Great American Bash '92

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '92

July 12, 1992 from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura

Another year, another show centered around a tag team tournament. This time, the NWA and WCW agreed to revive the NWA World Tag Team Championship, with a worldwide tournament held on WCW TV to crown the new champions. The entire first round and one quarterfinal match took place on Clash of the Champions XIX, with most of the international teams getting bounced on that show. But the WCW world title would not be forgotten, and this would turn out to be a pivotal match in the title's history.

Bill Watts is with Eric Bischoff and clarifies that in the NWA sanctioned matches, and NWA sanctioned matches only, moves off the top rope are legal. Well, thanks for something at least.

Quarterfinals: Nikita Koloff and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def Jushin Thunder Liger and "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 19:26- Here's three guys that absolutely rule, and Koloff. After tearing it up against each other in singles matches at the start of the year Pillman and Liger are an inspired choice for a team. All four guys are faces so Code of Honor handshakes at the start. Pillman and Koloff open. Koloff throws him out of a headlock. More power from Koloff so Pillman tries a drop toe hold. Koloff picks him up and sits him on the top buckle. Pillman dodges a charge and gets a sloppy roll up for 2. Liger and Pillman work quick tags on Koloff's arm. Koloff looks annoyed, like mosquitoes are biting him. Liger bounces off a shoulderblock attempt, slides under Koloff and hits dropkicks. Koloff counters with a back elbow and tags out. Steamboat flips Liger in off the apron. Double noggin knocker and Pillman and Liger are both on the floor. Steamboat and Pillman speed it up. Steamboat catches him trying a leapfrog and hits an inverted atomic drop. DEEP armdrag. Pillman and Liger counter with a double dropkick. Big backdrop and elbow drop by Pillman on Steamboat for 2. Liger unleashes the kicks. Talk about a dream singles match, Steamboat vs Liger. Moonsault! Steamboat kicks out! The crowd really bit on that one. Liger hits a tombstone for another 2. Steamboat hits some power moves, backbreakers and a powerslam. Pillman breaks up the pin. Ventura drops a reference to The Predator in. Why mention the good movies he was in? He needs to make more Abraxas references. Liger counters a Steamboat backdrop with a kick and gets a semi-hot tag. Pillman chops Steamboat out of his boots and dropkicks Koloff off the apron. Liger hits a missile dropkick and flippydo tackle for 2. Liger tries to kick Koloff down, but Koloff wins the exchange with punches. He calls for the Sickle. Pillman dropkicks him in the back. Koloff does a horrible sell of another dropkick so Pillman tries it again. He pushes Pillman off over the top but Pillman lands on the apron. Springboard clothesline! Missile dropkick! But he takes a second to dropkick Steamboat off the apron, giving Koloff enough time to recover and kick out at 2. Pillman tries to jump onto Koloff's back to hook a sleeper on but slips off in another botch. He recovers and gets the sleeper. Koloff jawbreaks out. Tags on both sides. Liger hits an enzuguri for 2. Steamboat/Liger quick cover exchange. Sneaky tag to Pillman. There's a very rare Steamboat botch as he and Pillman can't get the bridge up spot right. They maneuver around to still do the backslide. Donnybrook! Pillman hits a crossbody off the top, but Steamboat rolls through and reverses it to get the win. I'm not sure the right team won there. There was the awesomeness you'd expect with who's in there, but also some rough patches that kept it from the upper echelon. ***1/2

 

Quarterfinals: Hiroshi Hase and Shinya Hashimoto def The Fabulous Freebirds in 9:16- A bit of history here, as this is the Freebirds' final PPV as a team. They recently dropped the US tag titles to the scintillating team of Dick Slater and the Barbarian. The US tag belts themselves, one of the last vestiges of the territory days, would be deactivated for good at the end of the month. Hashimoto is an injury replacement for Akiro Nogami, who suffered a legit eye injury after the teams' opening round win at Clash XIX. Hase and Hayes start. Usual Hayes strutting and moonwalk. Good basic back and forth. Hase squirts of a headscissors. A roll up sequence that I don't think went the way it was intended gets a 2 for Hayes. Garvin and Hashimoto do a hammerlock switch/drop toe hold sequence. Hase hits some chops. Hashimoto starts unleashing kicks that JR had been building up since before the match started. Hayes locks in an armbar. Hashimoto counters with thrusts to the throat. Hase with a senton for 2. The Japanese team targets Hayes' gut/ribs. Spinning heel kick from Hashimoto. Garvin breaks up a pin. The Japanese double team. Garvin runs in to stop it, which leads to more double teaming. Hayes whips Hase into Hashimoto, hits straight lefts on both, and gets the hot tag. Slams for everyone. Slugfest. Hase gets a Northern Lights suplex on Hayes that gets 3 and a surprise win for the Japanese team. This never gelled. *3/4

Tony is with Bill Watts, Hiro Matsuda and WCW's brand new Big Gold Belt. The legal wrangling after Ric Flair left for WWF with the original Big Gold has been settled. After the NWA tag title revival, WCW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling will be co-hosting a tournament for a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, with the finals to be held in Tokyo. Watts specifically mentions Flair as the previous champ, and floats the idea of a unification match between the NWA and WCW world champs at some point.

 

Quarterfinals: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham def "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Madusa) in 19:15- Rude and Austin are still US and TV champs respectfully. Austin and Windham start. Lockup standoffs. Ventura complains that Windham is using that old heel trick of taping up an injury that healed long ago for an advantage, namely the taped fist from the Anderson/Zbysko car attack 9 months ago. Austin gets a backslide and tries a roll up with a handful of tights. Windham punches him with the taped fist and Austin flops like an NBA player. After a mat exchange he gives Austin an open hand slap with taped hand, Austin ricochets into a Rhodes punch from the apron, and rolls out for a think. Rude and Rhodes have a good back and forth. Rude hooks up a tombstone. Rhodes reverses and hits it. Austin breaks up the pin. Rude gets his knees up on a splash attempt and Rhodes goes mild Texan in peril. Austin with a charging clothesline out of the corner for 2. Rhodes gets a knee shot in and kicks Austin across the ring and out of it. Windham with a clothesline off the top rope for 2. Austin turns the momentum with a backdrop and Windham goes full Texan in peril. Rude hits some forearms to the kidneys. Austin sets Windham on the top rope. Windham headbutts him and Austin does a super sell across the ring. Seriously, I think Rock learned how to sell the Stunner watching that. Medusa gets on the apron and Rude trips Windham up. Rude missile dropkick for 2. Piledriver. Rhodes saves. Rude holds Windham's tights to prevent the pin and Austin hits a double ax handle off the top. The heels keep the ring cut in half very well, but do it legally with little shenanigans. Austin tries to sneak in a rope leverage pin then plays the rope leverage game with a chinlock. Windham with a hope small package for 2. Double clothesline. An Austin back suplex prevents the tag. Windham hits Rude with an inverted atomic drop and we get the classic Rude sell. Windham literally falls across the ring toward his corner and tags! Rhodes dropkicks Rude over and out and hits Austin with a reverse elbow off the second rope. Donnybrook. Rhodes hits a clothesline off the top rope to win. Average for these guys, so, good. It went on too long and they didn't fill the time as much as two polished reagular teams might have. Windham looks about out of gas. ***

 

Semifinals: The Miracle Violence Connection def Nikita Koloff and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in 21:39- The MVC were already WCW World Tag Team champs, having defeated the Steiners at a house show in Atlanta the week before this show. They also bounced the Steiners from this tournament in the quarterfinals match on Clash XIX. Two big stiff veteran workers, they were definitely Bill Watts' team. The crowd isn't nearly as enamored with them. Very little reaction one way or the other. Steamboat and Gordy start. Steamboat trying to power out of a headlock doesn't work so he works the speed instead. The first 7-8 minutes of the match is an extended mat wrestling sequence with all four guys trading off. Solid stuff, good ground building for a long match. Williams flips Koloff over and plants him right on his head. He's fine. Then they try to throw each other around and it ends in a stalemate. I think there might be some shooting going on in there. Steamboat speeds around and hits a chop followed by a DEEP armdrag. Williams hits a huge clothesline. He and Steamboat roll around the mat trying for covers. Steamboat tries a crucifix but Williams backs him into the corner. Chop exchange. Gordy hits a couple of big slams and Steamboat's worked into full in peril mode. Heels with a double team tackle for 2. They sucker Koloff in for more double teams. Steamboat chops back. Williams catches a crossbody attempt and hits a backbreaker. Steamboat counters a backdrop with a DDT and slowly crawls over to just get the tag. Koloff runs all over the heels until Gordy uses his momentum to face plant him. Outsmarting Koloff, not the greatest challenge in the world. Williams drops him throat first on the top rope. More Koloff and the heels unloading on each other. Koloff knees the buckle. Gordy hooks in an STF. Williams with a Boston Crab. He hits Koloff with a powerslam for 2, then cinches him up for the Oklahoma Stampede, but Koloff pushes him into the corner. Tags. Steamboat whips the heels into each other. Chop off the top rope. He goes up top again but Gordy pushes him off and Williams catches him, hits a modified spinebuster version of the Stampede, and gets the 3. Apart from some Steamboat spots this was 100% an MVC style match. There's the running gag of "more stars in the Tokyo Dome", but this was a Japanese style match that would have played better there. Of course I love Japanese style wrestling, but while this was fine it was also missing that something extra. **1/2

 

Semifinals: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham def Hiroshi Hase and Shinya Hashimoto in 14:55- Hase and Rhodes start. Cautiously. Arm work tradeoffs. Lots of clean breaks and sportsmanship early. Windham gets a hammerlock slam on Hase. The Japanese start pounding on Windham as things finally start to break down/crank up. Hashimoto hits kicks and a spinning heel kick on Rhodes. Spike piledriver on Rhodes! He rolls to the apron to avoid getting pinned. The Japanese start heeling it up, taunting the crowd and taking the foreigner heat. Hase with stiff chops. Rhodes elbows back. Windham runs in to break up double teaming. Suplex by Hashimoto for 2. Hase hooks in a Boston Crab that Windham breaks up. Rhodes dodges a Hase kneedrop off the top and tags. Windham suplex for 2. Powerslam for 2. Donnybrook. Big Texas lariat from Windham on Hase and that gets the pin. Eh. **

Ron Simmons stumbles through a promo and does everything but directly challenge the Sting/Vader winner to a title match. He stays in the host box with Tony and Magnum TA to watch the match. Bill Watts made history and did huge business with The Junkyard Dog as the first major territory black wrestling champion in Mid-South, and he's got his eye on Simmons for the same thing.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) def Sting (c) in 17:17- Sting's in his traditional GAB red, white and blue. Kind of a tough spot for this match, being in the middle of a tournament that the crowd's been very disconnected from, but they manage to give this the old big fight feel and the crowd wakes up. Face to face trash talking before the bell. Vader hits early stiff forearms to the chest and some potato shots in the corner. Short clothesline. Sting has to roll out to recover. Race taunts him while he's outside. Vader no sells a clothesline and pushes Sting down on a crossbody attempt. Sting dodges an avalanche. Sting with a back suplex! He clotheslines Vader 360 over and out! Vader needs some time on the floor to recover. Back in Vader wants a test of strength. Sting takes the bait....then eye pokes him! And stomps his foor before punching him down. A dropkick sends Vader to the apron. Vader's showing he's not just a dominant big man, he can sell too. Sting suplexes Vader from the apron back in! One punch puts Vader back on top. Sting grabs the ropes after a whip and kicks Vader down. Small package for 2! Vader powders again. Sting with a sunset flip, but Vader counters by sitting on him. Big elbow drops and a big splash from Vader for 2. Vader hooks in a stepover toe hold, then turns it into Sting's own Scorpion Death Lock! Sting gets two arm drops, then tries to power out, but Vader squashes him back down. Sting slowly hulks up again.....and pushes Vader off! Vader pops Sting with a Suzuki-like shot and Sting flops down. Powerslam for 2. Sting punches back. Rolling kick! Sting with a DDT! But he can't capitalize. A shoulderblock sends Vader to the apron but Sting goes down too. Vader climbs up top. Sting kicks him and he falls draped over the top turnbuckle. Sting hits a few kicks, lifts him up, slooooooowly carries Vader to the middle of the ring (legit amazing strength here), and Samoan drops him! Vader kicks out! Sting tries to German suplex (!) Vader but it's blocked. They switch, Sting flips around, and hits the German with a bridge! Vader JUST kicks out! Stinger Splash! Stinger Splash 2 on Vader's back! But Sting overshot and hit his head on the post! He's bleeding and clearly out of it. Vader covers. Sting kicks out! Vader easily dodges some wild Sting punches. Vader hits the powerbomb, and gets the 3 count! The former 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion wins his first major title in North America in a clean as a sheet win. Tremendous story of Sting getting too cocky for his own good, in over his head and losing the match because of his own mistake instead of heel shenanigans. These guys were magic together. The best part is, this is just the start of a long feud. ****

Finals for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Miracle Violence Connection def "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in 21:10- Storyline senior ref Ole Anderson is reffing the match. I hope he's been to referee school since his last PPV appearance. Before the match starts the Steiners come to ringside. Ole and Doug Dellinger stop them and send them packing back to the locker room. Williams and Windham start the match. Cautious basics. Rhodes hammers Gordy with bionic elbows and starts working the knee. Windham hooks in a figure four. Gordy gets to the rope. Williams hits a belly to belly suplex on Windham and follows up with a knee to the face. Another long sequence of stalemate mat wrestling. The crowd's totally out of it. Lots of things of little significance happening. Rhodes gets caught in the heel corner and beat down. Gordy hooks in the STF. Rhodes elbows out and tries a sleeper. Sneaky heel tag and Williams nails him from behind. Desperation rollup from Rhodes for 2. Gordy puts a Boston Crab on. Windham breaks it up. Williams hits a powerslam for 2. Rhodes fights over and gets the tag. A little hot tag sequence from Winham gets the crowd off their phones for 30 seconds (yes I know it's 1992, just go with it). Suplexes for near falls. Ole's doing a better job of being in the right position than his last PPV match, but his count cadence is all over the place. Windham runs straight into a ducking Williams and gives him a knee to face that looked unplanned. Williams hooks in a cobra twist. Windham gets to the ropes. Gordy and Windham midring collision and both sides tag. There's a small pop for Dustin storming in, and the arena completely deflates 15 seconds later when the MVC stop him and the match dead. Williams starts hitting the Oklahoma Stampede, but before he can finish it off Windham dropkicks Rhodes onto him for 2. Rhodes dodges an avalanche and goes for the bulldog but Williams counters it. Huge lariat with a 360 sell from Rhodes, and it's over. The MVC have all the tag team gold. Bill Watts really loves them. The WCW and NWA tag titles would be presented and defended as unified titles all the way until the NWA's final split from WCW in September '93. You know those awesome New Japan matches when you hear the minutes elapsed call and can't believe it's been that long already? This is the exact opposite of that. *1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The whole is less than the sum of the parts. At a glance the match ratings don't look too bad, but the issue is that every tag match was booked and executed almost exactly the same, so by the time the show was over it feels like you watched the same match six times over. Outside the world title match the crowd was deader than dead. Definitely check out the first of many Sting/Vader classics.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C