Great American Bash '88 (PPV)

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '88 (PPV)

July 10, 1988 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

 

This is attempt #2 this year by Jim Crockett Promotions to expand their PPV calendar beyond Starrcade, and this is the one that will stick. They are still doing the full GAB tour as well, which started on June 26 and will continue through the first week of August (the July 16 show from JCP home base in Greensboro is available in the WWE Vault, which I have also done a review for). Due to the long nature of the tour we've got a very small and focused card for tonight. Four top title matches, plus one very experimental gimmick match to blow off a longrunning feud. Things have calmed down a bit on the JCP/WWF scheduling wars front, largely thanks to PPV providers putting their foot down and demanding that the shows be more spaced out. Because of that WWF didn't try any counterprogramming for this show, and will not be presenting their own new summer PPV, the first Summerslam, until the end of August. The Baltimore Arena will end up being the regular home for nearly every GAB PPV, particularly in its early years. WCW ring announcer mainstay Gary Michael Capetta is working his first PPV for the company tonight.

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) (w/JJ Dillon) and Sting & Nikita Koloff 20:00 time limit draw- All four members of the Four Horsemen have gold as the summer of '88 represented the group's absolute peak (and best makeup of members), and all of them will be defending tonight. The team of Sting and Dusty Rhodes tried to take these titles at the last Clash, now Sting is trying again with Koloff. Tony says the fans "literally" exploded when the challengers came out. Well, that's a hell of a mess they're going to have to clean up then. Good thing they all already paid for their tickets. Quick jump start after the bell and the Horsemen bail to regroup, then jump right in for another try that doesn't go any better. Sting gets Blanchard in a small package but the ref is slow to count and it only gets 2. Dropkick from Sting on Arn that sends him out to the floor. STING PLANCHA ON ARN! The cameras almost caught it this time too. Arn tries coming off the top rope coming back in but Sting gets him with a gut punch, followed by an armdrag. Koloff tags in, which means everything grinds to a halt. He cranks on Arn's arm a bit. Koloff's flattop has grown so much it looks like he has a plateau from somewhere in Utah on his head. Arn backs Koloff into the corner and gives him some shots. Koloff reverses a corner whip and Arn slams on the brakes to keep from running into the corner. While he's celebrating how brilliant that was Koloff kills him with a Sickle! Sickle for a running in Blanchard! The crowd goes ape shit for that. Guess they literally exploded again. Koloff covers but again the ref is slow on the uptake. I think Arn had him distracted off camera. After Sting tags in he tries a corner whip but Arn reverses it and gives him a knee in the gut. Arn goes up top again. Sting goes over to slam him off, but Arn fights him off, thinks better of the whole endeavor and drops down to put a sleeper on Sting instead. Sting runs him into the corner to get free. Sting and Arn get in a top wristlock fight. Blanchard comes in to help his partner, grabbing Sting's other arm. Sting does a great flip over, which armdrags Blanchard down. Dropkick on both Horsemen at the same time! Arn flops after taking a shot from Nikita off camera. Blanchard tags in and takes a couple of Sting armdrags. Koloff then tags in with more scintillating ARMBARs. Pretty stark difference between what Sting and Koloff are bringing tonight. Some smartass throws a crumpled up something or other into the ring from the crowd and it lands right on Blanchard's stomach. Can't fault the aim. Probably earned him a lifetime ban from shows in this arena though. Sting dodges in the corner and Blanchard posts his shoulder. Cover for 2. Blanchard goes to tag, but in the wrong corner! Koloff bell rings him and Sting covers again for 2. Koloff runs Blanchard's shoulder into the corner. Blanchard puts out a foot and Arn tries to tag it but the I assume local ref is having none of it. The faces then swap without a tag behind the ref's back to amuse themselves. Koloff swings Blanchard around into an atomic drop, then back to the ARMBAR. 10 minutes gone in this short for a title match 20 minute time limit. Blanchard manages to drag the larger Koloff over to his corner and gets a tag to Arn. Koloff quickly backs up into his own corner. Speed run and Koloff gets a drop toe hold. He tries a half nelson cradle to get Arn over into a pin but Arn fights it off. When Arn gets to his knees Koloff switches to a full nelson. Arn kicks on Koloff's knee to loosen the hold up and just reaches out to tag Blanchard. Blanchard immediately kicks away on the same knee. Koloff catches Blanchard in his Hammer mini-chokeslam. Flying tackle from Koloff. He Cactus clotheslines Blanchard! Before there was a such thing. Foley was just barely getting started. Koloff suplexes Blanchard off the apron back in and covers. Dillon reaches in and pulls Koloff off! Koloff goes out and tries to murder Dillon. Dillon dodges and Koloff Sickles the post! Now that's letting your emotion get the better of you. Arn picks Koloff up and runs his shoulder into the post again. The Horsemen now have a very clear target, and Koloff did it to himself. Armbar slam from Arn. VINTAGE Andersons per JR, channeling future Michael Cole. But he's also right, no one picked an arm apart like the Andersons did. We hit the 5 minutes left call. Arn works a hammerlock and Koloff slowly tries to fire up. He does and Arm's arm cranks have no effect. Arn gets Koloff with a DDT! That had an effect. Arn covers for a long 2. The Horsemen stay focused on the hurt arm. 3 minutes left. Arn snap mares Koloff over, then Vader bombs himself into Koloff's knees. Tag to Sting! Damn, the pop for that. I think they have the crowd mic'd or mixed extra loud tonight but still. Backdrop and dropkick from Sting on Blanchard. Press slam. 2 minutes left. Arn comes in and Sting gives him a cutter! Pretty new move for then. Arn manages to tag right back out. Sting tries an atomic drop on Blanchard. Blanchard blocks it, then reverses into his own attempt. Sting flips out and hits a dropkick. Double noggin knocker for the Horsemen. JR rightly gets on him for going so slow with so little time left. Arn tags back in with one minute left. Sting sleeper! Arn back elbows out. He uses a suplex fight to maneuver Sting around to take a (sloppy) top rope sunset flip from Blanchard. Sting blocks that while Koloff runs in and Sickles Arn. Stinger splash on Blanchard! Scorpion Death Lock! Blanchard holds on and the bell rings. Sting and Koloff think they won and take the belts, but the official decision is a time limit draw. Sting and Koloff can take those belts they just put on right back off. Good stuff if a bit time limit stally, though it did fly by. Sting again looked phenomenal and a megastar waiting to happen. ***1/4

 

This would end up being Arn & Blanchard's final major show appearance for JCP. Just a few days after the next Clash of the Champions in September, which they didn't appear on, they left for the WWF, dropping the World tag titles at a house show in their last JCP match (which would also end up being Blanchard's last ever appearance for the company period). That also brought to an end the peak era for the Four Horsemen. There will be concerted efforts to keep the group going the next couple of years as I'll get into when we get to those shows, to say nothing of the revivals later in the '90s, but it was never really the same after Arn and Blanchard left.

 

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) def The Fantastics (c) in 16:23- These teams have been feuding over this title since the Fantastics' non-title match victory over the Midnights in their JCP debut in March. The Fantastics then took the titles in late April. Since this is a longrunning feud we've got a boatload of stips: if the Midnights lose all three of them will be whipped with a leather strap 10 times (awful severe punishment for losing a match, it's not like they're trying to mutiny at sea), and Cornette will be locked in a cage and suspended above the ring. Oh, AND put in a straitjacket. They're really making sure Cornette's not going to get involved. Cornette, of course, pitches a fit about it all. JR needles Cornette having a deathly fear of heights, which was true in real life. Cornette gets the jacket on and has some opinions on how it's been tailored. The sleeves are too long. While that's being tied Cornette has a fantastic exchange with the ref: "I'm going to appeal to your baser instincts. Can you be bribed?" Cornette offers $5000. The ref says he wouldn't take 10K. Cornette then says 15K which is also refused. "This guy's a crackpot, he's an honest man!". Once he's fully tied up the Midnights help him out of the ring and over to the cage. That sets off another hissy fit. Finally he's in and the cage is raised. It's a good thing he's wearing black pants. 

 

Now the match can start. The Bobbys Fulton and Eaton start. After the initial lockups they go speed and Fulton slides down and cradles Eaton for 2. Another lockup and Eaton gets a headlock takedown. On a corner break Eaton pops Fulton right in the nose to put him down. On the other side Fulton hits a flying headscissors, then hops on Eaton's shoulders and does a full on hurricanrana. That's so new in '88 no one knows how to react to it. The Midnights try a blind tag to Lane but Fulton is on it and quickly backs off. Fulton does a crazy walk up Lane to hit an armdrag. Lane gets up and lays in his karate kicks, a combo of which sends Fulton out to the floor. Fulton whips Lane into the post! Baseball slide from Fulton. Rogers tags in for the first time. Speed run and he gives Lane a couple of dropkicks. Lane hits a quick shot to the gut and elbow to the back of the head. Eaton tags in but walks into a hiptoss. Against the ropes Eaton hits a knee to Rogers' gut. He sets Rogers up top and goes for a superplex. Rogers slips free and rolls Eaton up. Off Eaton's kickout Rogers springs up into a reverse crossbody for 2. Eaton needs a think after that exchange. JR and Tony slobber all over how incredible a job the Maryland State Athletic Commission does overseeing these matches. I guess the usual bribes payoffs weren't enough for this show. Sadly that is setup for later in the show too. Eaton absolutely pops Rogers with right hands against the ropes. The Fantastics try a fancy double team that I don't think goes off as well as they planned, but they recover to double backdrop Eaton. Lane goes down mostly off camera as we go full on DONNYBROOK. The Fantastics avoid getting whipped into each other and clear the Midnights out of the ring. Classic Fantastics strut celebration. Reset with the Fantastics working on Lane's arm. Lane tries to backdrop Rogers but Rogers lands on his feet. He tries to roll Lane up, but Lane gets a blind tag to Eaton. Eaton blindside bulldogs Rogers! Cover for 2. Lane snaps Rogers over the top rope, then puts him down with a clothesline. Back elbow from Eaton, followed by an elbow drop for 2. Rogers tries to fight back but Eaton puts him back down with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. The crowd seems to be more behind the Midnights than the Fantastics even though the Midnights are the heels. Big Eaton backbreaker that definitely gets a cheer. Lane hits Rogers in the throat, then Fulton chases him around. That allows another Midnight double team for 2. Another Eaton backbreaker for 2. Armbar slam into a hammerlock from Eaton. Rogers back elbows free and faceplants Eaton into the mat. Lane cuts a tag off with a kick right to Rogers' face. He suckers Fulton in for another double team. Lane jackknife cover for 2. Abdominal stretch, with help from Eaton. Lane tosses Rogers to the floor. Rogers runs Eaton into the post! Lane gets back on Rogers in the ring. Rogers gets a sunset flip on Lane for 2. Slam from Eaton and he goes up top. Alabama Jam! Lane tags in, rolls Rogers' carcass over, and covers. Fulton saves the pin. Another abdominal stretch. Russian leg sweep from Lane. The Midnights set up the rocket launcher to finish it. Rogers gets his knees up! Tag to Fulton! Backdrop on Eaton. He fights both Midnights off. After a bit of maneuvering Lane pulls Fulton out of the ring and powerslams him on the unpadded floor! Meanwhile Rogers gives Eaton a crossbody in the ring that also collects ref Tommy Young. Lane comes from behind with a chain. Rogers fights him off, but Eaton gets the chain. Eaton pops Fulton with the chain. Recovered Young counts 3 and the Midnights win the titles back! And get a pretty big pop for the win. The other half of the crowd then starts to boo but that was a pretty damn big pop for such entrenched heels. The match is the usual Midnights/Fantastic goodness they could practically sleepwalk through by this point, though not their *best* match. ****

 

After the bell the Fantastics get the chain, chase the Midnights off with it, then chase the now free Cornette into the ring. They take Young's belt off by force and start whipping Cornette with it until the Midnights save him. 

 

It would be the Midnights that would win the World tag titles from Arn & Blanchard on their way out the door in September. Double champions weren't a thing back then, so that meant they'd have to relinquish the US tag titles. A tournament for those titles would be held later in the fall, culminating at the final Clash of the year in early December.

 

The triple decker 40 feet tall Tower of Doom structure is lowered down for the next match. The cage is the three layer, each layer sightly smaller as you go up design WCW will later use off and on all the way to their last year. This is the final blowoff of the Kevin Sullivan kidnapping and being otherwise obsessed with Precious story, with a whole bunch of other guys added on just because. The Road Warriors were originally scheduled to have a scaffold match with their longtime rivals the Powers of Pain on this show, but just before the GAB tour got started the POP jumped to WWF so there was never any kind of final resolution for their feud. But anything that avoids a scaffold match is a good thing in my book. 

 

Tower of Doom Match: Ron Garvin, "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The Varsity Club, Al Perez, Ivan Koloff & The Russian Assassin (w/Paul Jones and Gary Hart) in 19:07- The rules for this insanity: everyone enters through the closet sized top level. Every two minutes (supposedly) the doors between levels will open, allowing guys to work their way down the structure. Precious is stationed at the bottom level inside the ring, and she has been designated "Keeper of the Keys", meaning she has the key to unlock the final door to leave the cage. She's also dressed in all black to try to make her allegiances murky, at least in theory. In practice there's really no murkiness as you'll see. The first complete team to exit the cage will be the winners. There's two ladders on the sides of the structure for wrestlers to climb up to the top to enter. Tommy Young is the first to go up, and he does not look in any way comfortable going up that high. I don't think he ever stands up the entire match, he moves around on his knees. He takes forever up there futzing with stuff to make sure it all works right before the match even starts. The bell rings to start with everyone still on the floor. Young blows an air horn and the first two guys, Ron Garvin and Ivan, climb up to the top. So I guess this is kind of like War Games too with staggered entrances. Williams is the next man up for the face team and he waits at the top of the ladder for Young to open the doors again. Ron and Ivan try to fight in that confined space and on a chain link floor as best they can, which is not well. They're so high up they're literally at the same level as the lighting rig so the crowd can't really see them either. Ivan falls back into a corner and the entire structure shakes. That can't be good for settling any nerves up there. At the next horn Williams and Rotunda enter the top while Ron tries to decide if he wants to take the fall down to the second level or not. Eventually he does, grabbing the cage the whole time. The door closes and Ron is by himself in the middle while Rotunda and Ivan work over Williams. Guys, stop hitting the cage sides. I don't like the way that thing is wobbling at all. Next horn, Ron goes to the bottom and Precious unlocks the door for him. Well that was an easy night for him. JR goes into super overselling "THE FLOOR IS STEEL. THE WALLS ARE STEEL. IT'S FLESH ON STEEL!" overselling mode trying to make this sound like it's not the massive turd it is. So it continues with everyone trying to fight as best they can while slowly moving down levels every couple of minutes when the horn goes off, while also trying to tip the entire thing over by hitting the sides too hard. Poor Tommy Young looks like he wants to be literally anywhere but where he is. Animal and Perez both get to the bottom and stride out, making Precious' role and all the questions about which side she was really on awfully pointless. Eventually it all comes down to, as expected, Sullivan and Jimmy Garvin. They're still fighting on the second level after everyone else has left. A big brawl kicks off on the floor among all the guys that have escaped, but it ends almost as soon as it begins. Jimmy is actually taking the time to work over Sullivan's leg for all the good that will do in this. Sullivan is the first one down to the bottom level. Jimmy quickly follows. Sullivan grabs at Precious trying to get the key, even though she'd let everyone else on Sullivan's team out with no argument. Jimmy saves her and works Sullivan over some more. Brain bustah! Precious opens up the door. Sullivan tries to grab Jimmy, but Jimmy falls out to the floor to give his team the win. An ill conceived total and complete mess that went on way, way longer than it had any business to. Though sadly, in a lot of ways it's just a warm up act for some of the absolute disaster gimmick matches we'll see in the WCW years, the worst of which (in my opinion) took place in a structure designed much like this one rechristened the Doomsday Cage at Uncensored '96. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

Sullivan doesn't give a damn about losing the match. As soon as it's over he relocks the door, trapping Precious in the cage with him. He then crawls toward her on all fours being the weirdo that he is. The faces have to climb all the way back up to the top and go down to get back in to save her. While they're doing that Precious fights off Sullivan as best she can. Sullivan gets a chain or tape or something and chokes Precious with it. Hawk is the first one down and he clotheslines Sullivan. Jimmy gets his woman and gets her out of the cage and out of harm's way. They hug as the crowd celebrates a happy ending to all of this months long nonsense. Or the fact it's all over.

 

Poor Bob Caudle has the job of trying to polish that turd as the cage is taken down. He tries his level best being the ultimate pro's pro he is but there's no saving that. 

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Barry Windham (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes in 15:55- Dusty is trying to get back the title he never technically lost. He was stripped in April after accidentally hitting Jim Crockett Jr with a baseball bat during a big brawl. Windham won the tournament for the vacant title in May, just after his shocking heel turn and becoming the newest member of the Horsemen. Since both guys are from Texas they're also trying to interject some personal feelings into the feud, saying they used to be best friends back home. I highly doubt there was any truth to that but sure. You can tell Windham's evil now, he's wearing all black. Man, they're forcing Tommy Young back in to ref this match? I'd give him one off to recover. Did both these guys get their cowboy style boots from the same dealer? Other than color they look exactly the same. Lockup and Dusty gets a quick armdrag. Windham does a crazy bump off a Dusty shoulderblock and bails all the way to the floor. Well, to be fair that is a very large man running him over. Back in we get a criss cross. Dusty drops down but Windham hits the brakes and drops an elbow on him. Off the ropes again Dusty press slams Windham. DDT! Dusty hits the first elbow of the match and goes up top. Crossbody! Windham kicks out! How were his lungs not crushed. Windham takes a long walk halfway up the aisle to recover. Back in Windham tries to hit shots in the corner but Dusty comes out with a full flip, flop and fly. Dillon gets on the apron and takes a shot. Windham goes out to check on his manager. Back in both guys cautiously go for a knucklelock. Windham uses that to hit a kick. Dusty falls to the floor and Windham is all over him. He hooks up for a piledriver on the floor. Dusty backdrops out. Again, still no padding out there. Big clothesline on the floor from Dusty. Again Windham goes for a corner beatdown back in, this time having more success. Back to the floor with Windham hitting a punch off the apron. He tries to flip Dusty back in. Dusty pulls the rope and Windham flips over the top to the floor! That's a near Foley level bump. Dusty slams Windham on the floor! Dillon distracts Dusty in the ring, allowing Windham to ambush from behind. Slam and elbow drop from Windham. He signals for the Claw. And it's on! Dusty tries to fight but slowly starts fading. Windham gets a couple of near falls. Dusty starts to fire back up.....then wobblelegs back down. Another boogie up and Dusty backs up into the corner, then climbs to the second rope. He loads up an elbow, but Windham squeezes more and Dusty collapses back down to the mat. Now Dusty tries to back elbow free but again can't quite do it. Finally Dusty hits bionic elbows to get free. He tries for the figure four, but Windham reaches up and gets the Claw back on. Again Dusty climbs the ropes backwards. Windham lets go of the Claw and climbs up also. He goes for a superplex but Dusty fights it off. Windham wiped Young out on his way down. Windham goes up and Dusty joins him. Dusty kind of reaches for Windham and Windham flips himself over Dusty to the mat. That didn't come off right. Running elbow drop from Dusty. Cover but no ref. Ron Garvin is in the ring. What the hell? He punches Dusty out! Heel turn outta nowhere! Explanations to come later. Windham puts the Claw back on and gets the pin to retain. And a possibly bigger story, JJ Dillon has finally defeated Dusty Rhodes! Only took about two hundred tries. The match was fine enough. Windham was absolutely awesome in this period but Dusty was rapidly having less and less to offer in the ring. **3/4

 

Bob Caudle is in the locker room for said Ron Garvin heel turn explanation. Garvin is with Dillon, Gary Hart and a briefcase full of cash. I guess we can put the pieces together from there. When you get used to World champ money then lose it I guess you have to supplement your income somehow. Funnily enough Garvin was completely against doing a heel turn, and he ended up bolting for the WWF barely a month later. Wonder if he kept the money.

 

To set up the main event- Lex Luger joined JCP in '87 as a heel and quickly joined the Four Horsemen. After losing the US title to Dusty at Starrcade '87 he blamed manager Dillon for the loss, was kicked out of the group and turned face. Since then he's been at war with the Horsemen, and now he's getting his first shot at the top guy and the top title. For Flair's part and coming from a behind the scenes booking perspective, one fair criticism of JCP the past couple of years despite how great and hot they were in general was the lack of legitimate main eventers outside of Flair and a rapidly aging Dusty. They were grooming Magnum TA for a top spot, but a car crash in October '86 prematurely ended his wrestling career. The problem really showed in late '87 when Flair wanted to win the title back at Starrcade but the best name they could come up with as champion in the interim was Ron Garvin, whose run absolutely torpedoed their business numbers because no one took him seriously as a World champion. Because of all that Flair's made it his mission in '88 to help elevate and teach some of the younger high potential talent. First up was Sting with their legendary draw at the first Clash, now it's Luger's turn.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def "The Total Package" Lex Luger in 23:13- Luger's doing his best to match Flair in the robe game. There seems to be some gear coordination here as both guys are wearing some version of yellow and white. Bell ring, Flair does his rope hit warm up, gives us a "WOOOOOO" with a big crowd response and we're off. Every WOOOO Flair gives off tonight gets a big response from the crowd, the first time I can remember that happening to such a huge degree. The first lockup goes to the corner. Luger pushes Flair away with a crazy Flair bump. Next lockup Luger gets an armdrag. Luger grabs a headlock. Flair backs him into the ropes and after some jockeying we get a clean break. In the corner Flair hits his first chop and of course it had no effect. Flair backs up and Luger hiptosses him, then hits a dropkick. Flair goes to the floor holding his nose. Back in Flair wants to slow things down. Speed run, shoulderblock collision with no one moving, then Flair runs into a Luger press slam. Back to the floor and Flair flops all the way over the barricade! Young goes to get Flair, then Flair chases him off and Young hides behind Luger! Fantastic. Again Flair tries to slow things down back in. Luger offers a test of strength and quickly cranks the knucklelock. Another press slam. Luger puts on a bear hug. Flair bridges back and Luger gets a near fall. Luger carries Flair around the ring in the hug while Flair refuses to give it up. Flair puts his forearm into Luger's eyes and Luger unwittingly backs Flair up into the ropes for a break. Off a whip Flair grabs the ropes to stop, then flops through the ropes to the apron! Luger grabs him and suplexes him back in. Cover for 2. Big elbow drop from Luger for 2. He goes for another one and Flair dodges, then begs off. He hiptosses Flair out of the corner. Flair goes to the floor and this time Luger follows. Eye rake and chop from Flair, then he runs Luger into the barricade. Back in Flair hits the snap mare/kneedrop combo. Another chop and Flair scrapes Luger over the top rope. Snap mare/kneedrop again for 2 with a big Luger kickout. Flair uncharacteristically puts an arm wringer on Luger, but it's only so he can get an opening to hit a punch in the soft spot right under the armpit. Not technically illegal apart from the closed fist, but pretty dirty pool. Luger punches back with his own gut shots. Off the ropes Luger ducks a chop and hits a clothesline for 2. Snap mare and Flair goes up top. Luger shakes the rope and Flair falls crotch first onto the top rope! Another hiptoss out of the corner, but Flair dodges the dropkick follow up. Flair Flop! Both guys are down. Luger pops out of the corner with a clothesline and covers. Flair just gets a foot on the rope. Flair hits a knee to the gut and tosses Luger out to the apron. Sunset flip from Luger coming back in. Flair fights it like crazy but Luger gets him down for 2. Flair gets behind Luger and kicks his knee out! Here we go. Make sure your lunches are packed kids, we're going to school. Flair starts methodically picking the knee apart. Luger can't even stand on it. Figure four! With extra rope leverage. That gets Flair a couple of near falls. Luger powers back up and reverses it. Flair quickly lets go. Flair gets up limping, but Luger's worse off and Flair's back on the knee. Luger dodges a butt splash. He clotheslines Flair 360 over the top to the floor! Flair's still in better shape coming back in and hits more chops in the corner, but they only fire Luger up. Another press slam from Luger, but as he hit it his knee gave out. He then makes a big mistake by trying a kneedrop, and Flair dodges it. That's inexperience. Flair goes up top again. Flair has to wait a while for Luger, but Luger eventually gets up to him and slams him off. Mounted punches from Luger. Flair tries to counter with an inverted atomic drop, but Luger pops back up and floors Flair with a clothesline! Another just barely rope break saves the pin for Flair. More Luger mounted punches. Corner whip and Flair Flip! All the way down to the floor. Luger goes down and rolls Flair back in. He blocks a hiptoss and backslides Flair for 2. Off the ropes Flair leaps into Luger. They're supposed to tumble over the top rope to the floor, but can't get themselves over no matter how hard they try. Young has to come up and provide a subtle assist to finish the job. Flair shouts "AH MY LEG!" after he lands. Luger tries to take advantage but Flair runs him into the post! Flair then gets a chair but drops it when Young sees. Behind that Dillon gives Luger another post shot. Luger's bleeding just a little bit. Flair drags Luger back into the ring. Flair hits a chop, then sees the cut and attacks it. Luger hulks up again. Commentary says the state athletic commission goons are calling for Young. Luger hits a powerslam. He calls for the Torture Rack and gets Flair in it! Young conveniently just at that point notices the ringside officials are trying to talk to him, and then calls for the bell. Both Luger and the crowd go NUTS thinking Luger's won by submission. Sting, Nikita Koloff and Steve Williams even all run out to celebrate with him. Capetta gets the mic and announces due to the "severe" lacerations on Luger's head the match has been stopped by the athletic commission and Flair's still champion. HORRIBLE finish. Full on Dusty Finish pulling the rug out from under the crowd and accomplishing nothing other than pissing everyone off. Case in point, we get a huge "BULLSHIT" chant from the crowd. It's essentially a redo of the Flair/Dusty Rhodes Starrcade '84 finish, which was no better. And I say that as someone that thinks keeping the belt on Flair was the right call here, Luger wasn't ready. To make matters worse Luger half assed the blade job and he was barely bleeding. Apart from that, it was a just fine peak Flair wrestling a broomstick match. Luger definitely had some rough spots here. He would learn a ton working with Flair the second half of the year, which will show when he goes off and has his own fantastic run as US champ in '89-'90. ***1/2

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Take out the Tower of Doom debacle and it's a fairly solid and very focused show, though not anything resembling a spectacular one. Said debacle also still counts in the final grading. This will end up being the final major show for classic JCP. By the time we get to the next PPV, Starrcade in December, the Turner buyout will have taken place.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

 

v2.0 posted 9/24/26 

Great American Bash '88 (Greensboro)

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '88 (Greensboro)

July 16, 1988 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

 

Less than a week after the first ever GAB PPV, Jim Crockett Promotions returns to their home arena as part of the ongoing annual GAB tour. Little did anyone there know that this would end up being one of the last shows they'd see under the JCP banner. Like the '85 and '86 tour shows available in the WWE Vault this was recorded without commentary, I assume to be chopped up and later shown on weekly TV.

 

We get the "presented in the most complete form possible" disclaimer at the top. Seeing graphics originally created for the WWE Network is still a bit of a gut punch given what's happened to the library since. Tony Schaivone is making another one of his irregular appearances as ring announcer. Shame Tom Miller didn't work this show, it would have been great to have seen him one more time before JCP got assimilated into the Turner Borg collective.

 

Bugsy McGraw & Tim Horner def NWA Western States Heritage Champion Larry Zbyszko & Rip Morgan in 8:09- Zbyszko kind of slumming it on this card. It was during this tour that JCP realized the Western States title wasn't working as intended, in fact it was a massive flop, and decided to slowly kill it off by still keeping it technically active, but never defended. After ref Teddy Long rings the bell New Zealander Rip Morgan takes the mic, blows a raspberry into it, then starts to do a Kiwi tribal chant to get the crowd riled up. After that silliness Bugsy starts with Zbyszko. After that is more silliness with Zbyszko hitting a slam, Bugsy dodging a bunch of elbow drops, then hitting his own elbow drop and slam. It should be obvious to anyone watching Bugsy is not a serious man. He grabs a headlock that Zbyszko can't escape. Horner tags in, hits the jets all around Zbyszko, and hits a sunset flip for 2. Zbyszko's had enough and tags Morgan in. Morgan works Horner around into a chinlock. More speed and dodging by Horner and he hits a dropkick. The faces work Morgan's arm and Bugsy straight pulls Morgan's hair to get him down. The heels manage to get some shots in on Bugsy. Front facelock into the good old phantom tag spot. Teddy Long, not a tag team expert just yet. Horrible Morgan clothesline on Bugsy for 2. Bugsy dodges a splash or diving headbutt. Morgan counters a backdrop attempt with a crazy delayed sell from Bugsy. The two smoothest wrestlers ever these guys are not. Whip reversal and Zbyszko goes face first into the corner, but again Bugsy tries more offense instead of tagging out and it bites him in the ass. Then Morgan bites him in the head. Morgan gives Bugsy the worst shoulderblock or chokeslam I've ever seen and covers for 2. Bugsy dodges a Zbyszko dropkick. Crawl and tag to Horner. After a brief hot tag run he hits a crossbody on Morgan and that gets the pin. Very bleh. Naturally the two by far worst workers not just in the match but also just about the whole company right now got most of the time. *1/4

 

Ron Garvin (w/Gary Hart) def The Italian Stallion in 1:15- Garvin had just pulled off a shocking and somewhat nonsensical heel turn at the GAB PPV, attacking Dusty Rhodes during his match with Barry Windham for the US title and costing Dusty the match. Afterward backstage we saw Garvin being handed a briefcase full of money for his soul by Four Horseman manager JJ Dillon and Gary Hart, who signed Garvin into his stable. After entrances Garvin shows how much a heel he is now by demanding the match take place IN THE OTHER RING. THE SCOUNDREL. From ring 2 to ring 1 we go. The scaffold for later is above ring 2 by the way. They're going to have to take that down to get the War Games cage down after. That's going to be a hell of a lot of furniture moving later. Both guys get a mixed reaction as Garvin's turn hadn't really sunk in yet and Italian Stallion is.....Italian Stallion. Garvin again shows his new evilness by teasing tossing his towel into the crowd, then tossing it to Hart instead. No chance to sell that on eBay for anyone After a speed run leapfrog Garvin falls and grabs a twisted ankle like he's Susan in a Terry Nation written Doctor Who script (maybe 5 people reading this will get that but I don't care). When Stallion gets close Garvin decks him with a HAND OF STONE! THE CUNNING BASTARD HE WAS FAKING! WHAT A VILLAIN! Garvin literally sits on Stallion and gets the easy pin. A logical squash to get Garvin over as a heel. About that though.....NR

 

Garvin's heel turn would be very short lived. In fact he never wanted to turn heel at all, which led him to jumping over to the WWF, as a face of course, barely a month after this.

 

Dick Murdoch def Gary Royal in 7:02- After Garvin's last second switch this is our first match in ring 2 tonight. From a TV perspective it's immediately problematic, as the scaffold structure is blocking the hard camera's view of most of the ring. Murdoch is making one of his rare short stops in JCP. The only thing worth saying about Gary Royal is he's not related to Nelson Royal. Not that it's the only place I go for research, but the dude's Wiki page is like two paragraphs. Short ones. After the bell Royal seems to want to compare height for some reason. After an initial lockup clean break Royal cranks a headlock, and hangs on into a takedown when Murdoch tries to power out. Murdoch tries a bunch of cradle counters and then gets into it with Long after Long breaks and resets. "What are you doing?" "You were grabbing the man's tights, you know better than that!" "I NEVER TOUCHED HIS TIGHTS!" That's a plus of no commentary shows, you can pick up stuff like that. Now Murdoch grabs a headlock takedown. Another random observation, for a Greensboro show there's a LOT of empty seats out there. As good a sign as any that the end was near for JCP. Now Murdoch gets Royal in the corner and yells at Long for trying to back him off. He hits a punch right on Royal's schnoz. Royal ducks a clothesline and hits a couple of horrible one foot dropkicks. Murdoch goes out for some space. When he gets back in he goes right back on offense. He gives Royal a couple of apron elbows, then walks him around the floor and runs him into the scaffold support. Murdoch continues to get all over Long about how he's conducting his job. He tries to slam Royal from the apron back into the ring, but Royal rolls through it into a cover for 2. Murdoch takes that as a sign to stop playing with his food, hits a very delayed brain buster, and that's that. A very extended, completely one sided squash. 1/4*

 

"Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) def Rick Steiner in 1:25- The GAB PPV saw the longrunning Kevin Sullivan being obsessed with Precious angle come to an end in the atrociously awful Tower of Doom match, but since this is a long tour Garvin is still tangling with other Varsity Club members. The exact second the bell rings Steiner ambushes Garvin from behind. He had that timed absolutely perfectly, like a defensive lineman jumping a QB's snap count. Steiner gives Garvin some basic eye rakey chokey heel offense. Garvin dodges in the corner and Steiner runs elbow first into it. Punches from Garvin. The crowd goes nuts for something. Sullivan is going after Precious again! Didn't anyone tell him that story was over? Get over it already. After Garvin saves his woman and gets back in Steiner goes for a slam. Garvin blocks it into a Paul Smackage for the pin! Well OK then. 1/4*

 

Garvin's big babyface run came to an abrupt end in the fall when he suffered a broken leg. When he came back in the summer of '89, it was partnered up with Michael Hayes as the newest and final version of the Fabulous Freebirds. 

 

The Rock 'N' Roll Express def The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan) in 14:08- The RNR Express are in the midst of a "blink and you'll miss them" run back in JCP. They had been mired in contract disputes with the company which had caused them to leave at the start of the year. They settled things enough to return in time for this tour, but then they'll leave again in the fall. The crux of the dispute is the fact they clearly weren't the huge draw they had been the middle part of the decade anymore. The women certainly still love the RNR Express. Big high pitched pop for their intro. Ref Tommy Young rings the bell to start, but Morgan is still in the ring and the Herders want everyone to salute the Kiwi flag before getting going. That, of course, gets the crowd riled up good and proper. Butch gets on the mic and calls the crowd "Yankee scumbags". Calling a North Carolina crowd "yankees" is the easiest heel heat getter you will ever see. Morton then takes the mic and offers the Herders to kiss his posterior. Undeterred, the Herders continue to display their flag in the ring. The RNR finally have enough and jump them. A pair of dropkicks send the Herders out to the floor. Reset with Gibson and Butch. The Herders quickly beat Gibson into their corner. Gibson fires back on Luke with a running cradle for 2. A knee to the gut from Luke then puts him back down. Luke tries a splash off the second rope but Gibson dodges. Kneelift from Gibson and Butch breaks the pin up. Another double dropkick from the RNR put the Herders down again. Morgan gets in the ring and also takes a double dropkick as the heels clear out again. Morton follows Morgan to the floor and gives him some more shots. Rereset with Luke and Morton taking over in the ring. Once again the Herders' brawling quickly takes control. Morton dodges around Butch, then hits a dropkick and slam. Slam for Luke running in. Double noggin knocker and again the Herders go to the floor to regroup. Luke tags in to have a try with Gibson. Morgan gets on the apron to distract Young. Gibson hits a crossbody on Luke, but Morgan and Morton fighting on the apron still have Young tied up. Butch comes in and hits Gibson with the flagpole! That'll change momentum. Gibson goes fully in peril. Morgan pulls Gibson to the floor and Butch gives him another flagpole shot. Back in Gibson tries to fight back with kicks and a kneelift but the Herders double team him back down. Luke puts on a very loose chinlock to slow things down. Gibson fights free but another double team keeps him from tagging. Butch hits a fistdrop for 2. Gibson counters a backdrop attempt but again can't make the tag. Another Luke chinlock/sleeper that's barely on. Gibson fights off a double team and crossbodys both Herders! Tag to Morton! He cleans house. Dodge and Luke wipes out Morgan. Gibson rolls up Luke but Butch breaks it up. Butch grabs Morton and tosses him out onto the unpadded floor. Action all over now with Morgan and Luke working Morton over on the floor. while Gibson has Luke on the ropes in the ring. He gets a sleeper on Luke but Butch comes in to break it up. Double gutbuster from the Herders. While they pose after that Morton sneaks up the top rope behind them. Crossbody on Luke! That gets the pin! Damn good stuff with both teams playing to their strengths and meshing perfectly. ***1/4

 

Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) def Brad Armstrong in 11:18- Two chronically underrated guys here. Or to put another way, two guys that were extremely technically sound but a bit lacking in the charisma department. We get some lockup jockeying at the start, both guys being cautious and looking for an opening that's not there yet. Armstrong grabs an arm wringer and hangs on despite Perez's escape attempts. Perez manages to back Armstrong into the corner and hit some shots, but coming out of the corner Armstrong grabs the arm wringer again. He uses a counter attempt out of an armbar to do a full armdrag. Perez finally ducks into the ropes to take a break. Next lockup Armstrong grabs a headlock and takes Perez down into another armbar. When Perez forearms free Young is in a bad spot and almost inadvertently (for real) gets taken down. Off the ropes Armstrong gets a hiptoss back into the armbar. Another backup into the corner and Perez hits some gut shots, then snap mares Armstrong over. Armstrong dodges an elbow drop and again back to the armbar. You can't say he doesn't have a gameplan. In the corner Hart slaps Armstrong's thigh to get his attention. It works. Hart hides in the scaffold structure while Perez ambushes Armstrong from behind. He slams Armstrong on the floor! Hart runs Armstrong into the scaffold support! Perez hops back out and rams Armstrong's back into the apron, AKA the Hardest Part of the Ring. Back in Perez lifts Armstrong up and hits the twirly bird helicopter slam. Kneedrop and cover for 2. He wraps Armstrong in a chinlock and pulls his hair to get him all the way down. Armstrong fights free but takes a punch in the gut off the ropes. Now Perez hooks on a double chinlock. Variety! He cranks it back good, putting his knee in Armstrong's back. He hits a trio of knees into Armstrong's back, then puts him in a bow and arrow. Perez's own shoulders go down and Young counts 2 on him. Perez is less than thrilled with that call. Armstrong fires back with a kneelift out of the corner. Perez dodges and Armstrong goes shoulder first into the top turnbuckle. Coming off the ropes Armstrong manages to grab a backslide for 2. Small package for 2. Perez tosses Armstrong back to the floor. Armstrong literally beats him to the punch down there, then gives Perez a receipt slam on the concrete. Punch to Perez's gut back in. Standing dropkick and Perez goes over the top to the floor! Armstrong drags him back up and tries to suplex him back in. Hart grabs Armstrong's foot to trip him, then holds it down as Young counts 3! What will become known as the Wrestlemania 5 finish the next year when it's used in the Ultimate Warrior/Rick Rude IC title match. Very nice little midcard neither guy is ever going anywhere match. ***

 

Handicap Bunkhouse Match: The Fantastics def NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette in 15:10- The Midnights and Fantastics had been feuding over the US tag titles most of the year, with the latest chapter being the Midnights winning them back at the GAB PPV. Tonight the titles are taking a back seat as the Fantastics try to get some good old fashioned revenge on both the Midnights and their ever annoying manager. Since it's a Bunkhouse match everyone's in "come as you are" gear. Except Cornette, who's in his usual wrestling bodysuit with pads everyone he can get them. I'm thinking Eaton's Alabama tank top wouldn't be a huge heat getter here, it's ACC country. Man, I miss the old college conferences that actually made sense. The Fantastics make a big show of gladhanding and even hugging the ringside crowd during intros. The Express do their usual prematch hugging routine to rile the crowd up. Cornette even adds in a kiss on Eaton's cheek. Rogers takes the mic and says he wants Cornette to start the match. Cornette is less than interested. Fulton does a funny bit shaking the top rope to make Cornette mad. Like at the PPV the Bobbys Fulton and Eaton start us off. Eaton backs Fulton into the corner and punches him right on the nose. Fulton pops out with a receipt punch and again demands Cornette tag in. Then he shows how serious he is back taking his shirt off. More Eaton shots in the corner put Fulton down. Long speed run and Fulton hits a backdrop. Eaton ends up in the wrong corner and takes some ricochet punches. Lane tries to get in but gets the middle rope jerked right into his crotch! Rogers and Eaton fight to the floor. Cornette gets a chair and tries to sneak in but Rogers sees him and takes it away. Cornette gets the hell out of danger. Back in the Fantastics do their strut while the Midnights regroup on the floor. When we reset we stick with Eaton and Fulton. More punches from Eaton, then he goes to the floor to get a chair. He sets it up in the ring. Fulton counters and atomic drops Eaton into the chair! Chairshot to the head on Eaton! Rogers gets the chair and whacks Eaton again, sending him off the apron to the floor. More chaos down there as Rogers chases Cornette around while the others fight. More chairshots for Eaton. Fulton gets a chair and chases Lane and Cornette off. Eaton's still taking a pummeling with the chair on the floor. Like Mick Foley taking chairshots level. Finally his teammates get him some space to recover. Eaton gets in the ring, crawls over and tries to tag Cornette in! Cornette wants NOTHING to do with that and hops off the apron before Eaton can touch him. Eaton says fine and tries to go at it with Rogers. He punches Rogers down, then turns around and tags Lane in. Lane walks into a Rogers hiptoss. Another one. Lane ends up in his corner and now he tries to tag Cornette! Again Cornette bails, furious that they're even trying to get him in. That's one thing I've always liked about this version of the Midnights, they would often get mad at each other during the heat of the match. Lane goes to his karate offense on Rogers, then tries to toss him over the top. Rogers skins the cat back in and hits a couple of dropkicks. Again Lane tries to tag Cornette! Cornette is beside himself. Frustrated Lane goes to the floor, grabs Cornette and threatens to punch him! The crowd LOVES it. The Midnights literally drag Cornette into the ring! Lane continues to threaten to punch him. Cornette gets on his knees begging. Eventually cooler heads prevail. Rogers comes over and gives the Midnights a double noggin knocker, and Fulton punches Cornette off the apron! While Rogers is whipping him Eaton blind tags Lane in. Lane hits a running Rogers completely in stride with an enzuguri and Rogers flies out to the floor! That looked amazing. Cornette sneaks over with a chair and tosses it onto Rogers! Eaton grabs the chair he took so many shots with and hits Rogers in the gut with it. Lane double ax handle off the apron onto Rogers. Cornette hits an elbow drop on the floor! Now the Midnights are all getting along again. Lane gets a TV camera cable and chokes Rogers with it. Cornette is the one that throws Rogers back in the ring. Lane snaps Rogers over the top rope. Big clothesline. NOW Cornette tags in now it's perfectly safe. He hits a fistdrop and elbow drop, and even struts a bit after. He gets really full of himself and pulls Rogers up, then starts to punch him. That only fires Rogers up! Eaton saves Cornette with an eye rake on Rogers and tags back in. Eaton has a spike and hits Rogers with it. All legal in this match. Lane atomic drops Rogers into an Eaton backbreaker. Slam from Eaton and Cornette tags in again. He wraps a chain around his wrist and hits Rogers with it. Cornette tries to slam Rogers! That's not happening. Eaton comes from behind, helps Cornette get Rogers up and complete the slam! Then Cornette flexes like he did it all himself! So freaking great. Russian leg sweep from Lane. The Midnights set up on the top rope. The rocket launcher hits! Eaton covers, but Cornette is shouting at him. Eaton gets up out of the cover at 2. Cornette says "Let me do it!'. Eaton, clearly against his better judgment, tags Cornette back in to finish it. Cornette struts around a bit, then arrogant covers Rogers. Rogers kicks out! He gets across and tags Fulton in! DONNYBROOK! Eaton eye rakes Fulton and holds him for Cornette, who has a fist full of powder. Fulton ducks and Eaton takes the powder! Cornette is all alone in the ring with the Fantastics, and is the legal man! Rogers slams him as Fulton fights the other Midnights off. Double clothesline! Fulton covers Cornette and gets the pin! Absolutely tremendous stuff. Great wrestling and even better character work. The whole thing is so much fun. ****1/4

 

NWA World Television Championship: Sting def Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan & Rick Steiner) by DQ in 10:16- JCP continues to be cautious with Sting after his big time limit draw with Flair at the first Clash of the Champions, but it's getting to the point where one could argue they're being a bit *too* cautious. Sting's music has been dubbed over with some of his later music. Kind of cool hearing Tony do the classic "This is STING" intro. Rotunda wastes zero time breaking out the stalling. Speed run, Rotunda his a shoulderblock, then Sting responds with a trio of dropkicks. Steiner and Sullivan get in and both take dropkicks, then Sting gives Rotunda and Steiner a double noggin knocker. Get some order, Young. The Varsity Club all regroup on the floor. Rotunda then complains to Young about something or other to slow things down a bit longer. Sting grabs a headlock. More speed and Sting hits a shoulderblock, hiptoss and slam for 2. Rotunda tries a sneaky kick on a corner break but Sting grabs it and spins him into a punch. He gets Rotunda in Scorpion Death Lock position with Rotunda begging like crazy. Sting takes advantage of Steiner distracting Young again to hit a legdrop to Rotunda's, er, lower area in general. Rotunda gets a leg takedown and drags Sting around by the leg. Sting uses that to hit an enzuguri! Rotunda backs into the corner and wants a TO. Sting, his inexperience showing, lets him get away with it. On the floor TV focuses on Sullivan maybe hiding some foreign object or other in his robe. Another headlock from Sting. When Rotunda pushes free Steiner trips Sting. Off the distraction Rotunda jumps Sting from behind and tosses him out to the floor. Sullivan shows us what he's been hiding, a lead pipe I think, and he hits Sting with it. Back in Rotunda hits a back elbow. Snap mare/elbow drop combo for 2. Chinlock time. Sullivan provides some extra leverage. Sting fights out but runs into a flying clothesline. And right back to the chinlock. Slam from Rtounda and he goes up top. Not at all his wheelhouse. Sting catches him and slams him off! He tosses Rotunda across rings. Sting hits the ropes, runs over and dives over BOTH top ropes onto Rotunda! Amazing move for 1988, and one we'll see regularly from Sting in the future on these two ring setup shows. Sting's all fired up. Stinger Splash! He goes for the Scorpion but Steiner runs in to break it up. Young calls for the DQ. NOW you do? After all the times the VC has already run in during this match? Weak. The heels try a team beatdown but Sting is already out of the ring and walking away with that "man that was a dumb match" look we'll also see from him in the future that's obvious when you look back at it. The Rotunda/Varsity Club reign of terror with the TV title continues, and Sting's day will have to wait a bit longer yet. **1/2

 

Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def Ivan Koloff & Russian Assassin #1 (w/Paul Jones) in 5:34- Like the GAB PPV this was originally scheduled to be the Roadies taking on their longtime rivals the Powers of Pain, but the POP had jumped over to WWF just before the start of the GAB tour. Ellering is in wrestling gear because he'll be the faces' manager entrant opposite JJ Dillon in the main event War Games match up next. I'm not going to get deep into this because I have very little patience for scaffold matches, they're all exactly the same. It is crazy the scaffold is so high the wrestlers can almost touch the bottom of the hanging War Games cage. Anyway, the whole thing proceeds exactly as usual with everyone trying to brawl as best they can while getting the crowd, particularly the kids, to shriek at every supposed near fall off the scaffold. Poor RA1 (Dave Sheldon I think) looks particularly uncomfortable up there. I don't think he ever gets out of the very end by the support structure, nowhere near the middle. Animal tries a dropkick! That's freaking gutsy, I'll give him that. Eventually the heels slowly work themselves down to the scaffold underside and take as safe a fall into the ring as they possibly can. Next. 1/2*

 

War Games: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "The Total Package" Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & Paul Ellering def The Four Horsemen in 21:07- War Games was originally created for the '87 GAB tour, but as of this writing none of those shows have been released, making this the earliest War Games widely and officially available for viewing. It's also a grand finale of sorts for the peak version of the Four Horsemen, an era that would come to abrupt end when Arn and Blanchard left for the WWF in September. The Horsemen come out first, every one draped in gold: World champ Ric Flair, US champ Barry Windham, and World tag champs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, along with manager Dillon who will be wrestling tonight. Arn and Tully are wearing some sweet ass sweet white Four Horsemen jackets. I want one. Flair and Luger is still the big ongoing feud here after Flair escaped with his title on the techniest of technicalities at the GAB PPV. Both teams huddle up to confer and strategize before the bell. The strategy of who went in and in what order was a huge part of the classic War Games. Absolutely traditional rules here: 5 minute opening period, 2 minute periods thereafter where one team member enters with the teams alternating, and the match can't end until all 10 men are in the cage and The Match Beyond begins. After that the only way to win is by submission or surrender.

P1. Dusty Rhodes & Arn Anderson- Big Dust wastes no time getting in while Arn is a bit more casual about it. They start in opposite rings. Arn beckons to Dusty to join him and Dusty does. A quick bionic elbow puts Arn down. He scrambles to the corner and calls a TO. None of those allotted in War Games. Arn decides to back up into the other ring.  Dusty cautiously follows. Arn tries a sunset flip but Dusty's got too much girth for that. Dusty hits a DDT! Arn takes the first cage shot. Dusty pummels him into the cage and Arn is our first bleeder of the match. And the night amazingly enough. While he's down Arn lands a kick into Dusty's eternally problematic knee. Arn's got some kind of international object, it looks like a pair of pliers, and he works Dusty over with it. Now Dusty's bleeding. Arn digs the pliers right into Dusty's forehead. Dusty fires back with a gut shot that Arn gives a great over the top sell of. He tries coming off the second rope but Dusty punches him on the way down. Dusty hooks on a figure four! Arn's in that as the period ends and we have the coin toss to see which team has the advantage.

P2. Barry Windham- The heels won the coin toss! What a completely unprecedented turn of events! Might as well call the match over now. Windham hops right in to renew acquaintances with his most recent US title rival. Dusty is all over him and Windham tries to back off. Dusty bionic elbows on both heels! Down they both go. Arn comes from behind and clips Dusty's knee again. Windham puts the Claw on! Windham keeps it on the rest of the period and Dusty goes down.

P3. Steve Williams- Finally getting Dusty some help. The Horseman jump him as he comes in. Double clothesline from Williams! Football tackles for everyone! They pair off, Williams and Arn in one ring with Dusty and Windham in the other. Dusty tosses Windham over the top ropes into the other ring. Cage shot for Windham. Williams blocks a cage shot attempt from Arn and gives him another one. Dusty and Windham fight in the gap between the rings.

P4. Ric Flair- Champ going in early. But the fact the managers are in this match alters the strategy a bit. Normally you want to put a big closer in there last, but in these circumstances the best move is to hold off your non-wrestling managers for last so they don't have to be in the match as long. Flair comes in and tries to chop Williams, which only pisses him off. Williams grabs Flair. Flair low blow! All legal. Williams takes a cage shot. In the other ring Windham and Arn are working Dusty over with no resistance. Williams is bleeding after multiple cage shots. Arn comes over and gives him a DDT. Flair crosses over and gives Dusty's bad knee a kick, then goes over and shouts and spits at Luger.

P5. Lex Luger- Goes right for Flair. Double clothesline on Flair and Windham! Powerslam for Flair. Windham takes a powerslam. Luger gets Flair in the Torture Rack! A Flair submission wouldn't count here, but Luger sure can hurt him for later. Windham sees and low blows Luger to break it up. They try to double chop/punch Luger in the corner but that only fires Luger up. Flair tries a cage shot and that has no effect on Luger either. They get isolated in one ring while all the other guys work in the other ring. Flair takes a cage shot!

P6. Tully Blanchard- To my point earlier of leaving the managers for last. Blanchard gives Williams a cage shot as soon as he gets in. Blanchard got a chair, I guess he brought it in with him, and works Luger over with it. Arn and Flair continue to keep Luger down while the other four go at it in the other ring.

P7. Nikita Koloff- Ideally he would definitely be the face team's closer but, managers. Flair grabs him as soon as he gets in the ring. Classic Koloff no sells of all of Flair's, and Windham's, stuff follows. Sickle for Flair! One for Windham! Dusty and Williams have gotten the advantage of Arn and Blanchard in the other ring. Koloff puts a figure four on Flair! Flair escapes and tries a cage shot but Koloff blocks it. Tony loses track of his stopwatch: "One minute left.....Well, a little more than one". The Horsemen have regained general control as the period comes to an end.

P8. JJ Dillon- Time for the managers. Here's a thought: the Horsemen might be at a *disadvantage* winning the coin toss with this team, because it means Dillon will have to be in longer than Ellering. It's these little strategic wrinkles that make classic War Games so interesting, and are lost in the modern spotfest version. Dillon and Windham double clothesline Luger. That was a good start so Dillon decides to go after Koloff. Not sure how wise that was. Koloff easily overpowers him. Williams gives Flair the cheese grater spot on the cage. Dusty gives Dillon and Blanchard a double noggin knocker. Luger has a figure four on Arn.

P9. Paul Ellering- The Match Beyond begins. The Horsemen swarm on Ellering as he gets in the ring. Right move. But unfortunately for them, Williams has got Dillon isolated in the other ring. Windham sees and goes to make the save while the others continue to work on Ellering. Dillon manages to go over, grab Ellering, and they go into a ring by themselves. Ellering dodges a Dillon dropkick. Atomic drop on Dillon. Dusty comes over and puts a figure four on Dillon! With rope leverage! Dillon submits! An expected finish with the managers being involved, but a crowd pleasing one. Overall it's a rock solid classic War Games but not anywhere near a top shelf one. There were a lot of these matches on this long tour so some guys could be excused for not going fully 100% in this one. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- An overall solidly good night, especially once you get past the early matches, on what would turn out to be the last GAB tour under the JCP banner, and one of the last JCP shows to be held in the company's longtime home arena before home base was moved to Atlanta and the Omni under the Turner regime. It's worth a look for the earliest readily available War Games match if nothing else, and you can never ever go wrong with the Fantastics and the Midnights.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

 

v2.0 published 10/2/26 

Survivor Series '88

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '88

November 24, 1988 from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, OH

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, The Blue Blazer, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Sam Houston and Jim Brunzell def The Honky Tonk Man, "Outlaw" Ron Bass, "Dangerous" Danny Davis, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Bad News Brown (w/Jimmy Hart) in 17:50- Warrior's team all run in full speed with him. Commentary mentions Brown is a "loner" and say this is the first time they've ever seen him in a tag match. Foreshadowing. Former Dream Team partners Beefcake and Valentine start. Davis gets an early cheap shot in. Beefcake makes short work of him with the sleeper. Valentine works Beefcake's leg over. He goes for the figure four but Beefcake pushes out. Blazer (Owen Hart) whips out the flippydo. Valentine gets a sneaky tag to Brown. Brown and Brunzell go back and forth a bit, ending when Brown nails him with the Ghetto Blaster and eliminates him. Brown stays in and laughs off beanpole Sam Houston's attempt at offense. Houston does what he does best: take a beating. Brown stays in a long time without tagging out, but hey, it's only Houston. Finally he tags out to Valentine, but then wants right back in. They go to double team Houston, but Houston ducks and Valentine nails Brown! Brown has some words and storms off, taking the countout. Houston rolls up a distracted Valentine for 2. Bass gets in for some Texan on Texan violence and Houston does what he does best. Again. Houston gets a springboard reverse crossbody for 2 but doesn't tag out. He tries a monkey flip but Bass catches him, turns it into a powerslam, and eliminates Houston. Here comes the Warrior. All the heels go down. Warrior rocket launches Blazer onto Bass but it's only good for 2. Valentine and Blazer botch a leapfrog spot but quickly recover. Blazer goes up top but Honky pushes him off. Valentine hooks the figure four in and it's good night Blazer. Beefcake goes face in peril and is triple teamed by the heels. Honky goes for the Shake Rattle and Roll but Beefcake backdrops out. Sleeper on Honky. He dives through the ropes to try to get out. Honky and Beefcake brawl on the floor and both guys are counted out. Valentine and Bass double team Warrior until Warrior hits them with a double clothesline. Warrior hits both Bass and Valentine with double ax handles and eliminates them both to win. SOLE SURVIVOR: The Ultimate Warrior. Very abrupt ending. Perfectly watchable match. **1/4

The Powers of Pain, The Rockers, The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs and The Young Stallions def WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition, The Brain Busters, The Conquistadors, The Bolsheviks, and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (w/Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji) in 42:12- This is the proper, serious version of the Conquistadors, not anything like the Edge and Christian version. Same outfits though. Like last year there's guys wrapped all around the ring apron. They constantly have to move to make space for rope running. It's team elimination, so when one wrestler is eliminated his partner is also out. DBS and Uno start. Well I think it's Uno. He's the first guy in so, it's Uno. Wrestling logic. DBS press slams Jacques into Raymond. Shawn does his corner flip over Zhukov, a huge spot back in this day. Ax axes Janetty. Arn and Janetty are in together! The Rockers and Brian Busters were just starting their feud that would tear up the house show circuit and make the Rockers WWF stars. Janetty and Tully slugfest. Lots of quick tags happening. No one has been eliminated but almost everyone has cycled in at some point. Bret wraps up Raymond in a small package (with a little un-Bret like slippiness, he doesn't quite get Raymond's head locked in) to eliminate the Rougeaus so they can shower and get out of town before the Bulldogs legit kill them backstage (A rib gone wrong. A harmful rib, if you will. Old BTE references FTW.). Roma springboards to the TOP rope and gets a reverse crossbody from there for 2. Bret goes mild FIP for a bit. He and Tully have a quick sequence. Mid-'80s Tully vs mid-'90s Bret would be a hell of a dream match. Smash catches Shawn on a crossbody attempt and drapes him over the heel corner so they can all work on him. Arn with the World's Greatest Spinebuster on Shawn! But he hesitates to cover and Shawn kicks out. Janetty spins out of a hiptoss attempt and turns it into a slam. Monsoon: "I've never seen anything like that before". More quick tags on both sides. Ax and Warlord end up in together and the crowd eats it up. Anvil powerslams Tully for 2. Powers gets the 2nd rope springboard, but Zhukov reverses it to eliminate the Young Stallions. Quite the comedown from their performance in last year's match. Tully tags in, sees the Barbarian across from him, and skedaddles right out pronto. The Demos pound Barbarian down. Janetty gets a sunset flip on Zhukov for 3, and the Bolsheviks are gone. Janetty turns a backdrop into a roll up for 2. Now Tully doesn't want to get in with DBS, but uses the ref to heel 101 him down. The Harts hit a version of the Decapitation Device on Uno (Dos?) for 2. Dos (Uno?) gets confused and tries to tag out in the face corner. He's on the ropes (figuratively) but Barbarian gives him a headbutt that sends him into the heel corner. Demolition puts Barbarian in peril. After a tag the Rockers and Busters are at it again. Bret goes through the Five Moves of Doom on Tully. He gives Tully a German suplex with a bridge. The ref counts 3, but Tully got a shoulder up and Bret didn't. The Harts are eliminated. The Rockers and Busters go into full donnybrook mode, and the ref DQs all of them. They keep fighting all the way up the aisle.

It's down to Demolition and the Conquistadors against the POP and Bulldogs. Uno and Dos both fight off pin attempts. DBS gets a crucifix on Smash for 2. There's still a lot of back and forth and quick tags with all four teams involved, but this is the stretch of the match that goes on a tick too long. Dynamite gets a couple of near falls on Tres. Smash dodges Dynamite's headbutt off the top rope, clotheslines him and gets the pin to eliminate the Bulldogs. This is Dynamite's last WWF appearance. The Bulldogs would go back to Stampede for a bit before joining All Japan until Dynamite's forced retirement due to chronic back problems in '91 (which were already showing at the time of this match) and DBS's WWF return as a singles wrestler. Warlord posts his shoulder and goes FIP. Fuji gets on the apron to bark orders. As Smash runs the ropes, Fuji opens them up and Smash tumbles to the floor! WHAT? Smash is counted out. Ax confronts Fuji and they argue. As soon as Ax turns his back, Fuji whacks him with his cane! Ax body slams Fuji on the floor, and the Demos leave. Mass confusion. The Conquistadors try to wrestle, but the POP go out to help Fuji! What is going on here? Commentary is baffled and befuddled. Monsoon: "Something stinks here". Ventura: "Yeah, and it ain't Cleveland". The POP re-enter the match, and Fuji stays at ringside. Fuji hooks UnoDos's leg with the cane, and Warlord covers for the win. SOLE SURVIVORS: The Powers of Pain. The POP celebrate with Fuji until Demolition run in and fights them off. Double turn complete. For the second straight year, the tag team match steals the show at Survivor Series. It drug a little down the stretch, but the action was nonstop throughout with lots of interesting pairings, and the double turn helped elevate it even more. ****

Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV. Bad News Brown explains himself, saying his teammates were conspiring against him. Basic R-Truth conspiracy theory: see them everywhere. He also demands a title shot against Savage because he won the WM battle royale and promises to go straight to Jack Tunney. Meanwhile, Fuji explains that he dumped the Demos because they stopped listening to him, so he found a team that would. Mean Gene: "You can't trust this man!".

Andre the Giant, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, "King" Harley Race and Dino Bravo (w/Bobby Heenan and Frenchy Martin) def Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Ken Patera, Tito Santana and Scott Casey in 30:03- First things first: who the smeg is Scott Casey? Well, he's that rare guy that you could call a super jobber. He'd lose to established names, but also get the occasional TV win against other jobbers. Perfect had just joined the WWF after dropping the AWA World title in May. He was still using his real name as his ring name. This is early on in the "Damien gave Andre a heart attack" Andre/Roberts feud that will run until WM 5. Rude and Patera start. Rude's tights tonight are....interesting. Women's hands right over his crotch and on his ass. Perfect legit runs into Duggan while running the ropes. Santana and Perfect have a nice high octane sequence. Bravo turns a Casey monkey flip attempt into an inverted atomic drop and the heels take turns beating on the super jobber. Duggan "clotheslines" Perfect, running full body into him. Payback for earlier? Perfect does a 360 corner sell over the top and out. Santana gets a glancing .6 flying forearm on Rude, who kicks out. Casey and Duggan are both looking rough tonight. Very sloppy wrestling. The Rude Awakening takes out Patera. Bravo's side suplex thankfully eliminates Casey. Duggan wanders by the heel corner and Andre, who hasn't been off the apron yet the whole match, pulls him in. Santana gets a couple of good near falls on Bravo. A Race piledriver on Santana gets 2. Flying empanada! Race is gone. Andre finally gets in and chokes the life out of Santana. Santana tries a sunset flip! on Andre, but Andre sits on him and pins him. Not the brightest idea. I bet Duggan told him to do it. Duggan comes in punching and Andre gets tied up in the ropes. The faces go to town on him a bit. Roberts and Rude renew their rivalry. Ventura wonders who Cheryl Roberts is cheering for. Roberts hits the buckles at 100 MPH and goes FIP. Bravo hits him with a huge jumping piledriver, but Roberts gets a foot on the rope. Roberts rolls away from Bravo diving elbows and gets the hot tag. Duggan cleans house, goes down to the 3 point stance, but Frenchy grabs his foot and drags him out. Bravo slams him on the floor. Duggan runs around, grabs his 2x4, and whacks Bravo with it. Duggan is DQ'd. Duggan: "SHIT!" (bleeped out of course) It's 4 on 1 with Roberts the last face standing. Roberts gets the upper hand on Perfect. A frustrated Perfect tags out. Bravo backdrops out of a DDT attempt. Rude tags in. Roberts is full of babyface fury and bushido but is wearing down. While Rude walks over to tag out Roberts pulls his tights down, turns him around for a DDT, and Rude is gone. Andre comes in, starts choking Roberts and refuses to let go. Andre is DQ'd. While the refs are getting Andre out Roberts collapses in the middle of the ring, absolutely done. Perfect runs in, covers him, and gets the win. SURVIVORS: Mr. Perfect and Dino Bravo. It had some moments but not enough to fill all the time it got. *3/4

WWF Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Hercules, Koko B Ware and Hillbilly Jim def The Twin Towers, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Red Rooster, and Haku (w/Bobby Heenan and Slick) in 29:10- The Mega Powers vs The Twin Towers was the big placeholder feud going on, using the usual "Hogan vs big guy" formula, while time ticked down to the Mega Powers explosion. Savage and DiBiase renew acquaintances to start. DiBiase runs away from Herc (the "DiBiase trying to buy Herc as a slave" feud was going). Poor Terry Taylor. Listening to how commentary is forced to talk about one of the most underrated wrestlers of the era is just painful. A Hogan/Jim double big boot on Haku gets 2. Rooster tries to slam Jim and that doesn't go well. Marty Scurll has a better chance of slamming Bad Luck Fale (I wish I could remember exactly which New Japan show they did that on, it was hilarious). Rooster remembers he's Terry "Flair Lite" Taylor for a minute as he and Ware have a nice speed sequence. The Savage elbow finishes Rooster off. Heenan berates him as he heads to the back. The faces celebrate like they've won the whole match while the heels have a strategery huddle. More quick tags with nothing really remarkable happening. Akeem and Jim shockingly have a pretty decent sequence, ending when Akeem pins him with the 747. Ware dropkicks Akeem from behind as he celebrates. The faces take turns trying to knock Akeem down. Vince Big Man Logic Rule 1: the bigger they are, the less they fall. The Boss Man Slam finishes Ware. Now they do the "won't fall down" sequence again with Boss Man. Hogan slams him but Boss Man gets right back up and hits Hogan with a spinebuster. Hogan goes in peril a bit before Hulking Up on DiBiase and tagging in Herc. DiBiase goes into super selling mode. Virgil grabs Herc's foot and DiBiase rolls him up and eliminates him. While DiBiase is still jawing with Herc Savage sneaks up, rolls DiBiase up, and eliminates him and the rest of the heel side workrate. Hogan goes in peril again. Haku locks in the Tongan Nerve Grip of Applied Mechanics +1. Boss Man plants Hogan with the Boss Man Slam but doesn't go for a cover. He tries to come off the top rope but Hogan dodges and tags. Slick whacks Savage with his cane while he's running the ropes. Then Slick gets in Elizabeth's face and tries to drag her to the back. Hogan saves her, but is ambushed by the Twin Towers. Boss Man is counted out. Was he even the legal man? They handcuff Hogan to the bottom rope and Boss Man goes to work on him with his nightstick. While all this is going on Haku is beating up Savage in the ring. Boss Man attacks Savage with the club, Akeem joins in, and Akeem is DQ'd. Hogan's still handcuffed and Slick taunts him with the key. Savage fights Haku off and goes to tag but there's no one there. Haku accidentally kicks Slick off the apron. Elizabeth runs around, finds the key and frees Hogan. Ventura: "She's going after Slick's wallet!'. Haku goes for a splash off the top but Savage dodges and tags Hogan. Big boot/slam/legdrop/good night. SURVIVORS: The Mega Powers. Hogan checks on Savage for about a second before he starts posing. Savage takes a while to recover from the beating Haku gave him. Hogan celebrates with Elizabeth and Savage joins in but does not look happy as the show goes off air. This is the kind of clusterfrell booking you get when everyone's protecting their spot and no one wants to eat a pin. *1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: A mostly forgettable show. The tag team match is must see and one of the best traditional Survivor Series matches ever but that's about it. The Mega Powers tension isn't even enough to watch here, as it's much more overt at the Rumble a couple of months later.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Bunkhouse Stampede '88

Legacy Review

Bunkhouse Stampede '88

January 24, 1988 from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

 

Jim Crockett Promotions started annual Bunkhouse Stampede matches in 1985. They were battle royales where you came "dressed as you are", which usually meant a t-shirt and jeans (a Dusty Rhodes booking tic to be sure), and where weapons were not only legal but encouraged. There would be a series of them across the house show loop, usually for large purses, and then a final would be held where only the winners of the previous matches were allowed to enter to determine one true Bunkhouse Stampede champion for the year. It probably won't come a great shock that Dusty Rhodes had won all three yearly finals so far. Up until now they were a house show only attraction, none had been broadcast on TV before. That's all changing now as JCP holds their first ever non-Starrcade PPV for the finals of the '88 edition. I don't know for sure, but my thinking is they were trying to recoup their losses from WWF putting Survivor Series up directly against Starrcade by putting this already taking place anyway show on PPV. Their expansion ambition continues as well. After holding Starrcade outside their normal territorial bounds in Chicago, for this show they're stepping firmly into pure WWF territory on New York's Long Island in an arena regularly visited by WWF that held, among other things, the first portion of Wrestlemania 2 and the very first Saturday Night's Main Event. WWF responded with another counterprogramming salvo, holding a special on basic cable USA Network at the same time where they debuted their own new spin on the battle royale format, a little something called the Royal Rumble.

 

Right after the opening graphic we see Nikita Koloff making his way to the ring, then we go to commentary for a short inrtro. Tony Schiavone is handling ring announcing again tonight. We've got another one of those odd hard camera placements tonight, at a 45ish degree angle to the ring.

 

NWA World Television Championship: Nikita Koloff (c) and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette) 20:00 time limit draw- Despite this show being put on PPV most of the card has a very house show feel, with not one but two random tag team wrestlers challenging for singles titles. First up is Eaton, half of the US tag champ Midnight Express. Cornette and Eaton are actually getting some decent heat from the NY crowd that's more WWF familiar. Because of that they double up on the prematch hug to rile the crowd up more. They don't seem to want anything to do with Nikita though, even though his "reformed commie" gimmick had made him very popular in regular JCP territory. Several quick lockups to start and both guys break clean. Eaton finally tries for a cheap shot in the corner. Nikita easily wins that exchange. Top wristlock fight that the stronger Nikita again wins pretty easily. After some Nikita arm work Eaton hits a back elbow and kicks that send Nikita out to the floor. They slug it out on the floor, surprisingly won by Eaton. Eaton tries to give Nikita a buckle shot but Nikita blocks it, then tries to give Eaton one on the other side but Eaton just kind of weakly backs into the turnbuckles on the apron instead. Nikita tries to power out of a headlock, which gets some of the crowd behind him at least. Speed run and Nikita hits a slam. Long reset and back to Eaton holding a headlock. Some light "boring" chants start to float around. A punch sends Nikita back out to the floor. Nikita pushes Eaton into the post! He runs Eaton's shoulder into the post again, then hiptosses him on the floor. Eaton begs off as we get the 10 minute call. Eaton gets back on offense as they get back in and he hits an elbow drop for 2. Now Eaton works a hammerlock as the time limit draw stall really sets in. The crowd tries to get themselves back into it with a "Cornette sucks" chant. Nikita comes back with a shoulderblock, but then Eaton catches him with a likely low blow. TV was focused on some random couple in the crowd so we missed it. Eaton goes up top and hits a missile dropkick! Cover for 2. Time for more hammerlock. Another "Cornette sucks" while that's happening. Or, more accurately, not happening. Textbook draw stalling. Cornette verbally lays into Nikita a bit while they lay there. 5 minutes left. Nikita takes nearly an entire minute to slowly stand back up. At the 4 minute call he finally fights out. Sickle! He barely caught Eaton with it and Eaton fell into the ropes. Armbar slam from Eaton and, you guessed it, MOAR HAMMERLOCK. They kill 3 minutes all the way to 2 minutes left with that. Eaton cuts off a comeback attempt and hits another armbar slam, and we're right back into you know what. 1 minute left. No one moves at that call. Nikita finally slugs out. Mounted punches after the 30 second call. Nikita hits a back elbow as we hit 10 seconds left. After some more obvious waiting the Sickle hits just in time for the bell to ring for the time limit. After the bell Nikita steals Cornette's racket and gets Cornette to shit himself in fear, but then Stan Lane runs in for a 2 on 1 Midnight Express beatdown. The match had a very few moments, but there was just way too much dead time killing time for the time limit. This was so far below Eaton's usual standard I wonder if he was working hurt or something. This is also not at all the type of match I'd put on first to try to get a crowd not as familiar with the product into the show. 1/2*

 

One of the local refs hired for the show walks right between commentary and the camera as they're trying to do a stand up. Hilarious.

 

NWA Western States Heritage Championship: Larry Zbyszko (w/Baby Doll) def Barry Windham (c) in 19:16- The NWA and JCP created this title in the summer of '87 as a tribute to the old Western States title based in Amarillo, Texas. Hence the "heritage". Windham won the tournament to become inaugural champion, I guess as a thanks for all the great work he did with Flair during the first part of the year in his unsuccessful World title challenges. Given how this title went Windham might have preferred a gift card instead. Well, gift certificate back then. After the bell rings to start and the ref does all his checks Baby Doll gets in Windham's face and pokes her finger in his chest. Which ultimately goes nowhere. Once she finally gets out of the ring they lock up and Windham hits an armdrag. Speed run and Windham hits a couple of shoulderblocks, then a hiptoss. Zbyszko rolls out to rethink things. Back in Zbyszko gets a leg takedown. Windham easily gets free and Zbyszko bitches about a phantom hair pull. Another speed run and Windham dodges a dropkick. Windham uses a Zbyszko hammerlock to give him a fireman's carry takedown. Off a rope break Zbyszko tries for his quick back kick, but Windham was ready for it. He hits an atomic drop and Zbyszko powders again. Again he gets a leg takedown back in. Clearly the leg is his target. Windham fights free again and both guys shove. Nice drop toe hold from Windham into a headlock. Zbyszko responds with his own less smooth drop toe hold and again starts working on Windham's leg. This time he makes some headway as Windham has a hard time getting free. Windham gets back up and hits an enzuguri! Powerslam on Zbyszko for 2. Setup slam and Windham goes up top. Zbyszko dodges an elbow drop! Again Zbyszko is back on the leg. JR reminds me that the Horsemen had done some damage to Windham's leg, so that makes sense Zbyszko would take that opening. Windham again fights back up. Zbyszko hits the back kick this time. Ugly backbreaker for 2. Then Zbyszko abandons the leg and puts on a chinlock instead. Windham back suplexes free. Zbyszko drop toe hold and back on the leg. Full on slugfest that Windham wins. Dropkick from Windham. They badly mess up a basic suplex and Windham covers for 2. That was not pretty. Much better gutwrench suplex from Windham for 2. Windham hooks on a sleeper. Zbyszko reaches out and grabs a rope before it's on too long. He goes out to the floor again, but this time Windham follows. He gives Zbyszko a shot on a table that I assume is for the ever present NY Athletic Commission. Zbyszko pushes Windham into the post. Windham pulls Zbyszko down from the floor and crotches him on the post right in front of the ref. They have another mistimed spot where Zbyszko ducks Windham's flying lariat well before Windham launches for it. That sends Windham back out to the floor. Windham goes for a sunset flip back in. Zbyszko punches free and covers for 2. He tries a swinging neckbreaker but Windham blocks it into a backslide for 2. Zbyszko tries for a piledriver. Windham backdrops free. Speed run and big midring collision. Windham dodges in the corner and Zbyszko runs his knee into the corner. Mounted punches from Windham. Corner whip do-si-do and down goes the ref. Zbyszko gets Baby Doll's High Heeled Shoe of Pointy Death, nails Windham with it, and gets the pin to win the title. Like the last match a lot of this had a very pedestrian pace, there were a couple of very rough patches, and after so much focus on Windham's knee it went nowhere the second half of the match. But the last 5 or so minutes they finally got going pretty good. **

 

This would be the only change of hands in this title's short history. Zbyszko would occasionally defend it the first half of the year, pretty much all on house shows and not TV, until the summer's Great American Bash tour. By then they'd realize the title wasn't working and quietly pull the plug on it., though officially Zbyszko remained champion until his return to the AWA at the start of '89, after which the title was retired in the record books. 

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Road Warrior Hawk (w/Paul Ellering) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/JJ Dillon) by DQ in 21:39- Yes, this really is a PPV World title defense. There's a bit of an issue with the tape here, as we cut straight from the end of the previous match to the early minutes of this one and get the "presented in the most complete form possible" disclaimer. Hawk easily powers out of a headlock. Side note, this is the first time on a major show Dillon is cornering Flair despite the Horsemen being a thing for nearly two years now. Might be as a counter to Ellering. Hawk no sells a chop in the corner. Flair goes all the way out to the apron to think that over. Another chop, then Flair bounces off Hawk trying a shoulderblock. Press slam from Hawk. Flair sells it to the cheap seats and slowly rolls to the floor. Dillon wants a TO. Hawk says nah and drags Flair back in. Another press slam. Headbutt from Hawk. Flair Flop! Flair tries to beg off but Hawk stomps him down into the corner. Standing dropkick from Hawk. Fistdrop. He hiptosses Flair out of the corner and Flair goes to the floor again. Hawk suplexes him off the apron back in. Bear hug from Hawk that gets a couple of near falls. Flair tries to chop back but again it has no effect. Flying tackle from Hawk. On the floor Flair goes to the eye rake and gives Hawk a guardrail shot, which is again no sold. Hawk picks the wooden stairs up and tosses them at Flair! Back in Hawk chokes Flair and Flair uses that to sneak a low blow in. That'll turn things around. Thumb right in Hawk's eye for good measure. Now Flair's getting in a groove and gives us a "WOOOOO". Snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. He tosses Hawk back out to the floor. Guardrail shots for Hawk. Spot longtime security guru Doug Dellinger keeping the belt and holding the guardrail up at the same time. Like Happy Hogan, a security guy of many talents. Coming back in, Flair actually hits a double ax handle off the top rope and hits another kneedrop for 2. Coming off the ropes Hawk grabs Flair and hits a neckbreaker. Flair dodges a fistdrop, and Hawk hurts his knee on the landing. Ruh roh. Flair sees that we're off to school, kids. He gets Ellering to distract the ref to sneak another low blow in too. Hawk tries to chop back but Flair hits a back suplex, then posts Hawk's knee. Figure four! With extra top rope leverage. Local ref is completely useless. Hawk uses his strength to pull Flair back to the middle of the ring and reverse it. Flair actually stays in it for a bit before grabbing a rope break. Flair goes up top again and this time gets slammed off like normal. Hawk hits Flair style chops in the corner. Flair reverses a corner whip but Hawk pops out with a clothesline, which also takes the ref down. Hawk clotheslines Flair 360 over the top to the floor. Post shot for Flair. Another one. Flair's bleeding. Powerslam from Hawk back in, but the ref is still out on the floor. Another clothesline. Flair eye pokes Hawk and goes up top again. Hawk punches and joins him. Superplex! That was a finisher back then. Hawk covers but there's still no ref. Dillon comes in and gives Hawk a chairshot! That only pissed Hawk off. He grabs Dillon. Flair gets the chair and whacks Hawk in the head with it. Cover. The ref is back but Hawk kicks out. Delayed suplex from Flair. Hawk pops back up! Mounted punches. Flair Flop 2! Another fistdrop from Hawk. Flair gives Hawk a quick knee, grabs the chair and hits Hawk with it right in front of the ref for the cheap DQ. House show booking, house show finish. Classic "Flair wrestles a broomstick" match, which considering we're well into the Peak Flair era is still pretty damn good. ***1/2

 

Pause for the cage setup. That's right, this final isn't just a Bunkhouse Stampede match. It's a STEEL CAGE Bunkhouse Stampede match. The rules are regular battle royale rules, to be eliminated you have to be "thrown" through the door to the floor, or over the top of the cage to the floor. So the opposite of WWF's escape is the only way to win cage matches. Not sure if it's a deliberate dig or not but it's likely. I'll give you a minute to figure out how a wrestler could realistically get an unwilling opponent all the way over the top of the cage and down to the floor and still keep believability. Definitely an issue from a conceptual standpoint.

 

To kill time during the cage setup Caudle reads off the credits for the show. All of them. Sadly with no accompanying name jokes. They don't seem to have planned for this intermission very well, but then again you could say that about the whole show.

 

As I mentioned earlier, in order to qualify for this Bunkhouse Stampede final you had to win one of the "preliminary" Stampede matches during the tour of them the past month or so. Those who qualified for tonight: Road Warrior Animal (who won the most prelims this year), the Barbarian, both World tag champs Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, the Warlord, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger (who's turned face and left the Horsemen after blaming Dillon for his loss to Dusty at Starrcade), and three time defending yearly Stampede champion and current US champ Dusty Rhodes, who just barely made it in thanks to a last chance qualifier. Trying to create a shred of doubt things might be different this year. 

 

Bunkhouse Stampede Final- I'll give them credit, the light show on the ring during intros is pretty well ahead of what WWF was doing at the time presentation wise. Warlord is wearing a lifeguard tank top, which is hilarious to me. If anyone starts drowning in the ring, we're set. Luger gets an OK ovation for soon after his face turn, though the crowd doesn't seem to be enamored with anyone in this match one way or another. Side note, Earl Hebner is one of the refs on the outside for this match, making his final appearance for JCP before jumping over to join his twin brother in WWF. All eight guys are in the cage, the bell rings, and we're off....with a bunch of weak brawling. Where the hell are the weapons? I WAS PROMISED WEAPONS! I guess if you count weightlifting belts as weapons, half the guys are wearing those. Just a whole lot of meandering around and no flow or story at all in the early portion of this. Arn saves his teammate Blanchard when Dusty tries to get him out the door. After being the first to dangle out the door, Blanchard is the first to get in the vicinity of the top of the cage. The tag champs work together to beat down their former stablemate Luger. Ivan is the first guy to start bleeding after some elbows from Dusty. Barbarian actually almost lifts Dusty over the top of the cage. Feat of strength if I ever saw one. JR says this match is "hard to call". I bet, though not for the reasons he's giving. Absolutely nothing worth mentioning is happening. Ivan chokes Dusty with I think some of his wrist tape. Closest thing to a weapon we've seen so far. Both Arn and Blanchard are bleeding from cage shots now. So is Animal, as Barbarian bites at the cut for a ringside camera. Dusty and Blanchard fight over a weightlifting belt, then Dusty starts whipping it in the general direction of everyone. Barbarian gets the belt and works Dusty over with it. Luger's been tied to the ropes with something and Arn works him over. Ivan scrapes at Dusty's arm with the buckle of the weightlifting belt, cutting him open on the upper arm. If you ever wondered how Dusty got all those scars on his arm, it's from spots like this. He's gushing pretty good, his arm is almost covered in blood. We get our first elimination tease in forever as Animal gets Arm straddled across the top of the cage. Arn yells for Blanchard to help, but Blanchard is half out the door trying to drag Ivan by the throat with the weightlifting belt out the door. Nothing comes from either tease. Animal gets Ivan up and over the top of the cage. Ivan tries to hold onto the cage, but Animal hits him and he drops down. FINALLY, mercifully we get the first elimination nearly 15 damn minutes in as Ivan is out. Animal presses Blanchard into Arn. Animal gets Warlord half out the door. A kick from Barbarian on Animal sends both Animal and Barbarian's Paul Jones Army teammate Warlord out to the floor! They're both gone. Luger works Blanchard over and hits a powerslam in the slightly less crowded ring. Blanchard is in the Torture Rack! Won't win anything for Luger in this but it'll hurt Blanchard. Blanchard grabs the cage to get free. The Horsemen start double teaming Luger again. They get him down and try to push him out the door. Luger grabs the ropes and powers them both off. They continue fighting by the door. Blanchard manages to save himself from nearly going out. Arn goes out onto the steps trying to drag Luger out, which is fine. Feet have to touch the floor to be eliminated. A push from Blanchard and all three of them tumble out to the floor! While that whole sequence was happening Dusty and Barbarian were over brawling in another part of the ring, and now they're the final two. Jones hands something to Barbarian through the cage. A weapon, finally? I guess it's knucks and he takes Dusty out with them. Barbarian hits the headbutt off the top rope. A second one hits. He drags Dusty over and tries to get him out of the door. Dusty grabs the cage side and fights him off. Back inside the ring Dusty hits a back elbow. He and Barbarian both climb the ropes. Headbutt from Barbarian. He tries to lift Dusty up over the cage. Dusty hits an elbow and lifts Barbarian up. Barbarian straddles the cage. Bionic elbow! Barbarian falls and dangles off the cage outside. Another elbow and Barbarian drops! To the absolute non-amazement of everyone Dusty Rhodes wins the Bunkhouse Stampede yet again. All you have to hear is the total lack of reaction from the crowd at the end of the match to know how that went. The trophy is a giant cowboy boot. That's fantastic. For the majority of this match it was leaning into the dreaded MINUS FIVE STARS territory, but the end run, particularly the Luger/Horsemen stuff, just barely saved it from that ignominy. DUD

 

As commentary does their close part of the crowd starts loudly chanting something. I'm almost positive it's "REFUNDS!". I think I see Hebner handing in his time card and flagging down a cab to take him straight to Titan Towers.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Needing a big win after a very middle of the road Starrcade and falling more and more into debt after all their territory acquisitions, this was nothing less than an abject disaster for JCP. I can't imagine they made any new fans in the traditional WWF crowd with this either. After the Turner buyout later in the year old Bunkhouse Stampede was shipped out to the glue factory and never heard of again.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-

 

version 2.0 published 8/6/26