Great American Bash '97

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '97

June 15, 1997 from the MARK of the Quad Cities (that's a mouthful) in Moline, IL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

Ultimo Dragon def Psychosis (w/Sonny Oono) in 14:20- Mike Tenay checks in for this one. Oono turned on Dragon the last PPV to cost him the TV title and in the weeks since has started managing Psychosis, leading essentially to a double turn. After the bell Psychosis stalls to talk to Oono. A quick Dragon armdrag sends Psychosis flying all the way out to the barricade, and he stays out there to have a think. Back and forth mat wrestling back in leading to another Dragon armdrag that sends Psychosis back out, and he's getting pretty pissed off. He and Oono stall some more while the crowd goes nuts for Dragon. Psychosis gets back in and spits at Dragon. Speed run, Dragon leapfrogs, Psychosis punches him out of the air! Psychosis drops down and Dragon drops an elbow on him. He does the corner handstand, flummoxing Psychosis, and goes into a huge kick flurry. Another Psychosis powder. Dragon and the crowd count to 10 way faster than the ref does. After resuming Dragon tiltawhirls Psychosis into a crucifix backbreaker. A simple kick counter to a backdrop by Psychosis turns the match around. Like it's 1983 again. Corner clothesline. Dropkick. Dragon backdrops Psychosis onto the apron, snaps his neck over the top rope and Psychosis does a great flop to the floor. A Dragon plancha attempt is dodged. Oono gets some kicks in. Psychosis baseball slide. Dragon gets draped over the middle rope. Psychosis guillotine legdrops him off the apron! After some corner elbows Psychosis does a magistral cradle for 2. He tosses Dragon out for some more Oono kicks. Dragon blocks! He lifts Oono up to suplex him off the floor. Psychosis leaps over the top rope to make the save. Back in Dragon connects with more rapid fire kicks. Handspring elbow. A headscissor roll sends Psychosis back to the floor. Asai moonsault! Dragon hits a brain buster for 2. Tombstone! Man, he planted Psychosis on that. That gets a 2 count. Psychosis goes up top and hits a diving heel kick. Dragon rolls out. Psychosis dive over the top rope down to the floor! Back in Dragon hits a flash hurricanrana. Psychosis reverses the cradle for 2. He goes for a moonsault. Dragon dropkicks him in midair! He puts Psychosis up top and hits the hurricanrana! Dragon hooks up for the tiger suplex. Oono gets on the apron. Dragon chases him off. Psychosis sneaks up top and hits a missile dropkick for 2. The heels try to double team but Psychosis takes Oono's kick to the head! Dragon hooks on a dragon sleeper! Psychosis taps! Your usual wonderful cruiserweight opener. Dragon in particular was really locked in, and the crowd was super into him so soon after his face turn. Too bad Syxx has been holding the cruiserweight title hostage for months. ***3/4

 

Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def The Steiner Brothers by DQ in 12:02- This is a #1 contender's match even though the Steiners have already won the titles multiple times this year only to be screwed by Bischoff. Scott and Ray start with Scott immediately dropping Ray down and pounding away on the back of his neck. Ray gets a hiptoss and off comes the Breathe Right strip! But how will he breathe during the match now? Shoulderblock standoff. Scott says screw the rest and quickly nails Ray with a forearm to the head! He's ornery tonight. Then he runs into a Ray back elbow. Big boot from Ray. Scott ducks another and does one of his half and half suplex tosses. Both Heat go down as the Steiners clear the ring and pose. Rick tags in. Ray quickly pounds on him. Rick hits a powerslam. Heat try to double team and get run off again. Booker tags in and Rick jumps him from behind with another wicked stiff looking shot! Was there some legit heat here we don't know about? All four guys are really going at it almost like a real fight. Booker wants a test of strength with Scott and works it into a full nelson. Scott powers out the hard way and hits a double underhook suplex. Rick comes in with a regular suplex. Scott hits a press slam. He comes off the second rope "into" a Booker boot. They misjudged that badly and Booker had to compensate by moving after Scott sold the supposed hit. Side kick from Booker. Cactus clothesline! Scott reverses a whip into the guardrail. Rick anticipates a shot from Ray, knocking him off the apron. Booker uses the opening to hit Rick from behind and toss him out. Ray slams him on the floor. Booker covers for 2. Ray hits a high knee. Booker snaps Rick over the top rope and Ray covers for 2. Double team Hart Attack style side kick for 2. Booker spins for another kick. Rick ducks, lifts and drops him. Tag to Scott. Slams for everyone. Belly to belly suplex. DONNYBROOK! Scott sets Ray up on the top rope and hits a super Frankensteiner! Vincent runs out and all the way into the ring. He drops an elbow on Ray! That draws the unbelievably cheap DQ, giving Heat the win. The NWO screws the Steiners again. After the bell the Steiners murder Vincent. I may or may not be exaggerating. I get the story, but it's still a horribly lame finish. Before that the match was really trying hard to be good but never managed to get beyond OK. It wasn't lacking for intensity, that's for sure. This would quietly turn out to be Sherri's last regular WCW PPV appearance. She'd leave the company later in the month, but did come back for a few additional appearances during the awfulness that was WCW 2000. **

 

Konnan def Hugh Morris in 10:34- Konnad and Humorous were both in the Dungeon of Doom and had started working as a tag team, until Slamboree last month when Konnan lost his temper after a loss to the Steiners and attacked his partner. They've been fighting ever since. There's zero crowd investment in this one as both guys are still heels. And because it's Konnan and Hugh Morris. They immediately slug it out at the bell. Morris hits a clothesline. Konnan does his roll right into a Morris dropkick. A palm shot from Konnan turns things around and he tosses Morris out, then into the steps. He dropkicks Morris as he's getting back in. Rolling clothesline for 2. More shotgun dropkicks and Konnan puts on a half STF half Tequila Sunrise. Morris grabs a rope. He gets right back up swinging wildly. Now Konnan takes a trip into the steps. Morris spinning heel kick for 2. He wraps Konnan's arms up in an attempt at a submission hold. Gutwrench suplex for 2 followed by some more half assed arm work. Konnan hits a pretty awful clothesline to counter. He tries for a stump puller but Morris is, er, not flexible enough. He settles for a neck crank into a headscissors. Konnan transitions into a cross armbreaker, but all commentary cares about is they think he has his foot on Morris' hair. They get up, fumble around a bit, Morris blocks a clothesline, Konnan rolls out of an arm hold. Konnan float over roll up in the corner for 2. Dusty, then all of commentary, starts talking about how gassed both guys are because "the match has been so intense" and I'm loving the unintentional shoot comments. Sure, intense match wore them down. Uh uh. Slam setup from Morris and he goes up top for the moonsault. Konnan drops him down face first into the turnbuckle. He hits a German and hooks on the Tequila Sunrise. Morris was already out from the buckle shot, the ref does the arm drops, and it's over. As bad as you'd expect. 1/4*

Mean Gene comes out with tonight's hotline shill: rumor is a wrestler that has "had problems with his current organization" will be appearing on Nitro in Chicago tomorrow night. For once the hotline was partially right. The guy in question was Raven, who'd just left ECW and would debut for WCW a few weeks after this, where he'd be booked as an invading outsider like the original Nash/Hall debuts. After that Mean Gene brings out Public Enemy for a promo. Being Public Enemy, they have a table and set it up. They get Okerlund to sit on the table for the promo, which is just some ranting about how they've been overlooked in the tag division.

 

Glacier def Wrath (w/James Vandenberg and Mortis) in 12:02- Yup, this is still going on. The crazy thing is the story and characters are so unusual for mainstream wrestling at the time that it might be pretty good if it had better wrestlers working it all. Per WCW officials' edict Mortis is handcuffed to the ring for this match, naturally close enough to where he can still get himself involved. Newly reinstated and rehabilitated from evil ref Nick Patrick is working this one. Tenay is in again for this one, which is weird as this isn't the kind of match he normally calls. I'll still take it though, he should be doing the whole show. During intros Tony gives away the match order for the rest of the night. Wrath wins the lockup and pounds away in the corner. Glacier rolls under a wild kick, wraps up an arm wringer and hits a hook kick. A single leg dropkick sends Wrath 360 to the floor. Glacier with a plancha! After an attempted Vanenberg distraction Glacier hits a superkick on the floor. Wrath tries to fight back but gets whipped into the steps. I just noticed there's a bunch of silver discs on the floor on top of the mat. Weird. I don't think they were there earlier, and they're not there after this match. The Black Scorpion is up to something again. Back in Wrath dodges a splash in the corner. Mortis grabs Glacier to distract him and Wrath jumps. He lifts Glacier up for a powerbomb but drops him with a nasty looking hot shot instead. Chinlock time! Glacier fights out and turns on the jets. Wrath dodges a crossbody and Glacier slides to the floor. Wrath hits a cannonball senton off the apron. Clothesline off the top back in. He takes his sweet time then covers Glacier with one foot. That's not going to do it. He gives Glacier some mocking slaps. Glacier goozle! Wrath hits a knee to the gut and backbreaker. Glacier dodges a Vader bomb elbow off the second rope. Sweep kick from Glacier. My go to Mortal Kombat move from a knockoff Mortal Kombat character. Yes, I suck at fighting games. Flying elbow for 2. Wrath hits a side suplex. He goes up top but through a sloppy, confusing sequence gets crotched. Superplex from Glacier. Mortis gets on the apron and Glacier pops him. Wrath hits a back suplex. Now Vandenberg gets up to distract Patrick. Mortis tosses a chain in the ring, but badly overshoots Wrath and Glacier gets it. He pops Wrath with it, hits his kick finisher, and covers for the win. After the match the heel group does their usual group beatdown. That felt 30 minutes long. 3/4*

 

Title vs Career Match for the WCW Women's Championship: Akira Hokuto (c) (w/Sonny Oono) def Madusa in 11:41- Supposed women's wrestling expert Lee Marshall is in the booth again for this. He does name drop some women Madusa defeated from the days they were both in AWA. Hokuto spits and slaps after the bell, then goes into the usual women's heel 101 hair tosses and various chokes. She pulls Madusa's hair in the ropes, then hits a piledriver. Off the ropes Madusa hits a slingblade. Shotgun dropkicks. Madusa lays in some corner jabs. Hokuto goes back to the chokes. Suplex and yet more chokes. Gutwrench suplex from Hokuto and she bites Madusa's shoe. Not sure how effective that's supposed to be. Madusa fights back with a kick flurry. She goes for a suplex. Hokuto rolls it into a flash cradle for 2. Madusa flips over the top rope, goes up top and hits a double ax handle. But she appears to hurt her knee on the landing. Hokuto quickly hits a kneebreaker to take advantage. She hooks on a surfboard. Northern lights suplex for 1. She gets up on the second rope but Madusa headscissors her off. Powerbomb from Madusa for 2. Hokuto superplex for 2. She hooks Madusa up in a legbar. After a long fight Madusa gets to the ropes. She dodges a Hokuto missile dropkick. German from Madusa. Oono pulls on her bad leg to break up the pin. Hokuto works the knee some more. She comes off the top rope but Madusa gets her knees up. Not sure how smart that was. Instinct I guess. Madusa manages to get up enough to hit a running clothesline. She lifts Hokuto but her knee gives out. Northern lights bomb! That gets the pin. Madusa's career is over. It would turn out so is the WCW Women's title. Hokuto would take the belt back with her to Japan right after this and neither would be seen in WCW again. Madusa would take some time off and return in '99 as part of Randy Savage's Team Madness. The match started rough but got much better once Hokuto dropped the generic heel shtick and started wrestling properly after the hurt knee stuff started. Definitely the best WCW match between these two. **1/2

As Madusa's getting helped out of the ring Mean Gene comes in and demands a full medical evaluation of her knee injury, which is apparently something that can be done based on sight alone. Then he shoves the dagger right in Madusa's chest, demanding to know how she feels now her career is "history, over, toast!". Madusa rightly tells him to piss off. It's so bad the crowd chants "Leave her alone" at Okerlund. Not his finest hour.

 

Death Match: Chris Benoit def Meng in 14:59- Speaking of things continuing. This is the second straight PPV these two are having a location non-specific death match. And if you think that's bad, if Benoit wins he gets another match with.....Kevin Sullivan. Again. It's well past time for everyone here to move on. It's submit or KO rules only for this one. Benoit dives out with a tope suicida during Meng's entrance! He runs Jimmy Hart off and pounds Meng on the floor. Headbutt off the top! The crossface is already on! Meng deadlifts Benoit up to get out of it and puts him on the top rope, then tosses him across the ring. Benoit gets the crossface back on and Meng grabs a rope to break it. Per commentary, rope breaks are a thing in this death match. Roundhouse kick to Benoit's head. Benoit slides to the apron and suplexes Meng out to the floor. Meng hit the top rope on the way down, not sure if that was intentional or not. Back in Meng hits a kick and Benoit falls off the top rope into the tree of woe. Meng kicks away on him. Chop exchange. Meng hits a spinebuster. A splash off the top rope hits. Meng covers but the ref reminds him no pins. He counts and Benoit is up at 8. Another Meng roundhouse kick puts him right back down. They go to the floor and Meng gets whipped into the guardrail. Benoit hits a couple of Germans back in. Meng shrugs off punches and hits an inverted atomic drop. Tongan Death Grip! He hangs Benoit over the top rope, which lets Benoit get free. Slugfest on the floor. Back in Meng grounds things a bit with a chinlock, then hits a back suplex. Benoit dodges another splash. The crossface is on again! Meng gets another rope break. More fists flying. Benoit ducks another Death Grip attempt and hits a dragon screw. Crossface! Meng is only inches from the ropes but can't quite get there. After a bit he fades, and the ref calls it! As is tradition now for Benoit matches like this they do a double stretcher job, but there's only one stretcher so it's really a single stretcher job done twice. Poor planning. The match was good but not quite as good as the last one because it didn't have that one's stiffness. Better result though, even if it does lead to ANOTHER Benoit/Sullivan match. ***

 

Kevin Greene def Steve "Mongo" McMichael (w/Debra McMichael) in 9:21- For the second straight PPV it's Mongo (who's barely capable of wrestling himself) trying to carry a football ringer through a singles match. Fortunately Greene has a little bit more experience than Reggie White did. Two whole tag matches to be specific. Mongo gets a very small pop since we're not that far from Chicago. Greene charges in and it's on. 3 point stance clothesline. Mongo fights him off and rolls out. He pulls Greene down and hits his knee across the apron, then kicks Greene on the floor. Mongo gets into it with a bunch of people in Greene jerseys that I assume are his family. Greene's mom whacks Mongo with her purse! She forgot to load a brick into it first. Bad form. Greene goes over to check on his mom, giving Mongo time to recover. When he rolls back in Mongo drops an elbow on him. FG kick from Mongo and he tries to do some knee work. Neckbreaker for 2. Greene with a Thesz press! Mongo hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker for 2. Back and forth slugging in the corner. Mongo hits an inverted atomic drop and dropkick. He remembers the "hurt" knee and tries to do some stuff with it that goes nowhere. Greene push kicks Mongo out of the corner and hits a tackle off the top rope for 2. Mongo gets 360 clotheslined to the floor. Greene slams Mongo on the floor. Debra fakes hurting her ankle to distract Greene, but Greene sees the elbow drop coming this time and dodges it. Mongo dodges a corner tackle. Debra gets on the apron. Jeff Jarrett runs in with the Halliburton of Death #2. Greene supposedly pulls Mongo into it, but it looks like Jarrett straight nailed Mongo with it on purpose. No one ever gets up from the Halliburton of Death, so Greene covers for the pin. Debra is furious at Jarrett. It's better than the Mongo/Reggie White match at least. 1/2*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders (c) (w/Syxx) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in 10:02- The new, and final, design of the WCW tag belts makes its PPV debut tonight. Flair and Hall start. Hall gives him the toothpick flick. Surprised Flair didn't bump off of that. They trade shots in the corner with Hall going down and Flair strutting. The NWO regroup on the floor. Flair Flip! Into a Nash big boot! Flair chops back on Hall. Syxx grabs Flair's boot (after Flair had already stopped and started to look at him) and Hall hits a clothesline for 2. Nash tags in and crotch chops at Piper. Think that's gimmick infringement. Nice shout out to the old Kliq crowd though, DX was just getting going on the WWF side at this time. Classic Nash corner knees and elbows on Flair. Huge side suplex for 2. That had some mustard on it. Snake eyes. Hall hits a clothesline from the apron. Flair low blows Nash behind the ref's back! Don't mess with the dirtiest player in the game. Tag to Piper! Hot tag run. Sleeper on Hall! Hall lifts Piper, crotches him on the top rope, and back suplexes him. Flair runs in and seems to pull the ref over to his side on purpose so Syxx can run in and kick Piper. Guess the ref lost his place. Flair is all over Syxx! He pounds Syxx up the aisle, to the back and out of camera view. He left Piper by himself. Hall covers and Piper kicks out. Piper crawls to his corner but there's no one there to tag. He slugs it out with Nash. Nash wins. Still no Flair as the Outsiders knock Piper around at will. Piper tries to fight back but the numbers are too much. Hall hits the Razor's Edge and it's over. It was much better when Flair was in there. He's still a giant ball of energy clearly happy to be back after being out for so long, but the last part of the match was yet another no drama NWO ego trip easy win. *3/4

 

Falls Count Anywhere Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) def Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly) in 16:56- This is the much hyped second match in their long feud. They do the whole "lights out" bit before the match starts. Kimberly comes out on the stage to distract while DDP attacks Savage from behind out of the crowd! He goes for the Diamond Cutter early. Savage squirts free and bails. Plancha from DDP! That hurt his taped up ribs and both guys are down. Savage tries to hide behind Elizabeth. DDP tosses her away! About time someone did that. DDP puts Savage back down in the ring. Clothesline off the top. He tosses Savage over the top back out, which counts for extreme in WCW's world with the dumb over the top rope rule. Savage goes to the ol' eye poke and clotheslines DDP over the guardrail. They brawl through the crowd into the arena. Savage gets run into an arena wall. And through a door. DDP gets a crutch from someone (hope they didn't really need it) and whacks Savage with it. They fight back through the crowd toward ringside. DDP gets run into the steps. Liz gives Savage some powder. DDP is coming in with a DDP sign. Savage gives him the powder in the face, then breaks the sign over DDP's head. Did someone bring a *glass* DDP sign to the arena? Savage pulls the tape off DDP's ribs and attacks them. The ref tries to stop that, so Savage decks the ref! Piledriver on the ref! DDP slugs back and hits a headbutt. Savage lays in some corner jabs. Ref #2 runs in. Ref #2 goes down. Savage tosses him out. DDP's flurry gets cut off with a corner boot and clothesline. DDP shoos legally deceased ref #1 away to make some space in the ring, and Savage 360 clotheslines him to the floor. Savage grabs Kimberly. Nick Patrick (ref #3) runs in and saves her. They work up the aisle. We see a hilariously out of place "picnic area" for "VIPs". They have zero sight of the ring from way back there. Some VIPs. Just there for the party and not the show I guess. I mean, I've seen that at baseball games. DDP throws Savage into the picnic area and they all scatter. He breaks a tray over Savage's head. Savage gets slammed through a picnic table! DDP dumps the contents of the grill onto Savage. They run back up the aisle into the ring. DDP slides under in the corner and crotches Savage on the ring post. He hits the faceplant piledriver. Another call for the Cutter. Savage jawbreakers to counter. They go back out and Savage lifts the mat up. He goes for a piledriver on the floor. Patrick physically pulls DDP down to save him. Down goes Patrick! Savage then attacks a photographer for no reason. He's snapped. DDP with a chairshot! Back in Savage hits a low blow. He goes for a suplex. DDP counters into the Cutter! No ref. Scott Hall comes out with his tag belt. He stomps on Patrick on his way in which is pretty funny. DDP ducks a belt shot. Inverted atomic drop on Hall. Savage gets the belt and nails DDP from behind. Hall has a hell of a time lifting DDP up for the Razor's Edge, finally gets him up and hits it. Savage stomps on Patrick on his way up the top rope and hits the elbow. Hall lifts Patrick up, dumps him in position to count, and Savage gets the pin. The show must be running long because Tony signs off as soon as the 3 is counted. Good match, but not quite as good as its reputation. Bischoff era WCW was completely incapable of having a clean finish in a main event and that really hurt here, NWO or no NWO. They now have one win each so a rubber match is definitely in order. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's some bumps in the road but overall it's an average Bischoff/NWO era PPV. Kinda sad to see GAB, the second NWA PPV ever, relegated to the clear B PPV before Bash at the Beach, which had become one of WCW's biggest shows of the year.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C