THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH (July 23, 1989)
Tonight was supposed to be the third and decisive battle between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. However, Terry Funk’s attack on Steamboat at last month’s Clash of the Champions took Steamboat out of the match.
Flair’s manager Hiro Matsuda granted Funk the title match in Steamboat’s place. While Flair was eager to get some revenge on Funk for what he did to Steamboat, he’s grown uneasy of Matsuda’s true motivations. Nevertheless, the match is set for tonight.
Also, the longstanding feud between the Varsity Club and a united group consisting of Rick and Scott Steiner, the Junkyard Dog and Eddie Gilbert comes to a head in the ultimate battleground, WarGames!!
Last month at the Clash, the Freebirds made a lot of noise, stealing both Lex Luger’s US title belt and the Road Warriors’ tag title belts. Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin and Terry Gordy haven’t been seen in person since the clash, only sending in videos from their homes wearing the gold taunting Luger and the Road Warriors. Tonight they’re bringing the gold to the Bash!
Plus Sting faces his toughest test since winning the Television title, he’ll go 1-on-1 with the Pearl of the Orient, the Great Muta!!
All this and more at the Great American Bash!!
The Rock N Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) defeated The Samoan Swat Team (Fatu and Samu) when Gibson pinned Fatu after a dropkick in 10:33.
Rating: **
Two old rivals opened the show. These two teams traded the US tag titles back and forth earlier this year. There was no titles on the line this time around, but the battle was still as intense.
The Rock N Roll Express got the best of the Samoans this time around.
Flyin’ Brian pinned Tommy Rich after a flying cross body press in 8:12.
Rating: ** ½
The rookie Flyin’ Brian picked up what has to be considered the biggest win of his career over the veteran and former world champion.
Barry Windham pinned Butch Reed after a Superplex in 7:12.
Rating: * ¾
Once upon a time, Windham and Reed were both clients of Hiro Matsuda, but both struggled to pick up big wins.
During the match, Matsuda came to stand at the top of the ramp watching his old charges go at it.
Going one-on-one, Windham proved he still is capable of rising to the occasion getting a relatively easy win over Reed.
The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas) when Eaton pinned Ace after a flying leg drop in 13:02.
Rating: ***
The Midnight Express got some revenge on the Dudes for their upset win at last month’s Clash. However, that wasn’t enough to satisfy them.
After the match, they kept up the assault on the Dudes until the Rock N Roll Express ran in to chase away the Midnight Express.
Sting defeated The Great Muta by disqualification in 11:23.
Rating: *** ½
(Sting retains the WCW TELEVISION TITLE)
The Great Muta got an added boost with Hiro Matsuda coming down in his corner. He was by far Sting’s toughest challenge to date, but Sting proved up to the challenge. He withstood Muta’s offensive onslaught and even found ways to get around his defense.
Sting was on quite a rally and going for the win with Muta set up in the corner going for the Stinger Splash. But as he leapt high and was poised to crash down upon Muta, the Pearl of the Orient spat green mist right into Sting’s eyes.
The ref called for the Disqualification, but Muta kept kicking away at Sting before finally giving in and heading toward the back.
Terry Gordy pinned Lex Luger after a belly-to-belly suplex in 9:32.
Rating: **
(Terry Gordy won the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE)
While last month, The Freebirds and Terry Gordy physically stole the United States title, tonight they stole the title reign to go with it.
Gordy held his own with Luger for most of the match, but the Total Package soon took over and was getting ready to put Gordy away. But Hayes and Garvin came to the ring, Garvin distracting the ref while Hayes ran in and hit Luger in the head with one of the world tag title belts they also stole.
Gordy took advantage, hit a suplex and pinned Luger to become the new US champion.
The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) beat The Road Warriors when Hayes pinned Animal after a DDT in 17:11.
Rating: *** 1/2
(The Fabulous Freebirds won the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES)
The Road Warriors came out to confront the Freebirds at the end of the US title match, directly leading into their world tag title match. Hawk and Animal were leary of Gordy getting involved, but Luger assured them he’d keep Gordy out of the match.
This held true as Gordy looked to try to get into the match, but Luger came to fight him off and chased him to the back.
But there was another issue the Road Warriors couldn’t account for, and that was referee Teddy Long.
Hawk went up top to deliver his flying clothesline, Long was trying to get into position, stumbled and fell into the ropes which knocked Hawk off the top and all the way to the floor.
Animal approached Long asking what he was doing, but in the distraction, Hayes came up, hit Animal with a DDT and Long counted the pin.
WAR GAMES
The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner), The Junkyard Dog and Eddie Gilbert defeated The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda, Kevin Sullivan, Dr. Death Steve Williams and Dan Spivey) when Gilbert made Sullivan submit to an armbar in 29:06.
Rating: ****
The long standing feud between these eight men came to a head in the match beyond. Despite most of these men having great amateur backgrounds, there was nothing scientific or technical about this match. It was a brawl, plain and simple.
The Varsity Club won the coin toss that gave them the man advantage at several points of the match. They used it trying to go after Scott Steiner, the youngest and least experienced man in the match.
But the younger Steiner proved he could hold his own and had a lot of fight in him, not giving in despite all the punishment the Varsity Club handed out.
JYD was the final man into the cage, and once he got in, his powerhouse style combined with his freshness, turned the match into his team’s favor as the Varsity Club couldn’t withstand his attack.
In the end, though, it was Eddie Gilbert who locked a cross arm breaker on Kevin Sullivan. With Gilbert’s team members keeping the other Varsity members at bay, Sullivan had no choice but to surrender the match.
Ric Flair defeated Terry Funk after a backslide in 25:06
Rating ****
(Ric Flair retained the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE).
It’s never easy fighting someone who is willing to destroy themselves just to destroy you as well, but Ric Flair found a way past Terry Funk’s wild nature to defeat him.
Flair turned an attempted piledriver into a backslide to get the pin.
But then the real chaos began. Funk, not happy to have lost, attacked Flair after the bell. Flair was likely expecting it and was able to fight Funk off. But what he didn’t expect was his old partner Barry Windham running down to blindside him, joining Funk in a 2-on-1 beatdown.
The Great Muta also arrived standing by Hiro Matsuda, then sprayed his green mist in Flair’s eyes and joined in the beating making it a 3-on-1. Matsuda, who had been managing Flair, stood with Muta and the Texans.
While Flair has done little to make a lot of friends in WCW, he got an unlikely helping hand from an old rival, Sting!
The Stinger came to Flair’s aid chasing the others out of the ring. Funk, Windham and Muta all celebrated going to the back together. Sting and Flair stared each other down in the ring before Flair finally extended his hand and Sting shook it.
