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00:00Hey everyone, Brian Zane here with another classic pay-per-view review as nominated by my Patreon backers.
00:06Quick little note to start this thing off, you might be hearing a soft noise in the background of this
00:10video.
00:10I got my AC running in the studio today, it is over 90 degrees outside and I'm not going to
00:16be doing this review in this sweatsuit with that heat out there without AC.
00:20Sorry, not sorry.
00:21Anyway, the action is heating up, it is the summertime, so it's time for a summer tradition.
00:26And yes, this review probably should have come out two weeks ago on the 4th of July.
00:30Nevertheless, it's WCW's Great American Bash 1995 from June 18th at the Hera Arena in Dayton, Ohio,
00:37which, side note, was the same venue ECW would hold Heatwaves 98 and 99.
00:42So lots of wrestling history here in this building.
00:45This show was nominated by Daniel Kingman over on patreon.com slash wrestlingwithregret.
00:50Kind of a historic Great American Bash here in 95, it's the first Great American Bash they've done since 1992.
00:56And that show had Vader beating Sting to become the WCW champion,
01:00as well as the Miracle Violence Connection beating Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham
01:04to become the inaugural NWA World Tag Team champions.
01:08I tried to do some research before recording here to try to figure out why there wasn't a Great American
01:12Bash in 93 or 94.
01:15I'm hearing a lot of different theories and explanations as to why it's the case.
01:18The most common one, the one that makes the most sense to me, is the fact that WCW was trying
01:23to cut costs.
01:25The fact that the last two Great American Bashes, 91 and 92, didn't do so well in terms of numbers.
01:30They were doing very badly, and so they probably just cut it for expediency and to streamline their pay-per
01:35-view schedule.
01:36However, by 95, they were upping their pay-per-view schedule here, so it probably makes a lot of sense
01:41to bring it back.
01:41Also, another theory I heard, I'm not sure how true this one is,
01:45was that maybe they got rid of Great American Bash because at the time there was a big Ted Turner
01:49edict
01:50saying you couldn't, basically he was prohibiting any kind of nationalistic language or verbiage
01:54on any of his networks, American or otherwise.
01:57That is the reason why, for a while, the foreign object was renamed to the international object for a time
02:03in WCW.
02:04Not so sure if the Ted Turner nationalistic language thing is true for why there was no bash in 93
02:10and 94.
02:11Maybe there's some kind of comp, maybe there's a little bit of truth in all these theories.
02:146,000 people in the Hera arena on this night, 90,000 pay-per-view buys with a .51 buy
02:19rate.
02:20And in case you're curious, this Great American Bash was not the worst drawing pay-per-view of the year,
02:24unlike the previous two Great American Bashes in 91 and 92.
02:27That distinction would go to Starrcade 95, the main event of which being Hulk Hogan versus The Butcher.
02:32Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are on commentary for the evening.
02:35Your opening match is Flyin' Brian Pillman versus Alex Wright.
02:39It's a face-versus-face battle.
02:40A couple of young high flyers, very action-packed you're about to see here.
02:44Very respectable opening, much sportsmanship early on, great technical wrestling early on between the two young men.
02:50Pillman with a lovely bow-and-arrow submission.
02:52Wright tries to go for a surfboard soon afterward, but he doesn't quite pull it off.
02:56After several minutes of nice, clean wrestling between the two of them,
02:59Pillman lights up Wright's chest, the big ol' chop, and the crowd just erupts.
03:04Alex gets away to Flyin' Brian!
03:06Comes out with the first shot!
03:09The commentary for this match is almost a bit too distracting,
03:12because Heenan is, of course, a heel announcer here,
03:14but he is really going full force, jumping Jeff Farmer-style,
03:17on both of these guys in terms of him heeling on them,
03:20especially Alex Wright for whatever reason.
03:22Pillman picks up Wright in a sack of potatoes at one point, just drops him.
03:25It could have been a very bad landing for Wright there.
03:27Big suplex to the outside by Wright, but I can't help but notice,
03:30for the first time in this night, somebody in the front row brought an Al Snow sign
03:34to a WCW event in 1995.
03:37Must be some big Smoky Mountain fans in attendance here.
03:39The guys are taken to the air, tit for tat.
03:42Brian dives to the outside, but eats the barricade.
03:44Wright goes for a dive, face plants on the canvas.
03:46Diving cross-body by Wright.
03:48Pillman intercepts a diving attack with a dropkick.
03:51Pillman's crotch on the top rope, and oh my god, these guys are just killing it out there.
03:54Pillman goes for a headscissors, but Alex blocks it, sits on him for a pin.
03:59Wright wins the match, clean as a whistle.
04:01This was a fantastic opener.
04:02I give it three and a half stars out of four.
04:04It's a great match because it starts off going really slow.
04:08They're working kind of this slower-paced, technical, ground-based style.
04:11And with every passing moment, it keeps ramping up in the action and what they're doing.
04:16It's a very natural progression.
04:17Nothing feels forced.
04:19And just by the end, they're just going hell for a leather, just diving on each other.
04:22All these big flying moves, living up to their potential and what the hype is about them in the ring
04:27at the time.
04:27And yeah, a very satisfying finish.
04:29I have no complaints about this match.
04:31And with that great match out of the way, it's time to bring the mood down a little bit
04:33because it's time for a good old-fashioned arm wrestling match
04:36as Diamond Dallas Page takes on Dave Sullivan slash Evad Sullivan,
04:40the dyslexic brother of Kevin Sullivan, the Taskmaster.
04:44So yeah, DDP claims to be an arm wrestling champion.
04:46And according to his words, the international big arm arm wrestling world champion.
04:51And so for weeks and weeks, DDP is going around from town to town
04:55challenging common folk to arm wrestling matches, and he wins every one of them.
04:59He's got his friend Max Muscle helping him out more often than not,
05:02helping provide leverage and also helping sweep the leg of wrestlers
05:05when the referee is not looking.
05:07So DDP is definitely getting this arm wrestling thing over.
05:10I love that in the promo package they're showing for this,
05:12every time DDP wins, like he makes a, he says, bang, every time he wins.
05:16Can you imagine if that would have been his gimmick like in the late 90s?
05:18Instead of doing like the diamond cutter, he's just like doing bang, bang arm wrestling.
05:22Just imagine the yoga DVDs.
05:24By the way, this is a double stipulation arm wrestling contest.
05:27If Evad wins here, he goes on a date with the Diamond Doll, a.k.a. Kimberly.
05:31And if DDP wins, he takes Evad's pet rabbit, Ralph, and throws him in the stew.
05:36I love Evad's theme here.
05:37I think I've mentioned it before on this channel,
05:39the fact that he basically got the theme,
05:41his theme song for a while was I Want to Be a Hulkamaniac
05:44from the Hulk Rules album.
05:45Although over time, apparently, they just changed,
05:48they modified the theme ever so slightly.
05:49So the theme here, at least in the network version,
05:51I don't think this is a network dub.
05:53I think this is just what they did to change it from
05:55I Want to Be a Hulkamaniac, just that opening.
06:00On a continuous, endless loop,
06:02just forever I was waiting for the hook to drop.
06:04I want to be a Hulkamaniac.
06:07Didn't quite happen.
06:07Not much to say about the action here.
06:09It's your standard fare, your standard shtick
06:11when it comes to arm wrestling contests
06:13in the grand history of professional wrestling
06:15where, you know, the heel like balks
06:17and they have all these false starts.
06:18And then eventually they get into it
06:19and it's very competitive.
06:20And, you know, Max Muscle's trying to help Paige some more,
06:23but he gets thwarted by the referee.
06:24And then we get this moment here
06:26where Paige loses his balance.
06:28Dave wins the arm wrestling contest.
06:30He gets a date with the Diamond Doll.
06:32Yay for EVAD.
06:33And then Tony Schiavone says on commentary,
06:35well, maybe the Diamond Doll bumped into DDP
06:37and that's why he lost his balance.
06:38And I'll take his word for it
06:39because in the live shot of what you see,
06:41you don't see anyone bump into DDP.
06:43In the replay, you do finally see
06:46Kimberly bump into Max Muscle
06:47who bumps into DDP
06:49and that's what causes him to lose.
06:50My favorite part is when Heenan and Schiavone
06:52look at the replay and they both go,
06:53she buh, she buh, she buh.
06:56Bumps into her.
06:57Oh, she bumps it.
06:58She bumped it.
06:58He bumped it.
07:00She bumped it.
07:00I don't know if I want to give this a rating per se
07:02because this is a very different kind of match
07:04from everything else going on in the show.
07:06It's not a wrestling match.
07:07It's an arm wrestling contest.
07:08It's a big gimmick thing.
07:09If I had to give it a rating,
07:10I'd probably just give it like a half star.
07:12I don't think it's fair to give it like a zero star treatment
07:13because, you know, at least it was, you know,
07:15it was a well done arm wrestling contest
07:17about as well as you could do.
07:19But there's kind of a ceiling on that.
07:20So half star is probably the best I could possibly give it.
07:22After the match, DDP is just, he's throwing a shit fit.
07:25He's going crazy.
07:26He wants a do-over.
07:27Of course, it won't be long now
07:28before he loses all his millions of dollars that he won
07:31and he looks like basically a taller version of Enzo Amore
07:33come uncensored 1996.
07:35Up next, a very all-American matchup
07:37for the Great American Bash
07:38as Hacksaw Jim Duggan takes on Sergeant Craig Pittman.
07:42Interesting couple of notes about this particular matchup.
07:44First of all, Pittman is already working double duty on this show
07:46because he wrestled a match in the pre-show before this.
07:49Second of all, and more interesting, I think,
07:51is the fact that Duggan is actually a last-minute replacement
07:54for Marcus Alexander Bagwell, the future Buff Bagwell,
07:58because Bagwell got an infection in his calf implants.
08:02Only in wrestling will you hear a story of that.
08:03Actually, only for Buff Bagwell
08:05will you hear a story of somebody's calf implants
08:07causing them to be on the shelf.
08:08There's an awful lot of schtick in this match,
08:09a lot of pantomime and walking around,
08:11and there's a little bit of wrestling.
08:13Long story short, though,
08:14not a whole lot of bumping between either guy.
08:16I will say the one thing that I remember the most about this matchup
08:19is Pittman's bumping ability when he goes out of the ring.
08:22At one point, he hurls himself out of the ring
08:24and clears the steps on that side of the ring before he falls.
08:28I don't know if that was a last-minute redirection or what
08:30because he lands on his feet kind of weird before falling completely,
08:33but, man, it was cool to see him be so nimble
08:36and go out of the ring like that.
08:37Also, one part makes me laugh
08:38because at one point in the match,
08:40Pittman's really working Duggan's leg.
08:41He rips off Duggan's knee pad,
08:43really working the leg over.
08:44He's got him in a spinning toehold.
08:46Duggan, like, rolls out of it or shrugs Pittman off,
08:48and Pittman, like, completely changes direction
08:50and then throws himself out of the ring.
08:51It's just this crazy non...
08:53It doesn't make any sense from a physical standpoint
08:55how he made that move.
08:56So Duggan finally makes his big comeback,
08:58but Pittman no-sells the three-point stance.
09:00He grabs Duggan by the arm for his code red armbar submission,
09:04his finisher they're trying to put over here.
09:05Duggan grabs the ropes.
09:07Pittman does not release the hold as the referee's counting so.
09:10Pittman's disqualified.
09:11The match is over.
09:12And one of the big hang-ups I have with this match is,
09:15if you're working the leg for several agonizing minutes,
09:18why would you then switch to the arm bar as your finisher
09:20and have that be the finish of the match?
09:22Now, granted, if you were in a real fight or something,
09:25you can work the leg a lot,
09:26and then, you know, the arm bar can still be a very devastating hold,
09:29so take whatever limb you can to get the advantage.
09:31I get that from that kind of psychology standpoint,
09:33but it would make so much more sense because they're trying to put over the code red,
09:36and they're trying to put over the story that Pittman is this, like, killer.
09:39He doesn't care who he hurts for reals or whatever with the code red submission.
09:43It's very specific about that.
09:44So maybe work the arm a little more going to the code red instead of the leg.
09:49I give the match a half star out of four, you know, except for the wild bumps by Pittman.
09:53Really, this match isn't that interesting.
09:55It starts out slow and gets slower and more boring with every passing minute
09:59with kind of a confusing finish.
10:00Backstage, Mean Gene Okerlund interviews the Blue Bloods.
10:04Lord Steven Riegel makes a reference to Hitler and Goebbels
10:06in their final moments in World War II and how they blew it,
10:09just like the Nasty Boys blew it, and they're going to lose the tag titles tonight.
10:12Okay, I mean, I know the Nasty Boys aren't that great,
10:14but I wouldn't really compare them to Hitler.
10:16It's a bit of a jump.
10:16Anyway, Steven Riegel, he definitely weaves a yarn here with this promo
10:20and takes all of Robert, Earl of Eaton's time.
10:23Our next match is a bonus match that was added after the pre-show on this night
10:26as Harlem Heat, who are accompanied by Sister Sherry,
10:30take on the Stud Stable members Buckhouse Buck and Dirty Dick Slater,
10:33who are accompanied by Colonel Robert Parker.
10:36Like I said, this match was added after the pre-show.
10:38We had some interview time between the two teams.
10:40Colonel Robert Parker straight up assaults Sister Sherry,
10:43and she hits him right in the mush in response.
10:45And so the match starts out as a big brawl here, then a wrestling match breaks out.
10:49Harlem Heat getting a lot of offense in.
10:51I'm just waiting for the cutoff, but it takes so friggin' long.
10:54It just goes on and on and on and on.
10:56Booker T busts out a spin-a-rooney.
10:57They don't call it that yet, though, and the fans don't respond to it
11:00because it's not really over yet.
11:01But he's doing the spin-a-rooney as early as 1995.
11:04Stevie's dumped out and thrown into the ring post,
11:06so the heels finally get their shine, but it doesn't last very long.
11:10Booker with the hot tag, and the crowd's pretty apathetic to everything.
11:13Booker rolls up bunkhouse, Buck in a small package.
11:16Parker gets in the ring and then changes the momentum, so Buck is on top.
11:20And then after what feels like forever, and this is the referee's distracted, by the way.
11:22Well, this is all going on.
11:23Then Sister Sherry gets in the ring, turns him back over, so Booker's back on top.
11:27The referee finally sees what's going on.
11:29Three count, and Harlem Heat win the day.
11:31I give this match one star out of four.
11:34Kind of like how the opening match with Pillman and Wright was a face-versus-face match.
11:37This one's kind of a heel-versus-heel match.
11:39Harlem Heat are on their way to becoming babyfaces, but they're not quite there yet.
11:43So the crowd's pretty apathetic about a heel-versus-heel matchup in this case.
11:47Really, the conflict, I think what people want to see here, is the conflict between Sherry and Parker.
11:52We don't really get that in this particular matchup.
11:55This is the opening salvo of what will become a very long-standing on-again, off-again,
12:01on-air relationship between Sherry and Parker.
12:03The high point of which is when they try to get married at the, coincidentally, the same Vegas chapel
12:08that Triple H married Stephanie McMahon at the end of 1999.
12:12But then it gets sabotaged.
12:15Medusa comes in and ruins the party.
12:16But that's pretty much where things are going to go from here between those two teams.
12:21We get a replay of what happened during the pre-show when WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle
12:25was about to make an address over what's going to happen at Bash at the Beach.
12:29Vader comes barging out, attacks Nick Bockwinkle, and yells,
12:34So Vader's really getting into it with Bockwinkle here, starts shoving him,
12:37and then out of nowhere, the WCW champion Hulk Hogan, who's not appearing on the show proper tonight,
12:42cracks Vader from behind with a chair.
12:44Big ol' brawl, big pull-apart thing, and so nothing is really resolved or announced.
12:49So instead of having an announcement for Bash at the Beach on the free show,
12:52you've got to pay to find out what's going to happen at Bash at the Beach next month.
12:55So do a do-over.
12:56Bockwinkle is at the announcement booth with Shivani and Heenan,
12:58and he says next month at the, uh, gosh, what's the name of that next pay-per-view?
13:03I don't know.
13:03And so at Bash at the Beach, he announces that Hogan and Vader are going to fight for the championship
13:07in a steel cage.
13:08That's the gist of what this announcement by Bockwinkle is going to be.
13:11Two things I want to point out, though, about this moment here.
13:14Allegedly, it was that flub that Bockwinkle had where he couldn't remember the name of the pay-per-view
13:18that got him fired as an on-air commissioner from WCW,
13:22which is kind of unfortunate because that whole promo, he was very articulate and very eloquent,
13:25like he always was, but then he has this one slip-up.
13:28And granted, it's kind of a big slip-up.
13:29If you're the commissioner, you should really know the name of your pay-per-view.
13:31Also, one little thing I noticed was just the gleam in Bobby Heenan's eyes
13:35as he's standing behind Bockwinkle as he's making his address.
13:37These two have a very long, successful relationship in the AWA,
13:41so they're kind of reunited here.
13:42They don't bring up their history together in AWA when Bockwinkle's working for WCW,
13:46but it's kind of cool to see him on stage together and Heenan's eyes just lighting up
13:49as Bockwinkle's as he's telling his tale.
13:51We then go to a Ric Flair promo backstage where he basically screams his entire promo at Randy Savage.
13:56He briefly mentions their history back in 1992,
13:59and he even runs down Papa Poffo,
14:01who Flair even beat up last month at Slamboree.
14:04More on that later.
14:05Television championship match up next as the enforcer, Arn Anderson,
14:08defends against the Renegade.
14:10Now, if you saw my review about The Ultimate Warrior in WCW a couple of years ago,
14:14you know the Renegade was WCW's very, very incorrect answer to The Ultimate Warrior.
14:19Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart bring the Renegade in at the end of Uncensored 95
14:23as kind of an insurance policy against Vader,
14:26and so he's just kind of hanging around Hart and Hogan for a little while,
14:29and this is his first championship match, actually.
14:31He is somehow worse than The Ultimate Warrior,
14:34because at least The Warrior had charisma.
14:36He has like a presence about him, and he also has a better physique.
14:39The Renegade does not have Warrior's physique,
14:40does not have his energy, does not have his charisma.
14:42He basically just grunts and yells all the time,
14:45which is not a substitute for what The Ultimate Warrior does.
14:47Early in the match, Renegade tries for a corner clothesline or avalanche.
14:51It doesn't go over, basically.
14:53Renegade's screaming and grunting as he applies the headlock for a very long time.
14:56Arn counters into an abdominal stretch.
14:58Renegade no-sells Arn's enziguri,
15:01and Arn's got to powder and fear and try and put that over.
15:03Eventually, he gets the advantage, though.
15:04There's an ugly application of Arn's sleeper
15:06after a wild elbow right to the Renegade's dome.
15:08A chinlock on Renegade, he powers out and almost fucks up the double-A spinebuster.
15:13He's putting his head down as Arn's putting his head down to pick up the Renegade.
15:16How damn green is this kid?
15:18Arn finds himself in the top turnbuckle laying down.
15:21Renegade slams him off his shoulders.
15:23A top-rope splash, probably the best move Renegade does all night.
15:26He wins and is the new television champion.
15:28I give this match zero stars out of four.
15:31Yes, I know, I too am shocked that a match featuring Arn Anderson is getting a zero-star rating.
15:35But look at what the poor bastard's working with here.
15:38God bless Arn.
15:39God bless double-A, because I'm sure he tried his best to make the Renegade look good.
15:42But at every single turn, Renegade found some new and innovative way to fuck something up
15:47and make even the most basic move look like shit and possibly hurt himself or somebody else.
15:52It was not a good look for the Renegade.
15:54Like I said, Arn tried his best, I know.
15:57But, you know, at the very least, you're not going to find another match featuring Arn that's this bad.
16:01After the match, on the corner, Renegade gestures to someone in the crowd, and it's The Giant.
16:05This is either one of the first, if not the first, appearances of Paul White in WCW
16:10as he would appear in the crowd early on for a couple of months.
16:14And basically, he would eventually, you know, join the Taskmaster, Kevin Sullivan,
16:17in his quest to end Hulkamania.
16:19Watch my Dungeon of Doom review if you want some more information on that.
16:22Me and Gene is backstage at the WCW Tag Team Champions, the Nasty Boys,
16:25and Brian Knobs is screaming,
16:27We're representing America!
16:28We're going to show those Brits what class is all about!
16:31Loud noises!
16:32Go watch the XWF!
16:34That tag title match is up next as the Nasty Boys defend against the Blue Bloods,
16:38Lord Steven Riegel and Robert Earl of Eaton, formerly just Bobby Eaton.
16:42It's a big old war with the tag titles.
16:44Harlem Heat's also been involved in this battle with the two teams,
16:47but really they've been kind of like side characters here.
16:49The real feud has been the Nasty's versus the Blue Bloods.
16:52The Blue Bloods try and jump the champs during the entrance,
16:54but it turns into a big old fight.
16:55I love the sign someone in the front row is holding,
16:58Bloody Good Wallop, Sir.
17:00Lord Steve gets the pit stop and does the best facial expressions afterward.
17:05You can always rely on Riegel to have the best facial expressions
17:07if there's something gross or weird happens.
17:10And really, just that spot alone where Riegel's reacting to the pit stop
17:13really helps elevate this match.
17:14More fighting on the outside.
17:15Lord Steve's getting the hell beat out of him for a while
17:17until he finally cuts off Nobs.
17:19Nobs tumbles to the outside.
17:20Riegel with a version of the cactus elbow off the apron of the floor,
17:23hot diggity, never knew he had it in him.
17:26Earl of Eden crotches himself in the corner,
17:28which allows Sags to get the hot tag, quote-unquote.
17:30I'm not sure if this was it or not.
17:32Riegel throws Sags out over the top rope,
17:34but the ref misses it so there's no disqualification.
17:36Yes, that is still a thing in 1995 WCW.
17:38Double teaming on the outside by the Brits,
17:41just blatant at this point.
17:42I don't know why the referee's not stopping it.
17:43Big ol' flying knee by Robert Earl of Eden.
17:46There's a double down.
17:47Suddenly, Harlem Heat and sister Sherry run in.
17:49Booker hits the Harlem hangover on Nobs.
17:51He also knocks Earl of Eden off the top turnbuckle,
17:54which seemed to not be part of their plan.
17:56Basically, it backfires.
17:57Sags the diving elbow drop on Bobby Eaton,
17:59and the Nasty's win and retain the championships.
18:02I give this one two stars out of four.
18:04Just a big physical match.
18:05A lot of brawling.
18:06There's a good story told.
18:07And again, Riegel's reactions to a lot of the stuff here
18:09just is really what helps put it over the top for me.
18:12In your semi-main event,
18:13a new U.S. champion will be crowned as Sting
18:15takes on Ming in the tournament finals.
18:17Almost kind of rhymes.
18:18Sting and Ming.
18:19Anyway, back in April,
18:21Vader was stripped of the championship
18:22after what Wikipedia describes as
18:24multiple wild defenses.
18:26Just sounds like you've gotten a lot of fights with people.
18:27Anyway, this is technically
18:29one of the semi-final matches.
18:30This is not the actual final match
18:32of the tournament bracket,
18:33but the other side of that bracket,
18:35Savage and Flair,
18:36never happens.
18:37The match is ruled with no contest
18:38when these two fight all the way
18:40in the backstage area at center stage,
18:42and the match is totally thrown out.
18:43So Sting and Ming is your default finals match,
18:46so the winner of this match
18:47will become the new U.S. champion.
18:49Colonel Parker cuts a promo for Ming.
18:51There's almost two full minutes
18:53just nonstop talking by Parker here,
18:55putting over Ming as this just unbeatable killer.
18:57Sting gets a promo as well
18:59and says that his experience as a champion
19:01at all different levels
19:02is going to put him over the top
19:03and help him beat Ming.
19:04Ming with the advantage early on
19:05with a cheap shot on Sting.
19:07Sting fights back,
19:08but Ming seems unfazed.
19:09Colonel Parker distracts Sting on the apron,
19:11which allows Ming to get the cutoff,
19:13works him over with lots of nerve holds.
19:15Sting finally flips out of a backslide position
19:16and jumps off the turnbuckle,
19:18launching himself back first into Ming.
19:20I've never seen him do that before.
19:21It was a really cool move.
19:22Sting gets some fire under him
19:23and mounts his comeback,
19:25tackles Ming.
19:26Both go tumbling over the top rope.
19:28Referee checks on Ming,
19:29and Sting corners Colonel Parker
19:30and decks him.
19:32Ming comes running in,
19:33but Sting dodges him.
19:34Scorpion Deathlot,
19:35but Ming powers out of it
19:36with the commentary,
19:37rightfully so,
19:38puts it over in a huge way.
19:39How many times have you seen anyone?
19:41Ever power out of the Scorpion Deathlot.
19:43Kind of a big moment there.
19:45Big top rope splash by Sting in the kickout.
19:47Finally,
19:48Sting hits a leaping DDT,
19:50almost got the same motion as the zigzag,
19:52but in DDT form,
19:53and he actually finally puts Ming away with that move.
19:56I give this match two and a half stars out of four.
19:58Not the most exciting match,
19:59or the most riveting match in the world,
20:01but I will give them credit
20:02for telling a great story here,
20:03because Sting is spending the entirety of this matchup
20:05just chopping down the redwood,
20:07doing everything he can,
20:08trying to capitalize on the slightest mistake
20:10that Ming can commit here,
20:12just to try and mount an offense
20:13and make some kind of fight
20:15against the big Tongan fella.
20:17So, yeah, good story.
20:18Sting's leaping ability,
20:20his much vaunted leaping ability,
20:21is eventually what puts him over the top here,
20:24and he's the new U.S. champion.
20:26So, as I mentioned earlier,
20:28Hulk Hogan and Vader are nowhere to be seen
20:29on the main show for Great American Bash,
20:31but who the hell needs them?
20:32Because this main event more than makes up for it.
20:34It's Ric Flair versus the macho man Randy Savage
20:37in a great grudge match here.
20:38This thing got very personal between the two of them
20:40back at Uncensored.
20:42Even if you ignore their history
20:43in the World Wrestling Federation before this,
20:45things got very personal starting at Uncensored.
20:47Now, Flair was kayfabe, retired by this point,
20:49but he jumps Randy Savage in a match with Avalanche,
20:52dressed as a woman, by the way.
20:53Then, one month later, by the time Flair's been reinstated
20:56at Slamboree, Flair and Arne Anderson
20:58violently assault Savage's 70-year-old father,
21:02Angelo Poffo, the newly minted WCW Hall of Famer.
21:05And so Savage has spent weeks pursuing Flair,
21:08just trying to jump him every chance he'd get.
21:09Like I mentioned, they were supposed to do battle
21:11in the U.S. title tournament,
21:12but that match was thrown out as a no contest
21:14due to their brawl.
21:15So nothing on the line here in this match,
21:17just pride and ego is at stake.
21:19After Macho Man cuts his pre-match promo,
21:21he brings his dad, Papa Poffo,
21:23to the ring with him.
21:25Savage starts out hot,
21:26making Flair bounce all over the damn place,
21:28a backdrop on the floor to Flair.
21:29Flair gets the advantage after an eye rake,
21:31even busts out a big axe handle off the apron
21:33onto the floor.
21:34And these two guys are just scrapping.
21:36This match, to me, more than anything else,
21:39feels like a fight.
21:40Savage is just all over Flair here.
21:42He can really put over just the anger
21:45and the vitriol he feels toward Flair
21:47for what he did to his father.
21:49And he's just beating the hell out of Flair
21:51every chance he gets.
21:51He just dives onto him.
21:53He doesn't wait for Flair to get up.
21:54He just dives onto him,
21:55starts throwing hands.
21:56Great stuff here.
21:57He did very interesting on commentary here.
21:59He's very torn between two worlds.
22:01Because like I said,
22:01he is the heel commentator.
22:03He will favor Flair 9 out of 10 times
22:06because of their history and everything,
22:07and also because they're heels together.
22:09But also, he is very conflicted
22:10because he says he's known the Poffo family
22:12for so long.
22:13He's known Randy Savage
22:14since he was a little kid
22:15because he knew Angelo Poffo,
22:16and he's very sympathetic
22:18to Savage's plight
22:19and how he really needs to get at Flair
22:21for what he did to Angelo Poffo.
22:24So he's definitely kind of playing
22:24both sides in this match,
22:26probably for the first real time,
22:28the first real tangible time
22:29in the entire show,
22:30which is really good.
22:31They're fighting on the outside again,
22:32fighting a little too close to Poffo,
22:34sitting at ringside.
22:35Savage goes on to check on him,
22:36which allows Flair to chop block him,
22:37working the leg now.
22:38Flair gets the figure four locked in,
22:40but Savage eventually turns it over.
22:42Savage's cheek or his eye
22:44somehow gets busted around this time.
22:45Hits a top rope elbow drop,
22:47but in a moment of ego
22:48and too much pride,
22:49picks Flair up during the count.
22:51So he could have won it,
22:52but he chose not to here.
22:53Savage grabs the ring bell
22:54for more damage.
22:55The referee stops him.
22:56That allows Flair to roll out of the ring.
22:58Savage goes for the dive,
22:59but Flair moves,
23:00and Savage crashes into the barricade.
23:02Flair stalks Angelo Poffo,
23:04but Poffo gets an upper hand on Flair
23:06here by choking him out with his cane.
23:08Flair fights back,
23:09takes the cane with him.
23:10He hides it,
23:11and he decks Savage in the face with it
23:12with the referee distracted.
23:14And Flair pins and wins
23:16this incredible grudge match.
23:18Not the last time we'll see these two fight,
23:20but we are going to talk about more of that
23:22at some other time.
23:23I give this match three and a half stars out of four.
23:26Just a great way to end the show.
23:27A great story being told here.
23:29The complete opposite
23:30of the last three and a half star match
23:32in this show,
23:32Pillman and Wright,
23:33it starts strong
23:34and it ends strong here with this show,
23:36but this one's a complete opposite,
23:37but in such a great way.
23:38It's just a big brawl,
23:39big, just nasty, vicious fight,
23:42and they put it over very well.
23:44They have such great chemistry here.
23:45And the finish is so familiar,
23:47it's so heartbreaking.
23:48Savage has the match won,
23:49but ultimately his hubris
23:50gets the better of him
23:51and Flair with the advantage.
23:52These two will have a rematch
23:54at Bash at the Beach 95,
23:55which as of right now
23:57has not been nominated yet on Patreon.
23:58So I really want to cover this match
24:00when we get to that,
24:01but right now it's just not on the list,
24:02so I can't quite cover it yet.
24:04My final grade for the return
24:06of WCW's Great American Bash
24:08is a C grade.
24:09Unfortunately,
24:10the good of this show
24:11is negated by the not so good.
24:13Like I mentioned,
24:14the show starts strong
24:15and it ends strong.
24:16Brian Pillman and Alex Wright,
24:18great match.
24:18Flair versus Savage,
24:19great match.
24:20And I also enjoyed
24:21the WCW tag title match,
24:23the Nasty Boys and the Blue Bloods.
24:24Also enjoyed Sting versus May,
24:26but everything else about this show
24:27really dragged it down for me.
24:28Like Duggan versus Pittman
24:30was kind of a not that great a match.
24:31The arm wrestling contest,
24:33if you want to factor that
24:34into the score
24:34because it's not even a real match.
24:36The Harlem Heat versus
24:37Bunkhouse Buck and Dirty Dick
24:38wasn't that great.
24:39And also Renegade versus Arn Anderson
24:41really drags the grade down to this.
24:43And again,
24:43I hate to make Arn Anderson
24:44culpable in a not so great grade
24:47for this classic review.
24:48And I just want to give him a hug
24:49because he tried so hard,
24:50but ultimately he could not
24:51pull a good match
24:52out of the Renegade here.
24:53As you can tell,
24:54it's not a pay-per-view
24:54in which anything gets resolved.
24:56If anything,
24:56it sets a lot of things up
24:57and just carries things over
24:58for Bash the Beach
25:00the next month,
25:00which will be on the beach.
25:02But again,
25:02until that gets nominated
25:03on Patreon.com,
25:05I can't touch it,
25:06which I really want to do.
25:06Well, I hope you enjoyed
25:07my review of
25:08The Great American Bash 1995.
25:10Thanks once again
25:10to Daniel Kingman
25:11for nominating it for me.
25:12If you want to play a role
25:13in determining
25:14which shows I review,
25:15be they good,
25:16bad,
25:16or somewhere in between,
25:17go to Patreon.com
25:19slash Wrestling With Regret,
25:20become a $10 backer or above,
25:22and you'll have the chance
25:22to nominate classic shows
25:23for me in the future.
25:25Next time on The Classic Review,
25:26in two weeks,
25:27we are going to go to
25:27one of my most requested
25:29pay-per-views yet.
25:30it's SummerSlam 2005.
25:33Hogan vs. Michaels,
25:34oh yeah,
25:35I'm all for this.
25:36I'm Brian Zane,
25:37and I'll see you next time.
25:38I'm Brian Zane,
25:39I'm Brian Zane,
25:41I'm Brian Zane,
25:43I'm Brian Zane,
25:43I'm Brian Zane,
25:45I'm Brian Zane,
25:49I'm Brian Zane,
25:49I'm Brian Zane,
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