WCW Great American Bash 1990
WCW Great American Bash 1990 (7/7/1990)- Baltimore, MD
NWA UNITED STATES TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane)(c) (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Wild-Eyed Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong)- 8.25/10
AWESOME opener! The Southern Boys (especially Smothers) came out of this looking like stars. An extremely exciting match that told a great story. It got you behind the Southern Boys and make you all but certain that they were going to take the belts off of the Midnight Express.
VADER vs. Z-MAN- squash.
Vader certainly looked impressive in his debut
THE STEINER BROTHERS vs. THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin)- 6.5/10
JUNKYARD DOG, EL GIGANTE, & PAUL ORNDORFF vs. THE HORSEMEN (Sid Vicious, Arn Anderson, & Barry Windham)- 5.25/10
A perfect example of Over the top rope DQ looking silly. Sometimes it looks like something vicious that you should get DQed for (like in the opener), but this one just looked lame. The Horsemen manage to avoid having to take on El Gigante, allowing them to extend this feud.
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Doom(c) (w/Teddy Long) vs. The Rock N’ Roll Express- 7.5/10
Great babyface in peril stuff from Morton, as always.
WCW UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Lex Luger(c) vs. â€"Mean†Mark Callous (w/Paul E. Dangerously)- 5.25/10
Okay… NOW I’ve seen everything. The Undertaker did a f*cking leapfrog! Seriously. When was the last time you saw a 6’8, 300 lbs man do a leapfrog?
They spent the first half of the match working on each other’s arms, which really isn’t what I want to see from two big men. Then things started to get good (including one very good nearfall)… until Lex gets the win after A FREAKIN ‘ CLOTHESLINE!
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Ric Flair(c) (w/Ole Anderson) vs. Sting (w/the Dudes with Attitudes)- 5.75/10
As part of the stips, Ole Anderson was handcuffed to El Gigante and made to stand at the top of the ramp.
Sting no-selling Flairs chops in the beginning was cool. No selling a vertical suplex… not so cool. No selling the guardrail… even less cool. Basically, if the series of offensive moves didn’t start by going after Sting’s knee, he didn’t sell it, like his knee is the â€"on†button that you need to hit in order to make him sell things.
I also didn’t like the finish here. Winning the belt via roll-up was fine for Steamboat, but Sting should have won it decisively by making Flair tap or putting him down. To have Sting no sell basically everything and throw Flair around all match only to win with a roll-up just felt weird. Although the match was no good enough for a main event in terms of match quality, the hot crowd and the major moment of Sting making his triumphant return by beating Flair and winning his first world title felt like enough of a special moment that I am willing to overlook the lack of quality.
Overall, a very good show from WCW, and a must-buy for Sting fans (and fans of Tracy Smothers).
NWA UNITED STATES TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane)(c) (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Wild-Eyed Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong)- 8.25/10
AWESOME opener! The Southern Boys (especially Smothers) came out of this looking like stars. An extremely exciting match that told a great story. It got you behind the Southern Boys and make you all but certain that they were going to take the belts off of the Midnight Express.
VADER vs. Z-MAN- squash.
Vader certainly looked impressive in his debut
THE STEINER BROTHERS vs. THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin)- 6.5/10
JUNKYARD DOG, EL GIGANTE, & PAUL ORNDORFF vs. THE HORSEMEN (Sid Vicious, Arn Anderson, & Barry Windham)- 5.25/10
A perfect example of Over the top rope DQ looking silly. Sometimes it looks like something vicious that you should get DQed for (like in the opener), but this one just looked lame. The Horsemen manage to avoid having to take on El Gigante, allowing them to extend this feud.
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Doom(c) (w/Teddy Long) vs. The Rock N’ Roll Express- 7.5/10
Great babyface in peril stuff from Morton, as always.
WCW UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Lex Luger(c) vs. â€"Mean†Mark Callous (w/Paul E. Dangerously)- 5.25/10
Okay… NOW I’ve seen everything. The Undertaker did a f*cking leapfrog! Seriously. When was the last time you saw a 6’8, 300 lbs man do a leapfrog?
They spent the first half of the match working on each other’s arms, which really isn’t what I want to see from two big men. Then things started to get good (including one very good nearfall)… until Lex gets the win after A FREAKIN ‘ CLOTHESLINE!
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Ric Flair(c) (w/Ole Anderson) vs. Sting (w/the Dudes with Attitudes)- 5.75/10
As part of the stips, Ole Anderson was handcuffed to El Gigante and made to stand at the top of the ramp.
Sting no-selling Flairs chops in the beginning was cool. No selling a vertical suplex… not so cool. No selling the guardrail… even less cool. Basically, if the series of offensive moves didn’t start by going after Sting’s knee, he didn’t sell it, like his knee is the â€"on†button that you need to hit in order to make him sell things.
I also didn’t like the finish here. Winning the belt via roll-up was fine for Steamboat, but Sting should have won it decisively by making Flair tap or putting him down. To have Sting no sell basically everything and throw Flair around all match only to win with a roll-up just felt weird. Although the match was no good enough for a main event in terms of match quality, the hot crowd and the major moment of Sting making his triumphant return by beating Flair and winning his first world title felt like enough of a special moment that I am willing to overlook the lack of quality.
Overall, a very good show from WCW, and a must-buy for Sting fans (and fans of Tracy Smothers).