8. AMERICAN BASH ON TOUR
Nobody can fault Dusty Rhodes for lacking confidence. The 41-year-old Rhodes, possessor of little in the way of wrestling skill, was probably the No. 1 drawing card in the business for the latter half of the 1970s.
And as a booker for Jim Crockett Promotions, by and large, he's had amazing success. Sure he has his detractors and there are valid objections to some of the things he’s done, but he’s transformed Crockett into a solid, and first-rate No. 2 promotion while all the competitors were self-destructing.
Rhodes' biggest success, so he thought, was going to be the month-long American Bash tour, from July 1 through August 2 hitting several major markets with big outdoor shows. To team with the Crockett wrestlers, who were in the midst of a successful year, Rhodes booked some solid Country Music acts, like Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Jessi Coulter, Joe Ely, Delbert McClinton and David Allan Coe, for a music-wrestling doubleheader which was sure to be a big money-maker. 14 shows were planned, with ticket prices raised unreasonably high, $50 ringside and $20 in the bleachers. _ Rhodes was predicting the 14 shows, in total, would gross $8 million. His wrestlers were thinking about earning $80-90,000 for the month, and with stars in their eyes, starting thinking about buying new homes, new cars, etc.
In this case Rhodes was guilty of overconfidence. The American Bash tour wasn't a complete flop, but some of the shows certainly were.
The tour opened July 1 in Philadelphia as 10,900 fans paid $230,000 at Veterans Stadium. Everyone decided to claim the crowd was 20,000 or 30,000 and call it a success. July 3 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. was tougher, as 6,500 paid $135,000. July 4 in Memphis was a disaster, 800 paid—$18,000. Finally on July 5 in Charlotte they breathed a sigh of relief with a near $300,000 gate. There were some good nights, such as July 26 when 15,500 sold out the Greensboro Coliseum to see Dusty Rhodes beat Ric Flair and win the NWA title with a $260,000 gate, but they were outweighed by more disappointment—Ric Flair vs. Road Warrior Animal drawing 3,900 in Cincinnati, the Flair-Rhodes rematch on August 2 in Atlanta drawing 7,600 (with kids prices cut to $5 to save face) and on it went. In all, the tour grossed around $1.6 million—or 20 percent of the original prediction, and in cities like Philadelphia, country music didn’t exactly, go over, in Charlotte and Greensboro, however, it was the perfect promotion.
They are closer to reality this year. The current plan is for the Bash to expand to 22 to 25 cities, however all the shows, with the exception of Charlotte, will be indoors. Hopefully ticket prices will be made more reasonable as well.
