesline. Animal tags in and powerslams Rock. Animal powerbombs Rock to counter a hurricanrana attempt. Hawk clotheslines Grunge in the corner and tosses Grunge over the top to the floor. Animal press slams Rock over the top through the table on the floor to cause a disqualification! (*. The finish was nuts as I was not expecting a press slam over the top through a table. What is this, ECW? The action was basic, but a fun finish.)

12.) Lee Marshall interviews the Road Warriors regarding UnCensored. Animal says that Lex Luger caused all of this and Jimmy Hart weaseled Luger out of this. Animal doesn’t know what Sting is doing with the piece of trash Luger. There’s a weird crowd edit, so I wonder what Animal said there. Hawk chimes in and says what they say goes, not what Sting and Luger say.

13.) Backstage, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage cut a promo. This is from right after Nitro, apparently. Hogan doesn’t care about the tornado tag match. Hogan is hyping up the two biggest monsters they’ve ever seen on Nitro. Savage tells Hogan that he didn’t have to follow through but he’s there for Hogan. Savage tells Hogan they let it go at UnCensored. They will not sleep until they get to UnCensored.

Final Thoughts:
An average episode this week as they were very focused on promoting UnCensored the following night. There wasn’t anything on the show that made me more interested in the PPV, but it was a fine two hour show with mindless wrestling taking place.

Thanks for reading.