–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are doing commentary and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the matches on this show were held on November 16 and 29.
–Opening Contest: Mr. J.L. (1-2) beats the Gambler after a brainbuster at 6:59:
The back of the Gambler’s tights – which display the suits of playing cards – attract Dusty’s attention. He thinks a poker hand is displayed and laughs when that is found to not be the case. The Gambler dominates most of the match with basic offense, making J.L. look like the weakest member of the WCW roster. The cruiserweight only wins when the Gambler makes a poor decision to go to the top rope, where J.L. crotches him and delivers a brainbuster to get back to .500 in singles competition for the year.
–Scott Norton (7-1-1) pins Leroy Howard after a reverse shoulderbreaker at 2:34:
Dusty likens Norton’s stiff offense to the Road Warriors, a comparison that is reinforced by Norton’s unwillingness to sell. Howard messes up a spot where he was supposed to take a clothesline, but Norton plays it off well, giving the jobber a reverse shoulderbreaker to win his fifth straight bout.
–Since WCW got rid of Nick Bockwinkel over the summer, they have no one to officially answer New Japan’s challenge for Starrcade. As a result, WCW legal counsel Nick Lambros does a taped segment that does that. The talent representing WCW mirrors Gene Okerlund’s announcement on WCW Worldwide. He adds that wrestlers have been hitting referees too much, so Ric Flair will be fined, and Hulk Hogan is under investigation for what happened on the recent episode of Monday Nitro.
–Dean Malenko (3-3) beats Todd Morton via submission to a heel hook at 6:30:
Malenko defeated Morton three weeks ago on Saturday Night and he does it again today, albeit in a match that takes too much time because WCW wants to let Malenko show more of his alleged 1,000 holds to the audience.
–Gene Okerlund does the Starrcade Control Center. He announces that the show will feature a triangle match between Sting, Lex Luger, and Ric Flair, with the winner facing Randy Savage for the WCW title later in the evening. How is that setup fair for Sting or Luger? They have to wrestle in the World Cup competition in conjunction with the triangle match while Flair gets a bye? Logic would dictate that Flair should also be in the World Cup, so all of the participants have to wrestle a match before determining the number one contender to Savage’s title.
–Okerlund interviews Sting. He promises to go after Flair like he always does and that he will have to suspend his friendship with Luger if he wants to get the WCW title back.
–Sting (36-2-1) beats Kurasawa (w/Colonel Robert Parker) (13-2) via submission to the Scorpion Deathlock at 9:35 shown:
Dusty does a good job talking the match up after Schiavone writes it off as a “warm up” bout by reminding fans that Kurasawa can wreck an unsuspecting opponent. The Japanese star boringly pounds away and awkwardly throws Sting out, putting his hands on Sting’s rear end and shoving him to the floor that way. It takes nine agonizing minutes for Sting to mount a sustained offensive flurry and that leads to the Scorpion Deathlock making Kurasawa quit. Parker has been completely ineffective was a manager in recent months, doing little to help any of his charges win their matches. Rating: ¼*
–In a taped promo, Hulk Hogan tells the dwindling number of Hulkamaniacs that he, Randy Savage, and Sting are going to save them from the evils of the Dungeon of Doom. He also says the mustache is coming back!
–The American Males (12-4) defeat the Barrio Brothers (2-11) via disqualification at 7:05:
In another rematch from three weeks ago, the Males defend America’s honor from the evils of Cuba and Puerto Rico. The match follows the usual tag formula, with Scotty Riggs ending up in peril. Atlanta fans love Bagwell’s hot tag comeback, which gets short circuited when Fidel Sierra breaks up an O’Connor roll. The Barrios whip Riggs into the ring post three times, not stopping when referee Nick Patrick tells them to and that gets them disqualified. This gives a reason for another match between these teams even though the Males are now 3-0 against the Barrios this year. Rating: **
–The One Man Gang (w/Kevin Sullivan) pins Scott Turner after a 747 splash at 1:32:
Gang got a push out of the World War 3 battle royal as he was the last participant to be eliminated. He makes short work of Turner, avalanching him against the turnbuckles and using the 747 splash to prevail. Like most Dungeon members, it can be assumed that the Gang is headed for a match against Hulk Hogan, which is hardly something 1990s wrestling fans were clamoring for.
–Hacksaw Jim Duggan (36-10-2) beats V.K. Wallstreet (6-2) after a schoolboy roll up at 6:56 shown:
As expected, Wallstreet works a long chinlock and that sucks the life out of the match. He stun guns Duggan late and tries to use a Flair pin, but the referee sees his feet on the ropes and stops the count. When Wallstreet argues, Duggan rolls him up and scores the pin, with Wallstreet not bothering to look like he is trying to escape. Rating: ¼*
–After the bell, Wallstreet clotheslines Duggan over the top rope and drives him into the ring post when Duggan starts taping his fist. Wallstreet tapes Duggan to the bottom rope and lays in some kicks before WCW officials intervene.
–Okerlund interviews WCW Champion Randy Savage, who says that he is going to get revenge on Lex Luger for what happened at World War 3. He says that he has overcome the Giant’s chokeslam on the last Monday Nitro and that he is going to get Hulk Hogan’s name taken off of the world title.
The Last Word: This was arguably the worst episode of WCW Saturday Night of the year. The squashes were way too long, the feature matches were bad (American Males-Barrio Brothers excluded), and the segments were devoid of life. The New Japan storyline does not have legs with the audience so this month could be dreadful since the company will be in a holding pattern until the World Cup is completed.
Up Next: WCW Main Event for December 3!
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