Great American Bash '97

Great American Bash '97 6/15/97

-From Moline, IL

-Hosts are Tony, Bobby, & Dusty

-Match 1: Psychosis (w/Sonny Onoo) VS Ultimo Dragon

-This is billed as a "Respect Match" as Onoo has hired Psychosis to teach Dragon some respect. Tenay joins the booth. Bit of a feeling out process to start. Things pick up when Psychosis counters a leapfrog with an overhand chop. Dragon fights back, and hits his kick combination to a big pop. Dragon misses a slingshot to the outside, and Onoo gets big heat for getting his cheap shots in. Dragon gets caught up in the ropes, and Psychosis hits a guillotine legdrop, then poses above the fallen Dragon. Dragon gets sent outside again and almost suplexes Onoo, but Psychosis breaks that up.

Dragon comes back, and hits an Asai moonsault followed by a brainbuster and a tombstone for near-falls. Psychosis again knocks Dragon outside, then hits an over-the-ropes suicide dive. Dragon counters a moonsault with a dropkick to the knees, then hits a rana off the top and looks to finish with the tiger suplex, but stops to go after Onoo, and takes a dropkick off the top for two. Dragon whips Psychosis into Onoo, who accidentally kicks his man, leading to the Dragon Sleeper for the tap out. Good opener. Really hot crowd so far.

-Match 2: Harlem Heat (w/Sherri) VS The Steiner Brothers [#1 Contender's Match]

-Scott is getting into "Big Papa Pump" territory. Steiners dominate the early going. Booker gets a full nelson on Scott, but he rather easily breaks out of it. Booker buries his knee in Scott's gut to keep control, but that doesn't last long. Scott slams Booker way too far away for a move off the top, and that results in a really awkward bump when Booker gets his foot up. Booker salvages things with a SPINAROONIE and a Harlem side kick. Rick gets in then gets sent outside by Booker, where he is mauled by Stevie. The Heat hit the Big Apple (Harlem side kick from the Hart Attack positiion), but Booker takes forever making the cover, so it only gets two.

Scott gets the hot tag and the match breaks down. Scott hits Booker with the Frankensteiner off the top. Vincent runs in, and drops on elbow on Booker, intentionally getting the Steiners DQ'd. Vincent pays for his actions in short order. Match was the usual Steiners/Harlem Heat affair before the weak sauce finish.

-Match 3: Konnan VS Hugh Morrus

-All of the graphics spell it "Konan". Hugh yells out "awwww shuckie duckie!" during his entrance for no apparent reason. Morrus hits a pretty impressive dropkick seconds in. Konnan goes on offense, and it's him who slows everything down. There's some awkwardness, then Morrus takes control and settles things down by grabbing a hold. Morrus is really lazy while "working" his holds. Konnan tries his own holds. They go back to stand up, and both are clearly blown up. Morrus goes for the No Laughing Matter moonsault, but Konnan shoves him, and his head hits the turnbuckle. Morrus is out, but Konnan applies the Tecquila Sunrise anyway. This sucked a dick.

-Match 4: Wrath (w/James Vandenberg & Mortis) VS Glacier

-Mortis is handcuffed to the ring post to prevent him from interfering. Glacier kicks the shit out of Wrath to start. Wrath fights back, but then takes a pretty dangerous head-first bump into the ringsteps. Glacier hits some kicks, but misses a splash in the corner. Wrath then, on instruction from Vandenberg, alley-oops Glacier throat-first onto the top rope. Wrath sends Glacier outside, and hits a somersault off the apron. Wrath hits a springboard clothesline, and takes time to toy with Glacier. Wrath almost lands on his feet after taking a backdrop. Wrath goes up top. Glacier falls into Nick Patrick who hits the ropes, crotching Wrath, and allowing Glacier to hit a superplex.

Mortis tries to throw  chain over to Wrath. The throw is too high, and Glacier gets it. Glacier KO's Wrath with the chain followed by the Chryonic Kick for the win. Yeah, this wasn't good. This would have fit better in early-90's WWF cartoon land, not the changing landscape of the mid-to-late 90's.

-Glacier gets handcuffed to the top rope for the post-match beatdown, which actually draws some heat. No Ernest Miller to make the save this time.

-Match 5 for the WCW Women's Championship: Akira Hokuto [c] (w/Sonny Onoo) VS Madusa [Title VS Career]

-THE GAS MASK IS BACK! Stagger Lee joins the booth. Hokuto dominates the first couple minutes. Madusa makes a brief comeback and gets a near-fall, but Hokuto quickly regains control. Madusa makes another comeback with some kicks, but injures her knee coming off the top with a double axe handle. Marshall actually adds something to the match for once, talking about how Wendi Richter dislocated Madusa's knee a decade ago, and it's never fully recovered. Hokuto immediately goes after the injury. Madusa manages to pull out a vicious powerbomb, but that further aggrivates the injury.

Madusa hits the German suplex, but Onoo pulls the bad leg to break up the pin. Hokuto works the leg, then when Madusa goes for a back suplex, then knee gives out, and Hokuto finishes with the Northern Lights Bomb. This was pretty decent. I don't get the booking, but IIRC, this was the swan song for the WCW Women's title.

-Heenan thinks it's hilarious as Madusa breaks down. In a pretty infamous moment, Mean Gene makes his way to ringside to pester Madusa about her career being over.

-Match 6: Chris Benoit VS Meng (w/Jimmy Hart) [Death Match]

-Same rules as last month. Benoit hits a suicide dive before the bell rings and chases Jimmy away. Benoit twice gets the Crippler Crossface, early on, but can't keep Meng down. Meng gets Benoit in the Tree of Woe, and lands several kicks and stomps. Meng absorbs some chops, then puts Benoit down before hitting a FROG SPLASH! Tremendous. They go outside, where Benoit makes a comeback, and hits a German suplex for a seven count. Meng gets the TONGAN DEATH GRIP, but then tries to hang Benoit from the position, and ends up having to let go of the hold.

After some more back-and-forth, Meng goes for another frog splash, but misses this time. Benoit again gets the crossface. Crowd is oddly not into this much. Meng taps/passes out in the hold, and Nick Patrick ends it without a ten count. This was decent, but not as good as last month.

-Both men get stretchered out. Not sure why in the case of Benoit.

-Bash at the Beach promo. Looking back, it's amazing WCW got away with having so many PPVs without a world title match. I'm guessing it was because Hogan negotiated a light schedule and/or everyone knew the money match was with Sting, so why bother with largely pointless title matches.

-Match 7: Steve McMichael (w/Debra) VS Kevin Greene

-Greene runs down the ramp to jump Mongo at the bell. Mongo goes after Greene's knee, but stops to taunt Greene's parents, and takes a big slap to the face from Mama Greene. Bit of a split crowd. After some back-and-forth, Mongo takes control, mostly working on the knee. Greene makes a comeback, and actually figures it out when Debra fakes a twisted ankle before Mongo is able to get a cheapshot in. Mongo avoids a charge in the corner and chokes Greene as Debra distracts the ref. Jeff Jarrett runs out with a briefcase, but accidentally KO's Mongo, allowing Greene to get the pin. The booking was right, with Greene getting a measure of revenge for the Mongo turn at last year's GAB, but it was rough getting there, especially with Greene teaming with one of his supposed rivals last months.

-Madusa gets looked at by the doctor.

-Match 8 for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders [c] (w/Syxx) VS Ric Flair & Roddy Piper

-Crowd perks up for this one. Hot start as Flair takes some punches from Hall, but responds with chops and punches of his own. Nash gets a cheapshot in to turn the tide. Flair makes a comeback, but Syxx trips him up to restore control to The Outsiders. Flair plays FIP for a bit, before hitting a low blow on Nash and making the hot tag to Piper. Piper gets the sleeper on Hall, but Syxx interferes. Flair batters Syxx down the aisle, leaivng Piper by himself. Piper fights the good fight, but is fucked without Flair. Hall finishes with the Outsider's Edge. More of an angle than a match, which would have pissed me off more than a little bit had I paid good money to watch it live.

-Match 9: Randy Savage (w/Liz) VS DDP (w/Kim) [Falls Count Anywhere]

-Lots of pomp and circumstance for the main event, including Michael Buffer intros. DDP goes through the crowd and jumps Savage from behind. DDP has his soon-to-be-omnipresent rib tape on. DDP hits a dive, but then it's OW MY RIBS! and he can't follow up. After a brief interlude in the ring, they go through the crowd. They go back to the ring, where Savage blinds DDP with powder and breaks a sign over his head. Savage stomps the ribs, and the crowd chants for Sting. Savage gets tired of Mickie Jay, so he piledrives him. Mark Curtis runs out to ref, but he doesn't last long, also thanks to Savage. Savage goes after Kim, but Nick Patrick makes the save.

They go to a picnic set where some people are watching the show, and destroy it. Well that was a pretty crappy place to watch the show anyway. Savage tries to piledrive DDP on the floor. Nick Patrick blocks that, so he gets punched out. Savage takes a photographer out for shits and giggles. DDP counters a slam, and hits the Diamond Cutter. DDP is hurt, and it takes a while for Nick Patrick to start counting. Scott Hall runs out and stops the count at one. DDP fights Hall off, but takes a shot with the tag title belt from Savage, then Hall hits the Outsider's Edge. Savage finishes with the big elbow just in time too, since they hit the credits about ten seconds later.

-FINAL THOUGHTS: This was pretty much a two-match show, and one of them ended up being an angle more than a match. The opener was good, but most of the undercard sucked. The two street fights were good, but were done better on previous shows. No real reason to watch this show unless you're going through all the Savage-Page matches.

-NEXT EVENT: Bash at the Beach '97