- The HITMAN383 Rant for NWA Great American Bash 1987. A
little info first: back in the day, the GAB wasn’t a single show like it is
today, but rather a tour that they did and then compiled a tape at the end with
all the big matches. (This was originally written in 2000)
- I just saw “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” today, and
let me just say that it is an EXCELLENT picture. Highest Recommendations to go
out and rent this one today!
- Check out the new poll in the federation sections.
- BTW, I use this system: ***** - Excellent, **** - Great,
*** - Good, **- Okay, * - Decent, DUD - Awful.
- Live from many different places.
- Your hosts are a variety of people, but Tony Shavonie
usually does the most commentary work. He also has an odd mustache.
- Opening War Games Match: Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn
Anderson, Tully Blanchard and J.J. Dillon vs. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Hawk,
Animal and Paul Ellering: This is the first EVER War Games, and the crowd
is just SUPER hot for this one. Arn and Dusty start, and the big man uses the
elbow right away. Dusty hangs off the cage to hit a dropkick, and hits a solid
ball shot. The Horsemen complain about it, so Rhodes
responds by giving them all the finger. He catches Anderson with a DDT, and rakes him across the
mesh to bust him open. Dusty hooks the figure four, and the first period ends.
They do the coin toss, and the heels win, sending in Blanchard. The Horsemen go
for big Dust, but get double elbows. It doesn’t last, however, as Arn and Tully
are like sharks. They put Dusty in the figure four, and pound him. The period
ends, and Animal comes in to throw his weight around. He grabs Blanchard and
slingshots him into the cage three times, without release. NICE! He hits the
flying shoulderblock on him, and rakes him on the mesh. Dusty comes out to join
the fun, and then hammer Tully. Arn tries to save, but it’s no good, as the
faces just destroy them. Flair comes in for his team and goes right for Animal,
but he no sells. The Horsemen gang up on him, and FORCE him to sell, ramming
him to the cage. See, when the heels have an extra guy in, they dominate. When
it’s even, the faces dominate this. (Yeah, that’s pretty much the War Games
formula) Dusty’s bleeding now, and Flair keeps using the cage as a
cheese grater. Koloff is in next, but Flair and Anderson attack. It does them no good,
however, as Koloff murders ALL the Horsemen. Animal with a press slam on Flair,
as Dusty and Nikita work on the Enforcer. Koloff looks like a cross between
Tazz and Goldberg, BTW. Luger comes in for the heels, and powerslams the
Russian. He then holds Koloff for a big Flair ball shot, just because he can.
Flair and Tully spike piledriver Koloff, and then, like vicious sharks, do it
again! Great story telling! Hawk is next, and everyone flies! Dillon comes in
as the last guy for the Horsemen, and attacks Hawk. That gets quickly no sold,
and Hawk hammers. Flair makes the save, but Hawk rakes him on the mesh for the
hell of it. Luger saves HIM, as a result. Paul is last for the faces, and now
it’s down to submission or surrender. Everyone brawls, as the Road Warriors
work on Dillon, and hit the Doomsday Device. They keep pounding him until he
eventually submits, giving the faces the win at 21:10. I’m not the biggest fan
of the “War Games match” to begin with, but this was VERY good. **** ¼.
- NWA Western States Heritage Title Match: Barry Windham
vs. Rick Steiner: This was like two years before the Steiner Brothers
formed, and Rick was just a singles wrestler. He also looked a lot like Rick
Rude at this point. A criss cross leads to a big Steinerline, and then he hits
another for two. Steiner with a belly to belly, and a back elbow to put Windham on the floor. He
eats post, and Rick suplexes him back in, but Barry rolls through to pin him at
2:28. Too short to go anywhere. *.
- NWA U.S. Title Cage Match: Nikita Koloff vs. Lex Luger:
The weird thing about these old ring set ups is that the guard rail is about 30
feet from the ring, so the 1st row is like the 15th today. Luger works him over
to start, and catches him with a big back elbow, as I suspect that this tape
has cut forward a lot, because Lex is MUCH more wet. Chinlock by Luger now. A
really LONG chinlock. Finally Koloff breaks, and Luger hits a neckbreaker. That
was good psychology, because Koloff had a bad neck (brace and all) from the War
Games match (remember the two spike piledrivers?) Lex tries a piledriver, but
get backdropped for his troubles. Nikita is too battered to comeback, however,
and Lex hooks a full nelson. Oddly, the ref. for this is Earl Hebbner, of
current WWF fame. He was much skinner, however. Back to the chinlock. Koloff
breaks out, and a slugfest ensues, which Nikita wins. Nikita pops out of the
corner with a lariat, but takes the ref. with him, and no one is there to
count. Dillon slips a chair to Luger, who clocks Koloff in the neck, and puts
him in the rack for the easy win at 13:32, to become U.S. champion. The cage played ZERO
factor into this suckfest. – *.
- Texas
Death Match: Dick Murdoch vs. Steve Williams: Steve has Magnum T.A. in his
corner, who is just coming back from the car crash injury. Dick works on the
cast covered arm of Williams, and that goes on forever. A slugfest develops,
which Williams wins, but he misses a corner charge. Murdoch eats cast, and
can’t answer the 10 count to give Steve the win at 3:27. I think this was
clipped. (More than half of the match was trimmed off, actually) Boring as hell though. DUD.
- Six Man Tag Team Match: The Freebirds vs. Ivan Koloff,
Ragin Bull and Paul Jones: The Freebirds are actually the faces here. Hayes
plays with Bull to start, just slamming him around and dancing to taunt him.
Buddy Roberts tags in to abuse Bull some more, but a quick kick from Jones
enables them to stomp away. Koloff hits a backbreaker and a leg drop, but
Roberts gets a sunset flip for two. Gordy tags in, and kills all three heels. A
big brawl breaks out, and Gordy covers Jones for the pin at 3:13 to a big pop.
¼*. (Oddly,
this was not clipped. They actually booked a six-man to go three minutes. Maybe
Vince Russo was breaking into the business?)
- $100,000 Barbwire Ladder Match: Dusty Rhodes
vs. Tully Blanchard: The ropes are covered in Wire here (not replaced like
in ECW, just wire ON the ropes), and there is $100,000 hanging which you have
to climb the ladder to get. This is also in a baseball field somewhere, with a
very large sized crowd. 1987 had really big wrestling crowds. WrestleMania III,
this, and a big one coming up later on this tape. They fight over sending
eachother into the Barbwire, and Dusty goes to the elbow. Tully drives his head
to the wire to draw blood, and then this gets sick, as Dusty takes the wire and
cuts Tully’s arm open on camera. Ouch. He then does the same to his head. Rhodes starts to climb to the ladder, but Tully kicks him
off. Blanchard climbs, and Dusty follows on the other side. Fat Boy knocks him
off with an elbow, but stupidly climbs down instead of taking the cash. DDT by Rhodes, and he climbs, but Tully knocks him off. He
climbs now, but big Dust stops him. Tully gets a black glove from Dillon, and
bashes Rhodes with it, leaving Dusty laying.
Blanchard climbs, but Rhodes “dropkicks” him
off (the quotes because it was Erik Watts level of dropkicking), and climbs the
ladder to get the cash at 7:09. Pretty bad match, with tons of “RAW selling” as
they acted dead after about five minutes in. DUD.
- NWA World Title Cage Match: Ric Flair vs. Jimmy Garvin:
Flair is putting up the gold against one night with Garvin’s valet “Precious.”
Garvin chops away on the Nature Boy for a two count, so Flair gives him a ball
shot. Flair goes to the top, and Garvin slams him off for two. He hooks the
figure four on Ric, and gets some two counts out of it, until Ric makes the
ropes. He tries to hook it again, but Flair intelligently rakes the eyes. He
tries a suplex, but Garvin slips away and rolls him up for two. They trade chops
(with Flair’s ringing out through the whole building), and Jimmy hip tosses the
champ. Flair eats steel, and this appears to be in the same building as the
earlier U.S. Title Cage Match. Ric bleeds off the cheese grater spot, and
Garvin gets a two count off of it. Ric tries to climb out (in fear), so Garvin
tugs the tights down (for a full moon), and the ref. smacks Flair’s ass.
WHAT?!?! It gets two. (I still don’t know what the hell that was
about, but I was creeped out by it again while doing the BUExperience on this one
last year as well) More cheese
grater. Backdrop for two, and a criss cross leads to Flair taking his knee out.
Knee breaker by Slick Ric, and he kicks the hell out of it, as Ron Garvin
wanders out. Another knee breaker, and Garvin starts to comeback, but Ric kicks
at the knee again. They trade chops, and Garvin actually wins! Flair climbs
again, and again Garvin tugs the tights down. Okay, once is more than enough of
that spot guys. Flair falls off to get crotched for two, and Flair whacks the
knee again, then hooks the figure four. That’s enough to end this, and get
Flair a night with Precious at 15:06. Okay match, for a six minute one, but not
for fifteen. **.
- NWA World Tag Team Titles, and NWA U.S. Tag Team
Titles Match: The Rock & Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express: The
Midnight’s have Big Bubba with them, who later becomes known as The Big
Bossman. They are also the U.S. Champs, and the R&R’s are the World tag
champs. It’s title for title, like WrestleMania VI. Eaton starts with Gibson,
and Robert hits a sunset flip for two, and a head scissors. Lane tagged in, and
Gibson kicks him out (literally). Stan comes back with some of his famous
kicks, but Rob hits the enzuguri to knock him to the floor again. Morton gets
in, and chases Lane around a but, and a criss cross leads to some arm drags by
Ricky. Eaton gets in, and beat up, Morton, and Morton hits a rana. In 1987. Gibson
tries a flying head scissors, but Lane whacks him, and tags in to hit a
backbreaker. The Midnight’s work him over, and now Robert Gibson is, oddly,
playing Ricky Morton. Gibson starts a comeback, but a well placed headbutt by
Lane stops it. Eaton hammers him, but Gibson rolls away and tags, and a big
brawl breaks out. Double dropkick by the R&R Express for two, and in the
chaos Big Bubba hits the Bossman slam on Morton to allow Eaton to cover, but
the ref. see’s Bubba’s hat and glasses in the ring and DQ’s the Midnight’s at
7:24. Cheap ending to prevent any title switches. Good match, however. *** ½.
- War Games Match II: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully
Blanchard, Lex Luger and War Machine vs. Dusty Rhodes,
Nikita Koloff, Hawk, Animal and Paul Ellering: What, again? War Machine is
replacing Dillon, and is Bossman under a mask. This is also in Miami’s Orange Bowl, with a big ass crowd.
Dusty and Arn start again, and play a little cat and mouse game. Dusty uses the
big elbows on him, and shoots him into the mesh. Anderson is already busted open, like 1:30
into this! Rhodes with a DDT, and he works the
leg. War Machine is in for the heels now, as the heels win the coin toss again.
Bubba takes the elbows as well, but it’s only a matter of time before the Horsemen
take over and work the leg. Dusty is busted open now, and it’s a gusher, as
Hawk comes in for the Superpowers. He catches War Machine with a dropkick, and
Arn with a powerslam. Slam for Bossman, and Dusty takes Arn down with a
clothesline. They all aimlessly brawl around until Flair comes in for his team
and chops Hawk down. That’s why I usually dislike War Games matches. When
someone new comes in, it’s hot for about 30 seconds, but other than that, it’s
aimless brawling. (War Games matches definitely work better when you know the backstory.
It’s not, like, the Shawn/Razor ladder match, where you can put it on, and even
if you have no idea whey they’re fighting, the work speaks for itself. With War
Games, you really need to know the ‘why’ behind it, or it can come off as
aimless brawling) Nikita comes
in next, and takes a piledriver from the Enforcer, but no sells. He goes after
Flair next, and makes him eat steel. Tully’s in now, and Hawk eats cage! He and
Rhodes brawl, and Tully hits a dropkick from
the top. Dusty no sells some elbows from Bossman, and slams him in return.
Everyone is dead at this point, and Animal comes in to clothesline all the
heels, and repeat the triple slingshot spot on Blanchard. Have you boys heard
of improvising? Luger is last for the Horsemen, but Animal takes him down with
a shoulderblock, and then tosses Tully from one ring to the other. Okay, that
was cool. (The Road Warriors were basically born to be in War Games matches)
The Horsemen stop the Animal power train with some chops, but Hawk stops THAT
effort, and they double clothesline Luger. Ellering comes in last, and now the
Match Beyond begins! Paul jumps War Machine with a pair of Road Warrior wrist
spikes, and he goes to work on everyone with them. Everyone gangs up on
Bossman, and take turns clotheslining him, and then Animal rakes the spikes in
his eye to make him submit at 21:16. Another good one, but not as good as the
original. Still, *** ½.
- Bottom Line: I don’t know. I guess I’m just not an
NWA enthusiast, because I don’t particularly like this show. If you are crazy
about the War Games match, this one is for you. If you aren’t, I say this: The
first match is available on Rantsylvideo for free, (Back when shit was hard to find.
Today, I’m sure you can find literally a dozen versions of it with a quick
Google search) and the
Midnight’s/R&R tag match was repeated (with better results) about 1,000
times elsewhere, so there isn’t much to really see here at all.
- Very Mildly Recommended.
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