Mike Reviews WCW The Great American Bash 1995

Happy Bashing Friday Everyone!

I’ve managed to get to this one before WWE Network goes into the quiet night here in the UK, so let’s continue our journey into 1995 WCW with Great American Bash! (Future Mike; I ended up reviewing all of the 1995 WCW pay per view’s in December 2024 before the Network went away, so you can look forward to them. I sadly missed out the August COTC though because I forgot it was a thing and by then it was too late to go back and do it).

Our Main Event sees Randy Savage looking to get revenge on Ric Flair for the events of Slamboree. We’ve also got Arn Anderson defending the TV Title against The Renegade and the Finals of a WCW US Title tournament.

You can view the full card by clicking below;

WCW The Great American Bash 1995 Card

Great American Bash is emanating from Dayton, Ohio on the 18th of June 1995

Calling the action are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

The dramatic opening package runs through some of the bigger matches on the card, and it does a good job in setting things up without taking too long or dragging on.

In a refreshing change of pace, the commentators don’t yak on for 5-10 minutes at the start of the show and instead do a quick spiel before sending us down to the ring for the opening match.

Vader and Hulk Hogan are both apparently here tonight, but they aren’t booked for a match. This was done to set up Bash at the Beach 1995 I believe when the two met in a cage match.

Opening Match
Flyin’ Brian Vs “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright

Both of these dudes were babyfaces at the time, although they were going to start gradually turning Brian Heel the more 1995 went on. In one of those embarrassing “mis-hearing the lyrics” moments, when I first heard Brian’s “Blondes Have More Fun” entrance music I actually thought it was saying “Brian’s out for fun”. These are two handsome chaps going at it, so the director makes sure to try and find footage of women in the crowd being excited to see them, to varying levels of success. These two work pretty well together, with the crowd seemingly siding with Brian over Wright. That could possibly be down to Brian previously playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and it could also have something to do with the men in the crowd rebelling against the push that the younger Wright was getting due to his boyish good looks. Back in the 1990’s we called that “DiCaprio Syndrome”.

They tell a decent story within this one with Brian being the more experienced wrestler of the two and using that when he can to ground the youngster, whilst Wright is the spunkier more impetuous of the two who uses youthful exuberance and agility in order to keep up pace with his veteran foe. The match is mostly mat based with the occasional high flying move thrown in, with the momentum ebbing and flowing between the two competitors with neither really playing Heel. Brian does eventually start getting a bit frustrated and starts throwing chops and elbows. None of those attacks are illegal, but they differ from the more technical battle we’ve been having up to this point, which highlights that Brian is being more aggressive. That becomes clearest when White tries to help Brian back into the ring, but Brian is offended and starts throwing chops.

The crowd actually quite enjoys seeing Brian be a bit more aggressive due to the fact that quite a few of them like Brian more than they like Wright, so seeing the “Wonder-punk” getting legally slapped around appeals to them. Wright sells the attacks from Brian well and shows some good defiance whenever he’s allowed to fire back, with Wright’s strike of choice being stern European Uppercuts like the good German lad he is. Brian isn’t really working a heat segment and is more doing a control segment, which essentially works in the same way as a heat segment except that it doesn’t really involve any cheating or any attempts from Brian to really antagonise the crowd. Wright does eventually fight back, with the youngster even getting a dive out to the floor onto Brian at one stage.

The closing stretch is done well, with the intensity of the big moves gradually increasing for both competitors as Brian manages to get a TOPE SUICIDA before then missing a follow up dive to the floor when Wright moves. Wright crashes and burns back inside the ring though, and then each wrestler goes for a dropkick at the same time for a double down. They’ve done a really good job of showing these two to be evenly matched competitors here, with that making the eventual winner look deserving without hurting whoever the loser ends up being. We get a couple of near falls, with Brian using the veteran smarts to feign being knocked out before catching Wright with a big dropkick OUTTA NOWHERE for a great near fall. The finish mirrors the rest of the contest, as Wright manages to only just counter a Brian pin attempt with one of his own to pick up the last gasp win after a fun opening bout.

WINNER: ALEX WRIGHT
RATING: ***1/2

Next up we get a video package of Diamond Dallas Page winning a bunch of Arm Wrestling matches whilst being really rude to his valet The Diamond Doll (Kimberly). If anyone can actually defeat DDP in an Arm Wrestling match then they will get a date with The Doll.

Mean Gene Okerlund is in the interview area with Evad Sullivan and his pet rabbit, Ralph. Evad is worried about losing the Arm Wrestling match with DDP up next because he will lose his rabbit if he does, but he thinks he can win and he dedicates the bout to Daddy Sullivan seeing as it’s Father’s Day.

Arm Wrestling Challenge
If DDP wins then he gets Evad Sullivan’s pet rabbit Ralph
If Evad wins then he gets a date with a Diamond Doll
Diamond Dallas Page w/ Maxx Muscle and The Diamond Doll Vs Evad Sullivan w/ Ralph the Rabbit

It’s always strange to me that WWE has to dub out DDP’s Nirvana sounding song because they’re worried about Dave Grohl suing, but they always leave his Gary Glitter theme intact. I guess Glitter has more important things to worry about these days than what entrance music Diamond Dallas was using in 1995? This is the usual Arm Wrestling challenge between a Heel and a babyface, with the Heel stalling and being a jerk about it whilst the babyface is fired up and ready to go at it. The crowd gets into it at least and it’s better than if Evad tried to actually wrestle a match, so it ends up being a decent little angle that doesn’t eat up too much airtime. Maxx Muscle is DDP’s big heavy who has clearly consumed a lot of, let’s call it, chicken. Yeah, that should cover me legally. Anyway, despite receiving assistance from his chicken consuming pal, DDP is still unable to put Evad down and that leads to Evad rallying in order to pick up the win. DDP yells at poor Diamond Doll as if it’s her fault, which was all leading to Doll eventually ditching DDP for first Johnny B. Badd and then Ed Leslie.

Mean Gene tries to interview DDP in the aisle way following that, but DDP wants a rematch. Maxx Muscle agrees that DDP didn’t actually lose via the method of monosyllabic replies in a funny bit. DDP’s mad ranting was entertaining here and he did a decent job riling up the crowd.

Match Two
“The Pitbull” Sargent Craig Pittman Vs “Hacksaw” James Duggan

Pittman is a mean solider and shoot fighter whilst Duggan is a goofy flag waving babyface who also has a devastating punch due to his Irish ancestry. Marcus Bagwell was seemingly supposed to be wrestling Pittman here, but he’s injured so Duggan is stepping in. Pittman had apparently already won a match on the pre-show, so he’s going to be wrestling again now and is supposedly happy to do so, which is certainly an interesting way to book a Heel. Having the patriotic Hacksaw on The Great American Bash show makes sense at least, and he successfully gets the crowd to join in with a “USA” chant. Heenan gets a funny line in on commentary when Schiavone talks about Pittman breaking an opponent’s arm in a previous bout by brushing it off and saying “he’s got another arm” like breaking his other one is no big deal. Bobby wasn’t always on during his time in WCW, but he could still deliver gold once in a while.

I’m not sure either wrestler really knows what to make of the other here, and it leads to a somewhat awkward looking bout where they appear to be on different pages at points. Pittman has really good intensity and plays an aggressive violent sadist well, although some of his movement and bumping is really stiff and ungainly. Duggan doesn’t look to be entirely enthused to be here for this one, although he does sell well when Pittman starts ramming Duggan’s leg into the ring post. Pittman had a legitimate shooting background, so his submission move attempts look decent at least, but everything else just looks “off” for the most part, although he does take a fantastic bump from a Duggan punch at one stage. Duggan eventually makes a bit a comeback, and he actually sells the leg reasonably well whilst doing so, although Pittman is mostly out of position for chunks of it.

The finish both makes sense and doesn’t, as Pittman applies a submission hold and Duggan makes the ropes, only for Pittman to get DQ’ed for not breaking the hold. It’s a bit of a lame finish, as “Heel gets DQ’ed for kicking too much ass” finishes generally are, although it does fit with Pittman’s crazed violent character. The big issue though is that it comes from an arm based submission hold rather than a leg based one, which makes no sense when you consider that Pittman has attacked the leg the whole match. I believe the arm bar was Pittman’s finisher at the time, but if that’s the case then attack the arm all match rather than going after the leg. Basically all of the leg work in the match ended up being for naught as it was all to set up a finishing hold that didn’t even focus on that area.

WINNER BY DQ: HACKSAW DUGGAN
RATING: *

Thoughts: Pittman had good intensity and Duggan sold reasonably well, but aside from that this match just didn’t really work. Pittman had a strong character, but his work was lacking. If you’d given this gimmick to someone who was a better in-ring performer then they might have had a really strong and feared mid-card character

Duggan uses his trusty 2×4 to send Pittman packing following the bout.

Mean Gene is in the interview area with Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton. His Lordship says that The Nasty Boys are in for a real thrashing here tonight because all American’s know is violence, so The Blue Bloods will give them their fill later on.

On the pre-show; Colonel Parker forces a smooch on Sister Sherri, leading to a match being set up between their two teams and Sherri lamping Parker for good measure. I think that was Harlem Heat’s babyface turn as well. (Future Mike; nope, this was just Shades of Grey, Bro! stuff instead)

Match Three
The Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater) w/ Colonel Parker Vs The Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) w/ Sister Sherri

Parker used to manage The Heat and they were in the early stages of doing a story where Parker had the hots for Sherri, leading to numerous twists and turns, including a period where Sherri had amnesia and decided she liked Parker as well. Booker suits the subtle babyface role almost instantly due to his exciting selection of moves and his natural babyface fire. Stevie fits into the role less easily, as he doesn’t like showing out as much as his brother. Buck and Slater bump around reasonably well for The Heat and it’s a decent lower card outing for the most part, although it doesn’t really feel like a pay per view calibre contest due to the thrown together nature of the bout. The crowd does get into seeing Booker do his thing, but they care less about Stevie and don’t really seem to care about The Stud Stable at all unless they’re bumping around for Booker. The finish sees that The Heat still aren’t squeaky clean babyfaces, even though they are the least disagreeable of these two tandems, as The Stud Stable tries to cheat when Parker turns over a Booker cradle on Buck when the referee isn’t looking. However, Sherri runs in to reverse it back and that leads to The Heat getting the win, which the crowd appreciates.

WINNERS: THE HARLEM HEAT
RATING: **

Thoughts: This match highlighted that Booker T had genuine star potential, which he’d already been showing hints of prior to this anyway. Booker naturally fitted into the babyface role here, with his moves looking good and him displaying a clear charisma. Stevie sadly was far more subdued and his work wasn’t much either, which was a regular trend with him throughout his career. Buck and Slater were typical bumping southern Heels, and they were just fine in that role. It was an okay match that felt more like something you’d see on Saturday Night rather than a pay per view like Great American Bash, but it wasn’t actively bad or anything. The crowd did get into the finish and the match was ultimately successful in starting off the feud between the managers whilst also giving Booker T his coming out performance as a babyface star for the future

On the pre-show; Vader throttles Eric Bischoff and WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel until Hulk Hogan runs down to make the save and the two wrestlers have to be separated.

Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel joins the commentary team to say that Vader will be wrestling Hulk Hogan at the Bash at the Beach pay per view inside a cage. The pop for that announcement was kind of muted, but Bock could have done a better job with the delivery in fairness.

Mean Gene is interviewing Ric Flair, who is very happy that Vader will get Hogan inside a cage. Flair then goes into full-on Crazy Flair mode to rant about the big match with Randy Savage later on. If you like a motivated Ric Flair ranting and raving about what he’s going to do to an opponent then you will absolutely love this.

Match Four
WCW World Television Title
Champ: “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson Vs The Renegade w/ Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart

Arn had successfully managed to defend the TV Title against Alex Wright back at Slamboree in a decent contest. Anderson’s next big pay per view match for the Title would also be against an inexperienced younger wrestler, although in this case the younger star wasn’t quite as capable in the ring as Alex Wright was. Richard Wilson (Not the British actor of the same name, in case you were confused) was a former male exotic dancer who had been trained to wrestle by famed wrestling legend Killer Kowalski. Other notable trainees from Kowalski’s school included Triple H, The Eliminators tag team, Frankie Kazarian and Kofi Kingston, although Wilson was never as proficient an in-ring competitor as those particular Kowalski alum.

Wilson debuted in 1992 and wrestled mostly on the independent circuit, but in 1995 an opportunity arose for him in WCW. WCW at the time was trying to bring Jim “Ultimate Warrior” Hellwig into the company, going as far as to hype an “Ultimate Surprise” at the Uncensored pay per view event. They were unable to acquire the services of Hellwig however, but by that stage they were committed to debuting a new star at the pay per view, so they instead brought in Wilson and dressed him up in Ultimate Warrior cosplay as the rampaging Renegade.

Even if we ignore the fact that essentially promising one of wrestling’s biggest stars, only to then pull the rug out and bring in an Aldi/Lidl equivalent instead, was only going to agitate the onions of the fan base, WCW also brought in someone that simply wasn’t ready for the kind of push required of him. With the best will in the world, Wilson should have still been on the independent scene honing his craft. He was not remotely good enough to be in a major storyline like this, especially as an associate and friend of Hulk Hogan.

It wasn’t as if Wilson didn’t try his best, because he absolutely did, and he had enough of a look and athletic ability that he potentially could have become a decent member of the roster down the road if WCW had brought him in under a different guise, but coming in with this huge push right out the gate only ever set him up for disappointment. By all accounts I’ve read, Wilson was respectful and did his best to pretty much learn on the job, but he was way out of depth. Enter Arn Anderson. WCW decided that after all the hype behind The Renegade they now had to push him, and considering Renegade’s lack of experience he needed to be in there with someone who could lead him through a pay per view encounter. Thus Anderson was tasked with getting a watchable match out of the discount Ultimate Warrior, but could he manage it?

Anderson has gone on record to say that he considers this match to be the very worst of his career, and the opening exchanges between the two men are certainly awkward at points with their timing being way off. WCW’s inconsistent over the top rope disqualification rule rears its ugly head once again in the early going, as Renegade clotheslines Anderson over the top to the floor, but they have to excuse it as Anderson’s “momentum” taking him over, thus it isn’t Renegade’s fault and the match can continue. This is absolute poppycock of course, but hey, it wasn’t supposed to be the finish yet so they needed to cover for it somehow!

Renegade controls things in the early going, working a headlock but getting his footing all wrong whilst doing it, and mostly sticking to basic things like clotheslines and shoulder barges. Anderson does his best to sell it all, doing a big bug eyed reaction at one point to get across his shock at how powerful his opponent is. Renegade mostly shrugs off any of the offence that Anderson replies with, but the crowd isn’t really into it. To be honest, Anderson is just as big physically as Renegade, so it’s kind of hard to buy that Renegade could just no sell Arn’s offence like that.

There are more moments where their timing is completely off, and you can see Anderson desperately trying to hold the match together. It’s moments like this where you really appreciate just how good someone like Arn Anderson is, because even though this match has been pretty rough he’s still managed to mostly carry Renegade through it. You really learn about how good a wrestler is when they’re put in there with someone who is considerably worse. Renegade does take a nice bump for Anderson’s Spine Buster move to be fair, but he kicks out at two and the two men bonk heads for a double down soon after following a horrible Atomic Drop from Renegade.

Anderson tries going up top for something, but Renegade stops him and brings him down with a Samoan Drop before heading up top for a flying move of his own, getting a big splash from the top rope for the three count. I think that might have been a veiled jab at Ultimate Warrior actually, as Warrior was known for finishing opponents with a big running splash whilst they laid on the mat, so they had Renegade do his big splash from the top rope to show off how much more impressive he was. I could be reading too much into things though.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: THE RENEGADE
RATING: ½*

Thoughts: A lot of the time I hear about horrible matches, but when I watch them they’re not really as bad as people make out. I’m sad to say though that this match is as bad as advertised, as Renegade didn’t look like he had a clue about what he was doing and it was only through a Herculean effort from Anderson that the match didn’t completely disintegrate

Paul Wight is shown watching in the crowd and he’s not remotely impressed by Renegade. I’m not sure how long it is before they actually name him as The Giant yet and go for the idea that he’s Andre The Giant’s son.

We get a video package showing clips of The Blue Bloods and The Nasty Boys fighting in order to set up the bout between them here at The Great American Bash.

The Nasty Boys are being interviewed by Mean Gene. The Nasty’s yell a lot, as they are want to do. They do a good job of convincing viewers that they’re really mad at The Blue Bloods though, so the promo achieves it’s goals. They of course do the USA Vs Evil Foreigners angle as well because this is The Great American Bash and all.

Match Five
WCW World Tag Team Titles
Champs: The Natsy Boys (Knobbs and Sags) Vs The Blue Bloods (Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton)

The Nasty’s won the belts back at Slamboree and then got into a stare down with The Blue Bloods, thus setting up this Slobs Vs Snobs feud. Eaton had previously been a traditional southern US wrestler, but Regal has now gentrified him into an Earl after a laborious process. For some reason Eaton has now moved to Stoke-on-Trent, which I’ve lived near and I can tell you there is very little in the way of aristocrats out that way. Oatcakes with cheese and bacon are delicious though, although your heart ventricles won’t thank you very much for eating them. This one is a wild brawl to start, which makes sense as they’ve been building it up as a heated issue and The Nasty’s are already known for throwing fists rather than applying wristlocks, so it wouldn’t make sense if they started this one out with a lock up.

Possibly the highlight of the match is Regal’s wonderful sell job of getting sent to Pity City, as he delves into his bag of incredible facial expressions in order to show how disgusted he is. It’s up there with some of Regal’s best work. Bobby Heenan gets another good line in on commentary, saying that The Nasty’s only shower in years that end in even numbers. I’m personally amazed it’s that often in all honesty! Knobbs ends up taking a spill to the floor when Eaton dodges his attack, and that leads to The Blue Bloods being able to work some heat. The Blue Bloods do a good job of that, although Knobbs looks at points like he’s unsure what to do with Regal’s more European mat based style. Sags eventually gets a hot tag in and actually delivers a version of The World’s Strongest Slam.

However, as this is a Nasty Boys match from WCW in the mid-1990’s, the bout has to go at least 5 minutes longer than it really needs to, which means we get a second heat segment on Sags.I really don’t get the obsession with making The Nasty’s do 15+ minutes on these pay per view shows when they were built much better for doing something in the 8-10 minute range instead. They could have had Sags get the hot tag and moved into the home stretch there, but we now need another heat segment in order to elongate the run time. Sags does sell well in the heat at least and the offence from The Blue Bloods is on point, so it works well enough for what it is, I’m just not convinced it was entirely necessary to include it. But then again, Regal and Eaton between them probably know everything there is to know about wrestling so I should probably defer to them and keep my chuffing mouth shut.

Knobbs ends up getting the second hot tag and runs wild, although the reaction isn’t quite what you’d want it to be. The Harlem Heat end up running down following that though, which leads to Booker T heading in with an attack on Sags before accidentally/on purpose crotching Eaton on the top rope. This leads to Knobbs getting a pin on the fallen Eaton whilst Regal gets into it with Booker. The reaction of Harlem Heat suggests that maybe they wanted The Blue Bloods to win instead, possibly because they see them as an easier opponent down the line?

WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: THE NASTY BOYS
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: This was a decent match for the most part. My only criticisms would be that the bout possibly went on for a bit too long and the finish was a little bit scruffy in the way it was executed. Aside from that though it was an okay outing and the wildness during the finish sets up a Three Way Dance between The Blue Bloods, Harlem Heat and Nasty’s reasonably well

We get a recap of the US Title Tournament;
Meng made it to the Final defeating Marcus Bagwell and Flyin Brian
Sting made it to the Final defeating Arn Anderson and Paul Orndorff
Sting and Meng was actually supposed to be a Semi-Final, but Ric Flair and Randy Savage was the other Semi-Final and the two ended up brawling to a Double Count Out, meaning that Meng Vs Sting will now be for the belt

Mean Gene is interviewing Colonel Parker, who hypes up his bodyguard Meng ahead of the next match. This was a decent rant from Parker as he talked about how Meng was going to destroy Sting, leaving The Stinger needed immediate medical assistance.

We get a hype package for Bash at the Beach 1995. I sadly don’t think I’ll get to that one in time, which is a shame as it’s a VERY stinky Stinker review if reports are to be believed.

Mean Gene is interviewing Sting. Sting talks about how he’s paid his dues for years in WCW and that Meng doesn’t know what he’s in for next. This was a decent promo from Sting, where he displayed some good passion and reminded everyone how he’s been the franchise player for WCW for going on six years now.

Co-Main
WCW United States Title Tournament Final
THE MONSTER MENG w/ Colonel Parker Vs Sting

Vader was the Champ but he was stripped of it for reasons I’m unclear about and a tournament was set up, with these two being the finalists. We were nearing the end of the first ever Cycle of Meng here, as WCW had been pushing Meng as a bit of an unstoppable monster for about six months based of his real-life tough guy cred. However, following this run with Sting; Meng ended up becoming a mid-carder who generally lost about as much as he won until WCW suddenly remembered that he was a super tough person in real-life and started pushing him as an unstoppable tank again for a bit. Meng dominates most of this one, with Sting being on the defensive early on and just trying to survive long enough to get something going. Sting’s selling is good and Meng looks decent on offence, so the match mostly works, although it is a bit dull.

I think the problem with Meng dominating someone like Sting in the way he is here is that, even though in real-life Meng was a truly terrifying man, he just didn’t physically look that much more impressive that someone like a Sting or a Hogan in a worked setting like this. He looked like someone who could handle himself sure, but not someone who should have been taking 80-90% of a match against a guy who we’d seen take the fight to the likes of Vader and Big Bubba in the past year and more than held his own whilst doing so. The crowd reaction is somewhat muted during the match as a result, as I don’t think the fans really buy that Meng should be THIS dominant against someone like Sting, and thus they don’t really engage in the match the way they would if he was getting dominated by a Vader type wrestler.

I think Meng selling a bit more and letting Sting have a bit more offence would help this one a lot, as then it goes from Sting getting destroyed and desperately holding on, to Sting taking on a tough Heel opponent who can hurt him but not totally dominate him either, which is a story the crowd would be more inclined to go along with. Sting could actually get the crowd up on their feet with a proper babyface shine before Meng then slows it down and they build the crowd back up to see Sting make the comeback. Instead the match has been flat basically from the opening bell as Sting has just been a punching bag and the crowd have never really had a chance to get their blood bumping like you normally would when the babyface gets a shine to start.

Meng’s work is totally fine here and Sting’s selling is what it needs to be if they’re telling this kind of story, but it’s just the wrong story to tell with these two particular wrestlers on this particular show in my opinion. For instance, there’s a bit where Sting is clotheslining Meng and Meng is doing the big “tree falling” sell job like he’s Yokozuna or something and it just kind of looks ridiculous. I’ve seen Sting lift Vader over his head and throw him around, but now I’m supposed to believe that he can’t clothesline a guy who is basically the same size as him? Sting is a huge man, especially in 1995 when he was arguably in peak physical condition, there’s no reason that he should be treating Meng like the biggest oak in the forest that can’t be chopped down. The finish kind of comes out of nowhere as well, as Sting can’t get The Scorpion Deathlock so he quickly heads up top with a Splash and then follows with a DDT which is just magically the pin. I’m glad that Sting at least got to hit a move and win, as I thought they were building to him getting a lucky roll-up before getting killed following the match the way things were going.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: STING
RATING: **1/4

Thoughts: The work in this one was fine and Sting’s selling was very good, but the crowd didn’t get into the story and the match just felt flat overall because Meng killing Sting just didn’t look right, even though Meng’s wrestling looked decent and he’s a real-life tough guy. Ultimately Pro Wrestling is a work, and how tough you are matters less than how tough you can make yourself look in a worked environment. Meng could really make that work for him in the right situation, such as when he went to Japan and destroyed folks, but against the top stars in places like WCW and the WWF it was harder to make that illusion work. If Sting hadn’t already worked bigger and more physically imposing guys like Vader, Big Bubba and The Avalanche, him coming in and getting monstered by a guy Meng’s size might have worked more. But when you’ve seen Sting bloody someone like Vader up and really take the fight to him, it becomes harder to believe that Meng won’t take a bump for him. Sure, Meng could absorb Sting’s attacks and then come back to put the hurt on him during the heat, but he shouldn’t be no selling the moves and refusing to go down for them, and that created a disconnect in this match for me. Nothing against Meng, I generally enjoy watching him wreck folk, I just don’t think he should be presented as a tank that never bumps for anyone. He can be a wrecking machine whilst also being someone who can be knocked down by a 6ft 2 and 250-60 pound opponent as well, and if they’d gone with that here I think it would have been a better match

We get a video recap of the issues between Ric Flair and Randy Savage

Mean Gene is interviewing Randy Savage. Savage shouts out Renegade and Sting for winning earlier, and that’s fired him up even more to put a beating on Ric Flair up next. Savage says that he’s going to get Flair and avenge his father Angelo Poffo here on Father’s Day. This was a focused and crazed Savage promo, so it was awesome.

Main Event
“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair Vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage w/ Angelo Poffo

Flair attacked Savage’s dad at Slamboree to instigate a feud between the two. The feud would rage on well into 1996, where it got so hot at a certain point that it played a big part in helping WCW finally make a profit due to them actually having a match that people would want to pay to see on the live events. This match just happens to be taking place on Father’s Day too, just to ram home the importance of Savage coming in the search of vengeance.

Savage bumps Flair around to start, battering him from pillar to post and even busting out the top rope axe handle smash to the floor. You know Randy is feeling it when he pulls that one out. Flair is clearly up for it too, as he takes a back body drop on the floor. Flair manages to fling Savage into the ring post and gets his licks in before taking the fight back into the ring. This has been a good hate filled brawl so far. They haven’t bothered doing lock ups that’s for sure.

Flair works some heat on Savage inside the ring, whilst Poffo watches on in support of his son. Poffo is selling the emotion of this all great, as he gets a good mix between being supportive and being worried for his son’s safety. Savage fires back and sends Flair outside, but Flair goes after Poffo whilst out there which leads to Savage coming to his dads aid, which allows Flair a cheap shot to the leg.

Savage sells the leg big and Flair targets it in his usual style back inside. The crowd reactions are a bit disappointing actually considering that this was such a heated issue. The fans are paying attention and boo Flair on occasion, but there isn’t the sustained heat for Savage to make a big comeback. Savage is great as an angry babyface fighting form underneath so he can get even with a villain who has done him wrong and Flair is great as a devious Heel, so the work and selling is of a high standard.

Poffo fights back tears at one stage when Flair goes to the Figure Four, which is a fantastic sell job on his part. Everyone is playing their roles just right here and it’s adding to the match. The crowd gets more into it whilst Savage sells the Figure Four and they pop when he reverses it. I really think they need to do a finish someday where someone reverses the Figure Four and the reverser manages to make the reversee tap from it.

Savage makes the angry comeback, limping all the way, and manages to get the elbow from the top rope, but he makes the mistake of lifting Flair up at two so that he can deliver more punishment. He grabs the ring bell and tries to do to Flair like he did to Ricky Steamboat back in the 80’s, but the referee takes the bell from him and Flair bails to the floor. Savage tries for another axe handle to the floor, but Flair dodges and he goes flying into the railings with a brutal crash.

Flair goes after Poffo again, with Poffo trying to fight back. Flair knocks Poffo down and takes his walking cane from him. Whilst the ref tries to help Poffo up, Flair hits Savage with the cane to pick up the dirty three count and continue the feud.

WINNER: RIC FLAIR
RATING: ***3/4

Thoughts: This was only the first match in the feud, so it was too early for Flair to eat a pin. Understandable as the finish was though, it was a pretty flat way to end a pay per view event. That being said, the match itself was good and featured some good hate filled scrapping from both men. Savage having it won but letting his rage consume him is certainly something you could see his character doing too, so that worked as a narrative function in the match itself. Good stuff and worth a watch if you’ve never seen it before I think

Angelo Poffo helps his son to the back following that as we end the show on a pretty flat note, which was a somewhat regular occurrence in WCW.

In Conclusion

Great American Bash was bookended by two great matches, so by 1995 standards that’s more than enough for a thumbs up show overall. Pittman/Duggan and Anderson/Renegade were both poor matches, but the rest of the card was generally okay and the Arm Wrestling Challenge was actually well done and quite entertaining. Considering how bad some of WCW’s pay per view offerings have been in 1995 thus far, Great American Bash was a pleasant palette cleanser for the most part and I mostly enjoyed my time with it.

One thing I did like a lot about Great American Bash was that they kept long filler segments and sequences to a minimum. Every video package and interview served a purpose, either to set things up on Great American Bash itself or for later on TV or the next pay per view. It was a wonderful sight to see as well to see a WCW pay per view start and the first wrestler in the opening match show up after about 3 minutes with little in the way of preamble or premium phoneline hocking. They did the intro, set off the pyro, talked briefly and then got a match in the ring. There weren’t any long segments that overstayed their welcome, with the Arm Wrestling Challenge being just about as long as it needed to be and not halting the momentum of the show at all.

The only bit of plot information we were sorely missing as an explanation as to why the US Title Tournament was happening, as they never explained why the belt was held up and Vader has wrestled on every pay per view this year prior to this and he made a brief appearance on this one too, so I had no idea why they took the belt off him as it didn’t seem like he was injured. In a company that normally obsessed about plot exposition during this time period, that seemed like a pretty important thing to leave out.

Aside from minor quibbles though; Great American Bash was a solid effort from WCW and almost certainly their best pay per view in 1995 thus far. I sadly might not get to see if they’re able to top it with the likes of Fall Brawl or Starrcade, but if this is the end of my 1995 WCW journey then I’m glad I got to see a great Flair Vs Savage match before heading off into the sunset.

Recommended show!