WCW The Great American Bash 1996

The Great American Bash 1996 is remembered as one of the primary steps in WCW’s quest to transition from ‘that wrestling on the other channel’ to the undisputed #1 promotion in North America. The card on paper going into the show certainly didn’t imply such (it was essentially stranded WCW fare for the period), but the events that would unfold drove forward a storyline that would, for the first time, not only make WCW a contender against the WWF (which they first truly achieved with the signing of Hulk Hogan (and, to a lesser extent, Randy Savage) in 1994) but the premier wrestling promotion in North America.

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes


Opening #1 Contenders Match: The Steiner Brothers v Fire and Ice: Scott Steiner and Ice Train start, and do a couple of inconclusive power-showdowns, so they both tag out. Scott Norton unloads, but Rick uses speed to evade, catching him with clotheslines. Steiner with a release belly to belly suplex for two, and Scott hits Norton with a dropkick, only to get dropped like a Samoan. Fire and Ice cut the ring in half on Scott, so Steiner responds by nearly killing Norton with an overhead suplex. Norton legitimately needs to regroup after that one (he's lucky he doesn't have to legitimately spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair), but still manages to pull off a powerslam when Scott goes for a flying bodypress. Norton decides to potato Steiner a couple of times - laying him out with a pair of Flashbreakers - but that draws Rick in to suplex everything in sight. Four-way brawl breaks out, Scott nearly botches the Frankensteiner on Norton on the way to victory at 10:29. A bunch of nice power stuff, though fairly sloppy overall. * ¼

WCW United States Title Match: Konnan v El Gato: Gato is Pat Tanaka, being repackaged into a different race. He wears a mask in order to look more Luchadore, and less Asian. They trade swift kicks to start, with Gato getting the better of it. I guess he took some wild karate classes in Mexico City. He works the arm, and catches Konnan with a sitout powerbomb for two. Konnan with a handspring bulldog so overcomplicated it would make Rob Van Dam blush, and he dumps him. He follows with a sunset flip to the outside, which he then pulls Gato off of the apron with into a powerbomb, and inside another powerbomb retains the title at 6:03. Dull match, filled mostly with Gato working restholds, and Konnan's needlessly complex offense designed to blend cartwheels and somersaults with clotheslines in order to make them seem more devastating. ¼*

Diamond Dallas Page v Marcus Bagwell: This is vaguely over Page's BattleBowl ring, to add the intrigue of a title without a title. Bagwell makes the mistake of turning his back on the heel before the bell, and gets appropriately jumped for it. They spill to the outside, where Page bumps over the rail, and inside, Bagwell gets a bodypress for two. Dropkick puts Page back out, and Bagwell follows with a slingshot bodypress. He tries a flying bodypress on the way in, but DDP crotches him on the top rope, and goes to work. Sloppy tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (he only went through half the turn before losing his grip) gets two, and a side suplex for two. Page works a rope-assisted abdominal stretch, but Bagwell wrestles out, so Dallas tombstones him. Bagwell gives him both sides of an atomic drop to comeback, and a slingshot clothesline gets two. Cross corner charge misses, however, and Page tries another tilt-a-whirl - only to have Bagwell headscissor him. Fisherman's suplex, but Page counters into the Diamond Cutter for the pin at 9:39. This was laid out like a house show match, but both guys worked hard, and kept a good pace. *

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Dean Malenko v Rey Mysterio Jr.: This was actually Rey's WCW debut – immediately in the title picture. They do a few stalemate sequences to start, until Malenko wrestles him to the mat. Rey gets off the mat by armdragging Malenko to the outside, and catching him with a springboard dropkick. Malenko responds with a slingshot - all the way to the floor - and tries to follow-up with a baseball slide, but Mysterio dodges him, forcing the champ to follow him back inside. That just pisses Malenko off more, though, and he tears at Mysterio's arm. Malenko works the arm, as Rey tries to flip his way into various escapes - only to get swatted each time. Malenko destroys the arm: dropkicking it, slamming him onto it, suplexing onto it, and keeping him tied up on the mat. They spill to the outside, allowing Mysterio to springboard to the floor, and then back in with a springboard dropkick for two. Rana gets two, and a top rope version follows. He tries a third, but Malenko powerbombs him, and retains the title with two feet on the ropes for leverage at 17:50. This was very early in what would become the famed Cruiserweight Division of the Monday Night Wars, and the crowd still hadn't gotten used to the style, heading for popcorn in droves. The introduction of Mysterio was very significant in getting the division accepted by the audience, and he would defeat Malenko for the title the next month. Match itself had some really solid psychology, and crisp, well executed highspots. A bit overlong for the story they were telling, but they didn't want to make new star Mysterio look weak in his debut, so a longer match is smarter booking. ***

Big Bubba Rogers v John Tenta: Bubba jumps him in the aisle, but gets tossed into the steps. Inside, Tenta works him over with his ass, but gets caught with an enzuigiri. Bubba works his ass over, but gets powerslammed when he tries a flying bodypress, and Tenta wins at 5:24. Afterwards, Tenta trims Bubba's goatee, in revenge for Bubba shaving his head - which set this atrocity up. Really dull, plodding match that normally I might add 'but the crowd liked it,' or something that justified its booking - but no. Dead silence for six minutes, and rightly so. DUD

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Kevin Sullivan v Chris Benoit: Benoit doesn't even let him get to the ring, jumping him in the aisle - but much like Bubba in the last match - eats steps. They spill into the crowd before ever getting to the ring, brawling through the stands, and up the arena stairs. They end up in the Men's Room, where Sullivan channels Joe Pesci – slamming Benoit’s head between the stall doors several times. Meanwhile, people are actually in the bathroom when these two burst in - which had to have been the awkward to say the least. Double Stomp on the bathroom floor, and he beats him with a bag full of paper towels like he owes him money, or stole his wife and then murdered her. Whichever. Back into the arena, they slug it out on the top of the arena stairs, and Sullivan shoves him - sending him viciously tumbling down the concrete steps. Back over the rail to ringside, Sullivan throws a chair at him, but gets crotched. Into the ring for the first time, Benoit dumps him onto a table he brought on the way in, and hits a super-duperplex for the pin at 9:58. I can't overstate the influence of this one, as wild brawls like this just didn’t happen in the WWF and WCW at the time, usually reserved for ECW. The future Hardcore divisions in both promotions borrowed heavily from the template, as well as the main event-style brawls that dominated the Attitude Era. As an actual match, it is quite the brutal brawl – about the wrestling match equivalent of a Martin Scorsese film – with both guys taking incredible risks, and pounding the hell out of each other. ***

Sting v Steven Regal: Sting destroys him, immediately dumping him to the outside, and backdropping him on the floor. Inside, Regal rakes the eyes, but Sting won't stay down, so Regal bails to threaten a couple of fans. Well, that just stopped the flow of the match dead. Sting finally corners him, but gets caught with a series of European uppercuts. Regal takes him to the mat with a full nelson, and a dropkick gets two. He targets the shoulder, so Sting tries an abdominal stretch, but he's out of his league, and Regal easily makes the ropes. Springboard bodypress, but Sting dropkicks him on the way down - in a nice spot. He heads up, but Regal catches him with a superplex. Regal Stretch, but Sting won't give, so Regal tries chops. Unfortunately for him, he's never seen any of the 3,000 Sting/Flair matches out there, and doesn't at all expect the no-selling. Backdrop, and the Scorpion Deathlock finish for Sting at 16:30. Good effort from both guys, but it came off as fairly dull, overall – spending too much time on the mat for the payoff. * ¼

Ric Flair and Arn Anderson v Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene: This was set up when Flair hit on ring announcer (and former NFL star) Steve McMichael's wife, so McMichael recruited football buddy Kevin Greene to get revenge. That actually sounds like the plot of an average night on the town with Flair, actually. The football players have Randy Savage with them, as their trainer (kayfabe) and manager. McMichael starts, calling out Flair, but getting Anderson instead. Arn easily outwrestles him (no shit!), so McMichael challenges him to a tackle showdown - and gets the best of Arn on the first try, but gets suckered into a drop-toehold. Arn continues to control, but gets caught in the wrong part of town, and the football boys punt him around. Greene tags in all official-like, so Arn passes to Flair - who is more than willing to come in now that it's against an inexperienced football player whose wife he hasn't tried to sleep with. Not surprisingly, Greene challenges him to a tackle showdown, too, but gets chopped, and pounded in the corner. He throws a couple of shoulderblocks to comeback, and sends Flair to the moon with a backdrop. McMichael tags, and unloads with more shoulderblocks. Anyone else having a wet dream of a McMichael/Ron Simmons Iron Man match? Another backdrop, and Flair begs off, but it's just a ploy to rake the eyes. He goes up top, but gets slammed off, and McMichael hooks the figure four. That draws Anderson in, but Greene breaks it up by hooking his own figure four, but Woman breaks it all up. The women (Elizabeth and Woman with the heels, and the wives of the football players) tease a catfight, but settle for chasing each other back to the dressing rooms, as McMichael gets worked over. Flair blows him low, but Anderson takes an atomic drop, and Greene gets the tag. He's a house of arson, tackling everything in sight. Powerslam on Flair, and a suplex, but Anderson clips the knee. Figure four, but Greene cradles him for two. Kneebreaker, and Flair properly applies the figure four - and uses Anderson for leverage. That draws the women back out, but suddenly Debra McMichael is with Woman and Liz instead of Greene’s wife. She passes Steve a briefcase filled with cash that Flair gave her for services (again, this is coming off like his autobiography), and he whacks Greene with it for Flair to pin at 20:51. Afterwards, McMichael makes it official, joining the Horsemen. Flair and Anderson were the right guys to work this angle with considering the inexperience of the two football players, and while it was a solid match - you're still dealing with two guys who had almost zero in-ring experience before the bell. The move set was very limited (even during the heat segment), relying on repetitive spots (shoulderblock, shoulderblock, shoulderblock!), but they kept a good pace, and it was booked well.  * ¼

Eric Bischoff holds an interview segment, bringing out Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (still unnamed at this point). They had showed up on Nitro a few weeks earlier, acting as invaders from an unnamed promotion (having just jumped from the WWF), so WCW issued a challenge to them for a match at Bash at the Beach. Before they get there, however, Bischoff takes care of some legal business, forcing both Hall and Nash to confirm that they don't work for the WWF - as the angle had drawn legal fire from McMahon and Co. He reiterates WCW's challenge for the match, and the Outsider's tease a mystery partner before answering the challenge by powerbombing Bischoff off of the stage, and through a table. This was wild, crazy stuff for the time period – with WCW brilliantly working the shoot-style nature of the angle – and as an eleven year old mark, I completely bought them as invading from the WWF. It worked on a lot of other people, too, as WCW's Monday Nitro would go on to strangle the WWF's stale RAW in the ratings with this angle - and not let go for over 80 weeks, until the Attitude Era.

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: The Giant v Lex Luger: This was a fairly weak main event to begin with (most of the promotion went into the football player match), and seems especially anticlimactic after the last bit. Luger runs right into the big boot, but it's still early, so he no-sells, and clotheslines Giant to the floor. Giant responds by press slamming Luger back IN (a spot that Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith would lift the next week, in their King of the Ring main event), but gets caught in a Luger sleeper. Giant powers out, however, hanging Luger in a tree of woe. Backbreaker, and an overhead version, as Giant works him over. Luger tries a slam to comeback, but his back gives out (during a comeback? Is Kurt Vonnegut booking?), allowing Giant to continue to hammer. Blind charge misses, and Luger starts throwing clotheslines. He staggers the big guy, and hooks the Torture Rack, but again the back gives out. Giant chokeslams him to retain at 9:21. Super dull main event, but was mercifully kept short - especially wise since the crowd was asleep through the whole thing. ¼*

BUExperience: Even without the birth of the nWo stuff, this is still a fun, and historical show – featuring Rey Mysterio’s debut, the well remembered Horsemen angle, and the wildly influential brawl between Sullivan and Benoit. Add the Outsiders invasion, and you have one of WCW’s most well booked, historically significant, and entertaining shows – perhaps only missing a memorable main event. ***