- We start with Mean Gene telling us Great American Bash has
been making WCW more fun. Watch Gene's lips ... they don't match what he's
saying ... odd. (Maybe he was speaking Japanese? This was originally written in May
1999)
- We start with GAB 1989 as Ricky Steamboat battles Lex
Luger for Lex's US
title. Steamboat does a dumb entrance. We start with Steamer destroying
Luger with massive, awesome drop-kicks. The tape cuts (agh!) and Lex is beating
on Rick on the floor. Vicious clothesline. Tape cut as Ricky chops Lex. Tape
cut to brawling on the inside, and Rick gets slammed. Cut to 4 clotheslines by
Luger, which Steamboat greatly sells. Back to chops by Rick, but Luger fights
back. This arena is like the ECW arena. (It’s actually the much, much bigger Baltimore Arena in Maryland,
but WCW’s layout looked bush-league enough to make the comparison apt)
Powerslam gets 2 for Lex. Steamboat with a cross-bodys for 2. Slams Lex from
the top. After a cut, Lex backdrops Steamer from ring # 1 to ring # 2. Tape
cut, and Luger has a chair. Crowd has a heart attack. Lex teases a chair shot.
But Rick trips Luger, and slingshots him to the buckle (while holding the
chair) and Lex hits his head, and Flair flops. ref. bump, and Steamboat uses
the chair. Fans go wild, and Steamer chases Luger to the back with the chair.
Ricky is DQed. This match is good but horribly cut. I mentioned a lot of them
above, but there were like 6 more. It ruins it. Why not just have a 2 hr. tape?
Still, good match. ** 3/4 becasue of clipping, I can't give it more. (Dumb
kid. Never rate a match that badly clipped!)
- 1990 is next, with world champion Ric Flair vs. Sting.
This should be good, because Ric isn't the Black Scorpion! Sting is
"over" here. The pop is low. Flair gets a bigger one. Flair with
chops to start, but Sting no sells. Slam by Sting. Cut to Sting offense, and
more Flair chops which Sting casually no sells. Fighting on the ramp, and tape
cut to Flair suplexing Sting, which ISN'T sold. Sweet cross body by Sting for
2. Cut to Flair and Sting "wooo"ing at eachother. Cut to Sting
hammering Ric in the corner, and hip tosses him like the 9th time. Flair works
on the knee, for a LONG time. Flair chops on the floor. More no selling. Flair
begs off. Sting hammers away, and we get more Flair stuff that's no sold. Slam
by Sting. Clothesline, and a 2 count. Tape cut, and Flair flip into a
clothesline. Stinger Splash! Flair flop, and Death Lock. Horsemen run out but
Steiners stop them. Flair gets to the ropes. Tape cut to mat stuff, and a Sting
backslide, for 2. More no sold Flair chops. Figure four into a cradle and a new
champ. This was good. But again, cut all the time. Repetitive too. ***.
- Next.... 1992. (What nothing from the BEST GAB ever,
1991??) Well, we get Champion Sting and Vader. So I can't complain.
Vader comes out with that dumb mask, to little heat. Sting gets a great pop. We
start with Vader doing the usual, in the corner. Tape cut, and Sting side
suplexes Vader, and cleans house on Vader. Sting punches away on Vader, and
drop-kicks him. Suplex by Sting for 2. Tape cut to more Vader stuff, and Sting
with punches, and a spinning kick. German suplex by Sting for 2. More
drop-kicks. Stinger Splash! But Vader don't fall. So he does it again, and hits
his head. Powerbomb by Vader, for the 3, and the belt. Good enough match, but
AGAIN cut. ** 3/4.
- To 1995 with Flair vs. Savage. Flair gets an OK
reaction, Savage gets nice heat (but not much.) He has daddy with him too.
Flair runs, and Savage chases, and we get Flair chops, but Savage no sells and
beats on Ric with like 50 Irish whips, and 50 clotheslines. Savage up top, and
dives on Flair with an axhandle. Flair chops, and punches. More chops (after a
tape cut) and then Macho punches away. More cut, to Macho beating Flair outside
and in. Then a Flair flip. Ric goes after papa, but Savage stops that. Macho
gets clipped by Ric, and kicks with one leg (while on the mat.) More outside
stuff. Flair controls, and gets the Figure Four. Flair uses the ropes, and ref.
"doesn't see it" Tape cut, and Ric misses something from the top, but
Savage is so hurt Ric still chops away. But Macho comes back with punches. And
a nice top rope sequence follows, which Macho wins. Flying elbow, and Macho
pulls him up. Savage blades after he misses some stuff from to top to the
floor. Flair chokes him for like 2 minutes, then chases daddy, but he chokes
Ric with his cane. Flair knocks Angelo down, and takes the cane in the ring.
Savage runs in, and Flair knocks him out for the 3. Match is okay. Not cut as
much as the others, BTW. ** 1/2.
- 1996 comes at us with Flair & Anderson vs. Steve
McMicheals & Kevin Green. Why!?!? Highlights: Liz, and Debra are there.
Savage is with the Football guys, and gets a bigger pop than anyone in the
match. Steve and Arn start, and do some wrist lock stuff. McMicheals tries a
football tackle, but Anderson
gets a drop toe hold. The two tie up, and Anderson
gets a knee in, then they double team Anderson, and Savage decks him. Green is
tagged in, and Arn backs up, and Tags Ric. Flair taunts him. They take a LONG
time for Flair to get a cheep shot, then beats on him with punches, but Green
spears Flair AND Arn down, while Macho works the crowd. Flair runs to the back,
but Savage stops him, and brings him back for Kev in backdrop him, and do 3
shoulder blocks. Tags Mongo. More shoulderblocks. Cheep shot by Ric (2) and
chops no sold. Does anyone sell them? Nothing is sold by Mongo here, and he has
the guts to chop Flair ... and Ric sells. Backdrop, and slams Ric off the top.
Mongo has huge balls to put Ric in the Figure Four, while Green puts Anderson in it. The girls
"fight", all the way to the back, and the Horsemen take control.
Bobby with cheeps shots on Mongo, and Macho chases him. Flair chops away (not
sold), but gets a low blow. Usual Flair stuff follows, and both guys tag, and
Green beats them both up with tackles and slams, and backdrops. Powerslam, and
Flair flip into a boot by Steve. Savage decks Arn some more, until Benoit runs
out and beats on Macho. Debra, Liz and Woman walk down together with a
briefcase. She opens it for Steve, and there's MONEY and a 4 Horsemen shirt
inside. In the ring Flair has the Figure four on Green, and tries to tag, but
Steve hits him with the case, and Flair pins him. Match is so so. Why didn't
they cut this more? Beatdown to Savage and Green, and McMicheals puts the shirt
on. Good angle, but match sucks. ** 1/2.
- 1997 is next with Randy Savage vs. DDP. This is
there famous brawl match. Savage is nWo here, and has Liz. DDP has Kim!!!!!! (Guess
I really liked Kim at the time. Not that I could blame me. Though, her appearance
in 40-Year Old Virgin kind of ruined her for me) Page comes out of the
crowd, and attacks Savage from behind. Page with for arm bar "stuff"
and then they go to the floor, and Savage batters the bad ribs. Page comes
back, and goes psycho on Macho, and they do a nice criss cross. Page wins that.
Tape cut to battling on the floor, that goes to the crowd. Page beats him up
all around the arena. Stupid spot with a crutch follows. Page "slaps"
Macho Man, and throws him to the risers. Cut to the ring, where Macho has salt
and throws it in Page's eyes, and does a beat down. Ref. bump, and piledrives
the ref!!! Savage fights, but Page won't stay down. Another ref. out, and
Savage beats him down. Page beats Savage to the corner, but Macho Man fights
back, and knocks DDP down. Back to the floor. The announcers say "anything
goes" 100 times. Savage teases to deck Kim, but Nick Patrick saves her,
while a fan feels her. Randy beats him to the entrance area, where there's
a.... picnic. Okay. DDP breaks stuff on Macho Man. DDP then beats him with... a
flower, and slams him through a picnic table, and dumps charcoal on him. OK.
Page chokes him with a shirt, and pulls him back to the entrance ramp. Cut to
the ring, where Page Diamond Cut's him. No ref. Hall runs out, and Page beats
him up, but Macho nails him with the Tag belt, and hits the big elbow. Ref. is
up, and counts 3. Okay brawl. ***.
- 1998 follows, with Piper & Savage vs. Bret Hart
& Hogan. I love Bret ... anytime ... and place. But everyone else?
Piper and Hogan start (Oh boy) and he beats on Hulk like a punk. Cut to
Hart/Hulk beating Roddy. Savage uses a chair on Hart. Cut to Randy clearing
everyone out, and doing a FAKE looking elbow with Hulk. Hart then goes to work,
but Piper stops that, and Savage slams Bret. Piper clears out Hogan, but
Disciple hammers Piper with the belt, and Hogan works on the knee of Macho, as
Piper beats up Disciple then Hogan, as Hart gets Savage in the Sharpshooter!
This is done. This is crap. Goodnight. But no, Piper (The sportsmen) attacks
Hart. - ** 1/2.
- More 1998, as Goldberg meets K-dog. Why?!?! More
shit, after the shit before this? Arg! Konnan has Henning and Rude (RIP) with
him. Piped Goldberg chant. Bill is the US champ. They claim Goldberg is
99-0. Long entrance. The piped chant is SO obvious. Goldberg squashes the shit
out of Konnan (slowly). They fight over a headlock, and he uses WRESTLING on
K-dog, and gets an ankle lock. K-dog's shit don't work, and the SPEAR follows.
Huge pop. Taunts Henning. Jackhammer. See ya later. Match sucks ... of course.
nWo beats up K-dog, and Nash and Luger save his dead weight butt. DUD.
- Gene say's bye bye ... and his lips are still screwed.
- Bottom Line: Okay, lets put it like this: 4 Good matches,
and then we see some crap. I want to note, that the Good matches
(Steamboat/Luger, Flair/Sting, Vader/Sting) are heavily cut (Really heavy)
while the crap fest's (Hart, Hogan/Savage, Piper & K-dog/Goldberg) aren't
WHY?!?!
- Question: Does Flair offense ever get sold?
MILD Recommendation... get it only
if there is nothing better there, for the first 3 matches anyway.
(These tapes were terrible. But, it was a different time. There was no
WWE Network, there was no YouTube. We were at the mercy of local video stores
for content, and most stores didn’t carry much NWA/WCW stuff, period, let alone
pre-Hogan era. So, to me these tapes were worth the cost simply to get a peek
at what some of these shows and matches I’d read so much about online looked
like. In 2015, I can’t see why anyone would ever bother watching these though,
as they’re terrible now)
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