Great American Bash '85

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '85

July 6, 1985 from Charlotte Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC

 

Well this is a nice surprise. Years ago I reviewed three Great American Bash tour shows that were uploaded to the fantastic Hidden Gems section of the old WWE Network, two from '86 and one from '88. Now WWE has just uploaded onto their WCW Vault channel on YouTube the first ever GAB show from 1985. Previously this show was only available as a hugely truncated one hour VHS release. Now we have the whole show to enjoy, and I will always take more mid '80s Jim Crockett Promotions shows, one of my favorite periods in wrestling history.

 

Starrcade was a huge success the past two years for Crockett and the NWA, even if the '84 show wasn't all that great, so the obvious thing to do was to try to add on some more supercard shows. Since Starrcade was a Thanksgiving show, it made sense to hold one during the middle of the summer, specifically coinciding with the 4th of July holiday. Starting in '86 GAB would become a multi-week tour of shows during midsummer before eventually becoming a yearly PPV, but this first year it's just a single outdoor stadium show. And the NWA wouldn't be putting all its eggs in this basket right away, as they also had a huge joint show with the AWA planned for the fall to try to compete with the WWF's success with the first Wrestlemania, which would end up being the first Superclash. They were also slowly building to what would end up being possibly the greatest Starrcade of all time in November.

 

We get the "presented in the most complete form possible" disclaimer at the start, which is completely understandable under the circumstances. Some skydivers start things off to get the crowd going. #1 misses his spot pretty bad, #2 does better, and #3 sticks the landing right on target. After that is a real nice panning shot of the whole crowd before intros for the first match. I like how there's only a dozen or so rows of floor seats. Yeah it makes the stadium field look awful empty, but I can tell you from experience that if you get that far back on unraised seats at a wrestling show you can hardly see a damn thing anyway. No commentary for this show as it wasn't shown on TV. 

 

"Cowboy" Ron Bass and "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel (w/JJ Dillon) time limit draw- Bass' nickname is "Cowboy" here instead of the more well known "Outlaw" because he's a face. Landel's whole gimmick is he's a delusional heel that thinks he's the real "Nature Boy", and in fact had just had a few title shots against the real Nature Boy so this is a bit far down on the card for him considering. Also ironic that Dillon's managing him when he'll soon be the manager of the Four Horsemen. Red Pants is the referee working the first batch of matches tonight. You know Red Shoes Unno, here's Red Pants Sonny Fargo. He was a regular ref for lower card matches for Crockett in this period. The bell rings and Landel immediately runs around and bails to the floor. When he gets in he tries to hide behind the ref and bails again. After some Dillon advice he manages to attack Bass from behind, triggering off an extended back and forth slugfest. Landel takes a couple of buckle shots and rolls out again. Cautious knucklelock back in. Off a whip Landel grabs the ropes and escapes to the turf one more time. Bass has had enough and chases him down. Post shot for Landel and Bass is very happy with his handiwork. Another cautious knucklelock in the ring and Bass stomps on Landel's foot. He starts working on Landel's arm. ARMBAR. Landel backs him into the corner and hits some chops. Bass dodges in the opposite corner and Landel runs shoulder first into the top turnbukle. Bass identifies the target and runs the shoulder into the corner a couple of more times. He hooks on a hammerlock to try to work the shoulder some more. Landel eye rakes free. Bass hooks on the gut claw! Landell gets himself free and powders again. Back in Landell tries an arm wringer that Bass easily reverses. Bass then delights in some more arm punishment. It's always good to see someone that loves their job so much. Landel gets another chop in and tosses Bass out. Dillon gets a couple of shots in, including the dreaded back rake. Landel gives Bass a shot on the timekeeper's table that actually rings the bell, then chokes him with a camera cable. Back in Landel works a chinlock and asks "Who's the real Nature Boy?". In between chinlocks Dillon gets a slap and chokes in. Bass dodges an elbow drop and gets a flash small package for 2. Landel gets back on the chinlock, then there's a small edit cutting to Landel beating on Bass on the turf again. Bass fires back and knocks Landel around the ringside area. Landel begs off back in. No dice there. Landel then tries to walk. Bass follows, but then chases Dillon after Dillon tries to distract. Landel tries to use that to jump but Bass was ready for him. Bass no sells some punches and they stand off as the bell rings for the 20 minute time limit draw (about 17 minutes shown thanks to the edit). Pretty time limit stally and it didn't have the usual trying for a last second win flurry at the end (which might be more of a plus than a minus), but overall it was an OK opener. **

 

The fight continues a bit after the bell. Dillon tries to get involved but Bass maneuvers him and Landel into colliding, then Bass puts the Claw on Dillon before Landel saves him. 

 

NWA National Tag Team Championship: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (c) def Buzz Sawyer and Dick Slater- The National titles were the titles in the NWA's Georgia territory that was recently acquired by Crockett after the whole Black Saturday fiasco, the start of Crockett's expansion that would eventually overtax them and lead to their downfall and Turner buyout. The Arn and Ole Anderson team go by both The Andersons and The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (second version) and it's hard to tell what it's supposed to be on any given day, so in the absence of clarity I'm going with the much cooler name. One of the best team names ever. Sawyer and Slater ride in on a golf cart, charge to the ring and attack! It's weird seeing them as faces as both had most of their most prominent exposure as heels (and Sawyer was a pretty big heel in real life by all accounts). Sawyer's got on fur covered boots that honestly look like they could be slippers. Big 2v2 brawl with Slater atomic dropping Arn on the floor while Sawyer takes it to Ole in the ring. Eventually the faces clear the ring and pose while the Andersons try to find an opening. They think they see one and call the play but the faces are ready for them again. Red Pants finally restores some order with Arn and Slater in the ring. They lock up and Arn pushes Slater to his corner so Ole can blind tag in. The Andersons try a corner beatdown but we're quickly all in donnybrooking again. Sawyer bites Arn. The Andersons get whipped into each other and bail for a think again. Reset with Slater now stalling Ole to play some of his own mind games. Lockup and Slater hooks on a hammerlock. Ole gets dragged around by the arm but escapes enough to make a tag. Arn tries a corner floatover but Sawyer turns around and decks him with a forearm. After another short order breakdown Sawyer ducks an Arn crossbody attempt, but Arn bounces the right way and tags out. Sawyer and Ole have a nice short mat sequence before Sawyer starts in some arm work on him. Slater comes in with an elbow off the top rope on Ole. Slam and elbow drop from Slater for 2. He tries for a figure four but Ole tights pulls him down to the mat. The Andersons try a double team. Sawyer runs in to stop them, but takes away Red Pants' attention and the Andersons beat Slater down in their corner. The next couple of minutes are some classic Anderson arm work and cutting the ring in half, keeping Slater in their corner with nice toe holds. They make a mistake when Ole tries to get creative (there's a sentence with multiple future meanings) and goes up top. Slater slams him off! Tag to Sawyer. Sawyer hits a powerslam on Arn for 2. Flying forearm and he covers Arn. Ole elbow drops Sawyer in the back of his head, covers and wraps his head up so the ref can't see it's him, and gets a three count even though Sawyer might have just kicked out in time. It was bang bang. Slater points out to Red Pants the wrong Anderson was making the pin but the Andersons are already half out of the stadium. They even left the belts behind. After a minute or so the ring announcer says the Andersons win....by DQ. Uh, OK? Nothing in the online results on Cagematch or Wiki say anything about a DQ and I can't see any reason for a DQ going that direction so I'm going with the ring announcer goofing on that. A solidly good match that showed off that classic advanced level Anderson tag team strategery. ***

 

Manny Fernandez, Buzz Tyler and Sam Houston def Abdullah the Butcher, Konga the Barbarian and "Superstar" Billy Graham- Tyler is the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion and has his belt on. Fernandez is the reigning NWA Mid-Atlantic Bare Knuckles champion and does not have his belt on. If there even was a belt for that short lived title, I don't remember. Konga is the artist that will later be known as just the Barbarian, mostly in WWF and WCW. Tyler and Graham start. Quick speed run and Graham runs into Fernandez on the apron, knocking himself down. Too bad for Graham he didn't run into Houston, that bean pole wouldn't have even bothered him. Graham backs off and tags Barbarian. They do the same sequence, but Barbarian slams on the brakes before hitting Fernandez. But that allows the faces to knock him around the circle a couple of times. Barbarian gets a chop on Fernandez. Fernandez responds with a back elbow and some chops of his own. Fernandez fakes Barbarian out with a crossbody tease, then hops to the other side and hits the crossbody for 2. Graham tags back in and Fernandez speeds around him, not difficult as Graham was barely mobile by this point, and hits an uppercut. Graham wants a time out. Fernandez responds with a Spaceballs salute. The faces work on Graham's arm for a bit. Graham is easily able to outmuscle Houston once he's in, getting him in the heel corner and tagging in Abby. Abby runs Houston over, which is about the equivalent of a train hitting a sheep. Barbarian hits a slam and legdrop on Houston. Graham comes in with some martial arts shots to the throat. Fernandez runs in to try to stop a triple team, but that only lets Abby squash Houston in the heel corner. Houston gets tossed out and flipped over the guardrail. Fernandez helps him back over and into the ring, but Houston stays in peril. Eventually Houston manages to speed around Graham and hits a crossbody. DONNYBROOK! Houston wraps Graham up in a small package, and gets a shock upset pin! After the bell Houston celebrates like crazy with his teammates for a couple of minutes, clearly unable to believe what he just did. Solid six man stuff, with a good old "monster heels vs quick bumpaholic babyfaces" formula. **1/2

 

Dog Collar Match: Jimmy Valiant (w/Buzz Tyler) def Paul Jones (w/Abdullah the Butcher)- Hebner checks in to ref the next couple of matches. Yes, Hebner was with the NWA for a while before joining WWF. I haven't seen anything close to resembling a decent Jimmy Valiant match during these years and I'm not expecting that to start now. Most of those shitfests have been against former wrestler turned manager Jones too. This was a neverending feud. The crowd was always hot for it though, I can't deny Valiant's offbeat charisma. Not sure why two guys from the last match stayed behind to be seconds but whatever. Naturally we get the usual heel refusing to put the collar on stalling. Jones takes the collar, has a really good and long think about how exactly to apply it....then tries to put it on Abby. Tyler jumps him and forces it on, but while he's doing that Abby lays out Valiant. Once the collar's on the bell rings to officially start things. Valiant is still wobbled and Jones takes advantage to work him over. Valiant's already bleeding and we get plenty of his specialized spasm selling. He's got "FM 100" on his tights. Is that a local radio station that's sponsoring him? Jones goes up to the second rope, then comes down with what I really hope wasn't an attempt at a move because it was weak as shit. He goes up there again. Valiant uses the chain to crotch him! Jones gets out of the ring and tries to run but can't because of the chain. Valiant uses it to pull him into the post. Jones gets back in and Valiant works him over with his crazy over the top punches that make the Rock's look subtle. Jones is bleeding a little. Valiant hooks on the sleeper! Abby tries to get in. Valiant uses the chain to pull Jones into Abby. Elbow drop, cover, and Valiant gets the pin. After the bell Abby attacks Valiant with his Spike of Death but Tyler fights him off with a chair. The usual slow motion, barely come within 6 inches of each other on any strikes crapfest from these two, but at least they kept it short and to the point. 1/4*

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: AWA World Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) and The Russian Team (c) double DQ- There's another edit that clips the entrances for this match, so sadly I can't say if the Roadies rode in on their bikes or not. The Roadies are announced as the AWA World tag champs (without their belts though), but the ring announcer makes it clear this is for the NWA titles only. Then he goes and does a full on Lillian Botch, announcing the Russians as Ivan and Nikita Koloff when it's Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev defending tonight, before quickly correcting himself. The Russian Team were a three man unit that defended under Freebird Rules, and Nikita had bigger things going on later tonight. Kruschev is the very not Russian Barry Darsow, the future Demolition Smash, Repo Man and Blacktop Bully. Not all at the same time. Hawk and Ivan start. Hawk easily overpowers him out of the first lockup. Ivan tries a top wristlock but Hawk also fights that off. Ivan tries to counter a backdrop attempt with a kick but Hawk dodges it and hits the backdrop going the other way. Powerslam for 2 and both sides tag. Animal and Kruschev have a little flex off. Lockup and Kruschev picks Animal up and tosses him! Pretty unexpected and impressive power there honestly. Another lockup and this time Animal does the lifting and tossing, with a bit more force. Test of strength that ends in a stalemate. They have a long top wristlock leverage fight that also ends in stalemate. Full speed shoulderblock collisions that are also inconclusive. Very fun sequence there. Kruschev cranks things up a notch by laying in the first strikes between the two and he hits a slam. Animal comes off the ropes with a tackle. He has a bit of trouble lifting Kruschev up, but eventually does and drops him on the top rope. Both sides tag again. Ivan gets a boot up in the corner and goes up top, but Hawk slams him back down. Running chop and fistdrop from Hawk for 2. He hooks on a front facelock. Ivan manages to fight over and get a tag, but Kruschev was standing on the bottom rope so Hebner doesn't allow it! Yes, back when tag rules were actually enforced. To a degree. While Kruschev is arguing that the Roadies swap without a tag! Hebner hilariously makes a big show asking the crowd if there was a tag, then shrugs his shoulders and pretty much goes "whatever". Kruschev decides to argue some more and the Roadies swap with no tag again! Another very fun expectation subverting sequence. Then Hawk does a little biting. The Roadies can heel it up all they want, there's no way in hell the crowd is going to root for the Soviet pinko commies. Hawk press slams Ivan, then Animal tags in and hits a big elbow drop for 2. He chinlocks Ivan literally inches away from being able to tag just to tease him, then drags him back over. Ivan manages to fight back to his corner, but Kruschev isn't there for the tag! He gets back on the apron but just misses Ivan again! I don't know what happened there, if Hawk pulled him down or not, we never saw on camera. Kruschev has finally had enough, getting in the ring and brawling with Hawk. They go around the ring and back in, and while passing Animal Kruschev gives him a shot to finally put the Russians in control. They quick tag to keep Animal isolated. Animal ducks an Ivan punch and hits a back suplex, but Kruschev cuts the tag off. Back elbow on Animal for 2. Animal headbutts Ivan in the gut but again gets blocked from tagging. Tagblocked. Kruschev and Animal double clothesline each other. Tag to Ivan. Tag to Hawk! Hawk runs wild on everyone. Big clothesline on Ivan but the pin is broken up. Everyone in the pool! Hawk hands Ivan to Animal on the ropes, but before Animal can do anything Kruschev hits him with a chair. Hawk gets the chair and unloads chairshots on everyone. Hebner calls for the bell, tossing the match out. No one cares, they're still fighting. Eventually the Roadies clear the ring to stand tall at the end. That was a pretty damn fun match with some very well done mini stories and everyone working hard. You can even forgive the finish as that was the norm in these kinds of interpromotional matches back then. ***1/4

 

Three days after this show, the Rock N Roll Express made their debut with Crockett and in their first night with the company defeated the Russian Team for the World tag titles, kicking off a feud that would last the rest of the year and culminate in a steel cage match at Starrcade. Over the next couple of years the RNR Express would be arguably the top draw in the whole company, even more than Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes.

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Magnum TA (c) def Kamala (w/Skandor Akbar) by DQ- Magnum is in his first reign as US champ, and he was someone the NWA and Crockett had a lot of hopes in as a future company carrying babyface. This is a one off stop for Kamala in Crockett as he was mostly working for the AWA and Mid-South at this time. NWA senior ref Tommy Young steps in for this match. He tries some prematch instructions but impatient Kamala takes is as a cue to attack instead. Probably a translation issue. Skandor Akbar is no Kim Chee. Magnum ducks a clothesline and hits a crossbody with a very delayed Kamala reaction. After a few punches Kamala makes a hard left turn out of the ring and out to the turf. Back in Kamala holds his hand up for a test of strength. Magnum comes in cautious and decks Kamala before Kamala can try anything sneaky. Kamala eye rakes and hits a head chop. He drops Magnum on the top rope and lays in some more head chops, followed by a back kick and the classic "I'm hungry" belly pat. Magnum is already bleeding off the chops. This is most definitely the NWA's "blood heavy" period. Kamala bites the cut then hooks on the Titty Pinch of Pain +2. He switches between that and choking. Magnum tries to power up but Kamala head chops him again. Big splash for 2. Chops to Magnum's back and Kamala hits another big splash, then tries to pin Magnum while Magnum's face down. Kamala even hooks a leg! What a goof. More choking and titty pinching follow. Magnum fights up again and punches free. He comes off the ropes but Kamala chops him in the back of the head as he's passing. Magnum fights up again and goes into full resilient babyface comeback mode. Corner dodges and Kamala crashes into the corner. Magnum wobbles Kamala with dropkicks and the third one puts him down. Magnum covers. Akbar comes in and attacks Magnum to draw the cheap DQ. The heels try to continue the punishment after the bell. Magnum slams Kamala! Then belly to belly suplexes him! Sure, do the best stuff after the match is over. He covers and counts a quick three on his own while Young reminds him the match is already over. You're never going to get much out of Kamala and Magnum wasn't really good enough to carry anyone yet, but he certainly tried. *3/4

 

The ring announcer has an important announcement: if you're parking on the other side of Independence at the baseball field, you better go and move your car now or it's going to get blown up by the post-show fireworks being set off from there. I'm paraphrasing a bit. I believe the legal phrase for that announcement is "covering your ass". 

 

NWA World's Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/local TV sports personality) def Nikita Koloff (w/Ivan Koloff)- Nikita Koloff only had about a year of experience under his belt and was still awfully green, but he'd become a big enough heel thanks to his Soviet gimmick to get a test run against The Man here. He's billed as Ivan Koloff's nephew, but in reality was from that great factory for wrestlers in the 20th century, Minnesota. Flair was slightly over a year into his (officially) third reign as champion, a reign that would end up being the longest of all his reigns. We're also still in the period where Flair is a face in his home territory. His big heel turn and the start of the slow formation of the Four Horsemen won't happen until the fall. After Nikita's entrance the ring announcer tells fans to clear the field in a certain section as they have a special surprise happening over there. It's soon clear what it is. A helicopter slowly makes its way in and lands there, and lo and behold there's Ric Flair inside it. That's making an entrance. And in the News 9 WSOC TV News Copter no less! The man spares no expense. A red carpet gets rolled out and fans quickly swarm the area. It takes security a bit to get Flair a path to the ring and there's another edit there. Some local TV sports guy handles the ring announcements, all while holding a rubber chicken. I have no idea if that's some reference to the Russians being chickens or if that's just his gimmick. For some reason David Crockett is reffing this match instead of Tommy Young, wearing khakis and a teal polo. It looks like he walked out of the corporate office straight into the ring. Flair struts a bit after the bell and we're on. Much stronger Nikita easily wins the early lockups. Flair works around into a hammerlock and down for a leg takedown. Quick reset. Nikita cranks a headlock and fights off Flair's attempt to escape with a top wristlock, all while the crowd is distracted by something or other. Flair backs into the corner and hits a big chop flurry, followed by a hiptoss and some more strutting. Nikita responds with his own corner attack and hiptoss. Backbreaker for 2. Nikita hooks on a bear hug. Flair bell rings out. Whip from Nikita and he gets the bear hug back on. Flair jabs free this time. Clothesline from Nikita followed by a choke before he goes back to the bear hug. This time Flair lifts him up and hits an inverted atomic drop! He fires off some more chops. Nikita hits a forearm and yet more bear hug. They're keeping it dead simple for him. Flair goes down into some near falls. He fights back up into the corner but Nikita hits another backbreaker for 2. Flair shoulders Nikita in the gut to get some space. Snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. More chops. Leg sweep and Flair goes for the knee for the first time. Back suplex. Nikita tries to fight it but Flair hooks on the figure four! Nikita eye rakes free. Flair grabs the leg to try to stay on it, but Nikita hooks him in a front chancery. Flair drops into some more near falls. When he gets back up Nikita switches to a headlock, then hits a shoulderblock. More Flair chops wobble Nikita. Flair hooks on a sleeper! Nikita backs him into the corner and muscles Flair up for a slam. Flair Flip! He falls all the way down to the turf. Nikita runs him into the post a couple of times and Flair does his usual duck near the ring skirt to blade right on camera (the camera's fault, not his). Flair crawls back in bleeding. Nikita bites the cut and covers for 2 with Flair's blood on his mouth. Nice. Clothesline from Nikita, but he takes absolutely forever to cover and only gets 2. Rookie mistake. He goes back for the bear hug but Flair very quickly bell rings free again. He's bleeding pretty good now. Comeback flurry from Flair. Chop and roll up for 2. He ground and pounds Nikita some and struts around again. Suplex from Flair. Elbow drop for 2. Corner chop and jabs. Ivan pulls Flair down in the corner and Nikita lays into him. Crockett goes down somewhere in there. Ivan goes up to the top rope. When he comes down he manages to take Crockett out again, not anyone else. A fan comes into the ring and grabs Ivan! 100% total legit fan run in here. Security very quickly runs in and gets him away. Once they clear out Flair does another Flair Flip, goes across the apron and comes off the top rope with a crossbody that Nikita completely fucks up his end of. After a lot of groping they get in position for Flair to cover for 1. Flair goes to the apron and pulls Nikita over the top rope for some elbow shots. Nikita lifts Flair back into the ring, but Flair falls on top of him and gets a pin! After the bell the Russians take Flair out while the ring announcer asks fans to clear the ringside area. It's still real to everyone, dammit. The face locker room tries to run in and help but the Russians take them all out too and leave Flair laying on the turf to end it. House show loop rematches set up. We're just getting into Flair's peak period, and this is a classic "good match with a broomstick" Flair match as he carried Koloff as well as possible. ***1/2

 

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Television Championship: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes def Tully Blanchard (c) (w/Baby Doll)- The TV title might seem like a bit of a come down for Dusty, but this was the hottest feud in the company at the time, which is why it's main eventing over the World title. That and the cage was too much work back then to put up and take down during the show.  Blanchard held the TV title for almost exactly a year before Dusty defeated him in March, then Blanchard managed to win it back again in April. In this period Blanchard looked every bit the surefire future world champion before his personal demons took over and Crockett was slowly grooming him to move up the card. More on that later. Another edit on the tape and we jump from Flair laying on the ground to the cage already set up for this match and both wrestlers in the ring. Tommy Young is back in to ref. This is announced as lights out unsanctioned. There's also an added stipulation that if Dusty wins he gets Baby Doll as his manager for 30 days. Blanchard's been making use of a loaded elbow pad lately, and he refuses to let Young check it. Dusty insists, so Young insists, and finally Blanchard relents. Young gives it every test possible, even standing on it, and says it's clean. Lockup and Dusty gets a quick elbow in. Blanchard dodges another elbow and we get a bit of a strut off. Dusty wins that. Speed run and Dusty hits a slam. Blanchard takes a second to double check the door really is locked, which makes Young also double double check. Yes it is. Remember the NWA didn't do escape rules cage matches like WWF did, they were designed to keep the wrestlers locked in and everyone else out. Dusty gets a leg takedown and drops an elbow. Blanchard pounds away on him on the mat, then tights pulls Dusty into the cage for the first cage shot. Elbow off the second rope from Blanchard. Dusty's already bleeding. Another cage shot for Dusty. Blanchard hooks on a chinlock. Dusty jawbreakers out. Blanchard dodges an elbow drop and hits his own. He grounds Dusty again with an armbar. Dusty comes back up firing off elbows. Cage shot for Blanchard. Dusty gives him repeated shots into the cage and now Blanchard is bleeding. Both wrestlers keep pushing Young away, he's taking as many bumps as anyone. Dusty hits a couple of swinging double ax handles and gives Blanchard the good old cheese grater spot on the cage. Blanchard crawls to the door and tries to open it. Still locked. Blanchard slips out of a suplex attempt but runs into a Dusty clothesline for 2. Dusty hooks on a figure four! Blanchard reverses it and they have a mutual agreement rope break. Blanchard tries to attack Dusty's knee from the mat. Dusty gives him some more elbows and backdrops out of a Blanchard piledriver attempt. Blanchard starts to climb the cage. Dusty follows, headbutts him, and gives him an elbow that drops him down to the mat. Dusty walks the top rope a bit using the cage as a support, then drops down with an elbow that's mostly dodged. Blanchard rolled away but it still hit him in the back. Both guys are down. Blanchard climbs the ropes again and Baby Doll hands him the loaded elbow pad. He puts it on, but never gets a chance to use it because Dusty pulls him down by the tights, plants him with a piledriver, and gets the pin to win the title and Baby Doll's services for 30 days! The face locker room empties to celebrate with Dusty and the last shot before the tape ends is a furiously resisting Baby Doll being drug into the ring. Another good but not quite great co-main event. There's nothing wrong with it, it just never hit the next level for whatever reason. ***1/2

 

The loss wouldn't bother Blanchard any. I mentioned he was slowly being groomed for bigger things. Later this very same month he'd defeat Magnum TA for the US title, kicking off another red hot feud that would end at Starrcade in their legendary I Quit Steel Cage match.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Not a blowaway start to the Great American Bash lineage, but it's still a fun stadium show. Old school shows like this almost always lived or died by their main event(s), and this one delivered well enough in that regard. It's also a good window into what Crockett was doing right at the beginning of their hottest period. Watching this won't exactly change your wrestling life, but still I'm very happy to see this finally liberated out of the vault after so long and I definitely recommend it for anyone wanting to check out some classic NWA action.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B 

Bash at the Beach '99

Legacy Review

Bash at the Beach '99

July 11, 1999 from the National Car Rental Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

 

The new WCW signature at the top of the show is here. Still hate the logo. As always the beach set looks good if nothing else. We've got a two man booth for the first time in forever in WCW because Mike Tenay is off on location to cover the Junkyard Invitational. In one of the most nonsensical moves of a nonsensical era, after fighting over the WCW Presidency for months, Roddy Piper has turned heel and joined Flair's administration as vice president, establishing themselves as the full heel authority figures currently controlling WCW.

 

Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/Sonny Oono) def Disco Inferno in 8:07- This whole thing started over, I'm sure this will shock no one, a dance contest. I'm guessing Disco turned face for this. Before the match Miller demands another dance off, puts his red dancing shoes on, and goes to town. Disco does his disco and Miller tries to jump him, but Disco was ready. Disco STOMPS ON MILLER'S HAT while whipping him across the corners. Wars have started over less. Miller takes a powder to think about things. Back in Disco dodges a bunch of Miller kick swings and attacks again. Inverted atomic drop. Regular atomic drop. Clothesline on the forehead for 2. Miller swings a back kick and I guess catches Disco with the side because he sells it. Miller tosses Disco out and Oono lays his usual kicks in. Both guys take guardrail shots, and that guardrail is DOUBLE LAYERED tonight so you know it really hurts. Missed opportunity by commentary to point that out really. Back in Miller gets a blatant low blow in. Disco manages a sunset flip for 2 but immediately takes a Miller superkick. Miller does a ton of bragging before covering and only gets 2. Disco dodges a diving chop and bites Miller's hand. Setup slam and Disco hits the dancing elbow off the second rope for 2. Russian leg sweep from Disco for 2. Another Miller superkick hits for 2. Disco tries for the LastChartDanceBuster whatever it's called this minute, but Miller pushes out and hits ANOTHER superkick. Disco pounds Miller down in the corner. Miller eye rakes out and gets his Loaded Red Dancing Shoe of Death that Oono placed in the corner for him. Disco stomps on Miller's foot, gets the shoe, and nails Miller with it! Cover but Oono has the ref distracted. When he turns around Disco only gets 2. Oono distracts again while Miller gets the shoe on. Kick to Disco, cover, and Miller gets the pin. Scary to say, but Disco carried Miller to something "better" than his usual. *1/4

 

WCW World Television Championship: Rick Steiner (c) def Van Hammer in 4:51- This is straight up heel vs heel. Tony calls Hammer a "young star". Yeah, he's only been around since 1991. Barely getting going. Lockup! Rick immediately goes to corner cheap shots. Hammer hits a couple of clotheslines and big boots Rick to the floor. Suplex from Hammer back in. Rick slugs back, drops an elbow on Hammer's side, and eye gouges and chokes for all he's worth. They go to the floor and Rick hits the DDT on bare concrete again. I can't say how much I hate doing that as a transitional move. Rick tries to cover on the floor then shoves the ref away when he won't count. Straight low blow from Hammer on the floor. Rick hits some more punches in the ring that look pretty straight. He keeps Hammer grounded and pounds away on him. Another toss out. Hammer grabs a chair and nails Rick with it. Clothesline off the top rope back in for 2. Hammer lifts Rick up, but Rick bites him right in the groinal area. I'm not joking. Then follows up with, what else, a low blow. And a Greco Roman Nut Punt. Bulldog off the top and it's thankfully over. This was the end of Hammer's latest mini-push, and in fact would be his last PPV match ever. 1/4*

 

Back at the junkyard, Tenay and a referee (with the WCW logo on his shirt taped off because it's UNSANCTIONED) show off the junkyard setup and the "Hardcore Champion" trophy the winner will get. Any bets on that thing not lasting the night?

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: David Flair (c) (w/the Flair entourage) def Dean Malenko in 3:05- From one of the WTFiest of the WTF Files from this period, crazy heel WCW President Ric Flair last week on Nitro stripped Scott Steiner (who's also a heel) of the US Title for no other reason than he wanted to, then presented it to his son David. I get doing this as a heel, but the problem is David Flair had done absolutely nothing in his appearances to far to show he had any natural wrestling talent or charisma whatsoever. It's Erik Watts all over again, but Bill Watts didn't even try to make Erik a champion. Former Horseman Malenko is trying to save the title. Malenko immediately shoves David down out of a lockup. Another lockup and Malenko owns David again. David tries a waistlock but Malenko easily armdrags him down. David is dumb enough to shove Malenko and that really sets Malenko off. After a suplex Ric runs in and immediately gets punched down. Malenko gets the cloverleaf on David and here comes the shenanigans. Arn comes in and beats the ref down. Lil' Naitch takes the ref's shirt off and puts in on himself. Asya gets in Malenko's face and gets slammed and cloverleafed for her trouble. Ric then hits Malenko with the belt. Lil' Naitch puts David on top, counts 3, and this farce is over. The only reason I'm not giving it MINUS FIVE STARS is because they at least kept it really short. DUD

 

Elimination Match: The No Limit Soldiers def The West Texas Rednecks in 15:35- The "country vs rap" war continues. The principles had a normal tag match at Great American Bash, but this is a Survivor Series style 4v4 match. The West Texas Rednecks are made up of leader (and Minnesotan putting on a hilarious southern accent) Curt Hennig along with Bubby Duncum Jr, Barry Windham and Kendall Windham. The No Limit Soldiers are Cruiserweight champ Rey Mysterio Jr and Konnan along with a very miscast Brad Armstrong as BA and WCW newcomer Swoll. Big brother Barry and Mysterio start while commentary goes on about how Swoll must be awesome because former AWA star Brad Rheingans trained him. Let's put it this way, this would be Swoll's only PPV match before retiring at the end of August with only nine recorded matches under his belt. Windham gets a quick start before Mysterio tries to fight back. They do some pretty decent big guy vs small guy stuff and Mysterio hits a moonsault for 2. Got me thinking, get peak late '80s Windham in there with almost any era Mysterio and it could be a really damn good match. Anyway, Windham quickly bails after the moonsault and tags out to Hennig. BA tags in and was fully prepared for Hennig. Things downgrade significantly when we get Duncum and Swoll in there together. Kendall and Swoll is no better. That exchange gets our first low blow of the match, check that one off. Swoll dodges and Kendall crashes into the corner. Mysterio tags in and bumps around for Kendall. Kendall catches Mysterio trying a springboard dive and Mysterio uses his position to leverage him over the top rope in a pretty ugly looking dive. I guess we're going lucha tag optional rules here because Konnan and Hennig come in for a run with each other. Mysterio and Konnan unleash some double teams and Duncum takes the shitty bronco buster. Swoll ducks a Duncum crossbody attempt and covers for what looks like 3 but Nick Patrick doesn't call it that way. Mysterio hits a springboard legdrop, and this time Swoll covers and gets a pin that didn't look like 3 but was counted that way. Duncum is out. Things break down a bit with a couple of the No Limit Soldiers B team beating on Duncum on the floor on his way out. Once things settle back in it's Windham knocking Konnan around and hitting a suplex for 2. After being in peril a bit Konnan gets a tag to BA, giving us a bit of BA on Hennig action. Again, put these two together around 1991 and it could be a hell of a match. Sadly they fall apart some into a really rough exchange. Hennig eventually grabs BA, hits the Perfectplex, and gets the pin to eliminate BA. Kendall has the edge on Konnan until Konnan dodges a kneedrop off the second rope. Rolling clothesline from Konnan. Faceplant. Brother Barry breaks the pin up. Mysterio springboard dropkicks Kendall into an absolutely awful cradle from Konnan, but it gets the pin and Kendall is now gone. Barry Windham comes in and Saito suplexes Konnan for 2. DDT for 2 as again the No Limit B team is beating up on the eliminated Rednecks member. Sleeper from Windham on Konnan. Konnan jawbreakers free, but Windham is still up first and hits a clothesline for 2. Another rolling clothesline from Konnan. He clotheslines Windham on the ropes and they both slowly flop over to the floor. More floor fighting as one of the No Limit seconds literally carries Windham away, and Konnan walks with them for.....reasons. They're both counted out and we're down to just Hennig against Mysterio and Swoll. Windham comes back in while Swoll is pounding on Hennig but Swoll runs him over like he's not even there. Hennig goes to the floor but gets the ire of a Keith Lee looking guy that's on the No Limit B team. Mysterio climbs on Swoll's shoulders, hits a super big splash on Hennig, and gets the pin for the win. That could have turned out fairly good but there were just too many rough and confused spots during the course of the match. **

 

Junkyard Invitational- From the company that brought you such classics as the King of the Road match and Hogan vs the Giant in a monster truck duel on a roof, here comes the Junkyard Invitational. This came about because crazed President Flair decreed that all hardcore matches are now banned "from his arena". So, naturally, they're going out of the arena. This was organized by Hak and everyone in this is here at I assume his request. I feel very certain in saying this whole thing was pretaped. A ref standing on the safe side of a chain link fence blows a horn and we're off. In this we've got Hak, Brian Knobbs, Hugh Morris, Horace Hogan, both members of Public Enemy, Steven Regal, David Taylor, Mikey Whipwreck, Fit Finlay, Jerry Flynn, Ciclope, La Parka and Silver King. I'm not getting deep into this because it's a giant mess with cars and car parts and tires flying around and thanks to the way it's shot it's damn near impossible to see what all is happening. The only real light besides all the trash can fires scattered around the area is a spotlight from the helicopter giving us aerial shots. It's kind of funny someone bothered to bring a chair and trash can considering all the other options that are out there. Even with the pretape and editing they manage to get a cameraman in shot at one point. Despite being "on location" Mike Tenay doesn't chime in for any of this, it's just Tony and Heenan calling the tape from the arena. Guys bump off cars. Guys bump into cars. Guys do short dives off cars. After nearly 15 very long minutes that more resembles a badly shot action sequence in a crappy '80s gang movie than anything on a wrestling show, the culmination starts when Hak puts Finlay in the trunk of a car. Someone else comes up with a forklift and puts the car in the crusher, but Finlay had already escaped before literally dying. While no one's watching him Finaly goes to the gate, something randomly explodes, and Finlay climbs the fence and escapes the junkyard to win. Back to the arena and the crowd is clearly enthralled by what they just saw. DUD

 

In a minor upset, the Hadrcore Champion trophy survived the carnage. At least for tonight. 

 

Handicap Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Jersey Triad (c) def Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn in 23:17- This is Benoit and Saturn getting their rematch after losing the titles to DDP and Kanyon at Great American Bash, but this time they have to take on the whole Jersey Triad group with Bigelow joining the match. The Triad had been defending with multiple different combinations under Freebird Rules anyway. After a small bit of discussion Saturn and DDP charge in throwing haymakers at each other to start things off. DDP is the first down, but he uses that to muscle Saturn into the corner. Saturn hits a superkick and clears the apron off of everyone. The Triad regroup on the floor. Bigelow and Benoit tag in. Bigelow's power wins first, then Benoit drop toe holds him into the middle turnbuckle and dropkicks him out to the floor. Another think on the floor for the Triad. Kanyon's turn against Saturn. Saturn quickly pounds him down in the corner as commentary alludes to their Flock history in very broad brushstrokes. Kanyon fights off a t-bone suplex with an eye rake. Speed run and Kanyon uses the ref to fight off a German suplex. Benoit chops Kanyon from the apron and Saturn hits the t-bone suplex. Huge clothesline from Benoit. Snap suplex and Benoit stacks Kanyon up in a Liontamer type Boston crab. More chops from Benoit. Double snot blow from Benoit and Saturn! Followed by a double clothesline for 2. The faces keep Kanyon isolated. Backbreaker from Benoit for 2, then he starts working on Kanyon's knee. Wishbone from the faces on Kanyon and Saturn hits a flash basement dropkick. Legdrop off the top from Saturn for 2. The Triad guys maneuver Saturn into DDP crashing him into the barricade on the floor. Now Saturn's in peril. Big delayed suplex from Bigelow. Diving headbutt for 2. Kanyon drops a low blow legdrop on Saturn for 2. Of course the crowd would choose this match, the only one you could likely count on being halfway decent tonight, to get a damn beach ball out. And yes it didn't help that the Junkyard Invitational was just before this. Bigelow wraps up a chinlock on Saturn while the crowd gets it out of their system. Kanyon sets Saturn on top, then goes up himself for what looks like a super elaborate move, but either legit slips and crotches himself or did a great job making it look like he legit slipped. Saturn recovers to superplex him back down and gets the tag to Benoit. Sounds like the crowd is refocused now as Benoit goes on the hot tag flurry, but the numbers pile up on him as DDP hits a clothesline off the top rope. DDP then goes nuts and flops off the top rope to the floor, then climbs up the barricade and shouts as the crowd. I hope he said "Fuck your beach balls!". Slow cover from Bigelow for 2. Now Benoit is in peril and DDP drops an elbow in his lower abdominal area. Kanyon gets a sunset flip with DDP helping him get Benoit over for 2. Kanyon takes his glove off and chops Benoit. Sit out spinebuster. Saturn saves the pin. Bigelow tags in and goes nuts with diving headbutts. The crowd is still randomly chanting "asshole" and booing so I guess there's still some stupid shit going on somewhere. Beniot tries coming back but Kanyon gives him a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Russian leg sweep/elbow drop combo for 2. DDP hooks on a front facelock so I think we all know what's coming. Yup, after a Benoit fight there's the phantom tag spot. Sit out powerbomb from DDP for 2. Legdrop off the second rope from Kanyon for 2. Benoit suplexes Kanyon out of a facelock but Bigelow cuts the tag off. Back suplex from Benoit on Bigelow. He goes for a Saito but Bigelow turns into it and squashes Benoit. Bigelow goes up top and goes for as much of the moonsault as he can still do. Benoit dodges! Both sides tag and now Saturn goes nuts. Belly to belly suplex on DDP. Superkick for Kanyon. DONNYBROOK! Saturn Cactus clotheslines Kanyon AND DDP! Saturn dropkicks Benoit into Bigelow and they both go up top. Saturn big splash. Benoit headbutt off the top! DDP comes off the top rope onto Benoit to break the pin up! Saturn fights off the Diamond Cutter and northern lights suplexes DDP for 2. He lifts DDP up for the DVD. The ref gets knocked down by DDP's legs and Kanyon throws powder in Saturn's face! Wait, he got DDP too! DDP Cutters Kanyon not knowing who it its! Benoit covers but Bigelow just gets Kanyon's foot on the rope. Saturn superkicks DDP into a Benoit German with a bridge. DDP JUST kicks out! Bigelow cuts off any more Germans and everyone's in the pool again. DDP slides what looks like a small trash can in the ring. The ref goes down again and DDP hits Benoit with it. Saturn ducks and Kanyon takes a can shot. Double team Diamond Cutter on Saturn! DDP covers, Bigelow wakes the ref up, and DDP gets the pin to retain. For the second straight month these two teams delivered on otherwise total shit PPVs. In fact this match was pretty freaking awesome, classic tag team action that used the time it got very well and never got bogged down or boring. It's even more impressive given the fact they had to fight against a distracted crowd almost the whole time. ***3/4

 

Boxing Match: Buff Bagwell (w/Judy Bagwell) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (w/Ric Flair) in 6:36- Yay. Boxing on a wrestling show. This always goes well [/sarcasm]. Especially when Piper is involved [/notsarcasm]. Bagwell got under Piper's skin by trying to be helpful and interfering in his match with Flair at Great American Bash. Then Piper turned and aligned with Flair right after. Logic. WCW has gotten nearing the end of his 15 minutes of fame "Judge" Mills Lane in for this. A longtime high end boxing ref, Lane rose to national fame when he was the ref for the infamous fight where Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off. He became a bit of a pop culture icon, featuring as the referee in MTV's popular claymation show Celebrity Deathmatch with much use of his catchphrase "Let's get it on!", and recently he'd just gotten his own courtroom TV show, hence the "Judge" moniker. Bagwell takes the mic and says he knew Piper would have Flair in his corner, so he has his own corner....person, his mom Judy. Yes. Really. Sadly it's far from the last we'll see of her in WCW. Bagwell's actually in boxing gear, I guess that's something. Piper's in his normal wrestling tights. Once again I'm just going to breeze through this nonsense. Most of round 1 is back and forth before Piper lands a knockdown punch. Bagwell is quickly back up. I'm no boxing expert but it looks like Piper is wearing gloves that are double his size. Between rounds Flair sprays something on Piper's gloves behind Lane's back. At the start of round 2 Piper immediately pokes that whatever it is into Bagwell's eyes, allowing Piper to dominate most of the round before Bagwell gets a corner flurry for a knockdown near the end. Piper jumps Bagwell before the round 3 start bell. Judy gets in the ring and bites Piper's ear for the mandatory Tyson ear bite reference. Judy then puts the corner bucket on Piper's head and Bagwell decks him. Lane clearly allows all of this by the way. Bagwell goes up, hits the Blockbuster, and pins Piper because who the fuck knows what the rules were supposed to be in this mess. Commentary doesn't even bother to try to explain it. Of all the attempts at boxing matches on wrestling shows, that might have been the worst of them all. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

As we get to the main event I just want to point out that the video recap packages have been ridiculous tonight, often showing long unedited segments from Nitro with no real rhyme or reason and only tenuous connections to the matches. 

 

Tag Team Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Sid Vicious (w/Team Madness) def Kevin Nash (c) and Sting in 13:21- Sid made his shock return to WCW at Great American Bash, interfering in the Nash/Savage title match and allying with Savage. Kind of weird for a guy that famously doesn't play well with others. Apparently the rules of this match are anyone can pin Nash to win the title, even his partner Sting. So why the hell make it a tag match, why not just have it a four way? Nice to see Sting survived his vicious mauling by multiple attack dogs at GAB completely intact by the way. After some stalling and Savage's usual very detailed positioning of his women Sting starts with Savage. Savage offers a handshake while Gorgeous George walks over to Nash's corner, apparently joining the other side. Savage is not happy about that. Sting jumps Savage from behind on the floor and knocks him around in the ring. Savage falls back into his corner and tags Sid. We go right into typical slow Sid offense. Two years away from the big leagues, he hasn't changed any. Sting hits a crossbody and both partners threaten to run in but don't. Sting 360 clotheslines Sid to the floor. Sid comes right back in and starts working Sting over again. Savage distracts Nick Patrick so Medusa and Miss Madness can get their shots in. It's not long before Sid grounds Sting, and the match, with a camel clutch. Nash has had enough, coming in and breaking it up. The heels stay slowly working Sting over to keep him in peril. Sting fights back, hits a standing dropkick, and tags Nash in. Nash side suplex on Sid. Corner knees on Savage. Corner clothesline and boot choke. Measured elbows in the face corner. Sting tags back in and knocks Savage around the guardrail a bit. Savage dodges and Sting Stinger Splashes the guardrail. The women push Sting into the post. Sid tags in and once again quickly goes to the chinlock. Sting fights back and does the usual "accidental" head first fall into Sid's crotch. Both sides tag. Nash big boot on Savage. Another side suplex on Sid. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Including the women. Sting gives Miss Madness and Medusa a double noggin knocker, then hits Sid with a Stinger Splash. Stinger Splash for Medusa. One for Miss Madness. Savage dodges and Nash takes a Stinger Splash! Sid chokeslam on Sting. George gets in the ring while Nash has Savage hooked up for the jackknife and low blows Nash. To the shock of absolutely no one her going into Nash's corner was all a ruse. Sid gives Nash a setup slam, Savage hits the Savage elbow, and Sid allows Savage to pin Nash and win the title. Team Madness runs wild, which honestly booking wise is not the worst call they could have made. Savage had almost nothing left in the ring, but the group had gotten reasonably over as heels. The match, however, was pure trash with zero effort or fucks being given by anyone involved. As always with these types of matches I also have to reiterate my stance that, on principle, I completely disagree with ever having singles titles on the line in tag team matches. 1/2*

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- If not for the tag title match this would have gone down as one of the absolute worst shows of all time. The summer of '99 is when WCW really started to slide into a hole so deep they couldn't crawl out of it, and Turner execs were starting to take notice. Changes, once again, were on the horizon.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D- 

Invasion

Legacy Review

Invasion

July 22, 2001 from the Gund Arena in Cleveland, OH

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Michael Cole

 

Four months after the acquisition of WCW, the Invasion storyline is finally beginning in earnest. Some background first. A lot of fans expected WWF to make WCW its own separate brand and dedicate one of the two weekly TV shows to it, which is exactly what WWF initially tried to do. The problem was, the WCW brand name had become so toxic neither of WWF's TV partners (TNN for Raw and UPN for Smackdown) wanted to touch it. That idea would be shelved until the first "brand extension" the following year, giving each show its own dedicated roster. Instead, WWF decided to go the traditional "company invasion" route. The seeds started to be planted on weekly TV in May, things were ramped up during King of the Ring, and it kicked off fully on the Raw following that PPV. Despite the network's reluctance, WWF tested the waters for WCW on a Raw in early July, rebranding the final part of the show WCW and bringing in WCW commentary, Nick Patrick to ref, the full deal. Unfortunately, it also featured the one and only WWF match for Buff Bagwell and, well, we know how that went. That experiment was never attempted again. Putting Bagwell in that spot might have been deliberate sabotage. In addition, along with Shane McMahon now "owning" WCW, Stephanie McMahon was brought in as an "owner" of ECW alongside Paul Heyman, devolving the whole thing into yet another McMahon family feud story that had been done to death the past few years. Even Linda was still on TV regularly trying to keep Vince in his place, and in his pants. 

 

Tonight, the July PPV is shedding its old Fully Loaded name to become the big WWF vs WCW/ECW show fans had been hoping for. Every match tonight is ostensibly WWF taking on either WCW or ECW in "interpromotional" matches, but as you'll see there'll be a few asterisks involved. This is clearly a show people wanted to see, as it had the most traditional PPV buys worldwide (though not domestic) of any show outside a Wrestlemania. The poster for this show is one of the all time greats, with Shane and Vince's faces melded together. The stage setup is once again fantastic too, with separate entrances for the WWF and WCW/ECW sides. Commentary is a bit odd tonight, as Cole is the one that takes the lead with the play by play and JR has the color commentary role.

 

Edge & Christian def Lance Storm & Mike Awesome in 10:10- There's a hard cut on the Peacock copy after the show intro to Storm and Awesome already in the ring. Music cut? Why not just dub over it? "If I can be serious for a minute....". Storm is rudely interrupted by his fellow Canadians E&C. E&C have a small Stanley Cup like trophy with them that I can't remember what it is. A custom King of the Ring trophy for Edge? Awesome and Christian start with Awesome getting a quick start. Christian drops him with a drop toe hold and tags. Short clothesline from Awesome on Edge. Edge hits Storm with a flying headscissors. Missile dropkick off the second rope. Edge backdrops Storm onto Awesome on the floor! Bad angle from Storm, he went nearly over Awesome and almost landed on his head. Christian goes to launch off Edge's back but catches the top rope with his foot and flops down to the floor! Yeesh. Small "You fucked up" chant for that. Edge gives Storm a backbreaker back in for 2. Storm and Christian have a nice little back and forth on the ropes, then Awesome pulls Christian down off the ropes from the apron to finally get the WCW guys on offense. Awesome runs Christian's back into the ring apron. Storm slides Christian chest first into the ring post! Short clothesline from Awesome. Big splash for 2. After a couple of double teams Storm gives Christian a gutbuster. Crossbody from Christian, but Awesome tags in and cuts the tag off. Jackknife cover from Awesome that Edge breaks up. Flying clothesline for 2. They continue to quick tag on Christian. Big splash off the top from Awesome and again Edge breaks the pin up. Awesome sets Christian up on the top rope but Christian backdrops him back down into the ring. Tag to Edge! Hot tag run. Awesome tries to save Storm from a sunset flip but Christian comes over to take him out. Everyone gets knocked down as Edge rolls Storm up for 2. Storm gets a small package on Edge but WWF ref Mike Chioda is getting Awesome out. Christian comes in and rolls Edge on top. Count and Storm just kicks out! Jawbreaker from Storm. Christian hits a double clothesline off the top as things break down. Edge ducks under a Storm leapfrog and spears Awesome! Storm breaks the pin up. Christian ducks a Storm superkick, but Edge is behind him and takes it. Christian Cactus clotheslines Storm out as Awesome covers Storm for a long 2. Awesome lifts Edge up. Spear from Christian! Edge covers and gets the pin! 1-0 WWF early. Perfectly fine opener. Storm would of course stick around a while as a solid midcard/tag guy, but this would be Awesome's only WWF PPV appearance. **1/2

 

Earl Hebner def Nick Patrick in 2:48- Yup, even the refs are going at it. This is a battle between the senior referee in each company, representing their respective referee locker rooms. Patrick was no stranger to being the biased heel ref after being the NWO's personal ref for a while, but this is something largely new for Hebner. Of course a battle between two refs needs a special guest ref, and in this case it's Mick Foley, the first of two times he'll be doing that tonight. Both guys are, naturally, wrestling in their ref gear and are accompanied by all the other refs from their respective organization. All three of them in WCW's case, including Lil' Naitch. Nose to nose jawing at the start. Hebner shoves. Patrick slaps. Henber fires off with a kick and stomps Patrick down in the corner! Ground and pound roll around! Patrick grabs Hebner's clothes and pulls him out to the floor. Both groups converge like a lumberjack match as Foley quickly gets Hebner back in the ring. Hebner fires back with punches. Or forearms. It's hard to tell. Mounted punches from Hebner! Patrick flops down, then gives Hebner a blatant low blow. Baseball slide dropkick from Patrick! Not gonna lie, that looked pretty good. That sends Hebner to the floor again. The WCW refs stomp on Hebner and the WWF refs save him. Foley tosses the WCW refs out! Patrick doesn't like that one bit and argues with Foley. Hebner tackles Patrick when he turns around and gets the pin! Hebner looks totally blown up after. After the bell Patrick continues to bitch at Foley and gets a punch and good old Mr. Socko for his trouble. Eh, that could have been a hell of a lot worse. I'd even call it fun for what it was, and they kept it short so no harm, no foul I say. *3/4

 

Someone had the genius idea to let Debra and Sara have a segment together. It makes the last match look like a masterpiece. 

 

WWF Tag Team Champions The APA def WCW Tag Team Champions Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire in 6:48- Our first champion vs champion matchup of the whole Invasion. We're still a ways away before any title unifications though. The APA defeated the Dudleyz for their third and final title reign a couple of weeks prior, while Palumbo and O'Haire (known as Natural Born Thrillers in WCW but WWF didn't keep that name) were the tag champs when WCW folded. The WCW team charges right in and attacks. Palumbo gets double slammed in the ring as things settle in with him and Bradshaw. O'Haire comes in to distract and Palumbo clotheslines him from behind. O'Haire/Bradshaw slugfest. A big clothesline from O'Haire puts Bradshaw down. Bradshaw grabs him as he gets back up and hits a Saito suplex. Tag to Faarooq. He hits a back elbow for 2. O'Haire flips out of a suplex and hits a kneelift for 2. Faarooq gets beat down in the wrong corner. Flying tackle from Faarooq on Palumbo and the APA beat him down in their corner. Bradshaw catches a Palumbo crossbody and hits the fallaway slam. O'Haire comes in and kicks Bradshaw in the head, hits a reverse DVD, and puts Palumbo on to cover Bradshaw for 2. Come on ref Teddy Long, you're supposed to be the tag team expert, playa. Letting them get away with anything. Bradshaw DDTs Palumbo and tags out. Palumbo maneuvers Faarooq into a clothesline from O'Haire from the apron. The WCW guys have clearly had the superior teamwork in this match so far. O'Haire knocks Faarooq around ringside a bit, then rolls him back in for 2. O'Haire runs into a Faarooq spinebuster and tag to Bradshaw. Big boot for Palumbo. Powerslam for 2. The WCW guys get a double team as we go into full on DONNYBROOK. Clothesline from Hell on Palumbo! That gets the pin as WWF goes to a 3-0 start on the night. *1/4

 

Chris Jericho tells Vince that WCW isn't a worry because they've never had a real leader and the inmates always ran the asylum, but keep an eye on Paul Heyman because he can do some damage. Intentional or unintentional shoot comments? Afterword in the WCW/ECW HQ locker room Steph does a whole chorus on how much she hates Jericho. Man, he hasn't even started with you yet. Heyman is already in near panic mode after the 0-3 start but Kidman promises to turn things around.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman def WWF Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac in 7:07- This is the one set of titles that you can easily say WCW's has the clear superior lineage on. The generally pro-WWF crowd wants nothing to to with Pac. As soon as the bell rings the "X-Pac sucks" chants start right up. Armdrag out of the lockup from Pac and he just about gets booed out of the building. Leg takedown from Pac and he rides Kidman to more boos. Speed/counter run and Kidman gives Pac his own leg takedown and riding to some light cheers. Another speed run and Kidman gets his pop up hurricanrana counter in, then hits an enzuguri that sends Pac out to the floor. Running slide from Kidman and he faceplants Pac on the floor! Flying headscissors from Kidman. Pac sidesteps and momentum tosses Kidman over the top to get some space. And more boos. Springboard crossbody to Kidman on the floor. Back in Pac hits a swing kick for 2. Sleeper from Pac. Kidman fights out and mounts Pac's back for his own sleeper. Pac back suplexes out. Kidman dodges a Pac senton attempt off the top rope. Comeback flurry from Kidman. Sit out powerbomb for 2. Mounted punches. Pac counters with a powerbomb and gets some extra rope leverage but only gets 2. Kidman does his flippy powerbomb counter into a faceplant for 2. Kidman comes off the top, into an X-Factor! Kidman kicks out! Pac sets Kidman up in the corner and goes for the bronco buster, but runs crotch first into Kidman's boot. Kidman goes up top. Shooting star press! Kidman gets the pin! Team WCW/ECW are on the board. The match had some moments but mostly never got out of second gear. The crowd shitting all over Pac is always amusing. **1/4

 

Torrie Wilson and Stacey Keibler compare their best assets backstage. Keibler might not be much of an actor at this point, but man she is hot as hell. 

 

Raven def William Regal in 6:35- The first of our asterisks tonight. Raven had been with WWF since the previous fall, but defected back to ECW once the Invasion got going. Mixed reaction for entrenched heel Regal from the pro-WWF crowd. Cole says that Heyman has the ability to convince "normally level headed men" to do what he wants. Yes Heyman is persuasive, but I think that's the first time in his life anyone's called Raven level headed. Lockup! Corner beatdown and clothesline from Regal. Double underhook suplex. Raven escapes to the floor but Regal follows and continues throwing shots. European uppercut for 2. Lots of 2s. Raven goes for....something....but Regal grabs his legs and slingshots him back out to the floor. Back in Raven sidesteps Regal and tosses him out to the floor. Horrendous attempt at a baseball slide from Raven. I don't know if Regal was supposed to block it or what but that was awful. Raven Russian leg sweeps Regal into the barricade. Back in Regal bounces off the corner and has to stand and wait for Raven to hit him with a follow up clothesline. Raven hooks on a chinlock. Regal escapes, grinds Raven down, and hits a suplex for 2. Raven gently nudges Regal in the ribs and Regal sells it like a truck hit him. Ax handle off the second rope from Raven. He goes for a second but Regal counters and hits a running knee. Raven wraps up a flash small package for 2. That sets Regal off with some ground and pound. Bulldog from Raven for 2. Regal counters out of a Raven sunset flip and tries for a Euro clutch variation but neither guy can hold it. Regal then goes for a roll up and again Raven is extremely slow on the uptake. Regal clearly says fuck it and barely touches Raven with a back elbow for 2 while some "boring" chants echo. Regal counters an Evenflow attempt with a suplex for 2. Collision near the corner and Raven flops out of the ring. Run in! IT'S TAZZ! T-bone suplex to Regal. Raven hits Evenflow and gets the pin. WWF's lead is down to 3-2. That was fugly. I don't know where Raven's head was but it sure wasn't in the ring. 1/4*

 

Kanyon, Hugh Morris and Sean Stasiak def The Big Show, "The One" Billy Gunn and WWF Intercontinental Champion Albert in 4:20- The "throw some guys that have nothing else going on together" match. From the "Did that really happen?" files I bring you Albert as Intercontinental champion. He defeated Kane for the title soon after King of the Ring, and will drop it to Lance Storm the night after this show on Raw. The Attitude Era may be over but those secondary titles are still going to be hotshot all over the place for quite a while yet. The WCW team comes out to a rejiggered version of Mr. Perfect's old music. That's a weird fit. The WCW team attacks before the bell, but quickly get pressed by all three WWF guys in an admittedly very good visual. Things settle in with Kanyon and Gunn. Lil' Naitch is the first WCW ref to get a match tonight. Gunn hits an electric chair on Kanyon and they do the bridge up/backslide spot. Stasiak hits Gunn from the apron and Kanyon hits a Russian leg sweep, then a reverse of the same that's essentially a skull crushing finale for 2. Gunn weathers a Stasiak flurry and hits him with a neckbreaker. JR mentions, rightly, that Stasiak's dad Stan was a former WWWF Champion (for all of 9 days as a transition from Pedro Morales to Bruno Sammartino's second reign but still). Albert tags in and it's quickly everyone in the pool brawl time. Albert big boots Stasiak and hits the Baldo Bomb but the rest of the WCW team breaks the pin up. Morris DDTs Albert, but then runs into an Albert powerslam. Tag to Gunn. Fameasser on Morris! While Lil' Naitch is tied up Stasiak hits Gunn with a reverse DDT, drapes Morris on top, and team WCW gets the win to even things up at 3-3. After the bell Show, who was never legally tagged in the whole match, chokeslams Morris and Stasiak then gives Kanyon his short lived "alley oop" move. Too short to mean anything. 3/4*

 

Commish Regal recruits his understudy Tajiri to take Tazz out as revenge for interfering in his match. 

 

Tajiri def Tazz in 5:30- Tajiri came to WWF in May and despite his ECW history is, for now, 100% team WWF. This is his first PPV match. He was already starting to develop a cult following online and that would only get bigger. I certainly became a fan in short order. Tazz had been in WWF for a year and a half, well before the real ECW even folded, but like Raven went back to ECW when battle started. Tajiri charges in but Tazz was ready for him. Leg lariat from Tajiri, followed by a standing moonsault for 2. Corner chops from Tajiri. Tazz grabs him around the neck and tosses him in one of Tazz's 1004 suplex variations. Tajiri slips out of another suplex attempt and pummels Tazz with a rapid fire strike combo, but then runs into a Tazz clothesline. After a bit of back and forth shots Tazz grounds Tajiri and punches him right in the eye. Now Tazz hits some corner chops. When Tajiri tries to come back Tazz straight muscles him down into a cradle for 2. He tries for a cross armbreaker but Tajiri gets a rope break. Alabama slam from Tazz. Slow arrogant cover for 2. Handspring back elbow from Tajiri! He goes for something on the floor but Tazz pulls him down off the apron. Back in Tajiri leaps over Tazz in the corner and hooks in the tarantula! Basement dropkick to Tazz's face for 2. High impact kicks to Tazz's chest. Tazz grabs a swing and gives Tajiri a suplex. Green mist in Tazz's face! Kick to the head and Tajiri gets the pin! WWF goes back up 4-3. Tajiri did his best but Tazz looks on his last legs. *1/2

 

Backstage Matt Hardy is worried his brother Jeff isn't ready for a real hardcore wrestler like RVD. RVD attacks Matt from behind with a chair! Well Matt certainly wasn't ready. 

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: Rob Van Dam def Jeff Hardy (c) in 12:40- RVD was one of the unquestioned crown jewels out of the wrestlers WWF acquired in their WCW and ECW purchases, right in that sweet spot where he had been successful enough to be a name, but young enough to just be getting into his prime. He had wrestled a few matches in WWF back in '97 as part of the original ECW invasion, but his stock has skyrocketed since then. He remains one of my favorites of the era despite my personal disagreement with some of his lifestyle choices (I'm staunchly anti-drug), largely thanks to his unique wrestling style that melds high flying and martial arts sprinkled with a touch of ECW hardcore. RVD looks like he's amazed to be in an arena this big. He still needs to learn to time his thumb point with his intro. He's still got his original ECW music before WWF messed it up and made it worse. Jeff charges in and we're on. RVD shows off his crazy flexibility early, doing a split legged sit down and dodging a Jeff legdrop. Both guys miss sentons. Waistlock counters, mat stalemate, reset as they're clearly evenly matched. The crowd is as hot as they've been all night already. RVD turns to pose and Jeff shotgun dropkicks him in the back! Rookie mistake. Another counter run and Jeff hits another dropkick to the back of RVD's neck. RVD sets up for a monkey flip. Jeff stops and traps his legs into a cradle for 2. RVD fires back with some forearms but runs into a Jeff inverted atomic drop. RVD ducks a Jeff crossbody and gives him a quick standing moonsault for 2! Some "RVD" chants break out in the crowd. Rolling thunder hits for 2. RVD springs up to the top rope. Jeff comes from behind and pushes him off down into the barricade! Small "holy shit" chant for that. Baseball slide from Jeff. He goes for the barricade run dive, but RVD also leaps on the barricade and tosses Jeff into the crowd! Crowd brawl time. RVD leaps on the arena wall for a moonsault! "ECDub" chant as RVD covers for 2. It's already very clear there's no way they can keep RVD a heel for long. He drapes Jeff over the barricade, then gets on the apron and leaps off with a corkscrew guillotine legdrop! Really loud "RVD" chants now. Jeff fights back and hits RVD with a sunset bomb down to the floor! Another "holy shit" chant. Jeff gets a ladder out from under the ring! Oh yeah, business is picking up now. It's almost the full size Jeff Hardy Suicide Ladder too. Jeff climbs up top. RVD goes into the ring, grabs the ladder and shakes it. The ladder collapses, sending Jeff down into the aisle! JR gets out the "HOW DO YOU LEARN HOW TO FALL OFF A TWENTY FOOT LADDER?" line. RVD gets a chair and heads over to Jeff. Jeff pushes the ladder into RVD's face! Chairshot onto RVD! They go up the ramp and RVD begs off. Once he has an opening, RVD hits the Van Daminator, kicking the chair into Jeff's face and sending Jeff off the ramp down into the gap between the two entrance areas! Corkscrew legdrop on the ramp and cover for 2. They go back to the ring with RVD still in control. RVD running dropkicks the chair into Jeff's face in the corner. He goes for a split legged moonsault but Jeff gets his knees up! DDT from Jeff for 2. Release German suplex from Jeff for 2. The title belt is in the ring, I didn't see when that happened. Jawbreaker from Jeff. RVD is in the drop zone. Jeff goes up top. RVD dodges the Swanton Bomb! He places the belt on top of Jeff. FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! RVD gets the pin and wins the title! Finally, the signature standout match this show needed. We're also back to even for the night in the promotion battle. What a coming out party for RVD, and Jeff held his end just fine too as he continues to get more comfortable with singles work. ****

 

Kurt Angle drops an unbleeped "bullshit" on PPV while Vince is trying to pump him up. Yes, it did happen a few times before the modern era. 

 

Bra and Panties Match: Trish Stratus & Lita def Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler in 5:03- Textbook cool down match. At least wrestling wise. In an unusual twist almost everyone in this match is legit gorgeous. Lita's not my cup of tea, but she is for plenty of others so fair dos (I say Keibler > Trish > Torrie but everyone's free to disagree). Trish and Lita have not been getting along, largely because Trish has been making moves on Jeff Hardy and Lita's not much interested in her pushing into their group, but they're trying to put it aside for the good of the WWF. Mick Foley is the luckiest man in Cleveland (that's a first, Foley's not had a good history with Cleveland) as he's the guest ref again for this one. JR is in full not taking it seriously bullshitting mode right from the off so that's going to be fun at least. Trish and Lita try to jump but the WCW girls hide behind Foley, then reach out for slaps. Bell rings and Trish and Lita tackle them! Trish and Torrie settle in with some roll around hair pulling and shin kicking. Torrie does whip out a dropkick. They trade some slaps in the corner. Clothesline out of the corner from Trish. Suplex from Trish and she goes for Torrie's shirt. Keibler makes the save. Double clothesline from Trish and she tags out. Neither Torrie or Keibler want anything to do with Lita, who's definitely got the most established wrestling credentials of anyone in this match. Keibler loses that argument and Lita quickly gets her shirt off. Dayum. Just because they're small doesn't mean they're not nice. It's all about proportion. Anyway, Keibler manuevers Lita around into a double team and they get Lita's shirt off. Lita snap mares Keibler around by her shirt while Cole laughs and says "Why the hell am I calling wrestling moves?". Keibler dodges a Lita dive off the top rope and both sides tag. Trish hits a couple of clotheslines. Torrie dodges in the corner and tosses Trish by the hair. While standing on Trish's hair Torrie gets her top off, but Trish uses that to roll Torrie around and get her trousers off! Lita comes in and they hit Poetry in Motion on Torrie! Torrie's top is off! Trish bulldog on Keibler! Lita hits the moonsault! Keibler's pants are off and it's over. Or, maybe for some of us, just starting. The match was fine for what it was. WWF goes back up 5-4 going into the main event. *

 

 

The main event is a 10 man one fall tag match that's been dubbed the Inaugural Brawl. Team WWF is led by WWF Champion Steve Austin, who's seemingly overcome the issues he's had most of the year since his heel turn and is back to the ass kicking no shits given rattlesnake of old. Joining him are Kurt Angle (who's face turn was coming anyway judging by his crowd reactions and how well he'd proven himself by this point), Chris Jericho, the Undertaker and Kane. The WCW/ECW team is full of those asterisks I mentioned at the top. First off the two who are clearly on the right side: Booker T, the dual WCW World and US Champion (who like RVD is also in that past success/entering his prime sweet spot category), and the crazy stalker version of Diamond Dallas Page that had already been a pretty big flop with fans. Joining them are three guys that have been in WWF for varying lengths of time but were pushed back to the ECW side for the Invasion: Rhyno and the Dudley Boyz. The lack of star power on the WCW side is pretty glaring. No Sting. No Scott Steiner. No Goldberg. No Ric Flair. No one from the NWO core Hogan/Nash/Hall trio. All of them would show up in WWF/E eventually, but none until after the Invasion angle was over.

 

Before getting into the match I have to make a correction to my company win/loss count. I forgot they're also including the preshow match on Heat to the count, where Chavo Guerrero defeated Scotty2Hotty, so it's actually tied up 5-5 going into the main event. 

 

Team WCW/ECW (w/Shane McMahon, Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) def Team WWF (w/Vince McMahon) in 29:05- The cavalcade of owners all make their entrances and stand off in the ring before the wrestlers come out. If they insisted on putting the Dudleyz back on the ECW side, they should be wearing their old ECW era gear again. Oh, we're getting mixed entrances. Interesting. No bike again for Taker. Damn, I would have loved to have seen Kane riding in on a sidecar with him. Even more than the rest of the night the crowd is firmly on WWF's side. HUGE pop for Angle. Pro-WWF crowd or no I think it's safe to say he's arrived. Taker attacks his wife's stalker DDP in the aisle and everyone's fighting on the floor with one entrance still to go. GLASS SHATTER! Austin runs in and joins the fray as everyone pairs off on the floor. One ref from each side is working this match, Chioda for WWF and Lil' Naitch for WCW. Austin rolls Rhyno in the ring and the bell rings to officially start. Choida takes over in the ring while Naitch is the outside ref. Gorilla Monsoon's dream come true, two refs in a tag match. Early low blow from Austin and we get some mudhole stomps. Thesz press! Elbow drop for 2. I actually like how out of control Austin always looks in this period. He still wants to go at the pace he used to so bad but his body just can't keep up anymore. Big chops from Austin while Rhyno's propped on the top rope. Superplex from Austin! Jericho tags in and hits a flying forearm. Rhyno gets a knee to the gut and clothesline. He gets Jericho stuck in the wrong corner while Booker tags in and works him over. Jericho ducks a leg lariat and gives Booker some chops. Armdrags and a bulldog from Jericho. Missile dropkick off the second rope for 2. Angle tags in and pounds Booker down against the ropes. Booker gets a heel kick in and tags out. D'Von hits a flying back elbow on Angle. Corner back elbow and clothesline from Angle and Kane tags in. Working down the line, getting everyone in. Kane easily overpowers D'Von. Goozle! Bubba Ray runs in to make a save. Bubba Ray tags himself in and the Dudleyz hit a reverse 3D for 2. Kane hits the clothesline off the top rope for 2. Tag to Taker. Everyone on that side in, check. After some back and forth Taker hits the flying clothesline, then punches DDP off the apron. Legdrop on Bubba Ray for 2. The crowd goes nuts for Taker hitting old school. He goes for DDP again and DDP snaps his throat over the top rope, then Bubba Ray gives him a suplex. Rhyno tags in and pounds Taker down in the corner. Now DDP wants in now Taker's down. Short clothesline from DDP for 2. Taker comes back with the rapid fire body shots. DDP spins into another clothesline for 2. DDT from DDP for 2. Booker hits a side kick on Taker for 2. Counter DDT from Taker. Tag to Austin. More mudhole stomps on Booker. They have a short rough patch but Austin quickly recovers to try for the Stunner. Booker counters out but Austin knees him out to the floor. Austin suplexes Booker on the floor. Jericho tries for the Walls on Booker. DDP runs in to break it up, so Jericho tries for the Walls on him instead. Booker breaks that up before it's on. Booker maneuvers Jericho into a hot shot assisted by Bubba Ray. The Dudleyz quick tag to beat Jericho down. Jericho fights out of a double team and gets a tag to Angle. Belly to belly suplexes for both Dudleyz. DDP tries to hit Angle from the apron. Angle was ready for him, but Bubba Ray uses the opening to plant Angle with the Bubba Bomb. Rhyno gives Angle a belly to belly for 2. Again it's the ECW guys taking the lead to keep Angle isolated. Booker hits the scissors kick on Angle. Spinaroonie! JR HATES the Spinaroonie by the way. Like JR hating the Young Bucks back when he called New Japan level. DDP sit out powerbomb on Angle, but Austin's had enough and is running in on everyone. Angle remains in peril as the Dudleyz hit the Whazzup Drop minus the Whazzup because they're heels now. DDP, after an apparent small disagreement on where to go with it gives Angle a cobra clutch slam for 2. Front facelock from DDP and Angle fights him over so you can see the phantom tag spot coming a mile away. Yup, tag to Austin but Bubba Ray had Chioda distracted. Gang beatdown on Angle in the corner. Diamond Cutter on Angle! Commentary barely even notices it they're underselling the WCW guys so much. Taker comes in and pounds away on DDP. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Total breakdown. Jericho dodges and Rhyno GORES Booker! Taker chokeslam on DDP! He calls for the Last Ride. Chioda goes outside to try to get some control, so Naitch gets in the ring and for some reason gets on Taker. Because he's not legal? Taker gives Naitch the Last Ride! Chioda unceremoniously rolls him out. Everyone's still fighting all around the floor. Taker and someone else go all the way into the crowd, I assume DDP, and they never come back. Austin's getting his chronic knee checked out by medical. Both announce tables get set up by Kane and the Dudleyz. That's not good enough for the Dudleyz, they get the regular tables out. One gets propped up against the barricade. Kane chokeslams D'Von through the announce table! Bubba Ray and Rhyno team up to suplex Kane through the Spanish announce table! Jericho leaps off the apron and crashes Rhyno through the propped up table! Bodies everywhere. Booker and Angle are both in the ring but are also both down. Austin's still getting his knee looked at. Booker and Bubba Ray work Angle over in the ring. Angle slugs back. German suplex on Booker! Angle Slam on Bubba Ray! Booker tries to get Angle with a side kick. Angle grabs the offered leg and hooks on the ankle lock! Classic Angle counter. Booker manages to push free, but Angle takes Choida out on the rebound. Flapjack from Booker. Vince gets the WWF Title belt and puts it in the ring. Shane grabs it and takes Vince out! Angle attacks Shane and clotheslines him 360 out. Angle Slam on Booker! THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! First time ever on a PPV. Ankle lock! Booker's tapping for all his life's worth but there's no ref. Austin rolls Chioda back in.....then attacks Angle! What the fuck? Stunner on Angle! Austin puts Booker on Angle, tells Chioda to count, and Booker gets the pin to win. That's right, four months after Austin's shocking heel turn at Wrestlemania, we get a less shocking and more perplexing Austin turn as he joins the WCW/ECW team. I guess they were trying to recreate Hogan's NWO turn here, but it doesn't work at all. The crowd, after being red hot the whole main event, is dead as dead can be for this turn of events. That was a hell of a long way to go to get to that turd of a turn too. The bulk of the match was pretty good with everyone involved having their working boots on. Not nearly on the level of the 10 man Hart Foundation vs Austin's team match at Canadian Stampede, but still good. Have to knock it down a bit for that ending though. Team WCW/ECW officially wins the night 6-5. ***1/4

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The bulk of the show was borderline decent, not what you'd hope for considering this should have been one of the biggest B PPVs of all time. Thankfully RVD and Jeff Hardy knocked it out of the park to give us one truly memorable match. The main event did mostly deliver, at least until the ending. Austin's nonsensical turn was another warning sign that this whole Invasion angle was not going to live up to expectations.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+ 

Great American Bash '99

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '99

June 13, 1999 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

 

Amazingly, they manage to have nearly 10 minutes of opening segments and video packages before anyone steps foot in the ring and have absolutely nothing of note said or happen. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the show.

 

Hardcore Match: Hak (w/Chastity) def Brian Knobbs (w/Jimmy Hart) in 5:41- The WCW Hardcore title is coming, I promise. Just like the dragons. Knobbs has been reunited with Hart, who managed the Nasty Boys in WWF. Knobbs wants to get rid of the kendo sticks and all the other toys and "see who's really hardcore". Um, he he talking about fighting or.....something else? Turner's a PG show you know, PPV or no. Knobbs tosses his trash can away, then gets another one from Hart and nails Hak from behind with it. Commentary goes on about "the first SWERVE of the night". Easy to see where their mentality is right now. And we're still months away from Russo coming in.. Knobbs follows up with can lid shots, then gives Hak the Nasty Boys classic, the pit stop. Hak cuts off a chairshot and nails Knobbs with it. He goes under the ring and gets a ladder. He tosses the ladder into the ring right onto Knobbs! Crap that looked ugly. When Hak gets back in Knobbs waffles him with a trash can! I think that might have been a receipt. They do a messy little bit with the ladder on Knobbs and Hak hits a slingshot legdrop into the ladder. Knobbs' leg gets pulverized by a chairshot with it in the ladder, which of course goes nowhere. Knobbs tosses Hak into the ladder, who does an upside down bump into it. Another can lid shot for Hak. Knobbs swings the ladder into Hak. Hak tights pulls Knobbs into the ladder. Knobbs dodges and Hak sentons off the top rope onto the ladder. Hart sets up on the apron with a chair. Hak tosses Knobbs  into it. Kendo shot to Knobbs' head, and Hak covers to get the pin. Absolutely nothing special. 3/4*

 

After the bell Hugh Morris, another member of Hart's "family" (ripping off the Heenan Family) attacks and he and Knobbs take Hak out with a spike piledriver and Morris moonsault onto the ladder on Hak. 

 

Van Hammer def Mikey Whipwreck in 8:35- Hammer's had yet another reinvention as a no nonsense heel and is getting a small push as a result of it. Heenan gets on Whipwreck for wearing kneepads as boot covers. I have to agree. The larger Hammer tosses Whipwreck around until Whipwrecks gets a couple of armdrags. He tries a hiptoss but Hammer easily muscles him to a backbreaker. Commence more easy tossing around that eventually starts getting some "boring" chants. Hammer's delayed superplex is pretty impressive looking, I'll give him that. An abdominal stretch with the heel rope leverage game kills some time. Whipwreck makes the mistake of trying a backslide and gets squashed in the corner instead. Hammer tosses Whipwreck out, sets the stairs up against the guardrail, then climbs the stairs with Whipwreck to drop him down on the guardrail. Whipwreck tights pulls Hammer into the guardrail, then hits a slingshot legdrop and a plancha. Thesz press off the top rope from Whipwreck for 2. He tries coming off the top again and Hammer catches and spinebusters him. Hammer hits his new finisher, a cobra clutch slam, and it's thankfully over. A very extended squash that belonged on Nitro. 1/4*

 

Buff Bagwell def Disco Inferno in 10:33- Any bets on the combined IQ of the two guys in the ring being lower than the match time? Probably too easy a bet. Both guys play to the crowd before locking up. Early speed run and Disco hits a swinging neckbreaker. Bagwell quickly goes out to think about it. More speed and this time Bagwell hits a swinging neckbreaker. Some more basic back and forth follows with Bagwell hopping to the second rope looking for an early Blockbuster. Disco sees it coming and quickly gets the hell out of town. When Disco gets back in the ring Bagwell tells him he's #1. Bet that gave some Turner exec a heart attack. Disco maneuvers Bagwell into a hot shot and follows up with a clothesline. Inverted atomic drop from Disco. He goes into a some generic stompy chokey heel offense, then goes up to the second rope, dances a while, and hits an elbow for 2. Another go and this time Bagwell dodges. Backdrop and clothesline from Bagwell. He goes up top and Disco crotches him on the top rope. Disco hits the Chartbuster, er, the Last Dance on the floor. They keep changing the name of that. Disco goes for the countout win but Bagwell is back in at 8. Disco's so shocked he doesn't know what to do next. He hooks up Bagwell for a macarena piledriver but Bagwell backdrops out (after the macarena was done of course). Comeback flurry from Bagwell. Powerslam. Disco tries to dodge it, but the Blockbuster hits and it's over. *

 

The No Limit Soldiers def The West Texas Rednecks in 10:44- Nice to see some teams finally getting proper team names. The No Limit Soldiers are the longstanding friendship of Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr, and the West Texas Rednecks are proper Texan Bobby Duncum Jr partnering with Minnesota's own and nowhere near Texan Curt Hennig. This is another one of those "country music vs rap music" feuds, which as usual means I'll be rooting for the ref. The Rednecks' entrance music is Hennig singing his own song "Rap is Crap" from Nitro. Konnan and Mysterio have gas masks on. We're still over two years away from that (understandable) panic. Probably some rap reference I don't get and don't care to. There's some rap dude ringside that, again, didn't care then and don't care now. Mysterio is still the Cruiserweight champion by the way, second straight PPV he's not defending that. Hennig runs the rap guy's hit song down on the mic so the Soldiers attack him from behind. A couple of double teams with Hennig trying to get one of his classic over the top bumps in clears the ring out. Rap dude apparently hits Hennig from behind while Konnan has him distracted. Toss him out, fans shouldn't be touching wrestlers. Reset with Duncum and Konnan. Konnan rolls through some slow motion counters, then Mysterio comes in with a flying headscissors for Duncum and he shotgun dropkicks Hennig off the apron. Plancha onto Hennig! He tries a springboard crossbody back in but Duncum catches him and gives him a backbreaker. I swear Duncum is wearing Barry Windham's old gear. I think even 1999 Windham would likely be superior to Duncum. The heels drastically slow the match down while keeping Mysterio in peril. Hennig bumps himself while corner whipping Mysterio. Classic Mr. Perfect era stuff. Then dumbass Duncum actually lets Mysterio tag out. What a Duncum. Fortunately Hennig had the ref tied up so he doesn't allow the tag. Hennig can still do the standing dropkick. Honestly he does look better than he did a year or two ago. They keep working Konnan and the ref to keep Mysterio in peril. Konnan tries to make a save when Mysterio had already countered Hennig into his own cradle pin attempt. What a Duncum. Hennig puts the straps down, gives us a hip swivel and points upstairs. Nice shoutout to his buddy Rick Rude, who had passed away less than two months prior. Finally Mysterio crawls under both heels and tags. But the ref didn't see it AGAIN. Getting a bit ridiculous now. Big delayed suplex from Hennig. Mysterio tries a springboard moonsault. Hennig catches him, but Mysterio uses it for a comeback flurry and tags Konnan finally for real this time. DONNYBROOK! Mysterio gives Hennig the shitty bronco buster. Hey, here comes the real Barry Windham. One of the rap guy's 47 bodyguards (why do they always need so many?) hops the rail and nails Duncum. Springboard legdrop from Mysterio on Duncum and he gets the pin. After the bell all of the rap guy's entourage try to get involved and security forces them to the back. The heel trio then beats the faces down to get their heat back. OK formula tag stuff. In better circumstances Hennig could probably carry Duncum to being a decent tag pairing. **1/4

 

Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/Sonny Oono) def Scott Norton Horace Hogan in 5:10- One word: Why? Let's get this over with. This was supposed to be Miller against Scott Norton, but Norton didn't make the town for unexplained reasons so Hogan is substituting himself in. In fact Norton would spend the summer back with New Japan, but whether WCW knew that in advance or not who knows. Hogan charges in and they slug it out with some of the worst punches I've ever seen. Clothesline from Hogan. Hiptoss out of the corner. He tosses Miller out to the floor, chops him, and tosses him back in the ring. Huge point to that. Back in Miller gets a superkick to put Hogan down. Slam from Miller and he builds up to....a choke. The blind leading the blind here. Hogan gets tossed out and Oono gets some kicks in that only annoy Hogan. Miller jumps from behind and knocks Hogan around ringside. Hogan gets a slam in the ring and follows up with an elbow drop for 2. Straight low blow from Miller. Heenan: "All of Cat's matches are brutal". Shoot comments for the win! Hogan gets a big boot and hits a big splash for 2. Oono gets on the apron. Miller tries to jump but Hogan backdrops him over the top to the floor. Oono goes into his briefcase, gets a dress shoe, and Miller puts it on. Superkick with the obviously loaded shoe and Miller gets the pin. Who uses a shoe, honestly? DUD

 

For the Presidency of WCW (again): "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Arn Anderson and Asya) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper by DQ in 8:16- Please Lord let this be better than their Slamboree match. I still can't believe I had to give a match that a guy that is both my all time favorite and in my opinion the greatest there's ever been was in a MINUS FIVE STARS rating, but....it was that bad. The horrible booking shenanigans with Bischoff coming out and just declaring the winner was what really pushed it over the edge to MFS, but the match itself was still really damn bad. Last match Flair wore blue trunks and kneepads with black boots to match Piper, this time the pads and boots are the same but with red trunks. Piper spits at Flair and they exchange chops in the corner with Flair obviously calling spots. Backdrop from Piper and Flair begs off. Corner jabs from Piper and he goes punching bag nuts on Flair's head. Flair Flop! More chops from Piper and the ol' two finger eye poke that Flair sells the hell out of. Piper backslide for 2. Flair gets in a shoving match with ref Randy Anderson and Piper jabs him down again. Flair rolls out to think about things. Reset lockup back in. Piper gets a shoulderblock and pounds Flair down on the mat. Flair begs off again. Spaceballs salute in response from Piper and more jabs. Another beg off. Flair hides in the corner to get a sneaky style low blow in. He tosses Piper out to let Arn pound away on him. Asya then rakes Piper's eyes. Straight Greco Roman Nut Punt from Flair. Arn supposedly had the ref distracted but it's not like WCW refs cared about that for months anyway. Piper grabs Flair's tights to moon the audience again, Flair's been doing that a lot lately like mid '90s Shawn Michaels, and rolls him up for 2. Flair slam off the top rope. Clotheslines from Piper. Flair tosses him out again, but this time Piper decks Arn. Piper just manages to get over a sunset flip for 2. Sleeper! Flair manages to push free. Arn distracts Piper and Flair gets the knucks on. He decks Piper with them. Very slow cover and Piper kicks out. Figure four! With Arn leverage help. Buff Bagwell, who's been buddying up to Piper lately, runs in and takes Arn out! He attacks Piper, but right in the ref's view and gets Piper DQ'd! What a Duncum. Pissed Piper attacks Bagwell for costing him the match! Arn gives Bagwell the World's Greatest Spinebuster, then Flair and Arn hold Bagwell down for Piper to belt whip him! Everyone unites in hatred of Buff. Seems right to me. Piper gets some final belt shots in on Buff after everyone else leaves. The match was marginally better than their last one. Marginally. 1/4*

 

Falls Count Anywhere: WCW World Television Champion Rick Steiner def Sting in 10:35- Rick Steiner getting his biggest singles push in a decade was not something I would have had on my bingo card in 1999. I guess he can thank Scott. This is a non-title match I presume because that's what WCW usually did with champions in gimmick matches. Quick start from Sting. After some floor shots Rick pounds Sting down in the ring. Sting hits a pair of inverted atomic drops and a dropkick. Back and forth brawl on the floor with Rick hitting a weak chairshot. Both guys use drinks from fans as weapons. Rick dodges a Stinger Splash on the floor and Sting crashes into the guardrail. Rick pulls up the floor mat and piledrives Sting on the concrete, then covers for 2. You're seriously going to pull out a piledriver on concrete as a transitional move? Greco Roman Nut Stomp from Rick back in the ring. Release German suplex for 2. Rick works some extremely dull offense in the ring until, in an obvious setup, Sting flips around to crotch him. Sting hits a pair of Vader bombs, then goes up top and hits a big splash for 2. Another low blow from Rick. We're going to need a lot of ice packs in the back tonight. He hooks Sting up in a butterfly type hold. This is Falls Count Anywhere, by the way. You'd be forgiven for forgetting that. Sting powers out and gets Rick down again. Stinger Splash! A second. Scorpion Death Lock! Rick gets a fairly easy rope break. Sting tosses him out and they go up the aisle to the stage area. Sting suplexes Rick on the ramp. They go over to the internet position and Chris Jericho makes his actual final blink and you'll miss it WCW PPV appearance because he's on radio/internet commentary tonight. The wrestlers go through the curtain to the back, to the boos of the crowd because they can't see. When they go through the curtain Tank Abbott (a UFC guy WCW had brought in, think "I want Ken Shamrock/We have Ken Shamrock at home" and it's Tank Abbott) attacks Sting. Scott Steiner is also there. A dog runs up and jumps on Sting. He gnawing away on a towel or something Sting just wrapped around his hand to protect himself, not that he needed much protection. It's like a young dog gnawing on something for teething, which is probably exactly what it is. Another dog playfully tugs on Sting's tights. Scott has another dog. Security runs in. And....end scene. What? That's it? Tony says they have to cut away because it's "so violent". Suuuuuuure. There were so many cuts and edits after they went backstage I think Kevin Dunn infiltrated the WCW production truck. Now the Steiners are dragging the ref back to the ring. Scott takes a mic and says it's Falls Count Anywhere and the ref rings the bell. Scott claims Rick pinned Sting but they can't show the footage because it's too disturbing while the crowd chants "Bullshit". Terrible "finish", and neither guy tried during the rest of the match because they knew the shit was coming. The saddest thing is, this isn't the worst wrestling thing involving dogs that would happen this year. WWF's Kennel from Hell match was three months after this. DUD

 

One of the perfect encapsulations of end of life WCW in one image.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Jersey Triad (w/Bam Bam Bigelow) def Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn (c) in 19:13- The Jersey Triad are the union of Bigelow, DDP and Kanyon because all three guys are from New Jersey. Not something I'd advertise but whatever. Dean Malenko was out with an injury and with Flair being the heel WCW President making the Horsemen no more (again) Saturn stepped in to fill the void. Benoit and Kanyon start with some basics. Benoit hits a dropkick and Kanyon bails back to his corner. Benoit shrugs off some Kanyon shots and hits chops. Early everyone runs in and the faces clear the ring. Reset with both sides tagging. They do some decent back and forth stuff. Saturn hits a slam and springboard legdrop and everyone runs in again. The heels regroup again on the floor. Saturn and Benoit take a shot at Benoit, then give the Jersey boys stereo belly to belly suplexes. Saturn Cactus clotheslines Kanyon! Bigelow trips Benoit and DDP 360 clotheslines him to the floor. The heels work the ref so all three can lay in punishment. Avalanche legdrop from Kanyon for 2. Commentary goes back to talking about the dog "attack" on Sting while Benoit is in peril. Benoit has a comeback flurry and hits DDP with a bridged Saito suplex for 2. He goes for a German, but DDP hooks the ropes and low blows him. Ice packs. So many ice packs. Sit out powerbomb from DDP. Kanyon tags in, goes up top, but Benoit dodges the moonsault. Tag to Saturn. Hot tag run. Kanyon gets t-bone suplexed. Big splash off the top on DDP for 2. While Saturn's giving DDP mounted punches Kanyon lifts Saturn in an electric chair and drops him down. DDP covers for 2 and now Saturn is in peril. Kanyon mocking tagging Saturn when Saturn was reaching out in the wrong corner is pretty funny. Saturn tries a sunset flip on Kanyon, but Kanyon tags DDP and holds Saturn down for a DDP elbow off the top for 2. Kanyon swinging neckbreaker for a long 2 that I think was really 3, Saturn was late on that kickout. Saturn fights out of the heel corner but DDP drop toe holds him to cut the tag off. They very obviously set up for the phantom tag spot, and there it is. Even commentary wasn't surprised by that. Saturn dodges in the corner and DDP flings himself up on the top turnbuckle gut first. Tag to Benoit! Both Jersey guys get knocked around and DDP falls into Kanyon's crotch. Benoit runs Kanyon into Bigelow. ROLLLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS! The third is with a bridge but DDP breaks the pin up. Dragon suplex from Benoit on Kanyon! Saturn has DDP held back, but Kanyon still JUST kicks out! By far the best near fall tonight. Benoit goes up top and hits the headbutt on Kanyon. Saturn tries coming off the top, RIGHT INTO A DIAMOND CUTTER! That was great. Malenko makes his way out. Benoit gets the crossface on DDP! Bigelow breaks the crossface up, DDP hits a Bigelow assisted Cutter on Benoit, and Kanyon drapes an arm over for the pin and the titles! Malenko then takes the double team Cutter after the bell. Finally a good match on this show. Most of it was solid formula tag stuff, but better than the earlier tag match, while the stretch run was well done. One of the few times in WCW I've seen a tag match with an elaborate finish like that come off right with no major screw ups. ***1/4

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Nash (c) def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Team Madness) by DQ in 7:29- During the course of this feud Nash or his allies have dumped raw sewage on Savage, Savage has put lipstick all over Nash's face multiple times, there's been a fake mocking double of Nash, and some attempted vehicular homicide that also included an attempt to recreate WWF's "WHERE TO, STEPHANIE?" moment. They've really checked a lot of '90s wrestling tropes off. Someone really needs to find a "Give us the short version" switch on Buffer. Nash is also coming in with hurt ribs from an earlier attack. Nash gives Savage's ladies a crotch chop and goes to work on Savage. Right to the corner knees and elbows. Corner clothesline, but he hurt his own ribs doing that. Side suplex and that hurts the ribs even more. Savage gets up and starts attacking the bad ribs. With an eye rake thrown in for good measure. He 360 clotheslines Nash to the floor. Medusa comes up and gives Nash a kick in the ribs. I do appreciate she dressed for the show with her US flag gear, heel or no. Savage stays in control with less ribs focus and more generic heel punchy chokey stuff. Nash comes back by giving Savage, what else, a low blow. The women all get on the apron. Missile dropkick from Miss Madness! That was actually really good. Savage elbow off the top! Nash kicks out! He starts to slug back. Snake eyes on Savage. Big boot. The straps are down. Jackknife! Medusa comes in and kicks Nash's ribs again, then Gorgeous George hops on Nash's back and gets tossed off. Miss Madness goes up top again. This time Nash is ready and catches her. Snake eyes on Miss Madness! Another good bump from her. Someone comes in and big boots Nash! IT'S SID VICIOUS! SID IS BACK! Since leaving WWF almost exactly two years prior, Sid had been working part time on the indies and had just had a short stint in ECW. He hadn't been seen in WCW since the infamous Arn Anderson scissors stabbing incident in late '93. Now the ref calls for the bell. The women interfering was OK, but Sid was too much. Sid powerbomb on Nash. He helps Savage up and leaves with Team Madness as the show closes. Another trash Bischoff era WCW main event, but Sid's return was a good and genuinely unexpected surprise. 1/2*

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A true contender to rival GAB '91 as the worst GAB ever. WCW was able to recover from that one, for a time, thanks to a change at the top. No such help is coming this time.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-