THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH (June 16, 1996)
Eddie Guerrero pinned Johnny B. Badd with the Frog Splash in 15:22.
Rating: *** ½
The biggest event of the summer opened up with a phenomenal match between Guerrero and Badd, two highly athletic competitors. The match went back and forth with each hitting numerous impressive moves.
Late, Badd had Guerrero on the top rope and was going for a hurracanranna, only to have Guerrero fight him off and throw him down to the mat. Guerrero then came off hitting a frog splash for the win.
Scott Norton pinned Animal after a powerbomb in 7:34.
Rating: * ½
There was nothing fancy about this match. It was power on power, to decide who is the biggest and baddest. They traded hard hitting moves for a while before Norton finally put Animal away with a powerbomb.
The Unforgiven (Barry Windham and Justin Bradshaw) defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) when Bradshaw pinned R. Steiner with the Lariat in 11:11.
Rating: *** ¼
The Unforgiven weathered an early storm from the Steiners and seized control of the match. However, the Steiners turned the match in their favor when Scott caught Barry Windham out of nowhere with a Frankensteiner. He had taken a pretty big beating until that point and couldn’t go for the pin, but was able to tag in his big brother Rick who came in and began to clean house.
Rick ran through both Bradshaw and Windham for a stretch. But out of nowhere, Bradshaw came and hit Rick Steiner with a vicious lariat and before anyone knew it, it was a three count and an Unforgiven victory.
Dean Malenko pinned Ultimo Dragon after a Victory Roll in 11:22.
Rating: *** 1/2
(Dean Malenko retained the WCW WORLD CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE.)
Malenko got quite a test for his title, as the match was even more of a toss up than their tournament semifinal match a few weeks prior.
This one looked like it might go Dragon’s way, but Malenko was able to roll him up, grab the rope for extra leverage where the ref couldn’t see, and get the victory.
Triangle Match:
Chris Candido defeated Konnan and Lord Steven Regal when Candido pinned Regal after a sitout power bomb in 13:24.
Rating: *** 3/4
(Chris Candido retained the WCW WORLD TELEVISION TITLE.)
Candido has been trying to prove himself a worthy champion, scoring a victory over two top contenders including a four-time former champion in Regal will go a long way to do that.
During the match, Candido’s mentor, Diamond Dallas Page came to ringside on crutches. At one point, the ref had his back turned, admonishing Regal for hitting a low blow on Konnan. Candido tried to get DDP to pass him a crutch so he could hit Konnan, but Page refused telling Candido he can do this on his own.
Candido took his words to heart. For a second, he teamed with Regal to knock Konnan out of the ring, then Candido turned on Regal, hitting him with a powerbomb to get the pin.
DDP applauded as he watched Candido raise the belt high.
Cage Match:
Davey Boy Smith pinned Jeff Jarrett with the Running Powerslam in 18:34.
Rating: *** 1/4
(Davey Boy Smith retained the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE.)
The only way to possibly keep the other Horsemen out of this match was to put Jarrett and Davey Boy inside a steel cage. Arn Anderson and Marcus Bagwell were at ringside to encourage their partner, but they wouldn’t be able to interfere. So we thought.
Jarrett put Davey Boy in the figure four and nearly got a submission, then Jarrett spotted Bagwell trying to climb the cage. Jarrett broke the hold to go over and stop Bagwell, the ref did the same.
In doing so, Smith was able to go over to Anderson who slipped some sort of pouch through the cage to Davey Boy. Smith opened it, took out some powder, and tossed it in Jarrett’s eyes when he came back over.
With Jarrett temporarily blinded, Davey Boy hit his powerslam and retained his title.
Interview with Rick Rude and Scott Hall
WCW announcer Eric Bischoff brought out Rick Rude and Scott Hall to talk about the challenge Hall gave to WCW last week on Nitro. Bischoff announced that Hall will get his wish, agreeing to the match to be held at the next WCW PPV, Bash at the Beach. Hall and Rude were pleased to hear this, they then asked who WCW’s guys were going to be. Bischoff said that was still to be determined.
Randy Savage then came out and confronted Rude and Hall and said he will be there proudly representing WCW. Hall and Rude laughed saying Savage has no friends and asked if he was going to go out there himself.
Savage pointed to the ring and said no one has to wait. They can go right now since it was only Hall and Savage there. Hall though said he wasn’t the only one there. Walking out was a 7-foot tall monster referred to as Kevin Nash, previously Diesel in the WWF. When Savage turned around to see him, Nash kicked him in the face. He yelled down at the fallen Savage. Bischoff spoke up admonishing Nash for his cheap shot. But Hall then punched Bischoff in the stomach and Nash powerbombed Bischoff off the stage. Security rushed out as Rude, Hall and Nash left.
The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian) defeated Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T) when Barbarian pinned Booker with the Flying Clothesline in 14:08.
Rating: DUD
(The Faces of Fear retained the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES.)
The Faces of Fear have been getting the crowd behind them in recent weeks and it seems they’ve been enjoying the support. When Harlem Heat had the match tilted in their favor, the crowd rallied behind Meng and The Barbarian and it seemingly brought them back.
Booker T, though, got back in control of Meng, setting him up for a Harlem Hangover, but Meng rolled out of the way and Booker crashed to the mat. He got up, stumbled around, and caught a flying clothesline from the Barbarian that helped the champs retain their titles.
Stone Cold Steve Austin pinned Ric Flair with the Stunner in 18:45.
Rating: *** 3/4
[Jeff Jarrett interfered against Ric Flair.]
This was the first time Austin had an actual match with his new Stone Cold persona. His feud with Ric Flair goes back a long ways with Flair always getting the best of his former Horseman. However, things were different with Stone Cold.
Austin had always been a gifted physical athlete, but also now mixed in physicality and a brawling nature making him perhaps an even more complete wrestler.
But Flair is still the dirtiest player in the game and swung the match in his direction. He had Austin in the Figure Four, but Austin wouldn’t give in. In fact, he flipped Flair a double bird and reversed the hold.
The rest of the Horsemen tried to run down to save Flair when Austin went on a rampage, but Austin took care of them all. Then once again 1-on-1 in the ring with Flair, Austin hit Flair with his Stunner and put Flair away.
Big Van Vader pinned Lex Luger after a powerbomb in 15:44.
Rating: *** 1/2
(Big Van Vader won the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)
Luger is one of the rare specimen’s that can match power with Vader. It helped carry Luger past him when he was on his path to the championship, but this time around, not so much.
Vader injured Luger’s back in the match when he was outside and caught Luger diving at him, powerslamming him to the floor. He continued to work on it with an array of power moves.
But Luger rallied back and even tried to get Vader in the Torture Rack. That wasn’t happening. Luger collapsed to the mat and Vader hit a powerbomb that the Total Package with a hurt back couldn’t come back from. Vader was once again, WCW World champion.
Card rating: ***
