The Great American Bash was an annual summer professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and then by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). According to Ric Flair in his autobiography, To Be the Man, Dusty Rhodes invented the concept of The Great American Bash.
After the final Great American Bash was held by WCW on June 11, 2000, the event would not be held again due to the acquisition of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). After a four year hiatus, however, the event was revived by WWE in 2004 until 2009 (the name of the final event being abbreviated to "The Bash"), and was also used as the title for a special live edition of SmackDown in July 2012. WWE's production of The Great American Bash was the only former WCW pay-per-view event to be revived by WWE. In 2015, All WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.
Dates and venues
| Event |
Date |
City |
Venue |
|---|
| National Wrestling Alliance |
| The Great American Bash (1985) |
July 6, 1985 |
Charlotte, North Carolina |
American Legion Memorial Stadium |
| The Great American Bash (1986) |
July–August 1986 |
A tour of 13 shows around the south and eastern parts of the country |
| The Great American Bash (1987) |
July 1987 |
A tour of several shows around the south and eastern parts of the country |
| The Great American Bash (1988) |
July 10, 1988 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| The Great American Bash (1989) |
July 23, 1989 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| The Great American Bash (1990) |
July 7, 1990 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| World Championship Wrestling |
| The Great American Bash (1991) |
July 14, 1991 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| The Great American Bash (1992) |
July 12, 1992 |
Albany, Georgia |
Albany Civic Center |
| The Great American Bash (1995) |
June 18, 1995 |
Dayton, Ohio |
Hara Arena |
| The Great American Bash (1996) |
June 16, 1996 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| The Great American Bash (1997) |
June 15, 1997 |
Moline, Illinois |
The MARK of the Quad Cities |
| The Great American Bash (1998) |
June 14, 1998 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| The Great American Bash (1999) |
June 13, 1999 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| The Great American Bash (2000) |
June 11, 2000 |
Baltimore, Maryland |
Baltimore Arena |
| World Wrestling Entertainment |
| The Great American Bash (2004) |
June 27, 2004 |
Norfolk, Virginia |
Norfolk Scope |
| The Great American Bash (2005) |
July 24, 2005 |
Buffalo, New York |
HSBC Arena |
| The Great American Bash (2006) |
July 23, 2006 |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
Conseco Fieldhouse |
| The Great American Bash (2007) |
July 22, 2007 |
San Jose, California |
HP Pavilion |
| The Great American Bash (2008) |
July 20, 2008 |
Uniondale, New York |
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum |
| The Bash (2009) |
June 28, 2009 |
Sacramento, California |
ARCO Arena |
National Wrestling Alliance (Jim Crockett Promotions)
1985
The Great American Bash (1985) took place on July 6, 1985 at the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a result of Dusty Rhodes winning the match, Tully Blanchard's valet, Baby Doll was forced to be Dusty Rhodes' valet for 30 days which sparked her face turn as she became a full-time valet for Rhodes and his then partner, Magnum T.A.
1986
Jim Crockett Promotions used "The Great American Bash" as the name for a tour that had several PPV caliber shows around the country. In 1986, there were 13 Great American Bashes and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defended his title at each one against Ricky Morton, Road Warrior Hawk, Ron Garvin, Nikita Koloff, Robert Gibson, Road Warrior Animal, Magnum T.A., Wahoo McDaniel and Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes defeated him for the title at the July 26 Bash. Flair challenged for it on the last Bash on August 2. Nikita Koloff and Magnum T.A. were involved in a best of seven title match series throughout the Bash for the U.S. Title. The cities toured in 1986 were in order as follows: July 1 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 3 in Washington, D.C., July 4 in Memphis, Tennessee, July 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, July 9 in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 10 in Roanoke, Virginia, July 12 in Jacksonville, Florida, July 18 in Richmond, Virginia, July 21 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, July 23 in Johnson City, Tennessee, July 25 in Norfolk, Virginia, July 26 in Greensboro, North Carolina and August 2 in Atlanta, Georgia.
July 5, 1986 in Charlotte, NC (Memorial Stadium)
July 26, 1986 in Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum)
1987
This was the first use of the WarGames: The Match Beyond match conceived by Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes was on the winning side in both events along with The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering. Koloff, Rhodes and J.J. Dillon sustained serious injuries in the first encounter. The Bash series took place in numerous venues all July long, starting in Landover, Maryland at the Capital Centre on July 2.
July 4, 1987 in Atlanta, GA (The Omni)
July 18, 1987 in Charlotte, NC (Memorial Stadium)
July 31, 1987 in Miami, Florida (Orange Bowl)
1988
National Wrestling Alliance (World Championship Wrestling)
1989
1990
The Great American Bash (1990) took place on July 7, 1990 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The show featured Big Van Vader's WCW debut. In the main event Sting pinned Ric Flair after countering his Figure-Four Leglock attempt into a small package. During the match, The Steiner Brothers, Paul Orndorff and The Junkyard Dog (the "Dudes with Attitudes") surrounded the ring to prevent outside interference by the Four Horsemen Also during the entirety of the match, Ole Anderson was handcuffed to El Gigante.
World Championship Wrestling
1991
The Great American Bash (1991) took place on July 14, 1991 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
The card was originally to be highlighted by a Steel cage match between Ric Flair and Lex Luger for the WCW World Championship, and this match was heavily promoted on WCW TV. However, two weeks before the show, then-WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd fired Flair over a contract dispute, stripping him of the title in the process. At the time, champions left a $25,000 security deposit that would be refunded to them (along with any accumulated interest on the deposit) once they lost the title. As company did not give Flair back his deposit, he retained possession of the belt and later brought it to the World Wrestling Federation, where it appeared with it on television. WCW had to commission a new world championship belt. However, the new belt could not be readied in time for the event, so the company was forced to improvise. A Championship Wrestling from Florida title belt that was in the possession of Dusty Rhodes was used and a metal plate with "WCW World Heavyweight Champion" was attached to the front. In the match, Lex Luger pinned Barry Windham, who replaced Flair, after a piledriver on orders from Harley Race. After the match, Luger turned heel and took on Race as his manager and Mr. Hughes as his bodyguard.
P.N. News and Bobby Eaton were scheduled to face Steve Austin and Terrance Taylor in a traditional scaffold match but on the day of the shaw, a "capture the flag" stipulation was added as the wrestlers were unwilling to perform a risky fall from the scaffold.
Dustin Rhodes and The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong) faced The Fabulous Freebirds is a six-man elimatination match. The order of elimination was:
- Hayes pinned Armstrong after he and Badstreet hit a double DDT on Armstrong (13:49)
- Hayes was disqualified after backdropping Smothers over the top rope (14:04)
- Garvin pinned Smothers after he and Badstreet hit a double DDT on Smothers (15:16)
- Rhodes pinned Garvin after a lariat (15:24)
- Rhodes pinned Badstreet after a bulldog to win the match (17:10)
The masked The Yellow Dog defeated Johnny B. Badd by disqualification when Badd's manager Teddy Long interfered to try to unmask Yellow Dog; had he done so, Brian Pillman (who was wrestling under the mask) would not be allowed to wrestle in WCW again.
The final match was originally supposed to pit The Steiner Brothers and Missy Hyatt against Arn Anderson, Barry Windham and Paul E. Dangerously. After Windham was moved to the title match following Flair's departure from WCW and Scott Steiner sustained an injury, the match was changed into a standard tag team match pitting Rick Steiner and Missy Hyast against Arn Anderson and Paul E. Dangerously. Before the match Dick Murdoch and Dick Slater forcibly took Hyatt backstage, turning the match into a handicap match, which Rick Steiner won.
1992
The Great American Bash (1992) took place on July 12, 1992 at the Albany Civic Center in Albany, Georgia. Shinya Hashimoto was substituting for the injured Akira Nogami. After the tournament the WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championships were considered to be unified and were defended together by Gordy and Williams and subsequent champions until WCW withdrew from the NWA in 1993. Before the final match, The Steiner Brothers came out to confront "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Terry Gordy but were sent to the dressing room by security.
1995
The Great American Bash (1995) took place on June 18, 1995 at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio. This was also the first The Great American Bash in nearly three years. The Pre-PPV matches were all shown on WCW Main Event. The Fantastics were substitutes for the Rock 'n Roll Express, who failed to show. Scott D'Amore was mistakenly billed as Chris Kanyon in this match.[15] After the Main Event match After the match, Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri came out to confront Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck; Sherri punched Col .Robert Parker and challenged Slater and Buck to a match later that night. Dave Sullivan Sullivan won a date with the Diamond Doll by defeating Diamond Dallas Page; had Page won he would've taken possession of Ralph, Sulivan's pet rabit. Referee Nick Patrick disqualified Sgt. Craig Pittman when he refused to let go of the Code Red while Jim Duggan was holding onto the ropes. Pittman was originally supposed to face Marcus Alexander Bagwell, but Bagwell suffered an injury and Duggan was announced as his replacement. The match between Sting and Meng was originally scheduled as a semifinal match in the United States Championship Tournament started after Vader was stripped of the title. However, the other semifinal between Ric Flair and Randy Savage ended in a no-contest and both men were eliminated from the tournament.
1996
The Great American Bash (1996) took place on June 16, 1996 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. After John Tenta defeated Big Bubba Rogers Tenta cut Rogers' goatee off with a pair of scissors. After the match between Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan Arn Anderson came to the ring and helped Benoit attack Sullivan. In the six-man tag team match Ric Flair pinned Kevin Greene after Steve McMichael turned on Greene and hit him with a steel briefcase. Debra McMichael had chased Woman and Elizabeth to the back, only to return with the briefcase containing money and a Four Horsemen T-shirt. McMichael's accepting of the case gave him Brian Pillman's spot in the Horsemen. After the match, Chris Benoit came out and the Horsemen attacked Greene and Savage.
1997
The Great American Bash (1997) took place on June 15, 1997 at The MARK of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois. During the match between Glacier and Wrath, Mortis was handcuffed to the ring post. After the match, Mortis and Wrath handcuffed Glacier to the ring ropes and attacked him. Due to her loss to Akira Hokuto, Madusa had to retire. Kevin Greene pinned Steve McMichael after Jeff Jarrett accidentally hit McMichael with a steel briefcase.
1998
The Great American Bash (1998) took place on June 14, 1998 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.[23] Booker T and Chris Benoit had been facing each other for several weeks to determine the #1 contender to the WCW World Television Championship that Booker had lost to Fit Finlay on the May 4, 1998 edition of Nitro due to a distraction from Benoit. Dean Malenko was disqualified after hitting Chris Jericho with a steel chair. This match was made after Malenko was stripped of the Cruiserweight Championship due to his actions at Slamboree the month before. After Konnan's loss to Bill Goldberg, Curt Hennig and Rick Rude turned on Konnan and attacked him, joining nWo Hollywood. As per the stipulation of the main event, the winner was able to keep his half of the tag team championship and pick a new partner. Sting chose his nWo Wolfpac teammate Kevin Nash. The Giant was to pick The Disciple if had he won the match.
1999
The Great American Bash (1999) took place on June 13, 1999 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Hak pinned Brian Knobs after Jimmy Hart accidentally hit Knobs with a steel chair. Knobs was then hit with a kendo stick by Hak. After the match, Hugh Morrus came out and attacked Hak. Roddy Piper was disqualified when Buff Bagwell came out and attacked Ric Flair; as per a prematch stipulation Flair regained the presidency of WCW that he had lost to Piper at Slamboree the previous month. After the match, Piper helped Flair and Arn Anderson to attack Bagwell. Rick Steiner won the match after Sting was attacked backstage by dogs and Rick forced the referee to declare him the winner. Randy Savage was disqualified after Sid Vicious interfered and hit Kevin Nash with a big boot, then powerbombed the champion.
2000
The Great American Bash (2000) took place on June 11, 2000 at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the final Great American Bash produced by World Championship Wrestling due to the acquisition of the WCW by the World Wrestling Federation the following March. Shane Douglas put the Wall through three tables at the same time to win. The first wrestler to put their opponent through three tables would win the match. Hulk Hogan pinned Billy Kidman after hitting him with brass knuckles to become number one contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. If Hogan had lost, he would have had to retire. If Ric Flair had lost his match, he would have had to retire. Vampiro set Sting on fire to win the match. Jeff Jarrett pinned Kevin Nash after a Spear from Goldberg. Konnan was guest bellringer, Rey Misterio Jr. was guest timekeeper, Disqo was guest beltkeeper, Juventud Guerrera was guest ring announcer. After the match, Goldberg joined the New Blood.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cawthon, Graham (2013). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 3:Jim Crockett and the NWA World Title 1983-1989. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 149480347X.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1985". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 129.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1985". Pro Wrestling History. July 6, 1985. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- 1 2 "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1986". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 130.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1986". Pro Wrestling History. July 26, 1986. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- 1 2 3 "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1987". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 131.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1987". Pro Wrestling History. July 4, 1987. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Cawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1990". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 135.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1990". Pro Wrestling History. July 7, 1990. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1991". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 136.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1991". Pro Wrestling History. July 14, 1991. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1992". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 138.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1992". Pro Wrestling History. July 12, 1992. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- 1 2 "WCW Main Event". WCW Main Event. 1995-06-18. TBS (TV channel).
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cawthon, Graham (2015). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 5: World Championship Wrestling 1995-2001. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1995". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 142.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1995". Pro Wrestling History. June 18, 1995. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1996". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 144.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1996". Pro Wrestling History. June 16, 1996. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1997". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 146.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1997". Pro Wrestling History. June 15, 1997. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ Martin, Finn (1998-07-21). "Power Slam Magazine, issue 49". Down and Out (Great American Bash 1998) (SW Publishing). pp. 19–21.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1998". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 148.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1998". Pro Wrestling History. June 14, 1998. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1999". Wrestling’s Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 151.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 1999". Pro Wrestling History. June 13, 1999. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ↑ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 2000". Wrestling's Historical Cards (Kappa Publishing). 2007. p. 153.
- ↑ "Great American Bash 2000". Pro Wrestling History. June 11, 2000. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
External links
