Great American Bash '88 Greensboro

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '88 (Greensboro)

July 16, 1988 from Crockett Home Base, the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

No commentary as this wasn't a televised show

Like the two '86 GAB shows, this is a Hidden Gem on the WWE Network (thank you, more please!) for a recently found show and I'm reviewing it on my very first viewing. This is later in the '88 tour, after the GAB '88 PPV.

Tony Schiavone is handling ring announcing again. At the top we get the "presented in its most complete form possible" disclaimer, but it looks like all the matches are complete, only most of the entrances have been cut out.

Bugsy McGraw & Tim Horner def Rip Morgan & NWA Western States Heritage Champion Larry Zbyszko in 8:09- Morgan grabs the mic and speaks in Kiwi tongues to rile the crowd up. McGraw and Zbyszko start. Immediate slam by Zbyszko but McGraw dodges 3 elbows and gets a slam of his own. McGraw drags Zbyszko around in a headlock. Horner gets a sunset flip for 2. Zbyszko gets frustrated. Horner flips away from attempts at offense. McGraw goes mild face in peril. The "ref didn't see the tag" spot lets the heels double team. Morgan goes for a pin but McGraw's foot was already on the ropes before he even covered. Great ring awareness (/sarcasm). McGraw reverses a whip sending Zbyszko into the face corner but he doesn't tag out and goes down again. Morgan makes a lot of noise while hitting a lot of very crappy moves. McGraw dodges a dropkick and tags. A Horner crossbody gets the 3. *1/4

Ron Garvin (w/Gary Hart) def The Italian Stallion in 1:15- This is right after Garvin's heel turn. Garvin gets some heat by demanding to switch rings for no reason. He teases the towel throw to the crowd but throws it to Hart instead. Right after the lockup Garvin feigns an ankle injury, blindsides Stallion with a Hand of Stone, and gets the pin. Heel shenanigans to get the crowd invested in the turn. Unfortunately for them, Garvin would leave the next month after a backstage dispute, making stops in the AWA and Puerto Rico before kicking off his WWF run. 1/4*

Dick Murdoch def Gary Royal in 7:02- Murdoch chews Tony out about something or other. Murdoch does some tights pulling while in a headlock and has words with ref Teddy Long over it. He cranks a headlock of his own and pushes Royal to the corner, where he and Long have another argument over rulebreaking. Royal hits the ugliest 1 foot dropkick and Murdoch powders. Murdoch runs Royal into the scaffold support structure a couple of times and jaws with Long again. He tries to slam Royal back in but Royal reverses it for a 2 count. Murdoch gets serious, hits a very delayed brain buster, and gets the win. Extended squash. *

"Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) def Rick Steiner in 1:25- You'd be forgiven if you have to double check the roles here. Garvin is a face and Steiner is a heel, still with the Varsity Club. Steinerline ambush as soon as the bell rings. Garvin dodges a corner charge, fixes his hair, and goes to work. Kevin Sullivan runs in and tries to kidnap Precious. Garvin makes the save before she ends up laying on a stone slab somewhere in a white dress about to be sacrificed. Steiner ambushes again. As they get back it the ring Garvin wraps up a Paul Smackage and wins. Shame they didn't get more time. The crowd loved it though. 3/4*

The Rock N Roll Express def The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan) in 14:08- The Sheepherders are the pre-WWF incarnation of the Bushwhackers. You won't see any silly walks, face licking or comedy spots here, these guys are serious heel hardcore brawlers. The RNR returned to Crockett at the start of the GAB tour after leaving in January '88 and were still over (certainly got a big pop here) but not the near transcendent stars they were a couple of years ago. Lots of Spaceballs salutes going back and forth here. The Sheepherders take time to display the New Zealand flag. Luke takes the mic and taunts the crowd (I wonder if he realized calling a North Carolina crowd Yankees was a double insult?). Morton grabs the mic and offers a counterpoint, a G rated version of kiss our ass. *Another* flag display and the RNR finally attack and clear the ring out. Big RNR chant and more heel stalling. Gibson ends up in the heel corner and gets worked on a bit, before running the ropes full speed and getting a roll up for 2. 2 on 2 standoff. Morgan tries to ambush the RNR from behind but they duck and he takes the Sheepherders out instead. Stall and reset. Morton sells a bit, slides under the legs, hits a dropkick and gives the heels a bodyslam party. Gibson gets a crossbody but Morgan and Morton are fighting on the apron and the ref doesn't see it. Luke whacks him with the flagpole. Gibson goes full face in peril. Lots of double teams to keep Gibson in the corner, but Gibson also gets several good hope spots in to keep things interesting. Butch hooks in the loosest chinlock ever. Like Cena's STF. Gibson hits both heels with a crossbody and gets the hot tag. Donnybrook! Morgan and Luke post Morton, then double team Gibson. Gibson rams them into each other and Luke falls out. Morton hits a crossbody off the top rope to win. Once they finally got going it was decent. The RNR did their best with what they had to work with. But their disputes with Crockett were not done. Gibson left soon after the GAB tour over a pay dispute, and after hanging on and working some singles and random 6 man matches Morton would also leave in September. Neither would return until after the Turner buyout and formation of WCW. **1/2

Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) def Brad Armstrong in 11:18- Rough lockup standoff. Perez tries for a corner break cheap shot but Armstrong blocks it. Armstrong drags Perez all around the ring in an arm wringer. Perez is visibly holding himself back from cheating. Lots of arm work with Armstrong outwrestling Perez. Hart slaps Armstrong's thigh on a corner break and Armstrong goes after him. Hart hides in the scaffolding. Perez ambushes and slams Armstrong on the floor. Hart rams him into the scaffolding railing. Perez works the back. Helicopter slam! Perez puts Armstrong in a bow and arrow, but his shoulders are down and Tommy Young counts 2. Perez: "What're you counting me for?". That gives Armstrong an opening. A backslide and small package each get 2. Perez throws him outside again. Armstrong comes back and gives Perez a slam on the concrete. An Armstrong dropkick sends Perez over the top and out. Armstrong tries to suplex Perez back in but they do the Wrestlemania 5 finish (before WM 5 happened). Hart grabs his foot and holds it down while Perez pins him. Solid stuff. Armstrong was an underrated worker and, even though he did none of it in this match, could fly with the best of them. He's someone that I'd love to see today, he'd thrive in modern wrestling. ***

Handicap Bunkhouse Match: The Fantastics def NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette in 15:10- Bunkhouse match so everyone's in street clothes except Cornette, who's in his usual wrestling bodysuit. Rogers gets the mic and wants Cornette to start. Cornette is just fine on the apron. Fulton and Eaton get the start and exchange straight rights. Eaton gets a cheap shot on a corner break and hits what looks suspiciously like a hip attack. I don't think that's in his moveset, but that's what it looked like. He'll be whipping out a Bumma Ye next. They crank it up a bit and Eaton takes a backdrop. Early donnybrook. Fulton gets posted. Cornette grabs a chair but Rogers takes it away. The Fantastics celebrate and strut in the ring while the heels huddle. Reset with Fulton and Eaton still legal. Eaton gets a chair but Fulton atomic drops him onto it. Another breakdown with fighting all over. Cornette gets his cardio in running away. Eaton takes a chair beating outside. The crowd is going ape shit for it. Back in, Lane takes a couple of hip tosses. He goes to the corner and reaches to tag Cornette, who bails off the apron. "Not me! Him!" Rogers skins the cat and dropkicks Lane. Again Lane goes to tag Cornette and Cornette runs away. Lane's had enough! He follows, yells at Cornette, and drags him into the ring. Cornette begs. Lane and Eaton discuss the situation. Rogers attacks them while Fulton gives Cornette a shot. While Rogers is running the ropes Lane hits him with an enzuguri as he's running by and Rogers flies out of the ring! That was awesome. Cornette throws a chair on Rogers from a safe distance. Once he determines it's safe, he sneaks in and drops an elbow. Lane chokes Rogers with a camera cable. Cornette rolls him back in. Lane hits a clothesline, and *now* Cornette tags in. He drops a couple of elbows. Rogers gets up. Cornette punches him. Rogers no sells it all and chokes Cornette, but back into the heel corner. Eaton gets an Abdullah the Butcher-esque spike out and hits Rogers with it. Cornette tags in again and now he has a chain around his fist and gives Rogers a couple of punches with it. I'm shocked there's no blood. Cornette goes to slam Rogers but can't pick him up. Eaton runs in behind Cornette, helps him pick Rogers up, slams him, and Cornette celebrates like he did it all himself! Oh man, I literally had to pause the show to stop laughing before I could continue. Just fantastic. The Express hit the Rocket Launcher almost all the way across the ring and Eaton covers for a sure 3. "BOBBY! BOBBY!" What?" "Let me do it!" Against his better judgement Eaton tags Cornette back in. Arrogant cover. Rogers kicks out! Hot tag! DONNYBROOK! Cornette gets powder out but misses and gets Eaton with it. Cornette's all alone. Double clothesline from the Fantastics, and it's all over. The Fantastics get a measure of revenge for losing the titles to the Express at the PPV. Absolutely phenomenal. Tons of fun, great storytelling, good wrestling, and a red hot crowd. ****1/4

NWA World Television Championship: Sting def Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan & Rick Steiner) by DQ in 10:16- Sting's face paint is a bit Warrior-esque tonight. It's the upward point in the middle. He gets a big pop too. Rotunda does some stalling before they even lock up, making me nervous about how this is going to go. Sting leapfrog spot and he hits one, two, THREE dropkicks on Rotunda! Dropkick for Steiner! Dropkick for Booker Man! Syracuse sucks chant from the crowd. Rotunda is actually making an effort to keep up with Sting. Sting his a legdrop a bit south of the border while Tommy Young is talking with Steiner. Varsity Club teamwork at its best. Sting with an enzuguri! Rotunda and Steiner keep Young occupied while Sullivan stalks around the ring. Steiner grabs Sting's foot. While Sting's reaching for him Rotunda pushes him out. Sullivan goes to town on Sting with an international pipe. Rotunda chinlock with outside leverage help. Rotunda goes up top but get the Flair throw. Sting throws him into ring 2, then hits the ropes and dives from ring 1, over both top ropes, and onto Rotunda in the middle of ring 2! Stinger Splash! He goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Steiner runs in and draws the cheap DQ. After Sting leaves Rotunda and Steiner get in a shoving match and Sullivan has to make peace. Sting, again, looked like a megastar, and Rotunda did his part to make him look good. ***1/4

Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def Ivan Koloff & Russian Assassin #1 (w/Paul Jones) in 5:34- Interestingly, from the scaffold the wrestlers can reach up and touch the bottom of the War Games cage. You know there'd be some crazy ass spot using that if it was today. Koloff throws powder on Animal. Hawk jumps and we pair off for the entire match: Animal and Koloff on one end, Hawk and Assassin on the other (staying within the railing because Assassin clearly doesn't much like being up there). Animal low blow on Koloff. Koloff and Hawk both tease falling. Koloff returns the low blow favor on Animal and he hangs from the edge a bit. If nothing else these matches sure got the kids screaming in terror. Animal with a dropkick! On the scaffold. That's nuts. So was Koloff's bump. Hawk tells Assassin #1 that he is #1, but not with the index finger. Assassin chokes Hawk. Koloff gets pushed onto the railing, goes under the scaffold and takes the dive. Hawk and Assassin are choking each other. Animal is content to watch and not help. Koloff climbs back up the cage with his chain and wraps it around Animal's neck. Animal fights it off. Assassin has had enough and starts climbing down the railing with no push at all from Hawk. Hawk kicks him and he takes the short bump from the railing to the mat and the LOD win. Paul Jones takes his bumps afterward. I'm not a fan of scaffold matches, when you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all (unless it's that atrocious "capture the flag" one from GAB '91 that no one should ever watch under any circumstances), but this one wasn't too shabby. **

War Games Match: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "The Total Package" Lex Luger, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Nikita Koloff & Paul Ellering def The Four Horsemen (NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, NWA United States Champion Barry Windham, NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard & JJ Dillon) in 21:07- The Horsemen are at their absolute peak and are draped in gold. That, kids, is undisputed. Arn and Tully also have some sweet white Horseman jackets on.

P1. Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson- Arn taunts Dusty into his ring. Dusty responds with a Bionic Elbow. Arn wants a TO. Arn switches rings and taunts again. Dusty cautiously follows. DDT on Arn. Arn eats cage and is bleeding. He gets a kick on Dusty's bad knee, pulls out a pair of international pliers and uses them to bust Dusty open. Dusty responds with a Greco Roman Cock Punch (Something Joey Ryan needs. Not in his moveset, I mean done to him. Repeatedly.). Dusty figure four on Arn.

P2. Barry Windham- The heels win the coin toss! I'm shocked, I tell you. SHOCKED. Dusty fights both heels off with elbows until Arn gets him from behind. Windham locks the Claw in. We get a close up of Dusty gushing blood.

P3. Steve Williams- Huge clotheslines on both heels. Football tackles for everyone! Dusty throws Windham from ring 2 to ring 1. Windham rammed into the cage. Williams blocks a cage shot and gives Arn another one.

P4. Ric Flair- The champ is here. Williams no sells chops and Flair backs off. Arn and Windham work Dusty over. Williams takes a cage shot and Arn gives him a DDT. Flair taunts Luger.

P5. Lex Luger- He clotheslines Windham, then goes right for Flair. Luger powerslams on Flair and Windham. Luger either blocks or no sells a cage shot, can't tell from the camera angle. He rams Flair into the cage, Flair screaming the whole way.

P6. Tully Blanchard- Here's a strategery twist. Since both teams have managers wrestling, instead of using the last spot for the big closer, they're holding the potential weak links off until the end. Tully brings a chair in with him and goes to town on Luger with it.

P7. Nikita Koloff- The face team is also holding the manager off for the end. Otherwise Koloff would be the obvious closer. Flair attacks Koloff the second he's in the door. Koloff no sells. Sickles for Flair and Windham. Koloff puts a figure four on Flair! Tony: "One minute remains!....Well, a little bit more than one." Heh. Lots of paired off brawling but nothing hugely notable happening.

P8. JJ Dillon- 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 War Games so fun and interesting, and are lost a little in the modern version. Dillon joins with Windham for a double clothesline on Luger. That goes good, so he switches rings completely full of himself. He tries to choke Koloff, and that goes less well. Flair tries to Flair Flop but there's no space to do it. Williams gives Flair the cheese grater spot. Dusty with a double noggin knocker on Tully and Ellering.

P9. Paul Ellering- The Match Beyond begins. Ellering takes it straight to Flair. Williams is choking Dillon. Dillon and Ellering end up by themselves in a ring. Ellering gives Dillon an atomic drop. Dusty comes in and puts Dillon in the figure four while the rest of the team holds the Horsemen back. Dillon submits!

Solid but not spectacular, by War Games' high standard. It's one night of a long tour with a lot of these matches and some guys were dogging it a bit. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Once you get past some "eh" matches on the undercard the second half of the show is fantastic. The Fantastics/Midnights match is must see, and a so-so War Games is still a damn good match. Crazy hot crowd too, for, little did they know, one of the last major shows they'd see as the promotion's home crowd before the sell to Ted Turner and moving HQ to Atlanta.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+