WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Big Van Vader (Since 12/30/1992)
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Barry Windham (Since 2/21/1993)
WCW United States Champion: Dustin Rhodes (Since 1/16/1993)
WCW Television Champion: Vacant (Since 10/24/1992)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas (Since 11/18/1992)
WCW Saturday Night
February 27th, 1993
Center Stage, Atlanta, GAOutside, a long, long limosuine pulls up as the cameras walk up -- but nobody gets out.
After the opening credits, Schiavone & Zbyszko speculate who could be in the limo, but they obviously believe like everyone that it is Ric Flair, who returned at SuperBrawl last night, attempting to congratulate Barry Windham on his NWA World Title win but Windham turned his back and walked out. They also run down the card tonight with the big matches of Barry Windham defending the NWA Title in the main event against Brad Armstrong, and Dustin Rhodes defending the United States Championship against the Z-Man Tom Zenk.
Match #1: Steven Regal vs. Joey MaggsGreat Regal showcase. Extremely friendly and respectful, but his strikes would show different, as he's out and out brutal with his punches and kicks. He wears Maggs down enough, working on the back with a nice, lengthy body scissors before suplexing him all around. Maggs tried "jumping" around like his faggy gimmick says, but Regal rushed him into the corner and got a high knee into the small of his back. Regal hit the Regalplex to win.
Winner: Steven Regal (3:01)Schiavone & Zbyszko are standing by with a display case, showing the WCW World Television Championship. They announce that after being vacant since shortly before Halloween Havoc, a tournament will beginning in March to determine a new champion. At this point, Steven Regal walks up, greeting both men and claims that, as long as the powers that be are okay with it, he'll be entering the tournament and winning the belt.
Before the break, the crowd's a frenzy as RIC FLAIR MAKES HIS WAY THROUGH THE CROWD! WOOOOO!
-- Commercial Break --
After the break, we see still shots of Vader/Sting in the White Castle of Fear Strap Match at SuperBrawl, both men came out injured, but more so Sting, who will be out for a month with a serious concussion and other minor injuries.
Backstage, Eric Bischoff interviews Beautiful Bobby Eaton. He asks if the Heavenly Bodies and Jim Cornette will be seen again in WCW, and Eaton says he's been asked not to comment on that. But as he stood at ringside as more of a manager than a wrestler, he realized the turn his career's made since the end of the Dangerous Alliance, and he doesn't like it. He says it's about time tag team wrestling took the forefront of this sport again, like it did just a few years ago, and who better to do it than the greatest Tag Team wrestler of all-time. He puts everyone on notice: he's on the hunt for a new Tag Team partner, and when it happens, they're going after the WCW World Tag Team Championships.
Match #2: Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs. The Harris TwinsGood non-title showcase for the tag team champions. Steamboat starts off taking both twins to the mat before he gets overpowered as usual. The Brothers Harris do a decent job isolating Steamboat, before he rolls out of an attempted H-Bomb to tag in Douglas. Douglas goes on a frenzy, cleaning house. Steamboat cross bodies Ron to the outside and they brawl. Don surprises Douglas with a back drop and sends him to the ropes. He goes for a big boot, but Douglas ducks, turns immediately and hits the Belly to Belly suplex to end it.
Winners: Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas (4:32)Tony Schiavone interviews the champions post-match down at ringside, but before they can say much, the Hollywood Blonds make their way out. Steamboat & Douglas are ready to fight, but Austin assures them if they were going to jump them, they would've never made it out to the ring in the first place. Pillman says alot of teams have to wait in line, alot of teams have to work their way up, but quite frankly, they're tired of waiting, they've been waiting their entire careers to grab the brass ring. They claim they can go match for match with the Tag Team Champions, and make them a deal: Give them four weeks, starting next week, and both teams will compete each week. If the Blonds can win all four matches, thus keeping up with the champs, then on the April 3rd edition of WCW Saturday Night, the Hollywood Blonds get their Tag Team Championship match. Austin butters them up by saying they'll even take on the toughest teams, and it doesn't matter if Steamboat/Douglas lose their matches each week, so the deal's even better for them. Steamboat & Douglas accept and both teams wearily shake hands. Pillman & Austin tease an attack as they turn, but the champs catch them and the Blonds bail, laughing and doing their signature taunts.
Backstage, RIC FLAIR WALKS~ HIS RETURN INTERVIEW IS NEXT!
-- Commercial Break --
"Also Sparch Zathustra" hits up and the crowd goes nuts as Tony Schiavone stands at the announcer's position and welcomes out the Nature Boy Ric Flair! Flair comes back out greeting the crowd and stuff, and hugging Tony, and he says how he's glad to be home. He says it feels like he took a long breath for nearly two years, and he's here to pick up right where he left off. He does his usual schtick of putting over the NWA/WCW and the product, and the fans, etc. The fans start chanting Horsemen and Flair stops, looking around and nodding. Schiavone asks him about the incident with Windham last night, and he says last he checked, him and Barry Windham were still friends -- then again, last he checked, he was also still the REAL NWA World Heavyweight Champion. But things happen as they may, he's confident things will smooth over, but in the meantime, he's just happy to be home. WOOOOOO!
Match #3: Cactus Jack vs. Dick TroutAwesome, super violent Jack squash. He throws DICK TROUT around the ring before hitting the Cactus Clothesline, sending them both out. He rushes him into the steps, post and railing and back drops him hard onto the concrete. As Trout's laid out, Jack hits his batshit crazy senton bomb off the apron. He rolls him back in and hits the Double Arm DDT to win.
Winner: Cactus Jack (1:54)We cut outside where the limosuine is still parked. The announcers assume Ric Flair's on his way out, but instead -- A PAIR OF FEET GET OUT OF THE LIMO. IF IT'S NOT RIC FLAIR, THEN WHO IS IT?!
-- Commercial Break --
Tony Schiavone interviews Ron Simmons, who's got his arm in a sling. Simmons talks about how his surgery went better than expected, and he should be back in time for the WCW TV Title Tournament. Suddenly --
ARN ANDERSON MAKES HIS WAY OUT! IT'S ARN ANDERSON! IT WAS ARN ANDERSON IN THE LIMOSUINE!
Arn walks up and shakes Ron Simmons' hand, and asks him politely to give him a moment here, and Ron obliges. (Lifted from the review, since this interview really happened.)
"Tony Schiavone there was alot of people that were out there speculating that Arn Anderson was just gonna fade to black, go away, his career was over. Well , when I laid there on that concrete in my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, after Erik Watts attacked me, a little part of me did die that day. The apathetic part of me died. You can get so good at something that you can go out and do it better than anybody else and you don't even have to put your heart into it. I was at that stage, and I made a mistake. So the part of me that died that day was the apathy. That's gone forever, you'll never see that Arn Anderson you saw four months ago ever again. Because when I look in this dressing room back here and I see the energy Ric Flair generates just walking by, it makes me feel good. When I see Barry Windham sitting in the corner with that belt, that NWA Title with all that pride gushing out of him, it makes me feel good. And I see Pillman and Austin generating team work like never before, and I like it, and it makes me feel good. And I've had this strange cramping, Tony, maybe it doesn't mean anything. All day long it's been cramping in my hand. Maybe it doesn't mean anything...
...but maybe it does. I don't know, YOU TELL ME!"
-- Commercial Break --
As we come back, we see still frames of the British Bulldog's WCW debut match at SuperBrawl, defeating Wild Bill Irwin.
Match #4: British Bulldog vs. Sgt. Buddy Lee ParkerSolid Bulldog squash. Parker bumps around like maniac and Bulldog's just a brick shithouse. He chucks Parker around a bit, does some stretching, and the Running Powerslam ends it.
Winner: British Bulldog (2:43)Post-match, British Bulldog celebrates and signals for the World Title!
WCW MAGAZINE~ Eric Bischoff runs down the Superbrawl results, and talks about WCW's newest PPV in may, Slamboree: A Legend's Reunion, which will also mark the debut of the WCW Hall of Fame.
Match #5: Dustin Rhodes [c] vs. Z-Man Tom Zenk [WCW United States Championship]Rhodes is on fire here. Zenk tries his high flying stuff, but when he misses a dropkick and gets caught on a crossbody, that's about it. Rhodes does some beautiful neck work and some slams. He tries a DDT but Zenk shoves off and dropkicks him out of the ring. Zenk goes for a tope suicida but Dustin side steps it and Zenk goes into the railing. Dustin fights Zenk back to the ring with some amazing right hands. Dustin tries a lariat but Zenk ducks and leaps onto the ropes, going for a springboard back elbow, BUT DUSTIN CATCHES HIM AS HE COMES BACK DOWN AND PULLS HIM FORWARD FOR THE BULLDOG f*** YEAH! IT'S OVER!
Winner: ...AND STILL WCW UNITED STATES CHAMPION, DUSTIN RHODES (5:32)Post-match, Dustin helps Zenk up and shakes his hand. Dustin celebrates with the US Title as Schiavone & Zbyszko put him over. Suddenly, a fan with a cowboy hat and a big pair of sunglasses storms the ring and attacks Dustin from behind! He clobbers him on the neck and stomps away. The referee tries to stop him but he punches the referee out. This unknown cowboy stands over Dustin and he starts THRUSTING AND TWIRLING HIS HIPS! NO IT CAN'T BE! HE RIPS OFF THE HAT AND GLASSES --
IT'S RICK RUDE! RICK RUDE HAS RETURNED FROM INJURY! Rude picks Dustin up and continues to punch away at him, screaming at him, blaming him for almost breaking his neck. He screams that the US Title is still is, and Dustin never beat him for it. He clobbers Dustin with the belt and busts him open over the eye. He sprawls the belt out in the ring and he PILEDRIVERS Dustin onto the title! More referees run out and RUDE TAKES OUT THE REFEREES! Agents Mike Graham & Grizzly Smith come out but RUDE PUNCHES THEM OUT TOO! Dustin slowly gets up and Rude kicks him in the dick and hits the Rude Awakening! He rolls him to the outside and bodyslams him onto the concrete. He rushes him hard into the post and punches away at the wound on his forehead. More referees come out, but Rude's not stopping. Rude's about to PILEDRIVER Dustin onto the concrete, he'll break his neck! Rude lifts Dustin up and holds him but DUSTY RHODES RUNS OUT! Rude drops Dustin down and shoves him off, asking Dusty what he's gonna do about it. The referees are holding Dusty back, but he gets far enough to stand over his son, protecting him. Security comes out and tries forcing Rude away from ringside. Dusty's screaming at him as Dustin's laid out. Rude leans forward and he SPITS IN DUSTY'S FACE! Dusty loses it and tries going after Rude himself, but security holds him back instead, allowing Rude the chance to escape through the crowd!
-- Commercial Break --
It's time for the main event!
Match #6: Barry Windham [c] vs. Brad Armstrong [NWA World Heavyweight Championship]Hey this was great. Armstrong was able to do some great armwork, but he couldn't keep Barry down. Barry went into control and killed Armstrongs back with clubbering blows alone. He hit a Superplex, expecting that to end it, but Armstrong kicked out, surprising Windham. Windham argues with the ref, and Armstrong almost upsets him with a roll up! This continues, as there's alot of good reversals and nearfalls at the end. Armstrong surprised him with a facebuster to almost secure victory. Armstrong then tried the Russian Leg Sweep for the win, but Windham stepped out and pulled him in for an awesome short-arm lariat to end it.
Winner: ...and STILL NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, BARRY WINDHAM (7:12)Larry Zbyszko interviews Barry Windham afterwards (since kayfabe is dead anyway) and they talk about him beating Muta for the NWA World Title last night, how this may seem like it's just two years in the making, but Windham says he's been the best wrestler in the world for 5 years. Zbyszko asks him how come last night, when Ric Flair tried to put the NWA Title around his waist, Windham freaked out and stormed away, and if there's any personal problems between he and Flair -- BUT WINDHAM JUST WALKS OFF OH f*** YOU!
-- Commercial Break --
To close the show, Tony Schiavone welcomes out Harley Race and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader. They talk about challenges from Sting and Davey Boy Smith, as well as Ric Flair being back, and Vader will take on all comers. Just a solid heel piece to put him over as the dominant champion. He really goes off at the end and breaks out "THAT RING IS MY PROPERTY. YOU STEP IN IT, YOU PAY THE RENT. YOU PAY THE RENT IN YOUR BLOOD." AND WITH THAT -- OUT COMES THE BRITISH BULLDOG! HE GETS INTO THE RING AND DARES VADER TO COME FIGHT! VADER STARTS TO WALK TOWARDS THE RING WITH HARLEY BEGGING VADER OFF, AND FOLKS WE'VE GOTTA GO, WE'RE OUTTA TIME, WE'LL SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT ON THE MAIN EVENT!
WCW Main Event - February 28th, 1993 Results
Big Van Vader def. Robbie V
2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell def. Bob Cook & Mike Thor
Ricky Steamboat, Shane Douglas & Brad Armstrong def. Hollywood Blonds & Barry Windham when Brad pinned Pillman
