WCW Great American Bash 91'

Great American Bash 91'

Baltimore, Maryland - July 1991

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was vacant (as Ric Flair had left with the title and taken it to the WWE). The United States Champion is Lex Luger and the WCW World Tag Team Champions were The Steiner Brothers. The Television Title was held by "Stunning" Steve Austin. The considerably less prestigious United States Tag Team Champions and Six-Man Tag Champions were The Fabulous Freebirds.

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

Arguably WCW's most infamously bad PPV (which is really saying something), the 91' Great American Bash, kicks off with a scaffold match between a pair of heels (Terry Taylor and "Stunning" Steve Austin) and a pair of faces (Bobby Eaton and PN News). Taylor is not accompanied by Alexandra York, which means he's missing half of his act, but it doesn't really matter because its obvious that he (and everyone else in this match) is just trying to get through it without accidentally falling to their death. For the 6 minutes this match runs, nobody does anything remotely high risk - or even moderately risky. It is just torturous to watch as they don't even bother to attempt to put any suspense into the match. The faces win after Bobby Eaton grabs a flag and walks it halfway across the scaffold and nobody tries to stop him. One of the absolute worst matches I've ever seen. (0/5)

Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone discuss the Ric Flair contract dispute. This struck me as interesting because I don't remember either wrestling company talking about legit business dealings (if not outrightly breaking kayfabe) this many years before Eric Bischoff made it a weekly occurrence on Nitro. 

Back to the ring we go for another shit match - The Diamond Studd vs. "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk. I once heard an interview with Hall wondered aloud about where Zenk was. Maybe there was slight beef between the two? This match starts out wonderfully, but then very quickly becomes absolutely terrible as their timing is off and Hall starts moving like molasses in concrete. Zenk doesn't seem to eager to do the job, so he doesn't put forth much effort. There are Scott Hall matches I like, but the more I see of him, the more I'm convinced he's actually one of the more overrated workers ever, a guy that could be absolute gold on the mic but couldn't carry The Miz's gym bag in the ring. Take away the nWo gimmick and you have a boring performer whose best in-ring attributes were really just his selling and his right hand. At 7 minutes, this one goes at least 3 too long. Another awful match. (0/5)

As countless others who have reviewed this show point out, we go from one "future star" match to another to another with Oz taking on Ron Simmons. For some reason, they actually booked this match to go longer than Hall/Z-Man despite Nash and Simmons being even more limited workers. The best part of this match, or really any Oz match, is his entrance. Oz was built up with decisive victories in the weeks building to this, but it was clear that he was not going to be the huge superstar they wanted (and desperately needed). Instead of outright burying him, Simmons has to put in considerable effort to topple the big man - which, to me, was the wrong call when, at this point, Simmons was clearly gaining momentum as a babyface and Oz was on his way to getting repackaged as Vinnie Vegas. There are some audible "boring" chants in this match and neither guy's offense looks too impressive. Simmons eventually lands 3 shoulder blocks to wrap up the third stinker in a row. At least the right guy won. (0.5/5)

After a run down of the current WCW Top 10, Robert Gibson finally gets a chance to take on his former tag partner, Richard Morton of the York Foundation. There could've been great heat for this match, but for whatever reason, nobody in WCW or Morton himself realized that to capitalize on that heat, you'd need to really play up the idea of "Ricky" transforming himself to become "Richard." They don't bother and the match, or at the very least Morton's new heel persona, suffers because of it. To his credit, Morton does at least wrestle like a new man and even does some jawing at the fans, but its missing the all-important visual component. Imagine Hulk Hogan joining the nWo and still wearing red and yellow through 97'. Morton goes after Gibson's knee (good psychology) and I like how he shows his villainous side by trying to expose his former best friend's brace. He continues to target the knee, which is great strategy and is sold well on commentary, but then the finish doesn't play into story at all. This one goes too long to end with such a whimper. I've read reviews from some smart, eloquent fans that consider this match a strong outing, but, to me, this doesn't hold a candle to the intense action we got out of Pillman/Windham or the stronger character work in "lesser" matches like Koloff/Sting from the last Clash of the Champions. I can't go any higher than average for this. (2.5/5)

The Young Pistols team with Dustin Rhodes to take on The Fabulous Freebirds and Baddstreet for the Six-Man Tag Team Titles. This match is fought under elimination rules, which I don't believe was always the case for the Six-Man Titles but I could be wrong - the truth is, I barely remember the titles even existed and, as this blog shows, I've watched a hell of a lot of WCW from this era. Anyway, this match would've been so much more interesting if it was just Baddstreet (Brad Armstrong) vs. Dustin Rhodes, but instead, we have the Freebirds doing what they do best - stalling, stalling, and more stalling. I know the Freebirds are beloved by some and I've seen them have some pretty decent matches before, but their over-reliance on schtick makes their matches a chore to watch after you've seen it a dozen times. After some pedestrian 'rasslin,' Smothers is eliminated and then in rapid succession, Hayes is out by a weak DQ after he back body drops Steve Armstrong over the top rope. Eventually, its 2-on-1 against Dustin Rhodes, who predictably outlasts Garvin and Baddstreet to win the match for his team. This isn't outright bad, as much as it just feels like unnecessary filler. (1/5)

Next up, The Yellow Dog (aka Brian Pillman) taking on relative newcomer Johnny B. Badd. The Yellow Dog angle has been critically maligned forever, but it bears repeating just how damaging the angle was to Pillman and to the company as a whole. Had the angle been just corny, it wouldn't have been so offensive - but what made it worse was that Pillman was one of the company's few prospects at this point, a remarkable worker that was over enough to hang with the heavyweights despite his size. The Yellow Dog angle not only cut out Pillman's legs at a time when the company desperately needed "name" stars, but it also led to matches like this - complete DOA bouts that drew absolutely no heat (and, thus, damaged Badd too by having him involved in such a stupid, fan-despised storyline). Badd is noticeably green and Pillman is basically wrestling with both hands tied behind his back by having to wear a mask that keeps him from drawing the sympathy he usually would. This match is as bad as everything else on this card. What a shame. (1/5)

Before the next match, Eric Bischoff tries to get a word with Missy Hyatt. He acts like a total perv going to find her in her locker room and then the shower. This is what passed for comedy in 1991? One might say that this low brow "rasslin" humor was another example of WCW being behind the times, but the WWE was also doing this corny shit well into the 90s and even into the 2000s with even more "risque" (read: unfunny, tired, intelligence-insulting) elements. 

Here we go, folks, an old fashioned lumberjack match - Big Josh vs. Blackblood. At the last show, Big Show was accompanied by an actual bear. Here he's escorted by a bevy of blonde beauties. Sure. JR notes that this match should be right up Josh's alley considering he's an actual lumberjack (he wasn't). Blackblood (who Capetta announces is from a "Little Town In France" because why not) was played by legendary psychotic Billy Jack Haynes. Ricky Morton is one of the lumberjacks and is wearing the all-time coolest wrestling tee-shirt I've ever seen for the York Foundation. This match does not give Rollins/Ambrose a run for its money as the best lumberjack match ever - it doesn't even come close - but its not all terrible. Matt Borne (as Big Josh) is never short of good, a guy that just does so many little things right its no wonder he's regularly cited as one of the more underrated workers of the 90s. This is a by-the-numbers lumberjack match with the heels and faces ganging up on each other at different times. Eventually Blackblood grabs his guillotine, but Dustin Rhodes hits him with an axe handle to help Big Josh get the win. I understand that Dustin Rhodes was a top prospect and needed to be featured, but this did nothing for Big Josh, who was just as deserving of getting a solid, clean W. This was "Dustin first" booking and he wasn't over enough to deserve that sort of treatment yet. (0.5/5)

El Gigante takes on The One Man Gang next. Kevin Sullivan is The Gang's cornerman, but does his part to make Gigante look great early on, bumping and selling for the former Atlanta Hawk. Jim Ross tries to hype up Gigante's potential, but Gigante's movements are so the opposite of fluid that his execution of even the most basic moves look like absolute garbage. The One Man Gang was in the unenviable position of having to put Gigante over while still portraying himself as a monster in his own right and, to his credit, is able to accomplish this by actually taking the fight to Gigante in a way that Sid Vicious didn't. For some ridiculous reason, this match goes 6 whole minutes, a good 4 and a half longer than El Gigante should ever have been expected to compete. In fact, I'd have to look it up, but I'd wager that if you take out the entrances, his match against Undertaker at WrestleMania IX, roughly two years of training later, was the same length or shorter. A half-point for The Gang's respectable effort. (0.5/5)

A video recap sets the stage for our next match - a Russian Chain match between Sting and Nikita Koloff. The build-up for their feud is one of my all-time favorites due to the nostalgia factor of seeing it develop on weekly WCW TV as a kid, but I never got to see it in full (aside from the Clash match) because I rarely ordered WCW PPVs. Sadly, this match did not live up to what I always pictured was an all-out war and I actually liked their Clash match much better. Part of the problem is the stipulation itself. To get this kind of match over with this kind of (angry, bored) crowd, you really need to see that weapon get used in seriously violent ways. The chain gets a little bit of usage, but with no blood or hangman spot or "whippings," the brutality of the match all comes from one guy trying to choke the other guy out. When this is the bulk of your match, your not going to get many big moments to keep the crowd engaged. At various points, both guys pause their selling in blatant ways that could be overlooked if the rest of the match was more original. Then you get to the finish, which is clever in theory and executed well, but is still a total head-scratcher in terms of booking. Sting's post-match actions do him no favors either as he lost fair and square, so he comes off looking like a sore loser. Considering the position WCW was in at the time, it made no sense for WCW's second biggest star to suffer a clean loss, especially against an opponent who (a) he had already beat and (b) would be off TV for months after this. Just bizarre. (2/5)

The first of two cage matches is next and its not the one that it probably should be as Lex Luger takes on Barry Windham for the vacant WCW World Championship Match. The crowd wants nothing to do with this match, chanting "We Want Flair!" clearly and loudly in the early going. To make matters worse, Windham and Luger spend too long "feeling each other out" to win over the audience and never get around to using the cage. When they do finally start throwing out bigger maneuvers, they get decent reactions, suggesting that if they had actually went out and tried to tear the roof down by wrestling with some urgency, this match wouldn't be remembered as such a disaster. Essentially they waste the first 6 minutes, start to actually work around minute 10, and then Harley Race and Mr. Hughes show up. The commentators are confused, but mostly because Mr. Hughes had been previously linked to the York Foundation. Hughes distracts the referee just by getting close to the cage and Race, instead of handing Luger a pair of brass knucks or throwing salt, advises Luger to hit a perfectly legal piledriver - which he does - to score a 100% clean victory. If this was supposed to be a heel turn, it is the laziest "Let the audience do our job for us" heel turn ever. Luger never cheated. Harley Race didn't interfere at all. Windham lost clean. The crowd even cheers for him after he gets the pinfall, which is somewhat surprising because Windham got his fair share of pops earlier for a front kick off the top rope. A sub-average match due to an uninspired, unenthusiastic layout as well as a poor finish. (1/5)

Main event time? Arn Anderson and Paul E. Dangerously team up to take on Missy Hyatt and Rick Steiner, but before Hyatt can get in the ring, The Hardliners (Dick Murdoch and Dick Slater) hoist her up and take her backstage. The story behind her non-involvement is that Maryland had a strict rule against inter-gender wrestling and WCW was worried they would face a heavy fine or be banished from Baltimore or whatever if they went through with the advertised match. This is, of course, classic WCW. They advertise a match that nobody wants to see and then, when it finally comes time to deliver that match, they can't even deliver it because they forgot the arena holding one of their biggest shows of the year doesn't allow them to have an untrained, non-wrestler female pretend to fight an untrained non-wrestler male. Its probably untrue but in my mind I like to think Jason Hervey knew this show and match was going to be one of the worst ever and opted not to attend despite WCW begging him to continue his involvement in the Dangerously/Hyatt feud. Arn Anderson takes a Steinerline and treats it like he's been hit square in the face with a shotgun blast and Dangerously kind of gets his comeuppance too - but because its not from Hyatt, I'm guessing this storyline will continue. One of the worst "matches" of all time and a strong candidate for the worst PPV main event of all time. (0/5)


Great American Bash 91' is routinely regarded as the worst major wrestling show of all time. WCW loyalists/apologists/mega-marks sometimes like to pretend it isn't and I've even read some reviews that categorize the Morton/Gibson and Luger/Windham matches as under-appreciated. To me, this is an overly complimentary view at two matches that are too imperfect to ever be considered good. Criticisms of this show are misinterpreted to be criticisms of WCW's talent roster, which would be ludicrous even after Flair had left. Look up and down this card and you'll see close to a dozen Hall of Famers (or should-be Hall of Famers) - from established vets like Sting, The Enforcer, Luger, Windham, Matt "Big Josh" Borne, and Bobby Eaton to future New Generation/Attitude Era stars like Brian Pillman, Steve Austin, Dustin Rhodes, Ron Simmons, and Scott Hall. You can take this roster and fantasy book it into being the best wrestling show ever and it wouldn't even be that hard (oh, and technically speaking, I think Vader was under contract too). But this show doesn't get anything, not one single match, right. Morton/Gibson is the best of the bunch, but I'll never be inspired to re-watch it - which makes it underwhelming considering just how heated and important such a match should be considering their history. With a Kwang Score of 0.82-out-of-5, WCW's infamous Great American Bash 91' rightfully stands as the absolute worst PPV I've ever watched or reviewed. It has no redeeming qualities at all and because it isn't zany or offensive enough to be "so bad-it's good," its impossible to recommend to even those fans that like corny, kitschy wrestlecrap (like I often do). This is just a boring show with bad booking  from top to bottom and some really good wrestlers forced to wrestle in some really bad, designed-to-fail matches. An unwatchable slog.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville