WCW Saturday Night 7/27/1996

World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 7/27/1996
From: Orlando, FL

Matches:
1.) Dean Malenko defeated Dave Taylor
2.) WCW United States Champion Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael defeated American Males, Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Jim Powers
3.) Sting & Randy Savage defeated Nasty Boys
4.) The Steiner Brothers defeated Dick Slater & Mike Enos
5.) WCW World Champion The Giant defeated Booty Man

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Malenko backs Taylor into a corner with a headlock, but Taylor trips Malenko to the mat. Malenko flips Taylor over, leading to a standoff. Malenko catapults Taylor and dropkicks Taylor to the floor. Taylor returns to the ring and almost pins Malenko with a rollup. Taylor shoulder bocks Malenko followed by a few uppercuts. Malenko goes for a backslide and manages a two count. Taylor controls Malenko with a headlock on the mat. Malenko backs Taylor into a corner, delivering a few elbow strikes and stomps. Taylor uppercuts Malenko to the mat. Malenko gets an arm bar on Taylor, but fails to get a submission. Malenko hits a springboard dropkick, but Taylor delivers a knee lift and a fallaway slam for a two count. Taylor uppercuts Malenko in the corner, but misses a crossbody. Malenko locks in the Texas Cloverleaf for the clean submission victory. (*1/2. It wasn’t as slow as I was expecting it to be and it mostly held my interest. Malenko getting a clean win over a bigger guy is always a plus, too.)

2.) Mean Gene interviews Dean Malenko regarding his issues with Chris Benoit. Malenko says he’s not part of the Dungeon of Doom and doesn’t need them. Malenko does admit to making a deal with Jimmy Hart. Hart helps him get the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and he’ll handle Chris Benoit. Gene warns Malenko that Hart takes more than he gives to end the segment.

3.) Mean Gene interviews Chris Benoit and Woman following the Four Horsemen squash victory. Benoit tells Woman that he doesn’t want lame excuses and wants a legit reason. Woman tells Benoit to question Debra. Benoit isn’t questioning her loyalty, but her actions. Woman doesn’t want Debra interjecting into their business. Woman says there are no personal issues with Debra getting in the way of their success. They agree that she’ll focus on stuff outside the ring and he’l take care of action in the ring to end the segment.

4.) Sags and Savage kickoff the tag match with Sags pummeling Savage with a flurry of strikes in the corner to drop Savage to the mat. Savage sends Sags into a corner and delivers an elbow strike. Sags powerslams Savage to the mat and Knobbs tags in only to miss an elbow drop. Sting tags in and decks Knobbs with a few right hands. Sting nails Knobbs with a dropkick for a two count. Sting scoop slams Knobbs and comes off the ropes missing a splash as Knobbs got his knees up. Sags tags into the match and double teams Sting with strikes. Sags drives Sting down with a backbreaker and tags Knobbs back into the match. Knobbs sends Sting to the floor while Savage tried to get his hands on Sags. Knobbs hits Sting with a briefcase while the referee was distracted. Savage did deck Knobbs once, but made little impact. Nasties double elbow Sting in the ring, but Sting hits a bulldog to drop Knobbs. Savage gets the tag and cleans house. Sting has the briefcase and whacks Knobbs over the head. Savage goes to the top rope and hits an elbow drop to win the match. However, Debra and Mongo stole the briefcase back during the finish. (*1/2. Not a bad quick match between these two. The Nasties are feeling rather stale since their feud with Public Enemy has really been the only thing they’ve done in ’96 for the most part.)

5.) Mean Gene interviews Randy Savage and Sting following their victory. Savage says that Gene needs to worry about what he’s going to do and not say. Savage may hit Hogan with a tire iron and Hogan won’t even make the PPV. Sting promotes his match at Hog Wild teaming with Luger against the Outsiders. Sting talks about Luger being jumped while Sting was in Japan. Sting says the Outsiders are women and they are not real men.

6.) Scott and Enos kickoff the tag match with Scott getting arm control with a wrist lock. Enos back elbows Scott to break free and delivers a short arm clothesline. Enos rams Scott into the corner face first, but runs into a boot. Scott hits a belly to belly suplex and tags in Rick. Enos powerslams Rick coming off the ropes. Rick powerslams Enos on a leapfrog and Enos goes to the corner to regroup. Sherri Martel is watching on the aisle. Rick backdrops Slater coming out of the corner followed by a right hand for a one count. Slater elbows Rick to block another backdrop attempt. Slater connects with a side Russian leg sweep and a boot scrape. Slater jabs Rick a few times and decks Rick to the mat. Slater gets an inside cradle for a two count. Slater tries for a suplex, but Rick counters with a vertical suplex. Rick powerslams Slater coming off the ropes, but Enos makes the save. Scott gets involved, but that distracts the referee allowing a double back suplex on Rick for a near fall. Scott beats on Enos in the corner. Rick and Slater collide sending Slater to the floor. Sherri comes down and kisses Slater at ringside. Sherri rolls into the ring and Rick gets a rollup for the win. After the match, Sherri and Parker seem to be cozy. (*1/4. That was a weird finish. Sherri basically just cucked Parker to cost his own team a win and he was totally fine with it. I can’t imagine that the end game for this is a Heat tag match against Enos and Slater on a major platform. Steiner’s should have just won this cleanly.)

7.) Mean Gene interviews the Steiner Brothers following their victory. Rick says they are going hunting at Sturgis and they aren’t bringing guns. Scott says that Harlem Heat will find out who the better team is at the PPV. Harlem Heat enter the segment to confront them and they say the Steiner’s are mistaken to think they are winning the titles. Slater and Enos enter the scene and are pissed at Parker for screwing them again. Rick mocks Slater for getting kissed by a woman. The segment ends with nothing accomplished.

8.) There’s a short film produced by Hall and Nash shown. Sting and Luger are in the parking lot when someone calls back Luger. They attack Sting by slamming a car trunk on him and tossing Sting onto a car a few times. Hall and Nash run off before anyone returns.

9.) Booty avoids Giant early on, showcasing his unique speed advantage before being sent into a corner. Giant misses a splash and Booty delivers a few kicks and right hands. Booty knee strikes Giant in the corner, but Giant doesn’t budge. Giant beats on Booty with strikes over the back. Giant chokes Booty in the corner followed by a chop. Giant misses a clothesline and catches Booty on a crossbody. Giant slams Booty over the top turnbuckle a couple of times before dropping Booty to the mat. Giant easily delivers the chokeslam, but he’s not done. Giant delivers another chokeslam and wins the match. (NR. Literally a showcase for Giant and considering he squashed Booty Man, I’m totally fine with it.)

10.) Mean Gene interviews WCW World Champion the Giant and Jimmy Hart to close the show. Giant promotes his match Hogan in two weeks. Giant notes that Hogan always said that he was a man who could wrestle on his own. Giant insults Hall and Nash. Giant was wrestling the best while Hogan was making movies. Giant says that Hogan will be on the wrong end of the chokeslam. Jimmy Hart says he knows Hogan’s weaknesses and Giant will be ready at Hog Wild.

Final Thoughts:
I’d say this was a mostly boring episode of Saturday Night. I did enjoy the short film segment by the Outsiders, which I feel had to have been on Nitro or something prior to this. They are just doing basic promotion for Hog Wild as nothing is really standing out on the secondary show at the moment.

Thanks for reading.