WCW Saturday Night 11/23/1991 Review

WCW Saturday Night 11/23/1991 Review

Backstory - For unexplained reasons, I somehow had this tape when I was younger. Don't ask me how. Someone recorded this along with Pittsburgh Penguins hockey. I watched this tape so much that it was one of the things I hunted down once I figured out what it was. I haven't seen this show in a few years but I can recite promo lines and commercial lines from this show on request.

Ricky Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes vs Bob Cook and Mike Thor

Mike Thor gettin' himself some

"His youthful enthusiasm and Steamboat's experience are gonna make this a very difficult team to defeat for any combination". - Jim Ross

Dustin Rhodes got the win on Mike Thor with a bulldog after a Steamboat elbow. Squash city here but this was fine for what it was. Lots of armdrags and jumping off the top rope with chops or punches. I liked the double team work and the crowd was into it. Nice bump by Mike Thor on the bulldog

"And Ricky, a special welcome back to WCW for you" - JR

"You know something Jim, the night that we won the champsionship, just as soon as we got back fro mthe locker room. A cloud had settled over our victory. We had heard that Anderson and Zbyszko had submitted a complaint to the WCW comitte in reveiwing the contract...."

"Well it didn't work did it Anderson? It didn't work did it Zbyszko? You guys gotta fess up to us now."

"And Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, you want these belts back? You pallies, come and get em cuz we got em now"

WCW Top 10 Rankings

 PN News vs Pat Rose

The ladies love PN News

"I've heard it said that I should rap for my life. And if I had to, I wouldn't think twice. They can't diss me, I don't care what they say. Cuz that's not the rap game PN News would play. So if you're listenin' take my advice,  ask my opponent, it ain't worth the price. YO BABY YO BABY YO"

"What are your thoughts on this man that you have called on many occasions "a big ole ugly bear"? - JR, "He's not no longer a big ole ugly bear. He's a loveable teddy bear" - Johhny B Badd

"You think he might be able to teach you to rap? "I'd love to learn how to rap, Jimmy"

"Right about now, it may be time for - The Rapmaster Splash"

The finish

PN News won with The Rapmaster Slash. This was awful. News blew a headscissors and Pat Rose telegraphed the belly to belly that came before the finish. The crowd liked PN News though and loved his rapping.


He did another rap after:
"If they can do better then give it their best. Or shut up and put up, and I'll do the rest. YO BABY YO BABY YO."

We had a Battlebowl 1991 Promo and WCW Hotline commercial:

WCW Magazine with Eric Bischoff:

"Ravishing Rick Rude is the new United States Heavyweight Champion"

Sting had been receiving giftboxes and was supposed to get his final one tonight.

"Come on, I want a prize man, gimme a prize" - Sting

"Whoaa, It's Medusa" - Tony Schiavone

"Seduca is more like it" - Me

"Wait a minute and there's Luger. Lex Luger just clipped Sting"

"Right in the left knee. The one he had reconstructive surgery on"

Sting was taken into the hospital before his title defense and then Paul E Dangerously came out:

"Article 6...it stays and you can read it, I'm not lying this tim.e. "should by accident, act of God or injury, the United States champion not appear in ring by bell time, the United States Heavyweight Championship shall be forefeited and the title will be assumed by Ravishing Rick Rude"

"Sting was in a battle against the clock. He had to get back to the arena to defend his title or risk losing his championship"

"He's back, he's back" - JR, "RING THE BELL" - Paul E

"He's got the tights and he's gonna win it" - JR

Bischoff then announced a Sting/Rude rematch. AWESOME Angle. Crowd was on fire, JR was on fire and Rude was such a dick heel here. Awesome story telling.

Cactus Jack vs Rick Ryder

They showed Jack hitting Van Hammer in the throat with a guitar from the Clash.

"That is a sick human being, I can tell you" - JR

"He puts his own body in danger just in the hopes of maiming his opponent"

Cactus Jack got the win with the double arm ddt. Nothing special here and it was rather short. The announcers really sold Jack well though. He went for more after the bell and Van Hammer attacked.

The Young Pistols vs The Fabulous Freebirds

The Freebirds were over like Rover.

"If this had just happened a few weeks ago, the Young Pistols would have been cheered and the Freebirds would have been booed out of the building"

"DDT! DDT!" - Fans | "OH YEAHHHH" - Garvin

"Smothers goes over..oh my"

Hayes got the win with a schoolboy. Smothers had the pin on Hayes earlier but the ref didn't see it and then Hayes reversed it. The match was fast paced and the Birds were super over the whole time. Mostly just playing with the crowd. 

"The Freebirds have won the match but they are rapidly losing the war"

"One of my main goals is to be the heavyweight champion"

JR did an interview with the new rookie, Marcus Alexander Bagwell.

Special Challenge Match - The York Foundation vs Arachinman, Big Josh and Z-Man

"Alot of rumors in our sport and we may understand that Terrance Taylor may be having some problems with The York Foundation of some sort"

"I think you can sense at home as we can at Center Stage, that all is not well in the boardroom of the York Foundation"

"Two former fishing buddies in Thomas Rich and Big Josh. I don't think they're gonna be baiting their hooks together any longer."

No one wants to tag Taylor | "I'm impressed with this combination of Z-Man, Arachinman and uh Big Josh-Man."

Morton throws Taylor back in and they lose

Arachniman got the win with the roll up after Morton threw Taylor back in abruptly. The story of the match was that the YF's weren't getting a long. Taylor nailed Morton twice early on accident and neither one of them wanted to let him tag out. Near the end, Morton threw Taylor back in and that was it. Good storytelling here with the point being made loud and clear. The work wasn't anything special.

"Now I don't know and I might be wrong, but The York Foundation might be ready for a Chapter 11 or something"

"I don't need the York Foundation" - Terrance Taylor

Ravishing Rick Rude vs Jumping Joey Maggs

"What I'd like to have right now is for all you fat, out of shape, putrid peons, keep the noise down while I take my robe off and give you a good look at the new United States Champion."

Rude won very quickly with the Rude Awakening.

"I was originally going to make this announcement at the Omni but I understand CNN was gonna break this story and I'm not gonna give them the scoop."

"Now you see Jim Ross, you're a big football fan. If the New York Giants all week long were preparing for the Miami Dolphin and the NFL said 'Nah, now you're gonna face the Pittsburgh Steelers', would that be fair? No. See that doesn't happen in any sport but wrestling."

"See (they) like to give wrestlers the shaft and two victims of this shaft have come to Rick Rude, Medusa and I looking for legal advice..please welcome the two new members of the Dangerous Alliance - Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko"

 He then introduced Stunning Steve Austin as another member of the group.

"You're assembling quite a line-up here Paul" - JR | "It's not a line-up, it's not an army, it's not a stable and it's not a family. It's an alliance of businessmen who will bring WCW down to its knees." - Paul E

E said Eaton talked Sting into going to the hospital at the Clash and said he would delay the match. He then announced Eaton as the newest member.

"Please welcome one of Sting's best friends and a little Stinger himself, ladies and gentlemen,  Beautiful Bobby Eaton".

"I'm looking at you and you're starting to sweat. You're saying Sting and everybody else are in just a little bit of trouble."

"You see WCW has had a lot of bodyguards, a lot of hitmen, but they've never had a man that's so digustingly sick that while another man holds another man's hand in a car door that he would be sick enough to crunch that hand with the car door and enjoy the sound of the bone crunching.  That's why Larry Zbyzsko is now being called by us - The Cruncher. He's the man that will stand in front of us and do all of our dirty deeds. Because he's sick enough like Oliver North to do it"

Steamboat and Rhode came out:

 Anderson talked about taking the titles.

"If you want these belts, you come down here Thanksgiving night and you come get em"

"Bobby Eaton and I myself will come and get em We're gonna take you to new heights, you never believed imagineable pal".

Really strong angle here that introduced the new group and made sense of it. The Dangerous Alliance was sick of being screwed and came together to start doing things their way.

The Steiner Brothers vs Mr. Hughes and Lex Luger

Rick Steiner got the win hitting a top rope bulldog on Mr Hughes. Fun match. They kept it pretty fast paced but Mr. Hughes was the MVP here. He bumped like a man half his size and made the Steiners look great. Lots of nice power moves here and the Steiners stiffed the heels. Hot crowd as well. Rating:***

Overall thoughts: Really good show. The Dangerous Alliance formation was good, the main event was good and I liked the storyline development in the York Foundation match. I definitely recommend this.