WCW On Pay Per View in the 90's - Every event Reviewed

[Chris]

It was probably because certain matches were better than I expected. It was a mistake not having Savage/Flair main event. The only truly bad match I thought was the Konan one.

It's hard to rate the Sullivan matched as bad bc they were so short but I still thought that was a shitty string of minutes for a PPV card. Also thought the second Sting/Luger tag match was really bad but it was bc of the angle they were going for which I liked so I forgive it some

 

[Keith]

It's hard to rate the Sullivan matched as bad bc they were so short but I still thought that was a shitty string of minutes for a PPV card. Also thought the second Sting/Luger tag match was really bad but it was bc of the angle they were going for which I liked so I forgive it some

I would defend the Sullivan stuff because the Pillman moment was a truly WTF moment. It did feel more a angle than match. I hate the Sting-Lex storyline, but that match wasn't as bad as I expected. What's funny is that Harlem Heat as a team had peaked. They should have been the future of tag wrestling but for different reasons weren't. Not that Booker was complaining.

 

[Keith]

And coming soon I will be starting these reviews on Youtube

Will be interesting to re-watch some of these shows and see if my opinions change. My first review should be up over the next week!

 

[Keith]

On the pre-Uncensored 96 Main Event programme, Mr. J.L. upset Dean Malenko in the latest Cruiserweight title tournament match. Jim Duggan beat Big Bubba Rogers. Dick Slater defeated Alex Wright in less than two minutes And The Steiner Brothers went to a no contest with The Nasty Boys. When you hear about some of the pointless crap that actually made it onto the PPV you will wonder how that final match missed out?



Uncensored 1996

View attachment 2390

Date: March 24, 1996

City: Tupelo, Mississippi

Venue: Tupelo Coliseum

Attendance: 9,000

PPV Buyrate: 250,000 (roughly)

Tagline: Everything you've wanted to see...plus the stuff you haven't thought of yet!



If you thought last year's event was bad you ain't seen nothing yet!

U.S. Title match: Eddie Guerrero VS. Konan (c)
Typical of this night that we start off with a non-Hardcore match The U.S. title has hit a new low with the likes of Konan and One Man Gang holding the belt. Eddie just about manages to squeeze a half decent match out of him. We start off with a feeling out process, before some sloppy exchanges including a series of roll ups and reversals. The mat wrestling part of the match doesn't convince because the Champ looks out of his element. There's a few nice arm drags and Eddie landing on his feet from a Konan monkey flip is impressive, as are the follow up head scissors and a awesome cross body to the floor. Konan retains with an accidental low blow (or was it?) as Eddie is coming down. **1/2



Lord Steven Regal (W/Jeeves) VS. The Belfast Bruiser (Fit Finlay)
The Bruiser recently made his debut on Saturday Night and feels the perfect guy to feud with Regal. Loved the Mad Max style jacket This was a proper old school, smash mouth style technical brawl which the fans liked for awhile but lost interest in as the match went on. It did last too long to be fair as did pretty much every match. A Regal hip-block lands with all his weight down on Finlay. The pair exchange stiff European uppercuts. Regal tastes the steel guard rail on the floor. The Brit's excellent selling may have been the highlight of the match. His drop kick counter also looked good, as did The Bruiser's posterior drop The Irishman took a nice bump to the floor following a surplex tug of war. Dusty: "Where's Ireland? 5 Miles from London?" Regal does a blade job until the Blue Bloods come out and give Finlay the cheap DQ win. Yes a DQ on Uncensored ***




At this point the show's really dragging. There's far too many interviews between matches and plugs for the hotline. Lochness's interview and scary British Northern accent on a WCW broadcast is funny to hear

Col. Robert Parker VS. Madusa
Fuck this match! Again its another regular rules match. If there ever should have been a squash match it should have been this one. Dusty loses his shit over Parker actually wrestling. The aeroplane spot made Madusa look like a jobber. The announcers also go nuts when Madusa start kicking Parker's ass?.... The crossbody spot and the finish was horrible. *



"It's Grrrrrreat!" Lee Marshall makes his WCW PPV debut doing interview segments. In his first one with the Giant, Lee actually says, "Fans have already seen some of the wildest action" Now that takes balls!

Diamond Dallas Page VS. The Booty Man
No Badd this time as he's departed to the WWF ending his six year relationship with WCW. Naturally Tony gets a dick in, "He decided he could no longer play where the big boys play" Badd jobbed on his way out dropping the TV belt to Luger of all people. Two things remain consistent on this show. Another straight up wrestling match and a boring 1980's style one at that. The highlight was easily Page's comical selling and back and forth with ringsiders. Kimberly now going under the name The Booty Babe actually says "He's so cute" YES SHE SAID THAT ABOUT 1996 ED LESLIE!!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!! Things got worse later when Kimbo added, "I want him to be my boyfriend!" Who's writing this shit?! She soon got her wish. Page kisses her, she slaps him, the Booty Man wins with a very 1980's running knee lift *



Jimmy Hart says tonight will be the last time he manages Lex and gives him a special Lex designed jacket. "I love you man!!"

Giant VS. Giant: Loch Ness VS. The Giant (W/Jimmy Hart)
The winner gets a title shot. Yes, Loch Ness has already switched face and would have got a title shot one month into his WCW career with a win here A predictably plodding 1980's big man style match. Loch Ness is basically used in the jobber role to try and boost the Giant. At least it was kept short. *1/2



Chicago Street Fight: Sting and Booker T VS. The Road Warriors
With Lex choosing to leave abandon Sting for the night to join the Alliance to end Hulkamania, Booker stepped into his shoes. It proved a good replacement. Most the best moments came through the future 5-Time WCW champ. Even with Booker's efforts this match was a huge let down. It was the longest of the night at 29:33. Such a match would have benefited from being shorter. To make matter worse most of the action was plodding and the street fight moments tame.

For most of the match all four squared off, normally pairing off. Booker delivers a axe kick. Hawk is dumped on the guard rail outside. Hawk pops up from a piledriver and blocks a Harlem hangover. Sting brings a couple of folding chairs to the ring but the shots look so tame. Animal turns the tables with chair shots of his own. Sting misses the Stinger Splash but is saved from the Doomsday Device by his partner for the night. Sting misses a cross body off the top. Booker hits a drop kick off the top, but then misses a scissors kick hitting grin first on the top rope. Sting takes a power slam off the top from Animal for a near fall. Sting then decides to clean house with a pair of brooms When the tables are turned on Sting, Booker walks out on his partner. We never find out what Booker was planning. Animal follows him to the back. The two start brawling and by the most amazing coincidence Luger is posing in front of a mirror in the hall way just at the moment Booker and Animal happen to be there? Animal bumps into Lex, they start brawling, Stevie Ray gets involved and Luger ties Animal to a post. Booker returns to the match and ends up winning with help from Ray. What a clusterfuck! For some reason Harlem Heat get a title shot on the back of Sting and Booker's win?... **



Doomsday Cage Match: The Alliance to End Hulkamania Ric Flair (W/Woman and Elizabeth), Arn Anderson, The Taskmaster, Lex Luger (W/Jimmy Hart), Meng, The Barbarian, Z-Gangsta (Tiny Lister) & The Ultimate Solution (Robert Swenson) VS. The Mega Powers Hulk Hogan and Macho Man

The end point for this collusion indulgence in 1980's nostalgia. A stacked match, which was booked like a fanboy's video game. And that's how it plays like a video games with different levels, very little rules, and endless adds on. It has zero logic beyond having Hulk and Macho survive monster after monster, heel after heel (including three managers). Flair, Hogan, Savage and Arn start in the top cage. The Taskmaster and co. wait in cage two with their fingers in their asses in case Hogan and Macho survive and escape into that cage In a further twist not all the wrestlers show up for the start of the match with Z-Gangsta and Solution held back for later We get some half decent action is cage one. The Powers escape to Cage 2, but Arn and Ric soon follow. So the heels aren't eliminated even though they failed to eliminate Hulk and Savage? WTF is going on!? The second cage has different compartments. Before long Sullivan, Lex, Macho and Hulk reach the floor and start brawling. Ultimate Solution and Z-Gangsta finally appear. Solution who sadly died aged 40 looked like a drunk builder. All those guy brawl into "FUCK! a third ring with a cage around it. Flair and Arn finally catch up. Jimmy's evil laugh was probably the highlight of the whole baffling mess To no surprise The Booty Man shows up to aid the faces, handing them frying pans for weapons. BTW earlier Dusty said that Ed Leslie had gone undercover in the DOD to damage them from the inside, well... insert your own joke here There's powder used also. Like a Bond villain from the 1970's Luger nails Flair with a loaded glove, on purpose. PLOT TWIST!!! Macho ends the confusing match with the pin. Dusty pisses on Lex even though he helped the babyfaces BTW Tony rambled on during the match about Pillman being booked for the match but not showing up. My guess is WCW knew Pillman wasn't going to show. And good for him! 1/2



Best Match: Regal VS. The Belfast Bruiser

Worst Match: Take a fucking guess!

Event Rating: 1/10

Next time WCW look to squeeze some more mileage out of the Lethal Lottery at Slamboree 96.

 

[Keith]

 

[Kingnoth1n]

On the pre-Uncensored 96 Main Event programme, Mr. J.L. upset Dean Malenko in the latest Cruiserweight title tournament match. Jim Duggan beat Big Bubba Rogers. Dick Slater defeated Alex Wright in less than two minutes And The Steiner Brothers went to a no contest with The Nasty Boys. When you hear about some of the pointless crap that actually made it onto the PPV you will wonder how that final match missed out?



Uncensored 1996

View attachment 2390

Date: March 24, 1996

City: Tupelo, Mississippi

Venue: Tupelo Coliseum

Attendance: 9,000

PPV Buyrate: 250,000 (roughly)

Tagline: Everything you've wanted to see...plus the stuff you haven't thought of yet!



If you thought last year's event was bad you ain't seen nothing yet!

U.S. Title match: Eddie Guerrero VS. Konan (c)
Typical of this night that we start off with a non-Hardcore match The U.S. title has hit a new low with the likes of Konan and One Man Gang holding the belt. Eddie just about manages to squeeze a half decent match out of him. We start off with a feeling out process, before some sloppy exchanges including a series of roll ups and reversals. The mat wrestling part of the match doesn't convince because the Champ looks out of his element. There's a few nice arm drags and Eddie landing on his feet from a Konan monkey flip is impressive, as are the follow up head scissors and a awesome cross body to the floor. Konan retains with an accidental low blow (or was it?) as Eddie is coming down. **1/2



Lord Steven Regal (W/Jeeves) VS. The Belfast Bruiser (Fit Finlay)
The Bruiser recently made his debut on Saturday Night and feels the perfect guy to feud with Regal. Loved the Mad Max style jacket This was a proper old school, smash mouth style technical brawl which the fans liked for awhile but lost interest in as the match went on. It did last too long to be fair as did pretty much every match. A Regal hip-block lands with all his weight down on Finlay. The pair exchange stiff European uppercuts. Regal tastes the steel guard rail on the floor. The Brit's excellent selling may have been the highlight of the match. His drop kick counter also looked good, as did The Bruiser's posterior drop The Irishman took a nice bump to the floor following a surplex tug of war. Dusty: "Where's Ireland? 5 Miles from London?" Regal does a blade job until the Blue Bloods come out and give Finlay the cheap DQ win. Yes a DQ on Uncensored ***




At this point the show's really dragging. There's far too many interviews between matches and plugs for the hotline. Lochness's interview and scary British Northern accent on a WCW broadcast is funny to hear

Col. Robert Parker VS. Madusa
Fuck this match! Again its another regular rules match. If there ever should have been a squash match it should have been this one. Dusty loses his shit over Parker actually wrestling. The aeroplane spot made Madusa look like a jobber. The announcers also go nuts when Madusa start kicking Parker's ass?.... The crossbody spot and the finish was horrible. *



"It's Grrrrrreat!" Lee Marshall makes his WCW PPV debut doing interview segments. In his first one with the Giant, Lee actually says, "Fans have already seen some of the wildest action" Now that takes balls!

Diamond Dallas Page VS. The Booty Man
No Badd this time as he's departed to the WWF ending his six year relationship with WCW. Naturally Tony gets a dick in, "He decided he could no longer play where the big boys play" Badd jobbed on his way out dropping the TV belt to Luger of all people. Two things remain consistent on this show. Another straight up wrestling match and a boring 1980's style one at that. The highlight was easily Page's comical selling and back and forth with ringsiders. Kimberly now going under the name The Booty Babe actually says "He's so cute" YES SHE SAID THAT ABOUT 1996 ED LESLIE!!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!! Things got worse later when Kimbo added, "I want him to be my boyfriend!" Who's writing this shit?! She soon got her wish. Page kisses her, she slaps him, the Booty Man wins with a very 1980's running knee lift *



Jimmy Hart says tonight will be the last time he manages Lex and gives him a special Lex designed jacket. "I love you man!!"

Giant VS. Giant: Loch Ness VS. The Giant (W/Jimmy Hart)
The winner gets a title shot. Yes, Loch Ness has already switched face and would have got a title shot one month into his WCW career with a win here A predictably plodding 1980's big man style match. Loch Ness is basically used in the jobber role to try and boost the Giant. At least it was kept short. *1/2



Chicago Street Fight: Sting and Booker T VS. The Road Warriors
With Lex choosing to leave abandon Sting for the night to join the Alliance to end Hulkamania, Booker stepped into his shoes. It proved a good replacement. Most the best moments came through the future 5-Time WCW champ. Even with Booker's efforts this match was a huge let down. It was the longest of the night at 29:33. Such a match would have benefited from being shorter. To make matter worse most of the action was plodding and the street fight moments tame.

For most of the match all four squared off, normally pairing off. Booker delivers a axe kick. Hawk is dumped on the guard rail outside. Hawk pops up from a piledriver and blocks a Harlem hangover. Sting brings a couple of folding chairs to the ring but the shots look so tame. Animal turns the tables with chair shots of his own. Sting misses the Stinger Splash but is saved from the Doomsday Device by his partner for the night. Sting misses a cross body off the top. Booker hits a drop kick off the top, but then misses a scissors kick hitting grin first on the top rope. Sting takes a power slam off the top from Animal for a near fall. Sting then decides to clean house with a pair of brooms When the tables are turned on Sting, Booker walks out on his partner. We never find out what Booker was planning. Animal follows him to the back. The two start brawling and by the most amazing coincidence Luger is posing in front of a mirror in the hall way just at the moment Booker and Animal happen to be there? Animal bumps into Lex, they start brawling, Stevie Ray gets involved and Luger ties Animal to a post. Booker returns to the match and ends up winning with help from Ray. What a clusterfuck! For some reason Harlem Heat get a title shot on the back of Sting and Booker's win?... **



Doomsday Cage Match: The Alliance to End Hulkamania Ric Flair (W/Woman and Elizabeth), Arn Anderson, The Taskmaster, Lex Luger (W/Jimmy Hart), Meng, The Barbarian, Z-Gangsta (Tiny Lister) & The Ultimate Solution (Robert Swenson) VS. The Mega Powers Hulk Hogan and Macho Man

The end point for this collusion indulgence in 1980's nostalgia. A stacked match, which was booked like a fanboy's video game. And that's how it plays like a video games with different levels, very little rules, and endless adds on. It has zero logic beyond having Hulk and Macho survive monster after monster, heel after heel (including three managers). Flair, Hogan, Savage and Arn start in the top cage. The Taskmaster and co. wait in cage two with their fingers in their asses in case Hogan and Macho survive and escape into that cage In a further twist not all the wrestlers show up for the start of the match with Z-Gangsta and Solution held back for later We get some half decent action is cage one. The Powers escape to Cage 2, but Arn and Ric soon follow. So the heels aren't eliminated even though they failed to eliminate Hulk and Savage? WTF is going on!? The second cage has different compartments. Before long Sullivan, Lex, Macho and Hulk reach the floor and start brawling. Ultimate Solution and Z-Gangsta finally appear. Solution who sadly died aged 40 looked like a drunk builder. All those guy brawl into "FUCK! a third ring with a cage around it. Flair and Arn finally catch up. Jimmy's evil laugh was probably the highlight of the whole baffling mess To no surprise The Booty Man shows up to aid the faces, handing them frying pans for weapons. BTW earlier Dusty said that Ed Leslie had gone undercover in the DOD to damage them from the inside, well... insert your own joke here There's powder used also. Like a Bond villain from the 1970's Luger nails Flair with a loaded glove, on purpose. PLOT TWIST!!! Macho ends the confusing match with the pin. Dusty pisses on Lex even though he helped the babyfaces BTW Tony rambled on during the match about Pillman being booked for the match but not showing up. My guess is WCW knew Pillman wasn't going to show. And good for him! 1/2



Best Match: Regal VS. The Belfast Bruiser

Worst Match: Take a fucking guess!

Event Rating: 1/10

Next time WCW look to squeeze some more mileage out of the Lethal Lottery at Slamboree 96.

Doomsday cage match was a fucking amazing display of burying everyone. Nothing could stop the Mega(Force) at that time, and it is one of the most shittastic mains in our life time. Lugers hesitation when he hit Flair with that carny ass coal miners glove still brings a smile to my face though.....its shit. But for some strange reason I really love it. Kinda like watching Mortal Kombat Annihalation.

 

[Keith]

Slamboree 1996

Date: May 19th! 1996,

Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Attendance: 7,791

Tagline: What goes up MUST come down

Buyrate: 0.44 (155,000)





In the pre-show the American Males defended The Shark and Maxx of the DOD. And I have no fucking idea who Maxx is either!


So the Lethal Lottery gimmick (first seen in 91) returns after three years off. And suddenly past LL/Battle Bowls look like masterpieces next to this trash.

Lethal Lottery Round One

Road Warrior Animal & Booker T VS. Road Warrior Hawk and Lex Luger
By cramming a extra round into this year's tournament it meant that matches like this got so little time. The real star of the match Booker T got very little room to shine. Most the focus was on the tired Warriors VS. Lex feud. Most of the power moves look terrible. The announcers hype a possible Hawk VS. Animal clash. It never happens. Booker's jumping kick is off. He does hit a nice scissors kick. Animal makes the save. All four brawl and we get a double count out. Not the first time tonight we will get a screwy finish which is more to progress a feud. The only big reaction from the crowd was when they thought the Warriors might hook up. **

Public Enemy VS. The Taskmaster (W/Jimmy Hart) and Chris Benoit
Around the time Benoit and Sullivan were feuding on and off screen. The pair actually work quite well together here. Benoit's selling really good as he takes a surplex outside and a double team splash through the table. Sullivan also on the table moves out the way. The Crippler is pinned. As the rising star of the match Benoit should have been protected. Decent brawl, but too short. **



Sgt. Craig Pittman (W/Teddy Long) and Scott Steiner VS. The Booty Man (W/The Booty Babe) and Rick Steiner
Do you see a theme emerging here? Unlike the Warriors earlier the Steiners do entertain the crowd with some fun Brother VS. Brother action. These are the highlights of another forgettable LL match. Some nice basic wrestling exchanges, and some playful "they know each other so well" moments. Rick's full nelson surplex and Scott's belly to back the highlights. Any time Booty or Pittman are in the ring it sucks the life out of the match. Rick pins the useless Pittman with a back surplex. **




The Blue Bloods (W/Cheeves) VS. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and V.K. Wallstreet
Nothing to report on this one. The highlight is Regal's English style insults to ringsiders. Duggan makes everyone in the match (including his own partner) look like jobbers. He gets the pin with a tape fist shot. Snore! *1/2



Dirty Dick Slater (W/Col. Robert Parker) and Earl Robert Eaton (W/Cheeves) VS. Alex Wright and The Disco Inferno


So Slater's at least ten years past his prime. Fair play to his manager for keeping a job for the past 3 years considering his character is stuck in the 70's. Eaton's injuries have caught up with him at this point and he must have hated the lame Blue Blood gimmick. This is the PPV debut of Disco Inferno (Glenn Gilbertti). Inferno had been working WCW Main Event matches for the best part of a year. Gilbertti credits Scott "Raven" Levy) for coming up with the character based on John Travolta's character in the hit 70's film Saturday Night Fever (1977). In honor of OSW and their PPV count for Hercules I'm going to do the same for Disco. Something tells me its more than people might think Gilbertti was a solid enough worker, but never had it to rise above the mid-card. The character had a limited shelf-life from the start. Another dud. Wright has not progressed since debuting in late 94. He blows a number of moves here. Disco is jobbed out to the aging Slater's big boot. **



Diamond Dallas Page and The Barbarian VS. Meng and Hugh Morrus
The attempt to push DDT goes on. The latest story is he's been bought out of homeliness by a mystery benefactor There's some enjoyable stiff blows back and fourth between Meng and Barbarian. Even with both past their primes I still get a old school buzz seeing them in a match together. Morrus hits a decent top rope moonsalt but looks rubbish otherwise. The double pin finish with Barbarian saving Page by putting his foot on the rope is lame and does little to make DDP look like a star. **



Big Bubba and Stevie Ray VS. Fire and Ice (Ice Train & Scott Norton)
Big useless, sloppy, brawling, 1980's power match. Ice Train is a good example of the useless muscle bound freaks the WCW powerplant pumped out. Train had failed to connect with fans since debuting almost three years back. Teaming him with the more experience but limited Scott Norton was like putting lipstick on a pig. Bubba does the job here. *1/2

Eddie Guerrero and Arn Anderson VS. Ric Flair and Macho Man
More of an angle than a match, but still the highlight of the first round. To sell the heat between Savage and Flair, both don't come out first time for time for their entrances (because their brawling in the back). Both come out at the second attempt. The story of the match is that the Horsemen work together a lot of the time despite being on opposite teams. Macho and Flair are more interested in fighting than getting to Battle Bowl. Flair tags in Macho but then leaves him for Arn and the spinbuster for two. Caught in the middle Eddie hits some nice aerial moves, including his tornado DDT on Flair. Arn turns on Eddie hitting a nice DDT leaving him to pinned by Flair. The heels gang up on Macho post match and his EX Liz gets a slap in In just 4:04 they packed a lot in. **1/2

The girls from Hooters pick out the matches for the next round. Fire & Ice get a buy to Battle Bowl. One less Fire & Ice match is probably a relief for the viewer

WCW Cruiserweight Title: Brad Armstrong VS. Dean Malenko (c)
Solid but unremarkable filler match. Lots of sound technical, counter holds etc.. The crowd was dead. Armstrong is on hand purely to get the new champion Malenko over. Malenko known as the Man of a 1'000 holds and the "Iceman" retained the title with a good looking gutbuster. In the months to come the Cruiserweight Division would become one of the hottest things in Pro Wrestling. It had a modest start. **1/2



The hooter girls swap name tags to confuse that randy old dog Gene

Lethal Lottery Round Two

Dick Slater and Earl Robert Eaton VS. Duggan and V.K. Wallstreet
Tony says "What a match we're seeing" two minutes into this thing Hogan's old WWF mates can't get along anymore. The fall out allows Eaton to roll up Duggan for the pin. Eaton and Slater look pissed to be going to Battle Bowl **

Public Enemy VS. Macho Man and Ric Flair
Liz and Woman throw Macho's money out to fans. Finally Macho runs out and attacks them. A bunch of jobbers step in between Flair and Macho. Public Enemy get a buy to Battle Bowl. FUCK OFF!! Macho loses his shit so much backstage that he's carted off to the loony bin

DDP and The Barbarian VS. The Booty Man (W/The Booty Babe) and Rick Steiner
Page takes a pasting from the Bootyman and sells like a Pro. A Barbarian belly to belly surplex looks rough. The heels work quite well together. Booty almost steals the win with a running knee lift. Page makes the save. A cheap shot from Page saves Barbarian again on a roll up. The blow enough to knock Booty out for the pin. The shitty Battle Bowl field is FINALLY complete.

U.S. Title: Jushin Liger (W/Sonny Ono) VS. Konan (c)
WTF at Konan's outfit? Ono's cheap shot karate kick was kinda cool. A Liger splash outside only half hits. There's a series of chain wrestling back and fourth. Liger with a cross armbar breaker, Konan with a STF. The challenger takes control with a surfboard and a superplex splash off the top for two. A splash to the floor is caught by a Konan kick to the leg. A bridge surplex almost gets Liger the title. Konan comes back but Liger counters a sunset pin into a two count. A brainbuster release also gets two. The champ counters a Liger top rope headbutt with feet up. Konan hits a sit out powerbomb for the win. **1/2

Flair mocks Macho. He also takes a shot at Steve McMichaels hinting the Natural Boy will go after his wife too. Mongo comes out to confront Flair. Flair challenges Mongo and another football star to a match against him and Arn. Mongo who most be psychic has Kevin Greene on hand to accept the challenge. The match is goes down at the next PPV.

Eight Man Battle Bowl - Scott Norton, Ice Train, Dick Slater, Earl Robert Eaton, Public Enemy, Diamond Dallas Page and The Barbarian

Its amazing that Flair and Savage the two biggest names on the card didn't make it to the final Battle Bowl to liven things up. Page survives a Barbarian boot over the top rope. His foot appears to touch the floor, but the ref doesn't spot in and DDP pulls himself back in. Dusty wrongly says that Eaton and Barbarian were partners earlier. The announcers really can't be bothered on this night. Rocco Rock is the first man dumped out by a Barbarian backdrop. Slater accidentally clotheslines Eaton out. A pissed Eaton nails Parker on the floor and helps to eliminate Slater. Page back drops Norton out as the field is halved. Train hits some power moves, but Page hits Diamond cutters on the three other guys. For some reason pins count even though its a battle royal DDP pins Grudge and Train, but Barbarian kicks out just before three. In the most exciting part of a poor match, Page survives a tombstone, low blows Barbarian from a sleeper and takes a powerbomb which he also kicks out of. DDP then dodges a top rope headbutt and hits his second Diamond cutter for the win and Battle Bowl ring. According to the stip Page now gets a WCW Title shot at The Great American Bash. DDP has come along way since the early 90's and he would come even further in the years to come. But his victory on this night was treated mostly like a fluke. That he pinned the ageing Barbarian to win Battle Bowl was hardly going to set the pulse racing. **

WCW Title Main Event
The Giant (w/Jimmy Hart) VS. Sting (W/Lex Luger)
To add a bit of spice Hart is handcuffed to Luger. At the start Giant is a monster and just dusts off Sting's attacks. Sting uses his speed and works his way into the match. He hits a series of drop kicks and dodges a Giant splash in the corner. Next Sting almost bodyslams the champion but Giant's weight collapses onto Sting for a near fall. This got a big pop from the crowd. Sting sells brilliantly for a extended bodyscissors. In a really nice spot the Giant goes to chokeslam Sting onto a table, but Lex puts Hart in the way. Jimmy has a heart attack The Giant shows off his drop kick. Sting takes charge with a Stinger splash. Sting accidentally wipes out the ref. The Giant grabs Lex in a choke. It takes three Stinger splashes to free him. Sting misses Jimmy with a splash but comically headbutts the champ in the nuts on the way down. A splash off the top rope gets a near fall. Sting then hooks on the Scorpion deathlock. Luger and Hart appear to tussle over his megaphone which ends up hitting Sting. The Giant retains with a chokeslam. The announcers debate whether Lex hit Sting on purpose. Yes their still flogging this old house. A lively main event which at least ended the show on a high. Despite the weak finish the booking throughout was solid. Sting was allowed a decent amount of offence with a logical story, but the Giant's monster persona was still protected. Sting wasn't hurt by the finish either. ***



Match of the Night: Sting VS. The Giant

Worst Match of the Night: Big Bubba and Stevie Ray VS. Fire and Ice

Event Rating: 3/10



Help is needed! Luckily there's signs of life at the Great American Bash 96...

 

[Chris]

I think you're being VERY generous with some of your lethal lottery ratings lol I fuckin' hated that gimmick every time they did it. I'd rate the PPV as low as you overall though, it was not a fun time. I don't really disagree with Sting/Giant being MOTN, it was really good especially compared to the rest of the card, I enjoyed Konnan/Liger a lot as well.

 

[Keith]

I think you're being VERY generous with some of your lethal lottery ratings lol I fuckin' hated that gimmick every time they did it. I'd rate the PPV as low as you overall though, it was not a fun time. I don't really disagree with Sting/Giant being MOTN, it was really good especially compared to the rest of the card, I enjoyed Konnan/Liger a lot as well.

Thing is most of the LL matches were just so short that they were forgettable. I think two stars out of five (which I gave most of them) is a poor rating. But most of them were just poor rather than terrible. I don't mind the gimmick too much its just they normally messed it up. Adding an extra round in 96 was overkill. Plus just a eight man battle royal is pointless.

 

[Keith]

The Great American Bash 1996

Date: June 16, 1996

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Commentators: Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes

Attendance: 9,000

Tagline: "World Championship Wrestling Turns Up the Heat!"

Buyrate: 0.48 (up from Slamboree, but down a fair bit from Superbrawl and Uncensored)

Pro Wrestling is about to change forever. One of the biggest shots fired in the Monday Night Wars is about a month away. The first steps bringing together the famous NWO (New World Order) take place on the May 27th Nitro when former WWF Wrestler Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall made a surprise appearance out of no where. Hall made his final WWF appearance against Vader at the In Your House PPV the previous month. In the coming weeks Hall would be joined by another Ex-WWF star Kevin "Diesel" Nash and the two would declare a hostel takeover of WCW and challenge three of the promotions top guys to face them and a mystery guy. WCW's answer came at this PPV.





On the pre-show Main Event programme Rocco Rock of Public Enemy beat Jerry Sags of the Nasty Boys in less than two minutes. V.K. Wallstreet defeated Jim Powers in a dull match. Jim Duggan went over The Disco Inferno. Way to push the younger guys

Fire and Ice (Scott Norton and Ice Train) VS. The Steiner Brothers
This is a strange choice to open the PPV. Credit to the Steiners they do a good job in selling for the rookies and trying to give them the rub, but its mostly a sluggish affair with not much heat. We at least get some super stiff moves. The finish comes with Train being saved by Norton from a top rope bulldog before being pinned by Scott's Frakensteiner. **



WCW U.S. Title Match: El Gato VS. Konan (c)
Konan's US title run is a dark period in the title's history. This match is a joke for a PPV match. Its a lot of flippy, floppy shit with little heat or anything to tie it together. Konan's offence once again looks rubbish. The champ retains with a power bomb bridge in just over six minutes. *1/2



Sting mocks Regal's tea drinking and British ways. Mean Gene claims Regal wrestled in the sand pits of India

Lord of the Ring Title: Diamond Dallas Page VS. Marcus Bagwell
This match felt like a classic WCW TV match from about 1991. If you needed further proof that the company needed a shake up from the likes of Hall and Nash look no further. Its a very middle of the road, tedious match. The match dragged on for nearly ten minutes. The booking was backwards too. The idea was to keep Page's momentum going. Instead he sold for most of the match to Bagwell who nobody cared about at this point. Page's selling at times was cartoonish giving this a comedy feel. DDP took the win his Diamond Cutter. Page looked weak in victory. *1/2



WCW Crusierweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio, Jr VS. Dean Malenko (c)
This is Mysterio's WCW Television debut. Its worth mentioning that his uncle Rey Mysterio appeared way back at Starrcade 90 as part of the International tag tournament. The fans didn't warm to the first half of this match with its slow burning, mostly mat based feel, but they got more into it when the pace quickened and the exciting high risk moves and near falls added to the drama. Mysterio looked a bit nervous on his debut with a few slips, but overall this was a very strong outing if not as good as the future matches between the two. Early on the champ sling shot Mysterio onto the ropes and outside, but the challenger dodged Malenko's baseball slide outside. Back inside Malenko took control twisting Rey's wrist the wrong way. The focus is then the wrist before Mysterio does an impressive rope walk leading to a top rope drop kick. Mysterio escapes an Iceman power bomb attempt but is taken out with a running clothesline. Malenko returns to the mat attack with a code red armbar, followed by a hammerlock surplex for a two count. Rey miscues a dropkick and takes a good looking surfboard into a bridge for a two count. A double underhook surplex gets the champ another near fall. Mysterio makes a slow comeback which looked convincing. A somersault flip dive off the top onto Malenko looked fantastic and got a big pop A springboard drop kick gets Rey a two count. The pair then counter each others pin attempts before Mysterio almost snatches the title with a bridge surplex. A top rope Frankensteiner from Mysterio looked amazing and scores another hot near fall. The Mexican then turns Melanko's slam into a pin for another two. Malenko finally retains his title with a power bomb into a pin with his feet on the middle rope. ***1/2



Big Bubba (W/Jimmy Hart) VS. John Tenta
The quality drops again in this one. Tenta and Bubba are both legends, but at this point both were pretty much in the twilight of their careers. The match felt like another filler match with a lame story attached to it, Tenta had recently had his head shaved by Bubba. The match is very slow and sloppy, the only good thing is its kept quite short. Tenta dominates the early minutes, before Bubba uses a object passed to him by Hart to gain the upper hand. Tenta appears to be knocked out, but is able to kick out before the three. The heel then tries to steal one with a pin with both feet on the middle rope, but Tenta again survives. Tenta catches the former Big Boss Man off the top rope with a power slam for the win. Tenta gets a measure of revenge shaving a bit off Bubba's beard **



Falls Count Anywhere Match: Chris Benoit VS. Kevin Sullivan
Taking a note of ECW's playbook WCW made this grudge match feel that little bit different and special with this gimmick. The Taskemaster and Benoit meet in the aisle and start brawling intensely into the crowd and up the steps further into the back of the arena. The pair end up in the men's room Sullivan slams a toilet door more than once on the Crippler's head, with Benoit returning the favour. A crowd gathers in the bathroom including one woman to check out the action The Dungeon of Doom leader slams the Horseman's head into the toilet. As the fight goes on Tony takes a cheap shot at Pillman (who of course made his final WCW appearance before joining the WWF in a match against Sullivan at a recent PPV). The two make their way back towards the arena with Benoit knocking Sullivan down the stairs. Benoit is dropped across the guard rail but later returns the favour. The Canadian takes even greater control throwing a table into the Taskmaster's head. Sullivan misses a elbow drop onto the table, but then backdrops Benoit onto the table. The two brawl up top, but Benoit gets the best of it and surplex Sullivan off the top of the table in a great looking spot to pick up the pin in a head hitting and entertaining grudge match. Post-match Arn Anderson hits the ring and appears to side with Sullivan over his fellow Horsemen (there had been tension between Anderson and Benoit in recent weeks), but then the Horsemen both put the boots to Sullivan which gets a big pop. ***



Lord Steven Regal (W/Jeeves) VS. Sting
This match was carried by two very distinct personalities and a fine contrast in style. Sting deserves credit for adapting to a different style and selling as much as he did for Regal. Sting gets off to a fast start sending the Brit into the guard rail following up with a back drop. Back inside Regal takes over with some super stiff European uppercuts Sting comes back with a Japanese arm drag. We then get some classic heel stalling from Regal and the phonie handshake offer The two engage in a test of strength, the former TV Champion gets the upper hand with a nip up, some stiff uppercuts and a fore nelson. Sting makes a brief comeback with a two count from a sunset flip, but Regal's quickly back on top. A Regal standing drop kick looks good and scores two. The Stinger counters a headlock with a belly to back surplex. But the face still can't take control of the match as Regal works over his arm and legs with various submission holds over the next few minutes. Sting turns the tables with the classic abnormal stretch The face later gets a near fall following a drop kick and a pair of running clothesline having escaped another Regal submission hold. Regal then catches his foe up top and hits a great looking double underhook surplex off the top for a two count. Regal then steps up the heat applying a STF. Regal intensely shouts, "He can't bloody survive" minutes before Sting makes it to the ropes. Sting gets his second wind and comes back as Regal's intense blows suddenly don't have the same effect on him. A Stinger Splash in the corner is met with Regal knees, but Sting then hits a back drop out of the corner and hooks on the Scorpion Deathlock for the popular submission win. This certainly has to be up there for Regal's best ever match. ***1/2




Ric Flair and Arn Anderson (W/Woman, Miss Elizabeth and Coach Heenan) VS. Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene (W/ Debra, Tara and Coach Macho Man)
A Savage lookalike in the crowd almost steals the show! The announcers do a good job in putting over Heenan's experience as a manger. On paper the heels had their work cut out to get a match out two first time wrestlers, but the match ends up being much better than anyone had any right to expect. The Horsemen do a stellar jobs along with sound booking to give fans a very solid match. It helps that the crowd are really into most of the things happening in the match. Anderson tricks Mongo into a three points stance head off between the two of them hitting a drop toe hold instead Arn is caught in the corner and takes a flying soulder tackle off the middle ropes. McMichael's kicks look sloppy as he and Greene double team Arn. Macho gets a shot in on the outside. Flair tags in and does some classic styling and profiling That big dummy Greene ducks his head right in front of Flair The rookie Football star comes back taking both heels out with shoulder blocks. Macho runs Flair back inside as the Natural Boy looks like he might be about to escape. Flair sells for Mongo's shots, back drop and rocket laucher. The faces then hook on stereo figure fours for a big pop. Woman rapes Greene's eyes breaking up the hold. The two sets of women then face off and end up taking it to the back (there is a purpose to this). The Dream acting like a 15-year-old boy starts shouting "Cat fight" Anderson hits a DDT and the heels take over. Flair hits a low blow off a choke hold. Macho chases Heenan around the ring. The Horsemen hit a double surplex and both choke Mongo before Greene makes the save. McMichael's comeback picks up pace with a clothesline and atomic drops Arn into Flair before making the tag to his partner. Greene goes to work on Flair including a back drop and a sloppy power slam. A Flair aeroplane spin spot leads him into Mongo's foot. As Ric is surplexed back in, Anderson hits a chop block from behind on Greene. Greene counters a Flair figure four attempt with a small package for two, but is captured in the hold second time around. Arn grabs onto his partner's hand for added measure, but Macho breaks it up. Benoit hits and the ring and is followed by Woman, Liz and Debra. Debra is now wearing a stunning evening gown replacing the football coat from earlier. Debra has a suit case with her and opens it up revealing a load of money. Showing the cash to her husband Debra insists that Mongo, "Take it". After mulling it over for a minute McMichael nails Greene with the brief case, allowing the Horsemen to pick up the win. Its revealed post match that McMichael is indeed the new member of the Four Horsemen. This swerve and the timing of it is my only gripe with the booking of the match. It felt like a twist just for the sake of it and took away from the ending. I think Greene should have lost via a submission or passing out after the heels work over his injured knee for a number of minutes. This way the faces would have looked heroic in defeat, but the heels also would have kept their heat and looked aggressive in victory. The twist of Mongo joining the Horsemen would have been even more effective if it had happened after the match. ***



In a segment Eric Bischoff accepts Hall and Nash's challenge for a match with three WCW wrestlers. Bischoff announces the match for the main event at the Bash at the Beach PPV the next month. Bischoff asks Hall if he and Nash are working for the WWF? Hall says no, saying lets forget about the past. This question from Bischoff is because WCW had received a legal threat from the WWF about the suggestion that Hall and Nash were Outsiders invading from the WWF. There was also a concern that they would use their WWF ring names. Hall asks Eric who the three WCW guys to face him, Nash and their third man will be? The Outsider mocks WCW stars mentioning the "Nacho Man" and the "Hackster" as well as Billionaire Ted referring to Ted Turner. The suggestion that Hogan might be on team WCW is a strange one, but its because this was before Hogan had agreed to his famous heel turn. The original idea was for Sting to make the turn as the third man. Hall gets mad when Eric refuses to tell the Outsiders who WCW's three men will be until the following night on Nitro. The segment ends with Nash powering bombing Bischoff off the stage. This segment is very effective and realistic. Tony and the Dream do a great job in selling the attack on Bischoff.

WCW World Title Main Event: Lex Luger VS. The Giant (c) (W/Jimmy Hart)
A dramatic evening ends with another surprisingly solid match. Luger's hit and run tactics get him the first upper hand as he clotheslines the Giant outside. The Champ grabs Lex and press slams him back inside. Luger then hooks on a sleeper, which Hart is about to break up with a megaphone shot before Sting comes out to make the save and chase Hart away. The Giant finally escapes the sleeper and hits a back breaker stretching the challenger out, followed up with his own version of the torture rack. A Luger slam attempt backfires with the Giant landing on top of him almost getting the three count. Luger fires back with running forearms, clotheslines and finally takes the Giant down with a chop block. Giant then misses a splash in the corner and is locked into the human torture rack, but can't hold onto it for long enough to get the submission. The Giant hits the choke slam and retains the title. Again solid booking, it was smart to keep a match like this on the shorter side, plus both men were protected. **1/2



Best Match: Sting VS. Lord Steven Regal (seriously I really liked it!)

Worse Match: DDP VS. Bagwell

Event Rating: 7/10

So after a slow start The Bash 96 finally got into gear and ended up being a mostly satisfying PPV.

Coming up next time one of the biggest PPV's in the history of Sports Entertainment with one of the most iconic main events.

 

[Chris]

I def enjoyed this PPV, a lot of the matches delivered better than I expected such as the opener and the Mongo/Green tag match. Favorite match was Benoit/Sullivan for me though

 

[Apoho Creed]

Yeah Sullivan and Benoit had their feud go from 1996 deep into 97 and it was a fun watch especially when Jackie got involved into the chaos between the two guys later. Love hurts is a perfect statement to use when it comes to Benoit and Sullivan during that feud. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash was handled so perfectly coming to WCW at that time. As a kid I didn't know what was going on, but I see Diesel and Razor on WCW Nitro and it felt like a real Takeover and if I'm a kid believing in it then older fans who thought they knew what was going on got on board with story.

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Benoit/Sullivan was easily a GOAT tier feud that ended too soon.

 

[Deezy]

Couldn't get into Kevin Sullivan....I didn't see him before the dungeon of doom shit and thought he was a sawed off midget, I was full team Benoit.

And watching back to the early outsider matches, the crowds were totally chanting razor and diesel.....it was like the WCW were the actual heels.

 

[Keith]

Benoit/Sullivan was easily a GOAT tier feud that ended too soon.

Might have been because of how realistic the feud was with there being real heat over Benoit dating and later marrying Sullivan's Ex. You can only work a programme for long under those conditions. I don't mind it being a short feud. Sullivan was passed his best at this point. After awhile the short, wild hardcore type matches would have lost their spark.