Through the Years: NWA Great American Bash 1988

 

The Great American Bash is upon us and this looks like it could be great from a business perspective as well as a wrestling perspective. I haven’t looked up the financial numbers yet, as I usually save that for the end. Maybe I’m wrong! I’m skipping ahead without covering June’s NWA matches until later. It seemed like the right thing to do, as the things related to the Bash can be folded into this piece. The news regarding the NWA being sold to Ted Turner was really picking up. Apparently an offer was made right before this card. There are five matches for this, and it looks like there are 2 hours and 30 minutes to burn through. I would guess there’s some length to these matches, but I have an issue with the talent not being properly used judging by what those matches actually are. In the dark match, Rick Steiner and Dick Murdoch beat Kendall Windham and Tim Horner. Don’t know what that’s about.

 

– July 10th, 1988, from Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland

 

The intro is pretty corny, the main reason for that being because it was changed from the original theme. Speaking of which, that original theme is above! We jump right into the first match, which is…

 

Sting & Nikita Koloff vs. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA World Tag Team Championships

Pre-Match Thoughts: This thing of Sting challenging for the belts with a different partner seems like a pretty good idea. I like that this match is the opener as it could get things moving quickly. That’s exactly what we need. The challengers are the kind of team you’d believe could run the champions over. Sounds like Gary Michael Cappetta is doing ring announcing. Excellent! Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone on commentary. Excellent!

Match Review: The four men brawl to begin the match, and the champions get cleared from the ring. Arn and Tully try again, and Sting puts Tully in a small package for 2. Sting follows with a dropkick to Anderson, and flies out of the ring onto him with a SUICIDE DIVE! Arn climbs back into the ring, only for Sting to take him down with an arm drag. Nikita makes the tag in, and works Arn’s left arm. Arn comes back with a trip, but misses an elbow drop and Nikita regains position. Arn gets up and drives Nikita back into the corner, only for Nikita to try a charge to the corner after a whip. Nikita misses the charge, but halts his run so that he doesn’t run into the buckle, and blasts Arn and Tully with clotheslines. Nikita goes for a cover, but the referee wasn’t paying attention. That’s too bad. Here comes Sting, and Arn blocks Sting’s charge at him. Arn heads up top, and nothing happens, only for Arn to put Sting in a sleeper. Sting uses momentum to break the hold via the turnbuckles, and back to the arm he goes. Tully and Arn try a double team, but Sting fights out of it and gives them both dropkicks. Sting gives Tully a few arm drags, and tags back out. Nikita comes in and continues to work Tully’s left arm, meaning that both champions will have weakened left arms. Sting re-enters the ring, and causes Tully to miss a charge to the corner. Nikita comes back in, and rams Tully’s arm and shoulder into the buckle. Sting and Nikita do an illegal switch with a fake tag behind the referee’s back, and there’s really nothing the referee can do about that. Nikita gives Tully an atomic drop, and another arm drag. Tully fights his way to the corner to make a tag, and Nikita backs his way out so he doesn’t get trapped. Smart move. Nikita gives Arn a drop toe-hold, but Arn is able to tag out anyway. Nikita takes Tully down with a chokehold, and lands a flying shoulderblock too. Nikita clotheslines Tully over the top, but both guys tumble over. Looked painful. Tully crawls back up to the apron, and gets suplexed back into the ring by Koloff. Cover gets 2 after JJ pulls Nikita out of the ring. Now Nikita tries to hit JJ with a running clothesline, and clotheslines the post. Arn launches Nikita’s shoulder into the post, and Tully drags the big “Russian” back into the ring. Arn slams Nikita on the inside, and then works a hammerlock on Nikita. Nikita is all charged up, and begins to make a comeback. Or rather, gets DDT’d before the comeback can even start. Tully tags in after a 2 count, and comes down with an elbow. Tully covers for 2, and there are 3 minutes remaining in the time limit. Fantastic. Arn tags in, and heads up top for a splash that he misses. Nikita crawls over to the corner, and makes the tag!

Sting is in, and he gives Tully a backdrop and dropkick. He gives Tully a press slam too, and Arn comes in. He gives Arn a bulldog, and Arn has to tag out. Sting gives Tully an atomic drop, blocks an atomic drop attempt by Tully, and gives Tully a dropkick. Tully tags out again, and Sting puts a sleeper on Arn. Arn gets out of it and tags out, and Tully flies in with a sunset flip from the top rope that Sting blocks. Nikita rushes in and nails Arn with a clothesline, then Sting hits Tully with the STINGER SPLASH. Sting puts Tully in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK, AND THE TIME LIMIT RUNS OUT AT 20:00. The crowd pops big for Sting and Nikita holding the belts, but deep down they know the match was a draw. When it’s announced, they boo…but they knew. Nice of Sting and Nikita to clear the ring after the match, too.

My Thoughts: This match was extremely heated. I’m not that surprised given the reactions Sting has received on the shows and matches that I have watched. I don’t like that Sting has a finisher nobody loses to. I also don’t like that this match was obviously going to end in a draw. Tully and Arn should cheat to win or some shit. I think they may have rushed into the finish too quickly, as the match slowed down a bit during Sting’s big tag and comeback. That’s fine though. *** for a good match. All four guys worked really hard, and Sting busted out that big dive early on. Also, as already stated, the crowd was on fire. That counts for something.

 

The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics for the NWA United States Tag Team Championships

Pre-Match Thoughts: For the third time in a row on a big card, somebody is going to be locked in a cage to be prevented from interfering. This time, it’s Jim Cornette, who will be raised up above the ring and put in a straitjacket. I’d like to see some creativity in the booking, that isn’t quite it. If the Midnight Express loses, they will be whipped 10 times with a leather strap. Cornette will be too. THAT’S 30 WHIPPINS! I always look forward to matches between these two teams because they’re GUARANTEED to be good. Stan Lane’s introduction of Cornette was amazing. That guy has an announcer’s voice. Cornette is hilarious with all the stuff he’s saying before being put inside of the cage. Watch the jacket! His mother gave it to him! He’ll pay the referee money to stay out of the cage! He’s even better when they raise the cage up.

Match Review: After all that pre-match stuff, the match finally begins. Fulton and Eaton lock up, and Fulton tries a sunset flip. It gets 1, and Eaton takes a break from all the running they were doing. Eaton uses a headlock takeover, and when they get up, Eaton slaps his foe. Fulton comes back with a flying head-scissors, and a frankensteiner as well. Weird to see those moves in this context of a Southern style tag. Lane tags in, and engages in a test of strength with Fulton. Eventually Fulton uses an arm drag, but Lane comes back with kicks to the head that knock Fulton to the floor. Fulton throws Lane into the post, and uses a baseball slide. Nicely done. Rogers is in, and he dishes out a few dropkicks. Eaton comes and gets hip tossed, as Rogers goes to the arm. Eaton comes back with a knee to the gut, and Jim Ross brings up that the Maryland State Athletic Commission is sanctioning these matches. Okay. Eaton has a superplex attempt blocked and turned into a cradle, which gets 1. Rogers then uses a springboard cross body, it gets 2. Fulton tags in and they give Eaton a double backdrop, then Lane gets taken down with a double hip toss. With all four guys in, the Express gets thrown together so that Lane gives Eaton a backdrop, and the Fantastics strut as the ring has been cleared. Men don’t seem to be fans of the Fantastics. Rogers makes a legal tag in, as Lane is inside the ring as well. Rogers flips through a backdrop, and tries a cradle, but a tag has been made. Eaton takes advantage of that and gives Rogers a bulldog for 2. Lane heads back inside, and lands a clothesline. Here comes Eaton, and that’s a hard elbow he dishes out. After an elbow drop, he covers for 2. Eaton gives Rogers a swinging neckbreaker, it also gets 2. The crowd really digs his offense. After a series of kicks, Eaton gives Rogers a great looking backbreaker for 2. Lane tags in, kicks Fulton off the apron, and gives Rogers a chop to the throat. Fulton ran in, and the referee had to get him out. So, Eaton comes in for a slap, it gets 2 again. He tags in, and gives Rogers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2. After a single arm DDT, Eaton puts a hammerlock on Rogers. Rogers gets out, and slams Eaton’s face to the mat. Lane tags in, draws Fulton into the ring again, and that allows them to work over Rogers in tandem for another 2 count. Lane puts an abdominal stretch on Rogers, then dumps him to the outside when the referee gets distracted. On the floor, Rogers rams Eaton’s face into the post, and climbs back into the ring. Rogers gives Lane a sunset flip, it gets 2. Eaton tags in, and cuts Rogers off from the tag. He gives Rogers a bodyslam, and heads up top. Eaton flies down with a huge leg drop, and tags back out. Lane covers, and only gets 1 as the cover is broken up. That’s too bad. Lane goes back to the abdominal stretch, and eventually goes with a Russian legsweep. Eaton tags back in and the Express goes for the ROCKET LAUNCHER, which Rogers blocks with his knees!

Fulton finally makes the switch in, and gives Eaton a backdrop. He cradles Eaton up, it gets 2. Lane trips Fulton from the floor, and drags him to the outside for a bodyslam. Rogers enters the ring, tries a cross body, and flies into Tommy Young. HAHA, that was a great ref bump. Rogers throws Eaton into the ring post, but it appears that Lane has a chain. Rogers backdrops him so he drops it, and now Eaton has the chain! He turns around, CLOCKS Fulton with it, and covers…for the victory at 16:23! Nice recovery by Young, and the Midnight Express are once again the US Tag Team Champions! It’s funny that Eaton put the chain in Fulton’s trunks so that he couldn’t get caught. Cornette is lowered to the floor in the background, and now Fulton realizes the chain is…in his trunks. He runs over and hits Eaton, knocks out Lane, and Cornette is screwed! The Fantastics chase him, then finally catch up to him. They take Young’s belt, and give Cornette his 10 WHIPPINS! The crowd got what they wanted to see, but with that straitjacket on, those lashes couldn’t have hurt very much, if at all.

My Thoughts: The crowd popped huge for the Midnight Express winning the titles. Bigger than I could have imagined. That actually explained a lot. The reason this match wasn’t as heated as the previous one is that Midnight’s act was too good to boo. How can you boo Cornette? How can you boo the guys with such destructive offense? Cheering the vanilla midgets who wear bow ties to the ring and gyrate whenever the momentum of a match is in their favor? There’s just no way. As for the match, while I think it’s the lesser of the three between these teams I’ve watched, it was still great. Eaton’s destructive offense carried the entire thing, he was the star of the match. When it was his turn to sell, he did a great job of it. Loved the match structure and style. **** and recommended. The finish and post-match were absolutely perfect.

 

Cornette does a post-match interview with Bob Caudle, at which point the Fantastics chase him to the back. The cages are lowered, and we’re over to the next match!

 

Ivan Koloff, the Russian Assassin, Al Perez, Mike Rotunda (NWA TV Champion), and Kevin Sullivan (w/Gary Hart & Paul Jones) vs. The Road Warriors, Steve Williams, Ron Garvin, and Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious & Paul Ellering) in a TOWER OF DOOM MATCH

Pre-Match Thoughts: This thing is gonna be a son of a bitch to figure out. This is how Kevin Sullivan describes it.

 

There are three cages. The one on top is the smallest, the one on the bottom is the largest. Setting up this thing took quite a while, and required the use of ladders that looked like they were going to fall down. Dangerous stuff, but the ladders are actually part of the match so that’s even worse. Precious holds the key and decides the winner of the match, she is inside of the bottom cage. There’s going to be so many things going on here that this will be very difficult for me to review. One side of the cage wall looks extremely unstable too. Only considering the safety issues this match shouldn’t be happening. I guess the wrestlers have to climb up to the top cage to start their portions of the match. There’s a timer that will open a trap door, and they have to climb down the cages to win the match. My confusion below is…interesting to say the least. I wrote this part after writing the review, because this was absolutely ridiculous.

Match Review: Ron Garvin and Ivan Koloff climb up to the top cage, and we’re underway. Apparently after 2 minutes, another man will be allowed into the cage. Garvin and Koloff brawl in this very small cage, which keeps rocking back and forth. This first bit was just far too long, but Garvin and Koloff’s chop battle was funny as hell. The trap door below the cage opens, and this just looks so contrived. Williams and Rotunda are in the top cage, and Garvin gets powdered at some point. Garvin climbs into the second cage, which must mean he wins or some shit. Or not. Williams gets double teamed by Rotunda and Koloff, then starts kicking them back into the fence repeatedly. The trap door to the second cage opens again, and Williams climbs through. Ronnie Garvin reaches the bottom, and I’m confused as hell. Precious opens the door for him, and he walks out. NOW I GET IT. For the team to win, all five guys must go through the TOWER OF DOOM. Why didn’t they say that? Rotunda, Animal, and Perez are the guys in the top cage now. Williams and Koloff fight in the middle cage, and Animal cleans house up top. Finally the crowd responds to the match, I’m not surprised it took this long. The trap door open again, and Perez tumbles down to the second cage along with Animal. Rotunda and the Assassin beat up Hawk, and slam the trap door shut. Okay.

The commentary for this match is absolutely hilarious, but being in the arena, I’d imagine this thing is really boring. Sullivan and Jimmy Garvin will be in the top cage at the next round of entries, which is also the last round. I don’t know what the deal will be with the trap doors. Koloff gets slammed on the floor of the second cage, and the trap door opens again. Perez and Animal hop to the bottom cage, and Hawk drops down to the second with the Assassin. Rotunda winds up in the top cage with Sullivan and Garvin, which is bad news for Jimmy. I’m finding it hard to keep paying attention to this match, honestly. The camera work is so bad, and almost nothing is going on. Perez leaves the cage off camera, and the trap door opens again. Koloff and the Assassin reach the bottom, and Rotunda reaches the second level. Sullivan and Garvin are now alone up top, as the two Russians beat up Hawk on the bottom level. Hawk hits them both with a big clothesline, which pops the crowd. About time! Precious is still standing there in the ring with the key, doing a lot of nothing. Hawk leaves the cage, and it appears that Animal did earlier as well. See what I mean about the camera and production here? Dr. Death hurts his leg jumping down to the bottom level, and of course, Sullivan and Garvin climb down a level. Williams leaves the cage, so it’s just those three guys in it. After ramming the heels together, Garvin is…unable to leave the second cage. Of course the door wouldn’t open up then. When it does open, Rotunda heads to the bottom, and he leaves. Garvin and Sullivan struggle, but the door gets slammed on them. That means at least two more minutes remain in this match. On the floor, the two teams start fighting even though their participation in the match is supposed to have finished. That’s just grand! Garvin puts a spinning toe-hold on Sullivan, which seems so out of place in this contest. The door opens again, and Sullivan makes it out first. Garvin follows, and drama ensues. The storyline was that Sullivan had mind control of Precious, but clearly that isn’t so. She kicks Sullivan, and Garvin takes him down. After a few leg drops by Jimmy, he gives Sullivan the BRAINBUSTER. Over to the door he goes, and Precious fumbles the key. Eventually she opens the door, and Sullivan pushes Garvin out of the cage at 19:55. Garvin’s team wins!

This is far from over though, as now there’s a new problem. Sullivan shuts the door and locks it back up. Precious is still in there. OH NO! Garvin decides that he needs to climb back up the ladder to the top, but I don’t have any idea what goes on with that. Sullivan grabs a hold of Precious, and Garvin makes his way through the doors. Eventually he and Hawk get to the second level, as Sullivan is choking Precious. Uh….this is not cool. Hawk makes his way into the ring, and takes Sullivan out with a flying clothesline to a huge reaction. YOU DON’T CHOKE A WOMAN BROTHER. YOU DON’T!

My Thoughts: This was an absolute trainwreck from my perspective. I didn’t hate the match, but I didn’t like it. It was too long and plagued with errors. The camera work was horrendous. Guys left the cage off camera, there was no commentary to say what the wrestlers were doing at times, and I was very annoyed by that. There was also no way for them to use wrestling moves in the upper two levels of the cage, so that was a problem for me. I do understand that guys need to get a PPV pay stub and all that, but there were a lot of excess parts in this match. The Russians were there for the Road Warriors, but that could have been a standard match. Perez and Williams could have been part of this due to Dr. Death’s involvement at Clash 2. They could have substituted Rick Steiner in place of Perez. The finish was hot enough and the crowd was hot enough even though they couldn’t see the match. Precious got saved (by the wrong guy) and people were happy about it, but that choking part probably shouldn’t have happened. *1/2, that’s the hardest match I’ve ever had to rate. Just didn’t click for me, but it finished off the feud in the right way. I don’t have a problem with the way it was worked, I just don’t like it.

 

Dusty Rhodes vs. Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship

Pre-Match Thoughts: The reason for their feuding is obvious, it’s because Windham joined the Horsemen. Now, in addition to what occurred at the Clash, this also happened.

 

Did this match really need another reason for happening? Probably not, but I thought that angle was great. Windham is at his heel peak and he’s going against somebody who still has momentum and drawing power. Great time to put him over. Windham did go on to win the big belt, but his stock with fans was never this high again. Even with that claw finisher, he had momentum and had heat. Dusty never lost this title, so any way in which he could lose this match would be a benefit to Windham, I think. Dusty is fatter than ever before at this time.

Match Review: They lock up, and Windham gets taken down with an arm drag. Into the ropes, and Dusty takes him out with a shoulderblock. Windham takes a break, then gets back in for a criss-cross. Windham gives Dusty an elbow drop, but the challenger comes back with a press slam. Who knew Dusty was that strong? Dusty follows with a DDT, and heads up top. Dusty flies down with a body press, but Windham kicks out at 2. He takes another break, this time playing like he’s going to walk back to the dressing room. Even though I’m tired of watching Dusty’s matches, I hope not! Windham gets back in the ring, and Dusty knocks him down with his best punches. JJ hops on the apron for an elbow, which Dusty is happy to give him, and the crowd explodes. Windham signals for a test of strength with Dusty, and kicks him in the gut. Dusty tumbles to the outside, which is a great place for Windham to beat him up. After throwing him into the rail, Windham tries a PILEDRIVER. Dusty reverses into a backdrop on the concrete floor. That looked like it hurt. Windham gets clotheslined, and Dusty decides to chase JJ around the ring. Back in we go, and Windham sets Dusty up for 10 punches in the corner. After giving out half of them, both guys go to the outside again. Windham rams Dusty into the mat, and tries to slingshot him back into the ring…only for Dusty to slingshot Windham to the floor. Dusty slams Windham, at which point Schiavone becomes concerned about Windham’s “lower black.” Interesting. Windham attacks Dusty from behind thanks to JJ’s distraction, and gives Dusty a bodyslam. After an elbow drop, Windham puts…THE CLAW on Dusty. BAH GAWD ITS GOTTA BE OVER. Look, if guys blade off the claw, there’s no reason Dusty should be able to get out of it. Sadly, Dusty eventually does. That was very predictable. It took a very long time for him to get out of it. Too long, in fact. Dusty does so with elbows, and goes for the figure-four, only for Windham to put the claw back on. Windham breaks it and decides to go for a superplex, but Dusty pushes him off, taking Tommy Young out in the process. That’s just great. Windham heads up top, and Dusty goes for his own superplex…or not. Dusty is too lazy to take the bump, so he slams Windham down. He drops the elbow, and goes for the cover, but Young was taken out. JJ sneaks onto the apron, and Ron Garvin comes into the ring. Why? He hits Dusty with the HANDS OF STONE, and Windham goes to put the claw back on. Young counts the pin, and Dusty’s out at 15:58. Windham is still champion!

My Thoughts: That’s the closest thing to Dusty doing a clean job in this promotion that you’ll see. No weapons needed, just a knockout punch. I liked the finish after the way the match had gone. The start was really nice, both guys were working hard and Windham was bumping all over the place. Dusty also carried his share of the load until the claw sequence. That basically killed the match and killed the heat. Too bad, as this match got a nice response. *3/4 for the match. There was a lot of mileage in Garvin as a heel in Crockett, but he left the promotion and we never got to see any of it. According to Garvin, he was angry that he never got a rematch with Flair after Starrcade. Then they were going to do a program where he, Al Perez, and Gary Hart were all going to be putting over Dusty. So after turning here, he left before it was time to put anyone over. Simple as that. Back before contracts, the boys had options and they could do things like that. Different era.

 

After that match, Steve Williams comes down to the ring to check on his friend, who has been knocked out. In the locker room, we have Bob Caudle with JJ Dillon, Ron Garvin, and Gary Hart. Looks like JJ put a bounty on Dusty and Garvin has collected it! That was gold.

 

Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Pre-Match Thoughts: This will be JJ’s third appearance tonight. My opinion on potential booking for this match is that any finish could have been acceptable other than the one they wound up using. I’m not sure Luger could have won the belt, but I believe it would have worked on a short-term basis. In any case, it’s nice to see a main event from this company that isn’t a re-hash of the usual Dusty vs. Flair theme. Things have been well built to this point, which differs from the main events that I’m used to watching these days. So, it’s interesting the whole way around to me. I’ve never seen this match, although the finish is infamous.

Match Review: The match begins, and Luger shoves Flair down to the canvas. He gives Flair an arm drag as well, and puts the champ in a headlock. They get in the ropes, break it, and Flair starts hitting Luger with chops. Luger smiles at him, and gives Flair a hip toss. After a great looking dropkick, Flair bails to the outside. Nicely done by Luger. Back in the ring, Luger gives Flair a press slam. Flair does a shoving bit with Tommy Young that keeps the crowd involved during Flair’s next break outside, then climbs back into the ring. Luger gives Flair another press slam, then puts Flair in a bear hug. Ross does a great job of reminding people that Flair once broke his back, and after that, Flair gets out of the hold by reaching the ropes. He bails to the apron, and Luger suplexes him back in for 2. He gives Flair an elbow drop, it gets 2 again. On a second elbow drop try, Flair moves out of the way. Luger gives Flair another hip toss, and they leave the ring. Flair chops Luger a lot, rams him into the rail a few times, and back in we go. Flair gives Luger a knee drop, and rakes Luger’s eyes using the ropes. After another knee drop, Flair covers for 2. Luger comes back with a clothesline, it gets a very close count of 2. Flair tries to go up top after a snap mare, and Luger crotches him. Always cracks me up when that happens. Luger tries a dropkick after a hip toss, but he misses. He comes back with a clothesline, it gets 2 again. Flair tries to throw Luger to the floor, but Luger lands on his feet and comes back in with a sunset flip for 2. Flair comes back with some kicks to the knee, and goes to work on that left leg. He puts the FIGURE-FOUR on, and as usual in Flair’s matches, he holds the bottom rope in order to cheat. Eventually Luger reverses it, but Flair is able to get up and go back to work. Luger turns the tide by clotheslining Flair over the top, then in the ring, he doesn’t sell any of Flair’s chops. Luger gives Flair another press slam, during which his knee gives out. Luger tries a knee drop with the other knee, and misses. Flair heads up top, and this took way too long for him to be slammed down from there. Looked very contrived. Luger goes up for 10 punches in the corner, gives most of them, and Flair gives him an inverted atomic drop. Luger doesn’t sell it, and pops right up with a clothesline for 2. After giving Flair 10 in the corner, he throws him over the turnbuckles and down to the floor. Luger follows, puts him back in, and gives Flair a backslide for 2. Flair tries a body press, and eventually both guys tumble over the top. He rams Luger face first into othe post, and grabs a chair. It appears that Luger’s bleeding, and this is one of the worst gigs that I’ve seen. I’ve bled more from cat scratches. Luger gives Flair an inverted atomic drop inside of the ring, and follows with a powerslam. Some old guy is asking to talk to the referee, and when Luger puts Flair in the TORTURE RACK, the bell rings. So, the crowd believes 100% that Luger has won the title, at 23:13.

Sting, Dr. Death, and Nikita have entered the ring to celebrate with Luger, before the announcement is made. Now the announcement is made, and Cappetta states that the bout was stopped by the State Athletic Commission due to Luger’s bleeding, with Flair named the winner. Terrible. After the replay of the events that finished this match, that’s the end of the show!

My Thoughts: That finish was just idiotic. There were bloodier matches everywhere, not just in Baltimore. Nobody could buy that one, as Luger wasn’t even bleeding by the time the bell rang. The timing was just insane, but I guess the point was to get house show business going as they assumed people would come out to see Luger challenging Flair for the belt. The problem with that is the potential to kill the town this match took place in. Fortunately that did not happen. The story goes that they worked the commission, who they knew would stop the match if there was any blood. Whether or not that’s true, who’s to say? The match was reasonably good. There were some hitches with spots, particularly the spot where Flair usually gets slammed off the top rope. Some repetitive things as well, but that’s wrestling. Luger did a nice job selling his injuries and showed good athleticism. I’m going to give the match ***1/4. The finish was unconscionable, and with something proper, the match as a whole would have been much better. There are also better matches between these guys, so I’m not going to recommend it. Maybe you should catch the finish to see it, as it was unbelievably stupid. Enjoyed the match until then. In the WON after this show, it states that they were building rematches with the idea that the commission wouldn’t stop the match for blood in whatever city it is that the rematch takes place in. I think that sums it up. Who knows if that was botched blading or not, I’d think so considering that JJ did it for Luger at the Clash and did a much better job.

 

That’s yet another big show in the books. My overall impressions of the show are as follows. The Road Warriors should have been in their own match. The Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Sullivan thing should have been its own match as well. Financially this show turned out to be successful for Crockett, even though it was nearly time for him to pack it up and sell the company. I think this was a good show with some strange booking calls and match decisions. I think that about sums it up. I don’t like that there were no interviews, and the Tower of Doom thing was just ridiculous. Other than the camera work during that match, it was a lot better during the other matches than it usually is. The work was strong, although there were no classics. The heels also went over in all but one match. Totally acceptable show. Next up, I’ll be hopping over to the WWF for their build towards SummerSlam. Some matches from the WrestleFest card in Milwaukee will be folded into that.

Wrestling Time: 1:35:29. Almost as much as Starrcade 1987, and it was better.

Best: Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics. It’s not even close, this was the best thing on the card by some distance. It usually is!

Worst: THE TOWER OF DOOM. Disaster match.

Card Rating: 6.5/10. Trending towards good, but couldn’t quite get there. I’d say they went 3 out of 5 in terms of quality matches. It is worth checking out. The two tag matches alone are worth a look.