Great American Bash '95

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '95

A small personal note before we get going (this is a blog after all): I was lucky enough to be able to attend Ring of Honor Final Battle '22 in Arlington this past weekend and it was a fantastic show. My favorite AEW/ROH guys, other than Kenny Omega, are FTR and everyone in Blackpool Combat Club, and while I was disappointed FTR lost the tag titles to the Briscoes it was still an absolutely incredible, brutal match that was one of the best I've ever seen in person, it was great to see BCC sweep their two title matches. The end of the Jericho/Castagnoli world title match in particular was genius. We had a hell of a time and I hope to make more ROH PPVs in Texas in the future, I assume they'll keep coming back here. Anyway, on with the show.

 

June 18, 1995 from the Hara Arena in Dayton, OH

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

The Great American Bash, traditionally the #2 yearly show after Starrcade back from the Jim Crockett Promotions days, returns after a two year hiatus, but in a new June slot. Bash at the Beach had taken over July and cemented itself as one of the year's top shows with Hogan's debut the previous year. Speaking of Hogan, for the first time this year he's not booked for a match at the PPV as was allowed in his contract, but he is here tonight. This show is also the debut of David Penzer as WCW's ring announcer, who would hold the position the rest of WCW's existence. Longtime ring announcer Gary Michael Capetta was unceremoniously released the previous month with "budget cuts" cited as the reason.

"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright def "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 15:42- This is inexplicably Pillman's first PPV match in over a year. Not long after this WCW would let him out of whatever cage Bischoff was keeping him in again to go to Japan and wrestle that year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament (which was won by Chris Benoit as Wild Pegasus, who had a few tryout months with WCW a couple of years previous and would return later in the year). Pillman is also a face again, at least for now. Lots of low pitched boos for Wright. The longer his push goes the clearer it is he has no fanbase outside young women. Code of Honor handshake to start. They do a lot of extended back and forth respectful chain wrestling to open up, followed by another handshake. That gets boos. Pillman headscissors takedown and dropkick. Wright flips over in the corner and does his own dropkick and headscissors that Pillman tries to block but Wright gets him over. On a rope run Pillman runs gut first right into Wright's head. Not sure if that was planned or not. Enzuguri counter shenanigans follow and Pillman gets a leg takedown. He hooks in a bow and arrow. Yet another Pillman headscissors takedown. Wright swipes away a dropkick and hooks on a Boston crab. He tries for a surfboard but they blow the spot and Wright settles for grabbing one of Pillman's arms. Quick series of roll ups from Wright for near falls. Big Pillman chop. I think he's had about enough. Pillman back elbows out of a hammerlock. Wright uses momentum to send Pillman out to the floor. Wright opens the ropes and invites Pillman back in. Pillman grabs his hair and pulls him out to the floor! There's the crazy Pillman that's about to get even crazier over the next few months. More chops. Back in Wright faceplants Pillman. Pillman gets his knees up on a splash. Stupid Wright dove right into the knees instead of Pillman's body. The crowd is still firmly behind Pillman despite all the heeling it up he's doing. Gut wrench gutbuster for 2. Pillman drops Wright on the top rope and tries to suplex him back in. Wright blocks it and suplexes Pillman from the ring to the floor! Baseball slide that gets huge boos. Wright plancha! Missile dropkick back in for 2. Pillman grabs Wright's tights and tosses him to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! Pillman gets Wright up and tries coming off the second rope to the floor but Wright dodges and Pillman crashes into the barricade. Back in Wright tries coming off the top rope but Pillman dodges. Both guys dropkick at the same time! Wright blocks a superplex and hits a crossbody off the top for 2. Another sloppy dive from Wright, he went into Pillman with his knees instead of his body. Wright tries coming off the top again. Pillman dropkicks him in midair! Cover for 2. Wright crotches Pillman. Standing switches and Wright hits a German suplex for 2. Pillman tries a crucifix into a sunset flip but Wright blocks, stacks him up and gets the 3 count! Very loud 50/50 cheer/boo reaction for that result. After the bell they hug it out despite Pillman heeling it up earlier. There were some definite rough patches, but on the whole Pillman carried Wright to his best match yet. ***1/2

 

Oh yay, we've got some arm wrestling up next. The past few weeks on TV WCW has been building up Diamond Dallas Page as an arm wrestling savant, with occasional heel help from his new friend Max Muscle. Page held a series of arm wrestling challenges, offering a date with the Diamond Doll (Kimberly Page) to anyone who could beat him. Meanwhile, Dave Sullivan had returned from injury with a new pet rabbit that was a present from Mrs. Page while he was recuperating. Tonight Evad is taking on the DDP challenge to try to win that date, but to get the match he also has to put Ralph the rabbit on the line. I'm giving this way more time than it deserves. The match itself is arm wrestling. DDP does a bunch of heel stalling, Muscle tries to cheat, and in the end the Doll pushes Muscle into DDP to let Evad win. Afterward DDP and Muscle shove, then hug, and Muscle points the finger at the Doll for causing the loss. DDP freaks out. It's the usual arm wrestling pointlessness, but it kept us from having to see Evad, one of the worst wrestlers to ever work for a major company, wrestle a proper match so thumbs up for that.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def Sgt. Craig Pittman by DQ in 8:13- Pittman is a former Marine that's recently graduated from WCW's Power Plant training school who's being put over as an insane shoot fighter that's breaking everyone's arms with his Code Red cross armbreaker finisher. Duggan is replacing an injured Marcus Alexander Bagwell. It's obviously not said on TV but reportedly the "injury" was a rupture in one or both of Bagwell's calf implants. Yes, calf implants. Nose to nose shoving at the start. Lockup stalemate. Pittman does some pushups. Duggan gives Pittman a hip toss that's so sloppy on Duggan's side the rookie Pittman has to save it. Duggan dodges a charge and Pittman FLIES over the top rope down to the floor! He's certainly not lacking in enthusiasm. Pittman pulls Duggan down in the corner, rips his knee pad off, and posts his knee. Back in they roll around on the mat. There's no brawling or punches being thrown at all, they're just rolling around. OK then. Pittman puts on a leg bar. Duggan rips part of Pittman's tank top off. Pittman gives him some ground punches. Duggan gets up and floors Pittman with a punch. Rough takedown from Pittman and back to the leg bar. Duggan eye rakes out. Another Pittman takedown into a spinning toe hold. Duggan kicks and Pittman flops all the way out to the floor. Punches and a slam from Duggan back in while he does some lip service to the hurt knee. Clothesline. 3 point stance tackle. Pittman gets right back up like nothing happened, grabs Duggan's leg, then switches to the arm. The Code Red is on. Duggan grabs a rope but Pittman won't let go. The ref calls for the DQ. Yeah, Duggan would definitely not have been on my list of choices to try to work a green Pittman through a match. 1/2*

 

Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def "Dirty" Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col. Robert Parker and Meng) in 8:39- This match was set up on the preshow with some romantic shenanigans between Sherri and Parker. Both teams are officially heels, but the crowd is behind Harlem Heat. The way this is set up WCW might have been testing the waters to turn Heat face. The heels jump Heat as they get in the ring and we have a 2v2 brawl. Heat gets the edge and the heels go out to regroup. Small funny bit, at least to me: I was thinking during intros about getting Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch mixed up, and in the first part of my match notes I wrote Murdoch instead of Slater. Self fulfilling prophecy. Reset with Ray and *Slater*. Ray slams both heels and we have another 2v2 standoff. Booker hits Buck with a swing kick and dropkicks Slater. Bicycle kick on Buck. Ray comes in and facelocks Buck for a bit. Slater and Booker flip the script with a little mat wrestling. Ray comes in. He doesn't mat wrestle. He does resthold though. Booker gets a slam but misses an elbow drop, spinaroonies up, and hits a flying forearm. Slater chops Ray but he doesn't go down. Buck kicks Ray in the back of the head and he does go down. Buck big boot for 2. Ray double clotheslines both heels. Mild tag to Booker. DONNYBROOK! Booker small packages Buck. The ref is distracted. Parker comes in and turns them over. Sherri comes in and turns them back over. The ref finally gets away and Booker gets the pin. *

Next we go to footage from the preshow of Vader attacking Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel. When Vader first comes out him saying "I'm tired of your shit" slips past the Turner censors, but he catches himself and when he gets closer says "I'm tired of your.....stuff". Hogan and the rest of the face locker room come out to stop him. Commish Bockwinkel is with commentary live. Tony has to remind him what the next PPV is when he forgets, then he sets Hogan vs Vader in a steel cage for Bash at the Beach. After that is Flair with Mean Gene. Mostly normal stuff from Flair, but he says "I took your wife in '92" for a nice continuity reference.

 

WCW World Television Championship: The Renegade (w/Jimmy Hart) def Arn Anderson (c) in 9:07- Renegade is what you get when you can't get the Ultimate Warrior and want to make your own but he doesn't have a tenth of the charisma. His mannerisms are nearly identical. This is another one I'm surprised Vince didn't sue over it's such an obvious rip off. Arn tries to jump from behind but Renegade easily overpowers him. An Arn corner clothesline is completely no sold. Clotheslines from Renegade and Arn goes 360 to the floor. Renegade cranks a headlock and screams a lot. He blocks an Arn hiptoss and shoves him down. MOAR headlock. Arn gets an abdominal stretch. Renegade reverses it. Arn eventually hiptosses out. An enzuguri is no sold by Renegade. Arn slides out and calls a time out. Back in Arn gets a back elbow on a corner whip reversal. He tries to put a sleeper on but Renegade runs straight into him. Arn eventually gets it on. Renegade escapes and puts on his own sleeper to audible boos. Arn back suplexes out. Snap mare and chinlock. Renegade moves his arm up and down almost exactly like Warrior while in the hold. Arn counters a backdrop with another no sell. World's Greatest Spinebuster. Arn covers for 2. There's a small "DDT" chant after that. Renegade atomic drops Arn into the corner and they collide. Arn goes up top but Renegade drops him. Samoan drop. Renegade goes up top, hits a splash, and gets the pin and the title to a lukewarm reaction at best. There's a shitload of pyro set off for the win and that gets a bigger reaction. After the match Paul Wight is shown ringside. Commentary still doesn't know who he is. Arn tried his best but even he can only work so much miracle with someone like this. It wouldn't take long for WCW to realize the huge mistake they made. 1/4*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (c) def The Blue Bloods in 15:03- The Blue Bloods are young Steven (William) Regal and late career Bobby Eaton, repackaged as Earl Robert Eaton. One guy is from Blackpool and the other from Alabama. There's a joke setup in there somewhere. Like Capetta before him, Penzer needs to learn that when dealing with UK weight measurements it's "stone", not "stones". The brawl is on before the bell. Sags is hitting Regal with his coat. The fight goes to the floor with Knobbs and Eaton going up the aisle. Sags and Regal get back in the ring. The Nastys double team Regal. Regal takes the pit stop! He goes to the floor and his reaction is fantastic. Knobbs avalanches Eaton and he gets pit stopped too. Both Blue Bloods gag on the floor as Regal continues to kill it with the facial expressions. Reset with Sags and Regal. Sags' general insanity flummoxes Regal. Regal goes to the floor again and Knobbs hits him from behind off the apron. Both heels continue to get steamrolled. Knobbs drops Eaton on a chair. Sags pumphandle slam on Regal for 2. Regal finally gets some offense in on Knobbs. It doesn't last long. Eaton ducks and Knobbs goes over the top to the floor. Regal elbow off the apron to the floor! Knobbs/Regal slugfest in the ring. Sags comes in and attacks again. The Nastys flat want to stay on offense forever and never do any selling. Regal works Knobbs on the mat. Knobbs dodges and Eaton crashes in the corner. Tag to Sags. He hits a horrible powerslam on Eaton followed by a kneedrop. The heels work the ref and Sags gets tossed over the top to the floor. The heels double team him down there. Eaton kneedrop off the top back in for 2. Regal European uppercut for 2. Sags dodges a Regal senton and tags. Knobbs goes wild and everyone's in the pool again. Regal and Knobbs collide hard. Harlem Heat comes out. Booker hits Knobbs with the Harlem Hangover, but on his way out accidentally knocks Eaton off the top rope. Sags hits Eaton with the elbow off the top rope, and Knobbs covers for the pin. The Heat plan, such as it was, backfired. It'd work out for them though. The next week on TV Heat beat the Nastys to get the titles back (in a match that had been taped back in May before the Nastys beat them for the titles in the first place). The match was a Nasty Boys match (you didn't expect the Nastys to work someone else's style did you, you silly person) but the Bloods were good enough to be better foils than they usually had. *1/2

Next up is a recap of the 16 man US title tournament. It's pretty amusing watching the lengths they go to keep Alex Wright from taking any pins. Sting/Meng was supposed to be a semifinal match, but Flair and Savage ended up together in the other semifinal and in their match they fought to the back and even out of the arena, causing the match to be thrown out eliminating them both. Sting/Meng was moved to the final as a result. We also get a promo for Bash at the Beach, which this year will be.....on a beach!

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Sting def Meng (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 13:34- WCW had spent the last few months building Meng up as an ultimate fighting machine. HUGE pop for Sting. I'd be willing to bet Sting is still the most popular wrestler in the company, not Hulk Hogan, which is why Hogan didn't want him anywhere near the world title scene. Cautious start. Meng gets a cheap shot over the ref and goes to work. He puts on what I think is a Greco Roman throat hold. I'd need Taichi to confirm if it really is or not, he's the expert on that hold. Sting chops back. It looks like he wants to do a dropkick but doesn't launch right and settles for a weird one leg kick instead. Now he gets the dropkick. Parker pulls Meng out for a strategy session. Meng goes back to generic heel 101 offense back in, mostly kicks and chops. Sting goes to the desperation eye rake and hits another dropkick. Meng dodges and Sting flies over the top but lands on the apron. He is not eliminated from the Royal Rumble. Sting jaws with Parker and a Meng back elbow knocks him off the apron. Now he's eliminated. Meng sit out powerbomb back in for 2. Shoulderbreaker, followed by the Nerve Pinch of Double Fisting +2. Sting goes out and Parker gets some kicks in. Sting tries a sunset flip but Meng blocks it. Now he puts on the Nerve Pinch of Singlehandedness +1. On a rope run Sting and Meng run into each other and neither seems to know what to do. Sting turns a blocked hiptoss into a backslide. Meng powers out of it. Sting falls backwards off the second rope into Meng. Meng headbutt off the second rope for 2. He tries a back suplex but Sting turns over in it for 2. Meng no sells clothesline. A big flying clothesline finally puts him down. Faceplant. Sting Cactus Clothesline! He takes Parker out and dodges Meng, who runs into the post. Scorpion Death Lock! Meng powers out of it! Sting is shocked. He clips Meng's knee. Clothesline off the top. Splash off the top for 2. Leaping DDT from Sting! Wonder if he'd been watching Shinya Hashimoto tapes to get that from? That's good enough to finally put Meng away and get the title, to a very nice pop. The match was pretty good, mostly thanks to Sting, but also had several really sloppy moments. Sting having to go the extra mile to finish Meng off was also good booking. **3/4

 

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Angelo Poffo) in 14:42- These guys had been circling each other ever since Savage's WCW debut, but the feud kicked off in earnest at the last PPV, Slamboree, when Flair attacked Savage's dad Angelo Poffo. Of course these two had a legendary feud in WWF in 1992 that included the WWF Title match at Wrestlemania 8, one of my favorite WM matches of all time. After a short chase at the start Savage hits back elbows and a backdrop. Flair gets clotheslined 360 to the floor. Savage double ax handle off the top to the floor. Flair gets an eye poke for some breathing room. But not for long as Savage backdrops him on the floor. Flair counters a push and Savage gets posted. Flair double ax handle off the apron. Big Flair chop back in. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. Savage hits back elbows and quickly hooks Flair up for a suplex. Flair maneuvers into the ropes. Savage goes back on the attack, pummeling Flair in the corner. Savage is definitely at intensity level 10 tonight. Flair Bret bumps! He begs off but Savage is all over him again. Flair rolls out. Savage follows and knocks Flair into the guardrail. Back in Flair gets slammed off the top rope. Flair Flip! To the floor. Flair attacks Poffo! Savage goes over to save and Flair clips his knee. Kneebreaker on the guardrail! Nice. Savage is still trying to fight back in the ring so Flair clips his knee again. Savage tights pulls Flair to the apron and kicks him. Flair drags Savage to the floor. Savage reverses a whip and Flair goes into the rail. He gets back in and his knee gives out again. Figure four! Flair plays the rope leverage game but ref Randy Anderson never catches him. He needs to go back to ref school. Savage hangs on for a long while and finally reverses. Flair releases. Savage hops on one leg and pounds Flair. Flair kicks the knee again. Savage dodges a splash off the top rope. Flair is still up first with chops. Savage punches back. Flair Flip 2! He goes across and climbs up top. He comes off, but Savage clotheslines him out of the air! They both collapse but Savage's leg fell on top of Flair and he gets a 2 count out of it. Savage setup slam. The elbow off the top hits! Savage pulls Flair up at 2! Now that's bold strategery, Cotton. Savage goes out and pulls a spare ring bell from under the ring. That's a new one. It's also a good callback to the damage Savage caused guys like Ricky Steamboat with the bell in his early heel WWF days. The ref stops him and takes it away. Flair rolls to the floor. Savage comes off the top again. Flair dodges and Savage CRASHES into the barricade! Man, that was one of the hardest barricade shots I've ever seen, he fell straight into it hard. It's Flair's turn to snap as he punches and chokes Savage on the floor. He goes over to Poffo. Poffo hits Flair and chokes him with his cane! Flair takes the cane away. Savage comes from behind but Flair gets back in the ring, still with the cane. Savage checks on his dad then gets back in. Flair waffles him with the cane! He covers for the pin! Fantastic match. They made it look as much like a real fight as a wrestling match, intense as hell, great finish to keep the feud going and a hot crowd. Amazing what happens when you get Hogan out of the main event. ****

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This one isn't going to blow anyone away, but it's easily the best PPV WCW has put on so far in '95, and the best going back to probably mid-'94 when Flair was still booking. The main event is must see, especially if you're a fan of the long Flair/Savage feud. I also have to give a shout out to Heenan. I gave him grief for being drunk on air back at Superbrawl, but he was on fire this entire show and capped it off beautifully with a great rant and headset drop as the show closed.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C