WCW Saturday Night 8-23-97

A boring Sunday afternoon, so let's see what a totally random episode of WCW Saturday Night has to offer. And so, with a can of peach soda and a tear in my eyes, let's begin our journey:

Match 1: Alex Wright vs Mark Starr: Alex is fresh off a TV Title win over Ultimo Dragon! After years of being babyface, Alex finally uses his goofy German club dance to get heat, which is the best use of it. Mark Starr is best known as the lesser half of Men at Work, but was an amazingly tenured member of the roster, as far back as 1993. Starr controls with dropkicks and arm dragging. Oh, a double main event tonight: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko and Wrath and Mortis vs The FACES OF FEAR. Alex back in control with a suplex, but the play by play as always, is poor. Alex nails a stomp off the top...and dances. European uppercut by Wright as Dusty and Tony discuss the upcoming Fall Brawl. Alex misses a charge, and Starr fires away, but then falls prey to Alex begging off and a poke to the eyes. Wright off the top, missle drop kick and thats it. Nothing to see here.

0 for 1

-Alex gives a promo and calls Ultimo Dragon the "Ultimate Loser". They are fighting at Fall Brawl, a card which was made up of 80% Clash of the Champion rematches.

-Scheme Gene interview Evil Heel Eddie! Eddie laughs at the idea of everyone thinking he was a clean cut babyface. What sleeze. Eddie says tonight he'll see what Dean is all about, as if they've never wrestled before.

Match 2: Rick Fuller vs Hugh Morrus: Seeing Rick Fuller made me so happy, Hugh, not so much. Fuller starts off like a house of fire with chops and such. Hugh runs out of the corner with a clothesline. Punching by the laughting man, but he runs into a huge Rick Fuller spin kick. Hugh returns the favor with a spin wheel kick of his own, and then a leg drop below the beltline. A headbutt to the lower ab region, then a powerslam. I miss the Fuller offense. Rick comes back with a Triple H style knee jawbreaker, but is hit with a clothesline off a corner charager. No Laughing Matter Moonsault, and its over! Oh hm, not bad really, better than the usual Hugh Morrus squash.

1 for 2

-Fast forward through a Harlem Heat interivew. This is during the Miss Jacqueline manager phase, where they had a never ending fued with the Steiners while beating up NWO jobber teams.

Match 3: High Voltage vs Public Enemy: There's actually some set up to this, as we get a clip of the PE being descimated by HV on Nitro. This is also a long running fued based mostly on both teams having nothing to do and the tag belts slowly rotting away due to Bischoff's hatered of 2 vs 2 contests. Brawling on the outside to start, which settles into Rocco vs Kaos on the inside. That's probably the best combo of workers you could get in this match. Rage in now, and a tag to The Grunge. Rage with a huge suplex and Johnny does the D-Von sesizer sell. High Votlage ake control with a poetry in motion style splash, offically typing the PE in the number of double team moves they know. Many tags between High Voltage, and if I wasn't muting the sound, I'm sure Tony is mentioning it on commentry. Grunge comes back with a ok swinging neckbreak and makes the tag to Rocco, who goes crazy. Kaos vs Rock on the inside, they flub a kick and Rock gets a cradle off a suplex attempt. Johnny wanders off to get a table as Rock attempts to slam Kaos, but gets tripped up by Rage and his foot is held for the win. After the win, High Voltage double teams until Johnny finally gets the table inand they use it to gain a measure of revenge. Nothing tag match, but at least it was part of a fued

1 for 3

-Gene interviews Brad Armstrong. Brad tries to be a nice guy, but then makes a sudden heel turn, calls himself a VIP! and promises to start kicking ass all over WCW. Perhaps he could dawn the Badstreet costume. Gene shouldn't have called him a "young man"

Match 4: Brad Armstrong vs Prince Ieakuea: Let's see how long Brad's heel push lasts. Brad shoves and slaps the Prince, but Ieakuea fires back and Brad begs off. Prince is slowly sliding down the card after his poor TV title reign. Brad controls back in the ring with new found heel offense, chokes, turnbuckle slam, punches. Armstrong nails a nice back suplex and I'm amazed Tony and Dusty are discussing Brad's change of attitude. Sitting abdominal stretch locked on, eventually into a two count. Brad sets early for a body drop and gets cradled for two. Ieakuea with a backslide for another two, and Brad is pissed...and turns into a thrust kick, but kicks out. Prince goes up top, but comically misses a cross body. Russian legsweep, awesome float over, and its over! The reign of terror begins in WCW. Brad had a great cocky smirk on his face almost the whole time, He could have been easily put into the TV mix during this time or even early 1998. Oh well.

2 for 4

-Gene has another amazing 900 number plug, teasing WHAT STING WANTS?! Oakerland brings in Miss Jacqueline and has her stand there as he explains that she wants to take Harlem Heat ot the top, and some other naughty secrets which you can hear on the hotline. Jackie stands there looking amused.

Match 5: Super Calo, Juventud Guerrero, Ciclope vs Damien, La Parka, Psichosis: Sonny Ono is representing Parka and Psichosis. I'm considering not doing play by play. Juvi and Psichosis starts out, and that's the cue to discuss the Clash, Fall Brawl, and all things New World Order. Juvi messes up a victory roll, then tags in Ciclope, who gets taken down hard by Damien. Flip flop fly and Dusty screams out the call to "SPRING BOARD DROPKICK!" then "SPRING BOARD FLIP". Dusty deconstructs why they do so many spring boards as the heels take over. Tony joins in the discussion, and it kinda makes sense. La Parka accidently nails Psichosis. Super Calo headscissors Parka to the floor than dives out. Juvi powerbombs Damien and all heck is breaking loose. Top rope hurricanrana by Juvi, but Psichosis breaks up the pin. 450 by Juvi and another pin on Damien is broken up. Sonny Ono nails Ciclope in the back of the head, and Psichosis nails the top rope leg drop for the win. A bit of a mess, and not in an overly planned out way. But, I'm not asking for too much on WCWSN

3 for 5

-A replay of Mongo beating Jarrett for the US title at the Clash. I still don't under why the crowd poped so hard for it. I think it was a combo of their hatred for Debra and especially Jarrett. Still it's quite a sight to behold. Steve McMichael = Gulity Pleasure!

-Match 6: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko: Dusty reminds us the Mongo, being US champ, is one step away from Hogan! Now that would be a match. Dean looks more serious than usual. Malenko chases Eddie around, as this was during the more person part of their fued (Eddie cost him the Crusierweight title at Superbrawl that year). Full nelson switches and Eddie is dropped over to the top rope off a victory roll attempt. Malenko gutbuster and Dean stomps away. Eddie comes back with a thumb to the eye and a uppercut. Eddie counters a drop down monkey flip atempt by stepping on Dean's face, which was awesome. Dusty and Tony discuss the bad new attitudes of Eddie, Brad Armstrong and Alex Wright. That wouldn't have been a bad stable, and Eddie and Alex were halfway part of Debra's anti-Mongo kill squad in late 1997. Rest hold of the match is a rope assisted headscissors. Camera in close for Eddie's discussion about rope usage with Mark Curtis. Fall away slam by Eddie, which I forgot he did, and there's another face stomp. Tony spits out an odd reference to Dr. X, saying he did a similar face scraping twisting stomp. Dean finally comes back by pressing Eddie into the lights and a clothesline in the corner. They trade roll ups quickly, and Eddie goes back to the thumb in the eye. Guerrero leapfrog countered with a powerbomb. Series of reversals until Eddie nails a brainbuster then tries the cloverleaf on Dean, which, of course, is countered into a roll up for the pin. Jarrett sprints to the ring and heels begin to work over Malenko. Jarrett puts on the figure four and Eddie nails the frog splash. Good match

4 for 6

-Nitro recap

Match 7: Wrath and Mortis vs The Faces of Fear: I really enjoy this fued, and it demonstrated that if WCW cared, they could have had a better tag division during their boom period. They could have at least instated the US Tag belts again so teams that Hall and Nash were never going to put over (anyone not named the Steiners) would have something to go for. Brawl right off the bat, with Meng and Wrath going outside and Barbarian and Mortis ont he inside. Mortis with a spin kick off the second rope for a two count. Barbarian powers Mortis up and slams him into the corner, then Meng comes in with a choke. Stomping away now and some huge chops. Meng with a nice back suplex and pounds away some more. Barbarian comes back in and they trade kicks in the corner. Mortis does well becuase he was a big time pit fighter. Meng comes and Mortis kicks him off enough to tag Wrath. This is my favorite Brian Clarke gimmick. Meng catches Wratch coming off the second rope into a power slam. Double middle rope headbutt by the FOF. Mortis breaks up the pin. Wrath pulls out an inside cradle, and Tony is amazed! KICK OF FEAR!!!!! Barbarian goes for a cover and you can see Nick Patrick looking to make sure Mortis is coming in. All heck breaks loose and Wrath boots Barbarian and pins him with his own move. Mortis and Wrath try for some post match double teaming, but they get clotheslined outside. This fued needs to continue. Short but fun lil match.

5 for 7

-Ultimo Dragon profile by Mike Tenay. At least they're keeping him strong after losing the TV Title. They make a point of us how they stupidly called him Ultimate for nearly two years.

Match 8: Hector Guerrero vs Chris Benoit: Hector was brought into to put over Eddie as a jumping off point for the heel turn. Hector also donned the LAZERTRON outfit for a few WCW Pro Exclusive matches. They exchange chops right away I'm sure you know who wins. Hector with a series of headscissors, but a third one gets him pushes to the mat. Armdrag off a powerbomb attempt sends Chris out, but Hector is soon sent into the railing. Yes, its a little odd watching a Benoit match, I think all the media coverage has kinda desensitized me. But I dont think i want to go into that here, it's been discussed enough. Benoit wins.

-Gene is there with Jacqueline again, and this time she's allowed to SPEAK! She says she can lead the Harlem Heat to victory and that they can't talk about her past on the air! Call the outline to hear about her beating up Brandon Baxter in USWA!

Match 9: Renegade vs Lenny Lane: Renegade has Marc Mero's "Boxing" gimmick music. Ah, this is heel turn Renegade, another in a series of bad attitude heel turns. Renegade stomps away and drops Lenny over the top throat. Lenny with a headscissors, but misses a corner splash. Lane kicks out of a big splash. Renegade with cross body to the floor. Pump handle backbreaker. What a moveset! Back to basics with a choke and a powerslam. Huge suplex for a two count. Lenny makes a comback with a bulldog, and Tony says we might see an upset. He misses a "Top Rope Flying Body Attack" and Renegade hits his crappy handspring elbow and a side slam for the win. Huh, i kinda liked it, basic WCWSN match

6 for 9

-Clash highlights, including Stings vulture attack!

Match 10: Harlem Heat vs Konnan/Syxx: This a bigger NWO team than i was expecting. The Heat, of course, has been pushed all show by the near mute cameos of Miss Jacqueline. Booker starts with Syxx. Beautiful spin wheel kick by Syxx, followed up by a Michinoku Driver. Dusty says this will be a measuring stick for Jackie's managment. I knew that was the story of this match! The NWO, btw, have Vincent with them at ringside, what role will he play? Stevie Ray tags in and misses a charge, giving Syxx a chance to do his kicks and the (according to Tony) "Bronco Rider". Konnan in and he goes to town, screams some catch pharses, and nearly gets dropped on a Ray powerslam. Booker comes back in and they nails a near missing double....punch. Boooker with an Ax kick for two. Booker off the ropes, gets nailed by Syxx, and walks into the rolling clothesline from K-Dawg. NWO pounds away in the corner, and Booker eventually does a flying schoolboy roll up as Konnan bends over for a backdrop. Stevie Ray back in and nails everyone with forearms and sloppy Ahemed Johnson kicks. Syxx gets caught coming off the top and is slammed. Booker up top for the Harlem Hangover, but Vincent pushes him off for the DQ! Steveie Ray cleans out and Jacqueline, after a whole show of posing and posturing backstage...does nothing, not even a clothesline to Vincent. What a disappointment. Booker-Syxx was enjoyable for what amount of time they were in there together, other wise, nothing here.

6 for 10: Oh yeah, 60% fun on this show, but that's only if you enjoy Renegade squashes. Overall, its a nice snapshot of WCW's undercard at the time.