WCW Great American Bash 98'

WCW Great American Bash 98'

Baltimore, MD - June 1998

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan is the WCW World Champion coming into tonight's show (having defeated Randy Savage for the strap), Goldberg is the United States Champion, Fit Finlay is the Television Champion, and the Cruiserweight Championship had been vacated. Sting and The Giant are the reigning WCW World Tag Team Champions, but as The Giant was in nWo Hollywood and Sting was in the Wolfpack, they'd compete on this show for control of the titles.

COMMENTARY: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay

Chris Benoit vs. Booker T opens things up, the eighth and final match of their Best of 7 series (yes, there were actually eight matches in the series as Bret Hart had interfered in the seventh match and Benoit forfeited the contest). Very intense, hard-hitting action that unfurls beautifully and leads to the crowd rabidly cheering both guys' signature spots. Benoit throws himself into every move and bump, but what really struck me was just how much his character had finally caught up to his technicality. It takes time for a stoic character like Benoit to connect with the audience, but by this point, he's pretty fairly established as his own man outside of the Horsemen (who had been killed off or disbanded or something after Curt Hennig turned on them at Fall Brawl 97' almost 9 months earlier). Booker T, meanwhile, is even further along in terms of fan acceptance and appreciation (especially the crowd-pleasing Spinnarooni). The finish was a bit abrupt to me, though, keeping this from being a truly all-time great match. Its a "must watch," just not a "must watch immediately." (3.5/5)

Next up, Saturn taking on the thorn in Raven Flock's side, Kanyon. I was a big Mortis fan and found the re-debut of Kanyon at Slamboree to be one of the show's best moments so I came into this expecting, at the very least, a good match with at least a handful of creative sequences. I got the innovative sequences and cool spots - only they didn't add up to a good match. Structurally, this one is just confusing. Kidman and Company show up early (too early) and are sent to the back minutes later, turning the match into a 1-on-1 contest but, by giving the crowd "dessert first," forcing Kanyon and Saturn to return to Act 1 having already shown its hand a bit. Instead of bringing the audience down though and building them back up, they go to the high spot well and Saturn does a bizarre Sabu tribute act. Then, its restholds and some noticeably awkward (are these supposed to be innovative?) pin attempts. It is almost like the match was written on a deck of index cards and someone shuffled them before they started as, despite a surfeit of cool, rare moves (some even enhanced by a chair) and no less than three different Mortises (Mortisi?), an audible "Boring" chant breaks out at one point. With a running time at least 4 minutes beyond what it should be, this is a head-scratchingly, almost shockingly unfun watch. The post-match is solid, though. (2/5)

The vacated Cruiserweight Championship is on the line in the next match, a frustrating and confounding bout between former champion Chris Jericho and the man who willingly dropped the title to get him in the ring, Dean Malenko. While this overall feud was really well done and is fondly remembered, this match just didn't click for me at all (or for the crowd, who start out fairly hot but cool down rather quickly). Both guys work hard and bust out some of their best offense, but they almost needed to "dumb it down" even more as the crowd seems to just want a heated brawl over a personal issue more than a technically-proficient athletic contest. There's a goofy double countout spot that they should've been embarrassed to include in what was built up as a real grudge match. From here, things do get better, just as the match has finally won over the audience through a series of nearfalls and submissions, we get a screwy finish. Despite being shorter than the previous two matches, it almost feels longer. In what has already become a pattern on this show, there's a great post-match moment, though. (2/5)

Before the next match we get a pretty wacky Juventud Guerrera music video. Network Nugget. (+1)

Juventud Guerrera is in action as well, taking on the monstrous Reis of Raven's Flock. What ever happened to the former Yeti? This is less a match and more a gimmick, but its not ineffective or boring (at least at first). Reis is an atrocious worker, but it makes sense that they wouldn't run this angle with someone who actually had credibility or talent. The crowd comes alive for Juvi's low-blows and even pops for some of the more harebrained spots, but this match is at least 4 minutes too long with way too many blatant botches and sloppy moments to be considered even close to good. I forgot Van Hammer turned babyface after being in the Flock for a minute. (0.5/5)

The Guerreros clash next - Eddie vs. Chavo in the climax of their months-long storyline. Like Jericho/Malenko but better, this one still suffered from being overly flashy rather than just delivering a more straightforward story with a few less sequences. Despite Chavo delivering some of his sharpest looking offense ever (a tremendous somersault dive to the outside, a perfect springboard bulldog, an awesome tornado DDT) and Eddie's brilliance, the crowd tires and chants "Boring" or "Goldberg" at one time and then, very clearly, "We Want Flair!" a few minutes later. A better match than the crowd treated it and somewhat "epic," but the audience just did not want to come along for this ride. (2.5/5)

Booker T challenges for the WCW Television Championship next, taking on Finlay, in his second match of the night. As one would expect, this one is very physical and Finlay puts on an absolute classic vicious heel performance, his work so brutal and targeted that its impossible not to want to see Booker T prove his resilience. Unfortunately, as has been the case all the night, the crowd just doesn't care enough about the action or the performers to stay invested for the match's duration. Unlike Eddie/Chavo and Jericho/Malenko, though, this time the match isn't overly complicated or too flashy, so, its not like you can point to any boring spells and say "That's where they lost em'." I'm not sure its possible for the same guy to have two Match of the Nights on the same show, but if it is, Booker T did it on this night (though, this match doesn't quite measure up to the opening contest). A slightly sloppy finishing stretch can be overlooked considering that, in actuality, it does put over the idea that Booker T was wrestling his second grueling bout of the night. (3/5)

It's Goldberg time! The crowd comes alive huge for the United States Champion's showdown with the nWo's Konnan (seconded by both Hennig, the original challenger, and Rick Rude on the outside). This is Goldberg's 100th match and it starts off plenty similiar to most Goldberg matches, the former Falcon tossing the Wolfpack member to the mat. Goldberg applies a sloppy-looking headlock and then a clumsy leglock takedown before selling for maybe 10 seconds and hitting his spear and Jackhammer for the win. Konnan looks fatigued before the bell even rings so its actually nice to see him just get squashed to oblivion (and then beaten to a pulp even more in the post-match). At this point, I've watched a good deal of Konnan's work in WCW and while he may have a great mind for the business and better work in Mexico, as a WCW performer, he was average at best (and, like in this match, could actually be outright bad at doing even some of the simplest things). (1.5/5)

Bash at the Beach commercial. I miss the Cheatem days. 

Michael Buffer is in the ring for our next contest - Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. Piper and Hogan start things off, the Hulkster getting beaten down by his two longest-running rivals. As the match goes on, Piper ends up playing the face-in-peril and the Hitman comes in to do most of the heavy lifting after Hogan's initial stretch. Hart is the only one in this match that can move at a speed of 2 miles per hour it seems, but watching the bout, one has to admit that the crowd cares more about this contest than any match prior (aside from Goldberg's). At 12 minutes, this one doesn't overstay its welcome, but the performances are so overwhelmingly bad that its hard to enjoy this beyond the "Look at all these mega-stars in the same match!" novelty of it. Savage comes in for a hot tag, but like pissing in a blizzard, it cools almost instantly. The finish is decent and, at the very least, helps re-affirm Hart as a credible competitor. There's been worse main events in WCW history and I'm not sure what anyone was expecting out of these four in 1998, but it probably should've been better than this. (2/5)

The "post-match" match between Piper and Savage is surprisingly swerve-tastic as Hot Rod manages to kick out of the "unkick-out-able" elbow drop. As an angle, its an interesting wrinkle in the Piper/Savage feud, but both guys are so past their prime it is impossible to get excited about them actually getting 10+ minutes at a future PPV. I forget if it ever happens, but I'll find out soon enough as I venture further into WCW's final years. As this is less a match and more an angle, I'm going to just call it a half-point bonus. (+0.5)

Main event #2 time - Sting vs. The Giant for control of the WCW World Tag Team Championships. This match is almost like a peak into a bizarro world where Sting came to Starrcade 97' in great shape, won the title from Hogan handily, and then got to fend off over, credible challengers eager to take the strap off of him. The Giant is in his "smoking" gimmick - which is awesome. I love that The Giant's nicotine habit really bothered Sting so much. Sting, meanwhile, is sporting the red and black, but more importantly, looks to be back in the shape he was prior to his 12-months-of-inactivity Crow phase. Even shorter than the tag match, this one is no frills and all thrills, a welcome throwback to The Giant's rookie year when he was an absolute monster and Sting had to fight valiantly just to topple him. I'm not sure Vince McMahon ever booked The Giant as well as WCW did even at this point. While this one is too short to call "great," it is probably the most watchable and enjoyable match on the contest in terms of feeling like an important but also fun match (Booker T/Benoit is a better match on a technical basis, no doubt, but how "fun" is it as a whole?). One of the best under-8 minute matches I've seen in awhile. (3/5)


The Great American Bash 98's Kwang Score of 2.39-out-of-5 genuinely surprised me as this was a total slog to get to through. The opener and main event are the only parts of this show I'd recommend to anyone but an absolute WCW completist or Booker T mega-fan while the Guerreros bout and Jericho/Malenko are supremely disappointing considering the months-long build that led to them and the amount of time they got on the show (the same can almost be said for Saturn/Kanyon to a lesser degree). I mean, the sloppy, irrelevant Juventud Guerrera/Reis match actually runs longer than the main event! Meanwhile, Goldberg/Konnan and Savage/Piper run about the same time despite one being a United States Title Match and the other being essentially just a post-match angle. With only one match that I'd reluctantly call "close to great", this one earns a...

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville