Mike Reviews WCW Saturday Night – 15.01.2000

Happy Friday Everyone!

Apologies for stepping on Maffew‘s toes, but I’m going to take a page from his book and review some WCW 2000, name Saturday Night. Saturday Night was kind of like a prototypical version of NXT at the time, as Jimmy Hart was booking it and it kind of lived in it’s own universe that was somewhat separate from what was happening on Nitro and Thunder. Hart was mostly using folks from the Power Point and some veteran talent that he liked, such as Bobby Eaton and Jim Duggan. Thus the likes of Chris Harris, Elix Skipper, Chuck Palumbo and others got a chance to cut their teeth on television in front of live crowds before finally making it to the main roster.

Sadly the Jimmy Hart run ended in March 2000 when WCW decided to turn Saturday Night into a recap show, which was a shame as plenty found the show a refreshing change of pace from the general malaise that was sinking WCW’s main product at the time. Thankfully I was able to stumble across this episode whilst visiting my local purveyor of Fish and Chips, so we can enjoy seeing the likes of Los Villanos, Barry Horowitz and Beautiful Bobby taking on some of WCW’s other less utilised grapplers, whilst some youngsters can do battle with each other and get some reps.

You can view the full card for this episode of Saturday Night by clicking the link below;

WCW Saturday Night Card

Saturday Night is emanating from the Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill, South Carolina on the 5th of January 2000 (airing on TBS on the 15th of January 2000)

Calling the action are Scott Hudson and Mike Tenay

Opening Match
The Wall Vs Frankie Lancaster

Wall had previously been the bodyguard of Berlyn, but now he’s branching out on his own as a big scary man. Sadly, as Scott Keith’s reviews of Nitro from this timeframe highlighted, WCW just didn’t stick with a consistent presentation for Wall. One week he’d be a tank that would tear through everyone, and feel like he could be a serviceable “Monster of the Month” for a Sid/Sting/Goldberg/Hogan, etc. Other weeks he’d lose random matches that would seemingly suggest WCW was halting his push. I don’t suspect he’ll have much trouble with regular lower-card enhancement guy Lancaster here, though. They seem to be dubbing in some boos for Lancaster here, which is a bit off, as you’d think he’d be the underdog babyface against the scary monster.

Wall works Lancaster over with basic stuff like punches and clubs to the head, with Lancaster selling it well. Lancaster throws some pretty sloppy-looking dropkicks in an effort to fight back, with Wall doing a subpar job of selling them before taking over again. Wall goes back to clubbing Lancaster following that, but Lancaster does manage to reverse an Irish Whip outside of the ring, sending Wall into the metal railings. They seem to dub in more boos after that, unless the crowd in Rock Hill really does hate Lancaster for some reason. The fact he’s seemingly bleached his moustache is a bit wanky in all fairness. Wall continues to work Lancaster over, as this is starting to drag a bit, in all honesty. If you’re going to have Wall squash someone then keep it to a couple of minutes and make it snappy, rather than dragging it out. Lancaster makes a brief comeback, and even manages a back body drop and a crossbody off the top, but he makes the mistake of heading up again and Wall turns that into a sloppy slam before following up with a big kick to the face for a three count.

WINNER: THE WALL
RATING: DUD

Thoughts: This was pretty awful, as it dragged on and the work itself was sloppy throughout. I don’t think giving them nearly 7 Minutes was a great decision, but Wall probably needed to put a bit of time in to help his progression and it was better to do it here rather than on a Nitro or Thunder

Tomorrow night on Souled Out, it’s Kevin Nash Vs Terry Funk for control of WCW (Nash would win that one pretty handily in the end)

Interestingly, we then get some hype for the Triple Threat Theatre between Jeff Jarrett and Chris Benoit at Souled Out, which didn’t end up happening due to Jarrett having a concussion. I’m guessing they taped the in-studio stuff with Hudson and Tenay prior to knowing that Jarrett wouldn’t be able to make the show. We then get a recap of Nitro the previous Monday, where Jarrett had to wrestle veteran stars George Steele, Tito Santana and Jimmy Snuka at the behest of Commissioner Terry Funk. Jarrett ended up suffering his concussion in the bout with Snuka, and it eventually caused him to miss Souled Out. Benoit didn’t even end up in the match either, as he was subbed into the Main Event against Sid as Bret Hart also had a concussion. I always found it strange that ex-WWF guys like those three were brought in to be legends on a WCW event, but I now realise that the show took place in Buffalo, which was a popular WWF stop since the 1980s, so it made more sense that they’d book those guys for this particular Nitro.

Second Match
Elix Skipper Vs Mark Jindrak

Neither Skipper nor Jindrak had become fixtures on the main roster yet, but as the year went on, they would both find spots on Nitro and Thunder, with Skipper being a member of Team Canada whilst Jindrak would join the Natural Born Thrillers. Jindrak has a basketball with him and Chris Jericho’s first WCW theme. The commentary team tell the story that Jindrak got banned from the NCAA, so now he’s wrestling in WCW. Ironically I’m sure Jericho put in one of his books that he saw the generic theme Jindrak is using here played over basketball highlights on TNT once. An extra bit of storyline is added when the commentary team state that these two have trained together at the WCW Power Plant, noting that they don’t like each other. Jindrak gives Skipper a cheap shot to start in order to establish himself as the bad guy in this one, but Skipper quickly fights back.

Jindrak is taller than Skipper but Skipper is a top level athlete and works with enough aggression and speed that it looks believable that he could hang in there with the bigger man. Jindrak shows some good personality here, and doesn’t look bad for someone who was so inexperienced at the time. Jindrak eventually manages to cut Skipper off and works some heat, with Skipper selling it well and taking some nice bumps. Jindrak mostly sticks to basic offence, playing to the crowd and throwing in the occasional flashy move that suits his natural athletic ability. Both of these two were tremendously athletic in fairness to them, and you can see why WCW would be keen to do something with them as that sort of natural athletic ability is hard to find.

Skipper eventually fights his way out of a Jindrak rest hold and makes a comeback, getting a nice flying forearm and even busting out a powerslam styled move following that. It’s presented more as a quick slam where Skipper uses Jindrak’s momentum against him rather than a big power move, so it doesn’t look too silly that the smaller man was able to slam the bigger one. Jindrak fights back and tries an impressive looking springboard clothesline, but Skipper dodges that and heads up top for a Missile Dropkick, which is enough for Skipper to get the three count.

WINNER: ELIX SKIPPER
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was a decent match considering that both competitors were still early on in their respective careers. Jindrak got a chance to be a cocky Heel and didn’t do anything he couldn’t do, whilst Skipper got a chance to be a gutsy smaller guy fighting from underneath. Each wrestler had a chance to show off their natural athletic ability and neither disgraced themselves

Hudson and Tenay hype up the feud between DDP and Buff Bagwell, as they were caught in a love triangle with Kimberly at the time. This was a popular storyline that was probably the hottest angle WCW had going on during this period. Speaking of hot, we then get clips of Mean Gene Okerlund interviewing Kimberly about what has been going on recently. Gene badgers Kim in the interview, playing the Paxman to her beleaguered government minister, but she handles it well and remains coy about the Bagwell situation. This storyline sadly got dropped before we got a full conclusion, but Kimberly eventually going Heel to help DDP put a whupping on Buff could have been the natural direction for it to go in.

Third Match
“Bad” Barry Horowitz Vs Silver King

Horowitz spent most of his time in the big leagues working in an enhancement role. He did briefly get a bit of a push in the WWF 1995 thanks to some upset wins, and the crowds of the day actually responded positively to it, but it didn’t really end up going anywhere. Silver King is the son of Dr Wagner and was a star both in Mexico and Japan. He never really managed to get above the lower reaches of the card in WCW though, despite being a talented performer, with the highlight of his WCW run arguably being a bout for the WCW World Cruiserweight Title at Fall Brawl 1998. Horowitz looks to be playing the Heel role tonight, based on his mean sounding name.

These two are both individually solid wrestlers, but it feels like they don’t mesh very well as opponents as there are some awkward exchanges early on where it looks like they aren’t on the same page. There’s still some nice stuff in there though, such as Silver King delivering a Swinging DDT at one stage. There’s an odd moment where it looks like Silver King tries a dive of some kind to the floor, but Horowitz is too far away, so Silver King just lands on his feet and walks over to Horowitz so that Baz can cut him off. I’m not sure if Horowitz was meant to dodge the dive and was just out of place, or if Silver King did the dive when he wasn’t supposed to. Either way, it didn’t look good. Horowitz gets a brief flurry back inside the ring, but Silver King quickly shrugs that off and gets a Quebrada for the three count.

WINNER: SILVER KING
RATING: *

Thoughts: This was quite disappointing. When I saw that these two were wrestling each other I was hopeful for a good bout, but they just didn’t gel as opponents at all and it was a really messy contest as a result. What a shame

We get a recap of the Stevie Ray and Booker T feud, as Stevie has turned Heel on his brother, once again. This was leading to a match between the two at Souled Out, where Ahmed Johnson would make his debut as Stevie’s new partner, Big T. Stevie lays out both Booker and Midnight (Booker’s muscular lady pal) on Thunder in order to heat things up.

Fourth Match
“Angry” Alan Funk Vs Sonny Siaki

Funk would eventually make it onto the main roster as The Kwee Wee, an angry wardrobe assistant. Siaki never really made it to the main roster of WCW, but he did enjoy a decent length run in TNA before signing a WWE development deal. Siaki’s career ended prematurely in the late 2000s though when he donated a kidney to his brother, Bernard. If you’re going to end your wrestling career though, you might as well do so in a classy way like that. Siaki delivers some nice arm drags to start, playing the generic babyface role well, although a pinning move that he tries ends up going awry. They recover from that well though, and head to the floor, where Funk takes a couple of journeys into the metal railings.

Funk rakes the eyes of Siaki back inside for the cut off, leading to the heat segment. Funk works Siaki over with basic stuff whilst yelling at the fans whenever the opportunity presents itself. It’s not a thrilling heat segment, but it’s a competent one that does the job required of it. Siaki eventually makes the comeback, looking good whilst doing so and getting a nice back suplex into a uranage move. Siaki misses a diving move off the top though and ends up taking a modified face buster from Funk, which is enough to give the Angry One the three count.

WINNER: ALAN FUNK
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This was a competently worked basic match, which is probably the best you could expect from two Power Plant students going out there and working a match on a show like Saturday Night. Each wrestler played their allotted role well, the match had a clear beginning, middle and end, and they mostly hit all their spots outside of the rare exception. No complaints from me

Fifth Match
3-Count (Evan Karagias, Shannon Moore and Shane Helms) Vs PG-13 (JC Ice & Wolfie D) and Chavo Guerrero Jr

3-Count’s gimmick is that they are a cocky boy band, which was a very topical act in 2000 with the likes of N*Sync and The Backstreet Boys being around at the time. PG-13 are rappers, and they used to rap The Nation of Domination down to the ring in 1997 before leaving the WWF and working for places like USWA and ECW before rocking up to WCW. These two sides both having musical gimmicks makes them natural opponents here. PG-13 is entering to Insane Clown Posse’s “Take It” song here for some reason, and boos are dubbed in for them, which seems to suggest that this bout is going to be all Heels going at it. Chavo Jr’s gimmick at the time was seemingly that he was a salesman of some kind, who would try and sell items to the wrestlers. I have no idea why WCW decided to give him such a weird gimmick, but he committed to the zaniness of it at least.

I have no idea why PG-13 and Chavo Jr are working as Heels here, as you’d think throwing around the annoying boy band would naturally be something that leads to getting cheered, but the canned heat machine seems determined for us to see that particular trio as villains for some reason. 3-Count do some decent high flying when given the opportunity, with Chavo Jr doing a good job keeping up with them, whilst PG-13 mostly try to clobber them with power moves or brawling tactics. The match doesn’t go on for that long, with Karagias eventually catching JC Ice with a crossbody off the top for the flash victory.

WINNERS: 3-COUNT
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This didn’t have much of a story to it, with them just doing some quick moves until it was time for a flash pinning move. It was entertaining enough for the time it lasted, but it wasn’t given much time to be anything else. I would have preferred to see some of the time taken from the opening match and given to this one, as Wall’s bout was a slog whilst this actually had potential to be good

We get clips from Nitro, where Kevin Nash and Bret Hart were seemingly forced to wrestle each other by Terry Funk. This leads to Sid somehow pinning Bret Hart in a cage though. Funk then attacks Nash with a flaming branding iron, although we don’t get to see it, we just hear it. Bret Hart then teases on Thunder that he’s leaving the nWo and challenges them all to a fight. The group had only just formed and they were already teasing that they were going to break up. It should shock no one that Vince Russo was booking at the time. The nWo kidnaps Bret and beats him up, but it’s of course all a SWERVE, Bro, as Bret is totally still nWo and helps them lay out Terry Funk and Arn Anderson. This was all supposed to lead to Bret Hart Vs Sid Vicious at Souled Out, but that match didn’t end up happening due to Bret suffering from a career ending injury.

We get clips of Madusa disrobing Oklahoma on Thunder, leading to Oklahoma covering her in BBQ sauce. This was the feud WCW was presenting for the WCW World Cruiserweight Title by the way.

Sixth Match
WCW World Cruiserweight Title
Madusa w/ Spice Vs A male fan/plant from the crowd

Madusa had never been a character that was afraid of mixing it up with the men, with WCW taking that to the next level by having her compete with and defeat some of the male wrestlers on route to winning the Cruiser belt. This felt a bit like WCW was trying to replicate the success that the WWF was having with Chyna, but Chyna was considerably bigger than Madusa so it was a bit easier to suspend your disbelief that she could mix it up with the guys. Anyway, Madusa comes out to complain about WCW management and then drags a random guy out of the crowd to face her in a bout. I’m not sure who he is, and neither does Cage Match by the looks of things. He’s in shape and takes decent bumps, so I’m going to go with him being either a trainee or a local Indie talent. Madusa quickly puts him away with a German Suplex.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: MADUSA
RATING: N/A

Thoughts: I can only assume they were having Madusa wrestling managers and plants out of the crowd because they couldn’t find any of the actual cruiserweights to go in there and do jobs for her? This was a waste of a segment, that made Madusa come across as a Heel, when a tough lass standing up for herself would naturally lend itself to be a babyface role. This was the Attitude Era though, so a woman daring to have some inkling of self-worth may very well have been a Heel move back then

We get clips from Thunder, as The Revolution yells at Asya to seemingly tease a babyface turn for her. We don’t really see WHY they’re yelling at her though, which you’d think would be an important point you’d want to remind viewers of.

We also get clips of Brian Knobs battering Norman Smiley in the car park from that same episode of Thunder. It’s poorly lit, so you can’t really tell what is going on. This is apparently a match for the Hardcore Title, with Knobbs eventually hitting Smiley with a weapon of some kind to win the belt.

Main Event
Hardcore Match
“Screamin” Norman Smiley Vs “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton

Smiley’s character at the time was that he was a cowardly hardcore wrestler who somehow managed to prevail in bouts he really should have been losing. Eaton was one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of all-time, being part of successful duos with the likes of Dennis Condrey, Stan Lane, Arn Anderson and William Regal. He was a good singles performer too, and also played a role in helping Bill Goldberg get to grips with the grapple game early on in Da Man’s career. Eaton also did the motion capture for the WCW Mayhem video game, which was better than duds like the Nitro and Thunder games but not as good as World Tour and Revenge. Sadly they don’t have Eaton enter to the Midnight Express theme here, and instead give him generic production music instead.

We don’t get to see Smiley’s entrance here, with it cutting to him getting into the ring, so I’m thinking that he carried the Hardcore Title down to the ring with him as this match was taped before he lost it, so they had to cut his entrance so as not to show the belt. These are the many precarious lines you have to walk when taping TV in advance. The match itself is mostly just Eaton clobbering Smiley with weapons whilst Smiley yelps in cowardly fashion. It’s entertaining just because Smiley was very good at playing this role, but it’s hardly classic action. Smiley makes a brief comeback and gives Eaton a slam for the three count.

WINNER: NORMAN SMILEY
RATING: *1/4

Thoughts: Not much to this one, as it felt rushed and wasn’t a particularly good use of a skilful worker like Eaton, who could have been working with the Power Plant guys and helping them along in their development

In Conclusion

This episode of Saturday Night was a bit disappointing to me, as I was hoping for some hidden gems and sadly didn’t get any of those. The matches with the developing wrestlers from the Power Plant were good for what they were, but sadly the matches with the normally underutilised talents ended up being short and not much of a showcase for them. Hopefully if I get a chance to take in a few more of these Saturday Night shows from this era I’ll get a better idea of why it was positively regarded back in the day.