WCW Great American Bash 1999

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Hardcore Match: Hak v Brian Knobs: It doesn't matter how much time has passed, it's still fucking weird to see the Sandman in WCW. Talk about out-of-place... it's like seeing Morgan Freeman at a Klan rally. Or something. Knobs doesn't seem to care for him either, and jumps him with a trashcan before the bell. Knobs unloads with a chair, but a blind charge backfires, and Hak plays with the chair and trashcan. A ladder gets involved, and Hak hits a slingshot legdrop onto a ladder-covered Knobs, then sandwiches his leg in the ladder for a few chairshots. More weapon shots, and Hak goes for a flying somersault senton, but ends up landing on the ladder when Knobs moves. Knobs throws the ladder at him a couple of times, but a whip into a chair is reversed, and Hak whacks him with his Singapore cane for the pin at 5:40. Total junk, but it was short, and the crowd was into it, at least. DUD

Van Hammer v Mikey Whipwreck: Hammer overpowers him in the early going, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two. Hammer with a kneelift, another slam, and a really visually impressive hanging vertical superplex to set up a legdrop for two. Hammer with an abdominal stretch, but the referee catches him using the ropes for leverage, allowing Mikey to hiptoss his way out. Whipwreck with a backslide, but Hammer rams him into the corner to block, and tosses him to the floor for a slam onto the guardrail. Mikey catches him with a slingshot legdrop and a somersault plancha, followed by a flying clothesline on the way back in for two. 2^nd rope version, but Hammer catches him in a spinebuster, and finishes the little guy with a cobra clutch slam at 8:34. This would have been considered dull for Nitro - I have no idea how this Saturday Night main event even made it to pay per view. The delayed superplex spot was pretty cool, though. ¼*

Buff Bagwell v Disco Inferno: A big opening criss cross ends in Disco hitting a swinging neckbreaker, and Bagwell bails to the floor to regroup. Inside, Bagwell hits a swinging neckbreaker of his own, and works an armbar. Buff with a backelbow, but Disco hits the deck to dodge the Buff Blockbuster, and rolls out to the floor to regroup. Back in, they trade wristlocks to set up another criss cross - won by Disco with a stungun and a clothesline. Disco with an inverted atomic drop, and a snapmare sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. A bodyslam sets up another 2^nd rope elbow, but Bagwell manages to roll out of the way this time, and he backdrops Inferno. Ten-punch count, and Bagwell calls for the Blockbuster, but Disco desperately dives into the ropes to block - knocking Buff to the floor. Disco follows with the Last Dance on the outside (Last Dance on the Outside - Coming Soon to a theater near you!), but Bagwell beats the count back in, and Disco is downright shocked. He decides to piledrive him, but Bagwell backdrops free, and the Blockbuster finishes at 10:32. Really lazy stuff from both guys. Not incompetent or badly booked, just lazy performances. ¼*

The No Limit Soldiers v The West Texas Rednecks: YES! One of the few things I liked about WCW in 1999 was Curt Hennig's hilarious 'rap is crap' gimmick - even if it did mean an angle with Master P. The Soldiers attack before the bell for a brawl, and clean house - leaving the Rednecks on the floor to regroup. We officially start with Konnan and Bobby Duncum Jr, and a criss cross goes Konnan's way with a bulldog. Tag to Rey Mysterio Jr for a dropkick, and he knocks Curt Hennig to the floor for a plancha. Springboard bodypress for Duncum, but Bobby catches him in a backbreaker, and adds a powerbomb before tagging Curt. Hennig helps cut the ring in half (stopping to pay tribute to the recently deceased Rick Rude with a hip swivel), but Rey manages to slip free for the tag - Konnan a casa of fire. Four-way brawl allows one of Master P's entourage to get involved, and Mysterio finishes Duncum with a slingshot legdrop at 10:44. They went for the heat segment a bit too quickly, but Rey getting the h-e-double hockey sticks beat out of him by two bigger guys is always good stuff - this no exception, even if it didn't translate into a great match overall. ¾*

Ernest Miller v Horace Hogan: Horace goes right at him with punches and chops, but Miller punches back, and adds a bodyslam to sway the momentum. Miller manager Sonny Onoo gets involved to allow Ernest to whip Hogan into the rail, but he takes a bodyslam on the way back in, and Hogan adds an elbowdrop for two. Horace with a big boot and a splash for two, but Onoo gets involved again, and Miller whacks him with his shoe (his special ruby-red dancing shoe) for the pin at 5:09. Fuck, we could barely tolerate HULK Hogan by 1999 - forget about his random family members. Of course, our exposure to his family would only get worse - I'd watch Horace wrestle a sixty-minute Iron Man match against Giant Gonzalez before I'd want to hear his daughter sing ever again. Or ride in a car with his son. DUD

WCW Presidency Match: Roddy Piper v Ric Flair: The winner becomes President of WCW. Piper spits at him to lure Flair into a collar-and-elbow tie-up - Roddy dominating with chops in the corner and a backdrop. Piper with fists of fury and a backslide for two, and a shoulderblock sets up mounted punches. More punches, so Flair blows him low, and dumps him to the floor for Arn Anderson to abuse. Inside, Flair controls, but Piper pantses him (Flair's old man ass hanging out for a good (good?) minute), and Roddy slams him off of the top. Piper manages a sunset flip for two and the Sleeper, but Flair gets a set of knux, and wallops him for two. Figure Four draws out Buff Bagwell to save, but that gets Piper disqualified, and Flair wins the Presidency at 8:14. Depressing. These two used to be among the best wrestlers alive, and watching them embarrass themselves while going through the motions makes me legitimately sad. I do wish they’d try American elections this way once, though. DUD

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Sting v Rick Steiner: They spill right out to the floor for a few weak shots into the rail before heading back in - Steiner controlling for a series of forearms and chokes. Back to the floor for Sting to use the rail, but a Stinger Splash against it misses, and Rick pulls up the floor mats for a piledriver onto the exposed concrete for two. Back in, Steiner hits a release German suplex for two, and slaps on a chinlock. Sting blows him low to comeback, and hits a pair of pump-splashes to set up a flying splash for two. Rick tries a bow-and-arrow, but Sting quickly breaks for the Stinger Splash. Another, and he hooks the Scorpion Deathlock, but Rick makes the ropes. Back to the floor, they decide to brawl backstage, where it turns into a shitty action movie, as Scott Steiner shows up with three large dogs trained to attack Sting - Rick declared the winner by dog bite at 11:41. Total waste of time - both guys were sleepwalking through a bad match, with a bad angle to boot. -*

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Chris Benoit and Saturn v The Jersey Triad: Benoit starts with Kanyon, and controls with a pair of dropkicks and a flapjack. That draws Diamond Dallas Page in for a brawl, but Saturn makes the save, and the champs clean house - the dust settling on Saturn and Dallas. Page ends up on the floor again after a clothesline, and we get another four-way brawl - this one ending when the champs unload stereo overhead suplexes. Dust settles on Benoit and Page, and a double-team with Triad pal Bam Bam Bigelow leaves Chris in trouble. The challengers work to cut the ring in half on him, but Kanyon misses a flying moonsault, and he gets the tag. Saturn is a house of arson with suplexes, and a frog splash gets two on DDP. Ten-punch count, but Kanyon breaks it up with an electric chair into an inverted flapjack, and the challengers cut the ring in half on their new victim. They go for the kill, but Page misses a charge into the corner, and Saturn manages to tag Chris. Benoit gets his turn to set the house on fire, and the three-alarm rolling German suplexes get two on Kanyon to trigger a four-way brawl. Benoit hits a dragon suplex and the flying headbutt on Kanyon, then hooks the Crippler Crossface on Page, but Dean Malenko wanders out, and distracts the referee - allowing Bigelow to slide in and powerslam Benoit into a Diamond Cutter to crown new champs at 19:12. All four guys are extremely talented (and weren't past their primes in 1999, like most of the upper card guys), and this got plenty of time, but it just didn't click for whatever reason. *

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Kevin Nash v Randy Savage: Nash unloads with forearms at the bell, and knocks his challenger into the corner for the picture frame elbowsmash. Nash with a cross corner clothesline and a sidewalk slam, but Savage kicks him in the gut to turn things around, and clotheslines the champ to the outside. That allows Team Madness (Savage's harem) to get a few cheap shots in, and inside, Randy controls with more punch-kick stuff. Flying Elbowdrop is only worth two, and Savage is shocked - allowing Nash to hit the snake eyes and a big boot. Powerbomb, so Team Madness runs in again, but Nash casually woman-beats until Sid Vicious runs in (making his surprise return) to clobber Nash with a big boot for the disqualification at 7:27. Afterwards, Sid gives Nash a Powerbomb - since apparently 1995 WWF was such a hot time for the business that they decided they just had to recapture that lightning in a bottle. The return of Sid was pretty wild at the time, but unfortunately the match was just a kick-punch mess. DUD

BUExperience: I wouldn’t go as far as to say this is one of the worst shows ever, but, well, it certainly ain’t one of the best. From stupid angles (dog attack) to filler matches (Miller/Hogan, Hammer/Whipwreck), to bad wrestling (pretty much everything) this is one of those shows that makes me remember why everyone hated WCW so much in 1999. Hell, if you’re gonna load a show with filler, at least use guys who might steal the show instead of Hulk Hogan’s bootleg relatives, or ECW rejects. DUD