Good, Bad & Great American Bash

[tiger_rick]

Some sort of GAB themed NXT coming up. Odd that WCW lives vicariously through NXT these days.

Anyway, good and bad memories of the Great American Bash?

Best match has to be that Midnights/Southern Boys opener from 1990. One of the great PPV openers full stop. Ric Flair and Terry Funk, god bless the Funker, is right up there too from the year before. What a great little feud that is. Didn't Flair go straight from the Steamboat feud into the Funk feud? That must be an all-time great back to back series?

Best full show is either 1989 or 1996 which is a tremendous show out of nowhere. WCW wasn't great on PPV for a long time and then that show is just a home run with three really, really good matches and one of the company's best angles.

Worst is always fun to discuss, I'll leave that open goal for others. Given how terrible WCW's last GAB was in 2000, that WWE managed to revive the concept and probably do worse is some achievement!

[HarmonicGenerator]

2004 will always stick in my mind. Kenzo Suzuki, Mordecai, JBL winning the WWE Championship, the Concrete Crypt. An all-timer for shit PPVs.

And yet, I'd still watch it over current WWE.

Edited July 6, 2021 by HarmonicGenerator

[Tsurutagun]

I'll add Sting winning the title at GAB 1990. I saw the VHS from this event in Discount Video in Birmingham Pallasades when I was 11 and everything from Sting's mega theme at the time which WCW changed to "Man Called Sting" because WCW everybody to Jim Ross' commentary to the post match celebration and Sting marking out when he saw the firework mural of himself was mesmerising. I don't collect wrestling collectables but when I saw his figure from that Bash a couple of years ago I bought it. 

Only one question comes from that night. How stupid is WCW to have messed Sting up? 

[Devon Malcolm]

GAB 88 had four of the best matches I've ever seen all on the same show. Wasn't a fan of Tower of Doom in the middle, otherwise it's a perfect show.

[tiger_rick]

44 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

GAB 88 had four of the best matches I've ever seen all on the same show. Wasn't a fan of Tower of Doom in the middle, otherwise it's a perfect show.

I think I've only seen the main event which is really good but has a weak finish. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by tiger_rick

[Snitsky's back acne]

89 has to be the all round best for me. Luger v Steamboat, War Games and the absolutely stellar Funk v Flair fight. A more than watchable undercard too.

 

Have to agree with the Midnight vs Southern Boys from 1990. Absolute belter.

[Jazzy G]

My best mate got me a Bash 1990 Sting action figure the other year for my birthday/Christmas. As soon as I saw it I knew which one it was. It's probably my favourite surfer Sting style. 

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I wasn't really a WCW guy, but I came across Sting vs. Flair as a DVD extra on one of the WWE Bashes. Amazing match.

I'll get to WCW one day. Just didn't have access to it at the time, and watched select matches/shows over the years, but been prioritising working through WWE archives first. Might use some of the good suggestions in this thread to get the ball rolling. Seen a few Mysterio WCW matches- was Mysterio vs. Malenko GAB 1996, or have I mixed up PPVs in my head? 

From WWE, most of their attempts at the Great American Bash have been shit. Although Cena vs. Lashley at GAB 2007 is pretty quality. Also on that show- it wasn't a classic or anything, but it was cool seeing Orton vs. Dusty Rhodes in a Bullrope Match. Dusty might have been well past it at that point, but god was he charismatic.

[Pier Six Brawler]

Midnights vs Southern Boys wasn't the PPV opener, it was the VHS opener as they cut a few matches off the show to make it a two hour tape. It was a fantastic match though, the first match I remember seeing and thinking how good it was without knowing any of the story or angles leading upto it. The WWF never really had great undercard matches like that, it was all about the main event and the angles and storylines. 

GAB '90 was an excellent all round show. Doom vs the RnR was another great match with a 90s team going over one of the top team of the 80s. Always thought they should have done more with Doom, instead they split them up only a few months later. WCW still had a strong tag team roster in 1990, it was a lot stronger than the WWFs by that point.

[tiger_rick]

5 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said:

Midnights vs Southern Boys wasn't the PPV opener, it was the VHS opener as they cut a few matches off the show to make it a two hour tape. 

TIL.

[air_raid]

Lost in a sea of shit at GAB’91 is a lone island of hope in Dustin Rhodes & The Young Pistols vs The Freebirds (Hayes/Garvin/Bradstreet) which is a super fun eliminator.

There are loads of fun matches in the midcards between 96-98. As mentioned Rey debuts in 96 against Dean Malenko and gets over immediately. I’m pretty partial to the Benoit/Meng rematch in 97 where they beat the shit out of each other and Savage/Page II on the same show is wild for the era. 

Also lost because of unflattering comparisons to their WCW matches and forgotten compared to the ladder match, Rey vs Eddy at WWE GAB 2005 is pretty good for Eddy being a total prick.

[RedRooster]

As far as recent(ish) GABs go, 2005 sticks out to me for the 'death' of Muhammad Hassan at the hands of The Undertaker. The original intention of this storyline had been to get Hassan into the Summerslam main event with Batista, and I dread to think how much further they would have gone with the terrorism-style direction had they been able to do that. 

The PPV itself was full of odd storylines - including the Rey Mysterio/Eddie Guerrero angle, which would, one month later, culminate in the ladder match for custody of future WWE tag team champion Dominik Mysterio (and prior to that the reveal that he was actually Eddie's son). 

You also had the lawnmower riding Mexicools facing off with the bWo, the new Legion of Doom (Animal and Heidenreich) defeating MNM in a Tag title match, and Orlando Jordan defeating Chris Benoit in a US title match. It was a strange, strange PPV. 

[Jazzy G]

17 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

As far as recent(ish) GABs go, 2005 sticks out to me for the 'death' of Muhammad Hassan at the hands of The Undertaker. The original intention of this storyline had been to get Hassan into the Summerslam main event with Batista, and I dread to think how much further they would have gone with the terrorism-style direction had they been able to do that. 

The PPV itself was full of odd storylines - including the Rey Mysterio/Eddie Guerrero angle, which would, one month later, culminate in the ladder match for custody of future WWE tag team champion Dominik Mysterio (and prior to that the reveal that he was actually Eddie's son). 

You also had the lawnmower riding Mexicools facing off with the bWo, the new Legion of Doom (Animal and Heidenreich) defeating MNM in a Tag title match, and Orlando Jordan defeating Chris Benoit in a US title match. It was a strange, strange PPV. 

I wonder whether they'll do a Dominik heel turn somewhere down the line and start presenting him as Dominik Guerrero. Show him a load of Eddie's matches and promos and see whether he can do a passable Latino Heat impression. Would it be any more disrespectful than when Orton said he was "down there in hell"? 

[Pier Six Brawler]

I liked GAB '92 but I can understand why it didn't go down too well at the time. The Arena looked very basic and sparse WCW normally had elaborate set decorations for PPV, nothing for this event, just the ring in a dark arena, and no mats surrounding the ring either. The PPV was the world title match and the NWA title tournament, Vader pretty much dominated Sting and pinned him clean to win the title, and Williams and Gordy won the tournament, also cleanly.

[westlondonmist]

Bash 2000, not a single good match but about 10 shit ones. The best match has David Flair in it, which says a lot. Possibly the worst ppv ever. 99 was pretty shit too, however it does have an awesome Saturn and Benoit vs New Jersey Triad match.