World Championship Wrestling presents Saturday Night
Date: 9/14/1996
From:
Matches:
1.) Ice Train defeated The Gambler
2.) Chris Benoit defeated Bobby Walker
3.) Nasty Boys defeated High Voltage
4.) Rick Steiner defeated Kurasawa
5.) Scott Norton defeated Joe Gomez
6.) Lex Luger defeated Ron Studd
7.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Jim Duggan by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Benoit and Walker counter hammerlocks until Benoit delivers a back elbow. Walker gains control with a wrist lock and gets a two count on a rollup. Walker keeps the advantage with a wrist lock. Benoit breaks free with forearm smashes against the ropes. Walker arm drags Benoit and keeps arm control for a few moments before delivering a leg drop. Benoit sends Walker to the floor to break free from a hammerlock. Benoit sends Walker into the ring post face first followed by a forearm strike. Benoit elbows Walker to the mat and chokes Walker over the middle rope. Benoit sends Walker into the corner and hits a back suplex for a two count. Benoit keeps Walker on the mat with a sleeper. Benoit chops Walker in the corner a few times. Benoit nails Walker with a short arm clothesline. Walker nearly wins with a sunset flip, but is stomped by Benoit. Benoit continues with forearms in the corner. Benoit sends Walker chest first into the corner, but Walker comes back with a rollup for a two count. Walker counters a backdrop with an inside cradle for a two count. They trade strikes in the corner until Walker backdrops Benoit. Walker knee lifts Benoit in the corner, but misses a splash in the corner. Benoit drops Walker over the ropes gut first. Benoit locks in the Crossface and wins the match. After the match. Chris Jericho enters the ring and brawls with Benoit. (*1/2. Walker didn’t do anything too crazy to mess up the match or anything, so that was fine. It was a fine extended squash for Benoit.)
2.) Backstage, Mean Gene is with Randy Savage to talk about his match with The Giant at Fall Brawl. Gene can’t believe that Sting has sold out to the NWO. Savage thinks that Sting is out of his mind and also can’t believe that Sting would sell out so quickly. Savage says he has to destroy The Giant at Fall Brawl for a lot of reasons. Savage is ready for Giant and he’s going to cut him in half.
3.) Nasty Boys go right after High Voltage and they go to split screen. Knobbs works over Rage in the ring while Sags beats on Kaos. Knobbs clotheslines Kaos in the ring and plays to the crowd. Knobbs boots Rage in the corner and Sags enter the ring to stomp on Rage. Kaos is nailed by both men after coming off the ropes. Rage is met with a double shoulder block and a leg drop by Knobbs. Sags returns to the match and elbows Rage in the ribs. Sags slams Rage to the mat and Knobbs hits a middle rope splash to end the squash. (1/2*. A dominating win for the Nasty Boys to give them some momentum heading into the PPV.)
4.) Backstage, Mean Gene interviews the Nasty Boys. Sags puts over High Voltage as a tough team, but they went through them. Sags promises that nasty is coming to Harlem Heat. Knobbs issues a warning to Sherri and Col. Parker saying he’ll knock them out if they get involved. Knobbs says they are going to be tag champions like they were in 93, 94, and 95.
5.) A video package highlighting the Dungeon of Doom, who have apparently gotten a new member. The newest member of the group is Konnan. Konnan says he thought about joining their gang and he accepts the offer. Konnan was Sullivan to promise he’ll get the WCW United States Championship back from Ric Flair. Sullivan promises.
6.) Kurasawa backs Steiner into a corner, but cleanly backs off. Kurasawa hammers away on Steiner several times to gain the advantage. Steiner hip tosses Kurasawa, but doesn’t follow up. Kurasawa yanks on Steiner’s arm a few times. Kurasawa yanks down on Steiner’s arm, but Steiner tackles Kurasawa down to the mat and keeps control with a headlock. Kurasawa fights out of a headlock, but Steiner shoulder blocks Kurasawa to the floor. Steiner pummels Kurasawa, but Kurasawa elbows Steiner and drops Steiner on top of his head. That looked dangerous. Kurasawa kicks Steiner several times and delivers a scoop slam. Kurasawa heads to the top rope, but is caught and tossed overhead by Steiner. Steiner almost wins following an elbow drop. Kurasawa slams Steiner and they trade strikes. Kurasawa chops Steiner, but Steiner kicks Kurasawa and locks in a chin lock. Kurasawa chops Steiner and delivers a scoop slam. Kurasawa heads to the top rope, but Steiner stops Kurasawa hitting an overhead suplex. Steiner plants Kurasawa with a German suplex followed by a clothesline for the win. (*. I wasn’t expecting this one to go nearly this long, but Steiner staying busy as a singles wrestler while Scott is out injured is fine with me. Kurasawa dropping Steiner on his head looked very dangerous.)
7.) Backstage, Mean Gene talks with Rick Steiner. Steiner tells Gene that he is 100% behind WCW. Rick says you have to be a little crazy in the business and sometimes feels like a nut. Rick wants the winner of the tag title match at Halloween Havoc.
8.) Mean Gene interviews Scott Norton after his victory. Norton talks about his submission match with Ice Train at Fall Brawl. Norton says that everyone heard Ice Train submit and he’ll do it again at Fall Brawl. Norton threatens to knockout Teddy Long if he gets in his way, too.
9.) Backstage, Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Lex Luger. Luger says that they should be joined by his best friend, but Sting is nowhere to be found. Luger knows he’ll see him inside the cage at Fall Brawl. Luger promises to scratch through the cage to get his hands on Sting. Luger says that Sting has to live with what he did for the rest of his life. Anderson chimes in and says that there is no grey area for him. Anderson might not come home at all because he knows what War Games is all about. Anderson tells Hogan he better look at his family and remember what they look like. Flair finishes off the promo by saying that Hogan doesn’t have creative control at War Games. Flair puts over his teammates and says they have all bled and sweat. Flair says that it’s hard for a dead guy to sign a check. Flair tells Hogan to be prepared to never see his family, or Hollywood ever again.
10.) The Booty Man had a sit down interview saying that Hulk Hogan was always there for him. He recalls when he became blood brothers with Hogan on the playground. Booty recalls his mother having cancer and being sick. Booty says that his mothers last words were “Eddie, my Eddie, my son” and soon passed away, but Hogan was there for him. Booty recalls Hogan always being there for him. Booty’s wife left him and didn’t have family anymore. Booty notes the parasailing accident, but Hogan was there in the hospital for him. He knows that what Hogan did was just business and there’s a ‘to be continued’ at the end of the segment.
11.) Outside, the NWO is walking and they find out where Luger’s car is at. Hall, Nash and Giant break into Luger’s car. They also break the windows. This was aired during Luger’s match.
12.) Chavo Guerrero Jr. cut an insert promo before DDP’s match and says that DDP is going to see how much pride he has when he kicks DDP’s butt all over the place at Fall Brawl.
13.) DDP bails to the floor to stall for a bit as Duggan plays to the crowd. DDP spits at Duggan and leaves to the floor, again. Duggan shoulder blocks DDP to the floor and plays to the crowd some more. Duggan gets wrist control, but DDP reaches the ropes quickly. Duggan shoulder blocks DDP to the mat and continues to play to the audience. DDP yanks Duggan down by his hair and cowards into the corner. DDP punches Duggan several times and locks in a headlock. Duggan complains of a hair pull, and DDP almost wins with a rollup. DDP yanks Duggan down to the mat and is met with a closed fist. The referee calls for the bell. After the match, Duggan threatens Nick Patrick with his 2×4. (DUD. Well, that sucked.)
14.) Mean Gene interviews Diamond Dallas Page to close out the show. DDP credits Nick Patrick for being an honest referee. DDP appears to have his tooth knocked out due to Duggan. Patrick says that people have been questioning him as of late and he continues to promise to call everything correctly and fairly. DDP promises Chavo Guerrero Jr. will get it all at Fall Brawl.
Final Thoughts:
Action wise there wasn’t much going on here, at all. They promoted the War Games match well and it’s obviously a red-hot angle. I can’t believe they are doing the same promo with Booty Man that he did back in 1993 for Hogan. Regardless, Fall Brawl is shaping up to be a strong card and a show worth checking out.
Thanks for reading.