WCW Great American Bash 1992

In early 1991, WCW began distancing itself from the NWA – becoming an independent national promotion (as opposed to an NWA ‘territory’) – and in turn, absorbing all of the NWA’s main titles into their new lineages. By mid-1992, the NWA – reeling without their main territory – began desperately working to reestablish itself, starting with reinstating their own world tag titles. In a bit of cross promotion (see: leeching off of WCW), the NWA titles would be decided through a tournament on WCW programming, the last three rounds scheduled for the Great American Bash – with a tournament to establish a new NWA World Champion (the title – which had been unified with the WCW Title for most of 1991 – vacant since Ric Flair’s WWF jump the year before) scheduled for the next month.

The Bash came during the very thick of Bill Watts’ (often misguided) 1992 run booking WCW. Among many, many other things, Watts was strongly against promoting the NWA, and though this show was sold almost entirely on seeing new NWA tag champions crowned (only one other match was promoted – Sting’s WCW Title defense against Vader), Watts planned to bury the titles (and the NWA) – which he would do for the entirety of his run.

From Albany, New York; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Magnum TA, with Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura on commentary – in front of a small, heavily papered crowd.


Opening NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match: Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff v Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger: This is face/face, so they trade handshakes before Koloff and Pillman start things off. No blowies shown. Not surprisingly, Koloff has no problem throwing the much smaller Pillman around, but Pillman sneaks off a droptoe-hold as they go for a test-of-strength, but that just pisses Koloff into giving him an inverted atomic drop. Blind charge misses, however, and Liger tags in to work the arm - nearly tearing it out of its socket. Dropkick and a shoulderblock take him down, and he passes to Pillman to go back to the arm, but Koloff tags Steamboat to blast him with a dropkick. Armbar keeps Pillman on the mat, but Brian fires off a dropkick for two, and grabs a mat-based side-headlock before tagging Liger to backbreak Steamboat. Flying moonsault gets two, and a well executed tombstone piledriver for two. Somersault senton for two, but Steamboat catches him with a side suplex, and falls right into a tag to Nikita. He unloads a series of elbowdrops on Liger for two, then ties him up on the mat with a chinlock to wear him down. Job done, he tags Steamboat back in for a series of backbreakers, and a powerslam for two. Koloff and Steamboat cut the ring in half, but Ricky gets a face full of boot on a backdrop attempt, and Pillman charges in with dropkicks and slams before Liger blasts him with a missile dropkick. Handspring clothesline gets two, so Steamboat goes to the eyes and passes to Koloff for more power stuff - only to have Pillman fire off a cheap shot to allow for the tag. Pillman with a springboard clothesline, and a missile dropkick for two, but they end up in a double knockout before both tagging. Liger with a dropkick for two, and a backslide for two, before blind tagging Pillman for a slingshot bodypress for two. Steamboat and Pillman badly botch a bridge-into-backslide sequence (like, WrestleMania XXIV-style), and Brian ends up on the top for a flying bodypress, only to have Steamboat roll through for the pin at 19:25. Great, well paced, non-formulaic match - all well executed stuff, and nice, subtle heel-work from Steamboat and Koloff, both babyfaces made into de-facto heels due to their size advantage. The match was missing a certain 'something' (possibly psychology - which was light) to elevate it to the next level, but still great stuff all around. *** ½  

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v Hiroshi Hase and Shinya Hashimoto: Michael Hayes starts with Hase, and they trade off on the mat - Hayes dominating with an armbar. He tags Jimmy Garvin to keep it going, but Hase manages to pass to Hashimoto. Garvin tries a side-headlock, but Hashimoto droptoe-holds him into the ropes to break it up, and hooks his own headlock. Tag back to Hayes, but he can't ground Hashimoto, and gets choked in the corner. The Japanese team cuts the ring in half on Hayes, until Michael makes an All-American comeback with fists of fury, and tags Garvin. He's a house of arson, and a four-way quickly breaks out - Hashimoto blasting Garvin with a superkick right into Hase's waiting arms for a well executed Northern Lights suplex at 9:16. While it wasn't a great match, it was interesting to see the Freebirds actually WRESTLE - getting right down to business here, as opposed to their usual cheap heat and stall tactics. *

Bill Watts presents the recovered NWA World Title belt to Hiro Matsuda, stating that a tournament will be held in Tokyo for the vacant title. If they had subtitles for this segment, they would read something like this: 'Here is a gold belt. It is meaningless. I'm gonna give it to this Jap here to go find some sap to wear it. Then he's gonna come back so Sting can beat him, okay? No, Ric Flair's gone, sorry - plus Sting can beat him anyway, so suck it.'

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match: Rick Rude and Steve Austin v Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham: Austin and Windham start - Steve trying to get cute on the mat, and ending up getting knocked to the floor. Both men tag, and Rude starts unloading forearms in the corner, but a blind charge misses, and Dustin side suplexes him. Armbar, but Rude steers him into the corner, and hooks a chinlock on the way out. Tombstone, but Rhodes reverses for two, but hits the knees on a splash attempt, and Austin tags back in - only to walk into an abdominal stretch. Windham creams him with a flying clothesline for two, so he passes back to Rude to hit his own side suplex for two. The heels cut the ring in half on Windham, as Jesse Ventura (doing a tremendous job on commentary - one of his best ever) really sells the psychology of tag team wrestling for the home audience, running circles around Jim Ross. Rude eventually gets caught with an inverted atomic drop, and there's the tag to Rhodes! He's a house of arson, so the heels try and double-team - drawing Windham in for a four-way brawl, and Dustin finishes Steve Austin with a flying clothesline at 19:16. Slow stuff that never really got going as much as it should have, but competent use of the tag formula, and all well worked. ** ¾

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match: Miracle Violence Connection v Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff: Steve Williams and Terry Gordy had already defeated the Steiner Brothers on TV to advance to the semi finals, as well as won the WCW World Tag Titles from them a week before this show. Gordy starts with Steamboat, and this time Steamboat isn't the bigger man - getting manhandled, and taken into a side-headlock on the mat. Steamboat tries to counter into an armbar, so Gordy tags Williams - only for him to walk right into an armdrag/armbar. Tag to Koloff to keep the armbar going, but Williams powers up, and takes him to the mat with a single-leg takedown into a chinlock. The Connection keep him on the mat, but he manages to slip free long enough to tag Steamboat - but he walks into a slaughterhouse. They cut the ring in half on the Dragon - keeping him tied up on the mat - as the crowd sits with their arms folded, like they're at a high school wrestling meet. DDT on Gordy allows the tag to Koloff, but his house of fire is quickly put out with a faceslam, and Williams snake eyes him before going back to the mat with a headscissors. Gordy starts targeting the knee with an STF (a favorite hold of Bill Watts', that he spent most of his tenure focused on getting over), but Koloff won't submit, and finally manages to break away to tag Steamboat. Side suplex on Williams, but a flying tomahawk attempt sees Gordy shove him off the top - right into Williams' arms for the pin at 21:39. Very much what you'd expect from Bill Watts' mat-wrestling focused booking style - spending a lot of time doing collegiate-style exchanges - all competent, though very slow and dull to actually sit through for twenty minutes. *

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match: Hiroshi Hase and Shinya Hashimoto v Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham: Hase takes Rhodes into the corner with the initial lockup, but gets fireman carried into an armbar, and Windham tags in for an armbar of his own. Test-of-strength goes Windham's way, but Hase bridges out into a savate kick, and passes to Hashimoto. He calls for a test-of-strength of his own, but gets overhead suplexed, and Barry tags Dustin for a power-stalemate. They fight over a wristlock (won by Hashimoto), and a pass back to Windham ends with him on the mat in an armbreaker. No submission, but Hashimoto keeps after it, so Barry bails to Rhodes - who ends up getting slammed, and spinheel kicked. Hase in with a well executed spike piledriver, but Rhodes has ENOUGH of their un-American double-teaming, and dodges a flying splash before tagging Windham. He's a house of arson... with an abdominal stretch. Seriously?! During the hot tag sequence? Doesn't matter anyway, 'cause a brawl quickly breaks out, and Windham clobbers Hase with a lariat to advance to the finals at 14:55. Again, technically fine, but I had to fight to stay awake. *

WCW World Title Match: Sting v Vader: Big staredown to start, and Sting tells him to bring it on. Not surprisingly, that doesn't end well - in this case, getting slaughtered with forearm shots in the corner. Short-clothesline puts the champ on the floor to regroup, and he charges back in with a bodypress - but Vader literally shrugs him off, and drops him. More body shots, but a blind charge misses, and Sting fires off a quick side suplex before clotheslining Vader to the outside. Vader calls for a test-of-strength in response (the kids in the crowd begging Sting not to do it), and indeed Vader overpowers him - so Sting goes to the eyes, and dropkicks him. Suplex gets two, but another bodypress bounces off of Vader. He rallies with an inside cradle for two, and Vader bails to the floor to talk things over with manager Harley Race. Back in, Sting tries a sunset flip, but gets buttsplashed, and Vader squashes him with a pair of elbowdrops. Splash gets two, and he hooks a leglock to try and ground the Stinger. He turns it into the Scorpion Deathlock to really add insult to injury, but Sting powers out. He can't capitalize, however, and Vader knocks him silly with a closed fist. Another leaves Sting reeling in the corner, and a powerslam gets two. More body shots, but Sting literally throws his body at Vader in desperation (with a somersault bodyblock), and DDT's the challenger. Still, he can't capitalize, so Vader goes to the top rope - only to be met by Sting, and Samoan dropped off for two. German suplex gets two, and the Stinger Splash hits - but he dives too far on a second attempt, and knocks himself out on the ringpost, giving Vader a two count. Sting is too punch-drunk to get off any more, and Vader casually powerbombs him to win the title at 17:17. Dramatic, hard hitting stuff here - Vader just methodically destroying Sting, and Sting repeatedly unable to find a way to counter the big man without taking himself out in the process. Watts' booking impeded them from realizing their full potential here (you have a guy who's four hundred pounds and can moonsault off of the top rope, and you outlaw it?!), but not so much that they couldn't overcome it. Vader would lose the title to Ron Simmons the next month, before picking it back up at the end of the year, and properly starting his reign of terror. *** ¼

Main Event: NWA World Tag Team Title Match: Miracle Violence Connection v Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham: Steve Williams goes right at Barry Windham with a single-leg takedown, but Barry maintains a vertical base, and takes him down with a waistlock - but they're in the ropes. Both men tag, but the crowd is spent after the last match ('still in awe' as the announcers try to put it), and is barely paying attention as they trade go-behinds. Leglock on Gordy, but he gets Rhodes in an STF, as the heels cut the ring in half with slow submission wrestling. He manages a tag to Windham for a suplex on Williams for two, and a gutwrench suplex gets two. Sleeper, but Williams powers out, and brings Gordy back in to return the suplex favor. Lariat gets two, and he goes back to the mat with a chinlock. Williams tries an abdominal stretch, but a double knockout allows the tag to Dustin. He can't even light the house on fire, however, as a quick double-team cut the comeback off, and Williams follows up with... a front-facelock. Jesus, dude. There's a place for mat wrestling - a big place - but this is just unapologetically boring. A four-way brawl eventually breaks out, and Williams counters a bulldog from Rhodes, and takes his head off with a lariat at 21:01 - unifying the titles with the WCW version, to properly bury the NWA brand. Way too long, this was on the mat from the get-go, and just brutally boring, not at all pay per view caliber stuff - let alone pay per view main event stuff. ¼*

BUExperience: ‘What were they thinking?’ would be a good way to sum up this show. The wrestling business in general was down in 1992, but the WWF was still leaps and bounds ahead of WCW during this period. To put it in Bill Watts terms, they were both collegiate wrestlers in a poorly funded program, but the WWF had them in a front-facelock – which they apparently hoped to counter by literally going backwards, and putting out the same product from twenty years before. I mean, there’s getting back to basics, and then there’s caveman times. Here’s a rare case where you have a generally solid show, top to bottom – with a couple of great matches, even – that comes off as tremendously dull, with an almost depressing atmosphere. When ‘well, it was technically fine’ is best you can say about most of the matches, you’re in trouble. But, as Bill Watts explained in a speech at the top of the show, the ‘rules (were) going to be different’ while he’s in charge – though that wouldn’t be for much longer. DUD