An Alternate History of WCW - 1998 and Beyond

Last month at Slamboree saw the unification of a number of titles that had been floating around since the formation of The Radicalz well over a year ago. Booker T became the new Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Eddie Guerrero in the finals of a four man, one night tournament to unify the ECW and WCW World Heavyweight Titles. Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho became the new Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Champions when they defeated Goldberg and Kurt Angle to unify the ECW and WCW World Tag Team Titles. Finally, Edge would become the new Undisputed WCW World TV Champion when he defeated Andrew Martin to unify the ECW and WCW World TV Titles. All three would have challengers gunning for their respective titles following Slamboree, but Booker T would be the one that would have the longest list of challengers.

After a successful title defense against Diamond Dallas Page on the May 21st edition of Nitro, the like of Kevin Nash, Ric Flair, Sting, The Giant, and Scott Steiner (among others) would stake claims to the next title shot. Eventually, the WCW Championship Committee (Dusty Rhodes, JJ Dillon, and Rowdy Roddy Piper) decided that a group of ten men would be selected to participate in a WCW All-Star Battle Royal. This bout would be the opening contest at The Great American Bash, with the winner getting their title shot in the main event. The five men I mentioned already would be included as the first five participants. Also in the match would be Diamond Dallas Page (a former WCW World Heavyweight Champion), Scott Hall (a very popular star in WCW and a man who definitely fits the All-Star billing. Buff Bagwell and Rick Steiner would be included as wrestlers who have been longtime members of the WCW roster since the start of the Nitro era. The final spot would be left for a mystery entrant who would be revealed at the PPV. When it came time for the match, the mystery entrant wound up being none other than the "Macho Man" himself, Randy Savage! In the game, I actually let Savage's contract expire towards the end of 2000 (as I really had nothing for him at that stage), but I decided to bring him back for this match, and I might use him in the future in other one-off roles. Who will emerge victorious and earn a title shot at Booker T? Tune in a little later in this post to find out.




In the semi-main event slot, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho would be defending their Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles against two very strong challengers. On the Nitro after Slamboree, the winners of the three unification matches met in a tag team encounter (Booker T and Edge vs. Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho), and in the end, Edge managed to secure the win for his side after pinning Jericho. Edge would later declare that this qualified himself and Christian for a title shot. At the same time, however, Goldberg and Kurt Angle were looking for a rematch with Benoit and Jericho after coming up short at Slamboree. So, it was decided that a Three-Way Tag Team Match would take place at The Great American Bash with the titles on the line. In the lead up to the PPV, the three teams would be split up into two Three-Way Matches. On the June 4th Nitro, Kurt Angle defeated Chris Benoit and Edge, while on the June 7th Thunder, Goldberg defeated Chris Jericho and Christian. So going into the PPV, the momentum was certainly on the side of Angle and Goldberg.

Third from the top sees Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam squaring off in a No DQ Match for the WCW United States Title. Back at Slamboree, Rob Van Dam won the WCW United States Title from Owen Hart in a Three-Way Match that also involved Jeff Hardy. On the May 14th Nitro (one day after the PPV), Van Dam successfully retained the title against Owen Hart in a singles bout. However, on the May 17th Thunder, Jeff Hardy managed to capture the title, cutting Van Dam's reign short at just four days. There really wasn't any animosity between these two. I would say this is more of a friendly rivalry between two popular babyfaces. A rematch for the title was set for The Great American Bash, and the two agreed that the match would take place under No DQ rules, so that they could.....express their own brand of hardcore creativity.

A couple of other title bouts would take place earlier in the card. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels would continue their feud over the WCW Cruiserweight Title, but their title match at the PPV would be a Three-Way Match with the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger also being involved. Staying with the theme of Japanese wrestling legends, Aja Kong would be defending her WCW Women's Title against Amy Dumas. Aja Kong picked up a successful title defense on the May 24th Thunder against Trish Stratus, while Amy Dumas would win a Four-Way #1 Contender's Match on the June 4th Nitro over Madusa, Meiko Satomura, and the aforementioned Trish Stratus.

Elsewhere on the card, the battle between WCW and The Radicalz would rage on in a few different matches. The Filthy Animals would face off against a collection of Radicalz members in a Ten-Man Tag, while The Dudley Boyz would battle The Hart Family with a shot at the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles on the line. A pretty big matchup there between two of the very best tag teams in WCW. The final match on the PPV sees Eddie Guerrero facing off with Mike Awesome in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Of course, those two fought over the ECW World Heavyweight Title as part of that four man, one night tournament to crown an Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Champion, but the feud continued beyond that night. They were both involved in a #1 Contender's Three-Way Match with Diamond Dallas Page on the May 14th Nitro, which was won by Page (that was for the aforementioned title match on the May 21st Nitro). The two of them would then face off in a #1 Contender's Match on the May 24th Thunder (for a shot at Booker T), and it went to a No Contest via Double Count Out when they wouldn't stop brawling on the floor. That would set up another Three-Way, this time with Booker T defending his title against both of them. Neither would come away from that match with the title, and given how their match on Thunder finished, a Falls Count Anywhere bout was made.

In terms of other title changes since the last PPV, I have a few to mention, and they actually have connections to the Ten-Man Tag on this Great American Bash card. The Radicalz picked up two singles titles during the Memorial Day edition of Nitro on May 28th, both from members of The Filthy Animals. Raven captured the WCW Hardcore Title from Rey Mysterio Jr., while Rhino defeated Ron "The Truth" Killings to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title. So that gives The Filthy Animals some more motivation going into the Ten-Man Tag, as they're looking for some revenge.

Well, with all of that out of the way, let's dive into the PPV!


WCW The Great American Bash 2001
June 10th, 2001 - Baltimore Arena - Baltimore, Maryland

1.) Scott Steiner last eliminates Kevin Nash to win the #1 Contender's All-Star Battle Royal
     - Other Participants: Buff Bagwell, Diamond Dallas Page, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Rick Steiner, Scott Hall, Sting, and The Giant
2.) WCW Women's Title - Aja Kong (c) def. Amy Dumas
3.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Three-Way Match - Christopher Daniels def. AJ Styles (c) & Jushin Thunder Liger
4.) Ten-Man Tag - The Filthy Animals (Billy Kidman, Juventud Guerrera, Konnan, Psychosis, & Rey Mysterio Jr.) def. The Radicalz (WCW Hardcore Champion Raven, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Rhino, Taz, Yoshihiro Tajiri, & William Regal)
5.) Falls Count Anywhere Match - Mike Awesome def. Eddie Guerrero
6.) #1 Contender's Match - The Hart Family (Bret Hart & Owen Hart) def. The Dudley Boyz
7.) WCW United States Title - No DQ Match - Rob Van Dam def. Jeff Hardy (c)
8.) Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles - Three-Way Tag Team Match - Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho (c) def. Undisputed WCW World TV Champion Edge & Christian and Goldberg & Kurt Angle
9.) Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title - Scott Steiner def. Booker T (c)

For The Great American Bash 2001, I got an overall score of 91%, which is down 3% from my series high at Slamboree 2001, but it's still in the 90% range, which is a very strong result. Speaking of strong, that's exactly how the PPV closed out, with the final five matches scoring at 90% or higher. Match Of The Night honors was a tie, as both the Three-Way Tag Team Match for the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles and The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hart Family in a #1 Contender's Match earned a 94% score. So a banner night for tag team wrestling in WCW. Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam in a No DQ Match for the WCW United States Title got a 93% score, while Eddie Guerrero vs. Mike Awesome in a Falls Count Anywhere Match wound up with a 92% score. Finally, the main event, which saw Booker T battle Scott Steiner for the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title, finished with a score of 90% on the dot. From there, both Aja Kong vs. Amy Dumas for the WCW Women's Title and the Ten-Man Tag got a score of 87%, while the Three-Way Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Title wound up with a score of 85%. Unsurprisingly, the #1 Contender's All-Star Battle Royal was the weakest match on the show at 77%, but as I always say, when you're worst match is in the 70% range, that's a pretty strong show as a whole.




This was a PPV card that I struggled to put together initially. There were a number of matches that I already had penciled in (this was well before I even got to this point in my game), but there were a number of stars who weren't on the show that I wanted to fit in. As I started to get closer to June 2001, I finally hammered out the card and got things figured out (the three-way tag and the battle royal were the solutions to my dilemma).

It happened a year later than it did in OTL, but Scott Steiner is finally the top dog in WCW, as he defeated Booker T to win the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title. That was definitely the biggest news item coming out of the PPV. With his brother Rick Steiner as well as Buff Bagwell backing him up, how long will Big Poppa Pump's reign of terror at the top last? Keep following to find out.




Up next on the docket is Bash At The Beach 2001 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. After that, I should be following up with (finally) the tournament to crown the inaugural WCW Full Throttle Champion!