WCW Saturday Night
April 17, 1993
Atlanta, GA
Center Stage Theatre

The current WCW & NWA Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Big Van Vader (3/17/1993)
NWA World Champion: Barry Windham (2/21/1993)
WCW U.S. Champion: Dustin Rhodes (1/11/1993)
WCW/NWA World Tag Team Champions: The Hollywood Blondes (3/2/1993)
WCW World Television Champion: Paul Orndorff (3/2/1993)

Last week, Arn Anderson and Barry Windham got in a fight! Maybe they will this week too!

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura.

• Ron Simmons & Van Hammer vs. Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce
  

This is either a huge de-push for Simmons since his return from the shoulder surgery or a massive push for Hammer. Sadly, the rest of Simmons’ WCW career would point to the former. Pierce and Slazenger are the Godwinns disguised as mean Texans who carry bullropes around. You know, cutting edge stuff. Slazenger a.k.a. Mideon ‘rassles a little bit with Hammer to start. Hammer then cleans house on the heels so he can do the “clap-clap-stomp” routine to get the crowd going. Hammer works the arm of Pierce for a bit, then tags Simmons. He powerslams Pierce and tags Hammer. Evidently, he’s still not 100%. Slazenger pulls the top rope down to bring Hammer out hard on the floor. He becomes our face in peril for a while. False tag spot ensues. While ref Randy Anderson tries to get Simmons out of the ring , the Texicans double-clothesline Hammer with their bullrope. Whoops, Randy Anderson saw the heels cheat for once. DQ! (7:59) Too long for my tastes. Simmons clotheslines the Texicans out after the match, which makes Hammer look STOOPID. ½*

• Johnny B. Badd vs. Todd Zane
  

Badd’s a cowboy tonight, which has to appear quite gay to anyone above the point where they have lost their innocence. Zane gets in some jobber offense, but an atomic drop and the TUTTI FRUITI PUNCH puts Zane down for the three-count. (2:54) Badd puts the lips sticker on Zane to further the humiliation.

• Scott Norton vs. Scott McKeever
  

This would be the WCW debut of Scott Norton. Naturally, Norton is going to flatten this poor kid. McKeever tries a sunset flip, but Norton blocks and choke lifts him up for a slam. Polish Hammer gets the win. (1:08) He covers people by putting his hand on their face! Awesome squash and it’s a shame he didn’t stick around longer than he did at this point in his career.

• Arn Anderson vs. Chick Donovan
  

With Flair still stuck under his no-compete clause, the next best thing in Arn Anderson becomes Windham’s opponent of the month until Flair can, well, compete. Donovan tries to be all cool by working on a leg just like an Anderson might, and pays for it by getting his arm destroyed around the ringpost. Arn applies that stepover armbar that Ole used to do and then the SPINEBUSTER finishes off Donovan. (4:25) I made it sound like it was nothing, but it was a pretty good little squash match for AA.

Ric Flair joins Arn Anderson for some interview time. The Four Horsemen will return with or without Barry Windham. Now it’s time for Arn Anderson to step out of the shadows and become the NWA world champion. Great interview, but it’s just sad the return of Tully Blanchard never really materialized and we got stuck with freakin’ Paul Roma instead.

• WCW World Television Champion Paul Orndorff vs. Gunner
  

Since Orndorff’s heel, the “Paula” chants are in full effect. Gunner is just Gunner. Not sure who he is exactly. Lots of headlocks in this one. Gunner escapes into a backslide for two. He escapes an armbar and levels Orndorff with dropkicks, but gets caught with a knee-lift. PILEDRIVER! (4:37) Good little squash for the TV champ.

• Steve Regal vs. Bobby Baker
  

Regal’s a Chris Adams-esque British babyface at this point, which just seems weird when you think about how great a pompous heel he became later on in the year. He’s 24 years old and looks like such a virgin here. Regal completely outwrestles Baker and finishes him off quickly with a DOUBLE-ARM SUPLEX. (2:56) Regal looks good in the ring, but nobody will pay much attention to him until he turns heel.

Interview with Dustin Rhodes. He talks about a shoulder injury that has had him sidelined for a couple weeks, but he’s still keeping an eye on Rick Rude. Regal comes by and gives Vader a message from his good British friend Davey Boy Smith that’s he’s coming for you!

• WCW/NWA World Tag Team Champions The Hollywood Blondes vs. The Italian Stallion & Chris Sullivan
  

Austin’s starting to do the old-timey camera motion as much as possible now, because that’s what people from Hollywood do. Sullivan gets PWNT until Austin misses an elbow off the middle-rope and Stallion gets a tag. Austin begs off, then goes to the eyes and hits a suplex. Pillman tags and dumps Stallion out so he can get choked down with a towel by Austin. Back in, Stallion catches Pillman coming off the top, but he gets dumped again and choked with the towel some more. Austin tries to suplex Stallion back in, but he flips out and rolls Austin up for 1-2-NO! Pillman tags and takes an atomic drop. Sullivan tags back in and he’s decimated with a double-clothesline. Austin lifts Sullivan up in the body vice as Pillman gives him a dropkick for 1-2-3. (6:58) Turned into quite the neat little squash with the jobbers getting a tad more offense than normal. *½

• Keith & Kent Cole vs. Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker & Bob Cook
  

Oh snap, it’s the Cole Twins! Jobbers who suddenly get a push based only on the fact that they are twin brothers. They are identical in every way – same colored tights, knee pads, boots. Plus, they both have blonde flat tops/mullets. They are both equally tanned exactly the same shade. Scorpio and Bagwell look on from the aisleway. The Cole Twins work the arm of both Parker and Cook for seemingly forever. One of the twins get stuck as the face-in-peril for a bit. Then the other twin makes the hot tag and Parker gets dumped out. Cook takes a shoulder-charge to the gut off a whip, as the other twin comes off the ropes with a crossbody block. Jackknife cover gets 1-2-3. (7:03) Okay, so the finish was kind of cool. Afterwards, Scorpio and Bagwell dance with the Cole Twins. Ain’t nothing wrong with a little bump ‘n grind, ehh Bagwell?

Dusty Rhodes tells us what legends will be at Slamboree for the first-ever legends reunion show. “On the night before, we gon’ have some food. Of course I’m going to be there personally for dis thing.” Legends include: Don Muraco, Johnny Valentine, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Lou Thesz, At least that’s what it sounded like?

• NWA World Champion Barry Windham vs. Tommy Angel
  

Windham spends much of the match just trying to break Angel’s arm. Angel makes a jobber comeback, but Windham cuts him off with the IMPLANT DDT. (4:52) In the pre-match interview, Windham calls Anderson a never-was when he was a Horseman. He says he did a lot of the dirty work because Arn wasn’t capable. Jesse asks Barry what he thinks of Flair when it relates to the pecking order in the Horsemen, and he just walks away.

• WCW World Champion Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) vs. Cactus Jack
  

Cactus FINALLY gets a title shot! Jack pounds Vader down in the corner and then Vader returns the favor with STIFF forearm shots across the nose and jaw. “Where’s the shovel, punk?” Vader splashes Jack in the corner and then punches directly on the nose a couple more times. Vader wants another corner splash, but Jack catches him and slams him down! Jack hits a legdrop and comes off the top with a clothesline. They go to the floor where Cactus tries for the Cactus Clothesline over a guardrail, but it just collapses instead. SICK! Race takes a clothesline from Jack as well. BANG BANG! Commercial break. After the break, Vader falls back on Cactus to counter a sleeper. Vader keeps up the stiffness with more straight shots and hooks in the corner. While Vader steps back after the four count, Race chokes Jack in the ropes. Vader then grabs Cactus and gives him a fireman’s carry slam to set up the VADER BOMB, and it connects. They go to the floor again where Race gets nailed due to some heel miscommunication. They go back in and then they go back out. Vader tries to splash Cactus up against that same guardrail, but Cactus moves and Vader hurts his ribs. Once Vader gets to his feet, Cactus CANNONBALLS into Vader! He heads back in the ring while Vader lays there in pain to give Cactus the countout win over the champ. (10:50 shown) Due to the raw physicality of the match, Foley suffered a broken nose, a dislocated jaw and needed 27 stitches after this match. The most remarkable thing is, he didn’t miss a date because of any of those injuries. Nowadays, a guy would be out for at least a month. After the match, Vader is obviously pissed off for losing to Cactus. He slaps both Race and Schiavone (!!) and makes a challenge to Cactus Jack for next week. Not even a match really, he just wants to FIGHT him whether WCW sanctions it or not. I don’t think I could add anything else to this match. Saying something like it’s a brutal match is like telling you the sky is blue. ***¾

Final Thoughts: Makes you wonder how much better Slamboree could’ve been had they just built the show towards these two in the main event. But Foley had a have a child and all that bologna (I’m just kidding. I don’t hate children.), and the final blowoff was sidelined until Halloween Havoc. Kind of an interesting time because it’s almost like a WCW Bizarro World. Regal’s a face, Austin has hair, Windham’s a world champion, and Cactus wins a match.