WCW Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Nevertheless, the Saturday night programming lived on under Ted Turner’s bankroll and the rebranded WCW Saturday Night became a reality on 4 April 1992. With the revamp taking place just one day before WrestleMania VIII, WCW looked to make a big statement. With a new look, a new set and a new venue, the changes made the show instantly unique and showed that Turner and Co. meant business.

Even the broadcast team was a who’s who of wrestling announcers. The commentary booth originally consisted of Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura, before they were eventually replaced by Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan. Meanwhile, Dusty Rhodes also appeared regularly, while Larry Zbyszko would also take over colour duties as years went on. Even Bruno Sammartino made a few guest appearances in the announce booth early on, while ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund was a constant after he joined WCW in ‘93.

As for the matches, WCW Saturday Night was the stage of countless classic bouts in the early to mid ‘90s. It was that very show on which Cactus Jack went toe-to-toe with Big Van Vader, taking a brutal powerbomb to the concrete for his trouble. Meanwhile, it was also home to match three of the legendary ‘Best of Seven’ series between Chris Benoit and Booker T.

In fact, Saturday Night featured several matches that would be considered dream bouts today, including a rare bout pitting Randy Savage against Steve Austin and another that saw a young Triple H take on Ricky Steamboat. In addition to these surprising match-ups, the show was also home to numerous hidden gems over the years, like Yuji Nagata vs. Goldberg and even a forgotten chapter in the Malenko/Guerrero feud.

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