Retro WCW Review Thread

[Attitudester]

WCW Saturday Night 10/14/1995
Atlanta, GA
Center Stage​

We’re two weeks away from Halloween Havoc 1995. WCW Saturday Night is here and boy I can’t wait (sarcasm). I’d just like to preface this week’s review by saying there was absolutely NO REASON WCW Saturday Night should’ve been a two hour program. This show is fine, but the format never changes. Job match, Nitro recap, job match, Control Center, job match, Nitro recap, job match, PPV hype. Do we really need that for two hours?

Before we get started, here are some WCW-related notes from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
- Speaking of the Harlem Heat, there is now serious talk of doing a wedding on TV with Parker and Sherri.
- Jim Duggan beat Big Bubba after taping up his fist, but during the match VK Wallstreet stole Duggan’s 2×4 to start a feud. Dave wonders why Duggan can’t just go to the lumberyard and buy a new one?
- Jerry Lynn debuted as the mysterious Mr. JL.
- Talk of having Starrcade live from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, although that’s far from definite. (UM, YES PLEASE???? THIS WOULD’VE BEEN AWESOME!)
- Warlord & Barbarian were announced on the WCW hotline as coming in soon as a team.
- The hotline also did a report on the mysterious Tatanka situation, which earned them a “nasty legal letter” from the WWF.
- To WCW, as Nitro on 10/9 was another “rush job”, featuring Sting pinning Shark (who was billed “from Tsunami”). Dave also rags on Jerry Lynn’s mysterious new identity as Mr. JL, although the match was great. Dave also doesn’t get why Sting would play peacemaker between Luger and Savage and then basically convince them to have a match against each other at Halloween Havoc to settle things. Speaking of settling things, Hulk Hogan did a crazed promo challenging Gorgeous George to a match in Heaven, as Dave figures that someone told Hulk that George was a bigger draw in his day and now Hulk has to figure out a way to legdrop him in the afterlife. (This sounds uncomfortably close to my review of the same Nitro. Let the records show I started my Observer subscription AFTER I reviewed the 10/09 Nitro.)
- Despite rumors to the contrary, Vader has still not been released from his contract or fired. Basically WCW is done with him but is deliberately screwing with his ability to negotiate with the WWF. So for the moment he’s working as a volunteer coach for the Colorado Buffalos football team.

This week’s stream of WCW Saturday Night on the TV Archive started off with Road Warrior Hawk and Chris Kanyon already in the ring.

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MATCH 1: ROAD WARRIOR HAWK VS CHRIS KANYON

Dusty Rhodes is teasing a possible Road Warrior Hawk/Disco Inferno rivalry after Disco cost Hawk his match with Big Bubba this past Monday on Nitro. I’m all in on a Road Warrior Hawk/Disco Inferno rivalry.

The match is pretty swift, as Hawk is on the offensive and Kanyon is bumping his ass off for him. Hawk even hits one of the ugliest dropkicks in wrestling history, and Kanyon bumps so well for it that it looked amazing. But to be fair, sometimes I think the moves in wrestling look more pretty than dangerous, so I like it when a move looks ugly from time to time. Hawk lays out Kanyon and nails a jumping fist in the middle for the pin.

WINNER: ROAD WARRIOR HAWK



After the match, we get our first Nitro recap of the week, where we take a look back at the Steel Cage match between Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.



As we get set for our first commercial break, Alex Wright is hyping up his match tonight on Saturday Night with Disco Inferno! Count me in.



One of my favorite things about watching Saturday Night on the TV Archive website is the inclusion of commercials. We get a classic Skittles commercial, which I actually remember from the 1998 Nitro and Thunder tapings my Dad made. The old wizard looking man standing on an island that reminds me of Luke Skywalker’s home in The Last Jedi (horrible movie). And also, the Houston Rockets were scheduled to play against Australia this week on TNT?



We come back to Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes. Dusty is wearing a tank top underneath a huge padded sports coat. The question of the week is can Sting trust Ric Flair? Dusty says no. We get a recap from WCW Pro earlier in the day when Flair asked Sting to be his partner against Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman once again, and once again Sting said no.

This time, Flair came prepared. Flair ordered out several children with Sting face paint to the ring. Sting says he can’t believe Flair would actually use children against him, to make him feel guilty enough to accept Flair’s offer. So naturally, Sting accepts Flair’s offer. I love how Sting is literally just reactionary in 1995. He doesn’t think anything through. Also, I love Sting’s red gear here.



MATCH 2: HARLEM HEAT W/ SISTER SHERI VS SOUTHERN POSSE

The Harlem Heat make their entrance to the ring, and they look like a couple badasses. They’re set to take on the Southern Posse. This match goes on a bit before Dusty finally asks Schiavone what the Posse’s names are. I believe Schiavone was just talking on the fly here, as he said their names were “Travis and Tritt.” I can’t confirm this, but it doesn’t sound like those were supposed to be their names at all. It sounds to me like Schiavone just named them on the fly after a country singer, Travis Tritt.

During the match, we get a close-up of Sister Sheri, who Dusty says is “OOGALY!”

Stevie Ray is wrestling like a big man here, and I like it. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a good Harlem Heat match, and I forgot how much I enjoy them. Stevie Ray wrestled like a strong big man while Booker T took the beatings and had some good high flying moves. Booker is getting the heat in the match to set up a hot tag to Stevie Ray, and Booker takes a nasty botched double team move by the Posse, which looked like it was about to break Booker’s neck. Luckily, he landed well. Dusty says, “WHAT IS THAT!”

A big double clothesline from Booker flying across the ring gets the first real reaction of the night from the Center Stage crowd. You wouldn’t know it though, because you can hear the crowd going bananas throughout the whole telecast. But here, you can actually see them making the noise. Weird how that works.

Harlem Heat executes the Heat Bomb for the win.

WINNERS: HARLEM HEAT



Disco Inferno says not to take that booty off the couch, because he’s taking on Alex Wright tonight!



We go now to the Havoc Control Center, where “Mean” Gene Okerlund gives us a quick rundown of Halloween Havoc. It’ll be MACHINE VS MACHINE AND MAN AGAINST MAN! Also, Diamond Dallas Page defends the World Television Title against Johnny B. Badd. Johnny B. Badd says DDP cost him his US Heavyweight Title match against Sting a few weeks ago, so at Halloween Havoc, Johnny B. will take DDP’s belt.



We get a commercial for Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball on the Super Nintendo. Personally, I prefer Ken Griffey Jr. Major League Baseball.



MATCH 3: THE TASKMASTER VS TODD WILDER

I had to actually dig into the internet to figure out who Todd Wilder was. Commentary never mentioned his name and other people who have reviewed this show had the same notes I did – the back of his tights said “THE BOSS,” and that’s all we knew.

Taskmaster is wrestling like a madman in this match, and does a pretty good job convincing us that he’s off his rocker. I enjoyed this one for what it was. Taskmaster hits a standing double stomp to the gut for the win.

WINNER: THE TASKMASTER



Now we get a look at a man who is laughing uncontrollably. It’s Hugh Morris, but I don’t know that we actually have that name for him yet. I could be wrong, but I believe his going by the name “The Man of Question” here. He says he’s laughing so hard because all he has to do is eliminate Randy Savage. Alrighty then.



MATCH 4: THE RENEGADE W/ JIMMY HART VS CHRIS NELSON

The Ultima- Sorry, The Renegade makes his way to the ring with Jimmy Hart for his match. Only in wrestling can a guy who can actually somewhat work steal a gimmick from a guy who can’t work and not be as well liked or remembered as the guy who can’t work.

The Renegade was literally just a copy of the Ultimate Warrior, with better moves and execution. Even his finish was Warrior’s same big splash, only the Renegade did his from the top rope.

Back body drop, powerslam, big splash. That’s the match.

WINNER: THE RENEGADE



We get our second Nitro recap of the night. This time, it’s taking a look at Hulk Hogan in all black, where he says he’s going to drop the big leg on Gorgeous George in Heaven.



While teasing the WCW Hotline, “Mean” Gene says Halloween Havoc will be the final appearance for one WCW Superstar.



MATCH 5: ARN ANDERSON & BRIAN PILLMAN VS EDDIE JACKIE & TODD MORTON

As Arn and Pillman made their way to the ring, I saw the short, blonde-haired guy in the ring and wondered to myself, “Who is this Ricky Morton-looking child in the ring?” I’m not sure if Todd Morton is any relation to Ricky Morton, but when I heard his name was TODD MORTON, I got a little chuckle.

Brian Pillman is full-fledged heel now, because he now wets his hair. It’s amazing how such an insignificant change in appearance makes so much difference in wrestling. I remember reading Chris Jericho’s first book, when he talked about wrestling in ECW. He had the classic babyface bleach-blonde hair at the time, and to try to make the ECW fans take him more seriously, he began wetting his hair to make himself look more badass. It works!

Todd Morton is fired up in this match. He’s got a firey babyface comeback after he gets the hot tag, but it doesn’t last long because Arn Anderson snatches that ass up with a Spinebuster. Pillman finishes off Todd Morton with a Texas Cloverleaf.

After the match, Dusty and Schiavone are hyping up the tag team match with Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman taking on Sting and Ric Flair. But I’m still not sure if it’s supposed to happen Monday on Nitro or at Halloween Havoc. I’m THINKING it’s on Nitro.

WINNERS: ARN ANDERSON & BRIAN PILLMAN

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After the match, “Mean” Gene is standing by with Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. Pillman says their match with Flair and Sting is nothing but a warm-up match. Arn goes on about how Flair and Sting may be the best tag team of all time, on paper (ON PAPER). But Arn says Flair has had two chances now to shut him up and he couldn’t get the job done.

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MATCH 6: MENG W/ THE TASKMASTER VS CHRIS SAWYER

We get a recap of the match that took place between Meng and Lex Luger, and we will get a rematch at Halloween Havoc. So if I’ve got this straight (I probably don’t, this is confusing), if Lex Luger beats Meng and Randy Savage beats whoever he wrestles (Kamala, Shark, Zodiac, who cares), then Luger and Savage will face each other afterwards?

Meng dominates the match here. Watching this match, I realized something. Solo Sikoa literally just wrestles like Meng. Maybe one of the reasons he’s never really caught on is because he just wrestles the same style as a guy who was more physically intimidating than he did thirty years ago. Just a guess.

Meng wins with a Tongan Death Grip.

WINNER: MENG

After the match, “Mean” Gene interviews Meng and The Taskmaster. Taskmaster rambles on about how funny it would be if Luger and Savage just win their matches by disqualification and have to go on to face each other, as if he plans to intentionally get his Dungeon of Doom disqualified in their matches at Halloween Havoc. But… don’t Savage and Luger WANT to wrestle each other?

Meng says something in Tongan, and Taskmaster “translates” the same thing about disqualifications.



MATCH 7: DISCO INFERNO VS ALEX WRIGHT

DISCO FEVER! DISCO FEVER! DISCO FEVER YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!

I believe this is Disco’s in-ring debut for WCW, unless he’s had matches on Pro, Main Event, or whatever other WCW programming there is at the time. We’ve had several appearances of Disco so far, but he’s wrestling in plain white tights here against DAS WUNDERKID.

Disco tries to ambush Alex Wright with a clothesline and completely misses. Dusty and Schiavone can’t help but laugh, and I think this three second spot in Disco’s debut pretty much sums up his career.

Alex Wright shows off his mat wrestling skills in this match. Wright’s wrestling is very good, and Disco keeps trying to answer it with dirty fighting. Disco just can’t fight his urge to dance throughout the match and eventually gets caught with a German suplex for the win. This was really fun.

WINNER: ALEX WRIGHT

After the match, Disco is with “Mean” Gene. Disco doesn’t know what Gene is talking about, Disco is undefeated! He hasn’t even messed up his hair! Gene says, “Oh by the way, that linguini and white clam sauce you recommended? It was terrible!”



MATCH 8: SCOTT NORTON VS JUMPIN’ JOEY MAGGS

Scott Norton destroys Joey Maggs here. Norton is an absolute machine in 1995. This is shortly after his return after the whole North Korea fiasco, as well. Those Koreans should’ve brought the whole army to Norton’s hotel room if they really wanted the smoke.

WINNER: SCOTT NORTON



We get another recap from Nitro. This time, it’s of the Randy Savage/Lex Luger/Sting interaction, when Sting was being a dick to his friends for no reason.

This Monday on Nitro, Chris Benoit will make his debut against Eddie Guerrero! I remember this match, and it’s a good one.

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MATCH 9: MR. WONDERFUL VS MIKE DAVIS

“Mr. Wonderful,” who apparently is no longer Paul Orndorff, makes his entrance and it’s the highlight of the whole segment. He’s singing along with his own entrance music, he’s holding a little mirror behind his own ass so he can check it out, and he’s just insufferable in a good way. It’s really fun to watch. I guess his new gimmick is that he’s legitimately attracted to himself.

Wonderful wins with his Piledriver, which used to be known as the Pearl Harbor, but now Dusty Rhodes keeps calling it the “JUMPIN’ JACK PILEDRIVER!”

After the match, Gene Okerlund interviews Mr. Wonderful, asking him if he’ll be watching the TV Title match at Halloween Havoc. Wonderful says he will, and kisses himself in the mirror as he starts singing his entrance music again.

WINNER: MR. WONDERFUL



MATCH 10: STING & LEX LUGER VS THE BARRIO BROTHERS

Sting is over with the fans in 1995. In less than a year, Sting would go away and his character transformation would begin. This was such a huge gamble, because I haven’t seen the first sign of fans turning against Sting or getting tired of him. The fact that Sting could leave while being so over with the fans, stay gone for as long as he did, and come back so drastically different and be even more over with the fans is a testament to how good Sting really was. It’s mind blowing to me that Sting isn’t mentioned more often in the “GOAT” conversation.

On the other hand, Lex Luger looks like he’s genuinely having a good time teaming with Sting here. A lot of times, Luger just looks uninterested to me when he’s performing. Anytime he was with Sting, I didn’t get that impression.

The match is basically just a showcase for Sting and Luger. It reminds me of the Brothers of Destruction/Kaientai match, in a way. Sting and Luger are just taking turns hitting their big moves on the Barrio Brothers. It feels like they’re just at a practice session, working on their punches before the big fight.

We get a close-up of one of the Barrio Brothers and Dusty sounds like someone just jump-scared him.

Luger wins the match with the Torture Rack.

WINNERS: STING & LEX LUGER



After the match, we get a Hulk Hogan promo. And it’s… a heel promo. He’s not just talking like a heel or saying “heel things,” he’s actually blatantly saying he’s a bad guy now. He says everything Kevin Sullivan has said about the “evil Hulkamania” was true. But then he says shaving his mustache off in the ring was like slapping all his little Hulksters. And hilariously, that’s where my video feed cut off. That was enough for me, anyway.



So that’s that for the 30th anniversary of WCW Saturday Night on October 14, 1995!