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WCW Saturday Night on the Network


flyonthewall2983

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Wow - super psyched as well. This forum will definitely come in handy too as I know there are quite a few matches in the archive that I never got to see in my rewatch of the WCW PPVs and Clashes (for a random example, I really dug the Zybysko/Regal series and I think maybe there's one from a Saturday Night that I would probably be more likely to watch on the Network than trying to find it elsewhere).

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A few years ago I watched pretty much all the WCW I could find from 1992 for a dumb blog project and Saturday Night was an absolute treasure trove of good stuff. WCW TV during those first six months in particular was outrageous. Every week you had at least a couple matches that were decent at worst, a handful that were good and fairly regularly you'd get something really good to great. Most of the booking was built around the Dangerous Alliance and so you had tags and multi-mans pretty regularly, with most of them being at least good. Which you'd probably expect given the roster they had then.

 

I might end up going through everything again if every episode of Saturday Night is right there on the Network (Worldwide and Pro had a few killer matches that year as well, though I'm not sure if any of that is up there yet).

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Interesting that it seems they're skipping from '89-'92 (although I guess the cheat is that they're starting archive of "Saturday Night" as opposed to "World Championship Wrestling"). A shame, as there's some good stuff they're skipping, but 1992 is super fun stuff to go through.

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And the shows are up. That's basically the Watts era (though it lasted a bit longer).

 

I have good and bad memories with the Watts era. The bad stuff I recall was banning the top rope moves and jobbing the Steiners to Doc/Gordy.

 

I did like them having instant replay so the Heels didnt get away with everything.

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I just watched the first episode last night. Haven't seen it since it aired. Some random thoughts:

 

- Brian Pillman vs. Brad Armstrong was the opener in a surprisingly bad, bland match that didn't really go anywhere until the final few minutes.

 

- Pillman has the unique distinction of being in the first match ever on both WCW Saturday Night and WCW Monday Nitro.

- Holy shit, Steve Austin did not look like a star at all. Stupid beach tights, a hook nose, stringy hair, and butt ugly in general. He looked like wrestling's version of the Wicked Witch of the West. It seemed fine at the time, but wow in retrospect.

 

- Heyman hasn't changed much. He looked old even then.

 

- As awesome as the Rude/Steamboat feud seemed on this show, how come I don't remember it at all? But man, Rick Rude really was on top of his game back then.

 

- Even with Ron Simmons saying "you know" 100x in his promo, unscripted promos were still so much better than the canned, mechanical crap we get now. It felt real and had actual fire.

 

- Ditto for the commentary. As much as it was obvious in retrospect that Jesse Ventura was "winging it," I'd still take that over the micro-managed corporate blandness we get today. J.R., of course, was pure perfection - smooth as silk.

 

- But not all of the promos were good. Z-Man was laughably awful, and how in the hell did anyone fear Vader back then? Goofy-ass facial expression, mugging for the camera, everything he said and did was cheesy was fuck. He looked like a fat ham. Literally a thanksgiving ham. Harley Race oozed credibility and toughness in the two seconds he was given.

 

- Austin vs. Z-Man was damn good and fun. As tempting as it is to credit Austin for a carry-job based on hindsight, that would be unfair and untrue - Z-Man worked his ass off too and had fans chanting his name. That would never happen today with some random midcard babyface (unless ironically).

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Yeah, Rude/Steamboat was the fucking business. Their interactions in tags/multi-man matches, the first go-around at Superbrawl, then the Ironman match at Beach Blast, which I'd also put it in my top 5 for WCW. Rude was my favourite wrestler in the world that year.

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MV5BOTU0ZWI0NTQtYmE1Ny00NTJlLWI2YjktNDhj

 

This was an iconic PPV ad for me. I vividly remember seeing it in PWI while at the magazine rack at the local Fleet Farm.

 

 

---

I'm pre-gaming Mania by watching the first WCW Sat Night on the network. It seems WCW discovered the wonders of canned heat by this point.

 

Fantastic Iron Man between Rude/Steamboat alough I feel 30 mins wasent long enough. 1 Hour would have been better.

 

Saying that what do people feel about the Rhodes/Rude Iron man?

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  • 2 weeks later...
(...)

 

- Austin vs. Z-Man was damn good and fun. As tempting as it is to credit Austin for a carry-job based on hindsight, that would be unfair and untrue - Z-Man worked his ass off too and had fans chanting his name. That would never happen today with some random midcard babyface (unless ironically).

I was watching this a week or so ago. I did not remember Austin having a knee brace that early in his career. By the way: how did the Z-Man name got by S&P?

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I've sampled several episodes so far and have noticed that Jesse isn't doing color commentary with Jim Ross. My memory is a little fuzzy as to specifics but did he start on SN once Ross left?

 

Yeah, he drops in occasionally during 1992, but he's not full time on SN until '93. He is doing Worldwide with Schiavone every week at this point.

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What show is the Rhodes/Rude Ironman on?

 

Beach Blast 1993.

 

 

By the way: how did the Z-Man name got by S&P?

Ehh?

 

I'm also working my way through these shows. I just finished the 4-18-92 show. So, I think three shows so far? '91-''92 WCW is like my favorite roster of any wrestling I can remember. I also love how it feels more like a sport than a show, like WWE goes for nowadays. The commentators call it more like an athletic event. Jim Ross used to be crazy good.

 

Look at this top 5!

 

0Ab3woL.png

 

 

I actually don't remember K. Allen Frey. But I have noticed that every show so far during the main event has had a 2-out-of-3 falls match. The recap of the Rude/Steamboat feud was great. Steamboat slapping Medusa, Rude slamming Steamboat's face into the concrete, them having to digitally blur the images due to the brutality, Steamboat with the broken nose and two black eyes cutting a promo about his four year old son having to see his daddy like that... just a great angle.

 

It's funny when I was younger, I used to really like Nikita Koloff but he's so... bad. Just so bad. Terrible fake accent, bad promo, generic gear, bad worker, terrible finish... he was all look because he looked scary & had those big ass trapezius muscles. Really bad babyface too... he just botched a small package & I was thinking out loud "why did I used to like this dude?" I really do think it was just because he looked like such a monster from his basement training video & when he came back & attacked Lex Luger over the U.S. title. And even then the training video felt like a rip off of Mr. T. from Rocky III.

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(...)

 

 

- Austin vs. Z-Man was damn good and fun. As tempting as it is to credit Austin for a carry-job based on hindsight, that would be unfair and untrue - Z-Man worked his ass off too and had fans chanting his name. That would never happen today with some random midcard babyface (unless ironically).

I was watching this a week or so ago. I did not remember Austin having a knee brace that early in his career. By the way: how did the Z-Man name got by S&P?

His name was Tom Zenk, so Z-Man wasn't much of a stretch. Yes, say it a certain way and it can sound like 'Seaman'. Not a big enough deal for S&P to bother with if you have to go that far for the joke.

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Z-Man and semen are almost homophones. I suppose that was done on purpose with someone finding it funny in a "see, he is a blowjob babyface" way.

 

Maybe it's because I saw Zenk start out in the AWA and watched him as "Zenk" up until that point but I never put together what Z-man could sound like until I read this just now (and the connotation attached to it which also fits disturbingly well for him).

 

Signed, "The guy that took the screen name 'khawk' as a homage to his favourite NHL team, as opposed to how it sounds if you say it quickly which he didn't realize until it was pointed out to him several years later..." :D

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(...)

 

 

- Austin vs. Z-Man was damn good and fun. As tempting as it is to credit Austin for a carry-job based on hindsight, that would be unfair and untrue - Z-Man worked his ass off too and had fans chanting his name. That would never happen today with some random midcard babyface (unless ironically).

I was watching this a week or so ago. I did not remember Austin having a knee brace that early in his career. By the way: how did the Z-Man name got by S&P?
His name was Tom Zenk, so Z-Man wasn't much of a stretch. Yes, say it a certain way and it can sound like 'Seaman'. Not a big enough deal for S&P to bother with if you have to go that far for the joke.

I had a random Saturday Night fired up the other day when a friend dropped by. He watches the modern stuff and WWE back in that era but WCW pre Monday Nitro is a blind spot.

 

Friend: "Why do they call him the Z-Man?"

 

Me: "Because he's the best wrestler in the world, from A to Z...MAAAN!"

 

Friend: "really?"

 

Me: "No but even that would've been more effort and creativity than the real reason."

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Not sure how Z-Man can sound like semen unless you're a redneck who is pronouncing Z-Man incorrectly. (Granted, that might have been an issue in the Southern hayseed-infested Dubya-C-Duyba.)

 

SuperMAN, BatMAN, Spider-MAN, Z-Man. Not Supermin, Batmin, Spider-min, Z-min.

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