NWA (JCP) Great American Bash 1988 (Version II)

Original Airdate: July 10, 1988

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

Opening NWA World Tag Team Title Match: Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard v Nikita Koloff and Sting: Big brawl to start, with the challengers cleaning house. Sting grabs Tully in a small package for two during the chaos, but Arn breaks it up, so Sting dropkicks him out of the ring, and dives after him with a tope suicida! Sting brings him back in for a brief armbar, before passing off to Koloff to work the armbar. He keeps Arn grounded through a series of escape attempts, and blasts him with the Russian Sickle for two - Koloff delayed in covering by an incoming Blanchard. Tag to Sting to work a wristlock, but Arn pounds him into the corner to escape, and grabs a sleeper. Sting drops him face-first into the top turnbuckle to escape, and grounds the champion again in another wristlock. Tully runs in to help Arn escape, but Sting fights them both off with a double-dropkick - though Anderson is able to tag out. Gotta love that tag team psychology from the Horsemen! Not that it helps Tully much, however - Blanchard running right into a pair of armdrags from Sting, and getting trapped in an armbar by Koloff. Tully's furious, flailing attempts for the ropes while trapped in the hold are pretty awesome. Koloff keeps the hold firmly applied for a few near falls, then passes back to Sting with a closed fist for two. The challengers take turns working Blanchard's arm while cutting the ring in half - including some cool 'good for the gander' babyface cheating. As strong as Koloff is, he's unable to outwrestle Blanchard on the mat, and Anderson gets the tag. Arn is sweating at a rather alarming level. Criss cross goes Nikita's way with a drop-toehold into a hammerlock, but again the powerful Koloff gets outwrestled, and Tully tags back in. Koloff destroys him with clotheslines, however, and a big cactus clothesline sends them both crashing over the top. Nikita vertical suplexes him back into the ring for two - JJ Dillon pulling Koloff off from the floor in a desperation move. Nikita looks to punish him with a Sickle out there, but ends up hitting the post, and Arn quickly capitalizes by ramming his shoulder into the steel a second time! Damage done, the Horsemen cut the ring in half on Koloff. Nikita powers out of a hammerlock from Anderson, but gets put back down with a DDT for two. Flying elbowdrop from Tully gets two, but a pump-splash from Arn hits the knees, and Sting gets the tag! He's a house of arson with an awesome flurry of babyface offense, and the Stinger Splash sets up the Scorpion Deathlock for Tully - only for time to expire at 20:07 before Blanchard submits. It would have probably been better without having to stretch time, but still great, psychologically sound tag wrestling here. As a general rule, I hate time limit draws as openers, but this is an exception. *** (Original rating: *** ¼)

NWA United States Tag Team Title v Ten Lashes Match: The Fantastics v The Midnight Express: If the Fantastics win, they get to whip Jim Cornette with a belt ten times. Kinky! Cornette is tied in a straightjacket and locked in a shark cage for this one - because apparently the bookers can't go a week without locking someone in a shark cage in 1988. Also, the 'Gangster of Love' is a pretty awesome moniker. Ya'll can start calling me that from now on. Maybe they were just trying to capitalize on the buzz around that new 'Shark Week' program all the kids were talking about? With Cornette locked away, we get underway with the battle of the Bobby's: Fulton versus Eaton. Criss cross goes Fulton's way with a sunset cradle for two, but Eaton takes him down in a side-headlock. Fulton uses a headscissors to escape, and follows it up with a legit rana (which the announcers call a 'headscissors,' since this is fucking 1988), and Eaton wisely hides in the corner for a bit. Tag to Stan Lane for a test-of-strength won by Fulton with an armdrag, but Stan plants a series of kicks on him to avoid a follow-up. He tries posting him on the floor, but gets reversed, and Fulton baseball slides into him before tagging out to Tommy Rogers. Criss cross goes his way with a pair of dropkicks, and Stan tags out - Eaton charging right into an armdrag into an armbar. Eaton uses a knee to escape, but Rogers escapes a superplex, and rolls him up for two. 2^nd rope bodypress quickly follows for two, and Eaton cowers in his corner. He manages an overhead wristlock as an overzealous Rogers comes for him, and a brawl breaks out between the two teams - the champions cleaning house with some fun tandem stuff. The Fantastics remind me of literally every 80s teen movie, ever. They cut the ring in half on Lane for a bit, but a blind tag to Eaton ends in Rogers getting bulldogged for two. The Express work to cut the ring in half on Tommy, but he manages to escape a hammerlock from Eaton, and delivers a facebuster - only for Lane to cutoff the tag by superkicking Fulton! Stan with a somersault cradle for two, and the Express continue cutting the ring in half on Rogers - Fulton's attempts at alerting the referee to the cheating only allowing them to cheat even more outrageously while he's distracted with Bobby. Eaton goes for the kill with the Alabama Jam, but Fulton breaks up the count at two. Lane with a Russian legsweep, and the Rocket Launcher looks to finish - only for Eaton to hit knees! That's finally enough to allow the tag to Fulton, and he's a salon of fire! A criss cross ends with him getting powerslammed on the outside by Lane, so Rogers rushes in to take over. He manages to hold off the Midnight's for a bit, but as he's busy with Lane on the floor, Eaton bashes Fulton with a chain to the win the title at 16:23. Afterwards, the Fantastics whip Jim Cornette with a belt anyway, since fuck the stipulations, apparently. Great match - brilliantly paced and worked by both teams, and loaded with psychology. **** (Original rating: *** ½)

Tower of Doom Match: Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, Al Perez, Ivan Koloff, and Russian Assassin v Jimmy Garvin, Ron Garvin, Steve Williams, and The Road Warriors: This is definitely one of those match concepts that sounds much cooler in theory than it is in reality. Why not just run a War Games, especially since it was a match concept already associated with the Bash at this point? There's not a whole lot you can really say about this one, play-by-play wise, as it's effectively a bunch of guys trying to work a match in a series of increasingly taller (and smaller) cages, which pretty much amounts to nothing but punching, kicking, and trying not to die. Much like a Scaffold match, it's not really conducive to good wrestling. Anyway, that all goes on for a while, until Jimmy Garvin manages to fight Kevin Sullivan off on the bottom level, and escape the Tower at 19:13. Afterwards, Sullivan tries to rape Precious in the cage, but since the setup doesn't allow you to go backwards, the babyfaces have to climb through the whole maze again to save her. Well, it was unique. There's that. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

NWA United States Title Match: Barry Windham v Dusty Rhodes: Luckily Dusty hasn't shaved anyone's name into his head this time, because I don't want to look at it. Rhodes controls in the early going, with Barry doing a ridiculous oversell off a simple shoulderblock that includes two flops, and falling out of the ring. That had to be some kind of rib. I mean, even Curt Hennig would have been looking at him sideways there. Rhodes with a press-slam (!) and a DDT, followed by an overhead elbowsmash to setup a flying bodypress (!) for two. Man, Dusty must have really been feeling the heat by the younger workers around this period, because he is BRINGING IT right now! Windham stalls on the floor, and I half expect Dusty to go after him with a somersault plancha next, but sadly it doesn't happen. Back in, Barry suckers him with a test-of-strength, and beats him to the floor with punches and kicks. Windham rams him into the rail out there, but a piledriver gets countered with a backdrop. Dusty adds a clothesline before bringing it back in, but loses a slugfest, and Barry unloads a ten-punch. Rhodes manages to send him back to the floor by using the top rope as a slingshot (in a nice bump from Windham), and the challenger bodyslams him out there. Man, Barry is really taking some bumps on that exposed floor tonight. Rhodes gets distracted by JJ Dillon, however, allowing Windham to sneak in with a bodyslam, and follow with an elbowdrop. Clawhold applied, and Rhodes fades. They work the hold for a long while (not quite Hart/Backlund at Survivor Series, but getting there) before Dusty finally uses a series of elbowsmashes to escape, and he goes for the figure four - only to get countered right back to the Clawhold! Dusty climbs the ropes in the hold to break, so Barry tries to superplex him down, but Rhodes fights him off. He's still dazed, so Barry goes up, but gets backdropped down. Dusty adds an elbowdrop, but the referee was bumped in the process. Ron Garvin shows up to help Dusty (Why? He's not in trouble), but then promptly turns on him, and Windham slaps the Clawhold on for the pinfall at 15:58. This started off well enough, but then settled right down into the usual Rhodes stuff pretty quickly. Good bumping from Windham throughout, though. * ¼ (Original rating: * ½)

Main Event: NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Lex Luger: Interesting gear choices tonight, as Flair is wearing white trunks with yellow pads, while Luger is wearing yellow trunks with white pads. Both are rocking white boots too, which makes them look more like a tag team than I think was the goal. Lex overpowers him in the early going, and works a standing side-headlock, but Flair gets into the ropes. Ric throws some chops, but Lex literally smiles at him, and hiptosses the world champion across the ring. Dropkick sends Flair to the floor, and a criss cross on the way back in is won by Luger with a press-slam - sending Ric back to the outside. Crazy that the announcers are already putting Flair over as a sixteen year veteran at this point, considering how much longer he'd continue to work on top of the card. To put that into perspective, John Cena has been active for just over sixteen years, and I can't see him still working on top ten years from now. Though, who knows. Lex press-slams him again and grabs a bearhug, but Ric escapes. He tries bailing to avoid another press-slam, so Luger settles for a vertical suplex from the apron into the ring instead for two, and hits an elbowdrop for two. Love that Luger elbowdrop. Apparently he does too, because he tries it again - only to miss. He doesn't bother selling it, however, and hiptosses the champion to the floor. Lex goes after him, but Flair is ready with a chop, and he knocks his challenger into the rail a couple of times. Well that's not very nice. Back in, Ric snapmares him to setup a kneedrop, then repeats the sequence a second time before covering for two. Wristlock, but Luger slugs free, and wins a criss cross with a diving clothesline for two. Ric cuts him off with another snapmare, but a trip to the top rope ends badly for the champion. Lex with another hiptoss, but this time Flair dodges the dropkick follow-up. It was on instinct alone, however, and he still runs into a Luger lariat for two. Slingshot sunset flip gets two, so Flair swipes at the knee to stop the onslaught. Ric works the leg for a bit before slapping on the Figure Four, but Luger reverses it. Ric keeps after the leg, but Luger manages to clothesline him over the top. Ric hustles in and tries to keep control with some chops, but Lex no-sells him, and executes a press-slam - collapsing to the mat after hitting it due to the knee. Nice selling! He foolishly tries a kneedrop that misses, so Flair goes up, but Luger slams his ass off! Ten-punch count, but Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop - Luger popping right back up and leveling him with a lariat for two. Another ten-punch, and a cross corner whip sends Flair flipping to the floor. Wary of the countout, Luger hustles him right back in, and hooks a backslide for two. They badly botch a bodypress that sends them both tumbling over the top (they ultimately pushed through it, though it looked really phony because of the botch), and Flair knocks Lex into the post out there to draw blood. Back in, Ric goes to work on the now bloody challenger, but Lex is still fighting, and counters a ten-punch with an inverted atomic drop. Lex makes a comeback with a powerslam, and the Torture Rack looks to finish at 23:13. Luger celebrates his title win with a bunch of babyfaces, but unfortunately it turns out that the referee called for the bell due to the Maryland State Athletic Commission stopping the match due to blood, and Ric retains. That finish would have been fine had it led to Flair putting him over in the rematch, but obviously we know that never happened, so it's just a shitty finish. Strong effort overall though. *** (Original rating: ** ¾)

BUExperience: My thoughts really haven’t changed on this one. It’s only five matches, and of those five only one is bad – and even that one is interesting for the novelty. It’s also significant as the last major show of the Jim Crockett era, before finally selling out to Ted Turner that fall, and turning the promotion into World Championship Wrestling

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