WCW Results ... by Chris Hyatte
WCW/NWO The Great American Bash, 6/14/98
Pointless. That's the first word that came to mind when I heard the line up for WCW's June offering, the long running "Great American Bash". The main event, featuring a tag team match between four aging veterans with no belts up didn't help sell the anticipation, nor did the promise of a post match battle between teammates Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. No, as with all WCW pay per views nowadays, we had to pin our hopes on some intriguing undercard matchups. The Television title was to be decided tonight, as was the interesting family feud between Eddie Guerrero and his nephew, newly "psychotic" Chavo Guerrero Jr. There was a Cruiserweight re-match between Dean Malenko and the always entertaining Chris Jericho scheduled too. Thus, one could look at this positively. After all, if you're not expecting much, then you can only be pleasantly surprised.
- Opens with a very good video montage set to music. One of the best productions they have ever put on.
- Fireworks help welcome us to Baltimore.
- Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay spend a bit too much time talking....it was almost 6 minutes before the first match. Gene Okerlund also showed up to discuss the situation between Sting and the Giant.
- Footage from Thunder when Bret Hart tried to help Chris Benoit beat Booker T. Followed by Booker T's decision to give Benoit another shot.
FIRST MATCH: Chris Benoit vs Booker T. (7th Match from a Best of 7 series. Winner gets TV title shot later that night).
It's interesting to note that while Benoit came down first, he received no sort of special entrance fireworks. Booker T. received a red gas pop on both sides of the entrance. It is probably more of a "Benoit is intense enough not to need it", but considering his lack of respect within the company, it is an interesting side note. The match started without any pre-action nonsense.
Highlights & Lowlights:
- After watching these two go at it for several weeks now, I expected to be completely bored with them by now. Fortunately, with Booker in his prime and Benoit nearing his, they still managed to light the place up and keep my interest.
- The beginning started off slowly. Plenty of lock ups and arm bars.
- Both men sold their tights off. Every shot looked painful as Hell.
- Benoit started working on Booker's leg.
- Benoit dominated once they really started to cook.
- At one point, the camera caught a close up on Booker's face as he was straining in a Benoit Crucifix. The expression was borderline laughable.
- Booker went for a top rope cross bodyblock. Benoit saw it coming and moved out of the way.
- Benoit went for the "Crippler Cross Face", but Booker was in the ropes.
- Booker gave Benoit a nasty variation of the Powerbomb. He followed with an equally nasty Flapjack variation.
- Benoit went for his Triple German Suplex, Booker avoided the third one, but ended up in a DragonFly Suplex/Pin attempt. Nicely executed.
- Benoit went for the Top Rope Headbutt. He hit it, but almost knocked himself out in the process.
Booker T. hit Benoit with the Missile Dropkick, and scored the clean pin. It was a top notch opener, as expected with these two. The crowd was really into it as well.
- We see Chavo Guerrero Jr. talking to Lee Marshall online.
SECOND MATCH: Saturn vs Kanyon
Saturn comes to the ring. Then awaits for Kanyon. Mortis' music plays and out comes Mortis in full gear, draped in a cheesy looking black cloak. He paused in the middle of the aisle and stared at him. Then the camera cut to the ring, where we see Kanyon behind Saturn. Instead of attacking Saturn, Kanyon simply waited for Saturn to turn around and attack him, which made no sense.
Highlights & Lowlights:
- Early into it, the camera caught Kanyon in a closeup clearly mouthing spots in Saturn's ear.
- Saturn ended up sitting on Kanyon's shoulders. After bouncing a few HORRIBLE punches barely off his head, Saturn ended up being slammed into the mat face first.
- Kidman and Lodi showed up early into it, Kanyon slugged them off.
- The crowd was completely dead for this match, many booed the "face" Kanyon.
- Kanyon was on the top rope, he placed a leg against Saturn's head. He then dropped to the mat, sending Saturn's head to the ground with his leg on top of it.
- Riggs and Horace joined Kidman in triple teaming Kanyon as Lodi distracted the ref. Saturn landed on top of all four men with a no hands plancha. After the move, Nick Patrick made all of the Flock leave.
- Saturn went for the Ankle Submission, but Kanyon reached for the ropes.
- The lack of crowd response made this a very awkward match. I think that since they weren't getting any sort of heat, both men simply went through the motions. For the rest of the match, they simply performed a move, went for a pin, performed another move, went for another pin, etc etc etc.
- Saturn did use a chair as a Springboard device however, ala Sabu in ECW.
- Kanyon's finisher is called the "Flatliner", which is appropriate judging from the dead reaction he was getting.
At one point, the WCW senseless angle machine kicked into high gear as TWO people dressed as Mortis and began fighting. One dropped the other. Meanwhile, Kanyon put Saturn in the "Flatliner" and scored the win. After which, the Mortis who dropped the other Mortis attacked Kanyon and dropped him in the DDT. He took off his mask and it was Raven. With Kanyon down, Raven grabbed the mic and chastised Saturn for not getting the job done. Eventually, he had the Flock attack Saturn, but Saturn battled them away as Raven walked off. We never learned who the other Mortis was. Decent match, ridiculous ending.
- footage from Thunder when Dean Malenko gave up the Cruiserweight belt.
THIRD MATCH: Chris Jericho vs Dean Malenko (WCW Cruiserweight Title Match).
Jericho came to the ring first, but didn't say anything over the mic. Malenko came to the ring. Things got going as soon as Jericho sufficiently sold the outrage on the chants of "JERICHO SUCKS!!".
Highlights & Lowlights:
- They started out swinging, with Jericho getting the upper hand.
- It didn't last though, as Malenko exploded and started raining punches on Jericho.
- Malenko had Jericho in the Surfboard. Jericho screamed like a woman.
- Malenko threw Jericho into the corner. Jericho flipped up and tangled himself in the "Tree of Woe". Then, he deliberately bounced his head against the ring post in the worst sold move of the night. Jericho saved face by sitting up and avoiding a Baseball slide by Malenko...which made the sequence look like he did it on purpose.
- Malenko went for the top rope Gutbuster, but Jericho turned it into a top rope Hurricarana.
- After a bit of a struggle, Malenko got off the Texas Cloverleaf. Jericho made it to the ropes though.
- Jericho slapped Malenko in the face and screamed something about his dead father. That made Malenko snap.
He exploded on Jericho and blasted him. Then he threw Jericho outside and took a chair to him twice. Although the chair shots were pretty poor, they were enough for the WCW Senseless Angle Machine to kick in again and have the ref ring the bell and DISQUALIFY Malenko for using a chair. Saturn was springboarding off it in just the previous match, but I guess we were supposed to forget about that so soon. Still enraged, Malenko took Jericho by the hair and walked him all the way backstage and outside the building. They even got to a crosswalk when Malenko threw Jericho into a mailbox. Jericho ran across the street and into a building next door, which finally ended this which ended this nonsense. The match itself was a bit mechanical, with both men very used to fighting each other, the post match theatrics was just as retarded as the Saturn/Kanyon finisher.
- Eddie Guerrero was online, begging his Nephew not to fight him.
- video spot with Juventud Guerrera. It played like a bad Calvin Klein commercial.
FOURTH MATCH: Reese vs Juventud Guerrera
Tenay remarked that this may be the most lopsided size differential in the history of the sport, he must have been sleeping during the King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim and the Midgets way back at Wrestlemania III. He must have also been asleep during the Rey Mysterio/Kevin Nash match at Nitro a year ago. Reese lumbered to the ring with Lodi in tow, sporting a haircut reminiscent of Terry Taylor's "Red Rooster" 'do. Juventud came to the ring to a nice pop, then things got underway.
Highlights & Lowlights:
- Not much to work with. The match went like this. Reese charged, Juventud ducked, Juventud attacked, Reese shrugged him off, Reese knocked him down, Juventud got back up and came right back to him, Reese knocked him down again.
- Juventud went for a Springboard Body Block on the outside. Reese caught him.
- Reese held him away by the head as Juvee swung away ala the 3 Stooges.
- Reese tried to chair Guerrera, but the ref yanked it away.
- The end came when Van Hammer showed up and chaired Reese while the ref was distracted. This allowed Juventud to give him the Hurricarana and score the pin. It could have been a much better match.
FIFTH MATCH: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Eddie Guerrero.
Chavo came to the ring first, anxious to get it on with his Uncle. Eddie came to the ring with much trepidation. In the ring, Chavo slapped Eddie in the face to get him going, they faced off for a bit more, with Eddie thumping his chest and giving Chavo a one handed crotch chop. Chavo mimicked him. Eventually, the match got going.
Highlights & Lowlights:
- Early on, a particularly nasty bump gave Eddie a huge welt on his shoulder. Tony Schiavone took the opportunity to herald the remarkable guts that WCW wrestlers have in order to fight while obviously injured. All because Eddie got a scratch.
- Chavo took early control.
- At one point, Eddie got fed up and walked away. Chavo followed and dragged him back to the ring.
- Some of their sequences were a bit too rehearsed. Which is problematic when you train together.
- In a great move, Chavo leapt at Eddie from the top rope. Eddie got out of the way. Chavo did a double mid air roll and landed on his feet. Pretty to look at.
- Chavo nearly missed Eddie with a awesome suicide dive/no hand plancha on the outside. Eddie helped him connect and sold the move nicely.
- Eddie went for the Frogsplash, but missed.
- Chavo went for the Tornado DDT, but Eddie blocked it and threw Chavo out of the ring. Chavo held on though, and Eddie ended up taking the ropes right on his throat.
Chavo went for the Tornado DDT again and pulled it off. He scored the pin and won the match. Good, solid match. Tied with the Booker/Benoit as the best of the night so far.
- the announcers killed some time.
- footage from Nitro with Savage and Piper arguing.
SIXTH MATCH: Booker T. vs Fit Finely (WCW Television Title Match)
Booker came to the ring, still looking a bit worn from his previous battle with Benoit. Finely came to the ring, but not without first holding up a sign that read "IRISH EYES ARE SMILING". Luckily for us, WCW Senseless Angle Machine took this particular part of the card off, so all they did was wrestle..
Highlights & Lowlights:
- Booker T was missing his gloves.
- But that didn't keep him from dominating things early.
- Booker went for the Spin Kick, but Finely ducked and ended up locking up his bad leg.
- Booker went for a standing leg drop, but both men missed the spot and Finely had to adjust awkwardly to finish the sequence, which was him dropping Booker face first in the mat and going for a single legged Boston Crab.
- Finely was really working on Booker's leg.
- I was wrong, WCW Senseless Angle Machine did kick in briefly, when the ref stopped Finely from using a chair. Apparently, Bischoff banned chairs for everyone but Saturn tonight and forgot to tell us.
- As with the Kanyon/Saturn affair, the fans were dead for this one. In fact, they spent most of the match watching security escort someone out of the building and give him a huge chant of, "NA NA NA NA HEY HEY HEY GOODBYE"
- After Booker started to rebound a little, Tony screamed, "BOOKER'S BACK". So of course, Finely took him back down very quickly.
- Finely went for the Tombstone Piledriver, but Booker reversed it and turned it into a pin attempt.
Eventually, Booker hit the Tombstone and won the title back. His brother Stevie Ray showed up to congratulate and celebrate with him. I was positive that he would attack his brother, but he didn't. It was an okay match, but there were too many rest holds and the lack of heat hurt it big time.
SEVENTH MATCH: Konan vs Goldberg (United States Heavyweight Title Match)
Very quickly, Konan hit the ring with Rick Rude and Curt Henning. They piped in the "GOLDBERG" chants through the soundspeaker. It was funny watching the crowd keep there mouths shut as the chant was played. Goldberg hit the ring and pointed at Hennig, saying "YOU'RE NEXT". As soon as the bell rang, they turned off the "GOLDBERG" chant mid chant, as if everyone in the arena clamped their mouths shut at the same time. Goldberg won in about 3 minutes in his usual fashion. Afterwards, Henning and Rude attacked Konan and revealed themselves to be NWO WHITE. Nash and Luger came in for the save and chased them off. This was Nitro worthy, not PPV.
- At this point, it was 9:15...meaning we were going to have 3 main event matches in the space of about 30 minutes. That's 10 minutes a match, including ring entrances.
- spot for the next PPV, Bash at the Beach
EIGHTH MATCH: Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper and Randy Savage
Michael Buffer did his usual routine, then introduced Savage and Piper separately. Hogan and Hart came out together, with the Disciple along with them. There was some pre-match angles working as Piper and Savage argued over who would hit the ring first, eventually, Hogan and Piper started to go and the match was on.
Highlights and Lowlights:
- Early into it, Piper and Savage worked well as a team. Tenay applauded them for their "basic" tag skills.
- If even one of Piper's punches hit Hogan, it was purely by accident.
- Bret looked quite bored with this.
- The Disciple clipped Piper in the back with the heavyweight belt.
- Not much else to say here, other than Savage's knee "gave out" for no other reason other to sell the end of the match.
Which consisted of Hart putting the Sharpshooter on Savage as Piper was fighting Hogan and the Disciple outside. Savage submitted and the heels won the match, which led right to the..
NINTH MATCH: Roddy Piper vs Randy Savage
It was agreed that since Piper and Savage "hated" each other so much, that they would go at it after the match. Savage was hurting so much though, that Piper tried to stop the match from happening. Okerlund tried to talk to him, but he shrugged Gene off. Savage still attacked Piper, even with the injury. It didn't take long for the ref to get knocked out by Savage, Piper put him in the figure four, and a second ref come in and hear Savage submit for the second time tonight. Piper won the match.
- With time running out, the jumped to the..
TENTH MATCH: Sting vs the Giant (Winner gets both WCW Tag Team Belts, and will get to pick a partner).
The Giant came to the ring first, smoking a cigarette to show how confident he was. Tony had the NERVE to call it a "Wrestling first"...(apparently, he has never heard of ECW or the Sandman). Sting came to the ring, and took a faceful of smoke from the Giant. He slapped him in the face, and the match was on..
Highlights & Lowlights:
- Right off the bat, the Giant leaped at Sting in the corner. Sting moved and the Giant ended up draped across the ring ropes. After a few kicks, Sting crossed the ring and gave the prone Giant the Stinger Splash, which knocked him down. Sting went for another splash, but ended up flying into the Giant's big boot. It was a great bump.
- Sting went for the cross bodyblock, but just bounced off the Giant.
- Sting spent a good part of the match being slammed around by the Giant's power.
- The Giant put Sting in a Bearhug for a way too long amount of time.
- Sting bodyslammed the Giant.
- Sting put the Giant in the Scorpion Deathlock, but the Giant powered out of it.
- Sting gave the Giant 2 Scorpion Death Drops, but couldn't pin him either time.
Finally, Sting gave the Giant a huge Death Drop from the top rope and secured the pin and the win. He walked off with two titles and Tony shouted that we will have to wait until tomorrow on Nitro to see who his partner will be. The show ended.
First the good. The wrestling was for the most part, excellent. As usual with WCW, the undercard supplied action that ranged from great to decent. Those who wished to work tonight, worked superbly.
Now the bad, the angles were insulting, the screwjobs were constant and silly. The tag team main event was a waste of time, as was the Piper/Savage 5 minutes. Sting and the Giant worked well, but the Giant seems to gain about 10 more pounds each month. Nobody is going to remember this card in a year, or even two months. Don't bother spending your money on the replay, it's not worth it.
This is Hyatte